Leinster v Connacht Friday 2nd KO 7.30pm

Sangre

Leinster squad named along with match officials;

Leinster squad to face Connacht…

FORWARDS: Brian Blaney, John Fogarty, Ronan McCormack, Cian Healy, CJ van der Linde, Stan Wright, Trevor Hogan, Devin Toner, Cameron Jowitt, Malcolm O'Kelly, Rocky Elsom, Shane Jennings, Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip, Stephen Keogh

BACKS: Chris Keane, Simon Keogh, Chris Whitaker, Felipe Contepomi, Isa Nacewa, Jonathan Sexton, Gordon D’Arcy, Brian O'Driscoll, Luke Fitzgerald, Shane Horgan, Rob Kearney

REFEREE: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU), ASSISTANT REFEREES: Colin Stanley (IRFU), David Wilkinson (IRFU), 4th OFFICIAL: Peter Dennehy (ARLB), 5th OFFICIAL: Robbie O’Flynn (ARLB), TMO: Dermot Moloney (IRFU)


Looks like leinster might not be taking any chances this time, especially after they beat munster. Full strength squad named.
On a side note this game will see the 100,000 supporter pass through RDS this year. Average attendance 16,500

themont85

16.5k-thats very impressive. Whats the comparable figures for other teams so far i wonder?

Good squad from Leinster. I don't think Connacht are capable of putting in a mtach winning performance after their efforts on Sunday tbh.

phog

5 pointer for Leinster and zero for Conancht, I'm afraid there run has come to an end.

barnesd

The Leinster backline permutations become very interesting now, it's very hard to pick a backline there and that's with Dempsey out. Complete guess but I think (fear) we might see Nacewa at 15.

[Jackass]

I would love to see the following backline:

9. Keogh
10. Contepomi
11. Fitzgerald
12. D'Arcy
13. O'Driscoll
14. Nacewa
15. Kearney

Keogh at 9 as he can't be much worse than Whitaker at the moment and Keane isn't up to it. Give him a shot there at least cause it's by far our weakest position, we need to explore options.

Kearney MUST under all circumstances start at 15 while Dempsey is out. Anything else will be completely unacceptable imo. We are trying first are foremost to develop our own players and Kearney was superb at FB in the tour down under and hasn't been given an oppertunity there since, Cheika must do the right thing and put Nacewa / Horgan /Fitzgerald / Keogh on the wing and give Kearney his chance.

Hopefully Healy and O'Brien can start also.

I think it would be a very tall order for Connacht to put up another performance like they did against Munster, especially so soon after, but I'd expect them to be gritty enough anyway. Tough one to call, but Connacht will be up for this! So will Lesinter want revenge, could be a great game, looking forward to seeing Keatley also.

barnesd

It's easy to say Keogh couldn't be worse but have we actually seen him pass the ball in a Leinster shirt? Whitaker was decent against Ulster imo. Nacewa on the wing seems a bit mad to me too. He's a guy who played all of last season at 10, with many Blues fans reckoning he is best at 12. Wing would not be his position at all imo. To be honest I'm not even going to try name a backline because for every position there are at least 3 players you could feasibly pick. Just too many permutations.

9. Keane/Whits/Keogh (though we all know Whitaker will start)
10. Nacewa/Contepomi/Sexton
11. Kearney/Fitz/Keogh (not adding Horgan because I can't remember ever seeing him on the left wing)
12. D'Arcy/Contepomi/Nacewa/Fitz/BOD
13. D'Arcy/Fitz/BOD/Nacewa (at a stretch)
14. Horgan/Fitz/Keogh/Kearney
15. Nacewa/Kearney/Fitz (Fitz played at 15 for a few games last season and did quite well there imo)

Pack is a bit easier, wouldn't mind seeing something like:

1. Healy
2. Fogarty (who did well against Ulster)
3. CJ (where has he gone?)
4. MOK (1 weeks rest is enough)
5. Toner
6. Rocky
7. Jennings (deserves another shot to show form, O'Brien in for Cardiff, better performer starts against Wasps)
8. Heaslip

Crash

Pack I wouldnt disagree with you too much barnesd, though I'd say that with O'Brien playing as well as he is, if Jennings isn't fully 100% fit he'll beat him to the pip.

Now, come the backline:

9. Whitaker
10. Nacewa/Contepomi/Sexton
11. Kearney/Keogh
12. D'Arcy/Contepomi/Nacewa/Fitz (just because BOD wont ever actually play 12)
13. Fitz/BOD/Nacewa
14. Horgan/Fitz/Keogh/Kearney
15. Nacewa/Kearney

Removed the unlikelies, and you can see the row that'll be there tbh. Bod at 12 is removed because he'd never play that shirt. the one you'll see, IMO is:

9. Whitaker
10. Nacewa/Contepomi
11. Keogh
12. D'Arcy/Contepomi
13. Fitz/BOD
14. Horgan/Fitz
15. Kearney

Now, i'd say the main part there is whether BOD and Horgan have fully recovered from what they had. And the other is whether D'arce did enough to be put back in centre over conters. As it stands, if not, it'll be contepomi at 12, O'Driscoll at 13, with Fitz/Horgan outside, and Nacewa at 10. If D'arcy has done enough in training to be considered, then we'll see Contepomi at 10 (right or not, i'm not sure) with D'arcy at 12, BOD 13.

Only possible change I could see is Nacewa in for Keogh, though I think Keogh has been a nice wee finisher, decent tackler, and deserves to be at 11, however they may include Nacewa just because he is good enough to demand to be on the team. Would make a lovely, LOVELY impact sub though.

edit: sorry, the only other one i could see, and would hate, be:

9. Whitaker
10. Contepomi
11. Kearney
12. D'arcy
13. BOD
14. Horgan/Fitz
15. Nacewa

purely because I don't think it would work quite as well.

Gelio

I'm heading up to the match and would love to see:
9. Whitaker
10. Contepomi
11. Keogh (I really like him)
12. D'arcy (if fit/able) Fitz (If D'arcy not fit/able)
13. Drico
14. Fitz (If D'arcy fit/able) Nacewa (If D'arcy not fit/able)
15. Kearney

In the pack hopeing for another big preformance from Rocky.

I don't know how to feel about the option of Nacewa at 15. Probably a bad idea but I would like to see him play there some time.
Don't want Horgan starting I think he is past it as a player. Very important Leinster win this if Connacht play well. I am hopeing Connacht do play well, it would do Leinster good.
When I say fit with D'arcy I mean if he has got back to good enough to play 1st center but I wouldn't be surprised if Fitz played 1st center and D'arcy played on the wing again. Leinster have beaten Ulster but its worthless if we lose to Connacht.

sock puppet

Teams named

LEINSTER:

15: Rob Kearney
14: Gordon D’Arcy
13: Luke Fitzgerald
12: Felipe Contepomi
11: Simon Keogh
10: Isa Nacewa
9: Chris Whitaker CAPTAIN

1: Cian Healy
2: John Fogarty
3: Stan Wright
4: Trevor Hogan
5: Cameron Jowitt
6: Rocky Elsom
7: Shane Jennings
8: Stephen Keogh

REPLACEMENTS FROM: Brian Blaney, Ronan McCormack, Malcolm O’Kelly, Devin Toner, Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip, Chris Keane, Jonathan Sexton, Shane Horgan, Brian O’Driscoll

CONNACHT: T Nathan; F Carr, N Ta'auso, K Matthews, L Bibo; I Keatley, F Murphy; J Lyne, A Flavin, R Morris; M Swift, A Farley; M McCarthy, J Muldoon CAPTAIN, C Rigney

REPLACEMENTS: S Cronin, R Loughney, A Browne, D Gannon, K Campbell, A Dunne, Mel Deane

Happy to see Kearney at 15. Pack could be stronger though.They should win but I don't think Leinster will get the bonus point here.

[Jackass]

Clearly learned nothing for the Connacht Munster game - we have 3 of our first choice 8 in the pack. I know there are injuries, but it's inexcusable to have players like Heaslip, Toner & O'Kelly out of the pack imo. Players need rotation, and rest, but with the amount of injuries in the pack the most you should have non-first level is 2 or 3 - not 5. Really hope our equally, if not more so, mediocre pack doesn't get the same treatment as the Munster one.

I think Keogh has been one of the real surprise packages this season. Good to see him getting in the first 15 again. Really good player and even more depth to the backline is great.

Decent team at a push, but hopefully will be too much for Connacht (I think we have underestimated them again btw - would be an element of poetic justice if we get beat again)

There will certainly be big impact from the bench also. Interesting to see the battle of Keatley vs Nacewa - he's already played Sexton and Warrick firmly off the park! Should be interesting.

RuggieBear

totally agree J. I expected firsts to be selected not another hodge podge pack with keogh at 8.

Hopefully enough to subdue connacht but disappointed that sean ob is not tried at 8 for his ball carrying alone.

barnesd

Concerned about that pack. He better load the bench ready to come on early in the 2nd half if needs be.

Like the look of the backline, really happy for Simon Keogh to be getting a game. Good player.

themont85

I like the idea of a bit of rotation over the Christmas period. Guys on the fringes deserve a chance to stake their claim, we shouldn't just go down the road of saying thats our starting 15/the best 22 and thats that-particularly in the pack. If we're going to rotate then there's hardly a better time than now before the crucial period at the end of January. Jowitt, Keogh and Hogan are hardly complete novices, they all have decent experience and can play very well. Healy needs as many games as possible at this stage of his development. Wright, Elsom and Jennings can be considered first teamers too.

Sangre

really hope the lineout isn't a mess.

Sangre

themont85 wrote: »

16.5k-thats very impressive. Whats the comparable figures for other teams so far i wonder?

Good squad from Leinster. I don't think Connacht are capable of putting in a mtach winning performance after their efforts on Sunday tbh.

Last year (and year before) Leinster had best supported team with 14,361 average. No doubt munster will start competing with this.

themont85

Sangre wrote: »

Last year (and year before) Leinster had best supported team with 14,361 average. No doubt munster will start competing with this.

Ye the figures though i think are misleading for both teams but i expect in 2 seasons time to be roughly similar. When you consider the new TP, Munster have been able to get a good few more people into the likes of the first game there than they would for a normal run of the mill ML game. Last year Munster were handicapped by TP's unavailability, whilst at the minute Leinster are in the fact that Lansdowne Road is unavailable for HC games which would garner more than the RDS capacity. Great to see though, Leinster are averaging more than Guinness Premiership teams(they have something like 11k average).

Zzippy

LEINSTER:

15: Rob Kearney
14: Gordon D’Arcy
13: Luke Fitzgerald
12: Felipe Contepomi
11: Simon Keogh
10: Isa Nacewa
9: Chris Whitaker CAPTAIN

1: Cian Healy
2: John Fogarty
3: Stan Wright
4: Trevor Hogan
5: Cameron Jowitt
6: Rocky Elsom
7: Shane Jennings
8: Stephen Keogh

Connacht team:
T Nathan; F Carr, N Ta'auso, K Matthews, L Bibo; I Keatley, F Murphy; J Lyne, A Flavin, R Morris; M Swift, A Farley; M McCarthy, J Muldoon (C), C Rigney.

Replacements:
S Cronin, R Loughney, A Browne, D Gannon, K Campbell, A Dunne, M Deane


Heartened when I saw the Leinster pack selected - clearly Cheika has forgotten October when the match was on up front and he had rested a few forwards, same with Munster last week. Hopefully our pack will be able to win a bit more possession so and set up a platform. Worried about Nathan at FB, if the ball is put up in the air as much as it was in the Leinster-Ulster game we need someone solid under it, so its a pity Duffy is injured. Also pity Ofisa didn't make it, he was awesome on Sunday.
Heading up tomorrow for this, would be great to do the double over Leinster!

crisco10

Big one for leinster, we better start winning more games well.

Great to see kearney straight in at 15. No messing around with other permutations...

phog

crisco10 wrote: »

Big one for leinster, we better start winning more games well.

Great to see kearney straight in at 15. No messing around with other permutations...

+ 1. Don't rate him too highly as a winger but he should certainly tie down the fb spot if he gets the chance.

barnesd

phog wrote: »

+ 1. Don't rate him too highly as a winger but he should certainly tie down the fb spot if he gets the chance.

I think he's done very well on the wing for Leinster this season but anyway, great to see him at fullback. Only other game he's started at 15 this season was the Connacht away game where nobody really covered themselves in glory so here's hoping for a big performance. Could get him in at 15 for the HEC and if that happens he'll in for Ireland too.

Gelio

Not very happy with choice of team.
But at least Kearney is 15

ironingbored

Do you think I'll be able to ticket outside or should I get it online?

RuggieBear

i'd be pretty sure you will get a ticket at the ticket booth outside the game. Also ask the stewards at the gate if they have any tickets as People will quite often give them spares to give away for free.

[Jackass]

left this very late but made an executive decision just now that with the seriousness of my man flu I wont be able to go to the game tonight. If anyone wants a free ticket to North stand PM me and I can meet you at sandymount dart station at any stage in the next 40 mins.

Spore

is this game been shown on setanta? Doesn't seem to be listed on their website, nearly sure it was advertised though.

Spore

Ah it's on Setanta 2, boo. Anyone got a stream for this?

Hennybug

I was just going to post the same thing - it's been advertised all through Christmas but no sign of it on their schedule now :mad:

Hennybug

I just got on to UPC and they switched it on instantly! It's free to sign up and €10 to unsubscribe which can be done tomorrow.

Spore

Sounds sweet, you got a link?

Edit: You mean phoning up, silly me thought it was on the interweb

Hennybug

Spore couldn't find a link anywhere even on the connacht website - can let you know if scores if that's of any use?

Spore

its ok, just have to head down the boozer. Cheers though

Hennybug

With Leinster already 5 0 up after less than 5 minutes I wish i'd headed down the pub myself :rolleyes:

That was ruthless play.

I can see this one getting nasty.

Hennybug

Penalty for Connacht 5 - 3

Hennybug

I wish that bloody ref wasn't as fast on the whistle and let the scrum sort themselves out :mad:

juvenal

Can't believe there's no stream

Can't even find a radio stream here in Canada. Anyone care to give me an update/analysis of the action so far please?:)

Cheers,

j

Hennybug

In a nutshell 14 - 12 to Leinster - crappy game, too many penalties and John Lyne for Connacht sin binned

cerebus

There's a Galway Bay FM radio stream linked from here:

http://www.rugbynetwork.net/main/s505/st138094.htm

Not ideal, but better than nothing...

Stev_o

Seriously why can every other club in the ML have great derby games while our one's end up being kick fests and just players trying to beat 7 seven shades of **** out of eachother

juvenal

cerebus wrote: »

There's a Galway Bay FM radio stream linked from here:

http://www.rugbynetwork.net/main/s505/st138094.htm

Not ideal, but better than nothing...

Cheers cerebus, but is it just me or is the stream in the link now working? I went to galwaybayfm.ie and i get the same problem; where WMP loads and then it goes to ready and nothing.

Hennybug

ANother penalty from Keatley 15 - 14, 2 mins into 2nd half

cerebus

It is working OK for me, but I have been listening for a while...

Hennybug

Stanley Wright sin binned - Cheika looking more miserable by the minute :

*Roisin*

Does anyone have any update? Was supposed to be at the match but didn't make it and can't get GBF to stream..

Frustrating!!

dreamer_ire

Fogarty lucking to have stayed on there imo. Thought he should have gone rather than Wright

Hennybug

Still 15 - 14 to Connacht - 53 mins in

juvenal

Yeah the stream link is dead

Updates are appreciated lads and lassies! Sounds like it will go to the wire. . .

[Jackass]

Leinster a complete sham. Aimless as usual with no game plan to speak of. 15 - 14 Connacht.

I'd like to see John Fogarty get a 4 - 6 week ban, maybe more, completely outrageous attack on the defencless Connacht hooker who was still bound in the scrum, fogarty landed about 8 clean digs to his face. Stan Wright sin binned for punches also.

This is the single worst refereeing display I've seen in my life by the way. You'd swear the ref was picked up from an under 8's girls blitz competition on a saturday afternoon, clueless.

Leinster may lose this and I wouldn't have any complaints. Cheika & Gafney mastermind another "kick the ball in the air and see what happens" master class.

*Roisin*

Thanks! Gutted I'm not there, wanted to get a good look at Connacht's form.

Hennybug

O'Driscoll on for Keogh

Hennybug

HAve to agree Jackass ref is ruining the game but Leinster are at sea and not making the most of their chances. Fogarty should have been binned as well, blatantley throwing punches.

The luck seems to be going Connachts way though - lets hope they can hold on