Ospreys v Leinster, Friday 6th March 7.05pm

ALH-06

Ospreys: Gareth Owen; Jonny Vaughton, Sonny Parker, Andrew Bishop, Kristian Phillips; Dan Biggar, Jamie Nutbrown; Paul James (capt), Ed Shervington, Cai Griffiths, Filipo Levi, Andy Lloyd, Tom Smith, Marty Holah, Filo Tiatia.
Replacements: Marc Breeze, Craig Mitchell, Rory Pitman, Steve Tandy, Rhodri Wells, Jonathan Spratt, David Bishop.

Leinster: Dempsey; Horgan, McFadden, D'Arcy, Nacewa; Contepomi, O'Donohoe; Healy, Jackman, Wright, Hogan, O'Kelly, Jowitt, Jennings, Elsom.
Replacements: Blaney, Knoop, Toner, O'Brien, Whitaker, Sexton, Keogh.

Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU)
____

Strong Leinster squad out. I reckon we should win this - Ospreys have nine players who weren't released by Wales.

Delighted to see O'Donoghue get another shot, with Whitaker on the bench.

barnesd

Ospreys are missing 12 players in all with injuries/6N, pretty much all would have been starting. Leinster really should win this, however Leinster very often manage to lose games they should win.

Crash

Should Leinster win this, the ML comes down to the Leinster Munster game - so this should be fun. Otherwise its a Munster Ospreys decider.

chupacabra

Good selection. Would prefer Toner in for Hogan and Sean O'Brien at No.8 with Elsom moving into 6 and Jowitt on the bench. Nice to see O'Donohoe in the XV again.

Zzippy

Will be very surprised if Leinster contrive to lose this one. Connacht dominated possession against this Ospreys team 2 weeks ago and could have won the game with any kind of composure in the final third of the pitch. Leinster will be fired up too with the incentive of closing the gap at the top. Can't see past a good Leinster victory.

Edit: Why the hell isn't Toner starting? He's probably the second best lock in the squad on this season's form, any time I've seen him play he's been outstanding.

chupacabra

Zzippy wrote: »

Edit: Why the hell isn't Toner starting? He's probably the second best lock in the squad on this season's form, any time I've seen him play he's been outstanding.

Too tall, he'll bang his head off the top of the stands in the liberty stadium in the lineout. Safety first.

Podge_irl

Zzippy wrote: »

Edit: Why the hell isn't Toner starting? He's probably the second best lock in the squad on this season's form, any time I've seen him play he's been outstanding.

I really dont understand how Toner has gone from starting ahead of Mal at times to benching behind Hogan. He had an excellent first half of the season.

thomond2006

chupacabra wrote: »

Too tall, he'll bang his head off the top of the stands in the liberty stadium in the lineout. Safety first.

:D:D

Cuchulain

Dont think it is on S4C :mad:

O Brien isnt starting either.........big mistake.

flyswatter

Cuchulain wrote: »

Dont think it is on S4C :mad:

O Brien isnt starting either.........big mistake.

Pretty sure it's on BBCi (Red Button). Just checked, definitely on BBCi.

ALH-06

flyswatter wrote: »

Pretty sure it's on BBCi (Red Button)

It's live on BBC Two Wales, which means it'll be streamed on the BBC Rugby website.

juvenal

Scrappy game so far, error-strewn and not a great atmosphere there either.

Scoreless after 16 minutes.

Connaght are doing great in Galway at halftime against the Blues.

juvenal

Boll*x, Nacewa is off (replaced by Simon Keogh) with what looks like a knee injury after a collision. He was going for a high ball and collided with the Ospreys chaser in mid-air.

Still scoreless after 20 minutes.

juvenal

Nacewa has just been stretchered out of the stadium with heavy strapping on his right knee - looks serious.:(

Greasy, wet conditions in Liberty, a fair few handling errors and general sloppiness by both sides. Just one turnover followed by another. Poor game so far.

absolutely terrible game,watching paint dry is more exiting.
Leinster are shockingly bad,how they expect to win a match by kicking the ball back to the opposition every time they get it is beyond me.
They havent gone past 2 passes in this match.

juvenal

Ospreys try: bit of a shambles but Sonny Parker went over just to the left of the posts, the extras should be a formality.

31 mins: Ospreys 5 Leinster 0

Edit: conversion missed.

Podge_irl

I really don't know how Leinster contrive to lose these type of games. On paper they are a lot stronger - its nearly our full strength pack for God's sake.

komodosp

Jaysis I've seen more exciting baseball matches... Come on lads, someone throw a punch or something

chupacabra

Half time, poor game. Handling errors left right and center. 5 - 0

corny

Some atrocious rugby being played by Leinster.

juvenal

Whitaker on for O'Donoghue
Sexton on for Contepomi?
Blaney on for Jackman (blood)

Podge_irl

Sexton on for D'Arcy I think. Looking okay so far.

juvenal

Tiatia takes 10 minutes in the bin for playing the ball off his feet. Leinster somehow managed to take an Ospreys line-out on the home 5m line (mistake by Ospreys rather than Leinster play).

Contepomi takes the resulting penalty to give Leinster a one-point lead. Was it McFadden that went off for Sexton with Conters moving to centre?

52mins: Ospreys 5 Leinster 6.

Podge_irl

Never mind, D'Arcy is clearly still on. McFadden must have gone off, I thought I'd seen him still on the field.

juvenal

Attaboy Darce.

About the best passage of play from Leinster all day. Nice break by Contepomi off a lineout, and Darcy is on his shoulder to power over from 15m.

Should be a straightforward conversion right in front of the posts. And it is.

56mins: Ospreys 5 Leinster 13

juvenal

Sh1te for Connaght, 19 unanswered points in the second half from the Blues and they lose at home.

Connaght 14 Cardiff Blues 19.

juvenal

Contepomi will cool his heels in the bin after getting a yellow for a second foul in a couple of minutes (first looked like a deliberate knock-on).

Thought it was a close call myself. Done for coming in from the side/offside. Big ten minutes here.

67mins: Ospreys 5 Leinster 13.

Podge_irl

Thought it was a close call at first myself, especially as the scrum-half had his hands on the ball seemed to knock on, but Conters was miles offside at that ruck and never bothered his arse getting onside before coming round for the tackle.

juvenal

Podge_irl wrote: »

Thought it was a close call at first myself, especially as the scrum-half had his hands on the ball seemed to knock on, but Conters was miles offside at that ruck and never bothered his arse getting onside before coming round for the tackle.

Yeah I saw on replay the ref had reached for the whistle before he even got to the scrum half.

Very poor fare from both sides, but a win is a win. Elson, Jennings and Healy I thought played well, and while there were some good individual performances in the backline also, there was no overall team cohesion. That sort of performance won't cut it at all in the HEC.

A late drop-goal gets the BP for the Ospreys.

Fulltime: Ospreys 8 Leinster 13.

bleg

what a shocking performance from both sides, ospreys i can understand cause it was a bunch of kids but that was the backbone of leinster's squad playing.

7mountpleasant

Thought Cian Healy and Sexton were very poor, great to see darce get man of the match, has to be a shoe in for the next two 6n. Why keatley is languishing in connaught while sexton is still enjoying game time in leinster is beyond me.

Podge_irl

What did Sexton do wrong? Our only remotely measured bits of play were with Sexton on the pitch.

thomond2006

Podge_irl wrote: »

What did Sexton do wrong? Our only remotely measured bits of play were with Sexton on the pitch.

I agree, he did okay.

I hope the "firing squad" of critics here don't go after Sexton, sure they've already assassinated good ol' ROG.

phog

Poor game, Leinster must be happy with the win but they really should have a BP win there this evening.
What happend Darcy after he scored his try, he seemed to go down with a head injury?

Nukem

I have to say that one of the poorest Leinster matches I have seen. There seemed like there was **** all of a game plan & the players looked rudderless. It took Whitaker to come on show why he has 31 international caps for Oz, not his biggest fan and thought O'Donoghue played well but Whits showed his class.

Leinster as I have said before on a number of occasions need a new coach and be ruled with an iron fist, wonder what Ian McGeechan is doing after the lions tour?

stephen_n

7mountpleasant wrote: »

Thought Cian Healy and Sexton were very poor, great to see darce get man of the match, has to be a shoe in for the next two 6n. Why keatley is languishing in connaught while sexton is still enjoying game time in leinster is beyond me.

Fail to see how sexton was so bad on a night when it was obviously very difficult to handle the ball I think he did ok also considering he got paired with slow hand luke (whitaker) consequently getting a back row with the ball every time!!

fifth

Good: Elsom and Darcy

Diabolical first half, permissions allowing for a certain amount of mistakes but there was quite a lot of scrappy disorganised play and not so hot kicking either. We should of racked up at least twice as many points tonight imo.

7mountpleasant

7mountpleasant wrote: »

Thought Cian Healy and Sexton were very poor, great to see darce get man of the match, has to be a shoe in for the next two 6n. Why keatley is languishing in connaught while sexton is still enjoying game time in leinster is beyond me.

Are you serious?

Sexton didnt put a foot wrong when he came on,in fact he was very good and Healy was immence all day.
I think you need to stick to the football mate,because you dont have a clue about rugby!


You could have singled out Horgan,Dempsey or even O'Kelly for criticism but you pick some of the only players that did well,good man.

anonymous_joe

Nukem wrote: »

I have to say that one of the poorest Leinster matches I have seen. There seemed like there was **** all of a game plan & the players looked rudderless. It took Whitaker to come on show why he has 31 international caps for Oz, not his biggest fan and thought O'Donoghue played well but Whits showed his class.

Leinster as I have said before on a number of occasions need a new coach and be ruled with an iron fist, wonder what Ian McGeechan is doing after the lions tour?

I didn't see the game (first time this season ><) but I don;t think Leinster need a coach with an iron fist, quite the opposite.

Right now, a new direction should be considered, whether with a new coach or not, but one that allows for the players to just play rugby. Seeing guys like Nacewa, Fitzgerald, Kearney, O'Driscoll, etc playing this season they look shackled. It's such a let down.

7mountpleasant

Brycen Damp Steak wrote: »

Are you serious?

Sexton didnt put a foot wrong when he came on,in fact he was very good and Healy was immence all day.
I think you need to stick to the football mate,because you dont have a clue about rugby!


You could have singled out Horgan,Dempsey or even O'Kelly for criticism but you pick some of the only players that did well,good man.

Personal insult for a valid opinion aside, the leinster scrum didn't provide decent ball all night and must have given away at least 3 penalties in the last 20 minutes alone,, as i have mentioned here previously I just don't think that healy is that good of a scrummager, on top of this last night he made no yardage with his carries , despite the oft vaunted opinion that he is tremendous in the loose, just the usual catch and flop stuff you see in the GP, as for my sexton comment looking back I accept it might have been a bit harsh but would I just don't think he is physically capable of hacking it, we are looking for a decent test 10, i just don't think that sexton has the physical stature to cope, last night while some resonable stuff with ball in hand and 1 or 2 tactical kicks he missed two tackles and any time he had to make a tackle was been driven back by what would essentially be acedemy players in the Ospreys backline.

funky penguin

What? Healy was great in the loose, one of the better players on the field..

Wright was the problem in the scrum (again... )

7mountpleasant

7mountpleasant wrote: »

Personal insult for a valid opinion aside, the leinster scrum didn't provide decent ball all night and must have given away at least 3 penalties in the last 20 minutes alone,, as i have mentioned here previously I just don't think that healy is that good of a scrummager, on top of this last night he made no yardage with his carries , despite the oft vaunted opinion that he is tremendous in the loose, just the usual catch and flop stuff you see in the GP, as for my sexton comment looking back I accept it might have been a bit harsh but would I just don't think he is physically capable of hacking it, we are looking for a decent test 10, i just don't think that sexton has the physical stature to cope, last night while some resonable stuff with ball in hand and 1 or 2 tactical kicks he missed two tackles and any time he had to make a tackle was been driven back by what would essentially be acedemy players in the Ospreys backline.

Sorry about the insult,bit drunk.

The scrum is weak cause Stan wright im prety sure is playing tighthead to accomodate healy and hes a natural loosehead,I could be wong though but for sure there is something going on with stan wright these days,his binding or somethng is killing us.He actually looked really upset last night towards the end of the match when the scrum collapsed,the refs seem to have a big problem with something hes doing.

Sexton is as big as Rog and is better than him in defence,he also hasnt played rugby in ages so you could forgive him for not nailing his tactical game.Leinster dont need Sexton to be international class,it would be a bonus but at this stage of his career he would be ideal as a club 10 if he can improve.

7mountpleasant

Just don't rate him , granted he had a couple of decent days last year but Churchill cup and this years preformances have greatly underwhelmed me, anyway no opinions will change me thinks!

7mountpleasant

7mountpleasant wrote: »

Just don't rate him , granted he had a couple of decent days last year but Churchill cup and this years preformances have greatly underwhelmed me, anyway no opinions will change me thinks!

Healy or Sexton?

Healy is only 21,that is very young for a prop.

John_C

Brycen Damp Steak wrote: »

The scrum is weak cause Stan wright im prety sure is playing tighthead to accomodate healy and hes a natural loosehead,I could be wong though but for sure there is something going on with stan wright these days,his binding or somethng is killing us.He actually looked really upset last night towards the end of the match when the scrum collapsed,the refs seem to have a big problem with something hes doing.

I'm not saying this to be rude but Stan seems a bit too fat and stubby to bind properly. Whenever he plays tight-head he always seems to be struggling to get his hand as far as the opposition shirt and often either binds on the arm or scrummages with his fist on the ground.

barnesd

7mountpleasant wrote: »

Just don't rate him , granted he had a couple of decent days last year but Churchill cup and this years preformances have greatly underwhelmed me, anyway no opinions will change me thinks!

What young Irish props do you rate?

chupacabra

7mountpleasant wrote: »

Just don't rate him , granted he had a couple of decent days last year but Churchill cup and this years preformances have greatly underwhelmed me, anyway no opinions will change me thinks!

How can you say that your opinion will not change? He is 21 years of age and has lots and LOTS of time to improve his scrummaging, i for one rate him very highly, higher than the likes of Marcus Horan/Darragh Hurley (and i'm a munster man) and think that he will become a formidable loosehead in the future. Also i used to know him, so maybe some personal bias helps along the way too

ALH-06

chupacabra wrote: »

How can you say that your opinion will not change? He is 21 years of age and has lots and LOTS of time to improve his scrummaging, i for one rate him very highly, higher than the likes of Marcus Horan/Darragh Hurley (and i'm a munster man) and think that he will become a formidable loosehead in the future. Also i used to know him, so maybe some personal bias helps along the way too

I think he was referring to Sexton, not Healy.

Didn't see the game but just watched the highlights. Looks like O'Donoghue did poorly for the Ospreys try - missed the tackle unfortunately. What was the rest of his game like? Did Whitaker really look a lot better when he came on?

Podge_irl

ALH-06 wrote: »

I think he was referring to Sexton, not Healy.

Didn't see the game but just watched the highlights. Looks like O'Donoghue did poorly for the Ospreys try - missed the tackle unfortunately. What was the rest of his game like? Did Whitaker really look a lot better when he came on?

POD did poorly for the Ospreys try, and also prevented another one with a very good cover tackle in the corner. He's inexperienced, he's bound to make some mistakes, definitely worth persisting with though.
Whits was better then his usual self, definitely got things moving a bit quicker, but I dont think he was massively better then POD. He seemed to be getting better ball from the forwards by that point.

funky penguin

Hopefully this is a sign of competition at scrumhalf (at least for the rest of the season).