Leinster v Connacht Match Thread

Lawstudent1

Teams announced :

LEINSTER
Isa Nacewa; Andrew Conway, Eoin O’Malley, Fergus McFadden, Dave Kearney; Shaun Berne, Paul O’Donohoe; Heinke van der Merwe, Richardt Strauss, Clint Newland; Nathan Hines, Devin Toner; Kevin McLaughlin, Shane Jennings (captain), Seán O’Brien. Replacements : Tom Sexton, Jack McGrath, Mike Ross, Ed O’Donoghue, Stephen Keogh, Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan, Niall Morris

CONNACHT
Troy Nathan; Eoin Griffin, Ian Keatley, Keith Matthews (captain), Brian Tuohy; Miah Nikora, Cillian Willis; Brett Wilkinson, Adrian Flavin, Jamie Hagan; Michael Swift, Michael McCarthy; Andrew Browne, Johnny O’Connor, Eoin McKeon. Replacements : Dermot Murphy, Rodney Ah You, Dylan Rogers, Bernie Upton, Shane Conneely, Frank Murphy, Niva Ta’auso, Fionn Carr


Good to see McLaughlin back. Very interested to see how Griffin and Conway get on. As an aside is it possibe that Munster would consider playing Keatley at 12 until O'Gara retires? He seems to be playing some rugby at centre recently.

funky penguin

Wow, McLaughlin is starting! Best of luck to him, great to see him back.

Exciting Leinster team!

wixfjord

Slightly worried about this one tbh.
Hagan and Wilkinson will cause our scrum trouble, and weve a young running backline who are quite small, with imo a poor 9 and a 10 who isn't great without a dominant pack.
Think we'll win, but wont be the same as last week.

Big game for POD though. I cant see him making it from what Ive seen, he has all the slowness of Boss, without the power around the fringes, but should be interesting.

gally74

Great to see Eoin griffin back

irishbucsfan

Fair play to Eoin McKeon. He's obviously rated highly in the Connacht setup.

I'm a little worried about Newland and O'Donoghue, but apart from that I think we're better than Connacht in every position. If they can control possession then I think the Leinster backline could be very exciting. Too bad we won't see Boss

thomond2006

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Fair play to Eoin McKeon. He's obviously rated highly in the Connacht setup.

I'm a little worried about Newland and O'Donoghue, but apart from that I think we're better than Connacht in every position. If they can control possession then I think the Leinster backline could be very exciting. Too bad we won't see Boss

McKeon was very good against Samoa.

Leinster to win by 10+ points.

whysomoody

Leinster should run in easy winners with that team IMO.

its_phil

Cant see us getting a win,but can see us robbing a bonus point out of it (even though im sick of them at this stage!)

Good to see Eric showing no one is safe by reputation (take notes Declan ) by dropping Carr,he's not playing well enough right now.

Worried to see keatley at 13.When he played there against quins at the stoop,the backline's movement was just poor.Hopefully it runs better.

Leinster's backrow looks fantastic,McKeon has really been thrown in the deep end here but if he produces like he did against Samoa then we should be competitive at the breakdown.Hopefully McLaughlin (great to see him back,same with Griffin) is a bit rusty and we can take advantage of that.

tolosenc

Used to play with Tom Sexton (got picked ahead of him for a while before I switched to the back-row :P) many years ago - crazy to see someone I knew in the team.

That Leinster back-row is exciting to say the least. Leinster by double digits.

copacetic

Looking forward to the game, should be late enough for hangover to have faded a little. Good to see nearly the full young backline out. Hopefully they get us off to a better start than we had last home game against Connacht and don't cough up a couple of early tries. (Although a last minute winning drop goal wouldn't be all bad!)

tolosenc

Also, it's on TG4.

porterbelly

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Fair play to Eoin McKeon. He's obviously rated highly in the Connacht setup.

I'm a little worried about Newland and O'Donoghue, but apart from that I think we're better than Connacht in every position. If they can control possession then I think the Leinster backline could be very exciting. Too bad we won't see Boss

It's more the case of we have nobody else. Ezra Taylor, John Muldoon, Ray Ofisa and Mike McComish are all out, so we're severley depeleted. That being said, he's a good prospect, but he's up against Sean O'Brien tomorrow, and he'll get no change there

roycon

i dont know why people are doubting pod so much he's a quality player just hasnt got the chances. supposedly schmidt is being very biased towards his new zealand mates boss, newland,nacewa etc. so this is why hes not getting much of a chance this year. in terms of open play kicking ,carrying, defense id say hes the best scrumhalf in the country its only his passing that people have been doubting.

roycon

its_phil wrote: »

Cant see us getting a win,but can see us robbing a bonus point out of it (even though im sick of them at this stage!)

Good to see Eric showing no one is safe by reputation (take notes Declan ) by dropping Carr,he's not playing well enough right now.

Worried to see keatley at 13.When he played there against quins at the stoop,the backline's movement was just poor.Hopefully it runs better.

Leinster's backrow looks fantastic,McKeon has really been thrown in the deep end here but if he produces like he did against Samoa then we should be competitive at the breakdown.Hopefully McLaughlin (great to see him back,same with Griffin) is a bit rusty and we can take advantage of that.

this makes no sense. how is the "movement of the backline" down to the 13. its really just a jargon phrase. keatley has proven over 3 years to be a poor place kicker which rules him out as an outhalf in my eyes. he has got great pace and excellent handling as well as being brilliant in defence. in the long term i see him as a full back for munster but he could be a brilliant 13 aswell. in terms of "movement" as you call it i think this would be his best attribute. playing as an out half would give you great positional skills and allow you to put width on the ball easily and release the players around you. his weakness at 13 at the moment would be beong a strike runner

durkadurka

roycon wrote: »

i dont know why people are doubting pod so much he's a quality player just hasnt got the chances. supposedly schmidt is being very biased towards his new zealand mates boss, newland,nacewa etc. so this is why hes not getting much of a chance this year. in terms of open play kicking ,carrying, defense id say hes the best scrumhalf in the country its only his passing that people have been doubting.

Are you having a laugh re nz bias? Firstly nacewa is Fijian, second he always plays because he's outstanding, third boss is miles ahead of o donoghue

tolosenc

durkadurka wrote: »

Are you having a laugh re nz bias? Firstly nacewa is Fijian, second he always plays because he's outstanding, third boss is miles ahead of o donoghue

I agree with ya, but Nacewa is from NZ.

durkadurka

tolosenc wrote: »

I agree with ya, but Nacewa is from NZ.

He's been capped for Fiji hasn't he? Doesn't take away from my point in any case

roycon

all my friends who play for leinster tell me this. i presume they know more than you, also nacewa was born in new zealand went to school in new zealand,his family live in new zealand and played super 14 in new zealand. boss is possibly the most inconsistent player of all time. suddenly he moves to a better team and after 5 years of being rubbish people think he has suddenly become a good player

roycon

id still have the starting leinster back 3 of kearney at 15 horgan at 14 and fitzgerald at 11. and i certainly wouldnt have nacewa at out half because he cant kick -not even a little bit - he cant kick at all. my granny can kick better than he can. its embarrassing to even see him try.

durkadurka

Presumably all your friends who play for Leinster can remember that he always played when cheiks was in charge too.

In Relation to kicking I presume you don't mean place kicking because he's very good at that. out of hands not so great,

Maybe we should arrange a contest between ISA and your granny, witnessed by all your Leinster mates.

Lots of people regard boss highly

Ciaran-Irl

roycon wrote: »

all my friends who play for leinster tell me this. i presume they know more than you, also nacewa was born in new zealand went to school in new zealand,his family live in new zealand and played super 14 in new zealand. boss is possibly the most inconsistent player of all time. suddenly he moves to a better team and after 5 years of being rubbish people think he has suddenly become a good player

All my friends that play for Leinster say you're talking crap.

smurphy29

Axe to grind at all, roycon?

Nacewa has been arguably Leinster's best back for the last 18 months, and is better suited to counter-attacking rugby than Kearney.

As for POD, we all keep hearing from Tarf fans that he's fantastic, but he's yet to show even a spark of that for Leinster. Hopefully, tomorrow will see lift-off. Boss is far from perfect but it's impossible to deny his physicality has been very impressive this season for Leinster.

PhatPiggins

roycon wrote: »

i dont know why people are doubting pod so much he's a quality player just hasnt got the chances. supposedly schmidt is being very biased towards his new zealand mates boss, newland,nacewa etc. so this is why hes not getting much of a chance this year. in terms of open play kicking ,carrying, defense id say hes the best scrumhalf in the country its only his passing that people have been doubting.

:pac::pac:

Newland gets the odd 10 minutes and Boss rotate's with Reddan. Nacewa starts every game because with out fail he's one of the best 4/5 leinster players every match.

I hear passing is fairly important for a scrumhalf. POD will be lucky to be playing for any province in 18 months time.

roycon

ah durka relax. i never said nacewa was bad just said ther was a nz bias. nacewa isnt a good place kicker. if you take it on percentages hes poor if you take it on technique hes poor. he's poor out of hand aswell. if you think nacewa should start ahead of horgan ,fitz or kearney then youre living in a dream world.

roycon

saying i have an axe to grind doesnt make sense. i think you dont understand the meaning of the phrase. what i was referring to when i said my friends who play for leinster was the new zealand bias obviously not nacewa playing last season because schmidt wasnt the coach then

durkadurka

Unfortunately my dream world corresponds with reality, if everyone is fit, Isa plays ahead of Horgan and most people have no argument with that.



Anyway are you not ringing in the new year with Brian and Amy? And are they aware that you are betraying confidences such as these?

There is no evidence of a nz bias, as has been proven by mine and other posts: newland getting the odd 10 mins and boss rotating with redden, and Isa always playing no matter who the manager is.

irishbucsfan

The idea of a New Zealand bias is ridiculous.

On form, Boss should be playing MORE than he is now. Reddan was good against Clermont and has been good off the bench (as all scrum halves are, apart from POD), but I don't think anyone would be able to mention a game he has started, apart from Clermont, where he played well this season. Certainly, against Racing when it counted most he was awful. That was despite playing at home on a day when SOB/Jennings/Heaslip DOMINATED the ground game and made it easy for him. Boss on the other hand was good against Ulster, Connacht (away), Clermont (away), Munster (home), and the early game this season when Madigan player (Cardiff?). On form, Boss should hold the 9 jersey.


And then, moving on to this ridiculous sentence

boss is possibly the most inconsistent player of all time. suddenly he moves to a better team and after 5 years of being rubbish people think he has suddenly become a good player

Boss was the best Scrum Half in the country on form for the first half of the last two seasons before he moved to Leinster. And that was playing for Ulster, the most inconsistent team in the world at the moment, apart from perhaps Treviso and the two poor SA Super 14 sides last season. Boss is a class act, and Leinster are lucky to have him. Any lack of ability he shows in his passing is more than made up for in his ability to break with the ball and create attacking opportunities (as he showed against Ulster last week, Clermont 2 weeks before, Connacht earlier this season and Cardiff before that. In all those games he created tries out of nothing).

POD on the other hand, despite being a great prospect who I was very excited about, has been extremely disappointing when given an opportunity by Leinster. He is ponderous and his passing is no better than anything we have. I would be surprised if he is given another start this season unless during the 6 Nations or we take injuries. He will be lucky if Connacht give him an opportunity next season, and even then, he will be 3rd choice behind Murphy and Willis, both of whom are better and more experienced SHs.

Elsewhere, Newland is a new signing. We need to know exactly where he stands in the squad right now, and Connacht are a great front row to test him. Apart from that the only player he has been selected ahead of in the more important games was Jack McGrath, who many would argue is not ready for that level of scrummaging. Newland looks very poor right now, but people forget how bad big Stan looked on his arrival, only to improve to being the best prop in the squad. There is also the examples of Ross and CJ who came in as pure scrummaging THs and looked awful in their first seasons, only to become more influential in Year 2 when they gained the added mobility and fitness required of ML props. I refuse to write Newland (or Borlaise in Munster) off until this time next year.

And Nacewa has been in the top 3 Leinster players since he signed. In 2008/9 he was fantastic at 15 in the H Cup knockouts. In 2009/10 he was our best player apart from maybe Stan, Sexton, Cullen or Heaslip. This year he has been fantastic again.

I know 100% for a fact that Nacewa and Boss are rated in the squad as leaders and as top quality blokes. Nacewa is a bit of a hero. In other words, your "Leinster friends" are taking the piss out of you if they're telling you they think those guys are being picked because of their nationality.

laugh

Easy enough get a ticket on the way into this?

durkadurka

There were 2000 left last time I checked, spar in donnybrook is always a good bet, but check leinsterrugby.ie for the latest

marius

roycon wrote: »

ah durka relax. i never said nacewa was bad just said ther was a nz bias. nacewa isnt a good place kicker. if you take it on percentages hes poor if you take it on technique hes poor. he's poor out of hand aswell. if you think nacewa should start ahead of horgan ,fitz or kearney then youre living in a dream world.

Roycon - Nacewa has probably been Leinsters best player over the last two seasons. He is unfortunately miles ahead of any of Horgan/Kearney.Fitz...

dingbat

roycon wrote: »

ah durka relax. i never said nacewa was bad just said ther was a nz bias. nacewa isnt a good place kicker. if you take it on percentages hes poor if you take it on technique hes poor. he's poor out of hand aswell. if you think nacewa should start ahead of horgan ,fitz or kearney then youre living in a dream world.

Unfortunately from an Irish perspective, Nacewa has by far Leinster's most effective back three player for the past 18 months. Horgan has looked sharper this season than for a long time but is still limited; Fitz has had a bad injury run; Kearney doesn't know how to offload.

Nacewa has put together a remarkable string of performances over a long time now that cement his name as one of the first on the teamsheet, whether on the wing or at 15.

Considering how ineffective he looked at both 10 and 12 where he was played when he first arrived, his rise to prominence has been a joy to watch.

thomond2006

I've let gambling supercede my love for Connacht.

C'mon Leinster.

wixfjord

Definitely wary about this one for some reason.

Also does my Irish serve me correctly and did yer wan on TG4 say it's a sell out and there were 20,000 there??

Stev_o

What happened to POD having a good pass? He flings them far too high.

wixfjord

Hmmm, bad start.

thomond2006

What was Berne at there?

Keatley kicked Connacht ahead, 0-3 so far.

B0X

Jaysus it's been all Connacht so far.

wixfjord

We'd want to wake up.

thomond2006

Ooooh lost forward on the Leinster line.

All Connacht so far!!

Sean O'Brien gone off, hope it's not serious. Stephen Keogh on.

scooters

Any sites I can stream this from as I'm in north Carolina for crimbo.

irishbucsfan

Was that Dave Kearney knocking the ball out with a big tackle on the line? Fair play to him

David900

thomond2006 wrote: »

Ooooh lost forward on the Leinster line.

All Connacht so far!!

Sean O'Brien gone off, hope it's not serious. Stephen Keogh on.

Does anyone know what the commentators said about SOB?

Judgement Day

It's all Connacht isn't it? Glad I stayed away from the betting on this one.

David900

Great kick from Nacewa there!!!

wixfjord

All Connacht so far. We're terribly sloppy.
Scrum going ok though.

wixfjord

David900 wrote: »

Does anyone know what the commentators said about SOB?

Blood injury was what they said.

WallyGUFC

Typical case of Connacht sh**ting themselves on the opponent's line once again.:(

B0X

scooters wrote: »

Any sites I can stream this from as I'm in north Carolina for crimbo.

http://www.freewebs.com/chrizzzie/index.htm

scooters

B0X wrote: »

http://www.freewebs.com/chrizzzie/index.htm

Cheers!!

wixfjord

Keogh staying on now. ****.

David900

wixfjord wrote: »

Keogh staying on now. ****.

Did they say that?