Heineken Cup - General Discussion Thread

tolosenc

SSN bigging up Quins, Toulouse, Clermont...

Flashdean

tolosenc wrote: »

SSN bigging up Quins, Toulouse, Clermont...

Have every right to do so!Strela is def the missing link clermont needed

ambid

Shaun Edwards thinks 5 of the 8 quarter finalists will be from the Premiership

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/nov/10/heineken-cup-pools-shaun-edwards

For anyone who can't follow the link his predicted qualifiers are:
Pool A: Northamption
Pool B: Blues
Pool C: Leinster & Bath
Pool Leicester
Pool E: Saracens & Ospreys
Pool F: Quins.

So: 5 English, 2 Welsh, 1 Irish, 0 French!

Have I missed a golden age of English rugby?

wixfjord

RTE have announced that the halftimes in this years comp will be 15 mins long.
Weird!

irishbucsfan

I always thought they should lengthen half time a bit. Make more money from the punters and sell a bit more ad space increasing tv revenue. I don't mind 15 minute half-times.

SteelyDanJalapeno

Thats great news, more time to get the pints in

durkadurka

wixfjord wrote: »

RTE have announced that the halftimes in this years comp will be 15 mins long.
Weird!

This is a direct response to the critical 'queue for the jacks at ht' issue in the rds.

totallegend

ambid wrote: »

Shaun Edwards thinks 5 of the 8 quarter finalists will be from the Premiership

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/nov/10/heineken-cup-pools-shaun-edwards

For anyone who can't follow the link his predicted qualifiers are:
Pool A: Northamption
Pool B: Blues
Pool C: Leinster & Bath
Pool Leicester
Pool E: Saracens & Ospreys
Pool F: Quins.

So: 5 English, 2 Welsh, 1 Irish, 0 French!

Have I missed a golden age of English rugby?

Maybe Edwards is trying to ingratiate himself with the RFU in the hope of landing a job. Quins ahead of Toulouse? I don't see Clermont finishing behind Leicester either and I think if Montpelier try to be competitive at all, Bath won't be one of the best runners-up. No French qualifiers? Good luck Shaun.

durkadurka

Tweet of the week:


Gavin Henson will miss Cardiff's Heineken Cup game against Racing Metro due to a wrist injury. I'm saying nothing. #rugby

CatFromHue

The Ulster and Clermont teams have been named:

Ulster: 15 Simon Danielli, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Paul Marshall, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Johann Muller (capt), 3 John Afoa, 2 Rory Best, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Andi Kyriacou, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Willie Faloon, 21 Ian Porter, 22 Nevin Spence, 23 Adam D'Arcy.

Clermont: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Regan King, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 David Skrela, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Elvis Vermeulen, 7 Gerhard Vosloo, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Julien Pierre, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Clément Ric, 18 Mattheus Kotze, 19 Jason White, 20 Julien Bardy, 21 Kevin Senio, 22 Brock James, 23 Jean-Marcel Buttin.

Best, Ferris, and Muller are all fit which is great news. Cave gets the nod ahead of Spence, Afoa is included, and Danielli gets the nod ahead of D'Arcy.

This looks like it's going to be a great game. Paddy Power have Ulster at +2 so they think it's going to be close too.

vinny chase

CatFromHue wrote: »

The Ulster and Clermont teams have been named:

Ulster: 15 Simon Danielli, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Paul Marshall, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Johann Muller (capt), 3 John Afoa, 2 Rory Best, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Andi Kyriacou, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Willie Faloon, 21 Ian Porter, 22 Nevin Spence, 23 Adam D'Arcy.

Clermont: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Regan King, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 David Skrela, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Elvis Vermeulen, 7 Gerhard Vosloo, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Julien Pierre, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Clément Ric, 18 Mattheus Kotze, 19 Jason White, 20 Julien Bardy, 21 Kevin Senio, 22 Brock James, 23 Jean-Marcel Buttin.

Best, Ferris, and Muller are all fit which is great news. Cave gets the nod ahead of Spence, Afoa is included, and Danielli gets the nod ahead of D'Arcy.

This looks like it's going to be a great game. Paddy Power have Ulster at +2 so they think it's going to be close too.

I'm as blinkered a Leinster man as they come, but I think Clermont are the best team in the tournament this year. They've been close really for years; without the records really showing it. They've been significantly bolstered by the signing of Skrela and of the magnificent Regan King. King has been fantastic for Llanelli for years, and before that I used to love watching him for Waikato. I think he'll be devastating with the kind of ball generated by the Clermont pack and the space he'll be afforded because of the other options in the Clermont backline.

The young back on the bench, Buttin, is something special as well. Formidable pack with so much steel in it when you look at guys like Bonnaire, Vermeulen, Hines & Zirakashvili. Is Lapandry injured for them?

CatFromHue

No doubt Ulster have a serious job on their hands Clermont are a fantastic team.

I'm not so sure about Skrela and ironically he is probably the only survivor from the Ulster v Colomiers final in 99!

vinny chase

CatFromHue wrote: »

No doubt Ulster have a serious job on their hands Clermont are a fantastic team.

I'm not so sure about Skrela and ironically he is probably the only survivor from the Ulster v Colomiers final in 99!

I don't think Skrela is a superstar by any means, but I think he's probably more reliable than Brock James was for them. I can think of a couple of HEC games I've seen (definitely one against Leinster) and a couple of Top 14 games they'd have won had Brock James been able to keep the head.

I was impressed by Skrela in the Heino semi last year against Leinster too in large parts of the game; I was sitting in the upper stand for the first time (which gives a fantastic view for backline alignments) and consistently was impressed with how he put width on the ball and put Poitrenaud in space. That's as good a centre partnership, if not the best with Drico injured, in the Northern hemisphere in my opinion. Two big strong guys able to take the tackle on their terms and get the arms free for the offloads, and King has the subtlety to ghost into gaps, while Rougerie will run right over undersized opponents, like he did to d'Arce on one occasion last season. Big test for Cave and Paddy Wallace. If Cave comes through this well; I'd like to see him start at thirteen for Ireland soon.

Skrela is the definition of a flaky player. Bizarre signing I thought.

wixfjord

That is a big, trundling Clermont team with power everywhere!
Is Rockokoko not here yet?

totallegend

CatFromHue wrote: »

Clermont: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Regan King, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 David Skrela, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Elvis Vermeulen, 7 Gerhard Vosloo, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Julien Pierre, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Clément Ric, 18 Mattheus Kotze, 19 Jason White, 20 Julien Bardy, 21 Kevin Senio, 22 Brock James, 23 Jean-Marcel Buttin.

vinny chase wrote: »

I'm as blinkered a Leinster man as they come, but I think Clermont are the best team in the tournament this year.

On paper at least, Clermont have a ridiculously good team. I've never been the biggest fan of Skrela but he'll give Clermont a bit of solidity and control that they sometimes lack with James at 10. If Regan King hits top form, he's just the sort of centre they need to run the angles and give the deft passes to release the likes of Rougerie.

And the above squad doesn't even include Domingo, Lapandry, Canale, Malzieu, Murimurivalu, Floch and Sivivatu! There's strength in depth and there's taking the p*ss...

.ak

Hard to call at this stage with no games played, but I'd have to think that Clermont are gonna take the prize this year.

vinny chase

wixfjord wrote: »

That is a big, trundling Clermont team with power everywhere!
Is Rockokoko not here yet?

I thought Rokocoko was going to Bayonne? Sivivatu has signed for Clermont!

vinny chase

totallegend wrote: »

On paper at least, Clermont have a ridiculously good team. I've never been the biggest fan of Skrela but he'll give Clermont a bit of solidity and control that they sometimes lack with James at 10. If Regan King hits top form, he's just the sort of centre they need to run the angles and give the deft passes to release the likes of Rougerie.

And the above squad doesn't even include Domingo, Lapandry, Canale, Malzieu, Murimurivalu, Floch and Sivivatu! There's strength in depth and there's taking the p*ss...

Yeah, that's essentially what I was trying to say about Skrela above. He's not exciting, but with a pack like that, a controlling nine like Parra, and backs like he has outside him, he doesn't need to be. Just needs to steer the ship effectively, which I think he can do.

The depth of the ASM squad is truly frightening.

9/1 to win the tournament; they'll probably drift in a little bit with a win in Ravenhill since that will essentially at least give them a QF spot (esp if they take a bonus point). I'm going to have some of that now I think!

totallegend

vinny chase wrote: »

9/1 to win the tournament; they'll probably drift in a little bit with a win in Ravenhill since that will essentially at least give them a QF spot (esp if they take a bonus point). I'm going to have some of that now I think!

Think I'll join you. Odds probably reflect the tough pool draw they got, but if they can beat either Ulster or Leicester away and get ten points from Aironi, then they'll be odds-on for a home QF and no-one is going to beat them in Marcel Michelin...

[Jackass]

Clermont looked really good against Stade, some really good signings. Hines in second row along side Cudmore, Lee Byrne at full back, and most importantly, Skreala replacing James in the starting team, they are looking very very dangerous.

Like I said before, my dark horse for the competition.

thomond2006

Racing 14-17 Cardiff, almost halftime.

CIARAN_BOYLE

thomond2006 wrote: »

Racing 14-17 Cardiff, almost halftime.

If Cardiff can win this then their group is probably be theres for the taking

thomond2006

Racing 20-26 Cardiff; FT

Big result for Cardiff, huge step to winning the pool.

irishbucsfan

Fair play to Cardiff. Not an easy thing to go to France and win.

[Jackass]

thomond2006 wrote: »

Racing 20-26 Cardiff; FT

Big result for Cardiff, huge step to winning the pool.

Check your talking rugby FB page...I believe I was the only person to call this result correctly on the entire poll. :cool:

totallegend

thomond2006 wrote: »

Racing 20-26 Cardiff; FT

Big result for Cardiff, huge step to winning the pool.

And a huge setback for Racing. Hopefully they'll turn it around and continue to compete, the last thing we want is another Castres-type team devaluing the competition.

thomond2006

Aironi 6-20 Leicester
L Irish 16-10 Edinburgh

[Jackass]

*oops wrong thread**

thomond2006

19-20 to Edinburgh with a few minutes to go