Leinster v. Bath Saturday 6pm

wixfjord

Might as well start this.

Leinster:
15: Rob Kearney
14: Isa Nacewa
13: Eoin O'Malley
12: Fergus McFadden
11: Luke Fitzgerald
10: Jonathan Sexton
9: Eoin Reddan

1: Heinke van der Merwe
2: Richardt Strauss
3: Mike Ross
4: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN
5: Devin Toner
6: Sean O'Brien
7: Shane Jennings
8: Jamie Heaslip

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Sean Cronin
17: Cian Healy
18: Nathan White
19: Kevin McLaughlin
20: Rhys Ruddock
21: Isaac Boss
22: Ian Madigan
23: Gordon D'Arcy

Bath

15 Sam Vesty
14 Jack Cuthbert
13 Matt Banahan
12 Olly Barkley
11 Nick Abendanon
10 Stephen Donald
9 Michael Claassens
1 David Flatman
2 Chris Biller
3 David Wilson
4 Dave Attwood
5 Ryan Caldwell
6 Francois Louw (c)
7 Guy Mercer
8 Simon Taylor

Replacements

16 Ross Batty
17 Nathan Catt
18 Anthony Perenise
19 Will Spencer
20 Andy Beattie
21 Chris Cook
22 Tom Heathcote
23 Ben Williams

wixfjord

Vesty at FB and Banahan at 13 is interesting.
Will be a big test for O Malley if he starts.

CatFromHue

wixfjord wrote: »

Vesty at FB and Banahan at 13 is interesting.
Will be a big test for O Malley if he starts.

What's Banahan like defensively? I think O' Malley could test him, again if he starts.

NU8

LEINSTER:

15: Rob Kearney
14: Isa Nacewa
13: Eoin O'Malley
12: Fergus McFadden
11: Luke Fitzgerald
10: Jonathan Sexton
9: Eoin Reddan

1: Heinke van der Merwe
2: Richardt Strauss
3: Mike Ross
4: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN
5: Devin Toner
6: Sean O'Brien
7: Shane Jennings
8: Jamie Heaslip

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Sean Cronin
17: Cian Healy
18: Nathan White
19: Kevin McLaughlin
20: Rhys Ruddock
21: Isaac Boss
22: Ian Madigan
23: Gordon D'Arcy

D'Arcy and Healy on the bench. Interesting selections. I thought D'Arcy was very good last week.

wixfjord

Happy with that team.
Healy and Darcy not starting are big calls, but not unwarranted.

The centre battle will be very big for us I think.
Sink or swim time for EOM with some very big men in the Bath backline.

bamboozle

big open pitch for McFadden & O'Malley to expose the lumberers in the Bath backline.

some good changes to freshen up the team, Healy has a long season ahead and i'm happy to see him rested at this stage.
Jennings at 7 signals danger for Bath with an angry SOB keen to quieten a few dissenters...

Mr.Applepie

wixfjord wrote: »

Happy with that team.
Healy and Darcy not starting are big calls, but not unwarranted.

The centre battle will be very big for us I think.
Sink or swim time for EOM with some very big men in the Bath backline.

Isn't Healy coming back from injury? He'll probably get 40mins again and brought back in slowly. I always think injured players get pushed back in too soon and end up with more problems down the line (See BOD, Fla & Heaslip with his ankle)

If Leinster don't blow them away in the 1st half (and I'm not sure if we will), our bench should win it in the final 20. It's far superior.

wixfjord

I think we should remember aswell that Healy was well and truly flogged by the Irish management last year, and has played a huge amount of games in a short career.
Suggestion that he's still injured and we have a ready made replacement so that may be the thinking behind it.
We'll certainly need him fit and fresh if we get to later rounds.

errlloyd

33-12 Leinster. Have no idea where I am picking this score from.

bamboozle

Mr.Applepie wrote: »

Isn't Healy coming back from injury? He'll probably get 40mins again and brought back in slowly. I always think injured players get pushed back in too soon and end up with more problems down the line (See BOD, Fla & Heaslip with his ankle)

If Leinster don't blow them away in the 1st half (and I'm not sure if we will), our bench should win it in the final 20. It's far superior.

excellent point.

plus in HVDM we have a quality player.

totallegend

Alright, happy with that side. Big talking point is at 12 I suppose, I'm looking forward to seeing how the EOM and Ferg work together. For me, Ferg looks more like a 12 so I think this could work.

VDM is well worth his place, thought he was excellent last week. Happy to see Ruddock on the bench, I'd love to see Leinster get ahead early enough to bring him on for a decent run.

For Bath to have any chance, Donald needs to up his game big time. Ponderous is probably the kindest word to describe his performance last week.

danthefan

Only concerd about McFadden at 12 is a lot of ball might die with him. D'Arcy is a much better passer.

Quint2010

totallegend wrote: »

Alright, happy with that side. Big talking point is at 12 I suppose, I'm looking forward to seeing how the EOM and Ferg work together. For me, Ferg looks more like a 12 so I think this could work.

VDM is well worth his place, thought he was excellent last week. Happy to see Ruddock on the bench, I'd love to see Leinster get ahead early enough to bring him on for a decent run.

For Bath to have any chance, Donald needs to up his game big time. Ponderous is probably the kindest word to describe his performance last week.

Thought Donald had a good game last week. Anyway surprises at midfield and at loose head. Definately thought Healy would start. And D'Arcy being dropped is a surprise but maybe finally it signals the beginning of a new midfield guard.

Seph503

danthefan wrote: »

Only concerd about McFadden at 12 is a lot of ball might die with him. D'Arcy is a much better passer.

I thought Ferg did well last week when D'Arcy went off, saw a lot more of him. Glad to see him starting with EOM.

totallegend

Quint2010 wrote: »

Thought Donald had a good game last week. Anyway surprises at midfield and at loose head. Definately thought Healy would start. And D'Arcy being dropped is a surprise but maybe finally it signals the beginning of a new midfield guard.

Rumour is that D'Arcy has a minor injury picked up in training, but whatever the reason, I'm glad to see the new pairing get a run in a high profile game.

irishbucsfan

danthefan wrote: »

Only concerd about McFadden at 12 is a lot of ball might die with him. D'Arcy is a much better passer.

Completely agree, can only think Darcy is injured.

Hope Sexton finds a way to bring omalley into the game because I doubt McFadden will.

ALH-06

Quint2010 wrote: »

And D'Arcy being dropped is a surprise but maybe finally it signals the beginning of a new midfield guard.

Darcy isn't dropped, he played very well last week anyway. He suffered a niggle in training during the week apparently.

molloyjh

Very happy with that side. And yet again it's a class bench to be able to call on. Looking at that side and the A side they've named for LW you can't help but get excited about this season and the next few.

We should be able to pull away from Bath in the first half I reckon. Bath offered very little at home last week all things considered and we kept them in the game when we shouldn't have. The atmosphere and the mistakes from last week should really push the team to perform and I can see us bagging 3 tries in the first half. We can then start bringing on the replacements in the second half. If/once we get the bonus hopefully Madigan will get on. He's progressing well in the Pro12 so it'd be great to start getting him some decent HEC game time too.

Thought Abendanon did quite well at 15 for Bath last week, bit odd to see him moved about.

CatFromHue

Deleted User wrote: »

Thought Abendanon did quite well at 15 for Bath last week, bit odd to see him moved about.

He's been caught out a few times by letting a ball bounce in front of him.

I think Vesty could be a bit more solid. Vesty is also an outhalf so may be more suited to a kicking game.

Coburger

That is one very strong bench.

molloyjh wrote: »

Very happy with that side. And yet again it's a class bench to be able to call on. Looking at that side and the A side they've named for LW you can't help but get excited about this season and the next few.

We should be able to pull away from Bath in the first half I reckon. Bath offered very little at home last week all things considered and we kept them in the game when we shouldn't have. The atmosphere and the mistakes from last week should really push the team to perform and I can see us bagging 3 tries in the first half. We can then start bringing on the replacements in the second half. If/once we get the bonus hopefully Madigan will get on. He's progressing well in the Pro12 so it'd be great to start getting him some decent HEC game time too.

crisco10

CatFromHue wrote: »

He's been caught out a few times by letting a ball bounce in front of him.

I think Vesty could be a bit more solid. Vesty is also an outhalf so may be more suited to a kicking game.

I think Hipkiss was injured last week. (maybe by Isa!) which sort of makes it a rejig from Geech to get his best backs available on the pitch...

.ak

Lookin forward to this now. A win would be great. A bp would set us up nicely for a home q4. But most of all.. I'd love to see eom and ferg do well to put all our transitional fears to rest.

ongarite

BOD is on Sky Sports now, looks like he will be covering all the games today.

GerM

Temperatures starting to drop. Ice and frost never thawed at all today around where I am in north Dublin. Gonna be cold out there today, sportsfans. Hot whiskey beckons.

Really looking forward to this one. I think the line up we've gone with is suited to playing them at pace and aggression. Front five is there to provide a platform. Not to carry, not to move the ball or interlink just to give a good set piece and clean ball. Jennings in there to do the same. 7-15 to get a lot of ball and move it around. Think we're going to see Leinster's intentions early on and hopefully an early score or two will settle them and let them play the way they can. Anyway, enough jibber jabber; Landsdowne here we come.

Burgo

From Leinster rugby facebook "AND we've hit 65,000!"

Burgo

Burgo wrote: »

From Leinster rugby facebook "AND we've hit 65,000!"

.....fans on facebook....

Burgo

Deleted User wrote: »

.....fans on facebook....

my bad

durkadurka

Updating using the free wifi in aviva. Savage.

.ak

Guinness was a bad choice... So cold. Gas to see sexto, fmf, mads, isa and kearns all practicing at goal... We're spoiled for handy goal kickers... Few hitting the posts tho!

BOD has a real sideways face in the studio.

So odd to see him there

Yahew

sideways face?

kmart6

Any links lads?!

Benny Cake

Yahew wrote: »

sideways face?

Ever notice that he talks out of the side of his mouth?

Yahew

Yahew wrote: »

sideways face?

talking out of one side of his mouth. He seems really very nervous too.

Hasn't a clue what to do with his hands.

Benny Cake

kmart6 wrote: »

Any links lads?!

http://www.justin.tv/twomintpork1#/w/2258845408/3

jasper11

sideways? is is mashed nose u referring to. must try and get see it later on sky plus

Benny Cake

Why do they insist on sitting the Sky Sports panelists on that ridiculous bench? Whats wrong with a table and chairs??

Sky Sports couldn't have more love for Seanie. I love the guy, but I don't think I'm anywhere near as obsessed with him as they are!

kmart6

Benny Cake wrote: »

http://www.justin.tv/twomintpork1#/w/2258845408/3

Thanks...keep meaning to bookmark that!

Liam90

Just put €10 on bath at 10/1

Burgo

Liam90 wrote: »

Just put €10 on bath at 10/1

just pissed away a tenner mate :pac:

Burgo

Excellent start!

thomond2006

Judging by how easy that was, Bath are gonna get hockeyed.

Burgo

Leinster 7 - 0 Bath

Great crossfield kick from Sexton there. Toner off the post, exhibition stuff.

MungBean

Brilliant by Reddan there.

thomond2006

Flatman didn't bind there...

right in front of Poite!

Poite gonna Poite.

Ridiculous scrum penalty call.

MungBean

Ref is blind as a bat by the looks of it.

thomond2006

7-3