RaboDirectPro12 2012/13 General Discussion (with transfers/season preview)

decisions

Zebre

Thats a big blow, one of the best Scots atm.

CatFromHue

Some more friendly results

Bath 26 8 Cardiff
Lanelli 23 17 London Welsh (rumour has it that Henson might have fractured his jaw )
Glasgow 6 15 Exeter
Edinburgh 3 54 Northampton

Sale 10 10 Leinster
Ulster 24 20 Newcastle
Munster 10 34 London Irish

Zebre - No game as far as I know
Treviso - No game as far as I know
Dragons - No game as far as I know
Ospreys - No game as far as I know
Connacht - No game as far as I know

profitius

Zebre

CatFromHue wrote: »

Some more friendly results

Bath 26 8 Cardiff
Lanelli 23 17 London Welsh (rumour has it that Henson might have fractured his jaw )
Glasgow 6 15 Exeter
Edinburgh 3 54 Northampton

Sale 10 10 Leinster
Ulster 24 20 Newcastle
Munster 10 34 London Irish

Zebre - No game as far as I know
Treviso - No game as far as I know
Dragons - No game as far as I know
Ospreys - No game as far as I know
Connacht - No game as far as I know

Northampton steamrolling everything in pre season. They usually run out of steam in the last 1/3rd of the season.

damianmcr

Zebre beat them.

bilston

Zebre

damianmcr wrote: »

Zebre beat them.

So based on their squad and pre-season results do we think Zebre will be stronger than Aironi or is it (as I imagine it probably is) too early to tell?

justsomebloke

Scarlets

bilston wrote: »

So based on their squad and pre-season results do we think Zebre will be stronger than Aironi or is it (as I imagine it probably is) too early to tell?

They could well be stronger however it's like asking how long is a piece of string as they could easily be better the aironi yet still finish last.

profitius

Zebre

bilston wrote: »

So based on their squad and pre-season results do we think Zebre will be stronger than Aironi or is it (as I imagine it probably is) too early to tell?

They'll finish bottom IMO. They might be an improvement on Aironi but the teams around them are all improving too. From the bottom teams, Dragons would possibly be the only team I could think of who look a bit weaker than last season.

thomond2006

Zebre

The WRU have organised a Welsh Pro12 double header at the Millenium Stadium on March 30.

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_8028388,00.html

A great idea!

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

The WRU have organised a Welsh Pro12 double header at the Millenium Stadium on March 30.

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_8028388,00.html

A great idea!

that's genius. I may even attend. A mini rugby festival sure!

Fireball07

thomond2006 wrote: »

The WRU have organised a Welsh Pro12 double header at the Millenium Stadium on March 30.

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_8028388,00.html

A great idea!

Good idea!

An Irish one would be great too, but I get the feeling it'd be a lot less likely to happen.

thomond2006

Zebre

Fireball07 wrote: »

Good idea!

An Irish one would be great too, but I get the feeling it'd be a lot less likely to happen.

Unless it happened at Croke Park, it's not really a runner. The loss of revenue for the 2 home teams would have to be compensated, I don't think the Aviva would be big enough. Plus the crowds in Ireland are a lot better than the crowds in Wales.

durkadurka

The welsh regions are all a lot closer to Cardiff than Irish provinces to Dublin
. We're a bit more dispersed here.
Great idea.

CatFromHue

durkadurka wrote: »

The welsh regions are all a lot closer to Cardiff than Irish provides to Dublin
. We're a bit more dispersed here.
Great idea.

It's mad really. Lanelli is the furthest away from Cardiff and even then it's only just over a 50 miles......my brother in law travels just over 30 miles to all the Leinster games. He's from Wicklow.

Fireball07

thomond2006 wrote: »

Unless it happened at Croke Park, it's not really a runner. The loss of revenue for the 2 home teams would have to be compensated, I don't think the Aviva would be big enough. Plus the crowds in Ireland are a lot better than the crowds in Wales.

Yeah, I realise that.


But I think it would be great if something like that did happen, would be a good event. But there are plenty of reasons for not doing it. (Losing home advantage in a league match is nothing any team would want to do)

thomond2006

Zebre

Yeah, the Twickenham double headers (I think there are 2 a season now? First weekend and then Boxing/Stephen's Day?) have been a great success.

[Jackass]

Zebre

The double header is a bit of an attempt at emergency resuscitation for Welsh regional rugby.

It wouldn't happen in Ireland, because we don't need it, our crowds are very strong, but hopefully in Wales, this will become a staple event to attract big crowds to the Millenium and if one or two crackers can occur, hopefully more will go the following weeks and months to the home games.

irishbucsfan

[Jackass] wrote: »

The double header is a bit of an attempt at emergency resuscitation for Welsh regional rugby.

It wouldn't happen in Ireland, because we don't need it, our crowds are very strong, but hopefully in Wales, this will become a staple event to attract big crowds to the Millenium and if one or two crackers can occur, hopefully more will go the following weeks and months to the home games.

Our crowds are strong but filling the Aviva for Connacht v. Munster and Ulster v. Leinster would be a much larger crowd than we get when holding those games at the Sportsground and Ravenhill. Those fixtures had a combined attendance of 17,500 last season. They could fill the Aviva at 51,000. That's a huge increase.

Not sure I'd like to see it happen personally due to teams losing the home game, but it would be a good day out. If they split all profits between the provinces losing the home game it might be more worth it for them.

thomond2006

Zebre

Tickets for the event will be just £10 for U18's and £25 for adults with a family package (2 adults, 2 children) on offer for just £50 - they are available from the Regions, from Ticketmaster and online at www.wru.co.uk

€31/€32 for 2 games, that's great value.

CatFromHue

Gerry Thornley has his predictions for the Rabo in the Times today.

1. Leinster
2. Ospreys
3. Lanelli
4. Munster
5. Ulster
6. Treviso
7. Glasgow
8. Connacht
9. Edinburgh
10. Dragons
10. Cardiff
12. Zebre

He has two teams at 10 which is a typo.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0829/1224323186715.html

I think the Dragons will finish ahead of Cardiff and Glasgow will swap places with Lanelli.

thomond2006

Zebre

I don't think Dragons will finish above Cardiff, as much as I believe Cardiff will struggle. If Cardiff finish as the bottom Welsh side they lose their Heineken Cup place, which is massive to them. The likes of Tovey, Charteris and Brew leaving Dragons is important as well.

Rhys Priestland only plays well in a Wales shirt and with Stephen Jones gone to Wasps, Scarlets are lacking too much at 10 to finish in the top3 IMO.

profitius

Zebre

CatFromHue wrote: »

Gerry Thornley has his predictions for the Rabo in the Times today.

1. Leinster
2. Ospreys
3. Lanelli
4. Munster
5. Ulster
6. Treviso
7. Glasgow
8. Connacht
9. Edinburgh
10. Dragons
10. Cardiff
12. Zebre

He has two teams at 10 which is a typo.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0829/1224323186715.html

I think the Dragons will finish ahead of Cardiff and Glasgow will swap places with Lanelli.

In general I think the Welsh will slip back a bit due to the squad trimming they've done. They'll start well but mid season on comes injuries, international call ups and fatigue. Scarlets might be the exception but I don't think they'll make the playoffs either.

Without being biased, I can see an Irish 1,2,3 depending on what happens in Europe.

Overall its going to be the toughest league ever. Most teams have improved and theres more banana skins to overcome.

CatFromHue

How often did Charteris and Tovey play for the Dragons last season? I'm not sure if Charteris played a game for them before Christmas as if I remember ight he got injured at the RWC (I don't think he played many after it either) and Tovey seemed to fall out of favour in the second half of the season. Brew will be a loss that hopefully will be offset by Tom Prydie.

I'm pretty sceptical of Cardiff's chances next season as they've nearly lost a full 15 first team players and their Welsh internationals will be missing from a fair few games too!

.ak

Zebre

David Ryan is starting for Zebre on Friday.

thomond2006

Zebre

.ak wrote: »

David Ryan is starting for Zebre on Friday.

Yup

The full side:

Zebre:
15 Sinoti Sinoti, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Roberto Quartaroli, 12 Gonzalo Garcia (c), 11 Samuele Pace, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Tito Tebaldi,
8 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 7 Filippo Cristiano, 6 Nicola Cattina, 5 Emiliano Caffini, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 David Ryan, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Andrea De Marchie, 18 Luciano Leibson, 19 Filippo Cazzola, 20 Filippo Ferrarini, 21 Alberto Chillon, 22 Alberto Chiesa, 23 Ruggero Trevisan.

It's interesting he's at tighthead as he was considered a LH in his Munster days. AFAIK he was capped by the US Eagles in the summer so a return back to Ireland is pretty much dead in the water tbh.

I'm hoping Zebre can develop/find a better 10 than Orquera, who's pretty average IMO.

[Jackass]

Zebre

CatFromHue wrote: »

Gerry Thornley has his predictions for the Rabo in the Times today.

1. Leinster
2. Ospreys
3. Lanelli
4. Munster
5. Ulster
6. Treviso
7. Glasgow
8. Connacht
9. Edinburgh
10. Dragons
10. Cardiff
12. Zebre

He has two teams at 10 which is a typo.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0829/1224323186715.html

I think the Dragons will finish ahead of Cardiff and Glasgow will swap places with Lanelli.

Can't see that table being close to reality.

He's completely overestimating the collapse of Cardiff, who are still a better side than Dragons imo and will finish 6th or 7th I reckon.

Adversely, I think he's over estimating Treviso's progress.

I also can't see Scarlets finishing 3rd. Unless Ulster & Munster have a long, long Heineken Cup run, Scarlets aren't a better side than either of them.

thomond2006

Zebre

Treviso:
15 Kristopher Burton, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Edoardo Gori,
8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Simone Favaro, 5 Corniel Van Zyl (c), 4 Francesco Minto, 3 Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, 2 Enrico Ceccato, 1 Alberto De Marchi.

Replacements: 16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Dean Budd, 20 Paul Derbyshire, 21 Marco Filippucci, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Brendan Williams.

Ospreys:
15 Richard Fussell, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Tom Isaacs, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i,
8 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 James King, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Alun Wyn Jones (capt), 3 Aaron Jarvis, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Ryan Bevington.

Replacements: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Joe Rees, 19 Joe Bearman, 20 Morgan Allen, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Matthew Morgan, 23 Tom Grabham.

bilston

Zebre

Leinster will top the league, after that who knows. On paper I'd fancy Ulster to get 2nd, then it just depends on how Munster, Ospreys and the Scarlets replace all their departed players. Glasgow will be a threat too and if Sean Lineen was still coach I'd back them to get a top four spot, but with Townsend now in charge it's anyone's guess. The same could be said for Ulster and Munster I suppose.

molloyjh

Zebre

Dragons beating Zebre 20-0.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Zebre

molloyjh wrote: »

Dragons beating Zebre 20-0.

20-3 now

Zebre have managed to score their first Rabo points

Treviso beating Ospreys too 9-3

thomond2006

Zebre

Jesus that looks bad for Zebre.