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

.ak

Zebre

What does that say about where the Lions are? Big signing.

GerM

Hagz wrote: »

Josh Strauss has signed for Glasgow
http://planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_8071527,00.html

:eek:

Great signing and on a 3 year deal too at which point he'll be Scottish qualified. That's exactly who I thought Munster should have been speaking with when they signed Stander. Strauss is a tank of a man. Extremely physical, well able to carry the ball, mobile and a good leader. Surprised a bigger side didn't come in for him based on his S15 showings this year.

yimrsg

Top signing by Glasgow, can play across the backrow and is a great player to watch. He's been criminally overlooked by SA so he could be IQ for Scotland after being excluded from the international scene.

I'd expect more players to leave the Lions shortly as they'll be in no fit state to compete in the play-off next year as their best players will be picked up by other clubs. There's plenty of young tyros in the team like Taute and Jantjies so their development will suffer as they won't get the exposure to high level rugby in the S15 in another squad that plays exciting rugby. For all the problems with the IRFU, SARU really is a level of incompetency ahead.

irishbucsfan

I assumed they'd move a lot of players like that across to the Kings.

Big loss for SA if he does end up playing for Scotland. He may not ever have been a first team starter for SA but he's a very good player.

who_me

thomond2006 wrote: »

2,025 attendance for Zebre vs Connacht, that's pretty disappointing and with Zebre's likely results it probably won't improve.

Only 8,000 went to see Ospreys vs Ulster, it seems it doesn't matter how many Rabos Ospreys win, the locals don't give a ****. Swansea City in the EPL probably doesn't help either. Then again there wasn't much more at the Munster game (some people saying 6-7k) but better opposition will likely get better attendance (I hope!).

Friday evenings are a bit of a disaster for Munster games. It's a long round-trip, made worse by having to drive through rush-hour traffic (though at least the tunnel has made a difference in Limerick).

It's slightly less of an issue for Leinster and Ulster as they have larger populations close to the grounds; Munster IMO are more dependant on fans coming from a wider geographical area.

phog

For those of you who use twitter for rugby info/news/stats, I came across this one today.

Here's a taste of their tweets.

Autograffeg Stats ‏@Pro12Stato
@chrishenry678 was ulsters top tackler in the pro12 last season with 174, a success rate of 99%

Autograffeg Stats ‏@Pro12Stato
@UlsterRugby Nick Williams made 12 carries in round 2. This makes him the leagues top ball carrier with 28 carries, 2 ahead of @dentweezy .

Autograffeg Stats ‏@Pro12Stato
Casey Laulala of @Munsterrugby has made 8 offloads in the opening 2 rounds of the @RaboDirectPRO12 . His MVP score is currently 40 #mvp

Autograffeg Stats ‏@Pro12Stato
@Munsterrugby 's top defenders v Treviso in round 2 were Sean Dougall (11 tackles) and Dave O'Callaghan(10 tackles). #brickwall

Autograffeg Stats ‏@Pro12Stato
@Ian_madigan has kicked 11 from 12 this season so far which gives him a kicking success percentage of 92%. Total points so far = 33 pts

[Jackass]

Zebre

Madigan is the best place kicker in the league. :cool: #packyourbagsrog

durkadurka

Meh.

Stats for Leinster kickers are always skewed unnaturally because they're always running them in under the posts from the half way line.

thomond2006

Zebre

92% eh.... WHAT ABOUT THE 8% HE MISSED EH?!

Tox56

Given the fact Leinster tend to score plenty of tries thus creating plenty of opportunity for kicks at goal, and that Madigan probably won't be called up for internationals anytime soon, he has a very realistic chance of winning the Golden boot, which would be quite something given what some were saying last year..

Hopefully they'll trust him even when McFadden is on the field, as he appears to have usurped Nacewa already.

[Jackass]

Zebre

It's the exact same thing they said about Sexton, last seasons golden boot winner and best kicker % in all (club) competitions for the last 2 seasons (iirc)

durkadurka

[Jackass] wrote: »

It's the exact same thing they said about Sexton, last seasons golden boot winner and best kicker % in all (club) competitions for the last 2 seasons (iirc)

I think Ferg had it until he missed about 5 in one of the last games

[Jackass]

Zebre

Well if we ever end up in a penalty shoot out ala Leicester v Cardiff in 2009, I reckon we'd be in pretty safe hands.

freyners

Zebre

its great to see madigan trusted as goal kicker finally. really impressed how leinster has handled his development.

hopefully him, jackson and keatley can keep improving and really challenge ROG for bench spot soon, with hopefully one getting a start v fiji in the AIs

thomond2006

Zebre

HT in Swansea, Glasgow leading 15-0 vs Ospreys!

CIARAN_BOYLE

Zebre

thomond2006 wrote: »

HT in Swansea, Glasgow leading 15-0 vs Ospreys!

Webb in the bin to make the to make the situation worse for ospreys

Podge_irl

Zebre

What the hell is wrong with the Ospreys this year?

CIARAN_BOYLE

Zebre

Podge_irl wrote: »

What the hell is wrong with the Ospreys this year?

Ospreys lost a lot of big names over the summer four starters anyway and god knows how many others through the team

Huw Bennett
Paul James
Shane Williams
Tommy Bowe

Also Adam Jones is injured at the moment so thats five of the first choice team

thomond2006

Zebre

7-25 Glasgow now, 3 tries scored.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Zebre

thomond2006 wrote: »

7-25 Glasgow now, 3 tries scored.

FT 28-10 to Glasgow

thomond2006

Zebre

Edinburgh 34-3 Zebre, BP already for Edinburgh. Still a bit to go in that game. Visser only got one try amazingly.

thomond2006

Zebre

thomond2006 wrote: »

Edinburgh 34-3 Zebre, BP already for Edinburgh. Still a bit to go in that game. Visser only got one try amazingly.

Visser gets another one! 41-10 FT

Zebre are looking at a long run of losses, their next games are Ulster (H), Glasgow (A) and Ospreys (H) before they begin their HEC campaign.

What is going on with Ospreys? I'm stunned they are 0/3. They have a tough trip to Scarlets next weekend.

Tin Foil Hat

thomond2006 wrote: »

What is going on with Ospreys? I'm stunned they are 0/3. They have a tough trip to Scarlets next weekend.

I'd be interested to know how many of the 76 people who voted for The Ospreys would stand over their choice now. It's a terrible start for them.

I know I'm biased, but I'm very impressed with Munster's start to the season. They've played some decent rugby.
The top spot in the Rabo is still Leinsters for the taking though.

.ak

Zebre

Woah, losing in Swansea to a Scottish team is something I didn't predict. O's in serious trouble now.

totallegend

What's really worrying for the Ospreys is that only Adam Jones is left to come back into the fold; that was pretty much their first-choice XV that got hammered at home by Glasgow (and not that different from the team that destroyed Munster not so long ago).

Strange times.

thomond2006

Zebre

totallegend wrote: »

What's really worrying for the Ospreys is that only Adam Jones is left to come back into the fold; that was pretty much their first-choice XV that got hammered at home by Glasgow (and not that different from the team that destroyed Munster not so long ago).

Strange times.

That Munster team was crippled by injuries, their close win over Leinster in the final was far more impressive.

I've only seen one Ospreys game this season, their home loss to Ulster, I'd say their big problem is losing Tommy Bowe and Shane Williams and not replacing them with similar big names players, probably down to financial restrictions.

totallegend

thomond2006 wrote: »

That Munster team was crippled by injuries, their close win over Leinster in the final was far more impressive.

I've only seen one Ospreys game this season, their home loss to Ulster, I'd say their big problem is losing Tommy Bowe and Shane Williams and not replacing them with similar big names players, probably down to financial restrictions.

But they didn't beat Munster, they absolutely annihilated them and it looked for all the world like losing the 'galacticos' wasn't going to be an issue for them. I just wonder is there more going on there, e.g. is there a morale issue? Like, the 15 guys who took the field last night should not be getting a hiding at home to Glasgow.

Obviously it's going to be hard for any team to home-grow replacements for players like Williams, Bowe, but it seems to run deeper than that.

thomond2006

Zebre

totallegend wrote: »

But they didn't beat Munster, they absolutely annihilated them and it looked for all the world like losing the 'galacticos' wasn't going to be an issue for them. I just wonder is there more going on there, e.g. is there a morale issue? Like, the 15 guys who took the field last night should not be getting a hiding at home to Glasgow.

Obviously it's going to be hard for any team to home-grow replacements for players like Williams, Bowe, but it seems to run deeper than that.

Funnily enough, the last two times Ospreys have won the league (and won a final at the RDS), their seasons started out very badly but they woke up come April/May and looked very strong.

thomond2006

Zebre

This weekend's results:
Ulster 20-19 Munster
Ospreys 10-28 Glasgow
Edinburgh 41-10 Zebre - TBP for Edinburgh
Connacht 11-24 Scarlets - TBP for Scarlets
Dragons 5-16 Cardiff Blues
Treviso 18-19 Leinster

So, after three rounds:

Scarlets 14
Ulster 12
Edinburgh 10
Munster 9

---

Cardiff 9
Leinster 9
Glasgow 5
Dragons 5
Connacht 5
Treviso 5
Ospreys 2
Zebre 0

Still early doors but Ospreys are 7 points off the pace already and travel to leaders Scarlets next weekend for a big derby.

Next weekend's fixtures:
Scarlets vs Ospreys
Glasgow vs Connacht
Zebre vs Ulster
Leinster vs Edinburgh
Cardiff vs Treviso
Munster vs Dragons (Thomond Park)

Winters

In some of the match reports from the Treviso v Leinster game on the weekend it was reported that there may be the risk of the Benetton Family pulling out of Treviso Rugby which would be a massive worry for the Italian Rugby's ongoing participation in the Pro12.

I think their president lost to a Calvisano Rugby member to replace Dondi as FIR president. It said also that Benetton also pulled out of two other sporting bodies in Treviso.