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Match Thread: Leinster Rugby vs Biarritz Olympique, Saturday 27th April 14:30, SS1
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26-04-2013 1:05pm#1
The Amlin is the new Heino
And this is the Word of the BOD.
Tomorrow Leinster take on Biarritz in the RDS in the Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final. After a long and arduous season which has contained far more than it's fair share of injuries, a problem that continues to haunt the Leinster side, there is still the possiblity of a European and league double on the horizon. A massive positive given all of the issues and disruptions over the last 8 months. However it's all knock-out rugby from here. And Biarritz showed in the Amlin quarter-final that they are well capable of performing on the road.
Leinster are missing Gordon D'Arcy and Sean O'Brien due to injury, adding to a list which already contains Eoin Reddan, Luke Fitzgerald and Dave Kearney. The loss of these 2 sees Shane Jennings take the openside jersey and Ian Madigan surprisingly moving to inside centre ahead of Andrew Goodman. The rest of the side is fairly predictable with Toner getting the nod in the second row ahead of Quinn Roux, who is on the bench.
The inclusion of Madigan at 12 with Jonathan Sexton at 10 is an interesting call and likely gives us an idea of how Leinster are looking to play the game. With 2 first receivers behind a back row built for the breakdown it certainly looks like Leinster are going to look to play a fast paced game, changing the point of attack and keeping the Biarritz defense guessing. With Boss as a breaking threat who should have options on either side, plus Kearney joining the line similar to the way he did last year Leinster have plenty of options in attack. If this is the game plan then ball retention is key. The forwards will need to ensure quick, clean ball for Boss to work with. Boss himself then will need to be decisive and accurate. This game requires the Leinster we saw at the latter half of last season. And thus far we have yet to see it this season.
Biarritz went to Gloucester and won 3 weeks ago. The not only won, they won well. They were better in nearly every aspect of play than Gloucester. They need to win the Amlin to qualify for the Heineken Cup next season so will be really gunning for this Leinster side. I'm sure they did their analysis too of the Wasps game where the pacey Christian Wade caused Leinsters defence all kinds of problems. With a certain Zimbabwean winger lining up opposite Isa Nacewa I'm sure they'd love to get him running at Leinster line. The Biarritz pack seriously out-muscled the Gloucester pack a few weeks ago as well, although how much we can read into that Gloucester game I'm not sure. Gloucester were quite poor on the day and gave up some very soft scores. If Leinster can tighten up their defense then they should have enough to win out. But I've a feeling this game will be won and lost based on Leinsters defensive effort.
I am very excited to see how the Leinster midfield works tomorrow. If Sexton can pull the strings the way we've seen him do before then the talent outside of him in Madigan and O'Driscoll could cause Biarritz some serious issues. And with the number of attacking options Leinster have you'd have to back them to cross the line a few times. Madigan is an excellent defender at 10, so if he can bring that to 12 then our midfield should be fairly solid in that respect. I expect to see Healy, Strauss and Heaslip carrying a lot of ball up the middle. Leinster will try to suck in the Biarritz defense and use the attacking options out wide. Fergus McFaddens pace could come in very useful there. If they can drag the Biarritz defense from side to side and retain possession well holes will appear. And who better to exploit those holes than Sexton, Madigan, BOD and Kearney. I'm going with Leinster by 7, but as above that all hangs on our defensive work and our ball retention. Get those right and we should win it. Fail to and Biarritz could find themselves in the RDS again in a few weeks.|
15; Rob Kearney|15: Marcelo Bosch
14: Fergus McFadden|14: Takudza Ngwenya
13: Brian O'Driscoll|13: Benoit Baby
12: Ian Madigan|12: Damien Traille
11: Isa Nacewa|11: Aled Brew
10: Jonathan Sexton|10: Jean-Pascal Barrague
9: Isaac Boss|9: Dimitri Yachvili
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1: Cian Healy|1: Thomas Synaeghal
2: Richardt Strauss|2: Arnaud Heguy
3: Mike Ross|3: Ben Broster
4: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN|4: Eric Lund
5: Devin Toner|5: Pelu Ian Taele
6: Kevin McLaughlin|6: Thibaut Dubarry
7: Shane Jennings|7: Raphael Lakafia
8: Jamie Heaslip|8: Imanol Harinordiquy CAPTAIN
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16: Sean Cronin|16: Benoit August
17: Jack McGrath|17: Eugene Van Staden
18: Jamie Hagan|18: Francisco Gomez-Kodela
19: Quinn Roux|19: Wenceslas Lauret
20: Rhys Ruddock|20: Mathias Marie
21: John Cooney|21: Yann Lesgourgues
22: Andrew Goodman|22: Seramaia Buotu
23: Andrew Conway|23: Teddy ThomasWho will make the Final in the RDS? 60 votes
Leinster0%Biarritz96%
![[Jackass]](https://w3.vanillicon.com/v2/3178d191648ad5d2fb7722b96c5c616c.svg)
58 votes
Paul O'Connell3%
2 votes
16
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All 3 of the Biarritz backrows are very tall. Hopefully they won't be much use in the breakdowns.
Biarritz QF full game in HD
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Biarritz
Even just the first 5 minutes of that game tells a tale. Gloucester going from side to side, not forcing Biarritz to make any real decisions in defense due to a lack of dummy runners or even anyone looking to run off a ball carriers shoulder. Meat and drink to any decent side. They won't have it as easy against us. Nevermind the fact that most of Biarritzs scores came when Gloucester had men in the bin. I'd forgotten they had 2 men binned in the first half.
Looking at Biarritzs results this season, and I'll freely admit I've seen precious little of them, doesn't make for intimidating reading. If we're awake defensively then I think this is one we can win. They've won away to Gloucester, Zebre, Mont de Marsan (by a point) and Agen this season. Hardly the who's who of top class opposition.0 -
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Biarritztrouttrout wrote: »He's injured!
I knew there was a reason our back row looked weak...
All the more important Healy is so...0 -
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BiarritzSomeone asking about tickets, if you have an iphone they can scan the ticket off your phone at the gate (i never print the tickets) presume it works off android phones etc. too.
And AWEC, you should try the Centurian Bar, if you are walking up to the Laighin Out from the Anglesea stand, take a left instead of a right and walk all the way down to the end until you're almost at the gate, and it's just in there on the right. Nice bit of banter in there and more of a pub feel to it! If you see me, come over and say hello, I'll buy you a pint - I'll be the guy in the Leinster jersey!
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