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Clermont Auvergne...

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    #92
    danthefan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,770 ✭✭✭danthefan


    seanm92 wrote: »
    Possibly... To be honest I think what they need most is a world class outhalf, IMO James has gone missing all too often in the big games, although in fairness I think he played well in the heineken cup final. I feel they need someone who can control and dominate games better

    They should have thrown the chequebook at Sexton.


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    #93
    Podge_irl
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 25,628 Mod ✭✭✭✭Podge_irl


    danthefan wrote: »
    They should have thrown the chequebook at Sexton.

    I don't think they thought he was actually going to leave Leinster.


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    #94
    danthefan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,770 ✭✭✭danthefan


    Podge_irl wrote: »
    I don't think they thought he was actually going to leave Leinster.

    Yeah I can remember reading that somewhere. Don't know if it was in the media or just interwebs talk.


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    #95
    BoardsMember
    Registered Users Posts: 4,443 ✭✭✭BoardsMember


    They need an international at 10 alright. Any team running the ball from inside their own 22 when 15-6 up in a final needs a different man controlling things.

    I also think it is a coaching thing - they dont play with enough ambition, or stick to their guns playing ambitiously. They revert to type, relying on not making a mess of things, trying not to lose, rather than trying to go out and win. Leinster keep trying to score, keep taking chances, working on the risk/reward, Clermont have all the ability in the world but just dont seem to want to use that, preferring instead the more conservative/safe approach. This seems to ensure they never get very far ahead in matches they are dominating, and the longer the opposition stay in touch the more chance you have of bottling it. Awful to watch as they are a fantastic team.


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    #96
    Buer
    Registered Users Posts: 24,189 ✭✭✭✭Buer


    BoardsMember wrote: »
    They need an international at 10 alright. Any team running the ball from inside their own 22 when 15-6 up in a final needs a different man controlling things.

    I also think it is a coaching thing - they dont play with enough ambition, or stick to their guns playing ambitiously. They revert to type, relying on not making a mess of things, trying not to lose, rather than trying to go out and win. Leinster keep trying to score, keep taking chances, working on the risk/reward, Clermont have all the ability in the world but just dont seem to want to use that, preferring instead the more conservative/safe approach. This seems to ensure they never get very far ahead in matches they are dominating, and the longer the opposition stay in touch the more chance you have of bottling it. Awful to watch as they are a fantastic team.

    They don't play with enough ambition but they shouldn't be running the ball in their own territory?

    I thought the opposite. They play with too much ambition and not enough
    pragmatism. If they had just say back and picked off their opportunities, they'd be HEC champions rather than trying for force things and fling it wide at every opportunity. If was the same against Munster where they just didn't have the ability to change their game to suit cup rugby and were pinned back by a few guys who know exactly how to play cup rugby.

    In the big games where there's huge physicality, the gaps simply do not appear against the top sides implementing the scintillating rugby they play against lesser sides. They need to know how to play ugly and win at times but they still keep trying to put it through the hands, have forwards offload around the fringes and score seven pointers.


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    #97
    shootermacg
    Registered Users Posts: 4,834 ✭✭✭shootermacg


    I don't know how punishing the french league is, but they look like a 60 minute team to me.


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    #98
    BoardsMember
    Registered Users Posts: 4,443 ✭✭✭BoardsMember


    Buer wrote: »
    They don't play with enough ambition but they shouldn't be running the ball in their own territory?

    I thought the opposite. They play with too much ambition and not enough
    pragmatism. If they had just say back and picked off their opportunities, they'd be HEC champions rather than trying for force things and fling it wide at every opportunity. If was the same against Munster where they just didn't have the ability to change their game to suit cup rugby and were pinned back by a few guys who know exactly how to play cup rugby.

    In the big games where there's huge physicality, the gaps simply do not appear against the top sides implementing the scintillating rugby they play against lesser sides. They need to know how to play ugly and win at times but they still keep trying to put it through the hands, have forwards offload around the fringes and score seven pointers.

    Yeah maybe you're right.

    Ambition in the right area I should have said, when they get into the oppositions 22 often they just go for full on power, they dont seem to have the same kind of running lines and decoys, passing on the edge that teams like Leinster or Glasgow would have. They just shunt it up again and again. And it usally works.

    Ambition at the right time too. If you're 15-6 up in a final in the second half, you have to play sensibly and control the game, try play in their half.

    They just really look like a team who does not have a brain on the pitch. When they started brilliantly against Munster but Musnter did not wilt, they looked vulerable very quickly. Rather than play sensible rugby to get them into good positions and then go for the cutting passes and offloads, they really didn't know what to do. And they quickly and visibly wilted and went into themselves. The coaches have to take a huge responsibility as well as the 10.


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    #99
    thomond2006
    Registered Users Posts: 45,433 ✭✭✭✭thomond2006


    shootermacg wrote: »
    I don't know how punishing the french league is, but they look like a 60 minute team to me.

    There could be something in this, I'd be interested to know how Top14 players' strength and conditioning compares to Irish provincial players. IIRC Bernard Jackman once said that Ireland is ahead of the French clubs in terms of S&C.


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