Match Thread: Leinster Rugby vs Connacht Rugby, Saturday 26th Oct 18:45, RTE2

molloyjh

Close Affairs

After a disappointing result away to Munster Leinster have bounced back with 2 from 2 in the opening rounds of the HEC. This week they host a Connacht side that have won only 2 from their first 7 this season, but who pushed the Saracens very close at the Sportsground and were convincing winners against Zebre last week. This will be the last game the majority of the internationals will play ahead of the Autumn Internationals and so Leinster have put out a very strong side to give the internationals game time.

This time last year Leinster were on the receiving end of a bit of a hiding from Connacht in the Sportsground, losing the game 34-6. Leinster played a very understrength side in that game but will feel that they should have done better, and when the sides faced each other in the RDS in December Leinster again fielded a young side after the trip to Ravenhill the previous week. In fact you'd probably have to go back to 2010, the start of the Joe Schmidt era, to see the last time that Leinster put out as close to a first string team as has been selected for this weekend.

Connacht always up their game against Leinster and there haven't been too many one-sided affairs in recent years (the games at the Sportsground last year and the RDS in 2011 being the only exceptions). And with Leinster attack lacking in incision in the last few weeks it's far from certain that this week will be any different from most of our recent encounters.

The big talking points in terms of selection for Leinster is the move of Luke Fitzgerald to 13. This is seen by many as a position Luke could excel in and with the up and coming Henshaw in the same jersey on the other side this could prove to be an interesting area to keep an eye on. Noel Reid partners Luke in the centre and Madigan gets his second start at 10. This 10, 12, 13 combination has the potential to be very deadly. Three players who, on their day, are all capable of opening up sides individually, it will be interesting to see how they combine.

Michael Bent starts at TH ahead of Moore. Bent seemed to do fairly well last week when he came on for Moore against Castres and both Leinster and Ireland fans should keep an eye on him. Oft ridiculed and abused (unfairly so IMO) a good pre-season and the new scrum laws mean he should be given some time to show his ability.

New arrival Zane Kirchner is on the bench and we should expect to see him coming on for Rob in the second half, while Shane Jennings returns from injury just on time for the AIs.

Connacht have a number of injuries to contend with at the moment but in fairness to the players that have stepped in they have been doing well. I haven't seen either of their HEC matches (they were badly scheduled!) so I can't comment too much on those performances, but from what I've seen of Connacht this season there is the bones of a decent set-up there. Lam seems to have had a fairly positive influence so far and Connacht have played some good rugby. They've suffered from unforced errors and poor decision making at times (running the ball from their own line for example) but these are things that can be fixed. They haven't had the easiest of starts to their Pro12 campaign having faced Ulster, Ospreys and Treviso away in the last 3 rounds so their league position needs to be considered in that context.

Still, with the quality of the Leinster squad and the fact that the game is in the RDS I'd have to back a Leinster win. What is crucial is that the midfield link up well for the boys in blue. If they do they could cause Connacht a lot of trouble. Stutter though and this could be a tight game.

||

Jack McGrath|

1

|Brett Wilkinson
Sean Cronin|

2

|Sean Henry
Michael Bent|

3

|Rodney Ah You
Devin Toner|

4

|Michael Swift CAPTAIN
Quinn Roux|

5

|Craig Clarke
Kevin McLaughlin|

6

|Mata Fifita
Sean O'Brien|

7

|Jake Heenan
Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN|

8

|George Naoupu
||
Eoin Reddan|

9

|Kieran Marmion
Ian Madigan|

10

|Dan Parks
Dave Kearney|

11

|Matt Healy
Noel Reid|

12

|Craig Ronaldson
Luke Fitzgerald|

13

|Robbie Henshaw
Fergus McFadden|

14

|Tiernan O’Halloran
Rob Kearney|

15

|Gavin Duffy
||
Aaron Dundon|

16

|Dave Heffernan
Jack O'Connell|

17

|JP Cooney
Martin Moore|

18

|Ronan Loughney
Mike McCarthy|

19

|Aly Muldowney
Shane Jennings|

20

|Andrew Browne
Isaac Boss|

21

|Paul O’Donohoe
Jimmy Gopperth|

22

|Darragh Leader
Zane Kirchner|

23

|Fionn Carr

dtpc191991

molloyjh wrote: »

preview

Henshaw vs Fitzgerald should be interesting.

P_1

Very exciting looking backline for Leinster, hopefully the weather stays dry enough to give them a bit of a chance to gel though

molloyjh

P_1 wrote: »

Very exciting looking backline for Leinster, hopefully the weather stays dry enough to give them a bit of a chance to gel though

I've heard the weather is meant to be pretty crap unfortunately.

CatFromHue

dtpc191991 wrote: »

Henshaw vs Fitzgerald should be interesting.

There's loads of interesting match ups there

Reid v Ronaldson
Redden v Marmion
TOH v Kearney
Healy v McFadden

Actually pretty much everywhere except for the front row.

ssaye2

molloyjh wrote: »

I've heard the weather is meant to be pretty crap unfortunately.

Crazy front coming in from the West tomorrow should pass by 5

Weather warning in place

http://mathsci.ucd.ie/met/mcc-rain-d2.html

Cormic

Fitzgerald at 13 is an interesting call. I would have expected to see McFadden in there instead.

ssaye2

Cormic wrote: »

Fitzgerald at 13 is an interesting call. I would have expected to see McFadden in there instead.

Although Ferg played there many times, Fitz and others (OMalley, Macken) have usually been injured or unavailable. Fergus is a better 12/14 than 13 so happy to see Fitz at 13, great feet, lovely step and pass of both hands and quick over the 5-10 yards. Could be the making of him.

molloyjh

Cormic wrote: »

Fitzgerald at 13 is an interesting call. I would have expected to see McFadden in there instead.

I actually would have liked to have seen Ferg at 12 myself. He did well when he came in-field last week (a couple of nice off-loads to D Kearney for example) and he could add some bulk and strength to the midfield. That may have required Kirchner on the wing (or maybe Hudson), which MOC possibly didn't want.

P_1

ssaye2 wrote: »

Crazy front coming in from the West tomorrow should pass by 5

Weather warning in place

http://mathsci.ucd.ie/met/mcc-rain-d2.html

Ouch, possibly not the best weather for an exciting new 10-12-13 axis so, at least the pack looks suitably heavyweight though

connemara man

An interesting Game I am making the journey up the motorway for my first match in the RDS, all I want to see is Connacht bring the intensity of the last 2 matches to this, and stop missing first up tackles. we should make it difficult for Leinster but you have jus a bit to much for us overall id say.

molloyjh

connemara man wrote: »

An interesting Game I am making the journey up the motorway for my first match in the RDS, all I want to see is Connacht bring the intensity of the last 2 matches to this, and stop missing first up tackles. we should make it difficult for Leinster but you have jus a bit to much for us overall id say.

You guys have a tendency to do that all right!

Zzippy

ssaye2 wrote: »

Crazy front coming in from the West tomorrow

Yeah that'll be these guys...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PXA1UNvBUZw/UhJjymPqihI/AAAAAAAADBI/L1jgz_fyJjk/s1600/FAKE+SCRUM+WALL+3D+MURAL+OF+CONNACHT+RUGBY+PLAYERS+HAND+PAINTED+BY+MURAL+ARTISTS+FEATUREWALLS.IE+ME.jpg

connemara man

molloyjh wrote: »

You guys have a tendency to do that all right!

Well we do try :pac:

Larbre34

CatFromHue wrote: »

There's loads of interesting match ups there

Reid v Ronaldson
Redden v Marmion
TOH v Kearney
Healy v McFadden

Actually pretty much everywhere except for the front row.

You think? Maybe not in the tight, but Henry is out-throwing Cronin by miles at the moment, should be interesting, and to be honest, do we really know what sort of a player Michael Bent is? Wilkinson may not be stellar but hes been around long enough

CatFromHue

The Times are saying that Schmidt has asked for Madigan to start at 10 tomorrow.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/schmidt-instructs-leinster-to-start-madigan-at-10-against-connacht-1.1572247

ssaye2

CatFromHue wrote: »

The Times are saying that Schmidt has asked for Madigan to start at 10 tomorrow.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/schmidt-instructs-leinster-to-start-madigan-at-10-against-connacht-1.1572247

Its more he asked every province to play a few Ireland players this weekend. More of a sensationalist headline as was discussed earlier.

Podge_irl

The headline and story don't match (as is often the case). They were instructed to give Madigan game time, that's all it says. Besides, I can't imagine there was ever the slightest doubt Madigan would play 10 for this so Schmidt wouldn't need to ruin any good will by demanding it.

former legend

Larbre34 wrote: »

You think? Maybe not in the tight, but Henry is out-throwing Cronin by miles at the moment, should be interesting, and to be honest, do we really know what sort of a player Michael Bent is? Wilkinson may not be stellar but hes been around long enough

Cronin had a few wobbles against Castres but he was right on the money against Munster and Ospreys. I think his problems with throwing are very exaggerated. Haven't seen enough of Henry to comment.

wp_rathead

CatFromHue wrote: »

There's loads of interesting match ups there

Reid v Ronaldson
Redden v Marmion
TOH v Kearney
Healy v McFadden

Actually pretty much everywhere except for the front row.

Dunno, Bent v Wilkinson could be pretty intersting

Would assume McGrath has upper hand over Rodney but he has been like a man possessed over last few weeks..

Looking forwars good game
Connacht don't seem to have the same mental hangup with Leinster as they do Munster

Larbre34

No we got a fine pasting from them in Galway a year ago, albeit with some early injuries in the game, theyll be coming with no fear or favour.

Fireball07

Where's Poolman?

Be interesting to see Fitz at 13, and to see how Bent does.

And TOH, his most recent form hasn't been great, would be great for him to capture his form of a couple of years ago. And can Marmion outperform Reddan, who was selected ahead of him for Ireland?

porterbelly

Poolman is injured. Tight hamstring. Too many muscle injuries in our team, starting to wonder about the medical team.

Nilled in our 3 away interpros last season. Any improvement on that would be welcome

As much as I'd like to see a good tight game both for entertainments sake and for the sake of Irish Rugby, I think Leinster are starting to kick into gear and I don't see them leaking many scores. With the starting back row and a couple of Leinster backs with points to prove, I can see a serious performance in the work.

Leinster by 16+.

leftleg

I mentioned months ago that Fitz was an untried but strong potential 13; here's hoping he proves me right.

[Jackass]

Other than perhaps starting Moore with Bent on the bench and perhaps having Cooney or McGrath on the bench instead of one of the old reliables, have to say I'm pretty happy with that team.

Great to see the likes of McGrath, Roux & Reid get the game time. That looks like a pretty settled back three at this point, but nice to see Kirchner finally coming in to the mix.

Delighted to see Luke at 13 and Madigan back at 10. I hope they both have big games. Madigan took a fair bit of punishment for his performance against Munster, essentially losing his spot to Gopperth (was ahead of him going into the Munster game imo).

I haven't given up on Bent, was looking to give him a fresh start this season and so far so good (all be it small minutes). I think the sooner we phase Ross out the better, and Moore has really stepped up, I hope Bent does too and we can have two strong options competing at tight head. Barring Strauss' injury, we seem sorted at hooker and loose head for the foreseable future, so these two guys really hold the key to comprehensive front row depth and quality.

Roux is also a player I'm optimistic about and hope to see develop into a key player for us. Needs to up his aggressiveness around the park though. Donnacha Ryan is a good example of a player who is hyper aggressive and combatative. Not the biggest guy, probably not the most talented rugby player, but a superb lad to have in your pack, I would like to see Roux aim for that kind of role and really get fired up...he seems a bit shy on the pitch.

I'm most looking forward to that centre partnership though. Would love to see them click and really cause havock all day.

.ak

Maybe it's my dodgy memory, but I seem to have a recollection of this fixture in 2011 in the RDS, it being a stormy windy day, and Luke Fitz playing at 12, and he took apart Connacht's midfield for fun.

swiftman

your kinda right, october 2011.
thats the year connacht were doing great but the whole team was getting sick on the pitch with being food poisoning, winning 20-8 at half time

someone above stated that henry is better then croinin at lineout, that is true. over the last 3games, connacht have only lost 2lineouts

Buer

swiftman wrote: »

someone above stated that henry is better then croinin at lineout, that is true. over the last 3games, connacht have only lost 2lineouts

No offence, Swiftman, but I hate black and white statistics like that for line outs!

There are so many variables in running a line out and people continually come back to the hooker throwing and blame him. There are 4 people involved in every line out from the moment it is thrown to catching it. That doesn't take into account the type of call being made, whether it's to 6 or off the top or what. Then there's the question whether the opposition are contesting or not. Finally, there's simple things like weather conditions that can make it much trickier.

Don't get me wrong, Cronin has never been a good thrower of the ball but it's never just a case of line out lost equating to a hooker being poor at throwing. Mike Sherry is arguably the best thrower in the country but has been involved in multiple lost line outs in the last three games.

LeeroyJones

I have my concerns in this one.

Wind and rain is the forecast for this afternoon/evening. So sloppy conditions mightn't be the best thing for Madigan up against Parks.

I still predict a Leinster win but Connacht should be well in touch for the majority of the game.

wp_rathead

LeeroyJones wrote: »

I have my concerns in this one.

Wind and rain is the forecast for this afternoon/evening. So sloppy conditions mightn't be the best thing for Madigan up against Parks.

I still predict a Leinster win but Connacht should be well in touch for the majority of the game.

Dunno, wet game will suit your pack more

Connacht under Lam been playing VERY expansive so could see us forcing it to much.. I'm hoping for a big performance from Mata..

Also Leinster fans, prepare to be frustrated by the brilliance of Heenan at the breakdown :pac:

jamiedav2011

wprathead wrote: »

Dunno, wet game will suit your pack more

Connacht under Lam been playing VERY expansive so could see us forcing it to much.. I'm hoping for a big performance from Mata..

Also Leinster fans, prepare to be frustrated by the brilliance of Heenan at the breakdown :pac:

Can't wait to see Heenan in the flesh now. Looks a cracking player.

wp_rathead

jamiedav2011 wrote: »

Can't wait to see Heenan in the flesh now. Looks a cracking player.

Oi, hands off :P

Hagz

I'm just expecting a lot of kicking from Dan Parks. He's kicked the ball from hand more than any other player in the Heineken Cup.

jamiedav2011

Big big game for Madigan and Noel Reid tonight.
Reid is reaching make or break stage in his career tbh, while Madigan needs to show he can control a tough game in the wind and rain.

Should be lots of interesting subplots going on.

Swiwi.

Was thinking about heading along to this game, but the weather

[Jackass]

I wouldn't say Reid is near the do or die stage just yet, he's still only 23 and has had an early career position switch.

He just needs a run of games at 12, but so far he has looked like a superb broken field player. Lots and lots of parts of his game that are far from polished, but so good is he with ball in hand that he's worth giving a chance to. I'm not sure how his flat out pace is, I know he's quick, but I'd even consider giving him a shot on the wing if 12 doesn't work out before I'd give up on him.

ssaye2

Swiwi. wrote: »

Was thinking about heading along to this game, but the weather

hardcores today c'mon down great craic

ssaye2

[Jackass] wrote: »

I wouldn't say Reid is near the do or die stage just yet, he's still only 23 and has had an early career position switch.

He just needs a run of games at 12, but so far he has looked like a superb broken field player. Lots and lots of parts of his game that are far from polished, but so good is he with ball in hand that he's worth giving a chance to. I'm not sure how his flat out pace is, I know he's quick, but I'd even consider giving him a shot on the wing if 12 doesn't work out before I'd give up on him.

agree 12 is his long-term he bulked up but still pacy too at 6 2 prob fair bit heavier than site stats now

molloyjh

Swiwi. wrote: »

Was thinking about heading along to this game, but the weather

There are still terrace tickets on the ticket exchange. You'd be fairly well sheltered in there....

Swiwi.

ssaye2 wrote: »

hardcores today c'mon down great craic

Yeah, not definitively out-ruling yet. I know I should be relinquishing my Kiwi citizenship with such weather-cowardliness, but it's lashing down at the moment where I live.

jamiedav2011

Reid has serious competition for the 12 spot and only signed a one year deal.
It's games like this that he needs to put in good shifts, because he's realistically behind Darcy, Goodman and MCF (and possibly Madigan) in the current depth chart, with guys like Daly, Farrell, O'Shea, Coughlan etc all on the way up.

What was his early career position switch? As far as I'm aware he was always a 10/12?

He needs to start showing up, or he could be looking over his shoulder for a contract.

ssaye2

Just thinking for those in s stand haven't heard the big bloke with the beard who used to shout Leeeeeiiinnnnsssssttteeerrrrrrrrr he was hoarse by the end it lasted about 20 seconds anyone remember

CatFromHue

One thing I've noticed is that the RDS pitch is very rarely (I can't think of anytime) been in poor or bad condition due to the weather.

It may be bucketing down all week but the pitch will still be good to play on.

Edit: Just looking on the BBC weather site and from my reading of their satellite images that could be the end of the rain, or at least heavy showers, for the evening.

Buer

Very wet out there and will be slippy conditions. Best bring Gopperth into the side for Madigan before kick off.

molloyjh

Buer wrote: »

Very wet out there and will be slippy conditions. Best bring Gopperth into the side for Madigan before kick off.

Oh no you didn't....

Irlandczyk

Buer wrote: »

Very wet out there and will be slippy conditions. Best bring Gopperth into the side for Madigan before kick off.

Please, for the love of god; don't open that can of worms... :rolleyes:

Buer

molloyjh wrote: »

Oh no you didn't....

It's a wet Saturday afternoon. Between the ineptitude in Toulon/Toulouse and the rugby league bash-a-thon, I need entertainment...

errlloyd

Buer wrote: »

It's a wet Saturday afternoon. Between the ineptitude in Toulon/Toulouse and the rugby league bash-a-thon, I need entertainment...

You could watch sarries Northampton.....

Sorry, I'll shut up now.

John_C

Just a warning; traffic in Ballsbridge is mental today coming from the city.

CatFromHue

John_C wrote: »

Just a warning; traffic in Ballsbridge is mental today coming from the city.

DARTs aren't running fully and there's roadworks in Donnybrook.