Leinster v Ulster - match thread. RDS, 17 May, 1900.

Swiwi.

Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip (c), 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Quinn Roux, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Martin Moore, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements:16 Aaron Dundon, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Mike Ross, 19 Leo Cullen, 20 Sean O'Brien, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Zane Kirchner

Ulster: 15 Craig Gilroy, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Darren Cave, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Robbie Diack, 5 Johann Muller (c), 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Ricky Lutton, 2 Rory Best, 1 Calum Black
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Andrew Warwick, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Dan Tuohy, 20 Sean Doyle, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 James McKinney, 23 Luke Marshall

Date: Saturday 17th May
Venue: RDS
Kick-off: 1900 BST
Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wal)
Assistant referees: Ian Davies (Wal), Neil Paterson (Sco)
TMO: Gareth Simmonds (Wal)

Might as well have a match day thread. No preview, sorry (at least not from me), but suffice to say it's possibly BOD's last outing in Leinster blue....although not if Brian himself has a say in matters. Lovely day in Dublin, lovely day to watch rugby at the Oar-dee-ess. Good luck to Ulster, but may the best team win !

molloyjh

Not at all confident about this one. Reddens fitness could be a huge factor for us.

former legend

Leinster should have a clear edge in the front row and the back row, Ulster have the edge in the second row and at half back.

The Cave-Payne experiment will be very interesting and Gilroy can expect a lot of high balls coming down on top of him so a lot depends on those two aspects.

Overall I think Leinster are the better team from 1-15 and very much better from 16 to 23 so I'm predicting Leinster by 5-10 points.

Swiwi.

Wearing T-shirt to a rugby game. Looks round for familiar Auckland landmarks. Only sees Dublin ones. Shakes head. Blames global warming. Heading to le stade now and cold beer will on the menu. A meal and a drink rolled into one.

postitnote

I would say I have confidence in gilroy under a high ball and don't think it is a part of his game that Leinster will have much return in targeting that facet. It may be his positioning that I'm not sure about. Kicking to space may be more fruitful.

I'm away to a BBQ now. I'm confident the host will have the rugby on. Mon ulster!!

Grimebox

I think its his returning kicks that will be exploited

awec

Ulster by 3.

Hagz

Leinster by 12

sydthebeat

Toner by about 5"

Tomtom364

Hopefully ulster wont need a red card to motivate them to play in this game.

eyeball kid

It would be nice to have Ulster finish with 15 alright.

snollup

Should be very close. La Blues to shade it. Really hope its a better spectacle then last nights affair.

Taco Corp

Healy looks angry. Good

bilston

snollup wrote: »

Should be very close. La Blues to shade it. Really hope its a better spectacle then last nights affair.

I thought last nights game was pretty entertaining!

snollup

bilston wrote: »

I thought last nights game was pretty entertaining!

I thought the overall quality was very poor.

Piliger

Jeez .. No HD yet again from rte ! Yet they used HD for the panel

phog

Up until last night I really wanted Ulster to win but now that Munster are out let the best team win with no injuries on either side

snollup

Speaking with my green hat on, will PJ ever be given kicking duties while RP is on the pitch?

Irlandczyk

snollup wrote: »

Speaking with my green hat on, will PJ ever be given kicking duties while RP is on the pitch?

He's taking them tonight

Grimebox

snollup wrote: »

Speaking with my green hat on, will PJ ever be given kicking duties while RP is on the pitch?

:pac:

Tox56

Excellent from roux to get the steal there, pen advantage obviously but 3 beats 7

bilston

snollup wrote: »

Speaking with my green hat on, will PJ ever be given kicking duties while RP is on the pitch?

He has before, maybe Pienaar is taking the long distance ones tonight, we will see soon enough.

Davei141

Ulster starting like a train.

snollup

snollup wrote: »

Speaking with my green hat on, will PJ ever be given kicking duties while RP is on the pitch?

Question answered!

Tox56

D'Arcy not covering himself in glory so far

Irlandczyk

Awh Jesus, McFadden... NOT a good tackle...

Grimebox

Dubious. Could have easily been a yellow because he attempted to wrap.

Irlandczyk

Grimebox wrote: »

Dubious. Could have easily been a yellow because he attempted to wrap.

He was caught in two minds whether to attack the ball or the defender, and ended up tackling while Trimble was still in the air. It wasn't a good tackle.

awec

Not a chance in hell BOD was on his feet there.

Davei141

BOD wins a penalty from his elbows and knees. Impressive.

Mahatma Geansai

Close call there. Debatable as to whether BOD was on his feet.

Tox56

Davei141 wrote: »

BOD wins a penalty from his elbows and knees. Impressive.

The penalty was given by the time he was on his knees im pretty sure

Cronin's darts are back to being shocking

A-Train

Great scrum by Leinster.

shuffol

I dont think BOD was supporting his weight at any point there.

Podge_irl

Brilliant scrum from Leinster. The second the ball went in they just went right through them.

Regards the BOD penalty - he never released after the tackle did he?

Irlandczyk

Excellent work by Hendo, pity about the knock on though.

Tox56

It took Leinster stupidly long to react to that, Ulster were just standing there

A-Train

Terrible by Redden there, Leinster have done nothing good so far.

Grimebox

What the feck was McFadden at

Mahatma Geansai

Never a penalty there.

Davei141

Tox56 wrote: »

The penalty was given by the time he was on his knees im pretty sure

Cronin's darts are back to being shocking

Went to his arms first then few seconds later his knee touched, i think the fact his knee was completely bent during the whole thing is pretty dodge.

McFadden staying down? There is nothing wrong with him. Trimble timed it to perfection.

Podge_irl

McFadden's foot was potentially on the ground there when contact was made.

Bit of a harsh not straight call there no?

Tox56

Talk about a lack of faith in the backline, even if that line out was straight it was going to be a kick anyway

Irlandczyk

Cronin been atrocious in the lineouts so far

Kanrith

Bit scrappy in the last 5 minutes.

Tox56

Davei141 wrote: »

McFadden staying down? There is nothing wrong with him.

That's a pretty harsh and totally unsubstantiated accusation, regardless of what you think of the call

Davei141

Best piece of Leinster play so far.

Irlandczyk

Ulster sliced to pieces there :O

Tox56

Ok let's give it to them more

Davei141

Tox56 wrote: »

That's a pretty harsh and totally unsubstantiated accusation, regardless of what you think of the call

Ah c'mon. Did you see the replay?

Kanrith

Should have finished that though.