MATCH THREAD: Edinburgh vs Leinster; Meggetland 4th Sept 2015 19:35; TG4/BBC ALBA

molloyjh

O Captain! My Captain!

So here we are, first game back and the first game under our new coach Leo Cullen. Can a legendary player make that step up and become a successful coach? Well one thing is for sure, tomorrows game will not answer that question. So let's park that for now at least.

With a raft of players missing to the Irish squad and to injury Leinster are down to almost bare bones. And yet they've still fielded a fairly strong side. Dan Leavy and Jack Conan are the least experienced players in the pack and both look to have bright futures, with Conan already having an international cap to his name. In the backs we have half-backs who are a little green but behind them is a pretty talented back line including the return of Isa Nacewa to competitive rugby. It's a real sign of Leinsters depth that they can call on such a strong starting XV with 20 players missing in total. Against an Edinburgh side that is missing a dozen or so we should at the very least be competitive, with a possibility we may sneak it if the pack can set the platform.

This game marks not just the official start of the new rugby season, but also the start of my holidays so I'll try and enjoy it with a beer or two. The fact that work has me working on a handover though means that this is as far as my preview goes. Let's hope for a good start to Leo's career, but if it isn't let's not get all up in arms just yet.

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01. Rory Sutherland|01. Michael Bent
02. Neil Cochrane|02. Aaron Dundon
03. John Andress|03. Jamie Hagan
04. Anton Bresler|04. Tom Denton
05. Ben Toolis|05. Mike McCarthy
06. Cornell Du Preez|06. Kevin McLaughlin (Captain)
07. Roddy Grant (Captain)|07. Dan Leavy
08. Nasi Manu|08. Jack Conan
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09. Nathan Fowles |09. Luke McGrath
10. Phil Burleigh|10. Cathal Marsh
11. Damien Hoyland|11. Darragh Fanning
12. Sam Beard |12. Noel Reid
13. Chris Dean |13. Ben Te'o
14. Dougie Fife|14. Fergus McFadden
15. Jack Cuthbert|15. Isa Nacewa
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16. George Turner|16. Bryan Byrne
17. Allan Dell |17. Peter Dooley
18. Simon Berghan|18. Royce Burke-Flynn
19. Fraser McKenzie|19. Ross Molony
20. Hamish Watson|20. Dominic Ryan
21. Sean Kennedy |21. Isaac Boss
22. Greig Tonks|22. Ross Byrne
23. James Johnstone|23. Gary Ringrose

irishbucsfan

9/10 for the table

wp_rathead

Quality table gotta be said
Ye Leinster boys know ye'r formating

Neil3030

#datTable

eyeball kid

irishbucsfan wrote: »

9/10 for the table

What did he lose the mark for? Personally I thought it was 10 outta 10.

errlloyd

eyeball kid wrote: »

What did he lose the mark for? Personally I thought it was 10 outta 10.

There is an internal box beneath the Edinburgh logo, but not beneath the Leinster logo. -1 for lack of symmetry.

irishbucsfan

eyeball kid wrote: »

What did he lose the mark for? Personally I thought it was 10 outta 10.

The decision to use the full word "(Captain)" in brackets created a lot of unnecessary white space when (C) is ubiquitously understood and would have been a better use of space on the page.

irishbucsfan

errlloyd wrote: »

There is an internal box beneath the Edinburgh logo, but not beneath the Leinster logo. -1 for lack of symmetry.

Good eye, might have to revise the score to 8.5, we have standards here (standards that were originally set by Molloy)

molloyjh

errlloyd wrote: »

There is an internal box beneath the Edinburgh logo, but not beneath the Leinster logo. -1 for lack of symmetry.

eyeball kid

errlloyd wrote: »

There is an internal box beneath the Edinburgh logo, but not beneath the Leinster logo. -1 for lack of symmetry.

irishbucsfan wrote: »

The decision to use the full word "(Captain)" in brackets created a lot of unnecessary white space when (C) is ubiquitously understood and would have been a better use of space on the page.

I stand corrected and officially retract the 10/10.
Need to think a bit more on what would be an appropriate grading. Better put the kettle on...

vienne86

Enough of the tables! Match has started. Fitzgibbon is the ref.....I wonder why?

RuggieBear

bent wearing three but playing loose head...

molloyjh

Bleeping Lifestyle and their bleeping crap stock. Had to get the classic jersey for the auld fellas birthday tomorrow. 3 Lifestyles and no classic jersey. Ended up in Blanch the third time and finally got it in Elverys. Won't be home for another 5-10 though. Grrrr!

The Rape of Lucretia

Is it just me or is Leo Ball already looking more enticing than last year's fiasco ?

Dave_The_Sheep

Lot of penalties early on. Should be 3.

RuggieBear

nacewa pen 0-3

irishbucsfan

The return of Isa

Sangre

Surprised McFadden isn't kicking. Maybe he doesn't practice as much lately.

sydthebeat

Good start by Denton, Hagan and mc grath.

Conan seems to have bulked up quite a bit, looks massive as 8

RuggieBear

passing patterns are already better than anything last year.

fanning holding ball in wrong arm

molloyjh

Sangre wrote: »

Surprised McFadden isn't kicking. Maybe he doesn't practice as much lately.

Ferg took the place kicks last week when he came on. Isa is first choice, Ferg second in that regard.

vienne86

RuggieBear wrote: »

passing patterns are already better than anything last year.

fanning holding ball in wrong arm

Lots of errors from just rustiness, but this looks way better than last season. 3-3 now.

Dravokivich

RuggieBear wrote: »

passing patterns are already better than anything last year.

fanning holding ball in wrong arm

fanning only has one arm.

The Rape of Lucretia

Yes, despite the errors there does seem to be more vitality and zip in them. Maybe they are as excited to be MOCless as we are that they are.
Its wins that matter though, so lets see.

The Rape of Lucretia

Dravokivich wrote: »

fanning only has one arm.

Fanners only needs one arm.

vienne86

Are Edinburgh going to be playing regularly in this stadium? Way preferable to a couple of dozen rattling around in Murrayfield.

Sangre

Leinster struggling to protect their rucks. One of the big problems last year.

irishbucsfan

Luke McGrath's performance has been pretty promising.

RuggieBear

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Luke McGrath's performance has been pretty promising.

cursed him

molloyjh

Edinburgh looking dangerous when they can hold onto it a bit. Not convinced about us at all there now. We've slipped off a few tackles in midfield.

Big hit from McGrath there though.

hogandrew

Anyone else dizzy with the camera work?

duckysauce

vienne86 wrote: »

Are Edinburgh going to be playing regularly in this stadium? Way preferable to a couple of dozen rattling around in Murrayfield.

some gig on in main stadium tonite

molloyjh

Another fine tackle from McGrath there.

errlloyd

vienne86 wrote: »

Are Edinburgh going to be playing regularly in this stadium? Way preferable to a couple of dozen rattling around in Murrayfield.

To us it is, but in reality it's too small for them, they fit significantly less than their average attendance in and it has major parking restrictions. I read loads about it on an Edinburgh fan forum last year, they weren't keen at all to stay there.

irishbucsfan

Our scrum has been shocking. Even the one where we won a fairly dodgy penalty.

vienne86

I was sure Edinburgh would get a try there. Great defence from Leinster.

molloyjh

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Our scrum has been shocking. Even the one where we won a fairly dodgy penalty.

With that tight 5 it should be ok.

Sangre

Edinburgh their own worst enemies. Lots of unenforced errors.

molloyjh

And a line-out gone astray now. We need our pack to front up here.

vienne86

Ah Dan Leavy needs to watch himself.....we don't need to give away penalties like that.

molloyjh

I missed the first 20 but the second 20 was very, well, meh. Edinburgh the more dangerous looking, but unforced errors have hurt them badly.

irishbucsfan

molloyjh wrote: »

I missed the first 20 but the second 20 was very, well, meh. Edinburgh the more dangerous looking, but unforced errors have hurt them badly.

The first 20 was meh as well. Unforced errors are hurting both sides and some awful tackling from us as well.

Would be interested to see how the half backs manage possession if our pack was actually capable of holding onto it long enough.

molloyjh

irishbucsfan wrote: »

The first 20 was meh as well. Unforced errors are hurting both sides and some awful tackling from us as well.

Would be interested to see how the half backs manage possession if our pack was actually capable of holding onto it long enough.

It's disappointing that the pack seem to be picking up where they left off last season in that regard. But our scrum is a bit of a worry. I'd have thought that pack would have been able to at least come close to parity. We seem decidedly second best there.

scott1974

I wonder where Jamie Haha was on holidays, great colour...

On a positive note our defence looks good.

RuggieBear

ugh

irishbucsfan

scott1974 wrote: »

I wonder where Jamie Haha was on holidays, great colour...

On a positive note our defence looks good.

Our defence was shocking in the first half! Some really passive footwork, particularly disappointing from Conan and Reid.

molloyjh

Card here?

molloyjh

In fairness he tried to wrap. Nothing wrong with that.

dregin

molloyjh wrote: »

Card here?

Following the rest of his fun at the end of the first half, I'd call him lucky to get away with this one...

RuggieBear

ffs fitzgibbon. get the **** on with it

dregin

Actually that looked grand in the replay. Left arm was definitely out.