Leinster v Cardiff; Saturday 12th September 2015; 17:30; Sky Sports 4

irishbucsfan

No match thread?

Teams:

Leinster: 15 Isa Nacewa (c), 14 Garry Ringrose, 13 Ben Te'o, 12 Noel Reid, 11 Fergus McFadden, 10 Cathal Marsh, 9 Luke McGrath; 1 Michael Bent, 2 Aaron Dundon, 3 Jamie Hagan, 4 Ross Molony, 5 Mike McCarthy, 6 Dominic Ryan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 Jack Conan.

Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Royce Burke-Flynn, 19 Tadhg Beirne, 20 Daniel Leavy, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Cian Kelleher.

Cardiff Blues: 15 Dan Fish, 14 Aled Summerhill, 13 Tom Isaacs, 12 Gavin Evans, 11 Owen Jenkins, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Tavis Knoyle; 1 Sam Hobbs, 2 Kristian Dacey, 3 Craig Mitchell, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 5 James Down, 6 Josh Turnbull, 7 Josh Navidi (c), 8 Manoa Vosawai

Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Thomas Davies, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Lou Reed, 20 Ellis Jenkins, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Gareth Davies, 23 Garyn Smith.

irishbucsfan

Jamie Hagan just absolutely folded on that first scrum...

aimee1

think the cardiff LH was just as bad though.

Dodgy tackle from the cardiff wing on mcfadden.

errlloyd

Not so good.

That's a phenomenal kick.

Just stroked it over.

irishbucsfan

Hagan loses the ball in the Cardiff 22... He's an absolute liability.

McGrath has been veru very good so far

Jamie. Hagan.

errlloyd

Actually that was frustrating but lovely.

Good pace to the game.

aimee1

there was more entertainment from leinster in the last 10 minutes then the entire MOC reign.

Sky struggling with 'Cathal'

awec

McGrath and Marsh must be one of the smallest half back pairings about.

Did I just see Mike 'tits bricks-for-hands' McCarthy give a deft off load in midfield?

aimee1

ref is in the best position then any camera ffs.

irishbucsfan

Half backs have been fantastic so far, very quick. McGrath hasn't had entirely clean ball either, a great performance from him.

hogandrew

Some nice play there

irishbucsfan

Deleted User wrote: »

Sky struggling with 'Cathal'

I was disgusted when the Scots got it wrong last week.

Tox56

I think ref knows he scored but asked the wrong question

errlloyd

Excellent play by everyone there. Great score.

aimee1

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Half backs have been fantastic so far, very quick. McGrath hasn't had entirely clean ball either, a great performance from him.

and the ball is being put out in front of the receiver who is also moving forward and they are trying play close to the gain line instead of shovelling the ball 10 yards backwards to a guy standing still who gets cleaned out of it by the opposition backrow

errlloyd

I hope this continues, even just a few more minutes. So nice to see.

errlloyd

We just wanna run from anywhere.

RuggieBear

cardiff have obviously never played in the sun before...

I have so much time for Aaron Dundon.

awec

RuggieBear wrote: »

cardiff have obviously never played in the sun before...

The sun is behind them so they've no excuse.

irishbucsfan

That was a shocking decision from Navidi to go for the corner.

errlloyd

Wow! Reid and Teo bossing breakdowns

.ak

Reid n T'eo playing very well so far.

aimee1

quinlan praising leinster just sounds so wrong

irishbucsfan

errlloyd wrote: »

Wow! Reid and Teo bossing breakdowns

Ringrose is also hitting breakdowns very well, surprising to see for someone so young.

Happy to see Reid playing well after a dodgy game last week.

Reid was an exceptional place kicker for years, is he not still kicking?

Zzippy

Just tuned in. Was Nacewa expected to do the placekicking?

Zzippy

Zzippy wrote: »

Just tuned in. Was Nacewa expected to do the placekicking?

Yup!

.ak

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Reid was an exceptional place kicker for years, is he not still kicking?

He wasn't great at a level so it stopped there I think

The Pheasant2

Ringrose is quality off the tee - scored 26/27 kicks in the senior cup; wonder if they have him keeping it up

errlloyd

We have so many goal kickers lying around, but I feel it'd be counter productive to take it off Nacewa. He'll be around the most.

errlloyd

errlloyd wrote: »

We have so many goal kickers lying around, but I feel it'd be counter productive to take it off Nacewa. He'll be around the most.

Yeah I'm not really suggesting any change, just was checking to see if Reid was still an option off the tee.

errlloyd

Leinster have played really positively, shame it won't be rewarded in the first half.

Tox56

errlloyd wrote: »

We have so many goal kickers lying around, but I feel it'd be counter productive to take it off Nacewa. He'll be around the most.

Literally every player in the backline except Te'o has kicked pretty extensively at various levels, if he misses again they'd have to consider a change

irishbucsfan

Tox56 wrote: »

Literally every player in the backline except Te'o has kicked pretty extensively at various levels, if he misses again they'd have to consider a change

How many has he missed? I thought it was just one?

aimee1

solid half. lots to be positive about. good to see a little bit of freedom in the way they are playing. Scrum going very well considering its a 3rd/4th choice options front row.

errlloyd

irishbucsfan wrote: »

How many has he missed? I thought it was just one?

Nah, he hit the post with one too, right before their second.

durkadurka

Nice half of rugby . Plenty to be positive about.

This is the first time ive seen left leinsters this season and it's been a breath of fresh air

aimee1

irishbucsfan wrote: »

How many has he missed? I thought it was just one?

2, I Think

total former

Poor choice from Reid to kick there.

Frustrating to be only one ahead at HT but happy with the showing so far. Te'o doing well, VDF too and mincing them in the scrum. Too many errors but that's to be expected.

Good stuff overall.

A-Train

Decent 1st half from Leinster, the worry is not converting dominance into points.

Peregrine

Great performance, disappointing scoreline.

irishbucsfan

Biggest highlight of the first half was McGrath and Marsh for me. Given how dreadful our half backs were last season we could really do with McGrath emerging as first choice and Marsh pushing Madigan (if this is what Marsh is going to give us I think Madigan will struggle to remain 2nd choice).

total former

Goal kicking aside, Patchell has been awful

aimee1

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Biggest highlight of the first half was McGrath and Marsh for me. Given how dreadful our half backs were last season we could really do with McGrath emerging as first choice and Marsh pushing Madigan (if this is what Marsh is going to give us I think Madigan will struggle to remain 2nd choice).

mcgrath very sloppy 2nd half

irishbucsfan

total former wrote: »

Goal kicking aside, Patchell has been awful

Last week he scored a hat trick and kicked 1/8

Maybe he can only do one or the other.