Toulon v Leinster 16.15 local, 15.15 Irish. Sky Sports

CatFromHue

15. Delon Armitage; 14. Bryan Habana, 13. Mathieu Bastareaud, 12. Ma'a Nonu, 11. Drew Mitchell; 10. Matt Giteau, 9. Eric Escande; 1. Florian Fresia, 2. Guilhem Guirado, 3. Matt Stevens, 4. Samu Manoa, 5. Romain Taofifenua, 6. Mamuka Gorgodze, 7. Steffon Armitage, 8. Duane Vermeulen
16. Anthony Etrillard, 17. Xavier Chiocci, 18. Levan Chilachava, 19. Juan Smith, 20. Tom Taylor, 21. Maxime Mermoz, 22. Anthony Meric, 23. Jocelino Suta

15. Rob Kearney; 14. Fergus McFadden, 13. Ben Te'o, 12. Luke Fitzgerald, 11. Isa Nacewa; 10. Johnny Sexton, 9. Isaac Boss; 1. Cian Healy, 2. Richardt Strauss, 3. Mike Ross, 4. Devin Toner, 5. Mike McCarthy, 6. Rhys Ruddock, 7. Josh Van Der Flier, 8. Jamie Heaslip
16. Sean Cronin, 17. Jack McGrath, 18. Martin Moore, 19. Tom Denton, 20. Jordi Murphy, 21. Eoin Reddan, 22. Ian Madigan, 23. Dave Kearney

Leinster pretty much in a do or die game here, lose and they're out.

Last season the best runners up had 17, 18 and 19 points so a draw here, 3 wins from the rest of the games, and at least 3 TBP's might squeek it.

Similar to Leinster Toulon had a good few guys at the RWC so season form running up to this game is not hugely relevant.

What we do know is Leinster ran them very close with a weaker team last year in France and in a 10 min spell after half time the year before let Toulon run away with it.

After a bad loss to Wasps Leinster (Toulon also had a poor loss on the same scale to Wasps in round 2) went to Bath and really stuck it up to them. A poor scrum though gave away 16 points though and was the downfall of the team.

Verdict: Leinster in 13 seconds

sheep?

Looking forward to the game and have no expectations. Hope the lads walk off the pitch proud whatever happens.

Regardless, I'll be there next week in blue cheering on my team no matter what the result today.

flouncer

If Leinster play to their ability they can win this game. I hope they do. Would like to see sexton play well. Would like to see them all play well. I'm just back from the bookies. 7/1 is simply too good to pass up. However its not about the money. They need it for their own self confidence. Toulon are no longer world beaters. They may have a lot of money invested but that doesn't make them a team. Go leinster

Clegg

Jaysus lads I'm bricking it.

Need big games from Healy and Ross especially. They've been very lucky to retain their places. Ruddock has performed well against Toulon in the past and I'm hoping JVDF can make the step up.

Dave_The_Sheep

I almost don't want to watch this.

aimee1

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

I almost don't want to watch this.

every time fitz tackles bastereaud or Nonu i think i will close my eyes

Toulon have such great fans, amazed they are able to support a team that has absolutely no local soul. Here we go!

Kiwi_knock

That kick certainly doesn't settle any nerves

LuckyGent88

Awful execution by Jonny. There was plenty of space there

Clegg

Does Sexton have the distance for this? He didn't against Bath a few weeks ago.

Edit: Fair play he did it.

eyeball kid

Nice penalty from Sexton.

Korat

Sweet strike from Johnny that time.

aimee1

Clegg wrote: »

Does Sexton have the distance for this? He didn't against Bath a few weeks ago.

pitch in toulon always looks very short, the gap from 10m line to 22 looks quite short

awec

Doing alright so far.

LuckyGent88

Great stuff so far.

BBDBB

Two good strikes by sexton

LuckyGent88

Johnny got nailed there

Clegg

Sexton took a very heavy knock there.

awec

Sexton just got sat down.

Again Sexton very slow getting up in games, moves out to the wing to remove himself from action for a minute or two?

Pudsy33

Bad technique there from Sexton

molloyjh

Lucky there. Still happy enough with our start.

COME ON BOYS!

AbusesToilets

Toner and Ross defending in mid field, that should work out

awec

Maul marched backwards. Toulon try.

Can't stand this commentator

BBDBB

That's a real body blow

aimee1

guirado stepping onto the pitch every lineout throw, is that allowed?

bilston

That was some maul

aimee1

no way he as supporting his own weight there

Crimsonforce

What's up with the lower tier of that main stand, is it redevelopment or not sold out?

Crimsonforce

Crimsonforce wrote: »

What's up with the lower tier of that main stand, is it redevelopment or not sold out?

No seats on it so i'd imagine it's having work done.

Either that or maybe they played a soccer friendly against England there recently...!

Stheno

Commentator is annoying

Going better than I expected so far.

Stheno

Stheno wrote: »

Commentator is annoying

Going better than I expected so far.

Leinster have good players and a good team, Toulon will have to work to break them down but that Maul was ominous.

Will see where we are at 50m.

Dave_The_Sheep

Ah, Sexton. Come on, man.

BBDBB

Poor kick

Dave_The_Sheep

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Ah, Sexton. Come on, man.

Was a good kick actually, guitau was just in a good position to take it because he is a bloody good player. Do that against most teams and we've a line out in the corner.

captbarnacles

Leinster had numbers there

awec

Deleted User wrote: »

Was a good kick actually, guitau was just in a good position to take it because he is a bloody good player. Do that against most teams and we've a line out in the corner.

It was going dead! Too far infield.

Awful kick.

Crimsonforce

Sexton reading keatleys playbook, kick it out.

Clegg

Poor stuff.

3 points for Toulon from 3 very quick Leinster errors.

funtime93

Poor sexton kick, knock on by nacewa and offside from mccarthy and then 3 points . Can't do that against toulon

Felexicon

Sexton has been awful!

awec

awec wrote: »

It was going dead! Too far infield.

Awful kick.

Yeah I'd reserve judgement on that until we saw the bounce personally.

aimee1

sexton having a mare so far barring place kicks

TeoReid

Good leg drive from McFadden

Clegg

Absolute state of James O'Connor.

JPNelsforearm

James O'Conner deserves the sack for that barnet, shocking

Greyian

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah I'd reserve judgement on that until we saw the bounce personally.

He would have needed a very lucky bounce. More often that not, that kick goes dead. Awful execution.

irishbucsfan

aimee1 wrote: »

sexton having a mare so far barring place kicks

He's not though.

He's playing 100x better than any 10 we had while he was gone, and he's not at his best. The difference is night and day. By his standards not great maybe but his quality is still clear to see today.

aimee1

healy just kneed guirado in the face.