Leinster (Pro12 runners up) vs Connacht (Pro12 Champions), RDS 29/10 17.15 SKY

Well Gents.

It's pro12 final replay time.

It looks like with all the injuries in Connacht and all the Internationals in Leinster (guys like Robbie Henshaw lol) that the squads lining up this Saturday for the weekends more important Derby will be depleted.

After Munster tried and failed to lure Dillane and Bundi south east and with two wins from two in the Challenge Champions cup the westerners are on a bit of a roll.

Leinster on the other hand have just come off the back of a tough game away to South Africa and will likely be looking to rotate a lot of the first team guys out of the squad in the run up to the Internationals in November.

The RDS is quite the fortress these days and Leinster kept Connacht at "Nil Póinte"in this fixture last year.

Let the discussion begin:

Note: Guys the Munster v Leinster build up thread really was a disgrace, let's try and keep things a bit more civil this time.

Bundee Aki is not Irish. Discuss.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Bundee Aki is not Irish. Discuss.

He may not even be Human.

ClanofLams

Calling it now. Boshoff to come on and slot a 40m touchline penalty for the win in the 76th minute

Zzippy

Connacht will be very light up front, missing Buckley, Bealham, and McCartney - that's a Pro12-winning front row, by the way
Cooney, Heff and Carey/Robertson-McCoy are very inexperienced by comparison. Keep the ball out of the tight and we have a chance, but Leinster should be looking for scrum dominance all day here. Browne/Roux v McCarthy/Nagle (?) - hard to call. Backrow should be even steven.
Halfbacks battle will be interesting, a resurgent Carty v Carbery who's shown huge talent this year, but back 5 should be advantage Connacht. A pity it comes a week before NZ and the internationals will be missing but that probably gives Connacht our best chance in years to get a win in Dublin.

Hip flask all the way...

Adbrowne

http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/rugby-union/leinster-pay-tribute-8-year-9121855

Life's sh1t sometimes

connemara man

Deleted User wrote: »

Well Gents.

It's pro12 final replay time.

It looks like with all the injuries in Connacht and all the Internationals in Leinster (guys like Robbie Henshaw lol) that the squads lining up this Saturday for the weekends more important Derby will be depleted.

After Munster tried and failed to lure Dillane and Bundi south east and with two wins from two in the Challenge Champions cup the westerners are on a bit of a roll.

Leinster on the other hand have just come off the back of a tough game away to South Africa and will likely be looking to rotate a lot of the first team guys out of the squad in the run up to the Internationals in November.

The RDS is quite the fortress these days and Leinster kept Connacht at "Nil Póinte"in this fixture last year.

Let the discussion begin:

Note: Guys the Munster v Leinster build up thread really was a disgrace, let's try and keep things a bit more civil this time.

Adbrowne

Adbrowne wrote: »

http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/rugby-union/leinster-pay-tribute-8-year-9121855

Life's sh1t sometimes

Jesus that poor child. Heartbreaking.

bilston

Adbrowne wrote: »

http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/rugby-union/leinster-pay-tribute-8-year-9121855

Life's sh1t sometimes

As a father of two young children this sort of thing just breaks my heart. In fact you don't need to be a parent for it to touch you.

RIP little fella

wp_rathead

Epidermolysis Bullosa is one of the most horrific diseases one can get. If you ever get the chance to watch Channel 4s documentary "The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off" it is worth watching..

Anyway the Rugby. Not sure about our tight 5- with Henderson out of NZ game Roux could be going Chicago aswell so we be down to Browne, Cannon, Stevenson or Qualter - could play Sean O'Brien there also mind.

I doubt we'll see Boshoff in squad for this one.

Some double standards going on in this thread. All those posters going on about Leinster poaching Henshaw get very quiet at the mention of Quinn Roux who according to all the best experts is now first choice ahead of Dillan.

wp_rathead

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Note: Guys the Munster v Leinster build up thread really was a disgrace, let's try and keep things a bit more civil this time.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Some double standards going on in this thread. All those posters going on about Leinster poaching Henshaw get very quiet at the mention of Quinn Roux who according to all the best experts is now first choice ahead of Dillan.

Good job with that Venjur

irishbucsfan

Deleted User wrote: »

Some double standards going on in this thread. All those posters going on about Leinster poaching Henshaw get very quiet at the mention of Quinn Roux who according to all the best experts is now first choice ahead of Dillan.

Connacht poaching Quinn Roux was one of the more despicable acts of recent times in Irish rugby. Worse than poaching Nathan White and poaching Cian Kelleher. Shows Irish rugby has a ways to go before the provinces are treated equally.

Bridge93

Deleted User wrote: »

Some double standards going on in this thread. All those posters going on about Leinster poaching Henshaw get very quiet at the mention of Quinn Roux who according to all the best experts is now first choice ahead of Dillan.

Don't forget Delahunt, Soroka, Marshall, Connolly, Cooney, Robb, Ronaldson, Niyi, Healy and Kelleher... all Leinster born or bred. What a team Leinster could have but for poaching

ClanofLams

Bridge93 wrote: »

Don't forget Delahunt, Soroka, Marshall, Connolly, Cooney, Robb, Ronaldson, Niyi, Healy and Kelleher... all Leinster born or bred. What a team Leinster could have but for poaching

True fairly embarrassing for Leinster to overlook these lads and then get beaten out the gate in the Pro12 final in Murrayfield 😉

Bridge93

Bridge93 wrote: »

Don't forget Delahunt, Soroka, Marshall, Connolly, Cooney, Robb, Ronaldson, Niyi, Healy and Kelleher... all Leinster born or bred. What a team Leinster could have but for poaching

At this rate they could call it Leinster A v Leinster B

Bridge93

Deleted User wrote: »

At this rate they could call it Leinster A v Leinster B

I heard training warmup games are split into Leinster v Rest of the World

Bridge93

Bridge93 wrote: »

I heard training warmup games are split into Leinster v Rest of the World

Just like rugby boards.ie!!

Bridge93

In all seriousness I'll have to wait and see the teams before calling it. Leinster home record what sways it potentially

.ak

Leinster 79 Connacht 3

The 3 is when on the 79th minute Leinster are defending their line and henshaw turns it over. He feels bad so turns around and slots a DG over his own posts.

Podge_irl

Would be very surprised if Leinster lost at home even with a somewhat depleted squad - and it is somewhat frustrating they will have one.

That said, for all that they were very impressive all season I was still completely shocked Connacht beat Leinster in the final last year and it wasn't exactly close. Will really have to wait to see the teams.

pickarooney

Remember the time Fionn Carr got poached?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Is Keiran Marmion a better SH than Luke McGrath? And if so by how much?

Marmion did get to play for 3 minutes against South Africa, so he must be Ireland's 2nd choice SH.

He couldn't get past a 35 year old Reddan until Reddan retired though, but then again McGrath couldn't get past Reddan at Leinster either.

Are they both rubbish?

Neither was born in Ireland, should they both be sidelined in favour of Paul Marshall?

Discuss.

wp_rathead

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Some double standards going on in this thread. All those posters going on about Leinster poaching Henshaw get very quiet at the mention of Quinn Roux who according to all the best experts is now first choice ahead of Dillan.

Didn't O'Connor loan Roux to Connacht..
.. After ye signed McCarthy from us of course..

wp_rathead

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Is Keiran Marmion a better SH than Luke McGrath? And if so by how much?

Marmion did get to play for 3 minutes against South Africa, so he must be Ireland's 2nd choice SH.

He couldn't get past a 35 year old Reddan until Reddan retired though, but then again McGrath couldn't get past Reddan at Leinster either.

Are they both rubbish?

Neither was born in Ireland, should they both be sidelined in favour of Paul Marshall?

Discuss.

Are you trolling?
Discuss.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

wp_rathead wrote: »

Are you trolling?
Discuss.

Did this conversation start in another thread where it wasn't relevant and if so did someone then suggest that it may be a relevant topic of conversation for the Leinster v Connacht build up thread?

wp_rathead

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Did this conversation start in another thread where it wasn't relevant and if so did someone then suggest that it may be a relevant topic of conversation for the Leinster v Connacht build up thread?

That is an Irish Rugby discussion who is Irelands second choice SH - not a match day discussion one surely
Especially when 1 if not both players won't be involved in said match

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

wp_rathead wrote: »

That is an Irish Rugby discussion who is Irelands second choice SH - not a match day discussion one surely
Especially when 1 if not both players won't be involved in said match

They could both be playing though.

Padkir

Jesus lads this thread is on shaky ground already... And it's only Tuesday!

Hate to say it but Leinster are rarely beaten in the RDS and with a very depleted front row for Connacht I'd worry a bit about that. Although I thought the same against toulouse and despite them comprehensively destroying us in the scrum we still won, so will keep the faith.

As others have said, hard to make a definite call without knowing what players are available or not.

FrannoFan

Possible Leinster lineup
Dooley
Strauss
Bent
McCarthy
Nagle
SOB
Leavy
Conan

Luke/Gibson park
Carbery

Zane
Reid
Ringrose (doubtful/Irish camp)
O'Loughlin
Isa

If ringrose with Ireland I have no idea who slots in. Maybe Zane to 13 as did pre season and bring in a wing

sydthebeat

Time for Tom Daly to get off the Mark?

Clegg

Kirchner at outside centre is not something I want to see revisited. He played there this season and was poor. If we're losing Ringrose we may.as well give O'Loughlin a go. Although throwing him in at the deep end against Aki might seem a bit unfair.

Think Leinster will have the advantage up front and at half back. Hopefully that'll be the winning of the game.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Ringrose might be at the Ireland camp but is he likely to feature in Chicago, or even go to Chicago?

That said... Olding and Marshall are both injury doubts for Ulster so depending on how they go over the next week Ringrose could well travel.

Zzippy

Deleted User wrote: »

Let the discussion begin:

Note: Guys the Munster v Leinster build up thread really was a disgrace, let's try and keep things a bit more civil this time.

Deleted User wrote: »

At this rate they could call it Leinster A v Leinster B

That civil thing, you didn't really mean that, did ya?!

wp_rathead

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Ringrose might be at the Ireland camp but is he likely to feature in Chicago, or even go to Chicago?

That said... Olding and Marshall are both injury doubts for Ulster so depending on how they go over the next week Ringrose could well travel.

I'm sure Ringrose will be in Irish squad for Training and will probably rightly get capped against Canada. If Olding and Marshall out for Chicago I'd be stunned if anything other than "Henshaw-Payne" in center

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

wp_rathead wrote: »

I'm sure Ringrose will be in Irish squad for Training and will probably rightly get capped against Canada. If Olding and Marshall out for Chicago I'd be stunned if anything other than "Henshaw-Payne" in center

I wouldn't expect him to play in Chicago, but he could still end up travelling. Who else is a viable option at 12/13?

I think Olding is only a minor doubt for this weekend so he'll probably be fine but we're not exactly overwhelmed with centre options if you take the Ulster players (other than Payne) out of the equation.

wp_rathead

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I wouldn't expect him to play in Chicago, but he could still end up travelling. Who else is a viable option at 12/13?

I think Olding is only a minor doubt for this weekend so he'll probably be fine but we're not exactly overwhelmed with centre options if you take the Ulster players (other than Payne) out of the equation.

Yeah of course he could travel but he would still be available for selection for Leinster this weekend I'd imagine as I doubt he is in Joe's immediate plans

Joe Schmidt

Lads,

You won't believe this, but this morning on my way in I bumped into Joe Schmidt. He was just chilling there on the side of the road for the craic like.

Anyway, I told him about this thread and asked him his thoughts on the whole Marmion v McGrath debate, here is what he had to say:

Joe Schmidt wrote:

Well Venjur me aul'd flower. Y'know, Kieran hasn't really come into the conversation. To be honest, he wasn't meant to be on the South African tour at all but y'know with moy accent some times things get y'know confused so when I said "Marshall" for some reason the boys wrote down "Marmion". Anyway, y'know he spent most of the tour just kinda y'know following Conor around and it got a bit weird when he started dressing the same as Conor and it seemed like he was trying to speak with a Limerick accent. On one of the nights out he had a girl come back with him and he kept on ringing Simon to ask him over." We gave him a few minutes so know one would cop that it was, y'know, a mistake.

Anyway, Luke will be number two moving forward, might put Kieran on the bench for Italy just for the roflocopter but otherwise it's all aboard the McG Hype train

So there ye have it lads, straight from the man himself.

connemara man

Deleted User wrote: »

Lads,

You won't believe this, but this morning on my way in I bumped into Joe Schmidt. He was just chilling there on the side of the road for the craic like.

Anyway, I told him about this thread and asked him his thoughts on the whole Marmion v McGrath debate, here is what he had to say:



So there ye have it lads, straight from the man himself.

Clegg

Never been that impressed with Marmion. Good break but average passer. If we're in a situation where Murray is injured we're goosed no whether it's McGrath or Marmion picked.

Really hope SOB 2.0 starts this Saturday.
The fair weather Leinster fans wont know whats going on.
Would love for Robbie to start too. Bundee's going to get ya!!!!

As for the front row, I think we will need to treat it like the 2nd half against Toulouse, and avoid scrums at all costs.
Weather looks like it should be ok, which will be bad news for Leinster. They wont be able to keep up with our pace.

Kelleher will probably miss out, seeing as he should be heading to Chicago to start...
Who am I kidding, Dave Kearney and McFadden will be in the Ireland squad ahead of him

Clegg

You're talking about injured Dave Kearney and Fergus McFadden? The guys who haven't played in weeks and have no anticipated return to play date?

At least make an effort when you're trying to have a cheap dig.

wp_rathead

[Deleted User] wrote: »

As for the front row, I think we will need to treat it like the 2nd half against Toulouse, and avoid scrums at all costs.

I agree with that although don't think Leinster front row will be as intimidating as Toulouse's was-but no Finlay, Buckley, Tom or even Loughney is a worry

wp_rathead

wp_rathead wrote: »

I agree with that although don't think Leinster front row will be as intimidating as Toulouse's was-but no Finlay, Buckley, Tom or even Loughney is a worry

Leinster are likely to have a front row of Dooley, Tracey, Bent so a pretty dramatic difference to what you played against with Toulouse (not to disparage against the guys at all).

Funnily enough, I don't think the set piece is going to be a dominant fixture within this game and I don't see either side having any major advantages in the pack.

The winning of this game is going to be Connacht having enough up front to gain parity but having a more fluid and heads up approach to back play which an inexperienced and unstructured Leinster defence may struggle with.

If however Leinster / IRFU want the likes of Healy and Ross to get more game time then you can bet we are going to want you to try and run the ball from deep and every time you do the breakdown will get flooded with the hope of creating scrums.

All that said, I gather Leinster are resting a lot of the guys that have played the last 3 weeks so who knows. The IRFU always seem to have some influence over selection for these kinds of fixtures also so will be interesting to see all 4 named sides.

#McGrath>Marmion.

irishbucsfan

It'll be a great experience for a decent young Welsh lad like Marmion to get onto the pitch and play against a leading young Irish scrum half.

wp_rathead

Yaaaawn

Bridge93

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Really hope SOB 2.0 starts this Saturday.
The fair weather Leinster fans wont know whats going on.
Would love for Robbie to start too. Bundee's going to get ya!!!!

As for the front row, I think we will need to treat it like the 2nd half against Toulouse, and avoid scrums at all costs.
Weather looks like it should be ok, which will be bad news for Leinster. They wont be able to keep up with our pace.

Kelleher will probably miss out, seeing as he should be heading to Chicago to start...
Who am I kidding, Dave Kearney and McFadden will be in the Ireland squad ahead of him

Bit rich Connacht fans calling Leinster fans fair weather when their own attendances have gone up almost 500% in the last 7 years
If anything, a bit like Munster, Leinster have started to lose their fair weather fans

wp_rathead

Bridge93 wrote: »

Bit rich Connacht fans calling Leinster fans fair weather when their own attendances have gone up almost 500% in the last 7 years
If anything, a bit like Munster, Leinster have started to lose their fair weather fans

Fairly certain that post was firmly tongue in cheek - as is most of this thread

Zzippy

Clegg wrote: »

You're talking about injured Dave Kearney and Fergus McFadden? The guys who haven't played in weeks and have no anticipated return to play date?

At least make an effort when you're trying to have a cheap dig.

Bridge93 wrote: »

Bit rich Connacht fans calling Leinster fans fair weather when their own attendances have gone up almost 500% in the last 7 years
If anything, a bit like Munster, Leinster have started to lose their fair weather fans

Can people stop being so bloody sensitive when people are clearly just having a laugh? No one is taking Venjur's "digs" seriously, it's just banter, so lighten up folks. :rolleyes:

Bridge93

Zzippy wrote: »

Can people stop being so bloody sensitive when people are clearly just having a laugh? No one is taking Venjur's "digs" seriously, it's just banter, so lighten up folks. :rolleyes:

I'm perfectly light thank you mine is in no way a dig. Look at my comments on the first few pages. Doesn't mean we can't throw out a few facts!

I posted in jest about Connacht being packed with Leinster players expecting to get a bit of a comment back and did about Leinster ignoring those lads. That reply was no different to me bouncing back about fair weather fans. Bringing fact with a bit of fun. No need to get uppity about people replying to posts on a discussion forum.
Should we totally ignore posts that are messing?

irishbucsfan

Bridge93 wrote: »

I'm perfectly light thank you mine is in no way a dig. Look at my comments on the first few pages. Doesn't mean we can't throw out a few facts!

I posted in jest about Connacht being packed with Leinster players expecting to get a bit of a comment back and did about Leinster ignoring those lads. No need to get uppity about people replying to posts on a discussion forum.
Should we totally ignore posts that are messing?

You have to accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative.

Like Connacht's recruitment philosophy.