Leinster v Toulouse L'effort pour cinq contre The Drive for Five

swiwi_ wrote: »

...should have went...

Yip this an Irish-based forum

(to be sure)

Fixed for you:
Ba chóir go ndeachaigh an gradam chuig O'Brien. (Here's a clue as to why Irish people have strange sentence structure and word use at times.)

awec wrote: »

So, on a more serious point, what's the craic with the Guinness being replaced by Murphys?

Who signed off on that?

Heineken game. Wont have Guinness tapped for these games.

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Seemed to be an experimental game for the bars, level 1 was card payments only as well, no cash.

Level 1 will be cashless soon enough for all games maybe 1 till per bar having cash for people who dont have card.

kenmc wrote: »

Delighted with the upgrade. Had resigned myself to drinking blandness, got beer with flavour instead!

Heineken and Murphy's are both in the Heineken portfolio - presume that's why it was done, cos Heineken cup

exactly. Heineken game. so no diageo.

awec wrote: »

They had Guinness at the quarter final.

Perhaps it's something to do with the game being EPCR controlled and/or their deal with sponsors.

Edit: Damn you IBF!

Squatter wrote: »

Only if the ref and the weather are good.

At least we won't get Barnes, who was poor enough in last year's final, although in fairness he had a good game yesterday.

But if we get Garces or Poite, then I very much fear that the cheatingest team will win. And, although we're pretty streetwise, we're not up to Sarries' level.

So we are streetwise but they are cheats? Impressive spin.

Fantastic Leinster performance, great to see such hunger and dominance. I think Sarries looked great though, Farrell is really at his peak at the moment, and I don’t think we will bully them at all. In a 50/50 slugging competition I would favour them to take it, so I am hoping we can put in an early performance to unsettle them and shift the balance in our favour

Squatter wrote: »

Every professional rugby team is streetwise, indeed some prominent players' reputations are built largely on their prowess in the area, but some teams take it further than others.

Not going to list the usual suspects here, but for me, Sarries are probably the cheatingest team in Europe. Leinster would be quite a bit lower in the roll of dishonour!

What do Saracens do regularly that Leinster don’t that make them cheats?

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Conan definitely hits him. He’s only doing what you’d do naturally but the Toulouse player is taken out of play by it and he had a chance of getting to the call carrier.

If Conan hadn’t shaped up for contact, thrown his arms up or something like that, he might have gotten away with it, but I don’t really blame him

Oh yeah, Conan definitely hit him. But it just looked to me like he was bracing for contact. It's not really important now, but still think it should have been ruled as an on filed collision. Henshaw's pass was probably forward in the next phase anyway.

And despite Buer's inevitable protestations, James Lowe simply must start the final. His two finishes were exceptional and he adds so much all over the pitch. He was used as a carrier on a number of occasions, drew in two tacklers and offloaded to a free man. He's world class.

Buer wrote: »

I wouldn't protest. He's top class and obviously features in our strongest team. I'm just risk adverse to potentially having Hugh O'Sullivan play a large chunk of a final. Even if we had Mick Kearney or Ross Molony, I'd consider dropping Fardy (although I'd be very unhappy about it).

I'd be more than happy for Lowe to start but it's a risk and I think we've already seen that the coaching staff tend to lean towards the percentage call and omit him.

The problem with Saracens is that they are relentless and the game will be hugely demanding for the players physically. If McGrath doesn't pick up a knock, it will be a big ask for him to play 70+ minutes. It's a messy situation.

Starting Lowe is definitely a risk, but it's one I think we need to take. Saracens are are well organised side that are extremely hard to break down. We've seen how Munster have utterly failed to make in roads against them on two separate occasions. We need our best backs on the pitch to stand them up and get them to make decisions on the fly which they may not be comfortable in making.

Saracens always prepare well for games. I think we'll need Lowe as he's a player that you really can't prepare for. You know he'll try a hand off and then an offload to a support runner. But you still have to stop him doing it. So far nobody has really got to grips with his style of play.

Yes, we need to balance the risk of McGrath not finishing the game, but I think not having Lowe in the side is a needless handicap on ourselves.

Squatter wrote: »

Why not watch them and make up your own mind?

I have watched both. You made the assertion, so are you able to back that up at all?

Squatter wrote: »

It's my opinion, based on watching both teams regularly over the past number of years. You are completely free to agree or disagree with it as you prefer. Rest assured that I won't lose any sleep over which option you take.

I will add that, with all due respect to Peter O'Mahony, I regard Itoje and Liam Williams as probably the biggest cheats in European rugby.

That too - in case you're confused - is my opinion.

Anything to actually back up what you said rather than all this nonsense.
What exactly do they do to be "biggest cheats" as there's a lot more than statements with nothing to back it up.