HEC SF: Clermont Auvergne vs Leinster; Sunday 29 April, KO 1600(CET); Live Sky Sports

Fishooks12 · 30-04-2012 12:29am

Leinster7 wrote: »

I thought Barnes missed quite a lot of dirty play by Clermont although he did penalise them 4 or 5 times during the game for lack of discipline at the breakdown. Clermont are one of the dirtiest sides in Europe along with Leicester imo. So glad I bought my tickets for the final last November. My old man is flying over from Dublin. Should be a great day out...

The Ulster fans should have a great day too, visit to Buckingham palace int he morning then on to Twickers!

x

Fishooks12 · 30-04-2012 12:30am

Leinster7 wrote: »

Guy (not sure which Clermont player) was dragging him into the ruck illegaly, cullen barely slapped him away and the guy dives better then Messi in the box...pathetic, never a yellow. Clermont have been a dirty dirty side for years...the Leicester of France!

It was a yellow at least and Cullen was very lucky, the dive was horrible to see but people get pulled out of rucks at all angles during a game

Cullen was a lucky boy and I think he realised it himself given his improved discipline in the second half

Hammer Archer · 30-04-2012 12:30am

mhtc wrote: »

Quins fans
Tigers fans
Saracens fans
boards.ie
Saints fans
Sharks fans

duckysauce · 30-04-2012 12:33am

Leinster7 wrote: »

Guy (not sure which Clermont player) was dragging him into the ruck illegaly, cullen barely slapped him away and the guy dives better then Messi in the box...pathetic, never a yellow. Clermont have been a dirty dirty side for years...the Leicester of France!

made contact with the face it was a slap or a paw still a yellow, and was dopey from Leo . Clermont player got an oscar for the dive.

Leinster7 · 30-04-2012 12:33am

Hammer Archer wrote: »

profitius · 30-04-2012 12:57am

mhtc wrote: »

Congrats to Leinster! An away win in France in a HC semi-final is no small achievement.
Be sure to buy Wayne Barnes a pint the next time you see him

The last line is a just a joke by the way! Although the general consensus is that he let Leinster get away with a huge amount.

Quins fans
Tigers fans
Saracens fans
boards.ie
Saints fans
Sharks fans

Lots of bitterness out there alright. It was the same when Munster were winning, Munster were called cheaters etc.

I'd say its just a sign that you've reached the top. One the way up you're everyones fav second team but once you've reached the top everyone wants to see you knocked off that spot.

matthew8 · 30-04-2012 1:02am

mhtc wrote: »

Congrats to Leinster! An away win in France in a HC semi-final is no small achievement.
Be sure to buy Wayne Barnes a pint the next time you see him

The last line is a just a joke by the way! Although the general consensus is that he let Leinster get away with a huge amount.

Quins fans
Tigers fans
Saracens fans
boards.ie
Saints fans
Sharks fans

Haha, I'm so happy we pissed off Saracens, Leicester, Quins and Saints fans (but only those of the internet who act holier than thou despite their teams cheating. The Saints fans I met in Cardiff last year were all nice enough). I know nothing about Sale but that's because they suck.

Twickenham could be a thrashing if the weather's nice. Ulster never show up against Leinster but I suppose there's a first time for everything.

tolosenc · 30-04-2012 1:20am

I think the theatrics out of the Clermont player saved Cullen a card in the first half. Too right. Thought Barnes dealt with it well. Don't think he favoured either side. We were pinged a fair number of time for coming in at the side when it was blatantly through the gate.

WeeBushy · 30-04-2012 1:21am

Just back from Bordeaux, emotionally and physically shattered! That was, without doubt, the best Leinster trip I've been on. Clermont fans are simply incredible. Absolutely insane and so so welcoming. Cannot speak highly enough of them. I'll post a couple of pics tomorrow.

Jesus that was class

tolosenc · 30-04-2012 1:30am

I think Leinster need Italian football style ultras. Flares, drums, banners, organised chants. It'd be immense.

mystic86 · 30-04-2012 1:44am

Leinster deserved the win, but I thought they were a bit lucky, some refereeing decisions were biased, especially a few in the first quarter of the game, and also thought they were lucky to not have a player sin-binned.
But they deserved the win. I just think they were a bit lucky, why am I not allowed to say this?
Leinster fan-boyism trying to suppress opposing opinions. It's not right.

It's bloody fantastic to have Ulster and Leinster in an 'All-Ireland Final', a great occasion in store.

mystic86 · 30-04-2012 1:48am

tolosenc wrote: »

I think Leinster need Italian football style ultras. Flares, drums, banners, organised chants. It'd be immense.

Maybe Ulster too? :rolleyes:

molloyjh · 30-04-2012 1:52am

Just back in from the Connemara after another great night with the Clermont fans. Haven't been able to read the whole thread but was wondering if the Leinster support was heard in general. It felt like we were making loads of noise and at times seriously out singing the Clermont fans but hard to know when you're in the thick of it.

Bloody great weekend. Best yet. The march on the stadium was epic, the Clermont fans utterly fantastic and the game a serious thriller - I was a mess after it. Will need to watch it again to comment more on it but I thought we were the better side on the day and deserved the win. Barnes was poor enough at times, but that affected both sides. None of the Clermont fans here blamed him at all. Our defense at times was savage and we looked pretty dangerous with ball in hand. Concerns about the line-out are very much on-going. Straussy had 3 crooked IIRC. That all needs serious work.

How and ever a trip to London chasing history now beckons....ALLEZ LES BLEUS!

rilz · 30-04-2012 2:07am

I just bought 4 tickets from ticketmaster. Yeha - Twickenham here we come.

COME ON ULSTER!!!!!!

my friend · 30-04-2012 2:59am

If Leinster were beaten Reddin would have had a lot of questions to answer

Is there no plan C for Reddin?

Clegg · 30-04-2012 3:18am

Reddan played well after coming on. He had an awful attempt at a drop goal but other than that he was fine. He sped things up and got Leinsters backline moving and he also did good work during a Clermont scrum. He scragged Parra which then led to a knock on and a Leinster scrum.

He is clearly Leinsters and Irelands best scrum half.

Morf · 30-04-2012 3:44am

tolosenc wrote: »

I think Leinster need Italian football style ultras. Flares, drums, banners, organised chants. It'd be immense.

No, no we don't.

We don't need thugs running whole areas of the stadium, attacking players and staff if they are unhappy with results and oh so many other lovely things they get up to . . .

On second thoughts being a fascist ultra does sounds like fun . . .

my friend · 30-04-2012 3:50am

Clegg wrote: »

Reddan played well after coming on. He had an awful attempt at a drop goal but other than that he was fine. He sped things up and got Leinsters backline moving and he also did good work during a Clermont scrum. He scragged Parra which then led to a knock on and a Leinster scrum.

He is clearly Leinsters and Irelands best scrum half.

Hi mom, honest analysis demanded... Reddin had a fowler.

Plan C?

Ulster are surely asking

Drake66 · 30-04-2012 4:25am

mhtc wrote: »

Congrats to Leinster! An away win in France in a HC semi-final is no small achievement.
Be sure to buy Wayne Barnes a pint the next time you see him

The last line is a just a joke by the way! Although the general consensus is that he let Leinster get away with a huge amount.

Quins fans
Tigers fans
Saracens fans
boards.ie
Saints fans
Sharks fans

Tigers fans lecturing anyone about cheating must surely be the biggest case of "pot calling kettle black" in the history of time.

irishbucsfan · 30-04-2012 7:22am

my friend wrote: »

Hi mom, honest analysis demanded... Reddin had a fowler.

Plan C?

Ulster are surely asking

Reddan was very good

GerM · 30-04-2012 7:55am

my friend wrote: »

Hi mom, honest analysis demanded... Reddin had a fowler.

Plan C?

Ulster are surely asking

Watch it again. Reddan was excellent and I generally prefer Boss as a player. He sped things up, passed well (the cut out pass off the deck to Kearney on the 5m line to almost put him in was superb), hassled brilliantly at the base which saw Bonnaire and Parra panic and knock on and hammered one 50m touch finder at a crucial point. Great spell on the pitch from him. Was one of his most complete displays.

chris85 · 30-04-2012 8:07am

GerM wrote: »

Watch it again. Reddan was excellent and I generally prefer Boss as a player. He sped things up, passed well (the cut out pass off the deck to Kearney on the 5m line to almost put him in was superb), hassled brilliantly at the base which saw Bonnaire and Parra panic and knock on and hammered one 50m touch finder at a crucial point. Great spell on the pitch from him. Was one of his most complete displays.

+1, he sped up the game very much so. his delivery was perfect. I though Boss was having a bad day and Reddan sorted it out.

30-04-2012 8:11am

Nathan Hines is some man.

totallegend · 30-04-2012 8:21am

Re: Reddan, he was excellent, posts written at 3.50 am have to be taken with a large pinch of salt... The Boss/Reddan combo worked very well, I thought Boss was very good but bringing on Reddan as legs started to tire brought a whole new tempo to the game. Think Reddan will be nailed on for the 9 jersey in the final.

Re: Hines, yes, he was excellent, maybe he doesn't have the legs for 80 minutes any more because I don't see why Cotter would have taken him off and left the ineffectual Cudmore on otherwise.

30-04-2012 8:22am

Also, re: "Leinster Cheating" etc things that you read on other forums.

If you weren't aware that we are a rule bending team, then you're missing an awful lot of the game. We can't even pretend we play clean rugby. Our breakdown work is "dark arts" esque at best, and totally illegal at times too. We're not a physically dirty team, but a lot of what we do could easily be picked off by a pedantic referee.

One thing that we have been able to see is that the team are able to react to the referee, and "clean up" for periods of the game. That is what a great team does, plays just inside the rules, and the referee is the interpreter on the day, not the guys with cameras at Sky Sports, or sitting at home on their couch. It's horribly frustrating to play against us, because you spot every little infringement, but there really isn't any team that can hold themselves up as angels that come through the gate, that never encroach the offside line, and that don't make decisions (a la Ferris on Saturday) to take a very severe risk for their team in order to prevent "fair ball" for the opposition.

We are no saints, but there really are none anyway. Every side spots the other's infringements and glosses over their own. I was really disappointed with Cullen, should certainly have been binned. Even though there was nothing in it. You don't raise your hands, because it puts you completely at the mercy of the referee. People have been getting under his skin an awful lot recently.

tolosenc · 30-04-2012 8:50am

Morf wrote: »

No, no we don't.

We don't need thugs running whole areas of the stadium, attacking players and staff if they are unhappy with results and oh so many other lovely things they get up to . . .

On second thoughts being a fascist ultra does sounds like fun . . .

Well, not all ultras in Italy are fascist thugs. In fact, that element encroached much more recently. When I visit my friends over there, we usually go into the curva (pun for any Slavic language speakers, wahey!) during a match, and it is great craic.

bamboozle · 30-04-2012 8:54am

epic game, great result, incredible atmostphere, however the one performance that stood out for me was that of the referee, in the first half Barnes penalised us earlier on (while attacking) for coming in off our feet at ruck time, for the rest of the first half he consistently penalised the attacking team at ruck time yet was completely inconsistant in applying the same rules. He wasnt as bad in the second half but it was really about 60 minutes before we started seeing some decent uninterupted phases of play.

the way the game has gone a referee can find something to penalise at every ruck if he really wants to, the good referees will try to keep the game flowing and give the benefit of the doubt (and play advantage) to the attacking team.

I dont think its too hard to expect referees to apply their version of the rules consistently, Barnes to me just seemed to intent to blow the whistle at every opportunity while failing to issue cards or threats to captains to tidy up the areas which were being transgressed.

Hats off to the Clermont fans. Great performance by Leinster, great outcome for Connacht.

my friend · 30-04-2012 8:57am

totallegend wrote: »

Re: Reddan, he was excellent, posts written at 3.50 am have to be taken with a large pinch of salt... The Boss/Reddan combo worked very well, I thought Boss was very good but bringing on Reddan as legs started to tire brought a whole new tempo to the game. Think Reddan will be nailed on for the 9 jersey in the final.

Re: Hines, yes, he was excellent, maybe he doesn't have the legs for 80 minutes any more because I don't see why Cotter would have taken him off and left the ineffectual Cudmore on otherwise.

well, here I am at 8:57, still saying he was very slow on at least 3 occasions and the drop kick was crazy and ired his colleagues

30-04-2012 8:59am

my friend wrote: »

well, here I am at 8:57, still saying he was very slow on at least 3 occasions and the drop kick was crazy and ired his colleagues

He certainly wasn't slow, was a heck of a lot quicker than Boss!

With respect to the drop goal attempt, I was absolutely baffled. It reminded me of his kick over the posts vs Clermont away years ago in the dying seconds of the game.

I can only hope that he thought there was an advantage available, and that it was effectively a shot-to-nothing, exactly as Parra had done twice previous in the game. If it was a premeditated effort, it just goes down as one of his patented brainfarts.

prospect · 30-04-2012 9:09am

prospect wrote: »

Head says "Just too close to call"

Heart says "I'll have €10 on Leinster with a 3pt handicap"

I'm still not the better of that......

Thanks for the few bob Paddy P.

HEC SF: Clermont Auvergne vs Leinster; Sunday 29 April, KO 1600(CET); Live Sky Sports

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