Champions Cup - Pool 2, Round 5 and 6 (Castres, Harlequins, Leinster, Wasps)

[TRF_Olyy]

17:30
Sky Sports/BeIN

19:45
BT Sports​

 

[big ginger 8]

Castres aren't sending their seconds which makes this a lot tougher than most were expecting. We really need a tbp as well. Also reports that Moore is starting and Furlong on the bench.

 

[Groundhog]

Quite a tasty looking team actually.
EDIT: Mistake in that team. It's Fanning at 23, Kirchener is injured.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

No Reid, no Te'o, Madigan at 12, our two worst backs on the bench, Jordi Murphy doesn't merit a spot ahead of Ryan. MO'C has taken the positives from the last few weeks and decided not to use them in Europe. Words cannot describe how pig headed and arrogant this man is.

 

[lynam1104]

View attachment 3639
Quite a tasty looking team actually.
EDIT: Mistake in that team. It's Fanning at 13, Kirchener is injured.

Fanning is 23 Fitzy is at 13, don't bleednin scare me like that! I

nteresting that we've only picked 1 loose head and left Ross out completely in picking as many TH as possible (is the Byrne brother who can play LH injured?). I suppose he needs a rest and is a in decline anyway. That may be our strongest backline all season, and given how Gopperth played last week I'm pretty happy to see him there. Much more reassuring to see Ferg and Dave on wings as opposed to Fanj and whichever other one is fit. Also good that Boss awful form has been both recognised and rewarded.

 

[Groundhog]

Fanning is 23 Fitzy is at 13, don't bleednin scare me like that! I

nteresting that we've only picked 1 loose head and left Ross out completely in picking as many TH as possible (is the Byrne brother who can play LH injured?). I suppose he needs a rest and is a in decline anyway. That may be our strongest backline all season, and given how Gopperth played last week I'm pretty happy to see him there. Much more reassuring to see Ferg and Dave on wings as opposed to Fanj and whichever other one is fit. Also good that Boss awful form has been both recognised and rewarded.

Sorry, rather unfortunate typo.

 

[big ginger 8]

No Reid, no Te'o, Madigan at 12, our two worst backs on the bench, Jordi Murphy doesn't merit a spot ahead of Ryan. MO'C has taken the positives from the last few weeks and decided not to use them in Europe. Words cannot describe how pig headed and arrogant this man is.

Well that's an unfair comment. Ryan's been pretty crap the last few weeks and Murphy keeps getting better. So hardly getting rid of one of the positives. Starting Conan ahead of Ryan and having McGrath ahead of Boss is also keeping some of the positives. Madigan at 12 is the only thing in the starting lineup that isn't great but his goalkicking could prove important. Castres have names a strong team and is they got very close because of missed kicks you'd condemn him for not picking Madigan. Fanning is there because he's with Kirchner out he's our only back three player available. D'arcy over Reid is also hardly some big call and Schmidt will make the exact same call and I doubt you'll call him pig headed and arrogant when he does. In such an important match D'arcy over Te'o is also an easy call, as much as I'm excited by Te'o he's only played 1 and a half matches of union.

Fanning is 23 Fitzy is at 13, don't bleednin scare me like that! I

nteresting that we've only picked 1 loose head and left Ross out completely in picking as many TH as possible (is the Byrne brother who can play LH injured?). I suppose he needs a rest and is a in decline anyway. That may be our strongest backline all season, and given how Gopperth played last week I'm pretty happy to see him there. Much more reassuring to see Ferg and Dave on wings as opposed to Fanj and whichever other one is fit. Also good that Boss awful form has been both recognised and rewarded.

Yeah Ed Byrne has been injured for a while and is out for the season I think.

LI were converting Hagan to loosehead and he came on their last week, so he's definitely covering loosehead.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Well that's an unfair comment. Ryan's been pretty crap the last few weeks and Murphy keeps getting better. So hardly getting rid of one of the positives. Starting Conan ahead of Ryan and having McGrath ahead of Boss is also keeping some of the positives. Madigan at 12 is the only thing in the starting lineup that isn't great but his goalkicking could prove important. Castres have names a strong team and is they got very close because of missed kicks you'd condemn him for not picking Madigan. Fanning is there because he's with Kirchner out he's our only back three player available. D'arcy over Reid is also hardly some big call and Schmidt will make the exact same call and I doubt you'll call him pig headed and arrogant when he does. In such an important match D'arcy over Te'o is also an easy call, as much as I'm excited by Te'o he's only played 1 and a half matches of union.



Yeah Ed Byrne has been injured for a while and is out for the season I think.

LI were converting Hagan to loosehead and he came on their last week, so he's definitely covering loosehead.

I'll be ****** off if/when D'Arcy is in the Ireland squad. Our two decent games over the last four weeks have been with Reid at 12 and while Ryan struggled since the concussion he had form prior to it, Murphy has shown nothing. As for Te'o he played against Cardiff and did well, he's completely suited to MOC rugby and has been replaced by Fanning who hasn't worked well all season. The possibility of missed kicks is a redundant point as Mads should be 10.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Wasps Team to play Harlequins

15. Rob Miller
14. Christian Wade
13. Elliot Daly
12. Alapati Leiua
11. Tom Varndell
10. Andy Goode
9. Joe Simpson
1. Matt Mullan
2. Edd Shervington
3. Lorenzo Cittadini
4. Bradley Davies
5. Kearnan Myall
6. Ashley Johnson
7. James Haskell (C)
8. Nathan Hughes

Replacements
16. Carlo Festuccia
17. Simon McIntyre
18. Jake Cooper-Woolley
19. James Gaskell
20. Guy Thompson
21. Ben Jacobs
22. Alex Lozowski
23. Andrea Masi

Strong team apart from having Elliott Daly as the Scrum half cover..!

 

[Groundhog]

I'll be ****** off if/when D'Arcy is in the Ireland squad. Our two decent games over the last four weeks have been with Reid at 12 and while Ryan struggled since the concussion he had form prior to it, Murphy has shown nothing. As for Te'o he played against Cardiff and did well, he's completely suited to MOC rugby and has been replaced by Fanning who hasn't worked well all season. The possibility of missed kicks is a redundant point as Mads should be 10.

Schmidt out?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Schmidt out?

Aye, Foley for Ireland.

 

[lynam1104]

MOC for backs coach

 

[big ginger 8]

I'll be ****** off if/when D'Arcy is in the Ireland squad. Our two decent games over the last four weeks have been with Reid at 12 and while Ryan struggled since the concussion he had form prior to it, Murphy has shown nothing. As for Te'o he played against Cardiff and did well, he's completely suited to MOC rugby and has been replaced by Fanning who hasn't worked well all season. The possibility of missed kicks is a redundant point as Mads should be 10.

Murphy made something like 19 tackles last week, hardly nothing. He's been improving with every game, he's just not doing the usual carrying. You don't think the Ulster game was a decent performance? D'arcy has been better than you've given him credit for anyway whoever was at 22 isn't going to come on before the last 10 unless there's an injury. That's a completely hyperbolic statement about Fanning and Te'o can't cover the back three. No way should Madigan be at 10. I think most of the stuff you're arguing about won't make the slightest bit of difference and you're just looking to get annoyed at your favourite hate figure.

 

[lynam1104]

My only issue with having Murphy in this side is it leaves the back-row somewhat unbalanced. The reason that Leinster took the Ulter game was that the back row was neigh on perfectly balanced with the introduction of Van Der Flier. However I don't think Dom Ryan would balance this back row out and I'm not sure if this is the right time to throw Van Der Flier in at the deep end, ideally we need Jennings back.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Murphy made something like 19 tackles last week, hardly nothing. He's been improving with every game, he's just not doing the usual carrying. You don't think the Ulster game was a decent performance? D'arcy has been better than you've given him credit for anyway whoever was at 22 isn't going to come on before the last 10 unless there's an injury. That's a completely hyperbolic statement about Fanning and Te'o can't cover the back three. No way should Madigan be at 10. I think most of the stuff you're arguing about won't make the slightest bit of difference and you're just looking to get annoyed at your favourite hate figure.

I'm most annoyed about Reid to be honest, him at 12 with Madigan at 10 is our best possible axis at the moment because his running lines are really incredible and help Madigan's limited vision greatly. I haven't really got my point across well with regards to Murphy, I think with Heaslip at 8 we need a more physical 7 not one recovering from injury. This team is so unbalanced and not built to score tries, which is what this game is about for Leinster. Fitz and Madigan can cover the back three as well, Fanning shouldn't be in the 23.

 

[Groundhog]

#sugarman

 

[Tadginator]

Sweetest of tries from the sugarman

 

[ratsapprentice]

Phenomenal defence from Garvey.

 

[big ginger 8]

Obviously the opposition has to be considered but that was a great performance to get with some great rugby once we got through all those handling errors. From an Irish perspective fringe players in Cronin, Murphy and particulary McFadden did there chances no harm.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

very dangerous tackle that - since when is whether it was intentional or not remotely relevant!? You can still be carded for dangerous play.