• Help Support The Rugby Forum :

European Champions Cup 2017/18: Pool 3

Fairplay to McFadden today, thought he was excellent considering he suffers from ianmadiganitis.
 
Well played by Leinster, better team in the second half and earned the win. Some good performances from individuals on both sides especially LCD and kvesic on the Chiefs side.

Oh well better luck next year.
 
Was at the game. Good comeback and against a good team. Leinster were running out of ideas until they sprung the bench.

Exeters deception in midfield was first class but too often they ended up running sideways out wide.
 
That annoyed me about exeter, always running sideways eating up the space making the wingers job so much harder. Not saying it lost us the game but its one of the things we need to work on to have a real shot against the big teams in Europe.
 
Yep no arms and dangerous making clear contact with the head or face. Should have been red by the letter of the law.
 
Yeah red card, Healy should get Christmas off. I can't say the game really hinged on it considering Exeter had every chance to win that game had they managed to score in the last 48minutes of the game, or had they taken points early on rather than going for the corner and messing up, or had they not lost the Fardy yellow card time (wrong call too) 6-0 etc... Leinster got lucky with Healy and Isa touching the ball after Nowell's slice while Exe were allowed to live offside and benefitted hugely from holding Leinster players and not letting them role away at ruck time which refs are usually wise to. Leinster got the rub of the green from the ref this week at home, Exe got it last week at home, Leinster won both games by forcing Exe to run out of ideas and wearing their defence out, 8-1 in the head to heads is probably a fair reflection of where the teams are at. Rob Baxter didn't seem to think he had been robbed post-game anyway!

We're a home win against Glasgow away from a home QF now and three consecutive wins from a home semi, in terms of consistency I think Leinster are the best team in the competition, I'd fear Clermont showing up in France but outside of that there isn't a team that I think could beat Leinster if they show up.
 
Colourised pictures of English rugby fans after their clubs show a complete inability to beat Pro 14 teams. (Circa. 1937)
Salt.jpg


Lemon-easter-biscuits-hero-1d74c01d-8906-45fe-8135-322f0520c434-0-472x310.jpg
 
Yeah red card, Healy should get Christmas off. I can't say the game really hinged on it considering Exeter had every chance to win that game had they managed to score in the last 48minutes of the game, or had they taken points early on rather than going for the corner and messing up, or had they not lost the Fardy yellow card time (wrong call too) 6-0 etc... Leinster got lucky with Healy and Isa touching the ball after Nowell's slice while Exe were allowed to live offside and benefitted hugely from holding Leinster players and not letting them role away at ruck time which refs are usually wise to. Leinster got the rub of the green from the ref this week at home, Exe got it last week at home, Leinster won both games by forcing Exe to run out of ideas and wearing their defence out, 8-1 in the head to heads is probably a fair reflection of where the teams are at. Rob Baxter didn't seem to think he had been robbed post-game anyway!

We're a home win against Glasgow away from a home QF now and three consecutive wins from a home semi, in terms of consistency I think Leinster are the best team in the competition, I'd fear Clermont showing up in France but outside of that there isn't a team that I think could beat Leinster if they show up.
On the home SF. I don't think that can be certain until SF line up is known. Regardless of wins
 
Healy is a fool. Whatever about his carrying he's good for giving about three stupid penalties a game. The two I saw him give away were just pointless. Someone needs to sit him down and tell him in no uncertain terms he's not worth a possible 9 point swing in important games. He was very lucky yesterday, but if Exeter fans want to point at refereeing as the reason they blew a good lead they're letting their team off the hook far too much. They still had to play with 14 men twice and lost both of their out halves at one stage. It's easy to point to factors beyond the teams control, but they were markedly better than Leinster for a big part of the game and let them back in.
I just want to say that Isa Nacewa is probably the best signing an Irish province has ever made. Not near his best at 35, but they'll miss his versatility and intelligence hugely in any shape.
 
Healy is a fool. Whatever about his carrying he's good for giving about three stupid penalties a game. The two I saw him give away were just pointless. Someone needs to sit him down and tell him in no uncertain terms he's not worth a possible 9 point swing in important games. He was very lucky yesterday, but if Exeter fans want to point at refereeing as the reason they blew a good lead they're letting their team off the hook far too much. They still had to play with 14 men twice and lost both of their out halves at one stage. It's easy to point to factors beyond the teams control, but they were markedly better than Leinster for a big part of the game and let them back in.
I just want to say that Isa Nacewa is probably the best signing an Irish province has ever made. Not near his best at 35, but they'll miss his versatility and intelligence hugely in any shape.

I'm no Exeter fan, but they only have themselves to blame for losing yesterday. Coughed up too much possession in the 2nd half yesterday, they seem to suffer with nerves.
 
Game was there for the taking for Exeter. I thought the captaincy and decision making of Gareth Steenson left a bit to be desired. Three times they spurned kicks at goal in favour of going to the corner and came up empty handed. By contrast Leinster kept chipping away at Exeter's deserved lead by taking their shots at goal as the points presented themselves. Also felt Exeter created a lot of overlaps but didn't take them.

Lots to work on for Leinster but it's the type of win that can make a season. 14 points down to a team 8 points clear in the Premiership, 2 players sin binned and top flyhalf injured after a couple of minutes yet still they come up with the win. That takes a lot of bottle.
 
Lots to work on for Leinster but it's the type of win that can make a season. 14 points down to a team 8 points clear in the Premiership, 2 players sin binned and top flyhalf injured after a couple of minutes yet still they come up with the win. That takes a lot of bottle.

The starting poorly in big games needs to be addressed though. We gave up a similar lead to Clermont last year and despite showing the same grit in the latter stages they didn't let us back into it on the scoreboard. Lesson needs to be learned. The missed tackles in the first 20 yesterday are clearly the result of a lack of focus.
 
I just want to say that Isa Nacewa is probably the best signing an Irish province has ever made. Not near his best at 35, but they'll miss his versatility and intelligence hugely in any shape.
Hear, hear.
 
The group that has the top of the Pro 14, top of the Prem, top of the Top 14 and a team of nobodies looking down on them all has one of its less interesting weekends.
Ster have a game where they can only mess up and Scotland's hatred for Johnny Sexton might just encourage Glasgae to go and beat them except Johnny don't lose to no Scots. Big win for Europe's best.
Ter to beat Montpellier and essentially knock both sides out but leave the home team with just enough hope to try to hammer the shite out of Glasgow!

There was no reason behind this post other than to point out how Ster are far better than each league's best side!
 
The indo is claiming that Jack McGrath, James Lowe and Jordan Larmour are all set to start on Sunday with Nacewa in the centre but whether that's just idle speculation or actual information I don't know.
 
Glasgow have like a 24 man long injury list, we should be ok even with our own list.
 
the Munster coach has compared Racing to NZ for the quality of their set pieces...WTF :eek:

Hilarious when applied to a team that has won nothing in Europe. Hopefully Munster will have too much for Racing and put them out of their misery.

I love how pre-match talks is filled with BS these days. It's got so sanitized and politically correct.

Racing don't even look like one of the best 2nd likely to qualify. They're still smarting of a big score they put on Clermont who are decimated by injuries and had to field academy players. They're so blind about themselves they can't see the gulf in class with a side like Clermont. Clermont are out of the chase in Top 14. They're not contesting the league this season so their domestic form is not a reliable indicator of where they're at.

La Rochelle have been bigged up way beyond their pedigree. They don't have the budget and depth to chase both Top 14 and Europe. Wasps and Ulster shud be topping their pool. La Rochelle are the bridesmaid in Champs Cup. They will veer away from Europe as soon as they are under pressure to stay in top 3 in Top 14.
 

Latest posts

Top