Heineken Cup 2022/23: Quarter Finals

[Leonormous Boozer]

Times are local to me (Dublin/IST)

 

[saulan]

Ugh, this was painfully what I anticipated. Stormers haven't left Cape Town yet and they're taking some weird indirect route. South African teams need to get significantly better at the logistics of booking these tight turnaround trips.

Champions Cup: Sharks and Stormers travel disrupted en route to quarters

The Sharks and Stormers have hit travel speed bumps en route to Toulouse and Exeter for their Champions Cup quarter-finals.

www.planetrugby.com

 

[West Country Wail]

A world beating but ill-prepared Stormers with an Exeter Chiefs feeling the 100 minute fatigue and 6-day turn around could make this quite the game.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I think the Sharks are the only no hopers this weekend tbh. Don't want high flying Toulouse in the Ernest Wallon.

Leicester look tidy and have a better 10 than us, think we'll win but was definitely more confident last year.

 

[unrated]

I think the Sharks are the only no-hopers this weekend tbh. Don't want high flying Toulouse in the Ernest Wallon.

Leicester look tidy and have a better 10 than us, think we'll win but was definitely more confident last year.

You might be right but I have hope for a win. We aren't done with this competition yet. Maybe get to a Semi before Plumtree comes in. A lot depends on if Etzebeth is declared fit or not. They say the French sides like their front-row battles with big forwards, so our pack should be able to control them there, especially if Etzebeth is fit. Individually I think our pack is better. But I am stressed about their backline. Our defense can be leaky when teams play with their backs, especially teams that are good at forcing line breaks. This stresses me out at night. This can make it get ugly because I don't think we will score as much against Toulouse as we did against Munster.

Let's see.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I think the Sharks are the only no hopers this weekend tbh. Don't want high flying Toulouse in the Ernest Wallon.

Leicester look tidy and have a better 10 than us, think we'll win but was definitely more confident last year.

Hmm trouble with Tigers is that we have a great defence at home, but largely because welford road is a very narrow pitch.
Our 13 options are bare and I expect Leinster to make very easy yards out wide.

 

[Jimbo]

Hmm trouble with Tigers is that we have a great defence at home, but largely because welford road is a very narrow pitch.
Our 13 options are bare and I expect Leinster to make very easy yards out wide.

To be fair Leinster just look pretty much unplayable and like they have an extra gear if and when they really get tested, your packs pretty physical and a bit of a hand full when they get going, if Pollard can get them in the right places anything's possible.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Farce

 

[unrated]

Etzebeth and Jaden Henrikse confirmed out for the Toulouse game.

Etzebeth will be ready for the semi final but Hendrikse will try to make it back for the WC and Rugby Championship

 

[big ginger 8]

Farce

Obviously struggling to sell tickets and consider the extra money worth it but yeah this should be in a packed RDS instead.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Obviously struggling to sell tickets and consider the extra money worth it but yeah this should be in a packed RDS instead.

Don't leinster lose more of their cut if they play at RDS?

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Potter starting at 13 v Ringrose with Steward on the wing.

Tigers gonna be destroyed in the wide channels

Reffell v Doris is honestly something Tigers could try to target in the tight.
They are all good over the ball but none are what I would call specalist 7's and Reffell is one of the best in europe.
Just got to make sure the rest of the pack can slow it down for him


In terms of form Brown is the better 15 ATM, but boy losing Porter and Scott has really ****** us lol

 

[big ginger 8]

Don't leinster lose more of their cut if they play at RDS?

Possibly and the 8,500 thousand extra seats are obviously enough anyway. But purely from an atmosphere pov the alternative would be better.

Leinster Rugby (caps in brackets):
15. Hugo Keenan (52)
14. Jimmy O'Brien (67)
13. Garry Ringrose (113)
12. Robbie Henshaw (74)
11. James Lowe (70)
10. Ross Byrne (144)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (122)
1. Andrew Porter (104)
2. Dan Sheehan (42)
3. Tadhg Furlong (130)
4. Ross Molony (159)
5. James Ryan (70) CAPTAIN
6. Ryan Baird (49)
7. Caelan Doris (64)
8. Jack Conan (128)

16. John McKee (16)
17. Cian Healy (260)
18. Michael Ala'alatoa (43)
19. Jason Jenkins (13)
20. Scott Penny (54)
21. Luke McGrath (191)
22. Harry Byrne (47)
23. Ciarán Frawley (63)

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)

Interesting backrow make up, wouldn't have minded Penny getting his start but really hard to drop any of the others.

Would have liked Jenkins starting for this one.

Ringrose back is massive.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

sHtacked with a capital H

 

[munstermuffin]

Was Larmour dropped out of 23? Doesn't memtion injury

 

[saulan]

Well... this is a bit of a weird announcement.

If the Stormers or Sharks win and are "hosts" of their semi finals, they will host it the Stoop (Stormers) or at StoneX stadium (Sharks). I mean I get it in that there are many South Africans in London to get to those games... but these would be those matches if they do host:
Stormers vs Saracens (Stoop)
Sharks vs Leicester Tigers (StoneX Stadium)

... why not just have the Saracens game at StoneX stadium then? In general, London is a good spot to pick for South African teams to be pseudo playing at home, and maybe they would just want to make it artificially a bit trickier for the Saracens supporters to just make it a home game. Weird.

I do hope that one of these games do happen. I'd be very intrigued to see both the attendance and the mix of the attendance of these between the two sets of fans, particularly the Stormers Saracens one.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

What's a website that shows up to date team listings for these games? I realise all the teams are not named yet, I just want somewhere to check occasionally to see if more teams have been named.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Potter starting at 13 v Ringrose with Steward on the wing.

Tigers gonna be destroyed in the wide channels

Reffell v Doris is honestly something Tigers could try to target in the tight.
They are all good over the ball but none are what I would call specalist 7's and Reffell is one of the best in europe.
Just got to make sure the rest of the pack can slow it down for him


In terms of form Brown is the better 15 ATM, but boy losing Porter and Scott has really ****** us lol

Heyes starting ahead of Cole. Anything to read into that?

Big night for Martin at lock. If he shows up well in this it has to catapult him straight into Eng contention.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Heyes starting ahead of Cole. Anything to read into that?

Big night for Martin at lock. If he shows up well in this it has to catapult him straight into Eng contention.

Heyes has started half the games this season.
He's played more minutes so might be warmer

But also might be leaving Cole to try and counter Healy
Porter is a great prop but he isn't the strongest scrummager still, Heyes prob won't have as hard a time and then at 40-50mins Cole comes on fresh to scrum

Heyes is 23 but on 120 games for tigers so he should be ready to hold his own now, even if he is still off from being in his prime!

 

[munstermuffin]

Will Leicester keep it within 20 points was the question asked this morning by Joe Molloy a proud Leinster fan and host of OTB Sport.

Interesting. Impossible to see Leicester win but question is will it be a big blowout