Leicester v Toulouse

[An Tarbh]

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Leicester v Toulouse

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Toulouse could all but end Leicester's challenge this weekend should they come away with Welford Rd as with the hard job done it's hard to imagine them not doing the double next weekend in the return match so to say a home win is cricual is an understatement.

Olly Smith will start on the wing with Aaron Mauger in the centre partnering Dan Hipkiss. In the pack Moody and Kay miss out with injury. For the pool leaders Byron Kelleher gets the nod ahead of Jean Baptiste Ellisalde in a team that sees 9 changes from that which beat Albi last time out.

Tough one to call but I think with the pressure you'd expect the Tigers to deliver but they just don't look as strong as their opponents. Your thoughts???

Leicester Tigers: 15 Sam Vesty, 14 Ollie Smith, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Tom Varndell, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Frank Murphy, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Luke Abraham, 6 Martin Corry ©, 5 Marco Wentzel, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Julian White, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Marcos Ayerza
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Martin Castrogiovanni, 18 James Hamilton, 19 Tom Croft, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Johne Murphy, 22 Seru Rabeni

Toulouse: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yannick Jauzion ©, 12 Florian Fritz, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 Valentin Courrent, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Shaun Sowerby, 7 Thierry Dusatoir, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Fabien Pelous, 3 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 2 William Servat, 1 Daan Human
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Omar Hasan, 18 Romain Millo-Chlusky, 19 Grégory Lamboley, 20 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 21 Maleli Kunavore, 22 Maxime Medard

 

[An Tarbh]

Leicester more than keeping their chances alive with this victory although Toulouse still on course to top the pool after getting a losing bp and will be looking to take all 5 points next Sunday in the return match.

Decent result for Leinster as well but like Munster this evening we'll have to make the most of it in the remaining matches.

 

[Sir Speedy]

Oh, I thought Toulouse won this game 9 - 8.
I think they'll qualify on top of the pool. I don't want to be thrashed for this, but I think they'll beat Leinster in Ireland.

 

[An Tarbh]

Well given Leinster's home record against French teams and away record against English teams I wouldn't bank on it, I won't thrash anyone though for simply voicing an opinion.

 

[Sir Speedy]

I suppose it depends on the weather aswell. Toulouse proved they can beat Leinster up front, and their backs are good enough to win convincingly. If Leinster starve them of possession, it could be an ugly yet well fought victory.

 

[An Tarbh]

well we're not exactly short of quality in the backs ourselves.

 

[Sir Speedy]

I never said nor suggested that, anyone who would is crazy!
I'm just saying that Toulouse will be able to retain possession easier due to their strength, which will give their good backline a chance to shine while Leinster's backs may not get the same chances.

 

[An Tarbh]

the thing with Leinster is that we're likely to pull out a performance to beat Toulouse at the RDS but Cheika still hasn't got us putting in consistent big time performances, this weekend being another case in point, excellent win last Friday against Munster yet not able to get the bonus point against Edinburgh this weekend, I'm sure we'll win against Toulouse but Cheika has some work to do upstairs if we're to follow it up at Welford Rd.

I do see where you're coming from though, I'd be mad to underestimate Toulouse, I suppose a huge amount depends on the result next Sunday in the return game at the Stade Municipale, if they lose I doubt they'd even be full strength at the RDS, they're top of the league at the moment and they haven't won the Brennus in the last few seasons so maybe their priorities may switch.

 

[leicester fox]

reasonable enough performance, classic Varndell, plays well enough for 80 minutes and then nearly costs us the game with his sloppy error in the 80th minute and if it wasn't for a forward pass they would have scored too. An impressive win considering there was no Tuilagi, Murphy, Moody or Kay and obviously the continued absence of Ellis

 

[Bullitt]

Youngs impressed me more in those 40 minutes then Ellis has ever, or will ever, in his entire career. In fact, he could well go on to be a great player. Murphy was hardly had either, pitty he was injured.


As for Varndell, all I saw from him was an average performance with the added soundtrack of Stuart "knows nothing about rugby" Barnes blowing smoke up his ass.