Magners League Final

[Teh Mite]

Magners League Final
Leinster vs Ospreys at RDS, Dublin

Leinster:
Rob Kearney; Shane Horgan; Brian O'Driscoll, Gordon D'Arcy; Isa Nacewa; Jonathan Sexton, Eoin Reddan; Stan Wright, John Fogarty, CJ van der Linde, Nathan Hines, Malcolm O'Kelly, Kevin McLaughlin, Shane Jennings (capt), Jamie Heaslip
Replacements: Richardt Strauss, Cian Healy/Mike Ross, Trevor Hogan, Stephen Keogh, Paul O'Donohoe, Fergus McFadden, Girvan Dempsey

Ospreys:
Lee Byrne; Tommy Bowe, Andrew Bishop, James Hook; Shane Williams; Dan Biggar, Mike Phillips; Paul James, Huw Bennett, Adam Jones, Alun Wyn Jones, Jonathan Thomas, Jerry Collins, Marty Holah, Ryan Jones (capt)
Replacements: Ed Shervington, Ryan Bevington, Ian Gough, Filo Tiatia, Jamie Nutbrown, Gareth Owen, Nikki Walker

Referee: Chris White (England)
Assistant Referees: Andy Macpherson (Scotland), David Changleng (Scotland)
3 & 4: Leo Colgan (Ireland), Dermot Moloney (Ireland)
Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)

 

[Gleision]

Im looking forward to this one on the weekend,shame about the involvement of the scottish officials they are just not up to the job.From what ive seen of White he is a very good ref.

 

[lynam1104]

yea white pretty good as far as refs go. I think leinster will win this one the O's well thye have Tommy but there hot and cold.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Will watch this over the second half of the GP final,
Hopefully should be a cracking match

 

[Feicarsinn]

Our defence, impressive home record and the ability of this Ospreys team to spontaneously combust when placed under the slightest bit of pressure should see us home and dry.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Leinster squad to face the Ospreys...

FORWARDS: John Fogarty, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Nathan Hines, Trevor Hogan, Shane Jennings, Stephen Keogh, Kevin McLaughlin, Sean O'Brien, Malcolm O'Kelly, Mike Ross, Richardt Strauss, CJ van der Linde, Stan Wright

BACKS: Shaun Berne, Gordon D'Arcy, Girvan Dempsey, Shane Horgan, Rob Kearney, Fergus McFadden, Isa Nacewa, Paul O'Donohoe, Brian O'Driscoll, Eoin Reddan, Jonathan Sexton

 

[Gleision]

Our defence, impressive home record and the ability of this Ospreys team to spontaneously combust when placed under the slightest bit of pressure should see us home and dry.

You make very good points there,but ie a sneaky feeling the ospreys will win this one.Theyve beaten some good sides this year leicester,munster to name 2 so theres no reason why they shouldnt win this one.Like you said though its all about the pressure and you are probably right to write them off!!

 

[coonor]

Im looking forward to this one on the weekend,shame about the involvement of the scottish officials they are just not up to the job.From what ive seen of White he is a very good ref.

completely agree with you there. th irish have been leading the way in referees but there are some good English and SA referees. the best referees are consistant ones like alain rowland. A referee needs to make sure the players knows whos boss aswell like Nigel Owens and Allan lewis

 

[MichaelBoard]

I'm a dragons supporter so naturally I'll be supporting a fellow welsh region. I think that the Ospreys certainly have the players and talent to win this match, theres no denying this, but do they have the belief and mentality to win it if under pressure and on the backfoot? I don't know where the match is being played, I imagine its at a neutral venue? But if it is at Leinster's home ground then I think they will struggle a little, these days you can't underestimate the part that the home crowd play in a match as demonstrated when the Dragons beat the Ospreys at Rodney Parade in my opinion quite comfortably and with some style. So as much as I'd like the Ospreys to win this I worry how they will react if their backs are against the wall so to speak. Theres no denying the talent that Leinster have at their disposal also, a very good side.

 

[coonor]

Its at the RDS. how many Os fans are coming as there hasn't been many at the liberty this year? The Os will need all the support they can get as the RDS is just like thomond, in the big games the pressure is huge, look what happened to brock james.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Just seen that Ireland Football team has just played on it against Paraguay. Be a shame that there will be football markins on the pitch. Also the pitch seemed to cut up easily. Be interesting to see what happens when the O's come to town.

 

[MichaelBoard]

Well in that case Cooner I fear for the Ospreys chances as like you say they don't have many fans at the liberty, not even enough to fill half of the 20,000 odd capacity stadium so I think the Ospreys will really be up against it on Saturday. On the other hand you never know what ospreys side is going to show up, when they play well and click they are capable of beating the best.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

The Ospreys are the equivalent to France ... can beat anyone on their day

 

[coonor]

the Ospreys have some world class on form players I would not want to put a bet on this game.

 

[Conal]

i reckon with no noticable block of fans there and a full lenister house of them ospreys will crack under the pressure
a quality team i think but i think lenister at home a final crowd behind them damm hard to stop
however ya never know ospreys could pull it off but i put them as the underdogs

 

[MichaelBoard]

I agree I want the Ospreys to win, but my moneys on Leinster in front of a home crowd, but if anybody can pull it off its the Ospreys

 

[munstermuffin]

Isn't Ireland playing again Friday at the RDS but hopefully we'll see a great game between O's and Leinster who probably have the 2 most talented squads in ML and can play the most attractive brand of rugby.

 

[coonor]

I thought they were playing the ba-bass at thomond

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Hopefully the Ospreys can win it. I would have said they didn't stand a chance, but ever since the draw in Welford Road and win at Thomond Park, I'm not so scared of hte Ospreys playing big games away anymore.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

From The Breakdown in the Guardian:

Leinster and Ospreys were at the start of the season expected to be among the teams in the first Magners League play-offs. Unlike the Guinness and Top 14 versions, the final will not be played on neutral territory but in Dublin.

The league has opted, because of time constraints, to replicate the Super 14, another cross-border tournament, even if this weekend's Super 14 final is being played in Soweto, rather than at the Pretoria home of the Bulls because of the approaching football World Cup: it will still be advantage Bulls because the Stormers will have to adjust to altitude.

Leinster doubled Ospreys in the regular league season and won all nine of their home matches, defeating Munster in Dublin in the play-off semi-final. The Ospreys won five away games, prevailing at Ulster and Munster last month, but their record on the road cost them in the Heineken Cup.

The game is likely to feature 13 players who went on the Lions tour to South Africa last year, a trip that started 12 months ago this weekend with victory over a Royal XV in Rustenburg. Leinster will miss Leo Cullen in the second row but their success in the Heineken Cup last season, together with the way they fought back in Toulouse in this year's semi-final, should give them a mental edge.

Ospreys remain an enigma, a team of all the talents which does not deliver consistently enough. The decision of the Magners League to adopt a play-off system was overdue, with teams regularly shorn of their best players during a season because of international call-ups, something that affects the vast majority of them more than their English and French counterparts.

The Ospreys lost narrowly in Leinster last month and they are good enough to win the final: it may come down to who exerts the greater influence, Brian O'Driscoll or James Hook. The pity for the league is that, because it clashes with the Guinness Premiership final, it will struggle to get media attention outside the countries involved. Which is why Magners is paying flights and hotels for journalists from Scotland and England.

The Magners merits more coverage, but these are anglocentric times and the chances are that were Toulon in the Top 14 final, and Jonny Wilkinson was fit, that game would attract the greater media investment.