Amlin Challenge Cup Quarter Finals

[TRF_Cymro]

Thursday 4th April - Kingsholm - K.O. 20:00 BST

Friday 5th April - Adams Park - K.O. 20:00 BST

Friday 5th April - Stade Aimé Giral - K.O. 21:00 BST

Saturday 6th April - Recreational Ground - K.O. 13:00 BST


​

 

[big ginger 8]

Leinster and Wasps teams:

15 Elliot Daly
14 Christian Wade
13 Andrea Masi
12 Chris Bell
11 Tom Varndell
10 Nick Robinson
9 Joe Simpson
1 Zak Taulafo
2 T Rhys Thomas
3 Phil Swainston
4 Tom Palmer
5 Marco Wentzel (captain)
6 Joe Launchbury
7 Sam Jones
8 Ashley Johnson
Replacements
16 Tom Lindsay
17 Tim Payne
18 Will Taylor
19 Jonathan Poff
20 Billy Vunipola
21 Charlie Davies
22 Stephen Jones
23 Hugo Southwell

15: Rob Kearney
14: Dave Kearney
13: Fergus McFadden
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Isa Nacewa
10: Ian Madigan
9: Isaac Boss
1: Cian Healy
2: Richardt Strauss
3: Mike Ross
4: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN
5: Devin Toner
6: Kevin McLaughlin
7: Sean O'Brien
8: Jamie Heaslip
REPLACEMENTS:
16: Sean Cronin
17: Jack McGrath
18: Jamie Hagan
19: Quinn Roux
20: Shane Jennings
21: John Cooney
22: Andrew Goodman
23: Andrew Conway

I'd have thought that Stephen Jones would start, interesting to see Launchbury at 6 know he's played a lot there Vunipola of the bench could be damaging.

We're sacrificing a good bit in the scrum starting two fairly underpowered locks hopefully they make up for it in the lineout could be a bad day for us there. Good to see two Irish props on the bench. Some very strong forwards to bring on. Think we're gonna try keep it tight.

 

[Tony Manx]

Biarritz....

Van Staden Heguy. Gomez Kodela Lund E.Marie Molcard Lakafia Harinordoquy (c) Yachvili Barraque [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Thomas [/FONT]Traille Baby Ngwenya Bosch
August - Synaeghel - Broster - Taele - Burotu - Lesgourgues - Gimenez- Couet-Lannes


Gloucester :
Martyn Thomas; Charlie Sharples, Henry Trinder, Mike Tindall (c), Jonny May; Freddie Burns, Dave Lewis; Nick Wood, Koree Britton, Shaun Knight, Lua Lokotui, Will James, Tom Savage, Akapusi Qera, Sione Kalamafoni.
Dan Murphy, Dario Chistolini, Andy Hazell, Gareth Evans, Dan Robson, Billy Twelvetrees, Shane Monahan.

This is the game of who gets the ball! If Gloucester get any decent share of ball, then their backs will have a field day whereas if the Biarritx scrum can dominate, the ball will not get past Yachvili until Biarritz are ensconced in the Gloucester 22 when the ball MIGHT find its way to the backs but not sure they will do much with it.

Biarritz have shown a lot of spirit in the last couple of games (but the opposition was nowhere near the strength they face tonight). However, this is the only type of game that Harinordiquoy and Traille now seem to get stuck into and possibly (probably) is their last chance of any silverware in the twilights of their careers?

Be interesting to see what the weather brings and also what Lacey does because I am not sure that he, like many refs, understand scrummaging.............my head says Gloucester as they are at home and have by far the better backs but my heart has to be with Biarritz who have arguably the better scrum!!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Glaws Biarritz is shaping up to be a cracker.
Glaws look great going forward. Couple of poor calls in the build up to their try (though the try is deserved for their pressure/attack, imo) - Ngwenya penalised for taking the man out in the air when he didn't, he grabbed the ball. At the resulting lineout the Biarritz jumper is taken out in the air, does a 180 and lands on his neck. I've seen yellows given for less yet play continues.

 

[Tony Manx]

BO playing well above the norm this season and have to say that ref is having a pedantic and poor one altogether......Very pleased with overall performance of BO and with the possession Gloucester have had, they should be plenty ahead!

Two tries to BO winger......who said they cannot attack but what a kick ex Yach?!!

Edit....half time and BO 13 points up!

Interesting point....how many scrums have there been? I am not that sure that we have had any...it certainly does not seem like it?

 

[j'nuh]

ffs. Biarritz tip tackle = nothing given by referee. And then Glos given two yellows for lesser offenses, with Biarritz scoring 3 tries during those 20 minutes.

Utterly disappointed with these calls.

Big second half needed, looking forward to it.

 

[Tony Manx]

BO played very,very well and scored some great break away tries.......on this form they will easilly overtake USAP for the vital 7th place in the Top 14!!

The refs....both of them.....were not great and I said that half way through the first half BUT thank you Gloucester for giving us this win.......4 times as many tackles made by BO as Glaws, missed tackles 5% by BO 20+% by Glaws and that is for starters......look at possession and terrritory....Glaws should, with their class in the backs have won this easily but they made te big mistake of trying to play before they had won any ascendancy and, consequently, paniced and paid for it dearly.

Aupa Bo....

PS maybe I will be a season ticket holder next season after all!!

 

[profitius]

ffs. Biarritz tip tackle = nothing given by referee. And then Glos given two yellows for lesser offenses, with Biarritz scoring 3 tries during those 20 minutes.

Utterly disappointed with these calls.

Big second half needed, looking forward to it.

I'd like to watch it again but it looked like the player spun out of the tackle himself. Gloucesters first try came from a penalty that never was.

The second yellow for the Gloucester hooker looked harsh but the hooker went to nail the Biarritz player and if you're going to do that you have to get the timing right because the opposition player wasn't expecting it so more chance of an injury.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Poor reffing, Glaws looked pretty directionless in attack, to much lateral running.
Weirdly I thought Burns played well, great passing, ok kicking wasn't out-muscled in attack or defence.
The SH had a ****ing mare, why wasn't Robson starting?

 

[Tony Manx]

Poor reffing..........,

For both sides who suffered from it equally!!

 

[ratsapprentice]

Definitely, I didn't mean to suggest otherwise.

 

[j'nuh]

The SH had a ****ing mare, why wasn't Robson starting?

I can only think he was being rested for the league. Lewis and Martyn Thomas looked a little out of their depths to be honest.

 

[gaston le gaff]

Wel played BO out classed Gloucester and shows how the defensive qualities in the TOP 14 paid
off for BO, never would Ngwenya be given so much space in the TOP 14 we all know his qualitities Gloucester never did their homework, a Yach who orchestrated everything from 9 then 10 still looks good going forward and the BO pack outclassed Gloucester by a country mile. BO may still make the H Cup next season one way or another.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Poor reffing, Glaws looked pretty directionless in attack, to much lateral running.
Weirdly I thought Burns played well, great passing, ok kicking wasn't out-muscled in attack or defence.
The SH had a ****ing mare, why wasn't Robson starting?

I thought the Robson was pretty awful too, his service was desperate.

I missed the first 30 minutes but Glaws never looked to be going anywhere in attack until the very end when BO stopped playing.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I'm pretty happy with that Leinster team given the size of the injury (and suspension) list. Perhaps a case could be made to include Michael Bent or Martin Moore on the bench since Jamie Hagan won't be here next season.

If Leinster have their heads screwed on, they should win. Home advantage for the semi final and final is a huge incentive. Against that, it's not a competition they really want to be in so it's very possible that the team won't have their eye on the ball tonight.

 

[ZeFrenchy]

Toulouse: Médard; Matanavou, Fritz, Fickou, Donguy; Beauxis, Burgess; Galan, Nicolas Lamboley; Maka, Millo-Chluski; Kakovin, Bregvadze, Poux.Remplaçants: Baille, Tolofua, Montès, Chateau, Boukerou, Bezy, David, Jauzion.

Perpignan: Hume ; Sid, Mafi, Piukala, Plante ; Hook, Cazenave ; Tuilagi, Strokosch, Leo ; R. Taofifenua, Vahaamahina ; Mas, Guirado, S. Taofifenua.Les remplaçants: Terrain, Taumalolo, Pulu, Vilaceca, Mélé, Guitoune, Guiry, Narraway.

 

[Tony Manx]

Toulouse: Médard; Matanavou, Fritz, Fickou, Donguy; Beauxis, Burgess; Galan, Nicolas Lamboley; Maka, Millo-Chluski; Kakovin, Bregvadze, Poux.Remplaçants: Baille, Tolofua, Montès, Chateau, Boukerou, Bezy, David, Jauzion.

Perpignan: Hume ; Sid, Mafi, Piukala, Plante ; Hook, Cazenave ; Tuilagi, Strokosch, Leo ; R. Taofifenua, Vahaamahina ; Mas, Guirado, S. Taofifenua.Les remplaçants: Terrain, Taumalolo, Pulu, Vilaceca, Mélé, Guitoune, Guiry, Narraway.

.............and no McAllister then.......will he follow Donald to Japan as the home of ex AB 10's!

Full as teams as possible and this could be a cracker or a real damp squib depending on which ST side turns up. Do not mind which side wins as need a French side to win this (or the H Cup) and there should be three French sides in the semis with Wasps?!!

Will keep half an eye on it whilst watching Wasps with the other as that should, on paper, be the better match and BO are playing the winner next up!!

 

[psychic duck]

.............and no McAllister then.......will he follow Donald to Japan as the home of ex AB 10's!

Full as teams as possible and this could be a cracker or a real damp squib depending on which ST side turns up. Do not mind which side wins as need a French side to win this (or the H Cup) and there should be three French sides in the semis with Wasps?!!

Will keep half an eye on it whilst watching Wasps with the other as that should, on paper, be the better match and BO are playing the winner next up!!

I don't know why you don't like McAlister. He is a quality playmaker (even if his goal kicking can be off at times) and was considered one of the best players in the league last season when Toulouse won the title. Much better than Bootxis.

Not sure Toulouse have "as full team as possible" either, that is pretty much their second string (still a pretty good second string though) other than the centres. Steenkamp, Johnston, Maestri, Albacete, Nyanga, Dusautoir, Picamoles, Doussain, McAlister, Clerc, Huget from the first choice starting XV have all been given a rest.

It also seems Perpignan although nearly at full strength are still resting a couple of players. Taumalolo, Marty and Narraway are three players who are normally three inked in starters yet have all been down to bench duty or missing completely in Marty's case.

 

[Feicarsinn]

I'm pretty happy with that Leinster team given the size of the injury (and suspension) list. Perhaps a case could be made to include Michael Bent or Martin Moore on the bench since Jamie Hagan won't be here next season.

If Leinster have their heads screwed on, they should win. Home advantage for the semi final and final is a huge incentive. Against that, it's not a competition they really want to be in so it's very possible that the team won't have their eye on the ball tonight.

Leinster should treat this competition with the highest level of seriousness. A few years down the road these ranking points are going to be very important. If of course the format of European rugby is the same that is.

 

[BRSTLDRGN]

Leinster should treat this competition with the highest level of seriousness. A few years down the road these ranking points are going to be very important. If of course the format of European rugby is the same that is.

Especially seeing that your A side are going to be knocked out in the B&I Cup by Bris

On paper its a tough QF to call, I think Leinster will win it but it'll be bloomin close, possibly 1 or 2 points in it