Cardiff Blues Vs Toulouse

[Bluemoon]

Cardiff Blues: Ben Blair; Leigh Halfpenny, Tom Shanklin, Jamie Roberts, Tom James; Sam Norton-Knight, Gareth Cooper; Gethin Jenkins, Gareth Williams, Faao Filise, Deiniol Jones, Paul ***o (capt), Andy Powell, Martyn Williams, Xavier Rush.

Replacements: T Rhys Thomas, Sam Hobbs, Gary Powell, Scott Morgan, Sam Warburton, Richie Rees, Ceri Sweeney, Dafydd Hewitt.

Toulouse: Maxime Medard; Vincent Clerc, Florian Fritz, Yannick Jauzion, Cedric Heymans; Frederic Michalak, Nicolas Bezy; Yohan Montes, William Servat, Census Johnston, Romain Millo-Chluski, Patricio Albacete, Thierry Dusautoir (capt), Louis Picamoles , Shaun Sowerby.

Replacements: Virgile Lacombe, Daan Human, Jean-Baptiste Poux, Gregory Lamboley, Yohan Maestri, Jean Bouilhou, Clement Poitrenaud, Yves Donguy.


Casey Laulala is injured (already) and will not take part in todays meeting. However, with his very poor defence against Connacht I am surprised he was named in the 15 as he was a massive risk to take. Sam Norton-Knight may be pivotal today. He had an abysmal game against Connacht and Australia, missing full penalties to touch, slices and poor positional kicking really took the sting out of Cardiff. Ceri Sweeny, although I thought I'd never say it, would have been the better option today. Gareth Cooper is also in poor form and Richie Rees is playing much better than him after having a great season covering Jason Spice last season.

Toulouse team is immensely strong, especially throughout the backline. Cardiff really have to take their chances today, which they haven't been doing all season and that may be the difference.

Its a very cold day in Cardiff today. Many here in Wales see this as a make or break game for Cardiff. They will be treating this one as a cup final, becuase they need to win this for the sake of the entire season.

 

[Thingimubob]

Can't see us winning this, can see Toulouse cutting loose and scoring a fair few tries like they did in the 08 quarter final. Funny though, I remember a french member posting something about Toulouse saying they weren't going to bother with the Heineken this year. Something about focusing on the Top 14. Not complaining that they are bothering with the HC, just why did they say that :huh: seems a bit pointless to me.

 

[cyRil]

That crowd is awful!

 

[Mr.cyclopede]

Incredible see the poor audience in the stadium.

I suppose the economic situation doesn't help for people to buy tickets, but don't understand the philosophy of these clubs who prefer to play in a 3/4 empty stadium than to sell cheaply when light demand

 

[cyRil]

I agree. Why sell these tickets at £25 and get a ****-poor attendance when you can sell them for a fiver and get a near-full house and cracking atmosphere.
I know why they don't, but they should really concentrate more on pushing rugby rather than filling pockets. Same old, same old.

 

[Mr.cyclopede]

Can't really see where is the forward pass here...

 

[Thingimubob]

Toulouse seem to be targeting Gareth Cooper, for good reason too - he's ****.

 

[elgringoborracho]

God that kid Bezy is making poor choices

 

[cyRil]

Welsh forward play is clearly 1-2 seconds behind the rest of the world. You can see that last turn-over, most other top teams would have a pod of 2 or 3 forwards smashing the jackler out of the way to provide clean ball. Our teams see a player getting tackled and going to ground, then realise they've got to support him and it kills our play and f***ING WINDS ME UP!!!!

 

[Mr.cyclopede]

"I know why they don't, but they should really concentrate more on pushing rugby rather than filling pockets. Same old, same old."

And moreover when you can have both
I'm not a Max Guazzini 's fan but he constantly proove it by adopting this policy with 5â'¬ tickets (Even in Stade de France, where Stade Français is not at home, and pay the high price rent)

 

[Mr.cyclopede]

And moreover when you can have both
I'm not a Max Guazzini 's fan but he constantly proove it by adopting this policy with 5â'¬ tickets (Even in Stade de France, where Stade Français is not at home, and pay the high price rent)

 

[Sir Speedy]

That passage of play was one of the best I've seen from Cardiff in ages. Should have been a try but Powell SURPRISE F*CKING SURPRISE refused to give it to the numbers outside him.

 

[Thingimubob]

Some lovely play from both sides, just way too many dropped balls.
Blues line out is very good, they should kick to touch a lot more, considering how their line out is very good and Toulouse are great at counter attacking.

 

[Sir Speedy]

Cardiff should be further ahead. Toulouse are diabolical at the moment.

Shame Cardiff were cheated out of the Sale game because now the pool's a one-horse race regardless of this result.

 

[Thingimubob]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Sir. Speedy @ Dec 12 2009, 04:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Cardiff should be further ahead. Toulouse are diabolical at the moment.

Shame Cardiff were cheated out of the Sale game because now the pool's a one-horse race regardless of this result.[/b]

Why d'you say that?

 

[cyRil]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Sir. Speedy @ Dec 12 2009, 04:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Cardiff should be further ahead. Toulouse are diabolical at the moment.

Shame Cardiff were cheated out of the Sale game because now the pool's a one-horse race regardless of this result.[/b]

Have you been drinking today?

 

[durbutter]

Fritz tackled without the ball there...

 

[elgringoborracho]

Jauzion is having a very very good game. It's the only Toulouse back showing some envy atm

 

[Mr.cyclopede]

Both Ellissalde and Kelleher are really missing today...

 

[Sir Speedy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Thingimubob @ Dec 12 2009, 04:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Sir. Speedy @ Dec 12 2009, 04:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Cardiff should be further ahead. Toulouse are diabolical at the moment.

Shame Cardiff were cheated out of the Sale game because now the pool's a one-horse race regardless of this result.[/b]

Why d'you say that?
[/b][/quote]
I'll be surprised if Toulouse lose any of their next three fixtures.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cyRil of Ospreylia @ Dec 12 2009, 04:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Have you been drinking today?[/b]

No. Have you?