Celtic League Thread 05/06

[An Tarbh]

Gunners should win tonight, as should Leinster, Eddie's been kind to Leinster in his selection for the Italian game, pack is untouched with the exception of O'Kelly and with Hickie, Kearney, Contepomi, Lewis and Easterby all still there, we have enough to make up for the inclusion of that muppet Hepworth. Will be interesting to see who Cheika and Knox look to bring in for the Toulouse match.

Leinster team:

15. Hickie, 14. Gary Brown, 13. Kieran Lewis, 12. Johnny Hepworth, 11. Rob Kearney, 10. Felipe Contepomi, 9. Guy Easterby, 1. Reggie Corrigan, 2. Brian Blaney, 3. Will Green, 4. Adam Byrnes, 5. Bryce Williams, 6. Eric Miller, 7. Keith Gleeson, 8. Jamie Heaslip.

 

[An Tarbh]

Great performance tonight from Leinster winning 62-14, some great running rugby, great performance from Conters and Easterby with Gleeson again showing EOS up as a prick for leaving him out, sqaud picked on form my arse. Hat trick from Gary Browne, even Hepworth managed to look decent at times, but also showed why he's so crap most of the time.

Edinburgh came away from Cardiff with the points to maintain their ***le challenge but without a bonus point, Llanelli again showing poor away form at Ulster, despite a decent start, with the White Knights comfortably winning by 30-13, no bp for Ulster though. Ospreys seemed to have given their drive for the European place a shot in the arm with a 22-8 win in Glasgow.

 

[edinburgh_gunner]

Pleased with that Edinburgh squad given how many of our players were rested.

Lora's awful quiet tonight though....

 

[loratadine]

the blues are a team low on confidence playing with no commitment it seems. As a rugby player - to wear the famous jersey of cardiff must be an honour and anyone who cannot get motivated for playing for such an historic and famous club where so many greats like gareth edwards have played needs to be shipped out quick

good win for the ospreys - hopefully we can build some momentum now and make a late serge to finnish in the top half.

 

[edinburgh_gunner]

Originally posted by loratadine@Jan 27 2006, 11:46 PM
the blues are a team low on confidence playing with no commitment it seems. As a rugby player - to wear the famous jersey of cardiff must be an honour and anyone who cannot get motivated for playing for such an historic and famous club where so many greats like gareth edwards have played needs to be shipped out quick

good win for the ospreys - hopefully we can build some momentum now and make a late serge to finnish in the top half.

Got nothing to do with Edinburgh being a better side then?

Did you know Lora, that out of the Welsh sides, Edinburgh have only lost once - to Llanelli and that was a dubious defeat in the Celtic League. I'm interested to see your take on that.

 

[loratadine]

i wasnt actually on about the gunners - the match was a scrappy afair and they did well to grind out a victory. the state of the regions is bad at the moment - and i think our talent is spread out too far.

we need to disband one of the regions - and make that region as a youth set up.

 

[raziel_eire]

Lora - what would you say is the national sport of Wales?

 

[edinburgh_gunner]

Originally posted by loratadine@Jan 28 2006, 12:02 AM
i wasnt actually on about the gunners - the match was a scrappy afair and they did well to grind out a victory. the state of the regions is bad at the moment - and i think our talent is spread out too far.

we need to disband one of the regions - and make that region as a youth set up.

I agree with you on the regions. The WRU made a mess of them in the first place but I think it would be harsh to scrap one of them.

 

[loratadine]

it would but we just dont have the depth to have it spread out over four

the national sport of wales is rugby

what is the national sport of ireland?

 

[An Tarbh]

Hurling

 

[raziel_eire]

Gaelic football...

my question was in relation to you thinking your players are spread too thin as you have 4 regions...

Which region would you be willing to get rid of to setup the 3 better regions?
Llanelli and Cardiff I would presume are too "historic and famous club"s to remove, so that would leave a toss up between the Dragons and Ospreys... which would you pick to dump?

 

[raziel_eire]

Originally posted by An Tarbh@Jan 28 2006, 12:12 PM
Hurling

maybe in Munster and parts of Leinster...

 

[loratadine]

the dragons - the ospreys have a better set up - with a quality youth regime and a new stadium and training complex.

 

[Symclaw]

Mike Hall wants to use the dragons as a purely development based club.

 

[raziel_eire]

But what about all the folk in the valleys? Do they not deserve a representative team?

Or would you keep the team going but keep it at arms length (with lesser players etc) like a distant cousin (and not a proper brother, i.e Connacht in Ireland)

 

[loratadine]

i think that the dragons should be just gwent - and should not compete in the cl - but in the asda league - they should be a breading base for the future talent

 

[raziel_eire]

Could be a resolution, but how come there isn't enough good players to sustain 4 regions of good/decent standard?

The reason I ask is, if its the national sport, the game that people like (and play?) the most, then you (read Wales) should have enough players (of a high enough standard) to sustain at least 4 regions at the desirable level...

I mean, if there isn't the competiton between sports in the country (albeit a small country) is it not easier to get them in at an early age and develop?

 

[loratadine]

its hard in wales as the youth set up is so poor at the moment and the talent isnt be nurtured - however the signs do bode well for the future - with young guys like james hook coming up - remember that name.

 

[raziel_eire]

anything to George?

... should be a character if nothing else if he is

 

[loratadine]

not sure to be honest - but he looks a tremendous prospect - hes playing for neath at the moment - and will start at 10 for the u21 against england next friday