Celtic League Thread 05/06

[An Tarbh]

welcome back mate, good holiday?

2 scrappy Irish wins hopefully another this evening in Swansea.

 

[An Tarbh]

probably too much to ask for, start was certainly dissappointing with Kearney's kick being charged down, did some decent things in the game though, finished off Swervin' Girvan's move well for his try.

Was always going to be tough to get anything at the Ospreys, even with both teams missing their Lions. At least we got a bonus point, improvement on last year.

 

[cavan]

Cheers man it was a great holiday, we did Vegas, Tijuana, San Fran, San Diego, LA and Santa Barbara. Unforgettable!

Disappointing for Leinster to loose but I'm delighted the likes of Kearney, Heaslip and Burke are in the fold. Chieka sounds like a decent guy, he's keen to develop young players which should pay off in the long run. You could not have asked for a tougher first game so we can't really be too disheartened. They'll bounce back.

 

[el_tk]

Here's the Leinster team for Glasgow on Saturday

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Leinster:

15: Girvan Dempsey
14: Gary Brown
13: Kieran Lewis
12: Felipe Contepomi (Captain)
11: Robert Kearney
10: Christian Warner
9: Guy Easterby

1: John Lyne
2: Bernard Jackman
3: Will Green
4: Adam Byrnes
5: Ben Gissing
6: Ciaran Potts
7: Keith Gleeson
8: Jamie Heaslip

Replacements:

16: Emmett Byrne
17: David Blaney
18: Simon Crawford
19: Niall Ronan
20: Brian O'Meara
21: Eoghan Hickey
22: Brendan Burke[/b]

Stupid Warner, I was only able to watch one minute of the Ospereys match but it was enough to see him miss a tackle.

 

[Bullitt]

Henson faces six months sidelined

Wales & Charlotte Church could be without Gavin Henson for half the season
Gavin Henson could miss Wales' autumn internationals and the Six Nations because of a groin injury suffered after his reunion with Miss Church, after the unsuccessful Lions series.
BBC Wales understands that the Wales and Lions centre has flown to Munich in Germany to see another woman about the small-standing problem.

If it is decided that Henson needs an operation it is likely to put him out of Church for around six months.

Henson has been struggling in bed since last season, but he had been playing with pain

It seems that the 23-year-old has decided to get the problem sorted out one way or the other in consulation with one of the top sexual specialists in Europe.

The news will also come as a blow to Miss Church & Henson's Ospreys regional side, as an operation will rule him out of much of their bedroom & Heineken Cup campaign and household domestic season.

Both the Ospreys and the Wales management were keen to keep treating Henson in this country, which probably would have involved more sheep & sexual improvement courses if he was to return to action with Miss Church next month.

But Henson is impatient to get the problem resolved and that is why he has gone to Germany to see Mrs Hans Muller-Wolfgang, a leading specialist on groin problems who has seen to top athletes such as Colin Jackson.

 

[el_tk]

Yay, Leinster win!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Leinster edge home against Glasgow


Leinster´s first outing at Donnybrook for six months ended in a nervy 26-21 Celtic League win as stand-in skipper Felipe Contepomi rescued his side with his right boot.

The Argentinian international kicked four penalties and converted Leinster´s two tries from Rob Kearney and Kieran Lewis early in the second half to hold on for a scrappy first win of the season.

Four times David Cheika´s home side coughed up restarts, allowing the Scots to recover and reel them back in.

A classier effort from the Warriors could have seen them bag a surprise victory but the momentum of a Rory Lamont try on the hour was never built on.

Dan Parks, taking over captaincy duties from the injured Jon Petrie, controlled matters in the first half as Hugh Campbell´s men led 13-9 at the break.

Scotland lock Craig Hamilton lurched his 6ft 8ins frame over and under the Leinster posts in the ninth minute after a quick turnover, allowing Parks to convert and tally up a 7-0 lead.

Ireland Under-19 captain Kearney missed a 30-metre penalty for a quick reply but with Leinster enduring the same lineout problems which dogged them in Swansea on Sunday, Contepomi steadied the Irishmen with a 22nd-minute penalty.

Contepomi sandwiched a 34th-minute penalty from Parks with two of his own, but the 27-year-old fly-half Parks managed to extend Glasgow´s lead to four points in injury-time with a neatly struck drop goal.

With ball in hand, Leinster always looked the more potent and two tries inside the first quarter-hour of the second half pushed them 23-13 in front.

Contepomi and Lewis combined to set teenager Kearney free on 44 minutes and he gathered his own kick ahead, with Glasgow full-back Colin Shaw dithering, to score.

Contepomi converted and added the extras to Ireland centre Lewis´ effort - a well-taken sprint round to the posts after Guy Easterby had stolen possession.

The visitors never gave up hope and Leinster´s failure to shut out the game led to replacement scrum-half Graeme Beveridge setting up Lamont´s try.

His long cut-out pass freed hooker Scott Lawson into the Leinster 22 and Lamont galloped up on his shoulder to score.

Parks converted and swapped a further penalty with Contepomi but Cheika´s side held on.[/b]

And Henson is out for 4 to 8 weeks.

 

[loratadine]

bloody munster.

 

[el_tk]

Originally posted by loratadine@Sep 12 2005, 08:52 AM
bloody munster.

Yeah that was great, it was like

"We're the Ospereys, we're Welsh and we're real good- but wait, AHHH, these shirts are too tight! We're choking! Choking!" Then Munster got a few dodgy/good tries and all the Ospereys fans began to regret the Powergen Cup thing.

 

[An Tarbh]

Never rains but it pours for Munster, if it's not injury problems it's vandals digging holes in the pitch at Thomond park. At least something is going right on the pitch.

Originally posted by munsterrugby.ie
Thomond Park Pitch Vandalised

The surface area of the Thomond Park pitch was vandalised yesterday evening when intruders dug several hundred holes the length and breadth of the pitch.

As a result the Under 19 and Under 21 Interprovincial matches between Munster and Leinster, due to be played there on Friday night have to be moved to an alternative venue.

The damage was done between the hours of 5 and 6.30pm and was discovered when Munster officials arrived for the launch of the ODM Munster Senior Challenge Cup.

It is understood that the pitch will be out of conmmission for at least four days

Christ do people not have better things to do than go around digging holes in a pitch, and at such a sacred venue as well, sacrelige.

 

[An Tarbh]

I thought Reggie had retired after last season, yet there he is back in the team for Leinster tomorow against the Dragons. Hickie and Horgan are back on the bench so some strength to call on if we get into troube tomorow evening.

Leinster:

15: Girvan Dempsey
14: Gary Brown
13: Kieran Lewis
12: Felipe Contepomi (Captain)
11: Robert Kearney
10: Christian Warner
9: Guy Easterby

1: Reggie Corrigan
2: Bernard Jackman
3: Will Green
4: Adam Byrnes
5: Ben Gissing
6: Ciaran Potts
7: Keith Gleeson
8: Jamie Heaslip

Replacements:

16: Ronan McCormack
17: David Blaney
18: Simon Crawford
19: Niall Ronan
20: Brian O'Meara
21: Shane Horgan
22: Denis Hickie

 

[cavan]

isn't it about time Felipe starts wearing the number 10 shirt? the HEC games aren't far off and he has yet to play there.

 

[el_tk]

Originally posted by cavan@Sep 16 2005, 11:24 AM
isn't it about time Felipe starts wearing the number 10 shirt? the HEC games aren't far off and he has yet to play there.

He ended up playing there a bit tonight. Kearney's try was nothing short of senstational

 

[An Tarbh]

Originally posted by cavan@Sep 16 2005, 12:24 PM
isn't it about time Felipe starts wearing the number 10 shirt? the HEC games aren't far off and he has yet to play there.

he might end up playing the first few games there with D'Arcy or Horgan while O'Driscoll is still out.

 

[el_tk]

Munster are crap- 25-3 down to Glasgow at half time.

 

[An Tarbh]

Pretty dire from Munster alright, would have thought that they'd have pushed on after their performance against the Ospreys but not to be. Kidney won't have anywhere to run at this rate but off the coast of Cork.

 

[edinburgh_gunner]

It's looking to me as if this could be between Edinburgh and Ulster. We're still after revenge for the Celtic Cup deafet a couple years back. I hope we get a bonus point win over the jakey's from the west tonight!

 

[cavan]

If Ulster come away with another road win tonight then I think they'll be serious challengers. Harrison and McCoullugh are dominant, McMillan and Neil Best on the way back up and then you probably got Ireland's most promising young backs in Trimble and Bowe doing well and Isaac Boss to come in. I can't see Ulster getting beat this year in Ravenhill, be it HEC or CL.

 

[edinburgh_gunner]

Originally posted by cavan@Sep 30 2005, 05:57 PM
If Ulster come away with another road win tonight then I think they'll be serious challengers. Harrison and McCoullugh are dominant, McMillan and Neil Best on the way back up and then you probably got Ireland's most promising young backs in Trimble and Bowe doing well and Isaac Boss to come in. I can't see Ulster getting beat this year in Ravenhill, be it HEC or CL.

You really only won againsy us at Ravenhill due to our lack of discipline. We gave away too many penalties and David Humphrey made us pay the price. Still, at this early stage the main contender are the Gunners, Ulster and Cardiff but it's early days yet.

 

[An Tarbh]

Table says Munster and Leinster are in contention as well.

So were Leinster impressive in their win against Ulster, were there any positives ahead of the Heineken Cup games?

 

[edinburgh_gunner]

Yeah sorry I missed them out, apologies. Edinburgh could maybe go all season unbeaten at home, though it'll probably not happen.