Champions Cup - Pool 2, Round 1 (Castres, Harlequins, Leinster, Wasps)

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Not happy about it.

I can concede that if its true that we're losing 3 million a year at present we need to change things and its probably also true that we should show a bit of humility to the owners who rescued the club a few years ago..

But I struggle to believe that this was the only option, that in all of the home counties and all of Greater London, we could find no viable alternative to Coventry. I believe the club could have found another solution which didn't compromise the loyalty and support of all those fans who stuck with the club through the dark times.

The fact that the Roch has a casino, hotel complex, superior money-making facilities overall, just makes me think cynically about the consortiums true interests. In my view they want a profitable business of which the rugby is only a small part, and that I don't like.


Having said that this change isn't as bad for me as for some fans; where some hail from Middlesex and Sudbury and have supported for as many as 25 years, I've only supported them since I was 14 (so about 10 years). As North Londoner, Coventry is harder to get to than High Wycombe but not by a ridiculous amount, plus my parents live not too far from there.

It will be strange though and I doubt our ability to get atmosphere into a 36,000 capacity ground.

We should have learnt from what happened when Wimbledon FC officially moved to Milton Keynes and became MK Dons!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

There's already a huuuuuge thread about wasps move to ricoh, can we keep this one on the rugby plz?

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

No problem, I suspected I was goign to get a chiding!
- so i fink wusps will get 'stung' by leincester (see what I did there?) dis wknd.

I've heard leinster nicely replaced Drico with that NRL guy?
I can't wait to see Leiua properly tearing it up, and maybe it will happen this weekend. We've had glimpses of him, good lines and breaking tackles but hasn't quite let rip yet.
Scrum will be important. Mullan has been immense and really showing why he's Englands next best option - hope he can do a number on Ross.

Who's likely to start at Loose-head for Leinster? Hows he been?

@ BG8: Yeah, that annoys me and it also just seems to be counter-productive, generally just givign the opposition motivation and firing them up more. In Hughes' case i wouldn't actually be altogether surprised if he didn't know who played for Leinster. Leiua hadn't even heard of Wasps before we approached him!

 

[big ginger 8]

Leinster XV

15. Ian Madigan
14. Zane Kirchner
13. Gordon D'Arcy
12. Noel Reid
11. Darragh Fanning
10. Jimmy Gopperth
9. Eoin Reddan
1. Jack McGrath
2. Sean Cronin
3. Michael Bent
4. Devin Toner
5. Mike McCarthy
6. Rhys Ruddock
7. Dominic Ryan
8. Jamie Heaslip (Captain)
Replacements
16. Richardt Strauss
17. Ed Byrne
18. Tadhg Furlong
19. Kane Douglas
20. Jack Conan
21. Isaac Boss
22. Mick McGrath
23. Luke Fitzgerald

I'm a lot more worried now!

Wasps team
15. Andrea Masi
14. Christian Wade
13. Elliot Daly
12. Alapati Leiua
11. Sailosi Tagicakibau
10. Andy Goode
9. Joe Simpson
1. Matt Mullan
2. Carlo Festuccia
3. Lorenzo Cittadini
4. Joe Launchbury
5. Bradley Davies
6. Ashley Johnson
7. James Haskell (C)
8. Nathan Hughes

16. Tom Lindsay
17. Simon McIntyre
18. Jake Cooper-Woolley
19. James Gaskell
20. Sam Jones
21. Charlie Davies
22. Rob Miller
23. Chris Bell

No problem, I suspected I was goign to get a chiding!
- so i fink wusps will get 'stung' by leincester (see what I did there?) dis wknd.

I've heard leinster nicely replaced Drico with that NRL guy?
I can't wait to see Leiua properly tearing it up, and maybe it will happen this weekend. We've had glimpses of him, good lines and breaking tackles but hasn't quite let rip yet.
Scrum will be important. Mullan has been immense and really showing why he's Englands next best option - hope he can do a number on Ross.

Who's likely to start at Loose-head for Leinster? Hows he been?

@ BG8: Yeah, that annoys me and it also just seems to be counter-productive, generally just givign the opposition motivation and firing them up more. In Hughes' case i wouldn't actually be altogether surprised if he didn't know who played for Leinster. Leiua hadn't even heard of Wasps before we approached him!

Ben Te'o just arrived so was never really going to be put in for this.

Mullan won't have that test now or but gets to go against our 4th choice tighthead and someone who's more of a loosehead, Michael Bent yay!. The only reason I can see for Furlong not starting is if he's still affected a bit by that illness he had.

Jack McGrath (obviously now) is the loosehead. He just came back from a short term injury last week but he's been excellent this year was playing better than Healy this season. He's probably a better scrummager than Healy but obviously with Bent beside him it's a bit more worrying.

Yeah I know players in the SH in particular can live in a bubble but with video analysis and the amount of Leinster players who were playing against NZ last year you'd think he could pick out even his opposite number.


Biggest worries are Bent and Madigan out of position, good to see ZK back and I would say Fitzy as well but I'll have to see it to believe it!

This is the sort of stuff you should say! http://www.wasps.co.uk/news/article/2014/10/15/daly-you-don't-get-much-bigger-than-leinster

 

[lynam1104]

Why start Bent he was poor against Munster when Furlong came on scrum improved immensely. Other than that can't really fault it given the injury situation.

 

[profitius]

Wasps couldn't have wished for a better time to play Leinster in about 8 years. Leinster still favourites but it could be a close game.

 

[ruggabee]

Are we really favourites? Our backline looks muck and Bent at tighthead. Nice to see Fitzgerald back. That's a mega surprise as I thought he wasn't due another couple of weeks.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Theres an astonishing amount of talent in that Wasps backline, and the pack is exactly what I've really wanted to see.

1)However I think Leinster are better coached, and a better gameplan/ idea of how they want to play
2) A better 10 (current form)
3) A better bench.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

1/5th of the team out of position...
Good call!

 

[big ginger 8]

1/5th of the team out of position...
Good call!

Not like we have much choice.....

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Not like we have much choice.....

3. Furlong
12. Madigan
14. McGrath
15. Zane K

Looks a lot better to me. And did Luke McGrath sleep with O'Connor's wife or something?

 

[big ginger 8]

3. Furlong
12. Madigan
14. McGrath
15. Zane K

Looks a lot better to me. And did Luke McGrath sleep with O'Connor's wife or something?

As I said Furlong is just back from concussion and illness it's quite possible 60 minutes is beyond him at the moment.

I'd absolutely **** myself if Mick McGrath started at this level. He's decent going forward (still has poorish hands though) but he has no idea what he's doing in defense and is very poor under the high ball.

Yeah Luke McGrath should be there over Boss at least.

I'd also probably have started Reid over Madigan at 12 in your shifted backline.

 

[ruggabee]

The selections are pretty baffling.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

As I said Furlong is just back from concussion and illness it's quite possible 60 minutes is beyond him at the moment.

I'd absolutely **** myself if Mick McGrath started at this level. He's decent going forward (still has poorish hands though) but he has no idea what he's doing in defense and is very poor under the high ball.

Yeah Luke McGrath should be there over Boss at least.

I'd also probably have started Reid over Madigan at 12 in your shifted backline.

The Madigan Reid 10 12 axis would be the dream and our other wing isn't up to European standard so it doesn't matter.

 

[big ginger 8]

The Madigan Reid 10 12 axis would be the dream and our other wing isn't up to European standard so it doesn't matter.

I don't think the he's not good enough so let's play this other guy who's not good enough also reasoning really holds up.

Fanning is much more unlikely to be as badly exposed as McGrath.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I don't think the he's not good enough so let's play this other guy who's not good enough also reasoning really holds up.

Fanning is much more unlikely to be as badly exposed as McGrath.

Considering he has the turning circle of a large ship and is up against one of the quickest back lines in Europe, I doubt that.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Kokott's mutant arm never fails to amuse me.

 

[Tony Manx]

Should be a potentially good game with Castres taking it seriously and Quins having had a stuttering start!!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Quins have had a stuttering season - I could see them losing this, to be honest.


Lowe's done more in 8mins than JTH has in 18months.

 

[Jaguares]

Quins could never beat Castres, interesting...