Cuige Laighin vs Aironi, Thursday, February 10

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Jones is Welsh and Macauley is a nordie. However this doesn't hide the fact that British clubs are looking to schools players and before long will be looking to recruit the best players out of Leinster. None of which has anything to do with the game later today...........

............really looking forward to seeing how this backline gels.

 

[munstermuffin]

Back on game. I'm very interested to see how the centre pairing go and McLaughlin in the 2nd row.
I'm expecting it to be a win with BP but can see this been a very worthwhile workout

 

[Logorrhea]

Jones is Welsh and Macauley is a nordie. However this doesn't hide the fact that British clubs are looking to schools players and before long will be looking to recruit the best players out of Leinster. None of which has anything to do with the game later today...........

............really looking forward to seeing how this backline gels.

Wasnt dissagreeing with any of your post really, just wanted to confirm that bit.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

As far as I remember (from an RTE.ie article) Jones moved to Ireland with his family from Wales at 10. Even though he's Welsh, it would have been nice for him to remain in Leinster and represent Wales! The Ospreys academy gig was too good to turn down though. From what I saw of him, he looked a good player but I didn't see a major spark in his game so he's not too big a loss.

 

[profitius]

Jones was Welsh though wasnt he. He was always pretty straight about it.

I'm sure he was clear about it after moving to the Ospreys! I think he represented Ireland at underage level?? Good luck to him, hes Welsh so nobody can complain. I don't think Leinster would be too interested in developing him if he wasn't Irish qualified.

 

[Peat]

Snoopy, don't suppose you could point to definite confirmation of MacAuley being a Nordie? Seen it said a few times, but never anything definite.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Could Aironi get their first win of the season?
3 - 10 at halftime, but Leinster very lucky not to have conceded an intercept try (top work by Niall Morris to get back to make the tackle)

 

[coonor]

Leinster are making alot of errors and they seem very lateral. Alot of handling errors aswell.
Why do the Italians always do this to us.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Knockon from the quicktap...***o Tebaldi, hang your head in shame!


Edit: What a DG by the Aironi FB

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Does anyone else think Boss is the best 9 in Ireland?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Fair play to Boss kicking the ball out rather than continuing the attack,
Aironi deserved the losing BP there, good match for them

 

[coonor]

Jennings and Boss made brilliant impacts when coming off the bench and Ireland should regret ignoring them.

 

[munstermuffin]

Boss and Stringer should be irelands 9s on Sunday. Jennings also should be in 22

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

@Peat
Don't have a link for it but I'm certain he's from the north. A friend of a friend of a friend and all that..........

Very dodgy Leinster performance.

Positives:
Ruddock, Morris, Nacewa and McLaughlin stood up well.
Gametime for a lot of younger players.
4 points while the bulk of the starting team is unavailable.
Cementing a spot in the top 4 of the league.

Negatives:
Macken's injury (reportedly a broken collarbone).
A dreadful performance.
No direction from the starting scrumhalf and flyhalf.

Next week the Ireland subs should be back in the fold. I'd like to see a team like this take the field:
15. Nacewa
14. Kearney
13. O'Malley
12. Berne
11. Conway
10. McKinley
9. Boss
1. van der Merwe
2. Strauss
3. Shawe
4. Cullen (capt)
5. Toner
6. McLaughlin
7. Jennings
8. Ruddock
Subs: Harris Wright, McGrath, Newland, Sheriff, Ryan, Reddan, Madigan, Morris

 

[munstermuffin]

Snoop do you think maybe another outing at lock for McLaughlin will be a good idea. I've a sneaky feeling Kidney won't release the Irish subs.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Maybe not next week because I think Leo Cullen will come into the team but Kevin McLaughlin will probably get more opportunities in the second row against Treviso and Scarlets. With McLaughlin not being a recognised second row, I found it strange that Ed O'Donoghue was left on the bench for the entire game. It's safe to say that O'Donoghue hasn't impressed the coaching staff at all.

 

[munstermuffin]

I agree that EOD isn't at this level but McLaughlin did a nice job at lock last night. I'd like to see him again and I'm expecting that maybe Cullen might be held back I think with injury crisis any of top 25/26 players in national team will be withdrawn and wrapped up. Especially if we loose to France