Guinness Pro 12: Round 9 Fixtures

[Leonormous Boozer]

Round 8
Friday, 4 December

Time: 19:05
Live on BBC Wales and TG4

Time: 19:35
Live on BBC NI and BBC Alba


Saturday, 5 December

Time: 15:00
Live on RAI

Time: 15:00
Live on Sky Sports

Sunday, 6 December

Time 14:30
Live on S4C

Time: 15:00
Live on RAI

​

- - - Updated - - -

I'm grabbing this place by the dick and making us great again!

LEINSTER:

15. Rob Kearney
14. Zane Kirchner
13. Ben Te'o
12. Luke Fitzgerald
11. Dave Kearney
10. Ian Madigan
9. Eoin Reddan
1. Cian Healy
2. Richardt Strauss
3. Marty Moore
4. Tom Denton
5. Mike McCarthy
6. Rhys Ruddock CAPTAIN
7. Josh van der Flier
8. Jordi Murphy

16. Sean Cronin
17. Peter Dooley
18. Tadhg Furlong
19. Ross Molony
20. Dominic Ryan
21. Isaac Boss
22. Cathal Marsh
23. Garry Ringrose

The bad side effects of our player welfare system showing here, going into one of the most important fixtures of the season without our three most influential players and our starting second row leaves me less than hopeful of getting a result!

Edit: Any chance of 'unmerging' these posts, it makes all my hard work look less pretty!

 

[Bluemoon]

Some interesting refereeing at the Cardiff Connacht game....

Edit: just to add: for both sides

 

[munstermuffin]

Some interesting refereeing at the Cardiff Connacht game....

Edit: just to add: for both sides

Pat Lam must hate going to Cardiff

 

[Groundhog]

Pat Lam must hate going to Cardiff

Doesn't everyone?

 

[Bluemoon]

Doesn't everyone?

Why's that? Irish teams have a pretty good record over here! (Excluding Connacht).

 

[Rich Taff]

Doesn't everyone?

I swear you've said that before.....

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Didn't see the match, were Connacht hungover from last week or did the Blues figure them out?

Also I'm pretty sure we can do what the **** we want in here, the mods have done jack **** on my request which annoys me because I that OP is the best thing I've done all year.

 

[Groundhog]

I swear you've said that before.....

I'm nothing if not consistent. I heard word that three Connacht players were concussion suspects. Artificial surface? I remember I got a bad concussion on the one beside the Aviva. I think they're awful yokes.

 

[munstermuffin]

Why's that? Irish teams have a pretty good record over here! (Excluding Connacht).

He's had issues there last year and this year with refs.

 

[Rich Taff]

I'm nothing if not consistent. I heard word that three Connacht players were concussion suspects. Artificial surface? I remember I got a bad concussion on the one beside the Aviva. I think they're awful yokes.

I fear my comment and your name were not understandably intertwined there.

 

[Groundhog]

I fear my comment and your name were not understandably intertwined there.

Think all Irish people are the same? Racist.

 

[Bluemoon]

I'm nothing if not consistent. I heard word that three Connacht players were concussion suspects. Artificial surface? I remember I got a bad concussion on the one beside the Aviva. I think they're awful yokes.

A few people have mentioned about the the surface and injuries Groundhog, I'm not sure how substantiated it is, or what sort of injuries are being caused.

To be honest, one of the concussions was probably one of the worst tackle techniques I've ever seen. The Connacht 10 decided to just go head first into our no.8s legs and got a pretty nasty knock against a big man.

He's had issues there last year and this year with refs.

Refs are an issue across the whole of the league I think!

 

[ratsapprentice]

A few people have mentioned about the the surface and injuries Groundhog, I'm not sure how substantiated it is, or what sort of injuries are being caused.

Artificial surfaces have been shown in numerous studies to increase the likelihood of various lower body injuries, I am not aware of any studies into concussion on them.

They are not suitable for venues where the primary use is elite sport, and it is not necessary for the surface to withstand heavy community use.

 

[Bluemoon]

Artificial surfaces have been shown in numerous studies to increase the likelihood of various lower body injuries, I am not aware of any studies into concussion on them.

They are not suitable for venues where the primary use is elite sport, and it is not necessary for the surface to withstand heavy community use.

Makes a lot of sense. The other issue I'd raise is the numerous different types of artificial surface and the types of materials being used. It;d be useful to find out if some are safer than others.

From total anecdotal evidence, Cardiff Blues don't seem to have many more injuries than normal with the surface. I've seen a few of the premiership players tweeting that they've had pretty bad friction burns, but it seems uncommon!

Cardiff get a lot of the community teams playing on the surface too. I'd hope that they were logging any injuries and keeping an eye on the rate/reasons for injuries.

 

[ratsapprentice]

The studies have been done on exactly the same surface that Cardiff use.

There are many players who hate playing on them, Bath actually have one at Farleigh but they very rarely use it because they feel it's dangerous.
Exeter don't allow Jack Nowell to play on them because of his knee - so he will never play against Newcastle or Saracens away from home.

You see players post pictures of their friction burns from them all the time.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I always like the 3G pitches, as a 10 it allows me to know exactly how the ball will bounce after I kick it and I also have an extra yard of pace on them. I do avoid a lot of heavy duty stuff though so I'm not a great person to judge, the only way I could see it linked to concussion is if the match was played at a slightly faster pace though. A comprehensive study would be very interesting and could save unions millions in damage cases like we saw with the first NFL players to play on their terrible artificial surfaces.

Glasgow ow be Leinster has been postponed due to an unplayable surface, those Scots should really invest in a 3G potch!!

 

[ratsapprentice]

A comprehensive study would be very interesting and could save unions millions in damage cases like we saw with the first NFL players to play on their terrible artificial surfaces.

Funnily enough, the Baltimore Ravens are switching back to a grass field next season - primarily motivated by their high number of injuries AFAIK.

 

[Groundhog]

Can't even remember what happened properly when I got that concussion on the 3G pitch but I'm pretty sure my head just hit the floor. I have no faith in them at all and always come off them with burns and AstroTurf in every orifice. Good for warm ups and light training, but not for matches I think

 

[munstermuffin]

Those pitches are proven to be detrimental to knees. If you ever do cruciate your advised strongly to avoid astro.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Those pitches are proven to be detrimental to knees. If you ever do cruciate your advised strongly to avoid astro.

Yes - they have their benefits, but those are almost entirely centered around their durability, not the quality of the surface for elite sport.
I find it amazing that a lot of people seem to talk them up without actually reading about a bit.