Heineken Cup 2013/14 Pool 1, Round 5 (Castres v Leinster, Ospreys v Saints)

[TRF_Olyy]

Nice one on one tackling from Leinster.....ahem....

Two good tries from Gopperth - 14-0 down after 20ish and it looked bad for Leinster, but 17-12 halftime is very respectable.

Have flicked across to the saints game a few times and they seem on top in the scrum and playing well enough, leading 3-12 at halftime. Thought Tipuric was hard done by for his penalty for taking myler out, and then his forward pass was so so close.

 

[Tadginator]

Based on this performance i would say jimmy gopperth is the best 10 ever to come out of new Zealand. Dan who? Dc will be hard pressed to keep his spot. Out with the old, in with the new.

 

[Groundhog]

How exactly is it that Dan Carter is keeping Gopperth out of the AB starting 10 spot. Carter is a pretender to the crown, and sooner or later his weaknesses will be exposed and Gopperth will be called up. Gopperth has the youth and the figure on Carter.

 

[Tadginator]

Munster by birth, Gopperth by the grace of god.

 

[Tadginator]

Francois who? Its Kearney time.

 

[Groundhog]

Ridiculous that Francois Steyn is holding Rob Kearney out of the South African setup. Scandalous cowardly coaching Heyneke Meyer

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

We're winning this game despite Jamie Heaslip's best efforts.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Have been very impressed with burrell in the second half. He runs so hard into contact but he somehow offloads. Good eye for space.

 

[Big Ewis]

just as I arrive Leinster scores one at the 77th....fk it. Castres just ain't European material. Better focus on that Top 14 crown....well, shield actually.

 

[lynam1104]

Very happy with that on reflection if somebody had told me that we close to snatching a winning bonus point before the game I would have jumped on that, would have been really great to get it though and tie up the pool but oh well we should do the job.

 

[munstermuffin]

Good win but must say its a huge ask for them to get a home QF. Also think Madigan really has a battle to find form now as the bar just got raised by Jimmy G

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

It was a good result for Leinster but I hope it doesn't mask over the problems which were present. The scrum was a disaster. Midfield defence was poor. Castres frequently got around the outside of Leinster's backs. It's a hard place to win but Castres were missing most of their top players (Kockott, Tales for a large portion of the game), Classen, Wannenburg, Capo Ortega). Despite 3 tries, the backline weren't great again.

With a 5 day turnaround, I think there could be a good few changes. Kirchner may come onto the wing, Jennings and Ruddock could start in the backrow, Healy will probably start at 1 and both Moore and Cullen have a shot at replacing Ross and McCarthy.

 

[munstermuffin]

It was a good result for Leinster but I hope it doesn't mask over the problems which were present. The scrum was a disaster. Midfield defence was poor. Castres frequently got around the outside of Leinster's backs. It's a hard place to win but Castres were missing most of their top players (Kockott, Tales for a large portion of the game), Classen, Wannenburg, Capo Ortega). Despite 3 tries, the backline weren't great again.

With a 5 day turnaround, I think there could be a good few changes. Kirchner may come onto the wing, Jennings and Ruddock could start in the backrow, Healy will probably start at 1 and both Moore and Cullen have a shot at replacing Ross and McCarthy.

Snoop on it though:
Murphy May be challenging for a shot at Ireland. From an Irish view great to see Healy back and while I've always been fan of Bowe Earls and Fitzgearld are 2 of the best wingers in Europe lately. Luke is flying it. Moore I think will start and MacCarthy was desperate and a head like Cullen might be important there next week from off. On Kirchner though how doye rate him since the arrival.
Also dare I say but BOD seemed a shadow of himself and I think may have stayed a year too much

 

[big ginger 8]

McCarthy desperate? He was one of our better players. His choke tackling is unreal.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Snoop on it though:
Murphy May be challenging for a shot at Ireland. From an Irish view great to see Healy back and while I've always been fan of Bowe Earls and Fitzgearld are 2 of the best wingers in Europe lately. Luke is flying it. Moore I think will start and MacCarthy was desperate and a head like Cullen might be important there next week from off. On Kirchner though how doye rate him since the arrival.
Also dare I say but BOD seemed a shadow of himself and I think may have stayed a year too much

Murphy was average today to be honest, for everythinghe did well he answered it with a mistake. I think we need to see Moore next week and both are loosened were good. As for BOD it seems to me every time he has an off day there is a comment like this, likewise for Beard, he was average today but without him we wouldn'thave won, he made a fantastic tackle on Lara, I think, and stole the ball on Leinster's own 5 meter line to stop an almost certain try. I agree on Early and Fitzgerald, even Kearney óg is challenging Bowe.

Reddan was my man of the match today, he wad under huge amounts of pressure and was still a threat throughout, he showed Murray isn't the only option at 9 for Ireland, that's always good!

 

[Feicarsinn]

It was a good result for Leinster but I hope it doesn't mask over the problems which were present. The scrum was a disaster. Midfield defence was poor. Castres frequently got around the outside of Leinster's backs. It's a hard place to win but Castres were missing most of their top players (Kockott, Tales for a large portion of the game), Classen, Wannenburg, Capo Ortega). Despite 3 tries, the backline weren't great again.

With a 5 day turnaround, I think there could be a good few changes. Kirchner may come onto the wing, Jennings and Ruddock could start in the backrow, Healy will probably start at 1 and both Moore and Cullen have a shot at replacing Ross and McCarthy.

 

[munstermuffin]

I didn't think McCarthy was great like I thought he was sloppy just an opinion.
But regards BOD don't get me wrong I not slamming him but he has struggled a lot this season. He'll still give his all and did make few contributions especially 1 turnover but I think he is really finding it tough this year.
Murphy I agree wasn't amazing but has really over last few months taking huge strides and will be challenging in national squad. Agree about Reddan having good game but in fairness him and Murray completely 2 different types and I'd presume Joe will be doing horses for courses there

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I think there have to be a few changes ahead of next week due to such a short turnaround. Dave Kearney over Zane Kirchner would have been a 50:50 call. Go with the fresher player. Kevin McLaughlin over Rhys Ruddock (who was injured) would have been 50:50. If Ruddock is fit, pick him. Jordi Murphy had an okay game but Shane Jennings is the fresher option. Murphy can still provide impact off the bench. Go with Cian Healy's freshness and ball carrying for 50 minutes so that Jack McGrath can recover from his start today. Martin Moore over Mike Ross would be more of a case of going for a form player. Ross wasn't great today. The team I'd pick:

Rob Kearney, Zane Kirchner, Brian O'Driscoll, Gordon D'arcy, Luke Fitzgerald, Jimmy Gopperth, Eoin Reddan; Cian Healy, Sean Cronin, Mike Ross, Devin Toner, Mike McCarthy, Rhys Ruddock, Shane Jennings, Jamie Heaslip Subs: Aaron Dundon, Jack McGrath, Martin Moore, Leo Cullen, Jordi Murphy, Isaac Boss, Ian Madigan, Dave Kearney

The bench would be packed with impact subs and the starting team would be freshened up without being completely disjointed. That's the reason for picking Mike Ross ahead of Martin Moore. Should Leinster make the quarter finals, it could be a very different story.

 

[Rumpi]

It was a good result for Leinster but I hope it doesn't mask over the problems which were present. The scrum was a disaster. Midfield defence was poor. Castres frequently got around the outside of Leinster's backs. It's a hard place to win but Castres were missing most of their top players (Kockott, Tales for a large portion of the game), Classen, Wannenburg, Capo Ortega). Despite 3 tries, the backline weren't great again.

With a 5 day turnaround, I think there could be a good few changes. Kirchner may come onto the wing, Jennings and Ruddock could start in the backrow, Healy will probably start at 1 and both Moore and Cullen have a shot at replacing Ross and McCarthy.

Great win all the same!

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Oh hell yeah! I heard that it's their 4th win in France in their last 5 visits. That's a great record.