Leinster v Leicester

[An Tarbh]

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Leinster v Leicester

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Leicester come to Dublin on the back of an indifferent start to their premiership campaign but confidence should be reasonably high after they put Cardiff to the sword in the EDF Cup last weekend.

Leinster come into this game on the back of an unimpressive win over Connacht and a slip in recent form following a promising start to the Magners League.

Leicester certainly won't fear a trip to Ireland having won their last 2 HEC games played here but Leinster's pack should provide a more stern test than what they received in the quarter final 2 years ago, the addition of Leicester old boys Cullen and Jennings should be advantageous and despite his veteran status Ollie Le Roux seems to be settling in quite nicely.

Leinster have no injury worries ahead of this game with Felipe Contepomi back in the squad having missed out last week because of his brother's wedding.

Leicester will be looking to give Richard Cockerill a decent send off as head coach with Lofreda fully taking over after this match.

Your thoughts???

 

[stormmaster1]

My thoughts would be a Tigers win due to a superior pack, but i wonder if Jennings and Cullen may know how to cope with that. If possesion is fairly equal, then Leinster have the backs to do damage.

 

[RC]

You've got to believe that Leicester will do the job up front and thus give them the match.
Leinster's good backline may suffer from lack of quality ball from the forwards if Leicesters pack get their way.

 

[SaintsFan_Webby]

For all the (deserved) hype surrounding Leinster's Irish centre pairing, I can't think of a better pair of form players to take them on at the moment than Rabeni and Hipkiss. Rabeni showed against Cardiff that he has brought his RWC form back across the channel with him - he's a human wrecking machine at the moment - while Hipkiss is even winning plaudits from SH fans for his ability to break the gain line.

BOD and D'Arcy beware.

 

[Crackdown]

Has to be Leicester in my humble opinion, they just look very complete at the moment - strong pack and backs that can carve up defences (not to mention kick).

 

[stormmaster1]

We outdid them in the centres last time too, with Gibson and Smith. The real issue is simply has the Leinster pack improved enough? and of course tigers have to keep their heads and not self-destruct.

 

[An Tarbh]

I think our pack has improved enough but I think it's also easy to forget the circumstances surrounding the last game between the sides and the actions of Judas in the build-up to the game, so there is the motivation for this group of players to get the job done. I just don't see the easy Leicester win that so many are predicting.

 

[stormmaster1]

I think our pack has improved enough but I think it's also easy to forget the circumstances surrounding the last game between the sides and the actions of Judas in the build-up to the game, so there is the motivation for this group of players to get the job done. I just don't see the easy Leicester win that so many are predicting. [/b]

what were the circumstances (other than being knockout) and what were the actions of Judas in the build up.

 

[An Tarbh]

He was negotiating his contract with Munster in the week of the game.

 

[nam97]

Leicester for me. The pack should do the business and sat the platform up for the devastating and in form players in the centers and out wide. Would like Leinster to take it out though, can't see it happening.

 

[el_tk]

Teams:
LEINSTER:

15: Girvan Dempsey
14: Shane Horgan
13: Brian O’Driscoll CAPTAIN
12: Gordon D’Arcy
11: Rob Kearney
10: Felipe Contepomi
9: Chris Whitaker

1: Ollie le Roux
2: Bernard Jackman
3: Stan Wright
4: Leo Cullen
5: Malcolm O’Kelly
6: Keith Gleeson
7: Shane Jennings
8: Jamie Heaslip

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Brian Blaney
17: Juan Francisco Gomez
18: Cameron Jowitt
19: Kevin McLaughlin
20: Cillian Willis
21: Christian Warner
22: Luke Fitzgerald

LEICESTER TIGERS:

15: Geordan Murphy
14: Seru Rabeni
13: Ollie Smith
12: Dan Hipkiss
11: Alesana Tuilagi
10: Andy Goode
9: Frank Murphy

1: Marcos Ayerza
2: Benjamin Kayser
3: Julian White
4: Louis Deacon
5: Ben Kay
6: Martin Corry CAPTAIN
7: Lewis Moody
8: Jordan Crane

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Mefin Davies
17: Martin Castrogiovanni
18: James Hamilton
19: Luke Abraham
20: Christophe Laussucq
21: Paul Burke
22: Johne Murphy

REFEREE: Christophe Berdos (FR), SUB REFEREE: Eric Gauzins (FR), TOUCH JUDGE: Jean Marie Schutz (FR), 4th OFFICIAL: Wayne Sheridan (ARLB), 5th OFFICIAL: Tom Tuohy (ARLB), TMO: Daniel Gillet


Good and all players as Smith and Hipkiss are not many people get the better of BOD and D'Arcy. It's interesting that Leinster have gone with Jennings and Gleeson in the back row which might well give them the edge at the breakdown and allow them to play a loose unstructured game which will go some way towards nullifying Leicester's forward power although Leinster's pack has improved immeasurably since the sides last met.

 

[SaintsFan_Webby]

I assume Varndell is injured, because there's no way I'd consider moving Rabeni onto the wing otherwise. Anyone in the know?

 

[stormmaster1]

I don't think Varndell is injured. tigers must feel Rabeni's defence and physicality would be better on the wing. That is the position he first made his mark at Tigers before his big knee njury.

 

[feicarsinn]

ohhh listen to the sound of failure and silence........... underestimate leinster at your own peril

 

[Bullitt]

lol, even the mos die hard of Lienster fans will admit that was one dull game of rugby; So many simple handling errors and ta pillock of a ref who didn't let any advantage go.

2 hours wasted as a neutral viewer.

 

[feicarsinn]

hey its about time leinster learned to win ugly its okay to play flash and win but theres nothing in the cabinet after all these years so grinding out a result against one of the top teams in europe cant be seen as a bad thing

 

[shtove]

Sweeeeet try! There must have been seven different things going on at the same time - Tigers were totally flumoxed. Best bit was Dempsey coming in to take two tacklers while Conti did his "I'm looking one way but passing another". Fair dues to Moody for coming across, but not enough.

Last time I saw Jackman was against Wasps 7 months ago, when he was Leinster's best forward and MoM - but got taken off. Played very well today. White was doing an awesome job in the scrum, but that performance by Leinster's pack looks good for the rest of the season.

Ireland's players are right back on form - even the bold Darcy. And Conti was back to his usual brilliant/disaster act - nearly coughed up two tries.

Can we have a re-run of the RWC?

 

[Bullitt]

Don't get me wrong, the Lienster pack did themselves proud. I was refering more to the whistle happy ref who didn't like playing advantage for more then 0.3 of a second.

Can we have a re-run of the RWC?[/b]

Why? Have you found a decent fly half yet? :bleh!:

 

[shazbooger]

Didnt see much of this one. Wife had me out Christmas shopping (ON THE 10th OF NOVEMBER FFS!) so I only caught the last 10 mins.

General feeling was it was a whopping defensive display from Leinster, but some fairly unimaginative attacking from the Tigers. Still early season, but a good start from Leinster.

On a side point, that was some covering from Horgan to cut off Murphy's run away try. Tracked him back after he had a 2 yard start on him, tackled him, made a follow up tackle on Tuilagi, then dove into the ruck and helped turn over the ball on the Leinster line. Definately saved a try. Wouldnt have changed the result but showed a bit of balls to chase back.

 

[fcukernaut]

lol, even the mos die hard of Lienster fans will admit that was one dull game of rugby; So many simple handling errors and ta pillock of a ref who didn't let any advantage go.

2 hours wasted as a neutral viewer. [/b]

ugggh bang on, I turned it off around the 70 minute mark...Surprised I even made it that far.