Magners League opening week

[TRF_Olyy]

I'm not sure about the rep situation,
I know i can't give out rep more often then any other member.
Maybe, as it's just for fun etc., everyone who takes part could agree to rep the winner at the end? Or something along those lines

 

[Peat]

Everyone's talking up Ulster but I'm remaining pessimistic, the mockers are watching and even in my short time as an Ulster fan I know the speciality is ******* it up...

Deffo not playing vs. Ospreys -

Pienaar, Trimble, Danielli, Cunningham, Pollock - all injured. I think Jamie Smith and Paul Marshall are also on the sick list, but am not sure and likewise Paddy McAllister.

Then there's the boys who went on tour with Ireland - Court, Tuohy, Henry and Wallace. I think they're available, but would we want to pitch them straight back in?

So it could be a fairly weak Ulster side for the first week, particularly in the backs. Fowards though, the forwards look decent, so here's hoping...

 

[munstermuffin]

Lads this will be tightest year yet when you factor in the Italians will dent a few teams and well players been restricted by world cup year. I think top 4 will be Munster Leinster ospreys and Ulster or for some reason Aironi I think could be a shock package

 

[cyRil]

Leinster, Ospreys, Munster, Blues.

 

[munstermuffin]

Actually there is a team that hasn't been mentioned much - the Blues. How has their preseason been going and surely they'll be looking to build on European success last year

 

[profitius]

Heres how I think it'll go. Remember that squad size is very important too. During the 6 nations the Italians and Scottish will be hit hard.

1-Munster
2-Ospreys
3-Cardiff
4-Leinster
5-Ulster
6-Edinburgh
7-Dragons
8-Aironi
9-Glasgow
10-Llanelli
11-Treviso
12-Connacht

 

[Feicarsinn]

No one going to sign up for the uber awesome predicition league?

 

[munstermuffin]

I will feic how I do it

 

[Feicarsinn]

Just leave your name in the signup and discussion thread.

 

[tinchy17]

Who else thinks that Leinster are bloody brilliant? Aaaaaaaaaaah! I'm so scared for the match against them in the Heineken Cup.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Who else thinks that Leinster are bloody brilliant? Aaaaaaaaaaah! I'm so scared for the match against them in the Heineken Cup.

Didn't you say you'd never seen them play the other day?
I'm sure you were asking about them

 

[tinchy17]

Didn't you say you'd never seen them play the other day?
I'm sure you were asking about them

Managed to do a bit of research.... it turns out they only won the Heinken Cup in 2009, so understandably I'm as scared as a baby. I'm such a wimp, it's ubelievable. I'm even worried about losing to Exeter Chiefs!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

To be fair, I'd be worried if Borthwick was Sales captain too

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Might be worth it, depends on how many guys will want to do it.

Also, which games will be on BBC/S4C. I assume the Ospreys will be on Friday night but who will S4C show?

Ulster's home games will be on BBC NI, and Glasgow's on BBC ALBA, both of which i can get on a normal Sky box here in England, so I'm assuming most people should be able to, too.

 

[munstermuffin]

Olyy what state are sale in this year. Seems to be a big transition period happening there

 

[TRF_Olyy]

No idea,
The friendlies are hard to go off as Brewer played each of them as two 40minute games rather than a full thing, as he'd make mass substitutions all at once to try and test out different combinations, and apparently the "B team" of forwards (the younger and fringe players) performed better against Glasgow than the "A team". However 2/3 wins in the preseason is encouraging, we'll just have to see what happens from Friday onwards, there are a lot of class players (apparently Paul Williams is immense) but atm it's still a bit muddled due to injuries and players missing and the such (Kyle Tonetti is being played at outside instead of inside centre to cover Taits knee injury, and they've kept on two of the trial wingers instead of releasing one, because Mikaele Pessamino is having visa problems or something along those lines, and hasn't joined the squad yet)
I'm quietly confident that Sale'll do alright this year, and am hoping to qualify for the HC next season, though on the other hand, I wouldn't be too surprised if it all goes to pot, due to the massive upheaval of staff and players alike

 

[Thingimubob]

Might be worth it, depends on how many guys will want to do it.

Also, which games will be on BBC/S4C. I assume the Ospreys will be on Friday night but who will S4C show?

Think what they usually do is BBC Wales show the Friday night games and S4C do the weekend games, so S4C should have Blues v Edinburgh on saturday. But BBC Northern Ireland and BBC ALBA have games too, so Ulster v Ospreys is on BBC NI as well as BBC Wales. Like Dunc said, if you have a Sky box you should pick it up, but if you have FreeSat you can too. So I shall be cramming in a hell of a lot of rugby before I head off to Uni
EDIT: just saw that your location is Somerset Iain, and out of interest, can you pick up BBC Wales and S4C (if you dont have Sky/FreeSat I mean) You should be able to, I used to pick up BBC West Country on my old Freeview box.

 

[cyRil]

They show the games on the BBC website as well, don't they?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yeah, the BBC ones will be on the sport part of the site

 

[munstermuffin]

No idea,
The friendlies are hard to go off as Brewer played each of them as two 40minute games rather than a full thing, as he'd make mass substitutions all at once to try and test out different combinations, and apparently the "B team" of forwards (the younger and fringe players) performed better against Glasgow than the "A team". However 2/3 wins in the preseason is encouraging, we'll just have to see what happens from Friday onwards, there are a lot of class players (apparently Paul Williams is immense) but atm it's still a bit muddled due to injuries and players missing and the such (Kyle Tonetti is being played at outside instead of inside centre to cover Taits knee injury, and they've kept on two of the trial wingers instead of releasing one, because Mikaele Pessamino is having visa problems or something along those lines, and hasn't joined the squad yet)
I'm quietly confident that Sale'll do alright this year, and am hoping to qualify for the HC next season, though on the other hand, I wouldn't be too surprised if it all goes to pot, due to the massive upheaval of staff and players alike

And the captain is very young this year a 20 year old. Is he very influential or is this a gamble