RaboDirect Pro 12 Round 1, 2

[dullonien]

19-6 now. North finally getting into the game with a searing break and then the finish as well.

Edit. Liam Williams is having a stormer. Aaron Shingler showing his pace once again - rounder the Leinster 10 with ease, and a lovely offload.

Further edit. Not sure Liam Williams was supporting his own weight there. But good on him for getting in there none the less and drawing a penalty from the ref.

 

[SelimNiai]

This has been mighty impressive from Scarlets, people will inevitably point to a less than full strength Leinster side but even so they're 80% there I reckon but the Scarlets have made them look average.

 

[dullonien]

Gonna be interesting to see how Samson Lee gets on coming on for his first competitive game for the Scarlets. Hugely promising tighthead prop.

Edit. Well I'm impressed already. Strong in the last scrum and prominent around the field. For the first time in a long time, I'm genuinely excited about this tighthead!

Further edit. This is now becoming a rout. 43-13. Some sublime handling and lovely touches along the way. Impressive!

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Scarlets winning doesn't surprise me. The comprehensive nature of the win does though. They've been really impressive. Could easily hit 50.

Schmidt out.

 

[Draggs]

Scarlets for Heineken Cup 2013-2023.
Everybody give up now, the Turk wave is coming.

 

[dullonien]

Scarlets winning doesn't surprise me. The comprehensive nature of the win does though. They've been really impressive. Could easily hit 50.

Yeah, considering the strength of the relative teams, I was expecting the Scarlets to come away with the win, but it's very rare to see Leinster receive a pummeling for pretty much the entire 80min. Usually the Leinster second strings are hugely competitive, especially against the Scarlets (Leinster have won the last 8 games against the Scarlets). Scarlets have been on top in every facet of play tonight though. If they can keep this up, they'll be a match for anyone.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Scarlets back line is great to watch (maybe not so much for me tonight!), full of pace, power, size, good hands, excellent running lines etc. Will Priestland get back in at flyhalf?

I really don't like seeing players pat opponents on the head after a screw up. Castrogiovanni does it all the time. Scarlets were at it today after North's second try. They're a much better team to be doing things like that.

 

[Draggs]

Vizzer4Lyonz.

 

[big ginger 8]

Connacht are basically mostly an AIB league side just playing at a higher level.



That's because they have a home ground with massive wind which they are used to and others aren't, and are a close group of players who play at full strength all season as they aren't effected by international call ups.

But generally the individuals in the side aren't of high quality and few would get into most other teams' first choice sides (and if there is then the big provinces would sign them up). But together they can achieve a bit more than their parts for the reasons above.

Have you ever watched AIL? No they're higher standard than AIL clubs. Yes the Sportsground is a good advantage but they're not that bad away they nearly beat a full strength Harlequins side at the stoop and generally run all the Irish clubs at least, close. Also this year will affect them more than any other year because of the player welfare programme. They used not produce their own players just getting cast off's from other provinces but are getting more and more players than ever on the u20's. They're definitely a club on the up.


We really start slowly under Schmidt.

 

[Draggs]

Shocking from the Pro12 teams.
Lets ban all of them from the Heineken Cup except for us and the Turks.

 

[profitius]

Connacht are basically mostly an AIB league side just playing at a higher level.

That's because they have a home ground with massive wind which they are used to and others aren't, and are a close group of players who play at full strength all season as they aren't effected by international call ups.

But generally the individuals in the side aren't of high quality and few would get into most other teams' first choice sides (and if there is then the big provinces would sign them up). But together they can achieve a bit more than their parts for the reasons above.

Thats not true. They're obviously the weakest province due to having the fewest rugby clubs but they are starting to develop their own players now and good ones too. They're doing well in the provincial U20s, regularly beating the bigger teams and have some quality players coming through in the next few seasons.

They have players the other provinces want (Eoin Griffin) but it doesn't mean those players want to leave. They'll do alright this season again and will be stronger than last season.

 

[coonor]

Can't take anything away from Scarlets, the could only play the team in front of them and they did so extremely well. Leinster will hopefully learn from this; first of all if you turnover the ball Scarlets can and will score from anywhere. Our ball retention was very poor, we missed the clearing out of power of Healy, SOB and unfortunately Thorn. We really missed ball carriers as well, I didn't see any busts through Scarlets defence. In the backs we looked lateral and indirect. The centres were nothing more than atrocious both in attack and defence. Our best tackler in the team was Madigan, closely followed by Jennings and the rest were way off par. On a positive note the scrum and line out were both solid.

 

[Bluemoon]

Really glad the Pro 12 is back.

The Scarlets put on the benchmark performance last night. The backline was in great form and were running some fantastic lines. We all know Liam Williams has developed into a great player, but what I like is that he is doing it so consistently. If the Scarlets can match the physicality of the teams up front in the HC then that pool is going to be the most exciting of them all.

Fun little stat. Last years the Ospreys did something similar to Leinster in the first game losing 27-3. In the following game Leinster hammered Newport 31-10. Leinster have Newport again at home next game... may be a different game to Zebre.

 

[coonor]

I love all this optimistic hype for Munster after what I would describe as an unispiring win. Fair enough it was a win away from home with a fair number of first choice players missing which is very good but the performance which seems to be stirring some overrated hype was nothing more than poor for the majority of the game. I thought the pack lacked ball carriers... Surprise, surprise and the backs were way to far off the gain line. Having said that I though O'dea had a good game as did the new centre combination but some of the tackling was way off standard level. Also the ref was very poor and let Munster off on a number of occasions.... DOC tackling the jumper in the LO was clearly obvious to me.

 

[Peat]

Scarlets back line is great to watch (maybe not so much for me tonight!), full of pace, power, size, good hands, excellent running lines etc. Will Priestland get back in at flyhalf?

I really don't like seeing players pat opponents on the head after a screw up. Castrogiovanni does it all the time. Scarlets were at it today after North's second try. They're a much better team to be doing things like that.

Word.

I'd like to see a lot more penalties given for it.

 

[Tony Manx]

Not read the whole of the thread, and maybe this has been mentioned previously, but find that the most interesting statistic of the first day matches in this "competition" is that Leinster RESTED 11 Internationals for their game!!!

I do wonder why the English and French Unions have a problem with qualification for the H Cup........................!!

Just saying................

 

[Draggs]

Yeah, I don't know why George did that. He never seemed to be the sort. I always got the impression from interviews that he was a bit reserved.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Not read the whole of the thread, and maybe this has been mentioned previously, but find that the most interesting statistic of the first day matches in this "competition" is that Leinster RESTED 11 Internationals for their game!!!

I do wonder why the English and French Unions have a problem with qualification for the H Cup........................!!

Just saying................

Well, we didn't have a choice did we? IRFU player welfare regulations and such. In any case, we lost, so we got what we deserved.


I don't think it's the like of Leinster that the French and English have a problem with, more the like of Edinburgh who paid zero attention to the league last year.

 

[Tribesmen-ce-123]

Word.

I'd like to see a lot more penalties given for it.

Ian Evan's did the same thing to Stephen Ferris when he gave away that penalty at the end of the Wales-Ireland game this year. Real dick headed move's by both him and North.

 

[dullonien]

Ian Evan's did the same thing to Stephen Ferris when he gave away that penalty at the end of the Wales-Ireland game this year. Real dick headed move's by both him and North.

I don't think Evans did it to try and wind Ferris up, more of a bad luck gesture, because I'm sure even he knew it was a close call, and probably a little harsh on Ferris. That's how I saw it anyway.

Not sure why North did it though. North is a lovely bloke, maybe he didn't mean it in a bad way. Anyway, not a fan of it either myself, but as professional sportsmen you can't allow the opposition to wind you up. I've seen plenty of players do it, and it's just something that happens. A penalty would be extremely harsh, although a talking to from the ref with a warning wouldn't go amiss.