RaboDirect Pro12 Round 7

[Amiga500]

They'll have the bonus point before half an hour at this rate.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

If the game becomes 50 clear point does the referee call the game off, like they do in junior games?

 

[Amiga500]

But it looks like Drico is fecked.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Ah, shame that. Hopefully nothing too serious, may just be precautionary considering how the game is going.

 

[Amiga500]

If the game becomes 50 clear point does the referee call the game off, like they do in junior games?

Didn't happen when bloody New Zealand tanked us in the summer...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

J.Murphy is carrying very well - though Blues defence isn't making it hard for the Leinster ball carriers...


S.Andrews off to the bin - not sure why, maybe just for bant

 

[Feicarsinn]

Cardiff genuinely can't make a tackle. From a pro rugby team this is astonishing.

 

[Amiga500]

They'll have the bonus point before half an hour at this rate.

Yup. 26 mins.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

This really is pathetic.

Andrews given a yellow for being a cretin ...

 

[dullonien]

Andrews was yellowed for lying on the ball close to the line. Correct decision, but Andrews couldn't even do that right. If you're going to get yellows, stop the bloody attack, not some half assed job that means Leinster still score a try and you get yellowed.

This is an embarrassment, a total farce. The Blues team isn't this bad on paper, Phil Davies is worse than B&B, just get rid of him now if he can't organise his team!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Put a few quid on >61pts being scored this game.
Should've put it on >61pts being scored first half :huh:

 

[Tribesmen-ce-123]

Disgracefully bad performance from the blues, the RTE pundits are tearing them to shreds and rightfully so. Great performance by Leinster all the same. This is the first time this season we've seen them looking something like their best again. Lets hope they'll kick on from here in the rest of the season.

 

[Draggs]

Bring back Burnell!
http://www.espnscrum.com/heineken-cup-2011-12/rugby/match/144345.html

 

[dullonien]

Blues might as well throw all caution to the wind and try to score 4 tries to get a bonus point. They actually look okish in attack.

 

[Draggs]

54-22... yay.

 

[psychic duck]

Wow. That was an annihilation from Leinster. Were Leinster just too good or was the Blues defence woeful as Leinster were certainly getting metres very easily.

Embarrassing for the Blues.

Andrews was yellowed for lying on the ball close to the line. Correct decision, but Andrews couldn't even do that right. If you're going to get yellows, stop the bloody attack, not some half assed job that means Leinster still score a try and you get yellowed.

This is an embarrassment, a total farce. The Blues team isn't this bad on paper, Phil Davies is worse than B&B, just get rid of him now if he can't organise his team!

Andrews is "ready to step in for Adam Jones" according to the Western Mail.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbyn...ady-to-step-in-for-adam-jones-91466-32100046/

I agree with you, if you're going to get binned at least concede the penalty well to stop Leinster scoring.

To be fair to Phil Davies though, I think a lot of the problems now come from beforehand.

Firstly Dai Young had a team of players who many of which were the same age which meant that the likes of ***o, Rush, Ben Blair, Shanklin, Martyn Williams all retired at the same time. He should have been more forward thinking and brought younger players to the squad.

Secondly, B&B turned the side into a joke the latter half of last season, and badly handled the Henson situation.

Thirdly, some key players like Gethin Jenkins and Casey Laulala left for better offers elsewhere. This was not the coaches fault.

Fourthly, to replace the wave of players leaving, B&B signed some totally crap players such as Ma'afu to replace Jenkins, and Breeze to replace Gareth Williams, and he also backed Gavin Evans and Dafydd Hewitt to replace the void Laulala left.

Fifthly, Phil Davies has just continued with the mess that B&B left for him.

So I think Dai Young for not forward thinking enough and also for signing poor fly halves, B&B for the Henson situation and the laughably bad attempt at replacing the departed players, and Phil Davies all should take collective blame for the mess that the Blues are in.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Won the second half I suppose?

@Duck, Young cannot be blamed for the signing of the fly halves ... Peter Thomas and Bob Norster had very much to do with the deals. You say Young was not forward thinking enough ... but then who was the one who brought many of the better youngsters who now wear the Welsh shirts now? That would be Young. Young's problem was not keeping Nicky Robinson, he couldn't control money to look for replacements in his last year, as the pot was getting empty. Fact remains and still remains the buck starts with B+B for the shambles that is now.

The way things are going it is unlikely we will see Roberts, Cuthbert etc. signing on with the Blues if this drivel comes back.

 

[dullonien]

B&B have a lot to answer for, but Phil Davies has had enough time to at least prepare the team well, to get the basics functioning. The Blues defense is a complete mess which was not helped by simple missed tackled today even by Roberts etc, but Phil has had all summer to get a system sorted which complements the players and works. That is the minimum required, but they have fallen laughably short, and the Blues now look to change that system with the appointment of a new defensive coach, why wasn't this put in place over the summer?

Gatland, and many other coaches have shown that it doesn't always take long for a coach to stamp his mark on a team. Gatland made sure in '08 that the Welsh team which was leaking try's against everyone under Jenkins had a solid defensive system that conceded very few try's. He was probably lucky to have Shane Williams in the form of his life to ignite the backline, but still the '08 grand slam was built on defense. He didn't have long to get things sorted, and Phil Davies should have been able to do something similar. A few lapses here and there would have been understandable, but it's as if the players haven't played with each other before!

Edit. All the news coming out of the camp during pre-season training seemed very positive, with Davies making sure conditioning was up to scratch (an area that was obviously not up to scratch with B&B, but maybe not enough effort was put into defensive strategies etc.

 

[dullonien]

Just watched the Ospreys highlights. Funny how Eli Walker has suddenly stepped up after coming back from an injury. He struggled last season to make the step up to regional rugby, and I was wondering if he could. But he's been excellent in the last few games, great pace, great agility, and solid in all other areas. Great to see, because he has an awful lot to offer when he plays like this.

 

[welshglory]

There needs to be a complete overhaul at Cardiff like there has been at the Brumbies and Reds in Super rugby.

They can't just keep going on like this, a new coach won't fix anything.