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Round 18

Quite an intriguing round. Apart from the dull fact that Leinster have the #1 spot sewn up.

Top 5 teams can still end up in the 2nd spot. Home advantage having proved key this tournament. Its a pity for my Stormers that Leinster will probably field an understrength side vs Munster. My hope was that we can leapfrog both Munster and the Sharks (who have a tough away fixture with Ulster) into 2nd but it is more likely Munster will go full tilt against Leinster C.
Bonus points and points differences will determine the play off fixtures.

The most interesting setup though is the derby between the two Scottish sides both at 50 as the loser will be out of the European Championship despite ending higher than the top Welsh side. Then the question is which Welsh side will be the benefactor as they are both at 44 log points and are both facing SA sides hoping to end on a high and secure as high a log spot as possible and maybe a home QF. Scarlets have a 10 point lead ITO points differential.
 
Possible Leinster side:

1. Ed Byrne
2. Sean Cronin
3. Vakh Abdaladze
4. Ryan Baird
5. Jack Dunne
6. Josh Murphy
7. Scott Penny
8. Max Deegan
9. Nick McCarthy
10. Harry Byrne
11. Adam Byrne
12. Rory O'Loughlin
13. Jamie Osborne
14. Jordan Larmour
15. Max O'Reilly
16. John McKee
17. Peter Dooley
18. Tom Clarkson
19. Brian Deeny
20. Alex Soroka
21. Cormac Foley
22. Daivd Hawkshaw
23. Martin Moloney
 
Ironically this round would have been a damp squib (other than Ulster vs Sharks) but for the fate of two eliminated Welsh sides playing for the Champions Cup spot.

I fancy Glasgow against Edinburgh. A weaker squad but Edinburgh just seem to have capitulated since the run up to the 6N and I think they'll struggle to shake that losing mentality.

Surely Connacht vs Zebre won't top the viewing charts? :D
 
irisht said:
Possible Leinster side:

1. Ed Byrne
2. Sean Cronin
3. Vakh Abdaladze
4. Ryan Baird
5. Devin Toner
6. Josh Murphy
7. Scott Penny
8. Max Deegan
9. Cormac Foley
10. Harry Byrne
11. Adam Byrne
12. Rory O'Loughlin
13. Jamie Osborne
14. Jordan Larmour
15. Max O'Reilly
16. John McKee
17. Peter Dooley
18. Tom Clarkson
19. Jack Dunne
20. Alex Soroka
21. Ben Murphy
22. David Hawkshaw
23. Martin Moloney
Click to expand...

I forgot Toner
 
Last edited:
Sharks should have Am back. Amazing the difference that man makes. I wonder about the timing of their new signings. Any Sharks fans know when those dudes are available to you? Etzebeth, Sadie and Tshituka are amazing players- I am sooo jealous. The only thing you guys need now is an actual 10 and a halfway decent coach. All we know about player movement in the Stormers is -Gelant and +Blommetjies and maybe Dweba. Not even breaking even in my book but we simply can't compete with the salary the French are offering Gelant. Its not even close actually.

Our line-up should look relatively unchanged. Just hope the long lay-off doesn't hamper us. Usually SA sides fair poorly against foreign op's after bye weeks and we've been out a couple. That on top of having had to travel again.
 
I'd expect a fully loaded and well rested Munster side to see the Leinster C team off pretty easily, even if they proved really tough to break down in SA. We are getting Coombes, Cloete and O'Sullivan back, but are down De Allende, Zebo, maybe O'Mahony and Haley.
 
Groundhog said:
I'd expect a fully loaded and well rested Munster side to see the Leinster C team off pretty easily, even if they proved really tough to break down in SA. We are getting Coombes, Cloete and O'Sullivan back, but are down De Allende, Zebo, maybe O'Mahony and Haley.
Click to expand...
Ja, with Leinster clear and gone in any event we were rooting for Munster to go through and Leinster not to give our teams that little bit extra of a chance to get 2nd spot on the log. We might still IF Munster doesn't get a bonus point and either the Stormers or Sharks win with a BP. Your points difference is a bit of a large hill though so that BP Leinster's C team denied us might come back to haunt us.

Not that we can complain. We got a lot of benefit from the current format even if the start was atrocious- generally speaking.
 
TRF_stormer2010 said:
Sharks should have Am back. Amazing the difference that man makes. I wonder about the timing of their new signings. Any Sharks fans know when those dudes are available to you? Etzebeth, Sadie and Tshituka are amazing players- I am sooo jealous. The only thing you guys need now is an actual 10 and a halfway decent coach. All we know about player movement in the Stormers is -Gelant and +Blommetjies and maybe Dweba. Not even breaking even in my book but we simply can't compete with the salary the French are offering Gelant. Its not even close actually.

Our line-up should look relatively unchanged. Just hope the long lay-off doesn't hamper us. Usually SA sides fair poorly against foreign op's after bye weeks and we've been out a couple. That on top of having had to travel again.
Click to expand...
Don't forget Neil Powel is becoming our Director of rugby, he is about to wrap up the sevens series ***le for the BlitzBoks then will leave for Sharks. I think after the Sevens world cup but before next season. And Noel Mcnamara will have a full preseason along with the Georgian scrum coach. Everit is there because he knows all the youth players coming through having moved through the coaching levels himself. Will give him one more year. If they underperform, Everit out with someone else coming in to work under Powel.
 
irisht said:
You sure Noel McNamara will be still with the Sharks next season?
Click to expand...
I have not even seen rumours of him maybe leaving. I might be out of the loop. I doubt that I would have missed that... But I accept and welcome your introduction of doubt, anything can happen.
 
TRF_stormer2010 said:
Sharks should have Am back. Amazing the difference that man makes. I wonder about the timing of their new signings. Any Sharks fans know when those dudes are available to you? Etzebeth, Sadie and Tshituka are amazing players- I am sooo jealous. The only thing you guys need now is an actual 10 and a halfway decent coach. All we know about player movement in the Stormers is -Gelant and +Blommetjies and maybe Dweba. Not even breaking even in my book but we simply can't compete with the salary the French are offering Gelant. Its not even close actually.

Our line-up should look relatively unchanged. Just hope the long lay-off doesn't hamper us. Usually SA sides fair poorly against foreign op's after bye weeks and we've been out a couple. That on top of having had to travel again.
Click to expand...

Boeta Chamberlain is a good number 10.
 
unrated said:
I have not even seen rumours of him maybe leaving. I might be out of the loop. I doubt that I would have missed that... But I accept and welcome your introduction of doubt, anything can happen.
Click to expand...

Contepomi only got officially announced as leaving Leinster yesterday. A lot of people are making the assumption that McNamara will be brought in as backs coach. It makes sense but is still only an assumption at the moment.
 
big ginger 8 said:
Contepomi only got officially announced as leaving Leinster yesterday. A lot of people are making the assumption that McNamara will be brought in as backs coach. It makes sense but is still only an assumption at the moment.
Click to expand...

it's been rumoured for awhile, Contepomi leaving isnt recent news to Leo.
 
irisht said:
it's been rumoured for awhile, Contepomi leaving isnt recent news to Leo.
Click to expand...

The Contepomi leaving has certainly been an open enough secret since Cheika was hired, but speculation on replacements naturally doesn't come up to the point where unrated would be hearing rumours about McNamara in South African media etc while there's no confirmation on the position being available.

I'm sure Leinster have their replacement search well underway and wouldn't be shocked at all if McNamara is the target. Just pointing out its not surprising unrated hasn't heard about it given its probably only being discussed on the likes of boards.
 
On a tangent, do we think Sexton would defer to a backs coach or would a backs coach at Leinster perhaps have a more junior or limited role compared to a club with a less talented/experienced/headstrong flyhalf?
 

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