Heineken Cup 2013

[Bardon]

Well, Poite was letting Cole bind illegally so, yes, he might as well keep doing it. Silly to bring Bevington back on, I agree. Poite has always been clueless at scrumtime. Good Leicester win in the end even if a couple of fortuitous tries set up the bonus point. What a massive difference Ben Youngs makes when he's on song.

Completely agree on Poite. He never changes his mind so if you know he penalising the other guy the best thing to do is egg it as much as you can. Trying to argue your case just results in a penalty for back chat or him marching you back 10m if he's already awarded one. The fact that people know how he is makes it even more baffling that they brought Bevington back on. It looked like Ayerza was his next target in the 2nd half when he received a warning after his first 2 scrums but Ospreys never got into a position to put any more pressure on after the intercept try.

Youngs was truly excellent today and with Danny Care in good form as well scrum half is certainly one area England are looking good in at the moment.

 

[Italophile]

Yep. They can both be fine players behind a pack going forward. Youngs struggles on the back foot. The AIs are going to be very interesting.

 

[kronic]

F**king disgraceful by Edinburgh.

On target for Leicester and Toulouse to progress out of the pools

 

[KevinO]

F**king disgraceful by Edinburgh.

On target for Leicester and Toulouse to progress out of the pools

Edinburgh needs to go back to last season's match film and get some ideas, they never once treatened the Munster line in 80 minutes and only had one penalty in a kicking position for the whole match. Last year they played great rugby and deserved to be in the Semi finals, this year they should not even be in the Heineken Cup with performances like that.

Munster need alot of improvement before the double header with Sarries, they only really played rugby for the last 10 minutes. The style of the new coach looks ok, but when you have such good forwards and don't run the ball in tight you are not as threatening as you should be. Great to see O'Connell back from injury and in good form, Lions tour should be on the cards.

 

[cyclopath]

Bumping this up to the top.

 

[Bardon]

Looking forward to the return of the HEC for the 3rd round of games this weekend. In 5 of the 6 pools the top 2 teams play each other with the return games featuring the same match ups the following weekend. These are the moving weekends in the pool stages.

Some teams who are top of their pools will move into more secure positions, some teams who are at the bottom will move towards and through the exit doors and some teams who've had a mix start to their campaign will make their move toward the top of the pool and possible qualification for the knock out stages.

There's a lot riding on these games and every team will want to put themselves is the best position possible before the competition takes a breather ahead of the concluding 2 rounds of pool games in January.

The 5 1st v 2nd clashes this weekend are:

Pool 4
Northampton v Ulster (Friday 7th Dec 8pm GMT)

Pool 2
Toulouse v Ospreys (Saturday 8th Dec 1:35pm GMT)

Pool 6
Sale v Toulon (Saturday 8th Dec 3:40 pm GMT)

Pool 1
Munster v Saracens (Saturday 8th Dec 8pm GMT)

Pool 5
Clermont Auvergne v Leinster (Sunday 9th Dec 3pm GMT)

 

[KevinO]

Just looked at the Setanta guide, hope most people have a UK Sky Sports account as they are not showing any games live on Saturday night.

The only live game of the weekend is Leinster vs Clermont.

Looking at the guide, it seems Setanta Australia is only showing live Rugby on a Sunday night and not any of the Saturday games.

 

[qwerty51]

This is why not having a global season has it's advantages. Rugby every freakin' weekend.

 

[Blue]

Just looked at the Setanta guide, hope most people have a UK Sky Sports account as they are not showing any games live on Saturday night.

The only live game of the weekend is Leinster vs Clermont.

Looking at the guide, it seems Setanta Australia is only showing live Rugby on a Sunday night and not any of the Saturday games.

Which is part of the reason I bombed my subscription. H Cup coverage compared to last year is a mess.

I'll get the 6N online

 

[qwerty51]

6N coverage is on ESPN not Setanta

 

[kronic]

There are ways, PM me if you need "help".

 

[Jethro Tah]

If you want to watch any H Cup replays from this year (or any other top flight rugby game) I have found an awesome youtube.com site that has them all, high quality and free access. Send me a PM if you want the link.

 

[Bardon]

Excellent performance from Ulster tonight beating Northampton 25-6. The first half was pretty even with Ulster's finishing edging it for them. Tries from both wings Bowe and Trimble gave them a 13-3 lead.

At the beginning of the 2nd half Ulster took complete control and a well taken try from man of the match Jared Payne as he sliced through the Saints defence looked to have sealed the victory. With 20 minutes to go Northampton came back into the game and put pressure on Ulster in their 22 for 10 minutes. But again we saw another impressive side of Ulster's play as their defence was solid. I've lambasted Paddy Wallace in the past for his poor defence but tonight he and Cave were immense in the centres so hats off to him.

Some of the defence was illegal though and Iain Henderson who added to his growing reputation for the first 71 minutes got to watch the rest of the game from the side line as he received a yellow card close to his own line.

From there Ulster seemed to be fired up again as they turned over ball and got back into Northampton's half. That was Northampton's last visit to Ulster's 22 and from another turnover a great combination between Payne and Bowe sent Dan Tuohy over in the corner for the bonus point try at the death.

One negative for Ulster was Paddy Jackson's kicking from the tee as he missed serveral kicks. His general play was excellent but his place kicking may be decisive later in the competition.

The talk before the game was the potential Lions hooker clash between Rory Best and Dylan Hartley. Although Best had a couple of iffy throws to the lineout his overall play and scrummaging left Hartley in his shadow.

There are few positives for the Saints to take out of this one. On another night the Pisi brothers could have been the stars of the show but passes didn't quite stick. I'm expecting a bit of a reaction from them in the return game at Raven Hill and if Ulster are complacent they could be turned over. At this point Ulster must be the favourites for the pool and they're one of the form teams in the competition.

Also would like to say well done Connacht on their 22-14 win over Biaritz tonight. Vainikolo scored the only try with Dan Parks kicking the rest of their points. Their development continues apace and to take the scalp of one of the giants of European rugby will be very pleasing.

 

[Italophile]

Hartley's frustration led to a couple of forearms landed on Best's bonce in a scrimmage on the ground. The citing official might take an interest. The Pisi brothers had a couple of opportunities but the cracking Ulster defence shut them down. The defensive effort from Ulster centres Cave and Wallace was excellent. How Cave cannot win a green jersey is beyond me and explicable only by Kidney. While Ulster were mighty, Saints are going to need to do some soul-searching. They've been marking time for a couple of seasons now with their power-oriented game. They desperately need a quality 10. Lamb remains as flaky as ever and Myler is pedestrian.

 

[KevinO]

Can't believe Connacht beat Biarritz, that's got to be the upset of the Weekend. Ulster are on some winning streak, hope they can keep the form going for a while.

 

[qwerty51]

I really should be asleep but this Munster vs Saracens game is too good. I really wish we had atmosphere's like that here.

 

[Bardon]

No tries but it was the game of the day for me. Pool is nicely balanced now for the return fixture. Farrell had a nightmare with the boot today but he got the crucial kick for the losing bonus point.

In the other games I watched today I thought Toulouse made hard work of a depleted Ospreys and they spurned a number of overlaps. Sale really gave Toulon a game of it but it was always a defensive effort for them.

It's looking like another disappointing year for the Welsh regions. French teams are winning without necessarily looking all that impressive. I'll admit I'm a little worried about Leinster away to Clermont tomorrow, we need to at least get a losing bonus point out of that one and we still have to go to Exeter in January who'll be really up for that one.

Ulster are looking the most impressive team in the competition at this stage but sometimes it's better to go under the radar for the pool stages and then peak for the knock out stages. Plenty of teams who've looked good at this time of the year have ended up being dumped out in the quarter finals.

 

[kronic]

You never know what the French clubs are doing, are they a) mediocre or b) idling to peak at the right time

 

[kronic]

Oh yeah, massive upset and boost for Romanian Rugby. Bucuresti defeated Agen 25-22 in the Amlin Cup.

 

[qwerty51]

Toulon haven't really gotten out of 1st gear, weren't really tested against Cardiff and Sale. I think the reason they don't put up big margins would be squad rotation which will serve them well in the business end.