mxyzptlk
Colin Windon (37)
I was part-way through that article when you posted this comment. Fuck's sake, can Murray Kinsella break down some rugby. He's the Richie McCaw of journalists at the rugby breakdown.
Northern Hemisphere Rugby Season 14/15
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mxyzptlk
Colin Windon (37)
I like his analysis of that maul POC got stuck into and disrupted. There are few other sights in rugby as magnificent as Paul O'Connell swimming through a maul like a barbarian while carrying on a conversation with the ref.
boyo
Mark Ella (57)
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
Watch the Munster game v Sale.
It's not quite as exciting a finish as in the 2011 game against Northampton but it was a nail-biter.
PS I have did a blog of the weekend's games yesterday here:
http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/new-european-rugby-champions-cup-underway/
Sometimes I type the odd error - please let me know if you spot any "wrong facts" in the blog so I can change them.
Thanks
LG
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mxyzptlk
Colin Windon (37)
the plastic paddy
John Solomon (38)
It is superb analysis. Think he should get a job full time with the IRFU though so he doesn't give away all the secrets to the opposition. Interesting how many times Dave Foley features in that article, for my money he should be starting against SA ahead of High Tower, Toner, but I suppose he will have to be content with a bench spot. He has certainly passed out Mick McCarthy. Longer term, an Irish second row of Henderson and Dave Foley will be something to behold quite possibly coached by Paulie!!!!
Getting very excited about fridays game against the Saffa cens. They would be clear favourites but I have a really strong hunch that Munster are going to do something special and completely batter them. The level of anger about the way PRL behaved, with the Saracens twats to the fore, over the Heineken cup will be something that will motivate the Munster players, and I suspect the crowd will be rabid and seething.
the plastic paddy
John Solomon (38)
Owen Farrell is as bad, a complete tool. God I hope we annihilate them on Friday night. St Joe has picked his Ireland squad for the Movember internationals. Only egregious ommission, IMHO, is Duncan Casey although, given Munster's injury crisis at hooker it is not all bad news. The three hookers selected, Best, Cronin and Strauss all have varying degrees of the yips going on last weekends form although having a seven foot lock tends to cover up such weaknesses. I cannot over estimate how good Casey's throwing is, nearly impossible to challenge against Sale, fast, flat and pinpoint accurate. Think Ireland will need a miracle to beat the Bokke without Healy and O'Brien. Personally I don't really care too much about the result so much as not picking up any injuries with the Pooper scooper cup starting up again in December.
mxyzptlk
Colin Windon (37)
Any predictions for the second round?
Sticking to the Champions, I'll go:
Munster at home, based on nothing but past form and the last time Owen Farrell got iced in the Munster silence. Marcello Bosch is taking the kicks, but 7 minutes in, and he's already missed one kickable penalty in the Thomond quiet. EDIT: It's windy, and Keatley just bounced one off the post, but Saracens were caught sleeping and didn't recover the ball well -- Munster nearly scored a try off the recover and got the scrum 5. Don't know if Saracens heads are in it.
Ulster-Toulon? Whew... heart over brain, Ulster realizes it needs to play two complete halves and Rory Best throws straight, and they edge one out over a French side that didn't feel like traveling from the Riviera to cold Belfast.
Bath on their home turf will try to make up for its poor showing against Glasgow and sneak one out over an inconsistent Toulouse, but Toulouse will make it a fight, and Bath will have injuries. Extra prediction: The damage sustained in this round will cause Bath to fall a bit on the Premiership table.
Northampton will monster Ospreys. Ospreys will have a few moments of scything running, but Northampton will be angry that they got pushed around by Racing Metro, and will take it out on their Welsh neighbors.
Montpellier will try to out-muscle and out-collision Glasgow, but if Glasgow can maintain their pace and shape, their skill should win out in the end.
Scarlets will be in a similar position against Leicester as Bath against Toulouse, but a little better; no one expected Scarlets to have such a good showing against Toulon at Toulon (except maybe themselves), and their coming so close will give them confidence against another inconsistent team. Leicester were fortunate to get a stuttering Ulster last week, and playing away this week combined with their legion of injuries may be a journey too far.
Castres will have too much to do against Leinster. Castres have too much to do overall. Leinster will have to do more than turn in a 70% performance, but with Kirchner back at fullback and Madigan back at 12, Leinster's backline should be too dangerous (especially if Luke Fitzgerald can find some form, and I like Kane Douglas starting with Devin Toner).
Hi Clermont, enjoy your home victory over Sale.
Wasps-Harlequins could be the game of the week, at least in terms of open, running rugby. Both sides like to run and off-load, both sides are only part-way toward firing on all cylinders, both sides have shown inconsistent defense. Christian Wade and Tom Varndell against Marland Yarde and Asaeli Tikoirotuma should be fun. James Haskell is apparently still out, but Ashley Johnson could probably play the back row all by himself. Harlequins pack has been rickety this season and they're playing on Wasps turf, so I'll tip Wasps.
If Racing Metro can beat the English Premiership champions, they can beat Treviso.
TL;DR: Munster, Ulster (yeesh), Bath in an attritional dogfight, Northampton, Glasgow if they're good, Scarlets at home, Leinster, Clermont, Wasps, Racing Metro.
Sticking to the Champions, I'll go:
Munster at home, based on nothing but past form and the last time Owen Farrell got iced in the Munster silence. Marcello Bosch is taking the kicks, but 7 minutes in, and he's already missed one kickable penalty in the Thomond quiet. EDIT: It's windy, and Keatley just bounced one off the post, but Saracens were caught sleeping and didn't recover the ball well -- Munster nearly scored a try off the recover and got the scrum 5. Don't know if Saracens heads are in it.
Ulster-Toulon? Whew... heart over brain, Ulster realizes it needs to play two complete halves and Rory Best throws straight, and they edge one out over a French side that didn't feel like traveling from the Riviera to cold Belfast.
Bath on their home turf will try to make up for its poor showing against Glasgow and sneak one out over an inconsistent Toulouse, but Toulouse will make it a fight, and Bath will have injuries. Extra prediction: The damage sustained in this round will cause Bath to fall a bit on the Premiership table.
Northampton will monster Ospreys. Ospreys will have a few moments of scything running, but Northampton will be angry that they got pushed around by Racing Metro, and will take it out on their Welsh neighbors.
Montpellier will try to out-muscle and out-collision Glasgow, but if Glasgow can maintain their pace and shape, their skill should win out in the end.
Scarlets will be in a similar position against Leicester as Bath against Toulouse, but a little better; no one expected Scarlets to have such a good showing against Toulon at Toulon (except maybe themselves), and their coming so close will give them confidence against another inconsistent team. Leicester were fortunate to get a stuttering Ulster last week, and playing away this week combined with their legion of injuries may be a journey too far.
Castres will have too much to do against Leinster. Castres have too much to do overall. Leinster will have to do more than turn in a 70% performance, but with Kirchner back at fullback and Madigan back at 12, Leinster's backline should be too dangerous (especially if Luke Fitzgerald can find some form, and I like Kane Douglas starting with Devin Toner).
Hi Clermont, enjoy your home victory over Sale.
Wasps-Harlequins could be the game of the week, at least in terms of open, running rugby. Both sides like to run and off-load, both sides are only part-way toward firing on all cylinders, both sides have shown inconsistent defense. Christian Wade and Tom Varndell against Marland Yarde and Asaeli Tikoirotuma should be fun. James Haskell is apparently still out, but Ashley Johnson could probably play the back row all by himself. Harlequins pack has been rickety this season and they're playing on Wasps turf, so I'll tip Wasps.
If Racing Metro can beat the English Premiership champions, they can beat Treviso.
TL;DR: Munster, Ulster (yeesh), Bath in an attritional dogfight, Northampton, Glasgow if they're good, Scarlets at home, Leinster, Clermont, Wasps, Racing Metro.
BabyBlueElephant
Darby Loudon (17)
Munster beat Saracens, denying them a bonus point in the process, and the commentator on BT Sports hands out the Man of the Match award calling it erroneously the "Heineken Cup man of the match". Don't think you can get much more justice than that for the Heineken Cup killers!
mxyzptlk
Colin Windon (37)
Ian Keatley only needs people rushing around him creating chaos to slot his kicks. Give him some time and space and a tee, and he misses by inches. What'd he leave, 12 points on the field?
the plastic paddy
John Solomon (38)
And all very getable, backed Munster to win by 21-25 as well, would have been a mighty pick up at 14s!!! But who cares, Munster won with their heads in their chests. Aside from the unknown of the plastic pitch, I don't think Saracens have anything for Munster to fear over there in January. I also think we will win both games V Clermont whose pack are getting very long in the tooth. This Munster team feel like they are just starting on the journey back to the goodtimes, I think this team might just raise a few spirits of those men and women of Munster spread far and wide around the globe. Now for Ulster, Leinster and Connacht to win their games!!!!
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
It was a fine win by Munster but Keatley will have to improve his goal kicking; geez, he was poor.
You can't get away with that week by week.
I'm in a bit of a quandary for the next two rounds: my favourite Irish team, Munster, is playing my favourite French team, Clermont, home and away.
But, being true to my memory of Jim Williams playing for Munster, I will likely be cheering Munster home.
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You can't get away with that week by week.
I'm in a bit of a quandary for the next two rounds: my favourite Irish team, Munster, is playing my favourite French team, Clermont, home and away.
But, being true to my memory of Jim Williams playing for Munster, I will likely be cheering Munster home.
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Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I subscribe to Setanta and tape the ERC games.
Four are live this weekend and I watch them when I wake up; the others are delayed and I tape them too.
The trick is to watch them in the right order because the commentators sometimes give spoilers.
The Top 14 games are on Eurosports which you can watch through Foxtei.
Other rugby games from up north, including the ERC Treviso home games, can be accessed from - cough, cough - other sources.
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I subscribe to Setanta and tape the ERC games.
Four are live this weekend and I watch them when I wake up; the others are delayed and I tape them too.
The trick is to watch them in the right order because the commentators sometimes give spoilers.
The Top 14 games are on Eurosports which you can watch through Foxtei.
Other rugby games from up north, including the ERC Treviso home games, can be accessed from - cough, cough - other sources.
.
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'm retired and have lots of time - and I'm a rugby tragic.
I prefer watching Super Rugby because I'm an Aussie and follow our teams, but of the European domestic comps I prefer the theatre of the Top 14 - sometimes it is like watching a circus.
Super Rugby will always lack the drama of the Top14 because you don't have two teams dropping out every year, and the interest in who is being relegated can be more intriguing than the fight to win the comp.
If your Super team is near the bottom in the second half of the season there's not nearly as much interest as for a Top14 fan if their team is in that position - every game is like life or death.
It's the same in the EP but you don't have famous English clubs, like Biarritz and Perpignan in France, being relegated, so often.
The standard of the Pro12 is not as high as the EP or T14 but I enjoy watching Munster, Leinster and Ulster play especially against each other.
But when Ireland, Wales and Scotland put their players into camp for test matches the standard of play in the Pro12, is ordinary; so I usually give it a miss in those weeks.
And there is nothing like the ERC (old Heineken Cup) in this neck of the woods. High drama every week for six weeks in the pool games - every one a must win.
The trick is to adopt a team in each of the EP, Pro12 and T14 comps; so that even if you aren't watching your team(s) you have an interest in how the result of the game you are watching affects your team.
Gradually over the years you get to know the best players of all teams and this makes watching 6N, and other test matches involving 6N countries, more interesting.
.
I'm retired and have lots of time - and I'm a rugby tragic.
I prefer watching Super Rugby because I'm an Aussie and follow our teams, but of the European domestic comps I prefer the theatre of the Top 14 - sometimes it is like watching a circus.
Super Rugby will always lack the drama of the Top14 because you don't have two teams dropping out every year, and the interest in who is being relegated can be more intriguing than the fight to win the comp.
If your Super team is near the bottom in the second half of the season there's not nearly as much interest as for a Top14 fan if their team is in that position - every game is like life or death.
It's the same in the EP but you don't have famous English clubs, like Biarritz and Perpignan in France, being relegated, so often.
The standard of the Pro12 is not as high as the EP or T14 but I enjoy watching Munster, Leinster and Ulster play especially against each other.
But when Ireland, Wales and Scotland put their players into camp for test matches the standard of play in the Pro12, is ordinary; so I usually give it a miss in those weeks.
And there is nothing like the ERC (old Heineken Cup) in this neck of the woods. High drama every week for six weeks in the pool games - every one a must win.
The trick is to adopt a team in each of the EP, Pro12 and T14 comps; so that even if you aren't watching your team(s) you have an interest in how the result of the game you are watching affects your team.
Gradually over the years you get to know the best players of all teams and this makes watching 6N, and other test matches involving 6N countries, more interesting.
.
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