Montpellier v Leinster Sky Sports Sat 13.00

[the spoofer]

Weather will be dry and very cold.

[curates_egg]

Weather will be dry and very cold.

13 degrees according to the forecast. http://www.meteofrance.com/previsions-m ... lier/34000
That's glorious summer weather in Ireland.

Anyone travelling: don't forget your suncream, a hat, and drink lots of water.

[the spoofer]

Weather will be dry and very cold.

13 degrees according to the forecast. http://www.meteofrance.com/previsions-m ... lier/34000
That's glorious summer weather in Ireland.

Anyone travelling: don't forget your suncream, a hat, and drink lots of water.

It's amazing the difference leaving out an l makes.

[outcast eddie]

Can’t for the life of me see why Carbery does not start. He is a much better player than Byrne.

Joey may be a better player but RB is a better fly half at this moment in time.

[Flash Gordon]

Can’t for the life of me see why Carbery does not start. He is a much better player than Byrne.

Joey may be a better player but RB is a better fly half at this moment in time.

With the possible exception of his kicking game I can't understand how anyone would draw that conclusion. Byrne does many of the basics right and his kicking is progressing really well but he doesn't draw the man - he tends to distribute too early before contact and he rarely beats a man. Carbery's distribution is superb, he takes out defenders, beats defenders and uses space brilliantly. Obviously Joe thinks the same!!

[Logorrhea]

Ross Byrne is much more physical in that 10 channel, his kicking from hand is absolutely class (this is massive for me), his kicking from the tee is champions cup level, and his ability to get the ball to the talent is coming along quite nicely. He's also starting to take the ball up more frequently.

I'm a huge fan of Carbury and I'm becoming a huge fan of Byrne. They are very different players but both seem to be very comfortable at this level.

[simonokeeffe]

I hope a certain poster here doesn't get bullied by Nadolo again

[Dave Cahill]

Can’t for the life of me see why Carbery does not start. He is a much better player than Byrne.

Joey may be a better player but RB is a better fly half at this moment in time.

With the possible exception of his kicking game I can't understand how anyone would draw that conclusion. Byrne does many of the basics right and his kicking is progressing really well but he doesn't draw the man - he tends to distribute too early before contact and he rarely beats a man. Carbery's distribution is superb, he takes out defenders, beats defenders and uses space brilliantly. Obviously Joe thinks the same!!

So does the guy who thinks that Tyrone Howe is a better player than Denis Hickie, so...

I'm certain that Joe thinks that Carbery is as useful as Madigan - thats pretty much as far as that goes.

Considering how little European rugby Carbery has played at outhalf compared to Byrne, saying anything about his outhalf play at the highest level is purely speculation. He may become a good outhalf, but he's not there yet as we saw last season for Leinster and over the summer for Ireland.

[COYBIB]

Pretty pleased with the selection, I think it shows great faith in Ross Byrne to start him and have Carbery and not Sexton on the bench, it's a bold call, but I like seeing youth backed and earned.

There's a possibility that we could finish the game with a back three of Lowe Carberry and Larmour ... that wouldn't be a bad long term combination, not to stoke the Carbery position debate. I would be equally excited to see him come on at 10.

We'll learn a lot about Larmours defence in this game. I'm not all that concerned, I think he's a strong tackler and positions well, so we'll see how he gets on. I hope Lowe shows some improvement in trusting the defensive system and not shooting in all the time, just stick with the outside man and use the touchline. It's one thing darting in on overlaps and taking that risk, but he's shooting when we have full man coverage and he's creating overlaps for the opposition. Other than that he's been great and from what I can tell, he's strong in the tackle, he just needs to relearn that absolute basic defensive wing play and trust the players around him to make their tackles.

Will be good to see Gibson Park in a high profile game, I'm still not completely sold on him but will watch closely.

Love the back-row, all three of them have stepped up massively this season having shown promise before to now pretty much being first choice, even with the absence of Ruddock, O'Brien and Heaslip, Jordi Murphy has been superb this season also, rediscovered his form of old.

Hope James Ryan can deliver his full intensity and physicality game and not break. It would be nice if he could get a long string of games together and not get injured.

Very excited for the game, it's nice to have the pressure off, we should be able to get the losing bonus point at least, we might not even need it, but a big test for a lot of players, looking forward to seeing how they get on. I'm guessing they'll do very well.

[Oldschool]

Ross Byrne is much more physical in that 10 channel, his kicking from hand is absolutely class (this is massive for me), his kicking from the tee is champions cup level, and his ability to get the ball to the talent is coming along quite nicely. He's also starting to take the ball up more frequently.

I'm a huge fan of Carbury and I'm becoming a huge fan of Byrne. They are very different players but both seem to be very comfortable at this level.

OK Ross we get the picture.

[CiaranIrl]

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong here, but wasn't the last time Carberry played 10 against Ulster away? He was terrible. If you don't believe me, believe yourself. Here's the match thread where pretty much everyone goes on about how bad he was:

http://forum.leinsterfans.com/viewtopic ... 8&start=80

[Hippo]

Carbery not Carberry. Also, Carbery not Carbury.

Carry on.

[Ruckedtobits]

We have picked a team, not 23 players, to play high-tempo rugby against a very big, experienced and strong French team at home. This is a calculated risk, not a sop to popular Opinion, whether media or fans. I hope it works, but it is not guaranteed. Unlike Clermont last year, we must get ahead and make this French team chase us

[matt]

Don't understand why Sexton & Luke not starting & Fardy instead of Gibson Park as our 2/3 Non Europeans or whatever.

That said our squad is impressive but not playing best team and possibly losing will feel sore if Clermont & Toulon get bonus points & we lose by say 11 pts (leaving us +63 on 23pts). In that case if Clermont (+44) won by 20pts & Toulon by 27pts (+37) we would be 3rd and away semi final if we got that far. Unlikely to happen but not worth taking the chance unless Sexton & Fardy are injured.

Think we will win anyway & looking forward to seeing the contrasting styles of Larmour & Nadolo.

[TerenureJim]

Carbery not Carberry. Also, Carbery not Carbury.

Carry on.

cadbury not nestle?

[Cianostays]

Don't understand why Sexton & Luke not starting & Fardy instead of Gibson Park as our 2/3 Non Europeans or whatever.

That said our squad is impressive but not playing best team and possibly losing will feel sore if Clermont & Toulon get bonus points & we lose by say 11 pts (leaving us +63 on 23pts). In that case if Clermont (+44) won by 20pts & Toulon by 27pts (+37) we would be 3rd and away semi final if we got that far. Unlikely to happen but not worth taking the chance unless Sexton & Fardy are injured.

Think we will win anyway & looking forward to seeing the contrasting styles of Larmour & Nadolo.

Toulon will not beat Scarlets with a BP in Wales.

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[artaneboy]

Don't understand why Sexton & Luke not starting & Fardy instead of Gibson Park as our 2/3 Non Europeans or whatever.

That said our squad is impressive but not playing best team and possibly losing will feel sore if Clermont & Toulon get bonus points & we lose by say 11 pts (leaving us +63 on 23pts). In that case if Clermont (+44) won by 20pts & Toulon by 27pts (+37) we would be 3rd and away semi final if we got that far. Unlikely to happen but not worth taking the chance unless Sexton & Fardy are injured.

Think we will win anyway & looking forward to seeing the contrasting styles of Larmour & Nadolo.

Not getting into the scrum half again- but- yes, both Sexton and Fardy are a comforting presence on the team sheet. However this is an important- but not a vital match for us. We need to be able to go with the likes of Byrne and Ryan and have confidence in their ability to help the team to perform and win in tough circumstances.

It’s their moment.


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[riocard911]

Don't understand why Sexton & Luke not starting & Fardy instead of Gibson Park as our 2/3 Non Europeans or whatever.

That said our squad is impressive but not playing best team and possibly losing will feel sore if Clermont & Toulon get bonus points & we lose by say 11 pts (leaving us +63 on 23pts). In that case if Clermont (+44) won by 20pts & Toulon by 27pts (+37) we would be 3rd and away semi final if we got that far. Unlikely to happen but not worth taking the chance unless Sexton & Fardy are injured.

Think we will win anyway & looking forward to seeing the contrasting styles of Larmour & Nadolo.

Toulon will not beat Scarlets with a BP in Wales.

We could win by a mile today, max out with 28 points plus a massive points difference and still have to face Sarries away in the semi if they scrape through the group stages and win an away quarter final. Had we put out Johnny and Luke the pressure on us to win would have been far greater. This game is a calculated risk. The expectations are lower, similar to how they were vs a full strength Munster on Stephen's Day. Ross Byrne and JGP had their best ever game together on that particular occasion. I'm hoping for a repeat!!!!

[Lar]

Don’t think your scenario is mathematically possible r911.
The only team we can face away in a semi if we win today is the winner of a Pool with the least points I.e. the fifth seeds. I am pretty sure Sarries can’t win their pool.
My guess is either La Rochelle or Munster (hoping we win our quarter of course) and that means they would be likely to play each other of course in the quarters. As that is a match the home side would be more likely to win the semi-final would be in Dublin.
Nightmare scenario would be La Rochelle winning in Limerick which would in this hypothesis mean an away semi final in France.

[Oldschool]

Don't understand why Sexton & Luke not starting & Fardy instead of Gibson Park as our 2/3 Non Europeans or whatever.

That said our squad is impressive but not playing best team and possibly losing will feel sore if Clermont & Toulon get bonus points & we lose by say 11 pts (leaving us +63 on 23pts). In that case if Clermont (+44) won by 20pts & Toulon by 27pts (+37) we would be 3rd and away semi final if we got that far. Unlikely to happen but not worth taking the chance unless Sexton & Fardy are injured.

Think we will win anyway & looking forward to seeing the contrasting styles of Larmour & Nadolo.

Toulon will not beat Scarlets with a BP in Wales.

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In fact opposite is more likely.