Leinster squad to face Exeter Chiefs...

[johng]

I think you are not actually disagreeing. (With me anyway)
The point is not that the coach should start Toner ahead of Mal or Hogan, but that Toner should be giving him no alternative, because he is going so well in training.

[Darce]

I think you are not actually disagreeing. (With me anyway)
The point is not that the coach should start Toner ahead of Mal or Hogan, but that Toner should be giving him no alternative, because he is going so well in training.

I agree. There just seems to be a certain undercurrent on this fine board that we should usher through youth at every opportunity despite the fact the incumbent, despite his age, is the best man for the job.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I think you are not actually disagreeing. (With me anyway)
The point is not that the coach should start Toner ahead of Mal or Hogan, but that Toner should be giving him no alternative, because he is going so well in training.

I agree. There just seems to be a certain undercurrent on this fine board that we should usher through youth at every opportunity despite the fact the incumbent, despite his age, is the best man for the job.

Stuart Barnes does this all the time. If someone is 21 and plays well in a GP game then he always says they should be playing for England.

[Avenger]

I think you are not actually disagreeing. (With me anyway)
The point is not that the coach should start Toner ahead of Mal or Hogan, but that Toner should be giving him no alternative, because he is going so well in training.

Exactly. Toner should be busting a gut to get more game time.

[mhow]

From Leinsterrugby.ie

Exeter 10 Leinster 22

Leinster produced an assured display as they defeated the Exeter Chiefs 22-10 in Saturday afternoon's Round 3 British & Irish Cup encounter in Sandy Park, Exeter...
Leinster got off to a dream start when David Kearney took a pass from Eoin O'Malley who scythed through the Chiefs midfield at pace with just two minutes on the clock.

The move began from a Leinster lineout, which Malcolm O'Kelly gathered, and a swift move at pace followed from Paul O'Donohoe to Shaun Berne found O'Malley who broke for 40 metres before offloading to Kearney inside the 22 to touch down.

Berne's conversion fell narrowly wide of the upright, but Leinster took a deserved 5-0 lead.

Exeter, who fielded two former Leinster Academy products in flanker David Gannon and prop Ruaidhrí Murphy, were on the back foot for the next 10 minutes before a break from scrum-half Richard Bolt led to a penalty inside the Leinster 22.

Out-half Richard Gray opted to kick for touch and from the ensuing lineout hooker Sam Blythe rclaimed the ball and touched down from close range to level the scores at 5-5 after 13 minutes.

Seven minutes later the hosts took the lead when right winger Sean Marsden benefited from a superb cross-kick by Gray to claim his side's second try, but again the out-half's conversion effort fell wide of the sticks.

Exeter were reduced to 14 men when Matt Cornwell was yellow-carded for a professional foul in the 25th minute as Leinster upped the tempo. Stan Wright almost powered over but the referee adjudged that the ball was held up, but eventually Leinster's territorial dominance was rewarded when Ian Madigan released Berne whose vision found Kearney who stole in for his second try in the 35th minute.

Berne slotted home a superb conversion from the touchline to enable Leinster to regain the lead and the province went into the half-time interval with a slender 12-10 advantage.

Leinster started the second half with greater urgency and a Berne drop goal in the 47th minute extended the lead to five points.

A Madigan drop goal effort as the game entered the final quarter struck the upright as Leinster penned the hosts in their half and O'Donohoe's brave block down on the Chiefs 22 in the 70th minute caught the hosts' defence napping and the scrum-half raced through to score.

Berne expertly added his third successful kick of the afternoon to give Leinster an unassailable 22-10 lead as they maintained their excellent run of form in the competition.

*Leinster next face Newport in the British & Irish Cup in Donnybrook on Friday, 26th February.

EXETER CHIEFS SCORERS: S. Blythe, S. Marsden (1 try each)

LEINSTER SCORERS: D. Kearney (2 tries), P. O'Donohoe (1 try), S. Berne (1 drop goal, 2 conversions)

EXETER CHIEFS:

15: Emyr Lewis
14: Sean Marsden
13: Tom Bedford (Nick Greenhalgh, 49)
12: Matt Cornwell
11: Paul McKenzie
10: Danny Gray
9: Richard Bolt

1: Ben Moon
2: Sam Blythe (Saul Nelson, 59)
3: Ruaidhrí Murphy (Shane Kingsland, 62)
4: Sean Tomes
5: Chris Bentley (Dave Ewers, 56)
6: David Gannon (Dave Ewers, 34-41, blood)
7: James Scaysbrook CAPTAIN
8: Tom Johnson (Herbie Stupple, 71)

REPLACEMENTS NOT USED: Clive Stuart-Smith, Steve Jones

LEINSTER:

15: Girvan Dempsey
14: Niall Morris (Simon Keogh, 7)
13: Eoin O'Malley
12: Shaun Berne
11: David Kearney
10: Ian Madigan
9: Paul O'Donohoe CAPTAIN (David Moore, 74)

1: Stan Wright
2: Richardt Strauss (Jason Harris-Wright, 63)
3: Mike Ross (Ronan McCormack, 57)
4: Trevor Hogan
5: Malcolm O'Kelly (Devin Toner, 57)
6: Eoin Sheriff
7: Paul Ryan
8: Stephen Keogh (Ciaran Ruddock, 74)

REPLACEMENT NOT USED: Kyle Tonetti

EXETER YELLOW CARD: Matt Cornwell (25-35 mins)

ATTENDANCE: 3,505

REFEREE: Leighton Hodges (WRU)

[Donny B.]

Some good news for the Kearney family yesterday then.

[Scott]

Some good news for the Kearney family yesterday then.

His first try looks pretty impressive - great break from the linout
http://leinsterrugby.wavenex.ie/players ... q-v-exeter

[Fred Funk]

http://leinsterrugby.wavenex.ie/players ... q-v-exeter

Wow that was an impressive team performance.

[Donny B.]

Couple of nice tries there, nice to see O'Malley playing well.

[Munsterboy]

Some nice tries and general play there. The A teams are all playing very entertaining rugby by the looks of the videos we get to see. Great for player development.

[Donald]

Ditto those comments. Good to see a few of the first team getting some action also instead of just throwing out an inexperienced team ala the Dragons game in the ML this season. Beirne with his obligitory drop goal too

[Dave Cahill]

Bump


Just a reminder of how far Exeter have come in the last couple of years - from the British and Irish Cup to Aviva Premiership champions, and doing it the right way, keeping the club central to their community and not mortgaging their future. I hope we beat them tomorrow, but they are a club their fans can be rightly proud of.