Zebre v Leinster Sun 28 Feb

[cormac]

Tadhg Furlong has a thigh injury and isn't in the Ireland squad. Healy and Ross have been called up and both are going to feature against England by the looks of it, as James Cronin is no longer in the Ireland squad. Jordi Murphy also called up in place of SOB.

Leaves us fairly light in the front row, especially if Furlong doesn't recover in time for Sunday. On the flip side we should get one of Cronin or Strauss back for the match. Should get at least one of vd Flier, Ruddock or Murphy back too.

Looking at something like: 15 Kirchner, 14 Byrne, 13 Ringrose, 12 Te'o, 11 Nacewa, 10 Marsh, 9 McGrath; 1 Dooley, 2 Tracy, 3 Furlong/Bent, 4 Kearney, 5 Triggs, 6 Ryan, 7 vd Flier/Leavy, 8 Conan

16 Cronin/Strauss, 17 Loughman, 18 Bent/Furlong/Heffernan, 19 Molony, 20 vd Flier/Leavy, 21 Boss/McCarthy, 22 Reid, 23 Kelleher

So, no vd Flier or Strauss. If he's not travelling as cover to Twickenham, Jordi Murphy will probably slot in at 7 with Leavy on the bench.

[goreyguy]

Jordi been away all week, rather see us give Leavy the 7 jersey and spring Murphy from bench

[Leoslovechild]

Jordi been away all week, rather see us give Leavy the 7 jersey and spring Murphy from bench

Are Boss ,Conan and Luke Mc ok as they sat out training the other day?

Could Jordi be starting at 8 if not?

Loooking forward to getting over there tomorrow for this on Sunday and hopefully McKinley can get a run and get a big reception from how many of us might be there

[Ruckedtobits]

Certainly hope they were only minding Conan for Sunday. He was excellent last week but needs games. If Leavy and Dom Ryan get 6 & 7 shirts, let's hope penalty count doesn't escalate as both have bad tendancies in this regard.

This is one of the games that in the weekend of 6N game can slip underneath the players' radar. We need a comprehensive performance and a win. More than that could be invaluable, but let's get the win first

[Dave Cahill]

LEINSTER (Leinster caps in brackets):

15. Zane Kirchner (58)
14. Adam Byrne (3)
13. Garry Ringrose (13)
12. Ben Te'o (30)
11. Isa Nacewa (141) CAPTAIN
10. Cathal Marsh (10)
9. Luke McGrath (40)
1. Peter Dooley (14)
2. James Tracy (14)
3. Tadhg Furlong (41)
4. Ross Molony (14)
5. Mick Kearney (1)
6. Dominic Ryan (98)
7. Dan Leavy (10)
8. Jack Conan (29)

Replacements:

16. Sean Cronin (105)
17. Jeremy Loughman (1)
18. Michael Bent (61)
19. Hayden Triggs (7)
20. Jordi Murphy (71)
21. Nick McCarthy (2)
22. Noel Reid (54)
23. Cian Kelleher (6)

Referee: Leighton Hodges (WRU, 55th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Matteo Liperini, Ricardo Angelucci (both FIR)
Citing Commissioner: Francesco Grillo (FIR)
TMO: Stefano Penne (FIR)

[curates_egg]

LEINSTER (Leinster caps in brackets):

15. Zane Kirchner (58)
14. Adam Byrne (3)
13. Garry Ringrose (13)
12. Ben Te'o (30)
11. Isa Nacewa (141) CAPTAIN
10. Cathal Marsh (10)
9. Luke McGrath (40)
1. Peter Dooley (14)
2. James Tracy (14)
3. Tadhg Furlong (41)
4. Ross Molony (14)
5. Mick Kearney (1)
6. Dominic Ryan (98)
7. Dan Leavy (10)
8. Jack Conan (29)

Replacements:

16. Sean Cronin (105)
17. Jeremy Loughman (1)
18. Michael Bent (61)
19. Hayden Triggs (7)
20. Jordi Murphy (71)
21. Nick McCarthy (2)
22. Noel Reid (54)
23. Cian Kelleher (6)

Referee: Leighton Hodges (WRU, 55th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Matteo Liperini, Ricardo Angelucci (both FIR)
Citing Commissioner: Francesco Grillo (FIR)
TMO: Stefano Penne (FIR)

Selection should be enough for the 5 points, given Zebre's depleted state. Hopefully, they are not complacent about it.

[wixfjord]

Nice looking team that. Pretty much as expected.
Tracy/Cronin is some running hooker combo.
Really excited about seeing Molony/Kearney second row too, along with Ryan, that's the future.

[the spoofer]

Surely Cronin and Furlong would be with the Irish team in case someone gets a knock before tomorrow?

[neiliog93]

Surely Cronin and Furlong would be with the Irish team in case someone gets a knock before tomorrow?

I've heard of people being flown over last minute in those situations I think.

[molloyjh]

Surely Cronin and Furlong would be with the Irish team in case someone gets a knock before tomorrow?

I've heard of people being flown over last minute in those situations I think.

Apparently TOD is doing the same for Munster so it's not at all unheard of.

[simonokeeffe]

15 Mils Muliaina
14 Giulio Toniolatti
13 Tommaso Boni*
12 Matteo Pratichetti
11 Kayle Van Zyl

10 Ian McKinley
9 Fabio Semenzato

8 Johan Meyer
7 Federico Ruzza*
6 Jacopo Sarto
5 Marco Bortolami (cap)
4 Quintin Geldenhuys
3 Guillermo Roan
2 Oliviero Fabiani
1 Bruno Postiglioni

A disposizione:

16 Gabriele Morelli*
17 Andrea De Marchi
18 Pietro Ceccarelli
19 Gideon Koegelenberg
20 Emiliano Caffini*
21 Luke Burgess
22 Maicol Azzolini
23 Ulrich Beyers

according to them theyve 10 injured and 10 on Italian duty

Mils Blanco at 15 can hopefully be exposed

[curates_egg]

10 Ian McKinley

Holy cr@p! He has been in outstanding form for Viadana apparently...but he was only called into the Zebre squad this week (he played for Viadana at the weekend). Will be a big ask for him.

[Ruckedtobits]

Seven forwards in National match day squad with Lions flanker missing and complete set of ex-Academy players, plus three current internationals, in our Pro12 match-day Squad. That's some depth of IQ forwards in Leinster.

[Dave Cahill]

Seven forwards in National match day squad with Lions flanker missing and complete set of ex-Academy players, plus three current internationals, in our Pro12 match-day Squad. That's some depth of IQ forwards in Leinster.

Not just numerically, thats a really well balanced back row, for example.

[goreyguy]

Oldest forward on the pitch is dippy at 25

if we could produce backs like we could forwards...

[johng]

if we could produce backs like forwards...

Gatland would use them......

[molloyjh]

Seven forwards in National match day squad with Lions flanker missing and complete set of ex-Academy players, plus three current internationals, in our Pro12 match-day Squad. That's some depth of IQ forwards in Leinster.

Not just numerically, thats a really well balanced back row, for example.

It's also a seriously mobile front row too.

[simonokeeffe]

Oldest forward on the pitch is dippy at 25

if we could produce backs like we could forwards...

theres 7 academy produced backs 25 and under in the panel, so we can

[goreyguy]

Oldest forward on the pitch is dippy at 25

if we could produce backs like we could forwards...

theres 7 academy produced backs 25 and under in the panel, so we can

Not at the level we have produced forwards recently.. which is fairly undisputable.

As i said there is signs this may be changing but recent record is poor.

[limecat]

Match Preview

Last week's match against Cardiff was not a thing of beauty, the horrendous weather made sure of that. However Leinster did enough to snag a win that moved them up to second in the table behind Connacht with a game in hand. They need to keep up the pressure with a win on Sunday against Zebre, who they hammered 52-0 only two weeks ago. Zebre were fairly poor that night but sometimes playing a team so soon after you've given them a hiding can be tricky. For example Leinster hockeyed Northampton 40-7 in Franklins Gardens three year ago. They expected a handy number the following week in the Aviva only to be beaten 18-9. Now admittedly Zebre aren't Northampton but still Leinster need to avoid complacency.

Read more...