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

[curates_egg]

Surely Joe will have to bite the bullet and put Jackson in the 23? That way we would get Madigan. Not sure about the hookers. Herring was let go today. Both might be kept in London. The fact it is a Sunday game is in our favour.
Zebre will be missing all their internationals again, so we really should be going for the 5 points. That is certainly what I am expecting.

[riocard911]

Unfortunately I didn't see the match, but by the sound of things Jackson didn't do himself any favours against the Scarlets.

[wixfjord]

I'd reckon we might see VDF, Molony, Tracy all starting this one.
Would be interested to see Molony and Kearney in the row.
Only real worry is front row.

[leinsterforever]

Unfortunately I didn't see the match, but by the sound of things Jackson didn't do himself any favours against the Scarlets.

He made some questionable decisions as captain, deciding to kick three or four penalties up the line instead of going for goal. I thought his general play was good though - he kicked his goals beautifully (one off the right touchline for Marshall's try) and made a few half breaks. Maybe he could have chipped over the Scarlets' defence a bit, because they were having trouble breaking them down in phase play

[cormac]

Unfortunately I didn't see the match, but by the sound of things Jackson didn't do himself any favours against the Scarlets.

He had a bit of a mixed bag. In his defence playing outside Paul Marshall is like having one hand tied behind your back.

[leinsterforever]

I'd reckon we might see VDF, Molony, Tracy all starting this one.
Would be interested to see Molony and Kearney in the row.
Only real worry is front row.

If Molony has been in heavy training, trying to bulk up, he might struggle to perform to his best. Usually athletes lay off on the heavy training to get their taper right and allow them to perform well. It'll depend what he's been doing

[Xanthippe]

Looks like Ian McKinley has been called up by Zebre so we could actually (hopefully) get to see him this weekend.

http://www.zebrerugby.eu/sei-giocatori- ... -domenica/

[curates_egg]

Looks like Ian McKinley has been called up by Zebre so we could actually (hopefully) get to see him this weekend.

http://www.zebrerugby.eu/sei-giocatori- ... -domenica/

Two weeks too late for him to run out in the RDS. Shame but still good for him. They play their following two matches in Ireland, so he still might get to run out in Ireland. Ravenhill is on the gap weekend though, so Zebre will probably get at least one outhalf back for that one.

[goreyguy]

Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Isaac Boss sat out training

[nelly the elephant]

Is this match on the goggler people?

[Dave Cahill]

Is this match on the goggler people?

Yup, live on Sky Sports 3 with highlights on TG4 at 6.25

[nelly the elephant]

Is this match on the goggler people?

Yup, live on Sky Sports 3 with highlights on TG4 at 6.25

GRMA.

[Dave Cahill]

The President and Vice-President of Zebre resigned today

[paddyor]

The President and Vice-President of Zebre resigned today

Trouble?

[Hornet]

The President and Vice-President of Zebre resigned today

Why did I think of Robert Mugabe when I first read that!

[curates_egg]

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

Looks like we won't get Van Der Flier. Great for him for sure but I wish we had been able to get a little more out of him for just ourselves before he became part of the national set up.
He has been an outstanding performer for us this season. You would just worry that with the physical step up of the international game (and having to tackle bruisers like Vunipola) it might take a lot out of him. Do Ireland really need to be giving him his first cap in Twickers in a nothing game for us but a big game for them (first home game/still on for slam)?

[molloyjh]

The President and Vice-President of Zebre resigned today

It's like last year all over again when their coaches resigned the week they were coming over here.

[leinsterforever]

Looks like we won't get Van Der Flier. Great for him for sure but I wish we had been able to get a little more out of him for just ourselves before he became part of the national set up.
He has been an outstanding performer for us this season. You would just worry that with the physical step up of the international game (and having to tackle bruisers like Vunipola) it might take a lot out of him. Do Ireland really need to be giving him his first cap in Twickers in a nothing game for us but a big game for them (first home game/still on for slam)?

Good chance for Leavy all the same

[simonokeeffe]

The President and Vice-President of Zebre resigned today

It's like last year all over again when their coaches resigned the week they were coming over here.

its almost like the annual 6 nations table roughly reflects the level of organisation off the pitch