Leinster vs Ospreys Friday September 23rd

[Cianostays]

No mean feat to stop the Ospreys on Friday who have maximum points after 3 games.

1-23: McGrath, Cronin, Ross, Toner, Mike Mac, Leavy, VDF, Heaslip, JGP, Carberry, Dave K, Reid, Ringrose, Isa, Kirchner, Tracey, Healy, Furlong, Moloney, Jordi, Luke McGrath, Marsh, O'Loughlin.

I think it'd be best to play Leavy and VDF against Ospreys who always try to make an absoloute mess of the breakdown. Our defence will need to sharpen up somewhat as they have scored 21 tries and conceded 3 (albeit having played Zebre and Treviso at home and against an out of sorts Connacht in Galway). A very big game early on in the year.

[johng]

I have a sneaky feeling that we could see sexton and ruddock this week

[jezzer]

Os always ruck the sh!t out of us.

[simonokeeffe]

I have a sneaky feeling that we could see sexton and ruddock this week

they did say round 4 for Ruddock and a couple of weeks for Johnny at the start of September, I'd definitely prefer them to come off the bench

similarly AWJ and Biggar will get their first starts
Lydiate is still out injured

home advantage, pack we have, should be able to do it, IMO their 3/4 line (unless Davies starts at 15) the type of one that wont make something out of nothing or win a game with a minority of possession

Bradley Davies has gone from starting week 1 to benching week 2 to not playing week 3 whatever is going on. Would be delighted if he was missing against us although the angry facing him and McCarthy would have together would be fun

[Oldschool]

No mean feat to stop the Ospreys on Friday who have maximum points after 3 games.

1-23: McGrath, Cronin, Ross, Toner, Mike Mac, Leavy, VDF, Heaslip, JGP, Carberry, Dave K, Reid, Ringrose, Isa, Kirchner, Tracey, Healy, Furlong, Moloney, Jordi, Luke McGrath, Marsh, O'Loughlin.

I think it'd be best to play Leavy and VDF against Ospreys who always try to make an absoloute mess of the breakdown. Our defence will need to sharpen up somewhat as they have scored 21 tries and conceded 3 (albeit having played Zebre and Treviso at home and against an out of sorts Connacht in Galway). A very big game early on in the year.

This may be a bit unfair, because the ref was cr@p on Saturday tbf to everybody, but I hope Leavy isn't turning into a penalty machine.
He's had a great start to his season and it would be a shame to spoil it.

[riocard911]

We'd wanna have our wits about us. Ospreys'll be looking for revenge for us beating them over there last season!!!

[leinsterforever]

No mean feat to stop the Ospreys on Friday who have maximum points after 3 games.

1-23: McGrath, Cronin, Ross, Toner, Mike Mac, Leavy, VDF, Heaslip, JGP, Carberry, Dave K, Reid, Ringrose, Isa, Kirchner, Tracey, Healy, Furlong, Moloney, Jordi, Luke McGrath, Marsh, O'Loughlin.

I think it'd be best to play Leavy and VDF against Ospreys who always try to make an absoloute mess of the breakdown. Our defence will need to sharpen up somewhat as they have scored 21 tries and conceded 3 (albeit having played Zebre and Treviso at home and against an out of sorts Connacht in Galway). A very big game early on in the year.

This may be a bit unfair, because the ref was cr@p on Saturday tbf to everybody, but I hope Leavy isn't turning into a penalty machine.
He's had a great start to his season and it would be a shame to spoil it.

If an openside is giving away a few penalties it means he's doing his job right. Leavy looks really good. I could see him being Ireland's first-choice 7 pretty soon.

[simonokeeffe]

Whoah there Nelly, hes the business but hes not even first choice for Leinster, or second choice (tbc)

[Dave Cahill]

If an openside is giving away a few penalties it means he's doing his job right. Leavy looks really good. I could see him being Ireland's first-choice 7 pretty soon.

Jaysus, hype much?

[COYBIB]

Leavy is an animal, but he has a long way to go to get beyond O'Brien and Van Der Flier for the Leinster 7 jersey, let alone the Irish one. And even then, he isn't clear of Jordi either.

This is a very big game, dropping a bonus point at home to Treviso and coming away with nothing from Glasgow whilst giving away a try bonus has left us with a bit of early season catch up to do. A BP win in Edinburgh is a good start. Ospreys on the other hand are on maximum points with 3 bonus point wins. A 4-0 match day score would do nicely here.

Hope to see all the big guns back fully in contention for this one, even though a part of me wants to see Carberry keep going in the jersey. Adam Byrne had a very good start to last season and when the internationals came back, he's never been heard of or seen since, and that's another year wasted in developing a back-three player before he decides to leave due to lack of opportunity. It's unlikely to happen with Carbury given where he is in the depth chart, but it's always a worry with Leinster, abandonning the development of any and all backline players, unless playing them is absolutely forced upon us.

It's just the scar MOC left on me, he would play Cathal Marsh week in week out in the expectation that one day he would be proven right.

God I don't miss than stouborn, obnoxious cancer.

[Dave Cahill]

It's just the scar MOC left on me, he would play Cathal Marsh week in week out in the expectation that one day he would be proven right.

God I don't miss than stouborn, obnoxious cancer.

Number of competitive games played by Leinster under Matt O'Connor - 61

Number of starts for Cathal Marsh - 0

Number of substitute appearances - 1 (15 minutes. Against Zebre)

[simonokeeffe]

You can prove anything with facts

[neiliog93]

Best Ospreys squad since they last won the league in 2012, in good form too. This is a very losable one, return of some big names should help. I reckon we'll shade it without a try bonus point, and with a close losing bonus point for them.

[simonokeeffe]

Best Ospreys squad since they last won the league in 2012, in good form too. This is a very losable one, return of some big names should help. I reckon we'll shade it without a try bonus point, and with a close losing bonus point for them.

1-10 yes, no one in 3/4 line to make you soil your breeches

[Ruckedtobits]

Bringing in more (albeit experienced) players increases the risk factor. As with last year, the re-introduction to starting XV of our internationals is a very difficult trick against decent opposition that have been playing together.

Leavy has been retained, because he has grabbed the shirt and despite a crazy decision to yellow card him. He and JVdF should start on the flanks to Jamie at 8. If SO'B is ready to roll, give him 25 mins to bust his boiler in a No 6 role, with Cian, Cronin and Furlong running for line breaks through 10/ 12 channel of Biggar.

Assuming JS is available, he has to play, but leave the rest of the backline intact as they are beginning to look like an attacking unit. In defence, much more talking when we push up hard and more focus on individual tackle technique. Both Carbery and Reid made some solid tackles in our 10 / 12 channel on Saturday, but Ringrose got caught a couple of times coming up too hard (fast) and slid off tackles he would normally make.

Work hard all week on our line-out and our defensive maul and really attack their line-out at No 2, when they are in defence. At best they throw it (by lob) to No 4 and we have more time to get somebody in the air to compete at 4 or 5.

We're getting there offensively, but look a bit harum scarum in defence, but that will come if we stay disciplined. Liked the way we generally supported our ball carriers at breakdown. Leavy and JVdF really help in this, as does McGrath Jack, and Mike Mac. Am confident that mid-field and back-three can make something out of return of JS at 10 and really looking forward to game.

[COYBIB]

It's just the scar MOC left on me, he would play Cathal Marsh week in week out in the expectation that one day he would be proven right.

God I don't miss than stouborn, obnoxious cancer.

Number of competitive games played by Leinster under Matt O'Connor - 61

Number of starts for Cathal Marsh - 0

Number of substitute appearances - 1 (15 minutes. Against Zebre)

Yes, but I wasn't talk about then, I was talking about now. I didn't say he played Marsh then. I said he WOULD be playing him now.

Dave, I know you are in love with the guy, I know you decided to take the alternative argumentitive side because you love getting in conflict and argument over any mundane point on these forums for the sake of righteousness, but your stouberness to be proven right is akin to only something MOC could have had. Maybe you see a lot of yourself in MOC, which is why you're his white night.

But you could say anything. ANYTHING about MOC to argue in his favour, and we don't even need to mention the greatest collapse in Leinster rugby history in the domestic league, from a championship standard team (that he eeked a trophy out of) to the worst domestic performance in Leinster history. I think Gary Ella managed a lower position, but I don't think he inhereted a squad full of European and Grand Slam Champions.

Please note these following points trump ANY counter argument you can make:

Loti Tiquri (at 13 no less!)

Tom Denton favoured over the release of Quinn Roux

That ginger wingers lad whos name I've already forgotton.

Issac Boss, several years after his last competent performance, favoured over the departure of Cooney (and leaving us with one scrum half who might still be alive next week - but didn't like to play him).

*Wahhhhhh, he didn't sign them Wahhhhhhh .... he played them.... week in week out .... and no matter how poor they were, he played them again.

*Wahhhhhh, we were so bad, but Fanning got a couple of tries against amateur sides in Pro12 .... Aviva Stadium vs Munster. End of argument. It looked like a terminally ill kid got his wish on Jim will fix it.

No matter how much you wish to be right on this Dave, you are 100%, completely and utterly wrong, and I will enjoy your pathetic attempts to state otherwise over the next several years.

[Edit to add: When those Leicester Fans celebrated his departure after his reign of terror over there, and he came here and was loved and adored by all for his magnificant coaching over here, how's your coaching god getting on at the Reds? I'll tell you one thing, still not the worst team! 9th out of 10 in the Australian conference... making good progress over all, down from 13th overall last season to 15th this season. Sure, he finished behind a couple of teams that didn't exist the year before, but at least there a whopping 3 teams worse than Reds out of the 18, so you know, if he can keep it at or above 17 next season, you'd have to say they're still better than someone, which means he's doing great.

We're very fortunate he decided to come into rugby, because by all accounts he was doing a superb job on the board of directors at Enron and soon after his stint at Lemhan brothers. Really we're just blessed that if only for a short while, we're part of the Matt O'Connor story. I wonder if they'll rename the world cup trophy after him.

(sometimes it's important to absolute squash recurring moronic subjects, it just makes it easier for those to move on).

[COYBIB]

You can prove anything with facts

Only if those facts are relevant to the point being made, which they aren't!

[Dave Cahill]

It's just the scar MOC left on me, he would play Cathal Marsh week in week out in the expectation that one day he would be proven right.

God I don't miss than stouborn, obnoxious cancer.

Number of competitive games played by Leinster under Matt O'Connor - 61

Number of starts for Cathal Marsh - 0

Number of substitute appearances - 1 (15 minutes. Against Zebre)

Yes, but I wasn't talk about then, I was talking about now. I didn't say he played Marsh then. I said he WOULD be playing him now.

Yeah, thats what you meant alright. We all totes believe you. Totes.

[FLIP]

Yeah, thats what you meant alright. We all totes believe you. Totes.

To be fair that's exactly the impression that I got from the post, that he was talking about a hypothetical.

[molloyjh]

So, Ospreys.........