Leinster vs Castres Sat Oct 15th @ 15:15

[simonokeeffe]

We had the 4th best attendance at the weekend though at the same time. Northampton managed 200 people more than us, Toulon the same and they got 21k in Bordeaux. Factor in the crappy kick off time, the fact that the Leinster branch scheduled a load of club games at the same time and the awful weather in the build up and I don't think we were that bad at all. A later kick off almost certainly would have seen us with the 2nd best attendance of the weekend.

Interesting stat. Says a lot about the backwards steps the "I can't believe it's not the Heineken cup" has taken in general that a fairly poor crowd for us still ranks decently when stacked against other fixtures

The whole 4 main sponsors malarkey not working out too well for them either, and their chairman has admitted BT and BeIn have wiped out viewing figures in Ireland and France

[Dave Cahill]

We had the 4th best attendance at the weekend though at the same time. Northampton managed 200 people more than us, Toulon the same and they got 21k in Bordeaux. Factor in the crappy kick off time, the fact that the Leinster branch scheduled a load of club games at the same time and the awful weather in the build up and I don't think we were that bad at all. A later kick off almost certainly would have seen us with the 2nd best attendance of the weekend.

Those figures though put Toulon and Saints pretty much at full capacity do they not? Along with actual attendance you have to look at %age occupancy for each ground - not easy I know when you have grounds like Murrayfield where no one except the police knows what capacity is being catered for!

[Dave Cahill]

The whole 4 main sponsors malarkey not working out too well for them either, and their chairman has admitted BT and BeIn have wiped out viewing figures in Ireland and France

BT sports got murdered at the last Premier League rights auction leaving them paying a fortune (over a billion euro) for the two worst packages (sat tea time and the 'whats left' package). Combine this with their Irish agents, Eir, losing the Live to Ireland package to Sky and their row, ostensibly over this, with VIrgin Media and its very bad for this group in Ireland. However, they do have a massive user base both here and in the UK

[molloyjh]

We had the 4th best attendance at the weekend though at the same time. Northampton managed 200 people more than us, Toulon the same and they got 21k in Bordeaux. Factor in the crappy kick off time, the fact that the Leinster branch scheduled a load of club games at the same time and the awful weather in the build up and I don't think we were that bad at all. A later kick off almost certainly would have seen us with the 2nd best attendance of the weekend.

Those figures though put Toulon and Saints pretty much at full capacity do they not? Along with actual attendance you have to look at %age occupancy for each ground - not easy I know when you have grounds like Murrayfield where no one except the police knows what capacity is being catered for!

SFM wasn't at capacity, but are they doing work on that ground at the moment that might reduce the capacity? I'm not sure tbh.

FG is over 15k AFAIK so they weren't sold out either.

There's a whole load of factors at play if we really want to analyse it properly; catchment area, travelling fans etc. I don't think any game at the weekend was a sell out though. I was disappointed with the turnout on Saturday. The terrace was as packed as it's been in a while, but the rest of the stadium not so much. But I do think there has been a bit of a drop in attendances generally for the competition too, not just here. I suppose we'll get a better idea of how true that is over the course of the next few rounds.

[Dave Cahill]

No, you're correct, I thought we had 14.8k rather than 13.8

I wasn't that disappointed in one sense - I reckon our core support is around 9k, they'll turn up for any match on any day of the week regardless of the weather or the kickoff time (the Treviso on a Thursday crowd basically). However we've had higher attendances for dead rubbers in the past, so that does disappoint.

[simonokeeffe]

The whole 4 main sponsors malarkey not working out too well for them either, and their chairman has admitted BT and BeIn have wiped out viewing figures in Ireland and France

BT sports got murdered at the last Premier League rights auction leaving them paying a fortune (over a billion euro) for the two worst packages (sat tea time and the 'whats left' package). Combine this with their Irish agents, Eir, losing the Live to Ireland package to Sky and their row, ostensibly over this, with VIrgin Media and its very bad for this group in Ireland. However, they do have a massive user base both here and in the UK

Is Eir sport (package including BT) free for all Eir customers or just new customers for 6 months? That is big in terms of who has it

As an aside who has Eir broadband?

[Dave Cahill]

Currently free for all customers - how long that will remain the case is open to question, but as it stands its simply free - not a taster.

Eir have the largest user base with about 40% of the market - its quite hard to find out who has what because Eir do tend to change their basis for calculation as it suits them, mixing up business and personal, users and premises, wholesale and retail as they fancy

[simonokeeffe]

Not sure if this helps the pay tv rugby market/fans or not and this is entirely anecdotal but the impression I had is the people who had Eircom broadband couldnt get anything else or were RTE 1 ish; basically Garth Brooks fans

[Dave Cahill]

Not sure if this helps the pay tv rugby market/fans or not and this is entirely anecdotal but the impression I had is the people who had Eircom broadband couldnt get anything else or were RTE 1 ish; basically Garth Brooks fans

No, not at all - they have a larger rural base than Virgin Media but thats true of all DSL providers as cable is restricted to cities and very large towns. Eircom have chased the multi-play market more aggressively and for longer than their competition. Since the Local Loop was Unbundled (i.e. they had to open up and wholesale the then existing Telecom Eireann network at the same rate they charged internally) they've really stepped up, when they really get into the swing of rollng out their Fibre to the Home (FTTH) network it'll be a massive game changer.

[Fred Funk]

When Eir took over the new channels (Setanta and rights to BT) they also increased the monthly bill by a €5 for existing customers, not sure about new ones.
It is not an extra as far as I am aware but built into the standard broadband.

[simonokeeffe]

Not sure if this helps the pay tv rugby market/fans or not and this is entirely anecdotal but the impression I had is the people who had Eircom broadband couldnt get anything else or were RTE 1 ish; basically Garth Brooks fans

No, not at all - they have a larger rural base than Virgin Media but thats true of all DSL providers as cable is restricted to cities and very large towns. Eircom have chased the multi-play market more aggressively and for longer than their competition. Since the Local Loop was Unbundled (i.e. they had to open up and wholesale the then existing Telecom Eireann network at the same rate they charged internally) they've really stepped up, when they really get into the swing of rollng out their Fibre to the Home (FTTH) network it'll be a massive game changer.

Cheers
Much as I hate BT that bundle will have the RWC on it, wouldnt touch it otherwise unless all EPCR or league ended up on it

[the spoofer]

I had a problem with my Eir broadband. It went down on a Sunday and I ended up calling their support. We couldnt get it fixed and the kids were getting nasty. Support said that someone would call to fix it.

Next morning at 8 am I get a call to see where my house is, lad from Eir arrives, installs a new box and all's right with the world. Great service.

[papachino]

It has to be said, that will go down in history as one of the worst performances by a refereeing team, ever... almost at 'David changleng' level !!

[molloyjh]

It has to be said, that will go down in history as one of the worst performances by a refereeing team, ever... almost at 'David changleng' level !!

How so? I thought it was fine overall myself (the scrummaging of the Castres LH aside).

[Oldschool]

It has to be said, that will go down in history as one of the worst performances by a refereeing team, ever... almost at 'David changleng' level !!

How so? I thought it was fine overall myself (the scrummaging of the Castres LH aside).

It didn't look that bad on the box but at the match Castres were the most offside team I've seen in a long time and the officials did absolutely nothing about it.
As I said in an earlier post McGrath and Carberry did very well to avoid giving an intercept pass.

[simonokeeffe]

It has to be said, that will go down in history as one of the worst performances by a refereeing team, ever... almost at 'David changleng' level !!

How so? I thought it was fine overall myself (the scrummaging of the Castres LH aside).

It didn't look that bad on the box but at the match Castres were the most offside team I've seen in a long time and the officials did absolutely nothing about it.
As I said in an earlier post McGrath and Carberry did very well to avoid giving an intercept pass.

What got me at the hame about their loosehead was even from low down in the south stand even for scrums towards the other end you could see his back was bent/arched in the middle even before the shove so as soon as the scrum started he was always going to go backwards

[dropkick]

Although Leinster are playing better rugby than last season there's still room for improvement. One area where they are very predictable is when their front 5 get the ball.


The starting front 5 had 32 possessions of the ball but when receiving it, only twice did they pass the ball. Furlong and Toner with one each.


The subs (Ross, Tracy, Healy and Mooney) had 14 possessions but only passed it twice. Both passes came from Ross Moloney.


So the point I'm making is its a massive help if forwards pass the ball more. The AB forwards do it a lot.
But forget about the ABs and have a look at Connacht. Their starting front 5 had 69 possessions of the ball. On receiving it they passed it 39 times! Their subs had 17 possessions and passed 8 times.


Percentage ofpasses when receiving the ball (front 5)
Leinster 9%
Connacht 55%
Ulster 21%
Glasgow 31%
Saracens 39%


You could say that Leinster have a dominant pack and are winning but if that could become a weakness against some teams. I noticed for Saracens both Vunipola brothers pass the ball a lot despite being good ball carriers.


Also it highlights that the slowest players (front row) are least likely to pass the ball. Doesn't make much sense to be trying to inch your way forward unless youre near the line.

[Ruckedtobits]

Although Leinster are playing better rugby than last season there's still room for improvement. One area where they are very predictable is when their front 5 get the ball.


The starting front 5 had 32 possessions of the ball but when receiving it, only twice did they pass the ball. Furlong and Toner with one each.


The subs (Ross, Tracy, Healy and Mooney) had 14 possessions but only passed it twice. Both passes came from Ross Moloney.


So the point I'm making is its a massive help if forwards pass the ball more. The AB forwards do it a lot.
But forget about the ABs and have a look at Connacht. Their starting front 5 had 69 possessions of the ball. On receiving it they passed it 39 times! Their subs had 17 possessions and passed 8 times.


Percentage ofpasses when receiving the ball (front 5)
Leinster 9%
Connacht 55%
Ulster 21%
Glasgow 31%
Saracens 39%


You could say that Leinster have a dominant pack and are winning but if that could become a weakness against some teams. I noticed for Saracens both Vunipola brothers pass the ball a lot despite being good ball carriers.


Also it highlights that the slowest players (front row) are least likely to pass the ball. Doesn't make much sense to be trying to inch your way forward unless youre near the line.

+1 Very relevant analysis and one which I hope has been noted and are planning how to fix it. However, it may also be relevant that all iof the teams you name-checked above have speed on their wings

[molloyjh]

What got me at the hame about their loosehead was even from low down in the south stand even for scrums towards the other end you could see his back was bent/arched in the middle even before the shove so as soon as the scrum started he was always going to go backwards

Yeah that was the one area of his performance that I found poor. The Castres LH popped up in the first 5 scrums in a row without being penalised. He was finally pinged on the 6th time of asking. However in those 5 scrums before that the ref was standing looking at the LH 4 times. 1 of those time he pinged Furlong (right under their sticks), but I don't know for what as on the replay and live I never saw the signal and he didn't explain his decision vocally. 2 of those 5 times Carley also actively told the LH to stay down and he didn't, but it was let go both times.

Re the offside I think the ARs need to be more active there. The ref has enough to be looking at around the ruck, they can't be policing everything by themselves.

[paddyor]

Although Leinster are playing better rugby than last season there's still room for improvement. One area where they are very predictable is when their front 5 get the ball.


The starting front 5 had 32 possessions of the ball but when receiving it, only twice did they pass the ball. Furlong and Toner with one each.


The subs (Ross, Tracy, Healy and Mooney) had 14 possessions but only passed it twice. Both passes came from Ross Moloney.


So the point I'm making is its a massive help if forwards pass the ball more. The AB forwards do it a lot.
But forget about the ABs and have a look at Connacht. Their starting front 5 had 69 possessions of the ball. On receiving it they passed it 39 times! Their subs had 17 possessions and passed 8 times.


Percentage ofpasses when receiving the ball (front 5)
Leinster 9%
Connacht 55%
Ulster 21%
Glasgow 31%
Saracens 39%


You could say that Leinster have a dominant pack and are winning but if that could become a weakness against some teams. I noticed for Saracens both Vunipola brothers pass the ball a lot despite being good ball carriers.


Also it highlights that the slowest players (front row) are least likely to pass the ball. Doesn't make much sense to be trying to inch your way forward unless youre near the line.

Interesting, cheers for that. And both Tracey and Moloney have demonstrated decent hands in the past. Ross....not so much.