Pro12 season so far....

[cormac]

After a sluggish start in the first two games I feel we've seen some improvement on where we were last year. 22pts after 6 games is 3pts ahead of where we were after 6 games last season and coincidentally it's also 3pts more than we managed in the equivalent 6 matches from last year too. It's been a huge help to have the internationals available from earlier in the season and we've looked more coherent as a result of that.

Despite still having some issues in converting pressure in the opposition 22 intro tries, we've managed to score 19 tries in six games compared to 12 in the comparative fixtures last season. Those 12 tries were also boosted by scoring 8 at home to Treviso in the last game of the regular season.

Nacewa and vd Flier leading the way with 3 tries each.

Front row: 1 (Tracy)
Locks:
Back row: 6 (vd Flier 3, Leavy 2, Ruddock 1)
Half-backs: 5 (Carbery 2, Gibson-Park 2, Sexton 1)
Centres: 1 (Ringrose 1)
Back 3: 5 (Nacewa 3, Kirchner 1, Kearney R 1)
Pen Try: 1 (scrum)

37 players used so far with 34 from the senior squad and 3 from the academy. The senior squad players yet to play are Adam Byrne, Ed Byrne, Jack Conan, Billy Dardis, Tom Daly, Sean O'Brien and Richardt Strauss.

Noel Reid, Dan Leavy, Joey Carbery and Gibson-Park leading the way as the only players to feature in all six matches this season and Noel Reid has also had the most pitch time with 405 minutes, 5 mins ahead of both Ringrose and Kirchner.

The next tranche of four games (Connacht H, Zebre A, Scarlets A, Dragons H) are really going to stretch the squad given we're going to be missing some key players for all those matches. Should be plenty of opportunities for squad players to get some game time.

[Dexter]

Great info there. Fair play!

[Ruckedtobits]

Great info there. Fair play!

+1

[COYBIB]

Pro12 season so far....

[cormac]

Updating the original post with total game-time and appearances* for the squad by position so far. Stats are shown in order of STARTS, SUBS, GAMETIME (MINS)

LOOSE-HEAD PROP
Cian Healy 5 2 309
Jack McGrath 3 3 261
Peter Dooley 0 2 36
Andrew Porter 0 1 34

TIGHT-HEAD PROP
Mike Ross 3 4 268
Tadhg Furlong 3 2 229
Michael Bent 2 2 143

HOOKER
James Tracy 3 4 271
Sean Cronin 4 2 270
Bryan Byrne 1 2 99

SECOND ROW
Devin Toner 5 1 430
Ross Molony 2 4 239
Ian Nagle 3 1 227
Mike McCarthy 3 0 193
Mick Kearney 3 1 168
Hayden Triggs 0 1 23

FLANKER
Josh van der Flier 6 1 460
Dan Leavy 4 4 361
Jordi Murphy 4 2 309
Rhys Ruddock 3 1 239
Dominic Ryan 1 1 73
Sean O'Brien 1 0 40

NO.8
Jamie Heaslip 5 1 420

SCRUM-HALF
Luke McGrath 6 1 381
Jamison Gibson-Park 2 6 249

FLY-HALF
Joey Carbery 4 4 379
Johnny Sexton 4 0 257
Cathal Marsh 0 3 21

CENTRE
Garry Ringrose 7 0 560
Noel Reid 5 2 418
Robbie Henshaw 3 0 240
Rory O'Loughlin 2 2 187

BACK 3
Zane Kirchner 7 0 560
Isa Nacewa 5 0 387
Rob Kearney 5 0 349
Dave Kearney 4 0 280
Fergus McFadden 2 0 150
Barry Daly 0 1 40


* includes Pro12 and ECC, excludes pre-season and A matches.

[Fan with smartphone]

Grma

[riocard911]

Grma

+1

[simonokeeffe]

Grma

+1

+1

[Ruckedtobits]

Ospreys get great chance to go top tomorrow with bonus point win at home against Dragons (and an enormous points difference) whilst Leinster battle for a win against Connacht in what will almost certainly be a close encounter.

The top of the Table by Saturday night will have all the usual suspects nipping at each others heels in what is proving a very competitive League.

Likely pecking order come Sat p.m : Ospreys, Leinster, Glasgow, Munster, Ulster & Scarlets.

[jezzer]

Toner racking up the minutes. Has played a huge amount of rugby, must have had a transfusion from Jamie or something.

[simonokeeffe]

Toner racking up the minutes. Has played a huge amount of rugby, must have had a transfusion from Jamie or something.

Toner has always been infatigueable sic

[Ruckedtobits]

Mea culpa, forgot about Wins being first deciding factor. Leinster, Ospreys, Glasgow Munster has a nice familiar feel to it after 7 played. Big gap between Cardiff and the followers (8 points) so going to hard for Connacht to get back up to top six. Only 15 weeks left!

[simonokeeffe]

Yeah top of the league

Scarlets away is going to be a good test of where we're at

Im predicting a Leinster Glasgow final again

[CiaranIrl]

Yeah top of the league

Scarlets away is going to be a good test of where we're at

Im predicting a Leinster Glasgow final again

I dunno. Ospreys look like they mean business this year. Being out of Europe has given them a serious kick up the arse. I reckon it'll be between those three though.

[simonokeeffe]

Yeah top of the league

Scarlets away is going to be a good test of where we're at

Im predicting a Leinster Glasgow final again

I dunno. Ospreys look like they mean business this year. Being out of Europe has given them a serious kick up the arse. I reckon it'll be between those three though.

International window will be big for them, just dont think they have a 3/4 line for when it counts and cant see them winning a playoff even though I think theyll finish there

[jezzer]

I can see Scarlets being in the mix. it'll be very competitive to get into the playoffs and whoever gets there has a legit shot at winning the league.

[simonokeeffe]

I can see Scarlets being in the mix. it'll be very competitive to get into the playoffs and whoever gets there has a legit shot at winning the league.

for playoffs or Europe? Scarlets have to play Leinster, Glasgow, Ospreys all twice, visits to Galway and Limerick. IMO they dont have the front 5 to hang with the big boys and their attack/backs have been figured out. Really cant see them in playoffs

[jezzer]

I can see Scarlets being in the mix. it'll be very competitive to get into the playoffs and whoever gets there has a legit shot at winning the league.

for playoffs or Europe? Scarlets have to play Leinster, Glasgow, Ospreys all twice, visits to Galway and Limerick. IMO they dont have the front 5 to hang with the big boys and their attack/backs have been figured out. Really cant see them in playoffs

Cardiff didn't figure their attack out too well!

True alright, the pack is lightweight, but they've enough craft and pace in the backs to attack from poor field position, as they did against the Blues. With Davies coming back they get even better. I wouldn't dismiss the lack of grunt at all and I didn't realise their schedule still had so many tough games, but they'll beat some good teams on the run in, I think.

They're the team that flatters to decieve most in the league year after year. But this is the best backline they've had since maybe the mid noughts, 2007 or so.

[simonokeeffe]

I can see Scarlets being in the mix. it'll be very competitive to get into the playoffs and whoever gets there has a legit shot at winning the league.

for playoffs or Europe? Scarlets have to play Leinster, Glasgow, Ospreys all twice, visits to Galway and Limerick. IMO they dont have the front 5 to hang with the big boys and their attack/backs have been figured out. Really cant see them in playoffs

Cardiff didn't figure their attack out too well!

True alright, the pack is lightweight, but they've enough craft and pace in the backs to attack from poor field position, as they did against the Blues. With Davies coming back they get even better. I wouldn't dismiss the lack of grunt at all and I didn't realise their schedule still had so many tough games, but they'll beat some good teams on the run in, I think.

They're the team that flatters to decieve most in the league year after year. But this is the best backline they've had since maybe the mid noughts, 2007 or so.

Cardiff are still Cardiff and when it comes to a climax nobody is going to be soiling themselves over a team with Patchell at 10, Scott Williams & Hadleigh Parkes have been very disappointing from what Ive seen of them so far. Would still take games against them seriously like but quite possibly the 4g surface in Cardiff suited them a lot

[cormac]

LOOSE-HEAD PROP
Cian Healy 6 2 367
Jack McGrath 3 3 261
Peter Dooley 0 4 93
Andrew Porter 1 1 79

TIGHT-HEAD PROP
Mike Ross 4 5 336
Michael Bent 3 3 235
Tadhg Furlong 3 2 229

HOOKER
James Tracy 3 6 328
Sean Cronin 5 2 328
Bryan Byrne 1 2 99
Richardt Strauss 1 0 45

SECOND ROW
Devin Toner 5 1 430
Ian Nagle 4 1 307
Mike McCarthy 4 1 287
Ross Molony 2 4 239
Mick Kearney 4 2 231
Hayden Triggs 1 1 85

FLANKER
Dan Leavy 6 4 531
Josh van der Flier 6 2 473
Jordi Murphy 4 2 309
Rhys Ruddock 3 2 262
Sean O'Brien 3 0 154
Dominic Ryan 1 2 84

NO.8
Jamie Heaslip 5 1 420
Jack Conan 2 0 160

SCRUM-HALF
Jamison Gibson-Park 4 6 400
Luke McGrath 6 1 381
Nick McCarthy 0 1 9

FLY-HALF
Joey Carbery 5 4 459
Johnny Sexton 4 0 257
Ross Byrne 1 0 80
Cathal Marsh 0 3 21

CENTRE
Noel Reid 7 2 578
Garry Ringrose 7 0 560
Rory O'Loughlin 3 2 250
Robbie Henshaw 3 0 240
Tom Daly 1 0 80

BACK 3
Zane Kirchner 7 0 560
Isa Nacewa 7 0 538
Rob Kearney 5 1 376
Dave Kearney 4 0 280
Barry Daly 2 1 200
Adam Byrne 2 0 156
Fergus McFadden 2 0 150
Hugo Keenan 0 1 9