Montpellier v Leinster - Sunday 14.00 CET/13.00 Irish time

[curates_egg]

Previous pretenders have had to go elsewhere through lack of opportunity. Conway was a great 15 at under 20 for Ireland; better than his team-mates Zebo and Gilroy. For whatever reason, that ship has sailed. Morris (who might have been viewed as a possibility) and Jones are retired. Kelleher could have been an option there but wasn't getting a chance (even though Rob has been (sadly) way below his best since 2013, the year all our Lions got crocked.
Various people on here have suggested playing Reid there; I have no strong opinion on that but don't see it happening.
Dardis is probably viewed as the heir but it is a bit soon for him...and he is injured now at a time when he would otherwise probably have been getting game time.
In the interim, there is no rational reason why we can't replace Kirchner with a younger better player: the other provinces have all managed that.

[goreyguy]

Previous pretenders have had to go elsewhere through lack of opportunity. Conway was a great 15 at under 20 for Ireland; better than his team-mates Zebo and Gilroy. For whatever reason, that ship has sailed. Morris (who might have been viewed as a possibility) and Jones are retired. Kelleher could have been an option there but wasn't getting a chance (even though Rob has been (sadly) way below his best since 2013, the year all our Lions got crocked.
Various people on here have suggested playing Reid there; I have no strong opinion on that but don't see it happening.
Dardis is probably viewed as the heir but it is a bit soon for him...and he is injured now at a time when he would otherwise probably have been getting game time.
In the interim, there is no rational reason why we can't replace Kirchner with a younger better player: the other provinces have all managed that.

It would be a big surprise if it was Billy Dardis.

Right now I'd say Jack Kelly is the best bet.

but given all the project players lately I wouldn't put it past them to go in that direction, sadly.

[Fred Funk]

Technical question re Penalty advantage played?
Is it based on Yards up the pitch or time etc?
By my reckoning Montpellier made about 15 yards before losing the ball which ended up in RK hands with a free run down the touchline ahead of him before being brought back for the peno.

[cormac]

Technical question re Penalty advantage played?
Is it based on Yards up the pitch or time etc?
By my reckoning Montpellier made about 15 yards before losing the ball which ended up in RK hands with a free run down the touchline ahead of him before being brought back for the peno.

yards up the pitch pretty much always, although there's no precise distance where the ref will say advantage over. It's all down to their discretion

[Peg Leg]

Who would we replace RK with this season or next?

Carberry is the only exciting option but required at outhalf a lot. Moving Kirchner across not a massive improvement and requires a fit & firing DK or McFadden

The Brick Wall

[goreyguy]

RK isn't going anywhere anyway unless he retires.

[simonokeeffe]

Who would we replace RK with this season or next?

Carberry is the only exciting option but required at outhalf a lot. Moving Kirchner across not a massive improvement and requires a fit & firing DK or McFadden

The Brick Wall

Rahul Dravid?

[etak252]

RK isn't going anywhere anyway unless he retires.

I reckon he is carrying back and hamstring injuries for a while and its really hampering his attacking play. Unfortunately if he cant up his performance Leinster may have to look elsewhere.

[goreyguy]

RK isn't going anywhere anyway unless he retires.

I reckon he is carrying back and hamstring injuries for a while and its really hampering his attacking play. Unfortunately if he cant up his performance Leinster may have to look elsewhere.

they probably should, but likely wont.

[Lar]

I'm not going to bleat on about this all evening but stopping the player within the laws of the game is the clever play, not a negative one. Once the ball was kicked over his head Kearney was out of the game for the next moments. The only positive thing he could do was stand his ground, within the laws of the game and if the other player runs into him he should not be penalised. What I will acknowledge is that the Montpellier full back does the clever thing trying to draw a penalty, and succeeds. The ref bought it. But like I say the ref still blundered and compounded his mistake hugely by sin binning Kearney.

My original question was actually whether anyone knows how the referee assessors work in practice. Is it just a cosmetic exercise, or do refs actually get a grilling for making mistakes. Do they ever fall off competition panels for making persistent errors. I don't mind errors, we all make them, but making them worse by continuing them even after a TMO review, or just not getting the laws right is what grates. Mind you Nigel Owens and his TMO got one spectacularly wrong when disallowing Henry Speight's try last weekend for Oz, so I guess it happens to the best also.

I've heard he is to be executed tomorrow at dawn. A fair outcome given the circumstances.

Let that be a lesson to you referee types. We don't like your kind around here!

Good to know, thanks for clearing that up.

[Ruckedtobits]

Technical question re Penalty advantage played?
Is it based on Yards up the pitch or time etc?
By my reckoning Montpellier made about 15 yards before losing the ball which ended up in RK hands with a free run down the touchline ahead of him before being brought back for the peno.

Advantage can be tactical or territorial and is totally at Referee's discretion. Refs are encouraged not to allow advantage go beyond two phases. But when somebody like Owens or Barnes plays advantage for 5 phases on opponent's line, some younger Refs tend to copy elsewhere on the pitch and argue (with their Assessor) that precedent has been created for all circumstances.

But, there are no Laws or Directives which cover advantage definitively.