EPCR SEMI-FINAL V CLERMONT

[carlow man]

Te'o is there ahead of Jamie Roberts, not Ringrose.

I know te'o is now being used at 12 but for leinster he was played at 13. No comparison if it's a choice between him and Ringrose at 13. I do agree he's being brought as a bosh merchant aka Roberts. Shame that Ringrose won't go but he would probably end up getting hit with cheap shots in the midweek games so rather he toured with Ireland this summer.

[neiliog93]

Carberry was a bit of a curate's egg, some very good and some poor moments.

[carlow man]

Depends if carbery is going to stay at 15 or go back to 10. If he stays at 15 he is going to need to brush up on his defence as a few times this year he's missed his tackle as the last man. He is class in attack thou. Seems to beat the first man nearly every time. But his own sake and future development a decision about his best position needs to be made.

[Dave Cahill]

Nothing that isn't fixable for an intelligent player with a good work ethic - which Carbury is reportedly.

[artaneboy]

Te'o is there ahead of Jamie Roberts, not Ringrose.

I know te'o is now being used at 12 but for leinster he was played at 13. No comparison if it's a choice between him and Ringrose at 13. I do agree he's being brought as a bosh merchant aka Roberts. Shame that Ringrose won't go but he would probably end up getting hit with cheap shots in the midweek games so rather he toured with Ireland this summer.

This.

[Edna Kenny]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ckr4LE ... .be&t=5301 42.27

I think this was the most frustrating moment of the match for me. With Carbery to pass to and acres of space out left Ferg kicks out on the full. Given the talk of unstructured play etc this was surely one of the best opportunities to attack.

[Blue not red blood]

A real missed opportunity yesterday.
our first lineout was so overthrown it was comical and we then lose the next two.
We seemed to react badly to going down by 15 so early and tried to force the game.
A couple of bad knock on when on counter attack cos us dearly.

From where I was Clermont were a busted flush in the second half and the reactions on there faces on Leavys try was that of a beaten team.
When you consider we still scored 10 points after that I am convinced we would have won.

Congrats to Clermont and their Yellow Army. They truly are our brothers in arms. They were such great craic before and after match.

Wishing them well in the final but I fear for them.
Dont think they have the stamina or mental strength to beat Saracens.

PS Anyone want to buy some unused beer tokens!!

[Oldschool]

Great effort to attempt to turn the game around but as many have said, the head start just gave us to much to do.

Atmosphere there was awesome but as I said at the time, I think that the decision to settle for the draw away to Castres, which meant we lost out on the home semi, has to questioned.

We were lucky to get a draw in that game, cant really look back to that. We could have easily won that game, if you can take the sting out of the game in the first 20 minutes when playing in France you always have a good chance but those over throws in the lineout really put us under huge pressure.

Which really begs the question-
Why throw long on the furst line out when your goal is surely to not give a sucker an even break.
Even worse is to throw long on your own 2..
The coaches are as guilty for this as the players.
This issue would be my first order of business in tomorrow morning's post match.
Hands up please!

[cormac]

Clermont looked out on their feet towards the end of the first half. It was particularly noticeable when Spedding broke free. When Carbery brought him down Spedding was surrounded by Leinster players and not a Clermont player within 10 metres.

[ronk]

Given how wrong things went at the start, we did well to only be down 15 especially losing our captain for 10 after 8 minutes

[Ruckedtobits]

The killer penalty was the one against Josh / Cronin on 69 mins, when neither infringed but Lee failed to release Ringrose at tackle. Huge shout by Clermont fans but never a penalty against us with 5 to 2 in the breakdown. Really gutted by that one as most of the others were debatable.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Clermont looked out on their feet towards the end of the first half. It was particularly noticeable when Spedding broke free. When Carbery brought him down Spedding was surrounded by Leinster players and not a Clermont player within 10 metres.

Forgot about that, that was a brilliant tackle.

Also hasn't been mentioned much but Sexton was excellent. It might have been because the younger lads/not first choice players were so impressive but he played really well. The last penalty was world class, to kick it under such pressure and with a shortened routine was really impressive. Thought he spoke very well afterwards too, managed to stop himself complaining about Owens (unlike me ) and was very complimentary towards Clermont.

[riocard911]

Clermont looked out on their feet towards the end of the first half. It was particularly noticeable when Spedding broke free. When Carbery brought him down Spedding was surrounded by Leinster players and not a Clermont player within 10 metres.

Forgot about that, that was a brilliant tackle.

Also hasn't been mentioned much but Sexton was excellent. It might have been because the younger lads/not first choice players were so impressive but he played really well. The last penalty was world class, to kick it under such pressure and with a shortened routine was really impressive. Thought he spoke very well afterwards too, managed to stop himself complaining about Owens (unlike me ) and was very complimentary towards Clermont.

Hadn't heard him post match meself, so I went searching and found that interview: http://www.98fm.com/podcasts/98FM_Sport ... ort/58834/. Worth listening to, IMO.

[molloyjh]

A real missed opportunity yesterday.
our first lineout was so overthrown it was comical and we then lose the next two.

We actually won our second line out. We went to 3 on the first and overthrew, went to 1 on the second and won it, went to 2 on the third and had it stolen before going to 3 on the fourth and overthrowing again. The first was a bad throw, the third a good defensive read and the fourth a really terrible call. Those are the 3 you are thinking about.

[Le Duvet]

Returning from Lyon, putting aside obvious failings esp. in first 30 mins, my main take-out is that 'we're back' . After several fallow years, we now have a team, a coaching ticket and an attitude that will give us good chances to be at the sharp end in all competitions. Plenty to be positive about including new signings and excellent academy system. The next few years are going to be great... tougher Euro competition but we have what it takes. We just need a better pint at the RDS to make things perfect!

On another note, does anyone have a suggestion on how I can offer my booked Edinburgh hotel room (yeh, I know...) to any Clermont fans. I do hope they do the business v Sarries as they are fantastic people.
Thanks

[TrapperChamonix]

Returning from Lyon, putting aside obvious failings esp. in first 30 mins, my main take-out is that 'we're back' . After several fallow years, we now have a team, a coaching ticket and an attitude that will give us good chances to be at the sharp end in all competitions. Plenty to be positive about including new signings and excellent academy system. The next few years are going to be great... tougher Euro competition but we have what it takes. We just need a better pint at the RDS to make things perfect!

On another note, does anyone have a suggestion on how I can offer my booked Edinburgh hotel room (yeh, I know...) to any Clermont fans. I do hope they do the business v Sarries as they are fantastic people.
Thanks

I guess time is relative but by "several" do you mean "1" ? In my universe we were in the the QF in 2014 and unlucky to loose the SF in 2015

[Dexter]

Clermont looked out on their feet towards the end of the first half. It was particularly noticeable when Spedding broke free. When Carbery brought him down Spedding was surrounded by Leinster players and not a Clermont player within 10 metres.

Forgot about that, that was a brilliant tackle.

Also hasn't been mentioned much but Sexton was excellent. It might have been because the younger lads/not first choice players were so impressive but he played really well. The last penalty was world class, to kick it under such pressure and with a shortened routine was really impressive. Thought he spoke very well afterwards too, managed to stop himself complaining about Owens (unlike me ) and was very complimentary towards Clermont.

Noticed that, the Leinster Media Training Override kicked in just in time. I now hate seeing Nige reffing any games involving Leinster or Ireland, not because his officiating is an issue, but there always seems to be at least one contentious game-changing moment which goes against us for some reason.

[Le Duvet]

I guess time is relative but by "several" do you mean "1" ? In my universe we were in the the QF in 2014 and unlucky to loose the SF in 2015[/quote]

Yes but my point is about being capable of winning competitions, not just getting to knockouts. E.g. we were well beaten by Connacht in last year's Pro 12 final...

[artaneboy]

Clermont looked out on their feet towards the end of the first half. It was particularly noticeable when Spedding broke free. When Carbery brought him down Spedding was surrounded by Leinster players and not a Clermont player within 10 metres.

Forgot about that, that was a brilliant tackle.

Also hasn't been mentioned much but Sexton was excellent. It might have been because the younger lads/not first choice players were so impressive but he played really well. The last penalty was world class, to kick it under such pressure and with a shortened routine was really impressive. Thought he spoke very well afterwards too, managed to stop himself complaining about Owens (unlike me ) and was very complimentary towards Clermont.

Noticed that, the Leinster Media Training Override kicked in just in time. I now hate seeing Nige reffing any games involving Leinster or Ireland, not because his officiating is an issue, but there always seems to be at least one contentious game-changing moment which goes against us for some reason.

You couldn't really argue with any of Nigel's big decisions, but we didn't get the 'rub of the green' from him on Sunday. I expect that Sexton will have been particularly irked by the demand that he complete his last penalty kick within a timed minute! This at a time when the Clermont players were blowing through their holes and were seeking to slow the game down blatantly for most of the second half.


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[MylesNaGapoleen]

lads, lads....we were lucky in the quarters when lerouix (Spelling?) dropped the ball for a certain 7 pointer. that could have been a turnaround in that game.