Dragons v Leinster Saturday 3.15 Sky Sports

[Peg Leg]

Impressive also that JVDF is both starting and benching!

Against Dragons and Cardiff too

[the spoofer]

I'm looking forward to seeing can Adam Byrne build on last season. If he can improve his defence then he will be a serious operator.

[limecat]

Match Preview

So farewell Pro12 and hello to the Pro14!!!

It's been quite a tumultuous summer for the league. Two South African teams discarded by Super Rugby have been re-routed into the league with the Celts and Italians. They've paid their way in to the tune of six million euro a year. Overall the move seems to be a stalking horse for South African teams to get away from their SANZAR partners and get into the more lucrative European club rugby market. These two teams may not be the last South African franchises to make the move.

Read more...

[Flash Gordon]

Jesus that's a strong team.

It might be a strong team but only 2 of the team that played the semi final against ASM are included and one of those out of position so it's a long way off our strongest team in my opinion.

Great to see Larmour starting, remember seeing that kid play for Andrew's SCT when he was in Transition year and thinking "holy fock"! Best schools player I've seen since Luke Fitzgerald came through.

[alanair]

And this hot from the presses of the Pro-14 online preview of the game tomorrow....

Talking points: The game sees Leinster’s director of rugby Les Kiss attempt to get one over his old teammate Bernard Jackman, who’s now the top dog at Dragons having featured for Connacht, Leinster and Ireland in his playing days.
Read more at http://www.pro14rugby.org/preview/previ ... xk3hekm.99


Did anyone tell Leo ???

[Ruckedtobits]

And this hot from the presses of the Pro-14 online preview of the game tomorrow....

Talking points: The game sees Leinster’s director of rugby Les Kiss attempt to get one over his old teammate Bernard Jackman, who’s now the top dog at Dragons having featured for Connacht, Leinster and Ireland in his playing days.
Read more at http://www.pro14rugby.org/preview/previ ... xk3hekm.99


Did anyone tell Leo ???

Does somebody get PAID to write that shite?

[sunshiner1]

by Ruckedtobits

Does somebody get PAID to write that shite?

I hope so. That way they can be fired.

[Ruckedtobits]

Where's Joey?

Although disappointed Joey's not involved, can fully understand it. He will almost certainly be in Irish Squad with Jackson's absence and therefore Leo will have to use Ross Byrne in games around AI and 6N games. Now is the time to get him starting in Pro14 games and Isa beside him will advance his development uniquely.

Dev gets in because he won't be travelling to SA because of impending fatherhood. Therefore giving him gametime over the next fortnight, alongside Fardy, is the ideal opportunity. It also allows Leo to decide how to allocate his resources between the selected pair and James Ryan.

Jordi looks like the unlucky one but I'm really looking forward to JVDM and Dan Leavy as duel openside flankers. Hope Deegan continues on his upward curve but needs to 'cherish the pill' more in carrying.

JGP still well ahead of McCarthy behind Luke McGrath in maintaining tempo but McCarthy will get game time regularly to ensure development.

Finally, RO'L a little unfortunate not to get a wing slot to help him build his case for the alternate slot beside Lowe. Adam Bryne, Ferg, Dave K, Isa and Barry Daly are all competing for this position - probably on the left. It's very competitive. However, no doubt Rory will get lots of gametime covering Henshaw and Ringrose along with Noel Reid. Once again can't but be impressed with quality of our depth.

[outcast eddie]

Anyone got a stream for this? The usual VIPBox and LSHunter not working

[LeinsterLeader]

Cathal Marsh has only had a small amount of game time so far but what I've seen of him he's playing like a man possessed. More competition for Out half can only be a good thing

[cormac]

Decent start. Bit rusty at times, we improved as the game went on. Nice change to win our opening game away from home

[molloyjh]

Happy enough with that. A good few of the lads who started were playing their first of the season so a bit of rust was to be expected. Yet we won comfortably enough in the end and got the full 5. Lots to improve on but we know we can improve.

[wixfjord]

Happy with that, decent is right, we never really looked in trouble but never really played above ourselves. Dragons are a poor, poor side. Jackman has his work cut out there.

The athleticism of our side at the moment really is incredible. Ryan, Conan, Deegan, Leavy, VDF are just incredible specimens.
Conan will push very hard to be our starting 6 or 8 by the end of the year, and Ryan might just displace Toner too.

Fardy's deck work is excellent, will be a huge addition this year.

One thing I noticed, and maybe it's just from preseason and guys will bulk up, but our forwards look much leaner this year. Healy, Tracy and even Porter look like they've leaned up a lot. Wonder is that an indication of the type of rugby we'll be playing this year.

JGP looked good, kicking has improved slightly.

Ross Byrne was excellent too I must say, bar one conversion.

Larmour was quiet bar his try, but looks lively, and Byrne took off like he ended last season.

Interesting that we were challenging a bit in lineout too. Deegan and Fardy was used well there.
To me he looks like a guy who could do a job at 6 too, has he ever played there?

Delighted for Marsh to come back and get a try, he's an excellent 4th choice 10 to have in the squad.

Isa looked good at 12 I must say. Not sure he fits our shape playing there, but my jaysus he carrries and hits.

Good to have the real stuff back.

[wixfjord]

Also, jaysus but Fardy loves a kick doesn't he? Kicked twice today!
Wonder will Leo beat that out of him by season's end...

[ronk]

Marsh took it well. Nice to see him back. He fell from 2nd choice to 4th choice without doing anything wrong on the pitch. He wants it.

Some good performances. It wasn't working for us at the start, discipline was poor, and we adjusted. Started to cause more trouble then.

Deegan is very good at footwork heading into contact. Toner was rusty but seemed to improve. Conan had a huge impact.

[wwed]

Delighted with result, performance decent without really firing. Thought JGP was very good and central to our gameplan, Leavy really grew into game in second half, big shift by Fardy, and huge impact by Conan and Ryan. Bit disappointed with threequarter play and penalty count really hurt us in periods of the game (albeit ref seemed very fussy).

[artaneboy]

Excellent start. Nearly everyone had a useful to good game. Exceptions being ROL and the replacement front row. Fardy, Deegan and Healy were prominent early and made the physical statement needed. Isa and JGP kept the pace up and they payed off in drawing the traditional Dragons sting over there. Good to get the max points away from home.


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[Peg Leg]

Enjoyable first hit out. Very successful outing for the lineout but the maul is still a bit dodgy. Thought isa played a blinder at IC and RossB seemed to have a lot of time on the ball. Marsh looks like he has packed on about 15kg.
Nice moment between zane and isa at the end.
I think we can thank dragons organisation at the ruck for that win. They were horrendous.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Very encouraging to win so comfortably despite having a high error count. Given that it was the first game for a lot of players I don't mind the sloppy mistakes too much.

Thought Healy was immense. Some big scrums, aggressive clear outs, a steal on the deck, and unlucky not to score after Isa's break when he decided to pass to a Dragon instead. Healy looked very sharp to keep up with him though and then drove Hill over the line.

Dev was poor. Driven backwards a few times and his handling was sloppy on occasion. Fardy should be sharper than everyone else but he really was very impressive. His work rate is huge and the aggression he brings to the tackle and the breakdown is going to be massive for us this season, add in his lineout work and leadership and he looks like being a great signing.

Ryan and Conan were both superb off the bench. Both are so impressive physically and make a real impact in everything they do. I really feel like Conan is one of our most important players now, just in great form and he wasn't even supposed to be involved today.

Leavy and VDF were both excellent too. Leavy looks to have bulked up to me (loved when he picked up one of the Dragons and drove them back) and was very strong in contact when it looked like he could get smashed yet still has the quick feet and acceleration to get away. VDF' looked far more like his pre injury self, never stopped running and putting pressure on the Dragons and was picking good lines off the halfbacks.

Isa was excellent too, lots of big hits and strong carries but his handling was good too and he was probably my MOTM, him or Josh.

McCarthy very good off the bench again and I'd like to see him get some starts now.

[neiliog93]

Very good display, the back row in particular were utterly outstanding. Good game for JGP who I have criticised before. Isa was brilliant at 12. Healy is getting somewhere close to his best again, and Cronin produced a big game too. Dev looks to have continued his iffy form from the second half of last season, which is a bit of a worry.