The Quickening 2018

[johng]

Top 6 Fixtures

*Fri 23 Feb Munster v Glasgow (7pm) Live on Sky Sports
*Sat 24 Feb Ulster v Scarlets (7.35pm) Live on BBC NI
Fri 2 Mar Ulster v Glasgow (7.35pm) Live on BBC NI
Fri 2 Mar Edinburgh v Munster (7.35pm) Live on TG4
*Sat 3 Mar Scarlets v Leinster (3.15pm) Live on Sky Sports
23/24/25 Mar Munster v Scarlets
W/E 30 March Euro Quarters
6/7/8 Apr Scarlets v Glasgow
*6/7/8 Apr Edinburgh v Ulster
*13/14/15 Apr Cheetahs v Munster
W/e 22 April Euro Semis
27/28/29 Apr Munster v Ulster
27/28/29 Apr Edinburgh v Glasgow

* = Teams in the same conference

Home and away for each team

Home
Glasgow Zebre.Connacht.Edinburgh
Munster Glasgow.Scarlets.Ulster
Cheetahs Connacht.Cardiff.Munster

Scarlets Ulster.Leinster.Glasgow
Leinster Kings.Zebre.Treviso
Edinburgh Munster.Ulster.Scarlets.Glasgow
Ulster Glasgow.Ospreys

Away
Glasgow Munster.Ulster.Scarlets
Munster Edinburgh.Kings.Cheetahs
Cheetahs Ospreys.Dragons.Kings

Scarlets Munster.Edinburgh.Dragons.
Leinster Scarlets.Ospreys.Connacht
Edinburgh Dragons.Connacht
Ulster Scarlets.Cardiff.Edinburgh.Munster

Bold = Teams in the same conference

All change in conf B with Embra pushing into the reckoning. They have only 2 away games and they are Dragons and Connacht. They also have Ulster at home who are their rivals for third spot. Ulster in Crisis. 4 away games inc Scarlets and Embra. They could end up playing Connacht or Ospreys for the last H Cup place. That drop goal could have decided their season.

Leinster the only province to record a victory. Connacht the first Irish team to lose at home to Zebre? Munster could end up at Cheetahs in April needing a result.

[Angelsea Angst]

scarletts get a bonus point against ulster

[exwinger]

Leinster have qualified for the play offs with Ulster losing.

[johng]

Top 6 Fixtures

Fri 2 Mar Ulster v Glasgow (7.35pm) Live on BBC NI
Fri 2 Mar Edinburgh v Munster (7.35pm) Live on TG4
*Sat 3 Mar Scarlets v Leinster (3.15pm) Live on Sky Sports
24 Mar Munster v Scarlets Live on Sky Sports
W/E 30 March Euro Quarters
7 Apr Scarlets v Glasgow Live on Sky Sports
*6 Apr Edinburgh v Ulster Live on BBC NI
*13 Apr Cheetahs v Munster
W/e 22 April Euro Semis
27/28/29 Apr Munster v Ulster
28 Apr Edinburgh v Glasgow

* = Teams in the same conference

Home and away for each team

Glasgow Ulster (A).Zebre.Scarlets (A).Connacht.Edinburgh
Munster Edinburgh (A).Scarlets.Kings (A).Cheetahs (A).Ulster
Cheetahs Connacht.Dragons (A).Cardiff.Munster.Kings (A)

Scarlets Leinster.Munster (A).Glasgow.Edinburgh (A).Dragons (A)
Leinster Scarlets (A).Ospreys (A).Zebre.Treviso.Connacht (A)
Edinburgh Munster.Connacht (A).Ulster.Scarlets.Glasgow
Ulster Glasgow.Cardiff (A).Edinburgh (A).Ospreys.Munster (A)

Bold = Teams in the same conference

Tadhg Beirne. Strips Nick Timoney for a bp try for Scarlets. 2 ex Leinster players conspire to f%~k us up. Otherwise all good for Leinster and Ireland. Ulster still doing Tom Petty impressions and free falling. Glasgow lose a game at last. Cheetahs pick up 2 points away to Ospreys.

Hardest game of the season in the pro14 regular season next week. A point would do 2 would be great and a win would be stratospheric.

[kermischocolate]

Just as a FYI- the Edinburgh v Glasgow game has been confirmed for Sat 28 April. KO time yet to be published but rumour has it it's 7pm ish.
Scottish Rugby are combining it with all the club finals at Murrayfield on the same day.

Seems a bit stupid not having the final league games all ko at the same time but then with the Welsh double header the point is a bit moot.

[johng]

Conferences init. Less need for the same time KOs

[Angelsea Angst]

Following the draw today between Scarlets and Leinster, we are still three points ahead of Scarlets. Looking at the remaining four games it does seem that the advantage is with Leinster. I expect that Munster will beat Scarlets next game and if we can beat Ospreys we should be guaranteed top spot.

[curates_egg]

Home and away for each team

Home
Scarlets - Glasgow
Leinster - Zebre. Treviso

Away
Scarlets - Munster.Edinburgh.Dragons.
Leinster - Ospreys. Connacht

Still 3 points ahead of Scarlets and we have come out on top over this series.

My guesstimate/hopestimate is that we pick up 10 points out of our 2 home games, whereas Scarlets pick up 4 out of theirs (Glasgow are home and dry, so don't need to go full bore in Scarlets).

Scarlets have three away games (to our two) and the easiest of those (Dragons) is their last fixture; Connacht is our last fixture.
If beat Ospreys in two weeks, and then get 9/10 points out of our two home games, we could already have secured a home semi-final before the last weekend, which would be super.

I am in no way counting chickens, as Treviso are in a fine run of form and Ospreys will have a point to prove...but I would much rather our run-in than Scarlets. The fact we also have a 3 point advantage is a nice luxury too.

[curates_egg]

That win for Edinburgh puts them in a very good place. They've three tough home games at the end (Ulster, Scarlets, Glasgow) but Ulster's run-in isn't much easier.
Win the Ulster match and they're in a great place for the play-off spot.

[johng]

Top 6 Fixtures


24 Mar Munster v Scarlets Live on Sky Sports
W/E 30 March Euro Quarters
7 Apr Scarlets v Glasgow Live on Sky Sports
*6 Apr Edinburgh v Ulster Live on BBC NI
*13 Apr Cheetahs v Munster
W/e 22 April Euro Semis
W/e 22 Apr Ulster v Glasgow
27/28/29 Apr Munster v Ulster
28 Apr Edinburgh v Glasgow

* = Teams in the same conference

Home and away for each team

Glasgow Zebre.Scarlets (A).Connacht.Ulster (A).Edinburgh
Munster Scarlets.Kings (A).Cheetahs (A).Ulster
Cheetahs Dragons (A).Cardiff.Munster.Kings (A)

Scarlets Munster (A).Glasgow.Edinburgh (A).Dragons (A)
Leinster Ospreys (A).Zebre.Treviso.Connacht (A)
Edinburgh Connacht (A).Ulster.Scarlets.Glasgow
Ulster Cardiff (A).Edinburgh (A).Ospreys.Glasgow.Munster (A)

Bold = Teams in the same conference

4 games left for all but Ulster and Glasgow.

Munster made their trip to South Africa tougher by losing to Embra. A win in Swansea next Saturday would see Leinster coast to a top spot. A slip up for Scarlets in Munster would all but confirm it.

[molloyjh]

Our game this weekend is pretty big. Win that and we should have the conference sown up. We're 3 points clear, should manage 10 points from the 2 Italian games. So a 4 pointer in Swansea would mean Scarlets need to make up 18 points in the last 4 games to get ahead of us. That's a big ask. Especially as that assumes we get nothing from our trip to Connacht. Absolute worst case scenario if we win this weekend is that we'll know exactly what we need to do to on the road to Connacht.

Munsters injury profile right now would suggest they probably won't be able to do us the favour we need of them. But should they win that one then we should be laughing.

[wixfjord]

I see Rhys Webb is out for the rest of the season too. Off to Toulon as well.
It's possible that Dragons could hop over Ospreys next season.

[simonokeeffe]

I see Rhys Webb is out for the rest of the season too. Off to Toulon as well.
It's possible that Dragons could hop over Ospreys next season.

Tipuric has been seconded to 7s for Commonwealth Games too

[Ruckedtobits]

Our game this weekend is pretty big. Win that and we should have the conference sown up. We're 3 points clear, should manage 10 points from the 2 Italian games. So a 4 pointer in Swansea would mean Scarlets need to make up 18 points in the last 4 games to get ahead of us. That's a big ask. Especially as that assumes we get nothing from our trip to Connacht. Absolute worst case scenario if we win this weekend is that we'll know exactly what we need to do to on the road to Connacht..

Anyone making assumptions about results against Treviso & Zebre, should beware. Go there without a lot of resolve is fraught with risk. We must have our heads right for those games.

[desperado]

Our game this weekend is pretty big. Win that and we should have the conference sown up. We're 3 points clear, should manage 10 points from the 2 Italian games. So a 4 pointer in Swansea would mean Scarlets need to make up 18 points in the last 4 games to get ahead of us. That's a big ask. Especially as that assumes we get nothing from our trip to Connacht. Absolute worst case scenario if we win this weekend is that we'll know exactly what we need to do to on the road to Connacht..

Anyone making assumptions about results against Treviso & Zebre, should beware. Go there without a lot of resolve is fraught with risk. We must have our heads right for those games.

But we're not going there; both matches are at home. I take your point though, esp with Treviso. They need to be put away, neither will lie down but realistically Treviso have only 3 away wins (Edinburgh, Dragons, Zebre) and Zebre have 2 (Connacht, Cheetahs), and ran Edinburgh close. Benetton also ran Ulster close in Ravenhill.

[curates_egg]

Our game this weekend is pretty big. Win that and we should have the conference sown up. We're 3 points clear, should manage 10 points from the 2 Italian games. So a 4 pointer in Swansea would mean Scarlets need to make up 18 points in the last 4 games to get ahead of us. That's a big ask. Especially as that assumes we get nothing from our trip to Connacht. Absolute worst case scenario if we win this weekend is that we'll know exactly what we need to do to on the road to Connacht..

Anyone making assumptions about results against Treviso & Zebre, should beware. Go there without a lot of resolve is fraught with risk. We must have our heads right for those games.

They are home games. If we can't win our home games against Treviso and Zebre, we have no place topping our conference.
In my post above, I am making the assumption that we get (at least) 9 points out of those two games, and I think that is reasonable (despite Treviso's form). Do that, and beat Ospreys, and we can do what we like with the final game away to Connacht.

[wixfjord]

Henshaw aiming to be back before the end of the season according to IT today, possibly by Pro14 semi!

[simonokeeffe]

Henshaw aiming to be back before the end of the season according to IT today, possibly by Pro14 semi!

Somebody wants to win medals and go to Australia

[johng]

Top 6 Fixtures

7 Apr Scarlets v Glasgow Live on Sky Sports
*6 Apr Edinburgh v Ulster Live on BBC NI
*13 Apr Cheetahs v Munster
W/e 22 April Euro Semis
W/e 22 Apr Ulster v Glasgow
27/28/29 Apr Munster v Ulster
28 Apr Edinburgh v Glasgow

* = Teams in the same conference

Home and away for each team

Glasgow Scarlets (A).Connacht.Ulster (A).Edinburgh
Munster Kings (A).Cheetahs (A).Ulster
Cheetahs Cardiff.Munster.Kings (A)

Scarlets Glasgow.Edinburgh (A).Dragons (A)
Leinster Zebre.Treviso.Connacht (A)
Edinburgh Ulster.Scarlets.Glasgow
Ulster Edinburgh (A).Ospreys.Glasgow.Munster (A)

Bold = Teams in the same conference

"As you were men" at the top of conf B. Glasgow home and hosed in conf A.

Top 3 in conf B all have Euro distractions. Munster the only one in conf A.

Leinster get 10 points out of the italians (not a given) and wait to see how Scarlet do v the 2 Scots teams. Unless they get 9 points we should be ok in Connacht. Hopefully yesterday is a wake up call.

Embra only 2 points behind Scarlets now. Treviso a point behind Ulster. Could get messy for Ulster and perhaps only 2 Irish teams in the chumps cup next season.

[Oldschool]

Top 6 Fixtures

7 Apr Scarlets v Glasgow Live on Sky Sports
*6 Apr Edinburgh v Ulster Live on BBC NI
*13 Apr Cheetahs v Munster
W/e 22 April Euro Semis
W/e 22 Apr Ulster v Glasgow
27/28/29 Apr Munster v Ulster
28 Apr Edinburgh v Glasgow

* = Teams in the same conference

Home and away for each team

Glasgow Scarlets (A).Connacht.Ulster (A).Edinburgh
Munster Kings (A).Cheetahs (A).Ulster
Cheetahs Cardiff.Munster.Kings (A)

Scarlets Glasgow.Edinburgh (A).Dragons (A)
Leinster Zebre.Treviso.Connacht (A)
Edinburgh Ulster.Scarlets.Glasgow
Ulster Edinburgh (A).Ospreys.Glasgow.Munster (A)

Bold = Teams in the same conference

"As you were men" at the top of conf B. Glasgow home and hosed in conf A.

Top 3 in conf B all have Euro distractions. Munster the only one in conf A.

Leinster get 10 points out of the italians (not a given) and wait to see how Scarlet do v the 2 Scots teams. Unless they get 9 points we should be ok in Connacht. Hopefully yesterday is a wake up call.

Embra only 2 points behind Scarlets now. Treviso a point behind Ulster. Could get messy for Ulster and perhaps only 2 Irish teams in the chumps cup next season.

Could easily see Edinburgh getting a 5 point dig out from Glasgow. Its reasonable to asdume that Glasgow would prefer to meet them in the final rather than a S/F.
Edinburgh are lurking with intent for a SF playoff spot and it could be home or away.
Their game against Scarlets could be very interesting.
They are the form team in Pro14 at the moment.
Leinster need to attend to their P's and Q's.
The appalling vista of Glasgow v Edinburvh final looms.
Us losing to Ospreys with null points was a poor outcome.
For Leinster, Benneton could be the king makers/breakers unless Connacht are already out of contention for a play off spot.
We could be into small margins for the home S/F.