Montpellier v Leinster Sky Sports Sat 13.00

[Dave Cahill]

I'd really hate to see Larmour having to deal with Nadolo tomorrow.

For all his acceleration, step and uncanny agility for a man of his size, Nadolo does most of his damage as what might be described as a fourth back row. Most of the time he won't be the responsibility of the winger to deal with

[Laighin Break]

I'd really hate to see Larmour having to deal with Nadolo tomorrow.

For all his acceleration, step and uncanny agility for a man of his size, Nadolo does most of his damage as what might be described as a fourth back row. Most of the time he won't be the responsibility of the winger to deal with

True, and his tries against us were first receiver or picking off the ruck, but he does still get a fair bit of ball on the wing. Adam Byrne received plenty of stick on comments sections about his tackling after 'missing' a number of tackles on Nadolo last time out.
That said, Carbery showed up Nadolo in defence. Imagine what Larmour could do to him

[LeinsterLeader]

All change according to the Indo.

Sexton, McGrath Out, Bryne JGP in

Fardy Out, Ryan In

Lowe and Larmour On the Wings

Edit: Oops! Apologies, I see it's mentioned elsewhere

[riocard911]

All change according to the Indo.

Sexton, McGrath Out, Bryne JGP in

Fardy Out, Ryan In

Lowe and Larmour On the Wings

Well it did the trick in Thomond. Let's hope a similar selection can discomfort and upset Montpellier at home too (and that James Ryan doesn't crock himself by twisting an ankle again or whatever.....)

[simonokeeffe]

So Joe wants Ryan to prove his fitness/get some gametime. Ditto on thr latter for RK

Larmour gets a run on the wing even if its debatable how much of a defensive test it is

[QBer]

15. Rob Kearney (192)
14. Jordan Larmour (13)
13. Robbie Henshaw (21)
12. Isa Nacewa (178) CAPTAIN
11. James Lowe (4)
10. Ross Byrne (40)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (42)
1. Cian Healy (183)
2. Seán Cronin (144)
3. Tadhg Furlong (77)
4. Devin Toner (210)
5. James Ryan (9)
6. Dan Leavy (48)
7. Josh van der Flier (59)
8. Jack Conan (66)

16. Bryan Byrne (21)
17. Jack McGrath (124)
18. Andrew Porter (21)
19. Ross Molony (54)
20. Jordi Murphy (98)
21. Luke McGrath (87)
22. Joey Carbery (29)
23. Fergus McFadden (163)

Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)

[wixfjord]

A nice bit of rotation there. I'm very happy with that side. Pack should have more than enough to go toe to toe with Mont and great experience for the likes of Ryan, Byrne and Larmour.

[wixfjord]

Jaysus, no half measures taken by Mont!

MIKHEIL NARIASHVILI
BISMARCK DU PLESSIS
JANNIE DU PLESSIS
NICOLAAS JANSE VAN RENSBURG
KONSTANTINE MIKAUTADZE
KÉLIAN GALLETIER
YACOUBA CAMARA
LOUIS PICAMOLES (CAP.)
RUAN PIENAAR
AARON CRUDEN
NEMANI NADOLO
JAN SERFONTEIN
FRANCOIS STEYN
TIMOCI NAGUSA
BENJAMIN FALL
REPLACEMENTS
ROMAIN RUFFENACH
YVAN WATREMEZ
MOHAMED HAOUAS
JULIEN DELANNOY
FULGENCE OUEDRAOGO
GELA APRASIDZE
JOE TOMANE
JESSE MOGG

[simonokeeffe]

Its arguably our strongest 3/line with Ringrose out

Bar Murphy starting and Fardy its our strongest available pack

Not touching the 9 debate

Their backrow were rubbish last week

[the spoofer]

Jaysus, no half measures taken by Mont!

MIKHEIL NARIASHVILI
BISMARCK DU PLESSIS
JANNIE DU PLESSIS
NICOLAAS JANSE VAN RENSBURG
KONSTANTINE MIKAUTADZE
KÉLIAN GALLETIER
YACOUBA CAMARA
LOUIS PICAMOLES (CAP.)
RUAN PIENAAR
AARON CRUDEN
NEMANI NADOLO
JAN SERFONTEIN
FRANCOIS STEYN
TIMOCI NAGUSA
BENJAMIN FALL
REPLACEMENTS
ROMAIN RUFFENACH
YVAN WATREMEZ
MOHAMED HAOUAS
JULIEN DELANNOY
FULGENCE OUEDRAOGO
GELA APRASIDZE
JOE TOMANE
JESSE MOGG

Re this two foreigner rule. Mogg, Tomane, Cruden???????

[wixfjord]

Jaysus, no half measures taken by Mont!

MIKHEIL NARIASHVILI
BISMARCK DU PLESSIS
JANNIE DU PLESSIS
NICOLAAS JANSE VAN RENSBURG
KONSTANTINE MIKAUTADZE
KÉLIAN GALLETIER
YACOUBA CAMARA
LOUIS PICAMOLES (CAP.)
RUAN PIENAAR
AARON CRUDEN
NEMANI NADOLO
JAN SERFONTEIN
FRANCOIS STEYN
TIMOCI NAGUSA
BENJAMIN FALL
REPLACEMENTS
ROMAIN RUFFENACH
YVAN WATREMEZ
MOHAMED HAOUAS
JULIEN DELANNOY
FULGENCE OUEDRAOGO
GELA APRASIDZE
JOE TOMANE
JESSE MOGG

Re this two foreigner rule. Mogg, Tomane, Cruden???????

It's not 'two foreigners' though.

Likely that Tomane has a Samoan passport I'd say.

[riocard911]

I reckon Joe will be watching the head to head between Byrne and Cruden with great interest......

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I wanted some rotation and am happy that we've done it, but I'm a bit confused as to why we've taken out guys who haven't had particularly taxing seasons and are unlikely to have a heavy workload with Ireland i.e. Luke, Ferg, and Jordi. I'd have thought that you kept those guys for continuity but then benched/left out the guys with tougher seasons.

That said, I said I'd be tempted to see Larmour on the wing and it is a good opportunity to see him there. There's definitely an opening there and if he performs tomorrow then he has a great chance of taking that jersey for the QF. I also think that this could help get him in the Ireland 23 and honestly think we may be trying to help facilitate that. On balance I'd have taken out of the firing line but it's really exciting to see how he does.

Jordi really unlucky but Leavy deserves a start and I've long thought that himself and VDF could be a great combo on the flanks. They've looked good together on the rare occasions that we've seen it.

JGP has been very good recently so no reason to think that won't continue, but I can't imagine we'll be as dominant tomorrow as we have been in previous games and suspect his kicking and decision making will be under more pressure. Luke's defence could be missed but he's a good sub to bring on.

I said I'd start Porter and that was when I envisaged him being one of only 2/3 changes, probably would have stretched to one more change given other ones we've made.

Overall, it's a great time to give some guys games/experience and they're all good enough to perform well. I'm delighted we've done it and would rather get to a QF as 3rd seeds with more players being well prepared than as 1st or 2nd seeds with less guys having being tested like this. No guarantees we'd have got anything with a full strength team and these guys are talented and should be chomping at the bit to impress. Pressure is off so can't wait.

[the spoofer]

Jaysus, no half measures taken by Mont!

MIKHEIL NARIASHVILI
BISMARCK DU PLESSIS
JANNIE DU PLESSIS
NICOLAAS JANSE VAN RENSBURG
KONSTANTINE MIKAUTADZE
KÉLIAN GALLETIER
YACOUBA CAMARA
LOUIS PICAMOLES (CAP.)
RUAN PIENAAR
AARON CRUDEN
NEMANI NADOLO
JAN SERFONTEIN
FRANCOIS STEYN
TIMOCI NAGUSA
BENJAMIN FALL
REPLACEMENTS
ROMAIN RUFFENACH
YVAN WATREMEZ
MOHAMED HAOUAS
JULIEN DELANNOY
FULGENCE OUEDRAOGO
GELA APRASIDZE
JOE TOMANE
JESSE MOGG

Re this two foreigner rule. Mogg, Tomane, Cruden???????

It's not 'two foreigners' though.

Likely that Tomane has a Samoan passport I'd say.

He's capped by Australia. I thought that was the "out" for Isa, that he was capped by Fiji. All very confusing.

[fourthirtythree]

No, sporting allegiance and caps are unrelated to work permits/ nationality / citizenship etc. Isa qualifies due to length of residence here. This is unrelated to whether he needs a visa in SA or whether he played for any national team.

[wixfjord]

One of the mistakes we made when going down there last season imo was not upping the pace enough. When we brought on a few guys and opened up in the 2nd half the game took on a completely different life.
Might see us taking a leaf from the approach we used in Thomond and playing a lot of fast and wide patterns.

[wixfjord]

He's capped by Australia. I thought that was the "out" for Isa, that he was capped by Fiji. All very confusing.

Him being capped by Australia doesn't matter though.

[paddyor]

Re this two foreigner rule. Mogg, Tomane, Cruden???????

It's not 'two foreigners' though.

Likely that Tomane has a Samoan passport I'd say.

He's capped by Australia. I thought that was the "out" for Isa, that he was capped by Fiji. All very confusing.

Caps don't have any legal standing so can't really apply to Kolpak. It's passport or Visa iirc.

[maps]

Any word on what’s wrong with Sexton, after being passed fit earlier in the week?

[wixfjord]

Any word on what’s wrong with Sexton, after being passed fit earlier in the week?

Just rested, he's fine.