HEC R1 Leinster v Treviso Sat 3.15 BT Sports

[blockhead]

Treviso at home is relatively gentle for a HC fixture.

South Africa in the final is a gimme...."swing low, sweet char.....oh wait"!
Beware of Treviso, they're a team on a mission.

[tingman]

Treviso at home is relatively gentle for a HC fixture.

South Africa in the final is a gimme...."swing low, sweet char.....oh wait"!
Beware of Treviso, they're a team on a mission.

Not this evening against Scarlets they're not.....

[blockhead]

Treviso at home is relatively gentle for a HC fixture.

South Africa in the final is a gimme...."swing low, sweet char.....oh wait"!
Beware of Treviso, they're a team on a mission.

Not this evening against Scarlets they're not.....

Scarlets win by an 82nd min pen

[Pilotman123]

My team to play Benetton:
1. Cian Healy
2. Ronan Kelleher
3. Andrew Porter
4. Scott Fardy
5. James Ryan
6. Rhys Ruddock
7. Josh VDF
8. Caelan Sweetman Doris
9. Luke McGrath
10. Ross
11. James Lowe
12. Henshaw
13. Ringrose
14. Adam Byrne
15. Larmour

[Pilotman123]

My subs:

Tracey, Dooley , Furlong, Toner, Connors, JGP, Frawley, Tomane

[Pilotman123]

Europe rocks around again and after that performance it will be a very, very interesting selection that could go a few ways.

Would love to see Leo et al stay with some of the younger and more in form guys. Don't think Johnny will be back until Lyon but on last night's performance Byrne should keep his spot anyway.

I think Tomane should start at 12 also and would give strong consideration to Keenan at 15, though it might just need a bit more experience in that backline.

So something like the following:

Healy, Kelleher, Porter, Toner, Fardy, Ruddock, VDF, Deegan, McGrath, Byrne, Lowe, Tomane, Ringrose, Byrne, Larmour

Dooley, Tracy, Furlong, Ryan, Connors, JGP, H Byrne, Henshaw

(Don't think Frawley is in the Euro squad right?)

Not sure if you’re trolling or if you’re actually serious putting James Ryan as sub

[Twist]

Will the team be announced on Thursday or Friday?

[Serb]

Will the team be announced on Thursday or Friday?

Game is on Saturday so team will be announced on Friday. Club rugby tends to be Thursday for team announcements if the game is on Friday, otherwise team announcement is on Friday.

[Jonny tight lips]

Agree about starting Porter. He deserves it after last night and with Tadgh not being involved I think it makes sense to put him on the bench next week and then start him for the second game. Sorry to go on about this but I really think he has to move to LH next season, really doesn't make sense to me that we'd rotate the two of them over the next four years when there's a gaping hole appearing on the LH side and Porter has experience there.

You could pick names out of a hat for the back row, centres, and back three and it would be a great selection. No matter who gets picked there are going to be some brilliant players missing out. It's amazing that someone like COB isn't even in the conversation for this one.

I'd be tempted to go with Tomane and Henshaw again but then again we could do with Henshaw and Ringrose getting games together. I'd hate for ROL to miss out entirely but that'll probably be the case. Maybe starting Tomane and Henshaw and then having Ringrose at 23 with a view to starting the next game would make the most sense.

I couldn’t agree more about Porter, within seconds of hearing Jack was migrating North I was thinking about moving young Porter back across to LH. With the age of Cian it makes perfect sense. The sooner the better with the IRFU more than likely to start pushing for a move. I think Tomane deserves a crack at this game but if henshaw is gonna be our starting 12 should we not pick the backups to accommodate the starters and give henshaw his game time at 12 with ROL partnering him at 13?

[Twist]

Given that Henshaw was meant to be at 13 in Galway, maybe thats where he’ll be on Sat?

[Pilotman123]

Given that Henshaw was meant to be at 13 in Galway, maybe thats where he’ll be on Sat?

Where will Ringrose go then?

[Oldschool]

Given that Henshaw was meant to be at 13 in Galway, maybe thats where he’ll be on Sat?

Where will Ringrose go then?

The wing.
Like your suggestion of Ryan on the bench.
Bring him on for Fardy on 50 minutes.
He can start against Lyon with Fardy on the bench.

[Atlas]

I don't think any player who has not played a single minute in blue should start the biggest game of the season to date.

So that would rule Sexton, Ringrose, Furlong, Henshaw, lamour, Ryan & JVdF out. An argument can be made for the bench spots but we should be using form first as the main criteria for starting players.

You really shouldn't be able to walk into the starting 15 based on rep alone.

[Ruckedtobits]

I don't think any player who has not played a single minute in blue should start the biggest game of the season to date.

So that would rule Sexton, Ringrose, Furlong, Henshaw, lamour, Ryan & JVdF out. An argument can be made for the bench spots but we should be using form first as the main criteria for starting players.

You really shouldn't be able to walk into the starting 15 based on rep alone.

+1.

[blockhead]

I don't think any player who has not played a single minute in blue should start the biggest game of the season to date.

So that would rule Sexton, Ringrose, Furlong, Henshaw, lamour, Ryan & JVdF out. An argument can be made for the bench spots but we should be using form first as the main criteria for starting players.

You really shouldn't be able to walk into the starting 15 based on rep alone.

+1.

Nah.
Plumber should pick whom they think is most likley to bring us victory.
Deserves got nothin to do with it.

[ronk]

Drop players who havent been given a chance yet but have been good for the team? That's hardly rewarding form.

If you couldnt play because you were at the RWC it might not make you an automatic selection but you also shouldnt be punished for it.

Pick a team to perform and to last the season. That's the compromise.

[Oldschool]

Drop players who havent been given a chance yet but have been good for the team? That's hardly rewarding form.

If you couldnt play because you were at the RWC it might not make you an automatic selection but you also shouldnt be punished for it.

Pick a team to perform and to last the season. That's the compromise.

Form, fitness at the RWC or Pro14 and preparedness should be the main criteria.
Reputation should be left at the door.

[Dave Cahill]

I'm not entirely sure who could be picked on reputation over form anyway.

Considering how badly prepared and coached the Irish team was at the World Cup, with the exception of Henshaw who carrying an injury well into the tournament, I can't think of any of our guys who played particularly poorly.

Also, and I say this whenever we play a Pro14 team in the HCC, however good Benetton are, and however much they are targeting this match, Euro Leinster is a different beast entirely to Celtic Leinster

[Oldschool]

I'm not entirely sure who could be picked on reputation over form anyway.

Considering how badly prepared and coached the Irish team was at the World Cup, with the exception of Henshaw who carrying an injury well into the tournament, I can't think of any of our guys who played particularly poorly.

Also, and I say this whenever we play a Pro14 team in the HCC, however good Benetton are, and however much they are targeting this match, Euro Leinster is a different beast entirely to Celtic Leinster

Form, fitness and preparedness are linked.
I can think of a few players whose form was less than convincing at the RWC, however we've done that to death already.

[OTT]

I think we could pick a starting 15 without the world cup players and get a good result and it would be a great reward for the players who have put their hand up so far. The reality is though we will have three away games on the bounce after this one, two very challenging European games sandwiching a game in Glasgow who should be in the shakeup in our conference at the end of the season so unfortunately we need to get the Irish international's bedded in now imo.


The 15 I think have earned a shot:

Keenan (4 starts this season)
DK (3)
ROL (5)
Tomane (5)
Lowe (4)
R Byrne (5)
JGP (5)
Deegan (5)/ Doris (4)
Connors (3)/ Penny (3)
Murphy (3)
Dev (5)
Fardy (4)
Bent (5)
Kelleher (5)
Dooley (5)


More like the 23 we will go with:

R Kearney
Larmour
Ringrose
Henshaw
Lowe
R Byrne
JGP
Deegan
JVDF
Ruddock
Dev
Ryan
Porter
Kelleher
Healy

Tracy
Dooley
Furlong
Fardy
Doris
McGrath
Sexton
Tomane


All the lads have made the selection very tough.