Leinster v Toulouse

[backrower8]

Healy
Cronin
Furlong

Toner
Ryan

Leavy
VDF
Conan

Luke McGrath
J10

Larmour
ROL
Ringer
A Byrne

R Kearney

SUBS:
Tracy (I would prefer Byrne)
Jack McGrath
Porter
Fardy
Ruddock

JGP
R Byrne
Reid

[Angelsea Angst]

Toulouse will definitely targeting Sexton with late hits in order to intimidate him. The 16th man will need to be very vocal anytime there is a late hit in order the focus the referee's attention on the issue.

[CiaranIrl]

Fardy will definitely start at 6 I reckon. He would have played today otherwise.

[curates_egg]

Toulouse extended their unbeaten run in Agen yesterday but Agen made them work for it. They rested 4/5 players but it was a relatively strong matchday squad.
I hope they will suffer from fatigue but this could be a classic pool game.

Their back line is playing with real confidence (Mermoz and Dupont will probably be the changes from the side that started in October). Medard is in some form and Kolbe is consistently a threat.
They make a lot of hay out of the counter, so we need to avoid loose kicking and keep a hold of the ball.
If we do, our defence should be able to shut them down although we'll have two players out of their usual positions ((ROL and Larmour), and Byrne, so we presumably have made that a focus in training.

We have made a balls of the breakdown this season a few times, but Toulouse can be got at there, so I would go with Fardy and Leavy, with VDF and Ruddock on the bench.

[wixfjord]

Has Larmour ever played left wing for us? Can't seem to remember him doing it.

I think he'll have to next week.

Side I'd go for:

Healy, Cronin, Furlong, Ryan, Toner, Fardy, VDF, Conan, McGrath, Sexton, Larmour, ROL, Ringrose, Byrne, RK
McGrath, Tracy, Porter, Ruddock, Leavy, JGP, Byrne, Reid

I think we could do with Fardy starting for his rucking and turnover ability.
Stupidly good bench too if we go for that split.

I'd be worried about our backs defensively though. In Dupont, Guitone and Kolbe in particular they have guys who are guaranteed to make breaks and offload, so our scrambling will need to be very good.

Byrne on Kolbe should be an interesting aerial battle!

[curates_egg]

Byrne on Kolbe should be an interesting aerial battle!

Kolbe sometimes plays on the right, so you may not necessarily get to see it.
He did fine last time because our kicking was poor. Larmour had an iffy day, and our halfbacks were a bit loose.
Kolbe is such a threat if you give him space, so I would say Byrne defending him would be equally interesting.
As I said above, they attack a lot on the counter, trying to set people free from offloads after line breaks. The use the wingers in field a lot.

[leinsterforever]

Larmour made his debut on the left wing iirc

[wixfjord]

Luke Pearce reffing Wasps v Northampton currently on BT.

Hopefully our guys are watching. He's a very good communicator but has given a penalty for backchat from a Wasps player.

Hot on scrummaging high too, which may not suit us.

[MylesNaGapoleen]

Luke Pearce reffing Wasps v Northampton currently on BT.

Hopefully our guys are watching. He's a very good communicator but has given a penalty for backchat from a Wasps player.

Hot on scrummaging high too, which may not suit us.

ref seems very laxidasie with the back foot offside line. Saints look offside so often....not pinged for it. I only just started watching mid way through the second half when he had to decide on that wasps try where there was maybe a ruck..

agree with you though...he is a good communicator and likes to let the game flow.

still tix available for the game on the 20th...tempted to snag one.

[Ruckedtobits]

The comments from Leo post the Ulster game make it clear how closely we've been watching Toulouse since October.

https://www.the42.ie/leo-cullen-leinste ... 7-Jan2019/

The RDS crowd will be a significant influence on Sat, as was evidenced by Luke Pearce's performance in the Ricoh yesterday. As with other Refs, he will react and respond to crowd reaction on high shots, forward passes, knock-ons etc. It is unlikely that there will be a huge Toulouse crowd, so we (Leinster supporters) must fill his ears with the necessary responses. Yes, it is going to be that close.

Although, we'll be pretty close to a full hand, how we replace Lowe and Henshaw will have a big influence on the game. Personally, I hope the replacements are playing their natural positions. When we visited Toulouse we missed Leavy and RK. Their returns will be important.

This is one opponent that will not be in any way fazed by our high-tempo, direct style. We must control possession and give them as few counter-attack opportunities as possible.

This could be one of the classics.

[carlow man]

Agree with the importance of the crowd, refs tend to feed off the reaction and noise of the supporters. We saw it in toulouse away, toulon away made it near impossible for the officials not to be influenced by the crowd. Not saying we need to be whistling and booing at every opportunity but the crowd can affect the French players. They can get the yips if they are up against it and the crowd should get into them as much as possible and turn it into a real cauldron if we can. That's what faces the opposition when they play in France. Can't wait for this one!!!

[mildlyinterested]

is this game season defining?

[tomthefan]

is this game season defining?

No, that was the game in Thomond last week.

[mildlyinterested]

edit dbl post.

[mildlyinterested]

rumour on boards that sexton is out for this game FWIW.

[carlow man]

Not a chance will sexton miss this. Prob a smokescreen to confuse Toulouse.

[mildlyinterested]

Not a chance will sexton miss this. Prob a smokescreen to confuse Toulouse.

if they are putting out smokescreens like that i'd be worried, should be beyond that. it's not the MOC era.

[Angelsea Angst]

If Sexton is injured, perhaps that is why Ross Byrne was not risked for the Ulster game.

[carlow man]

Not a chance will sexton miss this. Prob a smokescreen to confuse Toulouse.

if they are putting out smokescreens like that i'd be worried, should be beyond that. it's not the MOC era.

Might be thou. Who would know? Sexton looked ok when he came off against Munster. Wasn't injured unless he's done something in training.

[mildlyinterested]

Not a chance will sexton miss this. Prob a smokescreen to confuse Toulouse.

if they are putting out smokescreens like that i'd be worried, should be beyond that. it's not the MOC era.

Might be thou. Who would know? Sexton looked ok when he came off against Munster. Wasn't injured unless he's done something in training.

When he came off and put ice on his calf straight away.