Babbling 'brook

I think Luke McGrath was trying to emulate Leo The Lion's hit on Mike McCarthy just before the match, but his technique wasn't as good.

Great night at the RDS. The atmosphere is there when there's two high quality teams and jeopardy. Can't wait for the next few week(s).

Joe Mc was very good I thought.

Raynal is the worst ref for a warm up game.
Lots of technical offences interrupting play when everyone just wants the players to get a run out.

Sorry - just saw that we can't be in the same group as a team in the same URC shield!

So there it is - we know now we’re going to face Toulouse, La Rochelle or Saracens in the pool stages next season Can we not draw Munster as first seeds though? We will have one other URC team in our group, and I don't see that it can't be the first seeds. We won't be playing whichever team it is i...

From Daily Telegraph It is understood that the new format will include 24 teams competing in four pools of six , and with the opening two rounds taking place in December. Each pool will comprise two clubs from each of the three competing leagues – the Premiership, United Rugby Championship and Top ...

Feeling confident. I think there's a major underestimation of the difference between playing Leinster in Dublin and France. We're playing better this year, the players are fitter (less injured), more experienced and much 'winninger' than last year. Having said that, my heart rate is already about 12...

Toulouse must still have been tired after playing Munster last year.

Lots of new tickets in East Lower now available on the general Ticketmaster link.

Completely different seats available at the Leinster supporters' link and the general Ticketmaster e-mail link (very limited for the former, mostly in the North stand).

Looks like lots of tickets sold already if the grey areas on the Ticketmaster map have actually been sold, rather than being held back for later. https://www.ticketmaster.ie/event/18005E7CA0704AF0 The 'available' blocks are mostly sold out too (or at least most seats are not available as things stan...

Ultimately I think they have a choice to make - jeopardy in the group stage or have a last 16 knockout round. Over the last 2 years the last 16 knockout has gone down well with TV - but to have 16 teams make the knockouts means (a) you have to have 24 group teams which means e.g. 8 out of 11 in Eng...

I don't think any of the Irish 23 from Saturday will be allowed play, but don't see any reason why JGP and Henshaw shouldn't be involved - they've barely played all season. I understand that Tadhg might be treated more cautiously.

Centre signing made:

https://twitter.com/CianTracey1/status/ ... 6167357441

Made Of Ale wrote: ↑February 3rd, 2023, 8:25 pm Sensational try from Ireland.

And another!

Sensational try from Ireland.

Home and away second round is gone this season – it's a single match with the higher seeded team at home. That was something which I didn't expect to work out, but it ended up being really good. I would have been in favour of keeping it. Me too, some of those matches were great. It's annoying that ...

Jenkins having a great game. Yes, really good outing from him. Surprised that he went the full 80 mins, but happy to see that he got through it. We went into the last scrum with a middle row of Molony, McCarthy, Jenkins and Baird! Especially good from Jenkins seeing as he was playing out of positio...

Penalty advantages. Specific complaint is that not scoring a try nearly always equals 'no advantage'. In my opinion: If you make a decent territory gain (20m or so), advantage should be over. If the ball gets over the try line, and you have a legitimate chance of scoring (e.g. from a cross kick), ad...

Quins number 18 is the least mobile rugby player I’ve ever seen. I’ll give him the pre-season benefit of the doubt.