Babbling 'brook

Paddy Power have us at -12 points. That's a big spread for an away game in France - they're obviously expecting Castres to have little interest. Part of me would love that but on the other hand, they way we started the game last Friday (before the red card) I'd love to see us take on a full-strengt...

I'd prefer to see Toulon out of the equation. Realise they are nothing like the three x winning side but with Giteau back (very noticeable how things improved when he came on yesterday - and for that matter Juan Smith) and Richard Cockerill on board to sort out the pack they might be a different ket...

All the NH fans I met were good people. Hope you have the same experience here John. I didn't make it to the game last Friday but for the previous Leinster game up there which I did have the privilege of attending, and likewise despite it being in the face of a rather humbling defeat for local fans...

The most impressive looking Irish bench I remember seeing in a long time

As much as I would like to see Henshaw/Ringrose at 12/13 and Payne (IMO the in-form FB) at the back,I just have a sneaky feeling Joe might go back to the Henshaw/Payne pairing in the centres.Wasn't he quoted quite recently as saying that he rates Payne as the best midfield defence organizer in the N...

I don't know the stats for SA's W L D in Ellis Park but I think there are very few losses. At a guess only NZ and the Lions might be the only teams with wins. The reasons are well known. Joe will have to be very pragmatic about this game. The absolute key will be to control possession and thus the ...

Do we have to assume that Nonu will be nicely ensconced at Toulon (alongside his soon to be best mate Matt Giteau) by the time our Christmas double-header comes around ?

There were worrying consistencies evident again in our play today; glacial line speed in defence, very lateral movement in attack, a technically deficient maul which undid good line out work elsewhere allied with some very poor kicking of the ball especially in the 2nd half. These aren't new proble...

Had Harlequins not imploded against Wasps in that penultimate pool match the chances are we'd have never got anywhere near a Champions Cup semi-final. Arguably our PRO 12 situation might then now be slightly better but at best still facing an away semi-final/exit and that surely would not have been ...

Isn't Hartpury College (spelt differently from yours above but must be the same place you refer to ) a 3rd level institution ?

Anyone know when they announce the times for the QF games (obviously we'll all be looking out for the Toulon/Wasps game as that's the key game...teh heh !) ? Don't see anything on the official European Champions Cup website about that.From memory the Heineken Cup QF dates/times were given within a c...

Being a Sunday fixture something of a blessing this time i.e. the extra day might hopefully make the difference in the case of 1 or 2 of the borderline injury calls ?

The Doc wrote:Has anyone received their tickets for this yet - I'm still waiting.

I'm also still waiting

We might have played with great attacking intent in Bath but it was not a good showing. It was hugely inaccurate, littered with errors and gifting them possession. We won the game essentially due to a moment of idiocy by Louw and were losing in the last 10 minutes. I don't know how people claim we ...

Thought Zane was top notch yesterday, he's a serious boot on him. Turning into a really important player for us. Agree on the backplay yesterday, it's a combination both of coaching and players available however. If we remember back to games like Bath and Glasgow away, similarly we were less than i...

johng wrote:This week I think. There was an email that said so about a week ago.

Many thanks John.

Anyone have an idea about when Leinster get their allocation and when we might hope to get offered such tickets ?

Our performance at ospreys was about having sob, cronin and heaslip carrying more than anything. We need to go after wasps from the off and start quickly as if they score early we will be under huge pressure. Agree bout the aerial duel but want to see ball in hand instead of ball in air. Quite agre...

Having anyone in the coaching set up who thinks Jackson is world class is a bigger problem than Jackson being injured. Was not that sure about him previously (before he moved South) but have to say when he came on during Wasps v. Northampton game a few weeks back (Wasps won 20-16) was surprised by ...

fourthirtythree wrote:

HUDSOC wrote:Wasps have a bit of a crisis at No. 10 -


-

So do we!

Good point !