Connacht v Leinster thread - TEAM PAGE 3

[Sea_point]

You'd imagine guys like conway, POD, EOM will come into contention. Would be happy with:

15. Isa
14. Horgan/Conway
13. O'Malley
12. McFadden
11. D. Kearney
10. Sexton
9. POD

8. Keogh
7. Ryan
6. SOB/ R. Ruddock
5. Cullen
4. Toner
3. Shawe
2. Harris-Wright
1. VDM

16. Strauss
17. Ross
18. McGrath
19. C. Ruddock/Hogan
20. Jenno
21. Boss
22. Macken
23. Conway/Keating/Morris

I can't see Joe Schmidt sending down anythig but his strongest available 22. You sent down a much stronger squad last season and were beaten out the gate.

Connacht 27 Leinster 13

Connacht: G Duffy; B Tuohy, T Nathan, A Wynne, F Carr; M Nikora, C OLoughlin; R Loughney, S Cronin, R Morris, M Swift, M McCarthy, J Muldoon (capt), M McComish, G Naoupu.

Replacements: K Campbell for O’Loughlin 38 mins; A Flavin for Cronin, J OConnor for McComish, I Keatley for Nikora all 61 mins; B Upton for McCarthy 64 mins; A Browne for Swift 67 mins; Wilkinson for Loughney 70 mins.

Leinster: G Dempsey; A Conway, B ODriscoll, K Tonetti, Simon Keogh; S Berne, E Reddan; S Wright, R Strauss, CJ van der Linde, N Hines, M OKelly, K McLaughlin, S Jennings (capt), Stephen Keogh.

Replacements: C Healy for van der Linde, J Heaslip for McLaughlin, E O’Malley for Tonetti all half-time; I Madigan for Dempsey 48 mins; J Fogarty for Strauss, L Cullen for O’Kelly both 54 mins. Not used: P O’Donohoe.

I think his priority until the next round of HEC is now to get above us in the ML..

[Leinster Zulu]

We need to win this game, really. I hope to see the strongest possible side lining out. There's plenty of time over the next few weeks (Dragons and Edinburgh at home, and then Scarlets and Ospreys, all probably without our internationals) to give certain players a go and to rest. The next three matches definitely have to be looked at as almost must-win games, while traveling to Wales when the Tests are on is always good and gives us a much better chance, I'd feel.

Certain players like Ross, Toner, Cullen, O'Brien and Reddan should be using this game as their last chance to impress Kidney ahead of South Africa.

[leinster80]

im going to say that im expecting a connacht win. leinster are after a tough 2 weeks. and connacht have had leisnter number the last few season, connacht by 7. fionn is due a try.

wilko
croinin
hagen
swift
upton
ofisa
joc
muldoon
murphy
keatley
fionn
mattews
niva
troy
duffy.

that team should win the game, and if our backrow play like last week. leinster in for a tough night at the breakdwon, ofisa form has him the best 7 in the country.

Speaking of Fionn, Does anyone see him getting a shot in the Irish squad. I don't know why but I thought he would have gotten a shot from the bench during one of the AIs.

[gowest]

no chance, even if he scroes a hat trick kidney still wont pick him

[leinster80]

no chance, even if he scroes a hat trick kidney still wont pick him

I guess he still has time, what is he 23 or 24 now? The guy does have blistering pace. Has he played full-back much for Connacht or always on the wing?

[Donny B.]

no chance, even if he scroes a hat trick kidney still wont pick him

I guess he still has time, what is he 23 or 24 now? The guy does have blistering pace. Has he played full-back much for Connacht or always on the wing?

Has always played wing for Connacht but played full back when he was with Blackrock. But he's still a young guy and Kidney won't be Ireland coach forever.

[CiaranIrl]

no chance, even if he scroes a hat trick kidney still wont pick him

I guess he still has time, what is he 23 or 24 now? The guy does have blistering pace. Has he played full-back much for Connacht or always on the wing?

Has always played wing for Connacht but played full back when he was with Blackrock. But he's still a young guy and Kidney won't be Ireland coach forever.

His time will come after the world cup I'd say.

The more I think about the team for this game, the more I reckon Conway will get the nod, especially after his game at the weekend. For the 22 at least. He didn't distinguish himself last year, so if he gets in, I hope he does well. Carr will be watching him down that wing.

[gowest]

hes played fullback at the start of his connacht career.

then duffy took over

[Donny B.]

Heavy rain forecast for Saturday in Galway. Excellent!

[Hickiefan]

Heavy rain forecast for Saturday in Galway. Excellent!

Teriffic, just flippin' teriffic!

[slum]

no squad announcement yet? i have a bad feeling that the irfu have told schmidt to rest a tonne of front liners.

[maps]

We need to play our strongest possible team. These are important games. If players need a rest then they should be rested during the November AIs which are meaningless

[gowest]

We need to play our strongest possible team. These are important games. If players need a rest then they should be rested during the November AIs which are meaningless

sshhhh the irfu have spies everywhere.

leinster need the atleast have sexton, no sexton no chance

[Donny B.]

no squad announcement yet? i have a bad feeling that the irfu have told schmidt to rest a tonne of front liners.

We don't announce squads this season. Just an injury update on Tuesdays and then the team on Thursday or Friday lunchtime. Better system to be honest as some of the squads named in the old system were so large as to be basically pointless.

[Donny B.]

We need to play our strongest possible team. These are important games. If players need a rest then they should be rested during the November AIs which are meaningless

We'll play who were allowed to play by the IRFU. That's been the system for years and it's only getting worse in a World Cup year. My guess is that Jamie, Sean, Healy and Reddan will be rested and Luke and Bod won't be risked. We should be okay to play Rob, Leo, Shaggy and Jonny.

[CiaranIrl]

My guess is that Jamie, Sean, Healy and Reddan will be rested and Luke and Bod won't be risked. We should be okay to play Rob, Leo, Shaggy and Jonny.

I'll be happy with that if so.

[Fireworks]

I have my fingers crossed that we are left a few players by irfu. If the Irish team do not make the WC semi finals at the very least then I want to see Kidney on his knees in the RDS begging our forgivness for leaving us short of players we need for no good reason. The players game time does need to be managed but they also need to play.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'll be very pissed off if BOD is fit for Saturday but not selected and then rested against Samoa and Argentina. I'd hope that all of Ireland's (fit) players are playing at the weekend, a gap of 3 weeks could mean we're undercooked against the Boks. From a Leinster point of view I'd like to see a team as close to last Saturday's as possible with the exception of Leo starting. Maybe bench SOB too and give Ryan another go with the first choice pack.

[Dave Cahill]

We need to play our strongest possible team. These are important games. If players need a rest then they should be rested during the November AIs which are meaningless

We'll play who were allowed to play by the IRFU. That's been the system for years and it's only getting worse in a World Cup year. My guess is that Jamie, Sean, Healy and Reddan will be rested and Luke and Bod won't be risked. We should be okay to play Rob, Leo, Shaggy and Jonny.

Looking at the Munster selection, it looks like the provinces are being give a free hand this weekend. I'd expect BOD and Luke to be unavailable alright, but the rest should be on the bench at worst.

[HarpinOnRugby]

We need to play our strongest possible team. These are important games. If players need a rest then they should be rested during the November AIs which are meaningless

We'll play who were allowed to play by the IRFU. That's been the system for years and it's only getting worse in a World Cup year. My guess is that Jamie, Sean, Healy and Reddan will be rested and Luke and Bod won't be risked. We should be okay to play Rob, Leo, Shaggy and Jonny.

Munster have Earls, ROG, Strings, Bull & Wally in their starting XV to play Treviso so I'd hope we'll be allowed play some Ireland squad members as well.