Scarlets V Leinster

[TerenureJim]

Right opening day get out of jail card used, a stern talking to from Joe coming on Monday, need a big performance, need more players to up their game and a few injuries to clear and target a reversal of the score handed out to us last time we visited West Wales....

[nelly the elephant]

Right opening day get out of jail card used, a stern talking to from Joe coming on Monday, need a big performance, need more players to up their game and a few injuries to clear and target a reversal of the score handed out to us last time we visited West Wales....

You forgot to mention a few slaps for George North......

[Ultra Vires]

This game is looking even more important and tricky than ever. If we scrape a win of any sort we'll be doing well...

[Blue not red blood]

Why is it trickier than ever?
We should be good enough to win if we are gping to win group.
Too many leaders and winners in this group. They know what us required.
I trust them to get the win

[ceemec]

Going to be an extremely difficult fixture and players will need to hit the ground running over there. The Scarlets were thumped today but they were level up until the red card in the 38th minute. That's not too shabby and effort out there. Their set piece wobbled and can be attacked but their pack aren't the push overs that some took them to be.

Hopefully today will have been the cobwebs being shaken off for Cullen and Healy. Another week might see an additional player return in the back line. I'd like to see Nacewa freed up to go back to 15 and give us another attacking option there. I think we should keep it tight, win our set piece ball and attack them hard around the fringes. For that reason, I'd look at Boss coming in. I'd also consider Toner to go after their set piece which isn't great. Rest of the team picks itself for me. Big week for the coaching team. They need to do a job here and then they'll have some breathing room until December when several people are back from injuries.

[HarpinOnRugby]

Why is it trickier than ever?
We should be good enough to win if we are going to win group.
Too many leaders and winners in this group. They know what us required.
I trust them to get the win

+1 esp if RK back

[ror]

Rob will not be playing against Scarlets..

[flustered]

If Darce is fit for the match then my team for weekend would be & as Ror just said Kearney is out

15. Nacewa
14. McFadden
13. BOD
12. Darce
11. Conway
10. Sexton
9. Reddan
8. Heaslip (c)
7. Jennings
6. McLaughlin
5. Browne
4. Toner
3. Ross
2. Strauss (and leave him on unless he gets injured)
1. Van der Merve (dont think Healy looks 100% fit, bring him on after 50 minutes)

[Cianostays]

We need to pick a big tight 5 against Scarlets to try and boss the breakdown so, for me anyway, that'd be a front 5 of VDM, Strauss, Ross, Dev and Browne. VDM gave away one silly penalty when he came on but was very important in a couple of turnovers in the final 15 mins. Also felt that Browne was one of our better players yesterday.

I'd echo the calls for starting Boss next week (or if he's no quite up for that, certainly a 30 mins cameo). The Scarlets loose forwards are very good runners and at off loading the ball and would need to be shackled.

[Scott]

Cullen starting is a must for me

[johng]

If Darce is fit for the match then my team for weekend would be & as Ror just said Kearney is out

15. Nacewa
14. McFadden
13. BOD
12. Darce
11. Conway
10. Sexton
9. Reddan
8. Heaslip (c)
7. Jennings
6. McLaughlin
5. Browne
4. Toner
3. Ross
2. Strauss (and leave him on unless he gets injured)
1. Van der Merve (dont think Healy looks 100% fit, bring him on after 50 minutes)

I would agree with that team but I think Leo will start at the expense of Dev. Bench of Cronin, Healy, Hagan, Toner/Cullen, Murphy, Boss, Madigan, Carr (or maybe Kearney) Hard to see how Kearney would be fit, but LR said he would make it.

[flustered]

Yeah I can see Leo starting but I wouldn't leave him on for the whole game, just thought he became a bit of a passenger yesterday, got pinged for one high shot and lucky not to get done for another couple. Wasn't too impressed with Madigan at full back either, few occasions where pass should have been given and he took it into contact, I see a big future for him but until Kearney (Rob) is fit again then Nacewa has to be at full back for me

[Cianostays]

Cullen starting is a must for me

This is the first time I'd question that. I'm being very harsh on Leo but he was a bit of a liability yesterday. Understandably so, he wasn't up to speed with the game and, not so understandably, gave away the same penalty twice (2 pretty careless and needless high tackles). Browne and Toner offer more as a pair atm.

[TerenureJim]

Madigan at 15 in the HEC is probably the first time I've thought Joe got it wrong, he's was solid but Isa offers so much more hitting the line. I like Madigan and would be happy to have him at 10 or 12 in the HEC but he just doesn't do it for me at fullback.

[Ultra Vires]

Why is it trickier than ever?
We should be good enough to win if we are gping to win group.
Too many leaders and winners in this group. They know what us required.
I trust them to get the win

Eh, because they put 45 points on us just 6 weeks ago. Because we have yet to play well in one match yet this season. Because we are in the biggest injury crisis in recent memory. Because they are the home team. Because they are no longer afraid of us.

Take your pick.

[sid]

Because they are the home team. Because they are no longer afraid of us.

Neither of those should matter.

[Ultra Vires]

Because they are the home team. Because they are no longer afraid of us.

Neither of those should matter.

Not on their own maybe, but all the reasons listed taken together make this a very worrying match.

[suisse]

Because they are the home team. Because they are no longer afraid of us.

Neither of those should matter.

Not on their own maybe, but all the reasons listed taken together make this a very worrying match.

Believe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S8SON8tsgk

This was a really good team try. Everything about it is top class. I especially enjoyed CJ not being content with taking the tackle, his offload was excellent. And watching calm players fix their man and use the overlap. Hate seeing someone go greedy when there are numbers outwide.

I'd forgotten how brilliant this was. Beautiful rugby.

[nelly the elephant]

Believe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S8SON8tsgk

This was a really good team try. Everything about it is top class. I especially enjoyed CJ not being content with taking the tackle, his offload was excellent. And watching calm players fix their man and use the overlap. Hate seeing someone go greedy when there are numbers outwide.

I'd forgotten how brilliant this was. Beautiful rugby.

Probably my favourite ever away perfromance that I was present at........great to play with such clinical precision and ruthlessness..

[[Jackass]]

I know this team is capable of winning the Heineken Cup again this season, but really the biggest problem is just getting our sh*t together before it's too late. I believe in Joe and the lads, as I'm sure every fan does, and I wont press the panic button just yet.

I think a few changes must happen though. Regardless of who's fit, Nacewa MUST start at full-back if RK is out. It's not a slight against Madigan, I think he's been quite good there, if a little poor under the high ball, but we need to bring Nacewa into the game more and he's just wasted out on the left wing.

Madigan could do a great job at 12 I think, but not v Scarlets, their centres are just too fuc*king big. I thought McFadden did very well at 12 over the last few games, but if Darce is fit I'd put him out on the wing.

Our main problem recently though has been our inability to get on the front foot. A lot of people putting that down to the absence of O'Brien, but we are not and never have been a one man team, but we have to accept that what worked two seasons ago, or even last season, will not work this season. Teams adapt very quickly and learn how to defend against a well established game plan like ours, Exeter showed that when on the backfoot it's best not to over commit to the breakdown and flood the midfield, forcing us to go out wide and then just squeezing the space. To counter this we need the pack to maul first and foremost, pull players in, but repeated pods with quick pops out of the ruck will drag players over to the fringes and then we can look to use our backline, but we're going from point one to point five without taking the four steps in between, which is making us more impotent than an 80 year old monk on anti-depressants. We need to be more patient and more direct, suck players in.

Also, we learnt from our previous visit to Parc Y Scarlets that a stand off drift defence wont work against Scarlets. We didn't employ a shooter or rush defence to counter the threat of their centres, but that left us very vunurable out wide, where quick ball (whilst we don't commit to rucks) and the pace and power of guys like North mean that if your first up tackler can't stop him before the gain line then at best you're struggling on the back foot, at worst you're penetrated and their centres get in behind you if you drift to snuff out the attack.

We need to employ a defence not a whole lot unlike what Exeter did. I think we need to accept long passages without the ball by not competing as much in order to ensure that our midfield is packed so that we can have a first line rush defence with a second line drift defence to snuff out the threat.

Scarlets looked like they were going to give Clermont a serious run over there and they will be fired up to rescue their European season this weekend, and if we don't get out Joe's playbook and show a hand this early, it might be too late later. Scarlets are a damn good team and have come on a lot over the last year or so, we could be in trouble here. We have to get this one right.

That starts with selection.