Ulster v Leinster 2nd May

[Blue not red blood]

we have a spare East Terrace tkt if anyone short.
you can pm me.
headng up on coaches

[Vamos los azules]

Luke Pearce (England) is ref this Friday.

Is that confirmed? I have my doubts about giving him such a critical interpro as his first Pro 12 match. He looks about 12 which doesn't do him any favours in terms of exerting authority and I suspect some exerting of authority will be needed on Friday. It's good to see the young refs coming through and being given big matches but he just looks SO young!

Mind you, with Garner it could end up 11 a side as he's not backward about coming forward with the cards.

[Morf]

Suggesting Mr Jones might have been a bit deliberately provocative on my part .. .

[Mickado]

http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/31676.php

The Leinster squad trained today in UCD ahead of Friday's RaboDirect PRO12 derby visit to Ravenhill.

Fergus McFadden has been ruled out of the round 21 clash with Ulster. However, he has made great strides over the last week in terms of his recovery from a knee injury suffered in the recent Heineken Cup quarter-final against Toulon.

Meanwhile, fellow backs Luke Fitzgerald and Eoin Reddan trained but a decision on their inclusion or otherwise will not be made until later in the week when they will be assessed further.

Young prop Tadhg Furlong suffered no reaction to his ankle injury after his return to competitive action in last Saturday's British & Irish Cup semi-final win for Leinster 'A' in Pontypridd.

Ireland back rower Sean O'Brien is continuing his modified training programme and while he is not too far away from taking part in team training, no date has been set for his return.

Leinster head coach Matt O'Connor will reveal the team to face Ulster on Thursday afternoon.

[ceemec]

Mike Ross said in a recent article that he hasn't been taking part in training of late due to injuries so it's good to hear Furlong is doing well. Also vital that Reddan makes it back in time. No other scrum half is near his level at the moment and this isn't a game to go messing about it. I'd much rather McGrath starts at home to Edinburgh given that we may know that 4 points will suffice in that game.

We could see something along the lines of:

Healy, Cronin, Moore, Toner, McCarthy, Ruddock, Jennings, Heaslip, Reddan, Gopperth, DK, D'Arcy, BOD, Kirchner, Kearney.

Strauss, McGrath, Furlong, Cullen, Murphy, McGrath (more likely Boss), Madigan, Reid

[UlsterMan]

Looking forward to welcoming you all to the grand opening of the new Ravenhill this week folks, hopefully you'll all enjoy the night (apart from the result ) and I can't think of a more fitting fixture to usher in a new era at Ulster Rugby - always love this fixture, full of great players and some hot-blooded battles all over the park, combined with some of the best travelling fans to boot

As far as our team goes I'm making no excuses of injuries. We will be missing several key players but I am a firm believer that every team should have a strong enough squad to deal with injuries. So may the best team win, which I sincerely fear you may be

If I was to guess now our team will be:

15. Jared Payne, 14. Andrew Trimble, 13. Darren Cave, 12. Luke Marshall, 11. Tommy Bowe, 10. Paddy Jackson, 9. Paul Marshall; 1. Tom Court, 2. Rob Herring, 3. Ricky Lutton, 4. Johann Muller, 5. Iain Henderson, 6. Chris Henry, 7. Sean Doyle, 8. Nick Williams.

16. Niall Annett, 17. Callum Black, 18. Adam Macklin, 19. Lewis Stevenson, 20. Mike McComish, 21. Michael Heaney, 22. Ricky Andrew, 23. Craig Gilroy.

Hope to see a lot of you there and a great game of rugby

[[Jackass]]

Lads, any spare tickets going for this match? (preferably West terrace, but anywhere will do). There's a few of us heading up and run into a hickup with lack of tickets for all. I presume this will be fullhouse and none available at the ground?

(I PM'd blue blood not red blood above about his / her ticket if that's still available)

[IanD]

Lads, any spare tickets going for this match? (preferably West terrace, but anywhere will do). There's a few of us heading up and run into a hickup with lack of tickets for all. I presume this will be fullhouse and none available at the ground?

(I PM'd blue blood not red blood above about his / her ticket if that's still available)

http://forum.leinsterfans.com/viewtopic ... 20&t=23385

Some spares listed here.

[[Jackass]]

Ah cheers Ian, appreciated.

[IanD]

Ah cheers Ian, appreciated.

No bother - hope you get sorted.

[JB1973]

Mike Ross said in a recent article that he hasn't been taking part in training of late due to injuries so it's good to hear Furlong is doing well. Also vital that Reddan makes it back in time. No other scrum half is near his level at the moment and this isn't a game to go messing about it. I'd much rather McGrath starts at home to Edinburgh given that we may know that 4 points will suffice in that game.

We could see something along the lines of:

Healy, Cronin, Moore, Toner, McCarthy, Ruddock, Jennings, Heaslip, Reddan, Gopperth, DK, D'Arcy, BOD, Kirchner, Kearney.

Strauss, McGrath, Furlong, Cullen, Murphy, McGrath (more likely Boss), Madigan, Reid

that'll do for me, COYBIB pull out all the stops for this game!!

[wixfjord]

Thought Ulster were decimated with injuries!

That's hardly a decimated team!

Pienaar a big loss alright.

[simonokeeffe]

Thought Ulster were decimated with injuries!

That's hardly a decimated team!

Pienaar a big loss alright.

still though, Ulster without Pienaar is like Hamlet without the prince

[AdamK]

A baconator without the bacon.

[TimD]

LEINSTER:
15: Rob Kearney
14: Zane Kirchner
13: Brian O'Driscoll
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Dave Kearney
10: Ian Madigan
9: Isaac Boss
1: Cian Healy
2: Sean Cronin
3: Martin Moore
4: Devin Toner
5: Mike McCarthy
6: Rhys Ruddock
7: Shane Jennings
8: Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

REPLACEMENTS:
16: Richardt Strauss
17: Jack McGrath
18: Mike Ross
19: Leo Cullen
20: Jordi Murphy
21: Luke McGrath
22: Jimmy Gopperth
23: Luke Fitzgerald

[Avenger]

Strong team. Is Redden injured?

[johng]

Very happy with each and every name on that list. Little tough on Dom Ryan, but it would have been tough on whoever else was left out too.

[johng]

More interesting looking at their team really.

Ulster XV and replacements to face Leinster Rugby, RaboDirect PRO12, Ravenhill Stadium, Friday 2nd May (kick off 19:30):

(15-9): R Andrew, A Trimble, J Payne, L Marshall, T Bowe, P Jackson, P Marshall; (1-8); T Court, R Herring, A Warwick, J Muller (captain), I Henderson, R Wilson, C Henry, N Williams; Replacements (16-23): N Annett, C Black, A Macklin, D Tuohy, S Doyle, M Heaney, J McKinney, D Cave.

[johng]

Hope Warwick has a spare pair of cacks with him.....

Sargent Wilson makeing it is the surprise and no Lutton.

Payne at 13? Cave on the bench not Andrew

[irishjonny]

is locky injured or just out of favour? for the treviso game the release said something about him being hurt but don't remember hearing anything else about it. has been very unlucky this year with injuries but thought he'd get a decent run towards the end of the season.