Leinster v Scarlets

[johng]

Time for more shexy rugby.

I'd go with these lads. Depending on Luke's injury. I'd say Leo may rotate a bit more with the 5 day turnaround. 9 day turnaround to the Wasps game though

Healy
Strauss
Ross
Triggs
Toner
Ruddock
O'Brien
Heaslip

McGrath
Sexton
Nacewa
Madigan
Te'o
Ringrose
R Kearney

Cronin
McGrath
Moore
Moloney
Murphy
Reddan
Reid
Kirchner/McFadden/Fitzgerald

[artaneboy]

Playing the league leaders and we need to keep the wins going. So going for a strong and in form team.

McGrath
Cronin
Ross

Toner
Triggs

Ruddock
Heaslip
Seanie

Reddan
Sexton

Nacewa
Fitzgerald (supposed to only be a stinger...)
Teo
Ringrose
Rob

Stauss
Healy
Moore
McCarthy
Conan
McGrath
Reid
Kirchner

[deco]

Playing the league leaders and we need to keep the wins going. So going for a strong and in form team.

McGrath
Cronin
Ross

Toner
Triggs

Ruddock
Heaslip
Seanie

Reddan
Sexton

Nacewa
Fitzgerald (supposed to only be a stinger...)
Teo
Ringrose
Rob

Stauss
Healy
Moore
McCarthy
Conan
McGrath
Reid
Kirchner

Prefer the look of this team. Healy needs game time though, so maybe start him.

[johng]

I just rotated the bench and added the 5 Ireland players that missed out this week.

So..... No room in either of yizer hearts for Madser then?

[Dave Cahill]

Time for more shexy rugby.

I'd go with these lads. Depending on Luke's injury. I'd say Leo may rotate a bit more with the 5 day turnaround. 9 day turnaround to the Wasps game though

Healy
Strauss
Ross
Triggs
Toner
Ruddock
O'Brien
Heaslip

McGrath
Sexton
Nacewa
Madigan
Te'o
Ringrose
R Kearney

Cronin
McGrath
Moore
Moloney
Murphy
Reddan
Reid
Kirchner/McFadden/Fitzgerald

They might want to give Ruddock a break - I'd be very tempted to switch Sean across to blind and bring vdF in

[simonokeeffe]

I think Reddan may start as thats a combo they want firing

could Furlong be ahead of Moore? only saw tg4 highlights of second half but Moore seemed to have hard time in scrums again

[johng]

If I was resting Ruddock I would put Conan in. Either at 6 with vdf on the bench or Dave's suggestion. Sob probably needs to play 7

[deco]

I just rotated the bench and added the 5 Ireland players that missed out this week.

So..... No room in either of yizer hearts for Madser then?

Hard to leave the heart throb out. How about we swop him in for Kirchner?

Ridiculously talented squad.

[hugonaut]

If I was resting Ruddock I would put Conan in. Either at 6 with vdf on the bench or Dave's suggestion. Sob probably needs to play 7

I'd actually put Dippy in at No6. You could make a strong argument that his form hasn't been as good as other backrows, but I've become less and less of a fan of moving backrow players around recently. With Locky's retirement, I think we're actually pretty short at blindside. There's Ruddock at the top of the pile and then you're moving guys around out of their best positions. I don't think that Jordi has any future at No6, and Jack Conan's best position is No8. Sean O'Brien is obviously a great No6, but he hardly plays for us ... just 26 starts in the last 38 months.

I'd like to think that Dippy actually has a future here. We [Leinster] have invested a lot of time in him, and he actually started last season very well, leading to his cap against Georgia. He went completely off the boil after Christmas, but very few players played to their potential over that period.

I remember Dippy being a very destructive tackler earlier in his career, both at U20 level and as a youngster in the senior squad. He seems to have dropped his standard since then. We've all seen the massive improvement that O'Connell made to his tackling technique after training with Lydiate on the Lions tour, and I think that if Ryan made a similar improvement in that facet of his game – basically become more like Locky – then he again becomes a valuable member of the squad again, rather than a fringe member.

I also believe he could do with adding a bit of muscle mass – say 2-3kg on top of his listed weight of 106kg – which is eminently achievable given his frame. Just become bigger and stronger in general, more able to win collisions against anybody he faces when he's tackling.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Funny, I think Jordi is a six. Have never really liked him as a 7 and don't think he's a strong enough carrier for 8. He's a good all rounder though and works hard so 6 suits him IMO. Problem for him regardless of what position suits him best or which one he wants to play is that there are specialists ahead of him in each one. He really needs a run of games in one position to see how he can develop but I don't think that'll happen any time soon, looks destined for the number 20 jersey for the short term, possibly for both Leinster and Ireland.

[blockhead]

Playing the league leaders and we need to keep the wins going. So going for a strong and in form team.

McGrath
Cronin
Ross

Toner
Triggs

Ruddock
Heaslip
Seanie

Reddan
Sexton

Nacewa
Fitzgerald (supposed to only be a stinger...)
Teo
Ringrose
Rob

Stauss
Healy
Moore
McCarthy
Conan
McGrath
Reid
Kirchner

Must win game or we would be 10+pts behind Scarlets. So prefer this team to johngees "experimental/rotation" lineup. DaveK instead of Ringrose.

[Ruckedtobits]

McGrath and Moore at props. JVdF and SO'B flanking Conan -another week's rest for Jamie. Reds & Mads at halfback. Isa & Ferg on the wings (DTH needs to be marked). Ben T plus ??? with Rob at 15. Triggs & Dev or Mike Mac - but plenty of line-out work whatever day they train.

Bench full of strength and experience and offloaded in volume no later than 50 mins.

Very satisfied so far and know that Management will have better reasons than me for whomever they select

[Donny B.]

If I was resting Ruddock I would put Conan in. Either at 6 with vdf on the bench or Dave's suggestion. Sob probably needs to play 7

I'd actually put Dippy in at No6. You could make a strong argument that his form hasn't been as good as other backrows, but I've become less and less of a fan of moving backrow players around recently. With Locky's retirement, I think we're actually pretty short at blindside. There's Ruddock at the top of the pile and then you're moving guys around out of their best positions. I don't think that Jordi has any future at No6, and Jack Conan's best position is No8. Sean O'Brien is obviously a great No6, but he hardly plays for us ... just 26 starts in the last 38 months.

I'd like to think that Dippy actually has a future here. We [Leinster] have invested a lot of time in him, and he actually started last season very well, leading to his cap against Georgia. He went completely off the boil after Christmas, but very few players played to their potential over that period.

I remember Dippy being a very destructive tackler earlier in his career, both at U20 level and as a youngster in the senior squad. He seems to have dropped his standard since then. We've all seen the massive improvement that O'Connell made to his tackling technique after training with Lydiate on the Lions tour, and I think that if Ryan made a similar improvement in that facet of his game – basically become more like Locky – then he again becomes a valuable member of the squad again, rather than a fringe member.

I also believe he could do with adding a bit of muscle mass – say 2-3kg on top of his listed weight of 106kg – which is eminently achievable given his frame. Just become bigger and stronger in general, more able to win collisions against anybody he faces when he's tackling.

That's all well and good but Ryan has been awful this season. Leavy, JVDF and Conan are all well ahead of him. Frankly I think we've reached endgame status with him and he'll be loaned out to an English club soon enough

[paddyor]

Next 12 weeks are gonna be really tough. 6 home & 6 away split equally in Pro12 and HEC.

Scarlets (h),
Wasps (h),
Bath (a),
Ulster (h),
Glasgow (a),
Toulon (a),
Toulon (h),
Munster (a),
Connacht (h),
Ospreys (a),
Bath (h),
Wasps (a)

As a minimum we need to win the home games and hope to tack a few wins on the road, which we weren't too good at last season. IMO this is must win if we've any aspirations to be involved at the business end of the Pro12 and to some extent the HEC.

No easy games there that I can see. Given injuries and player management, we'll get a good indication of how good a squad we have and how good a coach Leo is.

[Raydollard]

I would expect to see Madigan in the team

[johng]

I would expect to see Madigan in the team

I'd put money on it.

[simonokeeffe]

I have a feeling therell be sixty plus points scored in this game

[ribs]

i'd leave teo out. He is showing great form and we can't afford an injury there before the Wasps game. Everywhere else we have cover.

[hugonaut]

If I was resting Ruddock I would put Conan in. Either at 6 with vdf on the bench or Dave's suggestion. Sob probably needs to play 7

I'd actually put Dippy in at No6. You could make a strong argument that his form hasn't been as good as other backrows, but I've become less and less of a fan of moving backrow players around recently. With Locky's retirement, I think we're actually pretty short at blindside. There's Ruddock at the top of the pile and then you're moving guys around out of their best positions. I don't think that Jordi has any future at No6, and Jack Conan's best position is No8. Sean O'Brien is obviously a great No6, but he hardly plays for us ... just 26 starts in the last 38 months.

I'd like to think that Dippy actually has a future here. We [Leinster] have invested a lot of time in him, and he actually started last season very well, leading to his cap against Georgia. He went completely off the boil after Christmas, but very few players played to their potential over that period.

I remember Dippy being a very destructive tackler earlier in his career, both at U20 level and as a youngster in the senior squad. He seems to have dropped his standard since then. We've all seen the massive improvement that O'Connell made to his tackling technique after training with Lydiate on the Lions tour, and I think that if Ryan made a similar improvement in that facet of his game – basically become more like Locky – then he again becomes a valuable member of the squad again, rather than a fringe member.

I also believe he could do with adding a bit of muscle mass – say 2-3kg on top of his listed weight of 106kg – which is eminently achievable given his frame. Just become bigger and stronger in general, more able to win collisions against anybody he faces when he's tackling.

That's all well and good but Ryan has been awful this season. Leavy, JVDF and Conan are all well ahead of him. Frankly I think we've reached endgame status with him and he'll be loaned out to an English club soon enough

That doesn't make sense to me. A year ago [pretty much exactly a year] Ryan was playing well enough to get selected for Ireland, admittedly in a second string side. He was still playing well though.

He's had a bad slump in form since, but it just doesn't make any sense to me to get rid of a 25 year old with 90+ caps who has been a good player for us in the past, especially when we only have one out-and-out blindside in the squad. Of the players you've listed above, JVDF is an out-and-out openside and Conan a No8. Leavy is the only one who covers both sides of the scrum, and he's more an openside than a blindside. We have the numbers in terms of personnel, so let them play their positions and get better at them.

Ryan wasn't the only back row whose form slumped after Christmas either – Conan's did as well, very noticeably. Rhys, Locky and SOB all missed out on the backside of the MOC reign of error. They didn't have to play in a badly-coached team utterly bereft of morale while Ryan soldiered through it [playing like a drain, admittedly].

To me, he just seems like a player who is a little short on confidence, something that wasn't helped by playing in different positions a lot last year, which he doesn't have the skill set to do. He had 8 starts as a No7, 10 as a No6, once even as a No8 [source: http://itsrugby.fr/joueur_16217.html ]. Can you imagine Locky playing as an openside? To my mind, that was essentially the situation with Ryan.

I think he can turn it round and provide good back-up to RR at No6 this year. I can see the latter being heavily involved with Ireland in the Six Nations with O'Mahony injured.

[goreyguy]

I'd rather Leinster played Conan or Murphy at 6 over Ryan.

If say during the 6 nations Murphy, Ruddock, SOB and Heaslip were away, which would be unlikely. I'd happily see Leavy at 6 over Ryan too.

Eventually it's going to come down to investing game time into either Leavy or Ryan, and i'm picking Leavy every time. Better at the breakdown, more athletic and smarter, oh and 4 years younger.