Leinster v Exeter

[Hippo]

McFadden starts. Luke, Rob and Isa battling for the last 2 spots. If I was picking,

9. Boss 10. JS 11. Fitz 12. D'arcy 13. BOD 14. Ferg 15. Isa

You can't drop Rob, surely?

Hell of an impact sub though!!

No, Rob has to play.

[Donny B.]

McFadden starts. Luke, Rob and Isa battling for the last 2 spots. If I was picking,

9. Boss 10. JS 11. Fitz 12. D'arcy 13. BOD 14. Ferg 15. Isa

You can't drop Rob, surely?

Hell of an impact sub though!!

No, Isa would be a better impact sub in my view. Although Shaggy was saying last night that Ferg took a knock on the knee and that may make the decision for Joe.

Interestingly Shaggy also wanted Rhys Ruddock to start, either in the backrow or second row because he considers him the best player at Leinster for clearing our rucks since Thorn left.

[fourthirtythree]

Ah Suisse, I know you are firmly in the "Isa would be playing full-back if he was Irish" brigade but seriously, that one is pretty much put to bed these days. We are a better team with Rob at 15, not only because of what he brings to the team - the fielding, the scoring rate (better than Isa's isn't it?), the long boot (the opposite of a siege cannon which is an up an under type of gun), the odd crucial dropper from distance. But also for the confidence that oozes through teams with him at the back. The forwards know that if they work it up the pitch and it gets booted back the fockers will rue the day. Teams have options cut off from them when he plays.

And Isa has been not great this year. Came back from the holliers a trifle tubby and hasn't hit his best yet.

[curates_egg]

The ref hasn't been announced yet, has he?

Having gone back through some of the stats and stuff, that for me is the most crucial selection of all.
It will be nigh on impossible to score 4 tries against Exeter at home. However, it will be impossible if we have a ref like we had last weekend that turns a blind eye to constant infringing at the breakdown. Exeter are very good at slowing the ball down.

[bluemagic]

The ref hasn't been announced yet, has he?

Having gone back through some of the stats and stuff, that for me is the most crucial selection of all.
It will be nigh on impossible to score 4 tries against Exeter at home. However, it will be impossible if we have a ref like we had last weekend that turns a blind eye to constant infringing at the breakdown. Exeter are very good at slowing the ball down.

It's roman poite which I'm personally pleased with. If we get the push on the scrum we will get loads of penalties from him regardless of who's fault it is (we know this from experience! HC 11). Excluding that I think poite is a pretty decent ref and not afraid to police the breakdown without overdoing it.

We had one miracle with him in 2011, let's hope for another one in 2013!

[Donny B.]

It's roman poite which I'm personally pleased with. If we get the push on the scrum we will get loads of penalties from him regardless of who's fault it is (we know this from experience! HC 11). Excluding that I think poite is a pretty decent ref and not afraid to police the breakdown without overdoing it.

We had one miracle with him in 2011, let's hope for another one in 2013!

Can't agree. Do you remember the Grand Final last season? He was shocking, making it up as he went along and his crucial binning of White at the end was one of the worst decisions I've ever seen. A terrible ego-maniac of a ref.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

If I remember correctly, he gave Mike Ross an awful time on his Ireland debut and I know there are other examples of Ross struggling with him but can't think of them now.

[Donny B.]

If I remember correctly, he gave Mike Ross an awful time on his Ireland debut and I know there are other examples of Ross struggling with him but can't think of them now.

Poite gets praised for his handling of the scrums but I can never understand why. Basically he makes up his mind before the game who's got the better scrum and gives them penalties no matter what they do. He also lets teams away with scrummaging illegally once they're moving forward. He's Northampton's favourite ref cause he lets them stand-up and just push forward.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Yeah I don't get it either Donny. It's not like the things he lets go aren't obvious either.

[Peg Leg]

Form back line would have Isa on the Bench IMO.
We'll need to play it smart in tight for this one, is Browne definitely out?
Hope we see the ball been moved about in a more sensible manner than we tried in the RDS last week. I know we can create overlaps and find gaps by moving the ball at pace, but a team like Exeter seem to feed off shutting the door. Constantly trying to engineer a gap by trucking up phase one and coming round the corner with strike runners phase two won't cut the mustard if Exeter defend like they did in round 1!! Keep them down their end of the pitch and let them clear their lines with RK waiting in the long grass (then employ the strike running, change of direction, running loops, pop passes..... jaysus we've been spoilt for the last few yrs)!

[bluemagic]

It's roman poite which I'm personally pleased with. If we get the push on the scrum we will get loads of penalties from him regardless of who's fault it is (we know this from experience! HC 11). Excluding that I think poite is a pretty decent ref and not afraid to police the breakdown without overdoing it.

We had one miracle with him in 2011, let's hope for another one in 2013!

Can't agree. Do you remember the Grand Final last season? He was shocking, making it up as he went along and his crucial binning of White at the end was one of the worst decisions I've ever seen. A terrible ego-maniac of a ref.

I don't think he's a great ref but the first few scrums of the game tends to decide who he gives penalties to which should be good for us. With regards to the white sin binning I think he likes to show he's not affected by the home crowd and makes 50/50 decisions against them which is good for us as well

[Donny B.]

I don't think he's a great ref but the first few scrums of the game tends to decide who he gives penalties to which should be good for us. With regards to the white sin binning I think he likes to show he's not affected by the home crowd and makes 50/50 decisions against them which is good for us as well

Are you forgetting the home match against Exeter? We were far from dominant at the scrum.

[bluemagic]

I don't think he's a great ref but the first few scrums of the game tends to decide who he gives penalties to which should be good for us. With regards to the white sin binning I think he likes to show he's not affected by the home crowd and makes 50/50 decisions against them which is good for us as well

Are you forgetting the home match against Exeter? We were far from dominant at the scrum.

Yeah but nothing really clicked with us that day. Away to Claremont when we were playing well our scrum dominated theirs and they dominated Exeter. It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation but when were playing well our scrum tends to be good and when were playing badly our scrum tends to be bad.

[AdamK]

Hang on a second, our scrum is still far off the boil, for whatever reason (TH lock imo), I for one certainly hope we don't bank on that being an aspect of our game, especially with Poite.

However I am happy enough with Poite. I'd have preferred Owens, but atleast Poite isn't a home town ref. Sure he was awful for the Pro12 final last year, but he's also a ref that rewards teams who play at pace and forward momentum. We know him now and I think that'll work to our advantage.

[Aussiedub]

I don't think he's a great ref but the first few scrums of the game tends to decide who he gives penalties to which should be good for us. With regards to the white sin binning I think he likes to show he's not affected by the home crowd and makes 50/50 decisions against them which is good for us as well

Are you forgetting the home match against Exeter? We were far from dominant at the scrum.

they have front row injuries now though...

[AdamK]

I see SOB is practicing his darts in lineout training in yesterday's training pics.

[nelly the elephant]

We have to stop building Exeter up to something the're not.

Clermont put 12 tries on them in two games. We should fecking hammer them!

You said the same about Clermont a few days before they came to the Aviva didnt you?

I agree with you, but YOU shouldnt be the one saying it. Youre bad luck.

Sad but true.

I hereby withdraw my remarks and now think we'll do well to keep Exeter to just the fifty points!

The mocker Gods are suitably impressed Donny!

[Logorrhea]

You said the same about Clermont a few days before they came to the Aviva didnt you?

I agree with you, but YOU shouldnt be the one saying it. Youre bad luck.

Sad but true.

I hereby withdraw my remarks and now think we'll do well to keep Exeter to just the fifty points!

The mocker Gods are suitably impressed Donny!

I'm not so sure. I appreciate the intent but the damage may well have been done.

We'll only know come Saturday night, and if it all goes wrong I know exactly who I'll be blaming.

[HUDSOC]

If I remember correctly, he gave Mike Ross an awful time on his Ireland debut and I know there are other examples of Ross struggling with him but can't think of them now.

Poite gets praised for his handling of the scrums but I can never understand why. Basically he makes up his mind before the game who's got the better scrum and gives them penalties no matter what they do. He also lets teams away with scrummaging illegally once they're moving forward. He's Northampton's favourite ref cause he lets them stand-up and just push forward.

I think it's purely because he's French (that he gets those plaudits) i.e. some people seem to think that all French refs are automatically supremos at scrum time.I consider him erratic in all aspects of the game.

[finchamdl]

anyone going to exeter i'm just thinking that maybe we should all try to congregate on a specific carriage of one of the trains going from Exeter st Davids to Digby & Sowton (the station next to Sandy Park) for a bit of a sing song. I'm thinking maybe we could all try to meet on the front carriage of either the 4:18 train or the 4:50 train. what do you guys think?