The Final, Saracens in Newcastle, May 11th. Drive for Five.

[mildlyinterested]

Let's Go.

[cormac]

Same starting XV from the semi-final to start the final? Assuming fitness of course, Cronin presumably the main concern.

Return of Porter, Molony and Ruddock from injury/illness would give us more options for the bench.

[wixfjord]

Will be interesting to see what side we put out in the RDS for the Pro14 semi.
I'd say it will be a bit of a mix and match with guys like Ross Byrne, Adam Byrne, JGP, Deegan, Molony (if fit) coming in.

I'd agree with the above, adding Molony, Porter and Rhys to the above gives us far better bench options.

On this form Fardy has to start the final imo. I love Rhys but how can you drop Fardy, he just gives so much.

[bluemagic]

Will be interesting to see what side we put out in the RDS for the Pro14 semi.
I'd say it will be a bit of a mix and match with guys like Ross Byrne, Adam Byrne, JGP, Deegan, Molony (if fit) coming in.

I'd agree with the above, adding Molony, Porter and Rhys to the above gives us far better bench options.

On this form Fardy has to start the final imo. I love Rhys but how can you drop Fardy, he just gives so much.

Is the semi not the week after the final and likely to be against Munster?

[Edna Kenny]

Will be interesting to see what side we put out in the RDS for the Pro14 semi.
I'd say it will be a bit of a mix and match with guys like Ross Byrne, Adam Byrne, JGP, Deegan, Molony (if fit) coming in.

I'd agree with the above, adding Molony, Porter and Rhys to the above gives us far better bench options.

On this form Fardy has to start the final imo. I love Rhys but how can you drop Fardy, he just gives so much.

Is the semi not the week after the final and likely to be against Munster?

Pencilled in for Friday the 17th I think. 6 day turnaround.

[brenno]

Big question is the 3 into 2 conundrum of Lowe-Fardy-JGP. You've three potentiual combos - a repeat of Fardy-Lowe from Sunday, Fardy-JGP and Lowe-JGP

After how they played v Toulouse, hard to see how Lowe and Fardy can be excluded. Lowe has something special that others in his position don't have and being honest I can't see Dave K or Adam Byrne scoring the sort of try Lowe got on Sunday. Fardy for me was MOTM v Toulouse and good as Ruddock is, I think Fardy provides more oomph and devil in what's going to be a ferocious back row contest v Sarries. Would you then have Ruddock on the bench or leave Deegan as the replacement back row.

That all means, however, that a very inexperienced Hugh O'Sullivan is the bench 9 and it would be a big call to spring him from the bench in the biggest game of the year. Realistically you'd be looking at Luke McG playing most of the game and only bringing HOS on late in the game if we have put enough daylight between ourselves and Sarries. McG was excellent v Toulouse but we'll need to wrap him in cotton wool in the Pro14 to keep him fit for the final.

Glad it's not me having to make these decisions,

[Blue not red blood]

So Ref for the final
Nigel, Poite or Garces?
Which one suits us best?

[cormac]

Lowe now has scored 20 tries in 27 games for Leinster. Works out roughly at a try every 104 mins. Barry Daly has a similar strikerate (19 tries in 33 games) but as he's had a few sub appearances his try per minutes ratio is practically the same. None of the other wingers even come remotely close.

Even with those stats I'm not sure Barry Daly's biggest fan would want him in the team ahead of Lowe. Quite impressively, Lowe's tries per minute stat is the same in both the League and Europe. In a game that's likely to be decided by small margins I don't think we can leave him out. Aside from his finishes for the two tries on Sunday (incl one that was ruled out) he had one moment in the second half where he got isolated near the 22 but still managed to hold on to the ball despite huge pressure from several Toulouse players and make about 15m before the forwards could row in behind him.

[wixfjord]

Will be interesting to see what side we put out in the RDS for the Pro14 semi.
I'd say it will be a bit of a mix and match with guys like Ross Byrne, Adam Byrne, JGP, Deegan, Molony (if fit) coming in.

I'd agree with the above, adding Molony, Porter and Rhys to the above gives us far better bench options.

On this form Fardy has to start the final imo. I love Rhys but how can you drop Fardy, he just gives so much.

Is the semi not the week after the final and likely to be against Munster?

Yes same as last year. It's in for 17/18th, so likely to be the Sat you'd imagine.

[Flash Gordon]

Big question is the 3 into 2 conundrum of Lowe-Fardy-JGP. You've three potentiual combos - a repeat of Fardy-Lowe from Sunday, Fardy-JGP and Lowe-JGP

After how they played v Toulouse, hard to see how Lowe and Fardy can be excluded. Lowe has something special that others in his position don't have and being honest I can't see Dave K or Adam Byrne scoring the sort of try Lowe got on Sunday. Fardy for me was MOTM v Toulouse and good as Ruddock is, I think Fardy provides more oomph and devil in what's going to be a ferocious back row contest v Sarries. Would you then have Ruddock on the bench or leave Deegan as the replacement back row.

That all means, however, that a very inexperienced Hugh O'Sullivan is the bench 9 and it would be a big call to spring him from the bench in the biggest game of the year. Realistically you'd be looking at Luke McG playing most of the game and only bringing HOS on late in the game if we have put enough daylight between ourselves and Sarries. McG was excellent v Toulouse but we'll need to wrap him in cotton wool in the Pro14 to keep him fit for the final.

Glad it's not me having to make these decisions,

We have to pick Lowe, the lad is an absolute game changer. Fardy was also excellent but Rhys is a super player too. For me it's between JGP and Fardy, Lowe has to be the first name on the team sheet.

[Twist]

So Ref for the final
Nigel, Poite or Garces?
Which one suits us best?

Garces was dreadful on Saturday. I don’t think he knows the laws around the breakdown at all. Nigel lets too much go for my liking too. He’s very poor at reffing the offside line. By process of elimination that leaves Poite - it gives me no pleasure to say that!


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[wixfjord]

Yup Poite would be my choice too. Nigel reffing a final in Newcastle would have a whiff of 'this game is all about me' about it...

Garces was poor on Sat. If it's him it'll be a case of who can stand halfway up a ruck and not get caught.

Albeit I would back a few of our lads to cause a bit of havoc around the ruck if he was the man in charge. Fardy is notorious in this area, an absolute pest!

[bluemagic]

Don’t expect Ruddock to be fit for this....

[mildlyinterested]

Don’t expect Ruddock to be fit for this....

Why?

[bluemagic]

Don’t expect Ruddock to be fit for this....

Why?

Concussion

[mildlyinterested]

Don’t expect Ruddock to be fit for this....

Why?

Concussion

hmm.. that's a big worry.

[Dave Cahill]

Nigel is the obvious choice to ref the final, but I don't think he'll be selected for this one for equally obvious reasons.


His God help Billy next season - if one skinny irish lad running at him was 'scary', don't tell him that London Irish sealed promotion at the weekend!

[outcast eddie]

Yup Poite would be my choice too. Nigel reffing a final in Newcastle would have a whiff of 'this game is all about me' about it...

Garces was poor on Sat. If it's him it'll be a case of who can stand halfway up a ruck and not get caught.

Albeit I would back a few of our lads to cause a bit of havoc around the ruck if he was the man in charge. Fardy is notorious in this area, an absolute pest!

Nigel was vocal about the Folau episode on several media platforms. The dynamics between him and Billy V might make for a distracting subplot and much like his selection for MotM the media will be clamouring for Owens to ref this one.

[Flash Gordon]

Yup Poite would be my choice too. Nigel reffing a final in Newcastle would have a whiff of 'this game is all about me' about it...

Garces was poor on Sat. If it's him it'll be a case of who can stand halfway up a ruck and not get caught.

Albeit I would back a few of our lads to cause a bit of havoc around the ruck if he was the man in charge. Fardy is notorious in this area, an absolute pest!

Nigel was vocal about the Folau episode on several media platforms. The dynamics between him and Billy V might make for a distracting subplot and much like his selection for MotM the media will be clamouring for Owens to ref this one.

Hmmmm..... Understand where you're coming from but if EPCR really wanted to make a statement about his appalling opinion that would do it! I'd add that these finals aren't just massive occasions for professional players they are also massive occasions for professional officials. It would really jar that Nigel may not get to officiate because the EPCR have been backed into a corner by a bigot.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Nigel shouldn't get it because he's an appalling referee these days, but sadly there are very few good ones. I've always said that I like Garces and in some ways I still do but thought he had a bit of a nightmare on Saturday and hasn't been great for a while.

I'd like to see Gauzere or Raynal get it. Raynal would be my choice.