London Irish vs. Edinburgh - Heineken Cup Pool 2 Discussion

First topic message reminder :

So the start of this seasons premier Northern Hemisphere rugby tournament is now upon us. In Pool 2, my team, the mighty London Irish host Edinburgh on Saturday so here is a look at that fixture, and the history of both sides in the Heineken Cup.

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London Irish

Squad
Darren Allinson, Joe Ansbro, Delon Armitage, Brian Blaney, Dan Bowden, James Buckland, Bob Casey, Alex Corbisiero, Declan Danaher, Clarke Dermody, Bryn Evans, Matt Garvey, Mark George, Jamie Gibson, Alex Gray, Chris Hala'ufia, Leo Halavatau, Shontayne Hape, Paul Hodgson, Tom Homer, Paulica Ion, Adrian Jarvis, Jonathan Joseph, Nick Kennedy, Max Lahiff, Topsy Ojo, David Paice, Faan Rautenbach, Ross Samson, James Sandford, Steven Shingler, Ed Siggery, Jebb Sinclair, David Sisi, Jonathan Spratt, Sailosi Tagicakibau, Adam Thompstone, Richard Thorpe.

Heineken Cup History
London Irish made their first entry into the competition in the 2002/03 season and were drawn in pool 5 with Toulouse, Newport and this weeks opponents Edinburgh. Their first meeting was in R2, when Irish won 24-8 at home. 5 players who featured for the sides that day remain, Declan Danaher for Irish, and Allan Jacobsen, Dougie Hall, Mike Blair and Chris Paterson for Edinburgh. The return fixture saw a 32-35 win for Edinburgh in R5, but neither team qualified for the knockout stages.

Irish then had to wait until 2006/07 before qualifying again for the competition, but have qualified for the tournament in 4 of the 5 years since then. Their best performance came in 2007/08 when they topped a pool containing French giants Perpignan, before beating them again in the quarter finals. They were then defeated by Toulouse in the semi final. Their overall tournament record reads as follows.

P 32 W 15 D 1 L 16 TF 80 TA 65 PF 746 PA 640

Form This Season
The Exiles sit 3rd in the Aviva Premiership after 8 matches. In terms of results it has been a mixed bag, with 3 wins, 1 draw and 4 defeats. What has helped to elevate them to such a high position in the table is bonus points, as they have taken and LBP every time they have been beaten and have 6 bonus points in total, the most in the division.
They come into this game off the back of a 24-24 draw with Leicester Tigers at Welford Road, where they came from 7-24 down with 15 minutes to play, and so will most likely feel reasonably confident of their ability to dig in get something from most games going forward.

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Edinburgh

Squad
Alex Black, Mike Blair, Tom Brown, Ben Cairns, Sean Cox, Geoff Cross, Nick De Luca, David Denton, ross Ford, Grant Gilchrist, Jack Gilding, Phil Godman, Roddy Grant, Robin Hislop, John Houston, Gregor Hunter, Allan Jacobsen, Lee Jones, Andrew Kelly, James King, Greig Laidlaw, Steve Lawrie, Chris Leck, Harry Leonard, Esteban Lozada, Alan MacDonald, Stuart McInally, Lewis Niven, Chris Paterson, Ross Rennie, Matt Scott, Netani Talei, Jim Thompson, Kyle Traynor, Steve Turnbull, Tim Visser, Alun Walker, Simon Webster.

Heineken Cup History
Edinburgh made their Heineken Cup debut in 1996/97 and have played in every tournament since then with the exception of 1997/98. As stated above they have played London Irish twice, with one win apiece in 2002/03, but overall their record in the competion has to be considered as poor.

They have only qualified from the Pool stage once in fourteen attempts, when in 2003/04 they qualified as a best runner up, and were rewarded for their efforts with an away quarter final in Toulouse, which resulted in a 10-36 defeat. Their overall tournament record reads as follows.

P 83 W 28 D 3 L 52 TF 152 TA 230 PF 1504 PA 2125

Form This Season
Edinburgh lie 10th in the RaboDirect PRO12 league after 8 matches this season, with a record of 3 wins and 5 defeats. They are yet to pick up a try bonus point despite having one fo the most potent attacking weapons int he league in Tim Visser, and in 3 of their defeats have failed to get within 7 points and collect a losing bonus point.

Their most recent result was a 22-11 win away at Benetton Treviso, which is not an easy place to get a result, and should give them great confidence that they can pick up points on the road, which they will need to do in order to qualify.

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Summary
Overall, if you look at the two teams records this season so far, there isn't much to choose between them other than the fact when London Irish win, they usually score some tries and get a bonus point, and when they lose, they also seem to get close and claim the LBP as well.

If Edinburgh are to win, they will need to find a way to stop what can be a very potent backs division for Irish, which can score tries from scraps at times, and for Irish to be confident of claiming the points, they will need their forwards to front up in the set piece and give thema platform to launch attacks from.

I am biased of course, but I can't see Irish losing at home, and if the team can step up from last weekend, particularly in the pack it could be a bonus point win as well.

Interested to hear everyone elses thoughts on the game, any team news out of Edinburgh, and I will update with any team/injury news from London Irish as and when I get any.

Wow!!!

Shontayne Hape just smashed Denton!!!

Great recovery defence from Visser there.

Ozzy3213 wrote:Young Leonard looks a good player As.

Showing plenty of promise - it's great that we've got Weir and Leonard coming thru

Where did Bowden come from?

Unlucky for Denton

Try for ex-Burgh player Samson

Irish stepped up a gear.

TRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Samson with the try, Thompstone with the early yards down the left, and Irish recycle the ball right, Edimburgh run out of bodies, and Samson picks up and dives over!

Bowden came from Crusaders As. Was Carter's understudy for a year. Think he was at the Highlanders before that. Been fantastic for us. really good signing.

Homer with the extras.

16-7

Could he be EQ?

Irish may have been a bit poor in defense at times, but their discipline has been top notch, only about two penalties given away so far.

He can qualify on residency. Has a contract until the end of the season. Think we are trying to keep him, but there is talk of him returning home to fight for an AB jersey.

Smart scrummaging from Burgh to wheel and get possession

Poite having a good game, like the way he referees the scrum.

The penalty for edinburgh and the converted try were in the wrong order, but still the same as the pool 2 game yesterday - Edinburgh to get a try after 1/2 time now.

13-7 Montpellier in the other match

good half of rugby that, Irish with a bit more cutting edge, but making a few too many mistakes so Edimburgh still very much in it.

Has been a good entertaining game.

Edinburgh need to stop giving away penalties, and Irish need to tighten up and be more aggressive in defence.

teams back out, second half about to start

Homer having a really good game.

Delon going to struggle getting the 15 shirt back if he carries on like this.

nice move from Irish, and they get the penalty. Simple task for Homer and Irish have some breathing space again.

good work from Thompstone to work the turnover there

Lovely hands from Leonard and Scott, but another turnover from Burgh

Looks like there could be a couple more tries in both teams here second half.

Elbow to the face there from Cox. That has to be a citing.

Dirty elbow from Cox

that's a really poor cheap shot on Hape there, probably get a citing for that you'd think

Not sure how the AR missed that, right in from of him, 3 weeks for his troubles - idiot

That looked like a try

Annoyingly, if the AR sees it, then the knock on is superceded by the penalty for it, and i's our ball.

Not seen, and now Edinburgh likely to have a try awarded.

not sure why Corbs is coming off?

Strange time to sub both props?

Booth seems to sub routinely around the hour mark. It is one area where I think he's not very good.

Laidlaw should have kicked that, not the youngster.

Irish will be delighted to come out of that without conceding any points

Edinburgh still well in this game. Irish need to go up a gear again!

Lovely try from big McInally - loads of phases, plenty of patience

great try for Edimburgh

He looks a good player As.

Brilliant try - 20 minutes to go, GAME ON!

COME ON EDINBURGH!

If Laidlaw had been kicking from when he came on, Edinburgh would be winning.

No prizes for guessing who you see as the biggest threat in this group wales606

Wrong decision from Matty Scott, ball should've gone thru hands

Visser wriggles over - TTTTRRRRRYYYYYYYY

terrible from Irish, they've given it away

Edinburgh well on top here.

Bad substitutions from Booth not helped Irish at all.

Players need to switch on.

That's a try for Visser for me.

Visser - Brilliant he gets a try almost every game.

Fingertips giving downward pressure?

I think its a try at any rate...

Ozzy3213 wrote:He looks a good player As.

Pete, he is - captained Scotland U20 2 years ago, I think, another promising youngster

Commentators saying no try, but I disagree.

His left pinky-finger?

SURELY???

oh it's not given, brilliant from Kennedy!

I think we just got lucky there. Very lucky!