Leinster V Treviso

OK 24 players missing from a 41 man senior squad.

5 injured. 18 with Ireland. and 1 with South Africa.

Not sure of Treviso's situation, but probably similar.

Thankfully the remaining 17 of our players are enough to form a team. It looks something like this.

Bent
Dundon
Moore
Roux
Denton
Marshall
Ryan
Ruddock

Cooney
Gopperth
Tuqiri
Reid
Macken
Fanning
Hudson

Not too bad.

The bench will be made up of mainly Academy. Unless we get some back from intl duty.

Possible we will get Kirchner. He hasn't featured for the Boks. Hard to see who we would get back from Ireland. Maybe Boss? Maybe 1 of Jeno or McLaughlin? Maybe Fitzgerald? Most likely none of them.

Game is on at EXACTLY the same time as the Ire V NZ game. TG4 have thoughtfully delayed transmission until 17:00 to give us a chance to get out of the stadium and into a pub.

Clever move by TG4 to show delayed coverage.  I like that front row, they played really well the last time they ran out with that front row. Second row I'd be worried about in close exchanges but for set pieces should be okay.  Ryan and Ruddock will need to have big games at the breakdown and I like Marshall getting experience though I'd prefer him in the second row (could he become our version of Don Ryan down in Munster - very early days of development so far though).

Half backs will be very solid.  As much as I like Cooney, I think McGrath should be ahead of him at this stage but the change from JS to MOC probably means MOC goes towards experience in such a position.

Lote.... is he fit, or is this another game of him trying to nurse the hamstring?  Macken has been quiet recently (solid but quiet) and for some reason I've never been that much of a fan of Reid.  Fanning will do everything asked of him, it will be nice to have a tall winger who can take a high ball comfortably and knows his role.  Hudson I can't remember seeing play in a long time.

Without seeing the Treviso team, I'd be saying the Leinster lineup could take a LBP over there.

Wow! We got 2 back from Irish camp.

The Leinster team to face Benetton Treviso in Sunday afternoon's RaboDirect PRO12 clash in Stadio di Monigo (KO: 3pm local time, 2pm Irish time) has been named...Jimmy Gopperth will line up alongside John Cooney at half back with ex Gonzaga College SJ scrum-half Cooney set to make his 25th appearance in Leinster colours. Noel Reid partners Brendan Macken at centre, with the experience of Australian international Lote Tuqiri joining St. Mary's College duo Darragh Fanning and Darren Hudson in the back three. Up front, Ireland prop Michael Bent starts in a front row which includes Aaron Dundon - a try-scorer in the province's 23-19 victory away to the Dragons last time out - and Martin Moore who makes his 15th appearance for Leinster. In the second row, Tom Denton partners Quinn Roux with Rhys Ruddock (in what will be his 67th cap) joining number eight Leo Auva'a and skip Shane Jennings in the back-row. Ireland scrum-half Eoin Reddan is named on a young replacements bench which includes seven Academy products. The Official Leinster Supporters Club (OLSC) can confirm that the fixture is being covered on a delayed basis only on TG4 at 5pm on Sunday. The usual broadcasters abroad are not covering the game however our London base, Philomena's in Covent Garden will be showing it from 5pm.
LEINSTER:
15: Darren Hudson
14: Lote Tuqiri
13: Brendan Macken
12: Noel Reid
11: Darragh Fanning
10: Jimmy Gopperth
9: John Cooney

1: Michael Bent
2: Aaron Dundon
3: Martin Moore
4: Tom Denton
5: Quinn Roux
6: Rhys Ruddock
7: Shane Jennings CAPTAIN
8: Leo Auva'a
REPLACEMENTS:
16: James Tracy
17: Jack O'Connell
18: Tadhg Furlong
19: Ben Marshall
20: Dominic Ryan
21: Eoin Reddan
22: Cathal Marsh
23: Collie O'Shea

Pretty much as predicted with Jeno and Redser added only 4 Academy on the bench.

Treviso team.

Still a bit of quality in that.

15 Brendan Williams
14 Ludovico Nitoglia
13 Andrea Pratichetti
12 Christian Loamanu
11 Angelo Esposito
10 Mat Berquist
9 Fabio Semenzato
8 Marco Filippucci
7 Dean Budd
6 Manoa Vosawai
5 Corniel Van Zyl (capitano)
4 Marco Fuser
3 Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet
2 Franco Sbaraglini
1 Alberto De Marchi

A disposizione:
16 Enrico Ceccato
17 Matteo Muccignat
18 Pedro Di Santo
19 Antonio Pavanello
20 Filippo Giusti
21 Alberto Sgarbi
22 James Ambrosini
23 Alberto Di Bernardo

It would be a very good win.

SPOILERS!!! For anyone who doesn't want to know the score yet.


Leinster get a good win out in Italy. 20-21

This could be the least active thread for a Pro12 fixture this season but also the most important away result of the season for Leinster.  With so many unavailable, this was a key away win.

Feel quite comfident about our position in the league as well as we have now played 5 away games and only 3 home games so far in the Pro12.

thebandwagonsociety wrote:This could be the least active thread for a Pro12 fixture this season but also the most important away result of the season for Leinster.  With so many unavailable, this was a key away win.

Connacht V Scarlets wins that, no thread at all! That said it is hard to really get much of a thread going whilst there are internationals being played the same weekend/day, and the majority of the squads are missing to those international matches.

During the AIs I honestly think any win in the Rabo is a good win, as there are so many unknown quantities in the matches (players, officials etc).

I couldn't even watch this after the Ireland game, I was so distraught.