Cardiff Blues vs Leinster

Blues conceded a try in the first minute, great

Blues don't look too smart at all. Worrying with all the internationals they have.

Vosawai showing why he should be starting

Hoeata red carded for a high tackle on Kearney

Seriously nasty shot there from Hoeata. You hate to see a red card give out, but he didn't give the ref many options. Had to be a red... He's fecked his team here, it's a shame for whats been a good game.

Hoeata has been a terrible signing for you guys. For all the flak he is getting Paulo is a much better player.

Harsh red imo, def yellow tho...

Paulo seems to give away more penalties. I think Hoeata will come good, but like Anscombe, he could have done with a good rest before coming to play for the Blues.

Back-row, I'd go for Warburton, Navidi, Vosawai.

Breadvan wrote:Harsh red imo, def yellow tho...

Can't remember a red card being given for a high tackle before in the league, certainly in the top 14 but not in the pro 12

The Blues look like they are finally starting to come together as a team.

Now that card is harsh, against Vosawai. Penalty at worst.

Notch wrote:Now that card is harsh, against Vosawai. Penalty at worst.

Nope - knee drop. Always at risk of a yellow. deliberate foul play.

The red is ok but it's so inconsistent. Kearney himself got YC for a similar tackle at Ravenhill last year. If there is any doubt, give a YC and let a citing commissioner deal with it

Nah, this one was worse than Kearneys tackle if i remember it correctly. Kearney was tackling a player that was ducking, reckless and dangerous but less intent. Anyway thats neither here nor there.

Te'o needs to learn to stop leading with his forearm. There's a difference between a hand-off and a forearm smash.

Leinster gonna get a BP here...

Redden showing some idiocy there! Does he not know the scoreline??

Great strength from Furlong there!

Edit: maybe a bit of pitiful tackling looking at the replay.

Well, what to say about that.

Paulo pulling up in training has cost us more than expected.

Similar to the Munster game this season, all the heart and hard work but none of the points.

Can't really blame any of the Blues players for the loss, with the obvious exception of Hoeta - he had already been relegated to 3rd choice lock (in a team who desperately need some more locks) and will now be even further down the pecking order behind Cook/Turnball.

We saw the good and the bad of Vosawai, but overall, the backrow we outstanding, along with Gethin Jenkins.

Really annoyed to have gotten nothing out of that game :/

Would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Vosawai hadn't gotten a yellow, or if Turnball and Reed had started at lock (which will certainly happen next year)

Reed has been awesome since he re emerged from the wilderness. The ref was a bit to flakey. Leinster deserved a card for repeat enfringments at the breakdown. At full speed Vos' card looked fine. Great guts from the players and the crowd were great today.

Vos knee dropped a guy on the ground. Yellow card is always possible and probably deserved. I thought Blues played some good rugby and without the cards might well have won. Navedi is becoming some player

Despite losing the game with no bonus point either, there are some encouraging comments on twitter re the crowd, atmosphere and general performance of the team. The phrase "right direction" springs to mind.

Think we are starting to see the change in attitude from the team that Hammett wants

wales606 wrote:Think we are starting to see the change in attitude from the team that Hammett wants

Aye and I wonder who won't be around next season, players and coaches.

And to state the bleeding obvious, a top 6 finish looking highly unlikely.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

wales606 wrote:Think we are starting to see the change in attitude from the team that Hammett wants

Aye and I wonder who won't be around next season, players and coaches.

A month ago i'd have put Tavis up there as on to go. He's played well the past couple of games. Same with Reed. Hoeata needs to take a long look in the mirror. His form has been poor. There are a few more but no point listing them all. Can't fault the courage of most of the lads.

Agree, I thought Tavis was really good. Lloyd Williams was coming into form as well - could provide some good competition.

This season has been over for a while, we need to be building for the next season

I think/hope we will see some coaching changes for next season, and a fair amount of player changes.

Coleman wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

wales606 wrote:Think we are starting to see the change in attitude from the team that Hammett wants

Aye and I wonder who won't be around next season, players and coaches.

A month ago i'd have put Tavis up there as on to go. He's played well the past couple of games. Same with Reed. Hoeata needs to take a long look in the mirror. His form has been poor. There are a few more but no point listing them all. Can't fault the courage of most of the lads.

Signed up before Hammer was brought in IIRC.
All i'm hoping is that Hammer is being allowed to assemble the players/coaches/staff that he wants. I get the feeling he is, but can't be sure.

He was. The only players that we've signed since Hammer got here are: Tom James, Lee-Lo and Jarrad Evans. The rest were Phil Davies.

Coleman wrote:He was. The only players that we've signed since Hammer got here are: Tom James, Lee-Lo and Jarrad Evans. The rest were Phil Davies.

And Amorisino and Tuculet

Coleman wrote:He was. The only players that we've signed since Hammer got here are: Tom James, Lee-Lo and Jarrad Evans. The rest were Phil Davies.

Not sure whether Phil signed anybody actually. He inherited a lot mind ewe. And IIRC, Dai Young didn't sign up the infamous SNK.

The summer signings were the work of Hammett and John.

I'm not keen on calling the Argies signings until they sign long term. Dosn't Richard Holland travel the world signing our players?

wales606 wrote:Agree, I thought Tavis was really good. Lloyd Williams was coming into form as well - could provide some good competition.

This season has been over for a while, we need to be building for the next season

I think/hope we will see some coaching changes for next season, and a fair amount of player changes.

Agreed and it looks like we are and it looks like the head coach is calling the shots at last. Bout blydi time too. Call me soft if you like, but I still feel that PD, DY and Bob received a lot of unfair criticism over the years.

Dai Young maybe, but we only started achieving things in 2009/2010, then we've been poor since and haven't even gotten close to winning anything.

The coaches since Dai Young achieved nothing and made poor signings, so I don't know what exactly we're supposed to say?

Hammett has inherited the squad, yes I (and I suppose everyone) expected more from them this season but its clear that hes rotating players around in the Pro12 so he can experiment with combinations, which suggests he actually has a long term goal. Guess we'll judge him on next season.

IronMike wrote:Dai Young maybe, but we only started achieving things in 2009/2010, then we've been poor since and haven't even gotten close to winning anything.

The coaches since Dai Young achieved nothing and made poor signings, so I don't know what exactly we're supposed to say?

Hammett has inherited the squad, yes I (and I suppose everyone) expected more from them this season but its clear that hes rotating players around in the Pro12 so he can experiment with combinations, which suggests he actually has a long term goal. Guess we'll judge him on next season.

DY - chucked in the deep end. Rush, Blair and Tito were good and arrived at the time when CCS was looming.
Chuckle Bros - stop gap
PD - ditto
Bob as CEO - did he toe the line? Very probably.
Hammer - looks to me as he's being given the tools to do a job. Quite different to what's gone on before and he has a 3 year contract.

I partially agree about Dia Young, and I think he is a good coach,

But Burnell (best of the bunch), Baber and Phil Davies were all completely awful.

I think the combination of Hammett and Holland at the top are doing good things, and I hope they will get some good experienced coaches involved next season.

It's frustrating though as this is now our third development season in a row. Next year needs to be fireworks. We've been pretty patient.

But two of those seasons were ruined by PD and the chuckle brothers who had no clue how to build a squad

Hard luck Cardiff - some massive performances. Surely Navidi has to start for Wales? Gethin was extraordinary at the breakdown and Turnbull and Reed gave their all. Thought the Hoeata card was closer to yellow than red. It was actually an ideal candidate for an 'Orange' card - where the player takes no further part in the game but a replacement is allowed to come back on after 20 minutes.

Couldn't understand Leinster's tactics when Blues were a lock down and had Adam Jones at hooker that they didn't kick to touch? Moving their pack back down the field would have been far more demoralising than allowing the back three to run up to the half way line. Teams forget that with the wind they can certainly kick deep, but it's no major advantage because the chasers have to run further.

Never heard of that orange card before Aukster but it's a clever idea I got to say.

Would have liked Leinster to have been a bit more streetwise there also but they did hold the ball in hand better than they have in previous weeks. They attacked with a bit more intent and their dummy runners attacked the gainline a bit more which was nice to see.

The Great Aukster wrote:Hard luck Cardiff - some massive performances. Surely Navidi has to start for Wales? Gethin was extraordinary at the breakdown and Turnbull and Reed gave their all. Thought the Hoeata card was closer to yellow than red. It was actually an ideal candidate for an 'Orange' card - where the player takes no further part in the game but a replacement is allowed to come back on after 20 minutes.

Couldn't understand Leinster's tactics when Blues were a lock down and had Adam Jones at hooker that they didn't kick to touch? Moving their pack back down the field would have been far more demoralising than allowing the back three to run up to the half way line. Teams forget that with the wind they can certainly kick deep, but it's no major advantage because the chasers have to run further.

I actually like the idea of an orange card.

Navidi has been in outstanding form for the last 2 seasons, ideally his position is 7 which Wales have enough options for, but this season he has been playing 8 and impressing. I do think his best position is either 6 or 7, but there are concerns over his size.

The problem is, he has to compete with Warburton, Tipuric at 7, Lydiate, Shingler, Turnbull at 6, and Faletau, Baker at 8.

If form is rewarded however, he would be in the Welsh squad for the 6 Nations.

Theres loads of card suggestions to be tried in other sports,
never heard of an orange card before,
Black card works by having the player be a forced sub (ie he can play no further part in the game put you can bring on a sub to replace him, if you have no subs left then tough).

I could see the black card being useful for low end infringements, as a player going to the bin for 10 minutes can be harsh.

Kingshu wrote:Theres loads of card suggestions to be tried in other sports,
never heard of an orange card before,
Black card works by having the player be a forced sub (ie he can play no further part in the game put you can bring on a sub to replace him, if you have no subs left then tough).

I could see the black card being useful for low end infringements, as a player going to the bin for 10 minutes can be harsh.

Not sure about that, a black card could be worse than a 10 minutes spell in the bin - if for example you had injury problems at THP and you're only decent prop got a black card in the first 10 minutes.

I see Hoeta's up to his old tricks...

That O'Teo fella is a bit of a lump alright.

#NextIrish13

That Cup O'Te lad played well. He could turn into a hand option in the centres.

Thought the red card and yellow card were on the harsh end of the scale but each player did something 'naughty' and left the decision/punishment in the hands of the referee (and remember the referee was Paterson!!).

If there was a duck, or a dink, or if the tackler had started on the chest/shoulder and slid up to the neck or if the players had only been a few yards apart then I could have understood a penalty and warning. But the fact that Kearney basically ran straight downfield for 40 yards and the tackler close-lines him right on the neck made it look very bad. I think if it had been another ref it would have been a yellow.

Didn't like the knee on to the player on the ground though, that was cheeky to say the least. Apart from that brain-f@rt though, that number20 for Blues played absolutely immense.

Thought Leinster played much better over the 80 minutes than they had in the previous months. Having a scrum half who keeps the high tempo makes all the difference. I honestly believe that kid McGrath is better than Boss and Reddan at this stage and it is only MOCs reluctance to go with youth that is keeping him from playing more.

Moore played well coming back, Furlong put in a good stint. That was a cracking battle between the backrows.

A proper entertaining game, good crowd atmosphere (I wanted to be at that game instead of watching on tv). Pity the cards took some of the gloss off it but then the players committed the fouls putting the ref in position to have to make decisions.

Kingshu wrote:Theres loads of card suggestions to be tried in other sports,
never heard of an orange card before,
Black card works by having the player be a forced sub (ie he can play no further part in the game put you can bring on a sub to replace him, if you have no subs left then tough).

I could see the black card being useful for low end infringements, as a player going to the bin for 10 minutes can be harsh.

Indeed that is sometimes the case and I would suggest that the yellow card time penalty is reduced to 5mins which would hopefully encourage referees to dig in their pockets more often than they do currently. Pretty obvious that they are all reluctant to flash the yellow early doors and "our Nige" type get togethers on the field for a damn good telling off coz the ref is very cross are blydi tedious. The players know what's expected before they leave the dressing room. Shovel out the cards right from the off I say, not wait till the 65th minute.