Edinburgh Rugby vs Leinster

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This game has some big, big consequences for that 7th place spot. Edinburgh are one point behind Connacht - both teams have equal wins, and if Edinburgh got a losing bonus point, equal amounts of bonus points. Connacht's points differential is greater than Edinburgh's unfortunately. It seems as if Edinburgh need a draw or a win (and the Ospreys to do a bit of steamrolling) for seventh place.

For Leinster, all that's to play for is 5th or 6th place. No doubt pride will be on the line, but might this be a game to rest key Irish players with the World Cup in mind?

Edinburgh Rugby
15 Jack Cuthbert

14 Dougie Fife

13 Sam Beard

12 Andries Strauss

11 Tim Visser

10 Tom Heathcote

9 Sam Hidlago-Clyne



1 Alasdair Dickinson

2 Ross Ford

3 John Andress

4 Anton Bresler

5 Ben Toolis

6 Fraser McKenzie

7 Hamish Watson

8 Cornell Du Preez



Substitutes

16 Neil Cochrane

17 Rory Sutherland

18 Simon Berghan

19 Ollie Atkins

20 James Hilterbrand

21 Nathan Fowles

22 Jade Te Rure

23 Tom Brown



Hugh Blake is with Glasgow Warriors until the end of the season

Grayson Hart, Damien Hoyland and Jamie Farndale are currently with Scotland 7s



Not considered due to injury

Phil Burleigh (ribs), Mike Coman (head), Chris Dean (knee), ( Allan Dell (ankle), David Denton (head), Grant Gilchrist (arm), Sean Kennedy (shoulder), Tomas Leonardi (head), Stuart McInally (shoulder), Nick McLennan (groin), W P Nel (knee), Matt Scott (shoulder), Greig Tonks (hamstring)
Leinster Rugby

15. Rob Kearney
14. Zane Kirchner
13. Colm O'Shea
12. Noel Reid
11. Dave Kearney
10. Ian Madigan
9. Isaac Boss
1. Jack McGrath
2. Richardt Strauss
3. Mike Ross
4. Devin Toner
5. Mike McCarthy
6. Jordi Murphy
7. Sean O'Brien
8. Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

16. Aaron Dundon
17. Michael Bent
18. Tadhg Furlong
19. Tom Denton
20. Jack Conan
21. Luke McGrath
22. Jimmy Gopperth
23. Cian Kelleher



2 legends will be leaving, key figures in both teams. Would be great to see them get a try in their last game.

(If there are any other Leinster players leaving, feel free to add a highlights reel in the comments)


Discussion Points

- Should Leinster risk key players?
- How big a loss are departing players?
- Can Edinburgh get anything from this?
- How do both teams improve for next season?

VinceWLB wrote:If stats are correct he made a grand total of 0 tackles against the Drags when McInally had 18!

0 tackles made but 0 tackles missed. By his standards that's pretty good.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:If stats are correct he made a grand total of 0 tackles against the Drags when McInally had 18!

0 tackles made but 0 tackles missed. By his standards that's pretty good.

Totally. He didn't miss a single tackle.

Just seems so strange that Leinster can go from narrowly losing to Toulon in extra time to only narrowly beating Treviso in a matter of weeks.

Nematode wrote:Just seems so strange that Leinster can go from narrowly losing to Toulon in extra time to only narrowly beating Treviso in a matter of weeks.

The draw with Toulon was not nearly as impressive as it looks at first glance.The rain poured down and our scrum and lineout were hugely on top but our general play was as comedic as ever,knock-ons and clueless rugby.

We're a poor team and MoC is hiding behind the idea that he wants us to play heads up rugby.Rugby used to be about identifying space and attacking it but right now the players are so fit there is no space,under Schmidt Leinster had great structure and an ability to manufacture space using loads of little mini plays and relentless quick rucking,we played heads up by waiting until the space was created and then attacking it,we also had the passing skills to get the ball to the player best positioned to attack the space.

MoC has us playing heads up but he has abandnoned the structure necessary to create the space,we have also regressed in terms of the skills necesssary to exploit any attacking opportunities that come our way.

I notice Chris Dean isnt in the 7s squad this week. Perhaps Solomans finally being pressured to play a scottish centre since the national squad are running out of options?

Would be a massive surprise - reading the 7a squad announcement I think he's just been dropped.

Guess who has won more free tickets

Ermm, AS is that really you???

Surely we've suddenly been plagued by injuries??

Not very confident now.

So:

- Roddy Grant isn't injured yet doesn't feature in the 23 and is replaced by James Hilterbrand, a hooker.
- Jade Te Rubbish is picked ahead of Carl Bezendhuit (who can at least kick and play centre)
- No Jamie Ritchie or Magnus Bradbury, but James Hilterbrand?? If Ritchie is on a pro contract he should be selectable. Bradbury seems big enough too and played well vs Leinster previously.




Leinster be like

Well that's a team.

Solly has been quoted on the radio over the last couple of days about how now he's signed a contract extension he'll bring in the next stage of development...I really hope this isn't it.

Heathcote at 10 and Strauss at 12 - that makes it almost impossible to win the game.

Agree with Nematode on the back row selections. Whilst I can just about live with McKenzie playing at 6, the selection of Hilterbrand to cover the back row from the bench is alarming. I seriously hope that Ritchie and Bradbury are injured. They have to be. There is no logic or sense whatsoever in picking Hilterbrand to play in the back row.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Heathcote at 10 and Strauss at 12 - that makes it almost impossible to win the game.

Agree with Nematode on the back row selections. Whilst I can just about live with McKenzie playing at 6, the selection of Hilterbrand to cover the back row from the bench is alarming. I seriously hope that Ritchie and Bradbury are injured. They have to be. There is no logic or sense whatsoever in picking Hilterbrand to play in the back row.

Nice guy that he is, but I don't think we needed to limit it to the back row.

Got to say AS can frequently make selections.

I didn't see the game vs Dragons, but to drop Grant who isn't injured and is a natural back-rower, and play Hilterbrand is just odd. Has he got some thing for hookers...

Nematode wrote:Got to say AS can frequently make selections.

I didn't see the game vs Dragons, but to drop Grant who isn't injured and is a natural back-rower, and play Hilterbrand is just odd. Has he got some thing for hookers...      

Grant didn't play in the Dragons game. Pulled out just before kick off.

Pretty sure hookers normally train with the back row anyway as there's a large cross over in skills.  Didn't Hilterbrand play a blinder in the Lyon game too?

des wrote:Pretty sure hookers normally train with the back row anyway as there's a large cross over in skills.  Didn't Hilterbrand play a blinder in the Lyon game too?

Are you saying you agree with the selection??

Phil Burleigh (ribs), Mike Coman (head), Chris Dean (knee), ( Allan Dell (ankle), David Denton (head), Grant Gilchrist (arm), Sean Kennedy (shoulder), Tomas Leonardi (head), Stuart McInally (shoulder), Nick McLennan (groin), W P Nel (knee), Matt Scott (shoulder), Greig Tonks (hamstring)

What the hell is Hilterbrand doing there?

Bradbury, Ritchie or Grant should be in the team.. Solomons at its finest once again.

This is a very strong Leinster pack, i don't really fancy Edinburgh's chance.

Well we certainly cannot afford an injury to Du Preez, otherwise we'll be down to one single back row specialist.

I don't fancy a backrow of McKenzie, Watson and Hilterbrand against Murphy, SOB and Heaslip!!

With that injury list, the season can't end soon enough for Edinburgh. Connacht would have a better chance at Kingsholm.

That is a weakened tight five for Leinster.  It is also a relatively weak bench.

Classic MOC as well.  Gopperth is gone after this game. Don't have to worry about cotton wool.  Madigan has played the 10 position about 3 times this whole year and he decides now is the time to make the change! With the slowest scrum half the game has seen since little old Slow McSlow played an AIL round 4 game while on crutches, Madigan will have the defensive line on top of him before the ball even arrives.  Then he will have two lightweights outside him in the centres.  

It will be the usual Leinster of only playing for at most 15 minutes of the entire match and hoping whatever points scored during that time is sufficient for them to hold out with till the end of the game and one too many squeeky bum 5 metres out defensive stands for comfort.

*How many times in recent years has Leinster's final game of the season had a direct impact on whether Connacht get into the premier european competition?

I can't see the pack we're putting out get ascendancy over that Leinster pack, and our 10,12 combination is surely one of the worst in the league.

Not confident at all.

But given I've got free tickets again, who cares!

I'm still confused by the Grant omission - Solomons says in the papers that he's basically picked the only players in the squad left standing, then reels off a big list of injured players - Roddy Grant wasn't one of them!

It does seem strange. And the way the national team works it's not like they're resting him.

If a backrower was injured though, I wonder if he'd play Cochrane in the back row? He's a very clever player and reminds me of Rory Best in his work at the breakdown.

Good call on Cochrane i wish he was in the team somewhere in the dying minutes against Glaws to win a crucial turnover..

I can't explain Grant exclusion from todays squad, my only explanation is that possibly Solomons wanted to give his mate Hilterbrand a last appearance..

For as good a player Sam H-C is, Strauss is as bad a player. Totally negates the impact of Sam.

Visser is a man transformed! Putting in the hits!

It's his testimonial match

How did that scrum end in a Leinster free kick? We were going forward and the ball was a in!

Cuthbert

Cuthbert looks more flat footed than normal

Great attempt of a tackle from Cuthbert

GLove39 wrote:Cuthbert looks more flat footed than normal

Is that even possible

Aim the chip kick for the touch line as opposed to the cavanous in goal area

Watson

Hamish Watson though

Toolis went higher than Toner here! Great try from Watson

Also, Allan Dell is fantastic on the TV as well - he speaks really, really well.

O's destroying Connacht too

Someone shoot Strauss and Cuthbert.

Good try Lei, has to be said

Who would win in a sprint. Alex Cuthbert or Alan Jacobson

Alex Cuthbert the Wales winger?

Cuthbert, you useless...

That's like 14 point he's cost us today.

What have we got to lose by giving Tom Brown a run at fullback? A few seasons ago, it looked like him and Hoggy would be fighting for the 15 shirt for the next decade, but no-one wants to play Brown in his natural position anymore. Really frustrates me.

Watson has been absolutely immense!

Strauss there passing to someone who only he can see

Our backline play is tragic. How can Solomans not see this?