Champions Cup Quarter Finals 2023

First topic message reminder :

Quarter-finals

Friday, April 7th:
Leinster v Leicester Tigers, Aviva Stadium, 8pm

Saturday, April 8th:
Toulouse v Cell C Sharks, Stade Ernest Wallon, 4pm;
Exeter v DHL Stormers, Sandy Park, 5.30pm

Sunday, April 9th:
La Rochelle v Saracens, Stade Marcel Deflandre, 4pm

And Ringrose man of the match. Easy decision, he's been central to Leinster winning this

They have been bloody brilliant and deserve it. The English game just isn't setup the same way to support something like this.

And this was only 17-10 at the half.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:The scoreboard won't reflect how competitive Leicester were here. Leinster are pretty ruthless in these situations.

So much class in that Leinster side though isn't there. Half chances are suddenly more like 60:40 in Leinster's favour. Keeping the team together for an extended period just means they are all so in sync with each other as well.

The talent that has come through (and still coming) the academy is just rediculous. Ireland owes everything to the structures and coaching Leinster have put in place.

The English sides have shown in Europe, that there is still plenty of quality in the premership, which is great to see. Hopefully Leicester continues to build from here.

doctor_grey wrote:And this was only 17-10 at the half.

Tigers blew some chances and you can't afford to do that against Leinster. Make an error and they punish you. Tigers just had to many missing. Dolly, Chessum, Wells, Porter, Scott is five internationals we could have really done with being able to select. Leinster are just to good and as much as Tigers could bring the physicality there's a gap we couldn't bridge in terms of attacking threat.

Hopefully it's a case of patience. We've got more talent coming out of the academy and if we can keep hold of the talent we've generated so far we can start to build up the squad depth.

French crowds are hilarious - booing a decision to overturn a try when the knock-on was so obvious ...

Wow that was some try from Sharks

French TV director now desperately trying to find a non-existing infringement against the Sharks ...

Nice try from Toulouse now - this match isn't dull ...

Half time - Toulouse go in slightly ahead. Plenty of action including a try from Sharks disallowed for obstruction that I'm not sure about ...

Good match. It's a shame Etzebeth can't give it a go. Match seems tailor made for him.

Heaf wrote:Half time - Toulouse go in slightly ahead.  Plenty of action including a try from Sharks disallowed for obstruction that I'm not sure about ...

...indeed....how can you be 'obstructing' when you're behind the ball carrier....

That's Dickson for you ...

Panic forward pass from Toulouse on their own try-line also missed ...

Mr Fishpaste wrote:

Heaf wrote:Half time - Toulouse go in slightly ahead.  Plenty of action including a try from Sharks disallowed for obstruction that I'm not sure about ...

...indeed....how can you be 'obstructing' when you're behind the ball carrier....

Perfectly possible under the laws. He does stop a clean tackle the only question is whether you feel it was intentional.

Can't help but think Toulouse should have seen yellow by now for all the infringements in the red zone ...

No 7&1/2 wrote:

Mr Fishpaste wrote:

Heaf wrote:Half time - Toulouse go in slightly ahead.  Plenty of action including a try from Sharks disallowed for obstruction that I'm not sure about ...

...indeed....how can you be 'obstructing' when you're behind the ball carrier....

Perfectly possible under the laws. He does stop a clean tackle the only question is whether you feel it was intentional.

Which I don't think it was - the ball carrier was jinking around in front of him but he didn't change his direction to block the tackler ...

That Sharks' try might get ruled out if they go back to look at what might have been a forward pass --- cue French TV director

That's crap. Again this is what needs to stop. Home director again. Don't care if its a forward pass we shouldn't have home teams dictating decisions.

How many phases back can you go for a review....

Mr Fishpaste wrote:How many phases back can you go for a review....

2.

How many phases did they go back to find that forward pass.....

The officiating in this tournament is laughable in general anyway. Cards are a lottery and some teams seem immune to being penalised for leading with shoulders/diving off feet at rucks, hands on the ground etc. TMOs that seem to want to chime in for some teams whilst staying quiet for others ... The only thing that's consistent is the inconsistency ....

1.

That's game over now ...

great try by Toulouse. They can really turn it on when they have to.

Not that it matters in terms of the result but I bet we don't see replays of the clearly forward pass before that last try ....

Thought not ...

I seriously hope they aren't letting French TV directors run the show in the World Cup ...

Chiefs looked like they had a 3 on 1 there but were running in quicksand ...

Nicely worked try there

Heaf wrote:Nicely worked try there

really slick. perfect execution.

That's why I don't think Slade is an international.

Exe are playing really well. There is a long way to go....

Holy cow!

Chiefs are flying here - can they keep it up?

Stormers are going to have to come out aggressively. Exeter will have to remain composed.

Wasn't expecting this score.

That Simmonds fellow knows a thing or two about playing Rugby.

Raynard having trouble with what's forwards ... two knock-ons and a forward pass in the last 10 mins

Totally shut Stormers down, Baxter and Chiefs did their homework.

Big scoreline now. I’m not sure anyone else has done this to Stormers since they joined the URC.

Agree, Baxter and team are great coaches. Another challenge next week.....

Have to admit, I didn't see a big score like this coming. Glad Woodburn is man of the match. As usual, could be a number of the Chiefs. Nowell in particular.

For me that was Chiefs' best performance this season ... could do with them not carrying it into the prem mind ...

Heaf wrote:I seriously hope they aren't letting French TV directors run the show in the World Cup ...

Or the Irish ones....

Exeter really turned up. There's been a notable reshuffle over the past two weeks after Baxter lost his rag with the team in the last round of the Prem. The two young 9s, Wyatt at fullback etc have all come in and really performed. They look rejuvenated. Let's hope it's just in Europe.

Interesting: Three Quarter-finals played and all with big scorelines.
Leinster 55-24 over Leicester
Toulouse 54-20 over Sharks
Exeter 42-17 over Stormers

To me, none of these matches seemed as dominating as the scores might indicate. Yet, three games and three deserved winners. Let's see what tomorrow brings...

So Brace and/or the TMO have decided to only ref one side today by the looks of it ...

TBH La Rochelle should have been out last week with better officiating ...

Off feet at ruck as all the LR players backed out ...