Scarlets V Leinster

First topic message reminder :

Righty ho. Here we go, week (ahem) two and both teams have 1-0 records. Any suggestion that this is week 4 will be ignored.

Ok, ok, can't be done. As painful as it is for both sets of fans, a won-one-lost-two record is not where they wanted to be, even at this early stage.

So what's going wrong? Well for the home side they have probably greater reason not to panic just yet, a nice win away in Aironi (which won't be achieved as frequently this season as the last) and a tricky LBP in Galway isn't bad. Although some might say they could, and even should, have done better against Connacht after leading for the whole game right up until the last Connacht penalty went over. Munster away is always tough, so no need to panic about that. A win here and a 2-2 record isn't going to set hearts a flutter, but it's acceptable.

Leinster... oh, Leinster. What's going on folks? You're supposed to go from the ridiculous to the sublime, not the other way around. A riot of running rugby against Dragons suddenly consigned to history by a Glasgow team few gave much chance of getting an LBP, let alone the win. Things must improve. No more excuses about WC losses, that's not unique to us. Injuries? Yeah, we've had a few, but then again... to few to mention... uh, sorry.

Actually the injury list is quite deep. With the likes of Danny Riordan possibly being called up this is a team lacking in cohesion and experience together. The depth that we've had has been torn apart. Things seem to be getting worse before they're likely to get better.

The beard-stroking verdict. Home win, no LBP.

That midfield did send shivers down my spine Miaow!

Am I remembering rightly but didn't Maule and Reynolds play really well together last year in a few games? (or was that King and Reynolds)

really like the Leinster backline again although hope they perform.
Leinster 4-8 aren't looking great
Thought that was gonna be one of our strengths too.

What channel is this on guys and when?

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:What channel is this on guys and when?

TG4, 6.15 tomorrow avo

Did Reynolds play much last year? He was in great form for Llanelli, scoring three or four tries (?) in the play off semi final, but when he played for the Scarlets beginning of last year, I think on the wing, he looked horribly out of place. I think that was nerves; lots oh handling errors and just poor decisions. He's a much classier player than what I remember him doing in a Scarlets regional shirt last season.

I also think he's got the talent to get involved with Wales. I just hope he doesn't end up another Gavin Evans, he's the one I always think of when I see another talented centre coming through. The pessimist I am...

Miaow and Priest where do you think the scarlets could win this won? Or lose it actually?

our front row and back row need to step it up, they could win us this game. But we can easily lose it in the 2nd row and most of our backs are v young and inexperiences. The amount of handling errors I've seen over the last 3 games is incredible in a bad way. No point our forwards winning us ball if the backs don't do anything with it.

Twill be a nervy affair I've do doubt.

Dreamer-

Do you think your young backs have the expereince and talent to keep out the exciting attacking Leinster backs?

Pete - we'll concede tries (we nearly always do!) it's just whether or not we can keep our compsure and score enough of our own. Fenby, Maule and Williams are all experienced but the others really aren't and Tipuna is still very new to the club. The talent is there, it's whether or not they can keep it together to get this to work. Going to take a huge effort from them. You've got the likes of Fitzgerald and Nacewa to run at us so it's going to be a tough run out for them. Our backrow is really going to have to up their performance to give them some sort of protections.

Agree with dreamer; the tight forwards, obviously, have the potential to go missing against a team of Leinster's pedigree, regardless of who is in the shirt. But mostly, I think it will be errors that will kill the game. And not taking chances. Close game, with Leinster to come out on top for me.

Ben Morgan needs a big game.

It's a shame about Gavin Evans (I can't stand him personally, went to school with him and Ceirion Thomas and while Ceirion is a really nice guy Gavin is a t**t), but I still think it's a shame that he looked so promising for Scarlets then went to the Blues and they never played him and he's just disappeared.

Anyway I think our backs could win it, if they play with the attacking flare we know (most) of them can produce, but could also loose it for us with unforced errors and missed tackles.

Our Backrow forwards need a big game as well as our front 5.

Dreamer - you may well be right - god knows my memory is shocking, but I thought I remembered him having a few (1 or 2) games at centre and looking ok (know he played most of his few games on the wing), like I say I could be wrong.

Should be a good game, am gutted i'm not going...

Nah Smirnoff you are right Reynolds did play a fair bit for us last year. Firstly on the wing but later on in the LV and stuff he moved to centre. Didn't stand out as a great up and coming player but didn't look out of place either. Fingers crossed next to Maule he'll have a chance to settle. We know from him playinf for Llanelli if he gets enough space he can be lethal.

It's looking less likely I'm going to be going now either after my brief hope. Taxi's round by where I'm from are pretty Poopie.

Thats harsh,ppl like me in cardiff dont know were born,weve got dragons taxis coming out of our ying yang

ha well yeah I'm usually in Cardiff, can't believe it's easier for me to get to PyS from there then it is when I'm back in Carmarthenshire!

To be fair Smirnoff, the dive in fortune happened long before he joined the Blues, but it wasn't helped by it. I think the horrific injury (was it a back or neck break?) around '07 didn't help matters, and he lost all momentum (overused in rugby, I know, but true here) from then on.

I think the backline always has the potential to feel...weedy...when we lose a few first team players from it, namely JD2 and Lamont. Newton has a bit of a 'rabbit in the headlights' look sometimes, not helped by his size, and Lee Williams never fails to give me the sheets whenever he touches the ball, simply because I think he's just going to get smashed. He puts the effort in, fair play, but some things cannot make up for natural ability and size.

I'm not sure the backline has the strength to go with the flair that our first team does; that balance means tries. Dunno if we have it.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:It's a shame about Gavin Evans (I can't stand him personally, went to school with him and Ceirion Thomas and while Ceirion is a really nice guy Gavin is a t**t), but I still think it's a shame that he looked so promising for Scarlets then went to the Blues and they never played him and he's just disappeared.

Never rated him highly myself, at best he'd be cover for any region he played for.

What does Welch have to do to earn a start? Ever since stepping up bench-warming duties have been considered by Nigel to be his area of expertise when he clearly deserves a shot at better. Another example of talent declining from the radar as a result of incompetent judging at coaching level.

The Scarlets' defence will have to be tight to contain Leinster and above all they'll have to be clinical in complete contrast to the Blues against Munster. Possession and territory simply hasn't been exploited enough by the regions or the national side of late.

To be fair Knowsit Welch does get hit and miss reports from when he plays for Llandovery. Some days great, other days just not interested. THink perhaps it's an attitude problem. Everyone should show commitment and desire to play for the Scarlets and if he doesn't then I've no problem with Nige benching him. I want to know that each player taking to the field for the Scarlets is 100% commited and I'm not sure he is yet. Fingers crossed he gets to come on today and prove himself.

I don't get the chance to keep up with the WP very much so you'd undoubtedly know more than I do on that front Dreamer. You're right of course, a player who isn't willing to give it everything he's got needs to be shown that he'll be treated accordingly. All I can say is almost every time I've seen Welch in a Scarlets jersey he's shown very promising potential and capability. It'd be a shame if he doesn't back it up with the effort that could make him a very good asset at PYS.

Almost went to this game after the Newport V Pontypool one, but at 5pm at the Porthcawl M4 junction I decided to go home as it was hammering down with rain, but the weather looks decent enough on the tv.

It's their 5000th match as well by the looks. Hopefully it'll be a good one.

Gonna watch this online on s4c - Leinster could do with a win, backline looks very good, forwards look very young and I havent heard of most of Leinster's bench.

Here it is by the way

http://www.s4c.co.uk/clic/e_live.shtml

Artful_Dodger wrote:Gonna watch this online on s4c - Leinster could do with a win, backline looks very good, forwards look very young and I havent heard of most of Leinster's bench.

the Scarlets are the other way round, near first choice pack with their academy back line!

25 gone, pretty poor match, Nathan White unlucky not to get a try on his debut there.

Scarlets 3 - 3 Leinster

Bless him, he looked gutted when he tapped the ball down anyway...

Bit of a yawn fest to be honest

How we all miss our internationals eh? Is it raining there too? That won't help.

Hope the second half is better.

Leinster looked to up the intensity a bit at the end there but little or nothing created for both teams.

Scarlets playing like Wales in the first half of the Samoa game. Not staying with their ball-carriers and constantly letting them get isolated, waiting an age before choosing to participate in some rucks. Morgan has had the ball ripped from him far too easily on at least two occasions.

Slippery conditions and poor handling I can accept but this lack of intensity, impossible.

Try maybe this will bring a bit of life to the game.

God these young Scarlets backs look poor, not suprising considering what should be the Scarlets academy back line is actually in New Zealand with the Wales World Cup squad!

It's good how the Leinster pack are asserting themselves against the Scarlets pack though, that I didn't expect.

Has anyone noticed we have barely seen anything of Ben Morgan this season, I hope he wasnt a 1 season wonder...

Is this on tv guys?

Sorry see your post now dodger.

FT score

Scarlets 10 - 15 Leinster

How lucky are Leinster to have a player like Isa Nacewa while the WC is on.

Good win for Leinster although it was a really poor game.

Poor game error count must be high.

Will the regions ever learn something from past defeats? Find out on next week's episode of PPP (Pi$s Poor Play)

1. Emyr Phillips looked good.
2. Dreadful game from both sides.
3. Rhys Thomas is an idiot and I won't be surprised if he gets cited
4. The Scarlets are a very stupid side
5. The ref was dreadful, such inconsistancy at penalising both teams at the breakdown, just awful

A urine poor match, but well done Leinster on the win, Nacewa took his kicks well where Newton couldn't

What did Rhys Thomas do ? I was making a cuppa at the time.

landed some punches in a ruck, don't know whether it was relatiation or what, but still clearly stupid. Surprised he didn't get penalised for it actually, was right infront of the assistant ref.

Silly fool

rugbydreamer wrote:1. Emyr Phillips looked good.
2. Dreadful game from both sides.
3. Rhys Thomas is an idiot and I won't be surprised if he gets cited
4. The Scarlets are a very stupid side
5. The ref was dreadful, such inconsistancy at penalising both teams at the breakdown, just awful

A urine poor match, but well done Leinster on the win, Nacewa took his kicks well where Newton couldn't

I pretty much agree with all that. Very similar to Blues versus Munster last night. I really feel like the quality of the games lately has not been great. It generally isn't at the start of the season, and the international players missing isn't helping!

I really hope Ulster and the Ospreys put on a good show tomorrow

new season, same old scarlets, not a friggin brain betwen them! youd have thought they'd learn how to not conceed points after just scoring themselves. as for nigel davies, surely our props can play a whole 80 mins, why take ur most experienced forwards off in a tight game? nige seems to love making substitutions for the sake of it! urine poor start to the season, think it's gonna be a long 1!

Iv'e been very disappointed with the Scarlets this season.
The backs have generally been awful, far worse than I would of expected, granted they have just produced a group of very young players, and their all at the World Cup, but their academy players seem to be very poor in defence and attack.
The basic skills from professional players who should be lapping up this first team exposure simply aren't there, even catching a simple pass has looked beyond many of them at times. They have no experienced player in that back line to give them direction, no cool head, and no one who can straighten the line. the backs are running side ways and simply passing it along the line till they run into touch or are smashed back.

There has also been a major issue with their pack though, Leinster were young and inexperienced tonight but seemed to be on top on the Scarlets. Yet the Scarlets had pretty much a first choice pack out.
Granted Manu is away with Fiji, though Rhys is paid much more and isn't a kid. They are short of hookers, with Rees injured and Ownes away with Wales.

You also wonder what has happened to Ben Morgan, he caught fire last season, but now seems to simply be plodding through games, what happened to the aggressive, hard running we saw last season, that had Welsh fans looking for any excuse we could fine to claim he was Welsh?

But aside from that they should be looking to tear teams to pieces at Parc Y Scarlets up front. Yet their struggling against a team with 14 players away at the World Cup, and god knows how many more injured.
The Ospreys have rebuilt from Scratch after losing 4-5 key players at the end of last season, and have many on World Cup duty yet they tore a stronger Leinster team to pieces a few weeks ago.

I personally like Rhys Thomas, I think he's nasty and it always looking to get in amongst the opposition and upset them, and that type of player can be an asset to a team. At least he had a bit of fight, maybe if more of them followed his example they would not be looking in such a mess.

Agree with u Alyn, got to have a bit of nastiness about you upfront. Our backs have been awful, lee williams is our most talented back available at the moment, as he has the ability to create, unfortunatley the majority of our ball is slow, and just shiped wide with out any midfield penetration so it tends to restrict our space outwide. To be fair our backs are young and fairly inexperienced but our pack this season hasnt performed at all, I thought we would have competed far more up front at the start of this season. Glad i didnt pay 21 quid to watch thats Poopie tonight though, small mercy's i suppose

No complaints about our backs this season so far, they are performing just as I expected really. Huge ask for a lot of them to step up to this level when they'd never normally be considered.

Forwards are a problem though. OUr backrow especially. They should be winning matches for us but Edwards and ROb Gog have turned into penalty machines and Morgan still hasn't learnt how to retan the ball properly going into contact. Thought our front 5 played reasonably well yesterday compared to how they usually do. THe inability to learn from our mistakes at the breakdown cost us that match ultimately.

From what I saw the ref had a good game after seeing recent performance from a certain poor Irish ref.

The quality of the game was poor not surprising the crowds are down.

Again, well done ref., and the better team won.

No doubt that the better of two very poor teams won, but I thought the Ref was dreadful. He was penalising the Scarlets at the ruck and then allowing the Irish to get away with the same at the next ruck, just like at Cardiff on Friday. No wonder the players got frustrated!

I was impressed by the Scarlets centre who came into the line at pace to set up the one try....then I noticed it was a second row!!!!!!!!!!!!! Probably the only bright spot in 80mins. Its going to be a long season for the Scarlets without the likes of Lyons and King.

ha that was Aaron Shingler, he playes on the wing for Wales rugby 7's team sometimes so he's got a fair bit of pace on him!

rugbydreamer wrote:ha that was Aaron Shingler, he playes on the wing for Wales rugby 7's team sometimes so he's got a fair bit of pace on him!

Yes he has been magnificent this season, I watched him against Aironi, and he is wonderful at stealing opposition line out, his timing is brilliant, one of the few young lock forwards in Welsh rugby with real potential.