Ospreys Vs Leinster

Thought I might as well make this match thread.

LEINSTER:

15: Rob Kearney
14: Zane Kirchner
13: Gordon D'Arcy
12: Noel Reid
11: Dave Kearney
10: Jimmy Gopperth
9: Isaac Boss
1: Cian Healy
2: Sean Cronin
3: Martin Moore
4: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN
5: Mike McCarthy
6: Kevin McLaughlin
7: Shane Jennings
8: Jamie Heaslip

REPLACEMENTS:
16: Aaron Dundon
17: Michael Bent
18: Mike Ross
19: Devin Toner
20: Jordi Murphy
21: Luke McGrath
22: Collie O'Shea
23: Darragh Fanning

15 Richard Fussell
14 Jeff Hassler
13 Jonathan Spratt
12 Ashley Beck
11 Aisea Natoga
10 Dan Biggar
9 Tom Habberfield

1 Duncan Jones
2 Scott Baldwin
3 Aaron Jarvis
4 Ryan Jones
5 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt)
6 Joe Bearman
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Dan Baker


REPLACEMENTS

16 Scott Otten
17 Nicky Smith
18 Adam Jones
19 James King
20 Morgan Allen
21 Tito Tebaldi
22 Sam Davies
23 Hanno Dirksen

REFEREE: Marius Mitrea (FIR) ASSISTANT REFEREES: Neil Hennessy, Jon Mason (both WRU)
CITING COMMISSIONER: John Charles (WRU) rabGareth Simmonds (WRU)


UK & Ireland - Live on RTE Two and BBC Wales from 7.05pm Friday

Ospreys 26 Matches    Leinster
10         WON                14
461       POINTS           572
40         TRIES              57
30         CONVERSIONS   43
61         PENALTIES        62
6           DROP GOALS       5

Any reason why Madigan has been completely left out? What is MOC at?

Aparent Leinster have only won four of their last ten clashes with the Os. Need to turn that stat around a little and get a win tonight.

My have to pull myself away from the masters tonight to watch this one.

good try . ospreys looking lively

Hassler is surely the signing of the season.

Hassler and Natoga have been very intelligent signings for the Ospreys. I'd add Perry Parker to that list. One or two marquee signings to deal with their up-coming departures and they're back to being a very good team. Shame Ryan Jones is off! Legend.

The standard of reffing is simply unacceptable. Why can't they just copy Owens.

Ref seems ok to me...havent seen too many contentious issues....

Healy & Baker's stats are going to be crazy after this game. So many defenders beaten!

How the hell has James King got a pro contract.

Healy is the best "back" Leinster have. He has better stats than any of them.

Can't see MOC lasting too long. Leinster have been so boring to watch in the Rabo this season.

Nice to see the O's playing well though.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Can't see MOC lasting too long. Leinster have been so boring to watch in the Rabo this season.

Nice to see the O's playing well though.

Or maybe Joe left at the right time?

MOC is in for a pasting after this. Its been building all season.

Players not good enough maybe?

Where's Ian Madigan when you need him?

Well done Ospreys your still in the hunt! Hopefully you can kick ln from this and become a force in the Rabo again. The league needs a good Ospreys team.

Dan baker deserved man of match , healy good game too

ME-109 wrote:Players not good enough maybe?

That's what you used to say about Ireland but Schmidt has shown how wrong you were.Like Declan Kidney you seem unable to learn from your mistakes.

It's a genuine question given the endof a lot of players careers and the lack of leadership in the current crop. Don't get your knickers in a twist.

Leinster will always be competitive because if the depth we have in the pack. Although MOC's selections have been odd with an out of form Locky starting and Ruddock (our best 6 this season) in and out if the team.

Fair enough. You are still top of the rabo and in fairness losing to Toulon away is not an embarrassment. Although I guess the performance was very un-Leinster like.

Twas and to be honest we have been very boring to watch this season in the Rabo. Still getting the results though.

Jimmy was brilliant for us at the start of the season but now his honeymoon period has well and truely worn off. Madigan is better in almost everyway and now needs to be starting week in week out.

I would still cut MOC some slack (until about Dec next season) in terms of how he is doing, he might turn it around and he has a lot to deal with. Agree about Madigan though...

I reckon the rabo is leinsters to lose

I'm sure MOC will be allowed to see out his contract and take us through this transition.

I don't really mind if we don't win the Rabo if I'm honest. Partly because I want to see Glasgow win it. I just want to see us to perform and see some slick backline moves again.

Did not see this coming   - puts Ospreys right back in the mix. Makes next week's game for us at Scotstoun v Ulster very tasty indeed.

ME-109 wrote:It's a genuine question given the endof a lot of players careers and the lack of leadership in the current crop. Don't get your knickers in a twist.

Fair enough if it's a genuine question then I'd have to say the players are good enough to perform better than they have been.Schmidt had a poor season by his standards last year finishing 2nd in the league and getting knocked out of the HC in the pool stages.However due to the horrible injury problems we suffered mid season we didn't criticise him as we could see that he was getting the best performances possible out of the players he had available to him.I have no problem with Leinster failing because we aren't good enough as long as we play as well as we can most of the time,imo MoC is not getting the best out of the talent available to him and that's why we are questioning him.

I think next year will be very interesting for Leinster especially in the backs. Remember MOC was also in charge when Leinster hammered Northampton (although the follow up was disappointing) and they did the business in the pool stages overall. As I said up to Dec will be interesting in terms of how Leinster are going in the HC (or whatever its called). Regardless of what Lfan4life said I think winning the Rabo is important for Leinster and they are in prime position.

Didn't Leinster win the rabo and ECC titles last year? Not bad for a 'bad season'... I don't see what there is to complain about. I can't remember a year where Leinster didn't finish in the top 2 of the Rabo. Europe is very competitive, so 4 European trophies in the cabinet is an excellent return.

Are Leinster doing much recruiting for next season?

Of course the Rabo is important to us. So important it could save MOC's job. I was just saying that Id love to see Glasgow win it because it would be great for the league.

For this league to thrive we need a strong Ospreys and Glasgow team. We need rivalries outside of the provincial ones.

The Saint wrote:Didn't Leinster win the rabo and ECC titles last year? Not bad for a 'bad season'... I don't see what there is to complain about. I can't remember a year where Leinster didn't finish in the top 2 of the Rabo. Europe is very competitive, so 4 European trophies in the cabinet is an excellent return.

Are Leinster doing much recruiting for next season?

Under Joe Schmidt Leinster fans were conditioned to look at the performances not the results.Schmidt always said that if you get the performance right then most of the time the results will follow,the thing we're complaining about is the performances aren't good enough and I can't see how they'll get better.It's a nice complaint to be top of the league and whining that we're not playing well but I fear that when the playoffs come round we could be found out.

I guess that depends on your opposition. You seem to have a hold over Ulster. Munster are looking very resurgent, but have the two tournaments to contend with, and have also lost two very important players. Can't see the Ospreys or Glasgow turning you over up in Ireland.

The Saint wrote:I guess that depends on your opposition. You seem to have a hold over Ulster. Munster are looking very resurgent, but have the two tournaments to contend with, and have also lost two very important players. Can't see the Ospreys or Glasgow turning you over up in Ireland.

Well Ulster have a lot of injuries to contend with but I'd fear both Munster and Glasgow,Munster have improved a lot and while losing PoM is a blow I think their defense is strong enough to stop us as we don't seem to have much ingenuity in attack any more,penalty tries and mauls have been our top attacking weapons this year.Glasgow have been a real thorn in our side lately,we struggle against them and while they haven't beaten us at home in a while the games have been very close over the last few seasons.

The Saint wrote: I can't remember a year where Leinster didn't finish in the top 2 of the Rabo.

The Irish teams really have to try through the course of the season though do they. You'll get the odd defeat like Friday, But by and large, the big budgets of the Irish teams mean the squads are far stronger than their nearest competitiors.

Brian O'Driscoll hasn't played a league game in Wales for 6 years.

6 years.

what a pathetic competition.