RC Toulon v Leinster Rugby, 19 April

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RC Toulon v Leinster Rugby
Sunday 19 April 2015
KO 16:15
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille

Referee: Wayne Barnes

Live on France 2 / beIN / Sky Sports

Form:

RC Toulon
5/4/15 - Toulon 32 - 18 Wasps
24/1/15 - Scarlets 3 - 26 Toulon
17/1/15 - Toulon 60 - 22 Ulster

Leinster Rugby
4/4/15 - Leinster 18 - 15 Bath
24/1/15 - Wasps 20 - 20 Leinster
17/1/15 - Leinster 50 - 8 Castres

Teams:

RC Toulon
Halfpenny; D Armitage, M Bastareaud, Gitea, Habana; Michalak, Tillous-Borde; Chiocci, Guirado, Hayman (capt); Botha, Williams; Smith, Fernandez Lobbe, Masoe.

Replacements: Orioli, Menini, Chilachava, S Armitage, Mitchell, Wulf, Claassens, Suta

Leinster Rugby
R Kearney; McFadden, Te'o, Madigan, Fitzgerald; Gopperth, Boss; Healy, Cronin, Ross, Toner, M McCarthy, J Murphy, O'Brien, J Heaslip.

Replacements: Strauss, J McGrath, Moore, Marshall, D Ryan, Reddan, G D'Arcy, Kirchner.

whocares wrote: he might end up doing a hospital pass within his own 22 at some point so worth targeting.

Like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAXs1uzB7jY

RC Toulon
15. Leigh Halfpenny; 14. Delon Armitage, 13. Mathieu Bastareaud, 12. Matt Giteau, 11. Bryan Habana; 10. Frederic Michalak, 9. Sebastien Tillous-Borde; 1. Xavier Chiocci, 2. Guilhem Guirado, 3. Carl Hayman (c), 4. Bakkies Botha, 5. Ali Williams, 6. Juan Smith, 7. Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 8. Chris Masoe
16. Jean-Charles Orioli, 17. Alexandre Menini, 18. Levan Chilachava, 19. Steffon Armitage, 20. Drew Mitchell, 21. Rudi Wulf, 22. Michael Claassens, 23. Jocelino Suta

The Archangel Steffon on the bench.


Leinster Rugby
15. Rob Kearney; 14. Fergus McFadden, 13. Ben Te'o, 12. Ian Madigan, 11. Luke Fitzgerald; 10. Jimmy Gopperth, 9. Isaac Boss; 1. Cian Healy, 2. Sean Cronin, 3. Mike Ross, 4. Devin Toner, 5. Mike McCarthy, 6. Jordi Murphy, 7. Sean O'Brien, 8. Jamie Heaslip (c)
16. Richardt Strauss, 17. Jack McGrath, 18. Martin Moore, 19. Ben Marshall, 20. Dominic Ryan, 21. Eoin Reddan, 22. Gordon D'Arcy, 23. Zane Kirchner

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

whocares wrote: he might end up doing a hospital pass within his own 22 at some point so worth targeting.

Like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAXs1uzB7jY

yes this one was quite solid

Men against boys.  No Conan, McLaughlin, Marshall, Reid, Fanning, and Darcy and McGrath on the bench.

Don't know why Leinster aren't putting out their first team for this game.  Saving them up for the Pro12 next week I suppose. Typical Irish provinces.

MOC claiming that "noisy" Leinster followers are disrupting the team with all their criticism.

MOC's problem is being openly slated in the D4 based media because he refuses to pick Madser at 10. All the hacks talked IM up so much last year that they see MOC as bordering on anti-Ireland! Unless MOC wins the ERC Cup he knows he will be gone - so no pressure then.

LondonTiger wrote:MOC claiming that "noisy" Leinster followers are disrupting the team with all their criticism.

Jaysus, welcome to Ireland Matt. The players get showered with adulation when they deliver and they get criticized loudly when they don't. It's always been that way and always will be.

Best of luck Leinster. Hope you do it, but its a big challenge.

The criticism of MOC by Leinster fans is just way over the top.

LondonTiger wrote:MOC claiming that "noisy" Leinster followers are disrupting the team with all their criticism.

Geordan Murphy now defending MOC.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/sinead-kissane/murphy-believes-its-time-to-cut-oconnor-some-slack-ahead-of-defining-contest-31152349.html

He's talking about a colleague and mentor- no surprise. He doesn't deserve the stick he's getting, but he also doesn't deserve to continue as their coach if they finish outside the Top 4 in the league. You can forget about the European Cup if they lose tomorrow or in the Final. With Cups you either win it or bust. What matters is Leinster look set to slide down the seedings for next years Cup, and will have potentially played themselves out of getting a draw they can secure a home quarter with.

I do feel sorry for him, he's basically doing what David Moyes did last year for Man Utd. Trying to follow the unfollowable and failing.

It's the brand of rugby Leinster are playing that is causing the outrage amongst Leinster fans. If it was grinding out results (like last year but then again Gibbes was still with Leinster) then it wouldn't be as bad but it simply isn't.

The brand and the lack of killer instinct. How many times have Leinster got themselves ahead in games only to try and play safe and throw away a lead? Is that a directive from the coaches? A few years ago they would look to put teams to sword from those positions, regardless of the playing personnel.

Sin é wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:MOC claiming that "noisy" Leinster followers are disrupting the team with all their criticism.

Geordan Murphy now defending MOC.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/sinead-kissane/murphy-believes-its-time-to-cut-oconnor-some-slack-ahead-of-defining-contest-31152349.html

He clearly likes MOC, was trying to get Kidney to look into his playbook with Ireland not long ago.

According to Fitzgerald in an interview with the42 this week, MOC's game plan requires strong familiarity and the same 15 week in, week out. Would explain why MOC has been so vocal about the IRFU's player resting etc. I think it also points to why MOC is not suited to the role, surely he should adopt something different that will work with interchangeable players. Clearly the IRFU are not going to change their system, and MOC looks like he can't adapt to that.

If that's the case why did he rest everyone for the Dragons game? He also used Madigan in the weeks upto last years QF against Toulon and then played JG at 10. So those comments really dont make sense.

Yeah you're right there, here's an excerpt from the interview :

“I think the tricky part of Matt’s game plan, and the thing that makes it difficult for people on the outside to understand why it’s so hard to get right when you’re not playing together consistently, is that you have to probably get yourself in certain positions to create the opportunities.

“Getting in those positions can be tricky to get your timing and all those small things right. That’s the tricky part in terms of having personnel missing and key guys missing that can get us going forward, getting in good positions, making smart plays off ball players.”

MOC...from the heart.. Hope your lads play with the spirit and determination and shoddy tactics and questionable handling skills, and fall off the pace towards the end of the game badly to keep us on the edge of our seat...  
Keep up the good work.  Love the boys and how they're so under-form and off their aggressive best this season.  Really enjoyed it.  I'll be cheering like mad if they manage to win, but I'll be ecstatic if they lose.  That'll probably be our most lostests we've ever achieved in a long time in one season.  So top job if it happens.

kunu wrote:Yeah you're right there, here's an excerpt from the interview :

“I think the tricky part of Matt’s game plan, and the thing that makes it difficult for people on the outside to understand why it’s so hard to get right when you’re not playing together consistently, is that you have to probably get yourself in certain positions to create the opportunities.

“Getting in those positions can be tricky to get your timing and all those small things right. That’s the tricky part in terms of having personnel missing and key guys missing that can get us going forward, getting in good positions, making smart plays off ball players.”

So basically MOC's excuse for our performances is that his "game plan" doesn't at all fit with the entire setup of Irish rugby. Well that's completely understandable.

He also feels the solution to that problem is to change the entire setup of Irish rugby for a coach who could be gone next week if he got an offer he liked.

Madigan starts by kicking the ball dead. It wasn't even close.

OH Leinster what are you doing

Leinster... oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

That's as close to an own goal as you get in rugby. Looks like they may get off with it if they are offside.

That's a let off....

No more mistakes like that.

I knew that wasn't a penalty.

Great start from Wayne Barnes, honestly this is why he is so frustrating.

Botha should be in the bin.

How that isn't a yellow card against the thug?

Blatant Yellow.....

Nice shoes Madigan... I wonder where he got them

This is going very well for Leinster.

The discipline from Toulon has been shocking in this game.

Yep Leinster basics are very solid. Toulon discipline is poor and Michalak already throwing dodgy passes.

toulon scrum looking like they now have the bit between their teeth.

with the ball being so slippery, knock-ons mean the scrum will have a big impact on the final score.

quinsforever wrote:toulon scrum looking like they now have the bit between their teeth.

with the ball being so slippery, knock-ons mean the scrum will have a big impact on the final score.

I'm not so sure about that..

Pretty even battle in the scrum so far, some dominant scrums from both teams.

steffon on. pen for turnover. big change him coming on

stuart lancaster i hope you are watching

Must have missed how Armitage released the player there...

Did Basteraud just go down football esque there?

Leinster are doing well, but can they produce that one moment of magic to swing the odds in their favour? Still feel Toulon are more likely to nick the decisive try.

VinceWLB wrote:Must have missed how Armitage released the player there...

yes its hard to spot these things with only one eye.

Leinster have a strong sub front row. They'll be needing it fairly soon

Hopefully we can keep our noses ahead and get a late try to pull away.I'd be worried if we scored early,it might wake Toulon up.

glad its stopped raining. hope they scrubbed the soap off that ball they used in the first half!

Toulon fans boo and heckle Leinster as they run out. Classy.

strange game. toulon set piece shocking. leinster handling shocking. bit of a reversal from both teamss entire seasons in that respect.

Flip me is it a rugby ball they are playing with, or a bar of soap? It must be extremely greasy out there.

FecklessRogue wrote:Toulon fans boo and heckle Leinster as they run out. Classy.

they were booing barnes actually

both teams weakest player is 10. doesnt help the game flow

could very easily have been yellow for macfadden