European Cup Semi Finals - Easter Weekend

First topic message reminder :

Saracens v Munster
Leinster v Toulouse
Clermont v La Rochelle Harlequins
La Rochelle v Sale

4 decent games coming up this weekend.

My predictions for the finals

Saracens v Toulouse

Clermont v La Rochelle

This is not the Toulouse team that beat Racing.

Pretty rotten to be honest

Toulouse looked like they had them in that scrum

Was there an obstruction there?

Definitely obstruction

Crazy that James Low hasn't been picked at points this season because they can only have 2 NIQ players - he's lethal

A lifeline for Toulouse, that would have been game over

They need to change things up at HT, get Ntamack on at FH

Long half!

Where are all the non Scottish posters?

We're all hiding from the big yellow thing in the sky

I'm here

OK so now everyone's gone ...

Welcome heaf

And yes, maybe everyone else is in the beer garden and it’s us Scottish folk here keeping our pale skins out of the burny sun

17-9 Leinster after another Toulouse penalty

Why did they not take the one before half time?

Huge kick that from Toulouse

Tekori nonchalantly chucks Sexton into touch!

Bet plenty of other players would like to do that

James Low is brilliant

Toulouse are really not playing well. They’re looking like a club version for Scotland.

That was a Sexton special, Leinster cranking it up

Looks like Toulouse used up all their good stuff against Racing ...

As a neutral it's a shame this hasn't been more competitive, but you can't help but be impressed by Leinster

That should be it, another relentless try

24-9 Leinster

Leinster are just playing simple rugby. Toulouse are just either one up going up the middle or shuffling side to side. All too easy to defend against.

Tough on Toulouse, but it was not a try

This is going to be interesting to call...

Toulouse take the penalty

24-12 Leinster

Harsh on Medard not to get that

Soooo many high tackles and red zone penalties- sexton should be off for 10

Why take 3 points at this stage???

tigertattie wrote:Harsh on Medard not to get that

Soooo many high tackles and red zone penalties- sexton should be off for 10

Why take 3 points at this stage???

Plenty time left

They don’t look like scoring many so should have tried to get one there.

Toulouse just don’t look like table topping giants right now.

Leinster just keeping the gap out there with another penalty

27-12 Leinster with 15 mins left

I imagine Leinster are only planning on playing Sexton in the two finals. He is being held together with tape these days

Toulouse should have taken the three there

I can’t see Guns ever complaining about Wayne Barnes again

BigGee wrote:I imagine Leinster are only planning on playing Sexton in the two finals. He is being held together with tape these days

I still reckon they are very beatable. Whomever is playing them in the Pro14 semi will be in it to win it.

Immovable object meets immovable object?

That’ll be a bloomin boring game

Not really been the classic we had hoped it would be, but hard not to argue that the two best sides in Europe are in the finals

Maybe a year or two to soon for Toulouse

Aye Toulouse gave been disappointing.

Can't really complain about who is in the final - going to be a brutal game.

Not the most exciting semi final weekend in the end, both games were in the bag well before time

Personally I thought it was plenty expansive for a game with no offside line. The first half was breathless and the first try was magic.

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:I can’t see Guns ever complaining about Wayne Barnes again

7 lost semis in a row. Ladyboys?

Collapse2005 wrote:

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:I can’t see Guns ever complaining about Wayne Barnes again

7 lost semis in a row. Ladyboys?

Nope. Just not good enough.
The ladyboy era was a team that was good enough. Just no cojones.

Who is the ref for the final? If it’s Garces or Owens it will make it fun. I fully expect Leinster to win handily.

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:I can’t see Guns ever complaining about Wayne Barnes again

7 lost semis in a row. Ladyboys?

Nope. Just not good enough.
The ladyboy era was a team that was good enough.  Just no cojones.

Who is the ref for the final? If it’s Garces or Owens it will make it fun. I fully expect Leinster to win handily.

Surely the ref would need to be "neutral"?

Needs to be Owens or even Barnes again? Unless the fly in a SH ref!

Anyone know why the crowd was small for Saracens v Munster? I suppose I thought there's be more local rugby fans turning up. Were the tickets just priced too high for neutrals?

Rugby Fan wrote:Anyone know why the crowd was small for Saracens v Munster? I suppose I thought there's be more local rugby fans turning up. Were the tickets just priced too high for neutrals?

Maybe easter weekend had something to do with it?

seemed to be plenty Munster fans, just a bit short on Sarries supporters.

Rugby Fan wrote:Anyone know why the crowd was small for Saracens v Munster? I suppose I thought there's be more local rugby fans turning up. Were the tickets just priced too high for neutrals?

Maybe the crowd was small because Sarries (or whoever was in charge of the tickets) stopped the Munster fans from buying up all the tickets so there was then no one left to buy them. Again it shows Sarries while big on the field aren't that big off it despite all their success. Their bandwagon has been rolling for a few years but you wouldn't say they were even in the top five in England in terms of fans.

Rugby Fan wrote:Anyone know why the crowd was small for Saracens v Munster? I suppose I thought there's be more local rugby fans turning up. Were the tickets just priced too high for neutrals?

3 weeks to sell tickets, Easter Weekend, Sarries one of the smaller fan bases, tickets not coming with massive be discounts, played in n Coventry. With the statutory M1 roadworks and Bank Holiday train service suspensions it was a crappy journey from North London.

It was because brexit was delayed. It allowed a lot of foreign oiks from paddy land to turn up ( or turnip - geddit) to your green and pleasant land ( although not as green or as pleasant as ours) to cheer on the micks against your bunch of blood drinking Orcs and goblins ( Owen Farrell when taking a penalty).

Maybe it was just the god fearing folk of Munster wanted to be preached to about their sexual preferences

We all need to feel the love (as somebody once said when interviewed after a champions cup semi final)

Hope the Munster fan who invaded the pitch gets banned from all Munster games. What a moron.

Why?

LondonTiger wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:Anyone know why the crowd was small for Saracens v Munster? I suppose I thought there's be more local rugby fans turning up. Were the tickets just priced too high for neutrals?

3 weeks to sell tickets, Easter Weekend, Sarries one of the smaller fan bases, tickets not coming with massive be discounts, played in n Coventry. With the statutory M1 roadworks and Bank Holiday train service suspensions it was a crappy journey from North London.

Saracens are known to have a small fan base, so that's no surprise. What you say does help explain why neutral fans from further south would have skipped the fixture. I suppose I imagined there might be more interest from local neutrals. If I lived somewhere with a reasonable journey to that stadium, then I think I would have gone along. A key match between two good teams I planned to watch anyway, and a chance to experience travelling Munster fans, would have been attractive. The only thing which would have put me off is if ticket prices seemed toppy.

Perhaps I had unreasonable expectations of how many local neutrals a match like that could draw under any circumstances.