Leinster at home

[dolf_lundgren]

Really tough start to the season, although Ive no idea what team they will send, its certainly not going to be full strength.

I am concerned we are undercooked, a 40min run out for everyone against Gloucester is not much rugby, we have a new looking midfield, so no much of a chance to test things out before a big game.

Hopeful of a resutl, but not much more. Id like to see Thomson, with Scott and Bennet start, see how they go. Possibly tuipolotu, but just havnt seen enough of him. Darcy and Boff back gives us a huge boost. Duhan is obviously huge x factor, but Goosen I think probably delivers more all round.

The forwards pretty much pick themselves, Watson, Ritchie & Bradbury in the back row for me. Will get more interesting when Corsbie comes back and if Muncaster steps up as he should. Also looking forward to seeing more of Liam McConnell.

[doedin]

No idea what Leinster's pre season has been but I have no doubt they will be ready for the game. A very tough start to the season for Embra and a LB might be as much as we get out of this game. I too worry that we are a bit short of game practice and our defence might struggle against a usually well drilled Leinster attack.

[dolf_lundgren]

Interesting lineup, I wonder if we are trying to hold a bit back for the second half. Obvioulsy thining get out to a strong lead then have Boff & Healy on to see it out!

Goosen
Graham
Tuipolotu
Currie
Duhan
Thompson
Price

Schoeman
Cherry
Hill
Sykes
Gilchrist
Ritchie
Watson
Muncaster


Ashman
Venter
Rae
Hodgson
Bradbury
Vellacott
Healy
Boff

[liveinhope]

I'm never happy with Currie at 12 (or on the wing!),seems a natural 13. Wonder if he'll swap around with Tuipolotu occasiuonally given he's (apparently) more of a 12 .
No obvious centre cover so presumably Goosen would cover 13 and Currie can move inside .Rather than one of the tens moving to inside centre?
Otherwise very strong selection.Leinster are certainly not at their strongest but as seen in past few seasons they never have a weak side out.Glad we are starting at home.

[The Feral Goat]

Agree on Currie good enough player to be at 12 but feels like his best position is 13 and defensively he was strong there last season. Perhaps they will line up differently in attack and defence or switch.
Think the new lad Matt Scott can play 12 or 13 as well

Good to have Hodgson back quite a few second row injured so first few games the 3 left standing may have a fair workload to get through and how we cope without Matas go forward will be important, will be interesting to see who steps up to do the carrying. I would like to see VDW and Tuipolotu get involved off rucks etc.

We have the stadium, i believe we have the players, we really need the coaches in particular to deliver results this season.

[The Feral Goat]

40% of last seasons BPs on day 1.

30+ points and 5 tries v a pretty strong leinster team.

And yet it feels a bit like more of the same, so close but so far.

Plenty of positives Muncaster, Scott, Thomson all showed up well, we scored tries but the same panic and errors as before. Is it lack of belief in the systems that makes players hunt the miracle play?

Really tough start to the season with a couple of away games in SA then Stormers at home up next we need to have that effort level as minimum standard and build on cutting errors.

EDIT: were we under cooked with only 1 pre-season match? would we have had greater match sharpness and less error prone with further pre-season matches. Surely an ER v GW full noise pre-season match instead could have been arranged and benefited both if getting opposition was a challenge.

[Frank]

Now 60% of last season BP. So much to look forward to.