RaboP12 (Round 4): Leinster 22 vs Edinburgh 16 k/o - 18:15 Sat, 22 September 2012 (RDS)

Final score Leinster 22 v Edinburgh 16
Leinster Rugby Score Card

Name	Tries	Conv	Pen	Drop	Pts
Jonathan Sexton	1	2	1	-	12
Brendan Macken	2	-	-	-	10

Edinburgh Rugby Score Card

Name	Tries	Conv	Pen	Drop	Pts
Greig Laidlaw	-	1	3	-	11
WP Nel	1	-	-	-	5

Coverage on RTE and BBC Alba.
Any season ticket holders going to the game, the packs will be available for collection. This usually means a lot of queuing and cufuffle before the game.

Nevin Spence - Book of Condolence
A Book of Condolence for the Spence family will be opened by the Official Leinster Supporters Club at the RDS on Saturday, 22 September in advance of Leinster's PRO12 fixture against Edinburgh. The Book will be sited in the Main Hall of the RDS adjacent to where the season ticket holder packs are being distributed. Supporters are asked to enter the Hall through Gate D.
The Book will be closed at 6pm to allow supporters and Leinster Rugby staff attend and pay tribute to Nevin, his brother Graham and father Noel during the minute's silence. It will then be re-opened post match in The Laighin Out.

For those who cannot attend the match on Saturday, a Book of Condolence will also be opened in the Leinster Store in Donnybrook from 11am on Tuesday, 18 September and will remain there until Saturday at noon.

Leinster squad news
Hooker Richardt Strauss suffered a head knock midway through the second half of Saturday night’s 19-18 victory over Benetton Treviso and he is doubtful for the weekend.
Saturday’s victory saw the successful return of Ireland internationals Kev McLaughlin, Mike Ross, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Brian O’Driscoll, Eoin Reddan and out-half Jonathan Sexton who scored a match-winning last minute drop goal in Italy.

With Monday’s field training session cancelled as a mark of respect for the late Nevin Spence, the panel will train on Tuesday morning and could be bolstered by the return of Gordon D’Arcy and European Player of the Year Rob Kearney who are both in contention for selection ahead of Friday’s lunchtime team announcement.

Good news that the two lads are returning. Hope McFadden gets retained at 12 tbh but don't see it happening, we need to get one of those two lads off the wing! Maybe Nacewa will start in one of their spots.

Have been disappointed with both Carr and Conway so far.

Can see Healy starting in this one with Cronin on his right and Hagan on his.

Does anyone know when the new leinster HC jersey comes out?

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Does anyone know when the new leinster HC jersey comes out?

Is there going to be a new jersey? I thought this is year 2 of the current jersey (and that they are to only update after every 2 years).

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Does anyone know when the new leinster HC jersey comes out?

Is there going to be a new jersey? I thought this is year 2 of the current jersey (and that they are to only update after every 2 years).

i heard There is going to be a new HC jersey for just HC games.

I liked the sky blue one they wore in the 2010/11 season in the HC. I don't think Dublin GAA were happy about it though. They saw it as Leinster stealing "their colour", which was a bit bizarre. You can't copyright a colour.

Gonna be a nice juicy match. Looking forward to it.

Junkies to get whupped, MacVisser to score 3 to become the greatest try scorer in the Rabo of all time

Junkies ? Isn't that Glasgow ?

BoyneRFC wrote:Junkies ? Isn't that Glasgow ?

No, no, not at all. We're Weegies or Soap-dodgers, nothing with any class!

Schmidt being a canny old fox in today's Herald:

Schmidt: Visser, Laidlaw a threat

by DAVID KELSO

Joe Schmidt, coach of Europe's leading club side Leinster, last night admitted that he fears Edinburgh's resurgence will put a dent in his side's Pro12 bid.

He identified the Scotland pair of Tim Visser and Greig Laidlaw as the men who will provide the major threat.

The sides meet in Dublin on Saturday with Edinburgh in third place behind Scarlets and Ulster and Leinster one place behind them.

Schmidt acknowledged that, even this early in the campaign, the contest is likely to be a pivotal one. "We were sluggish last weekend in Italy, but at least we managed to claim a very narrow win against Treviso," he said. "But we know we will have to raise our game when Edinburgh come to our place.

"The fact that they reached the Heineken Cup semi-finals last season underlined what a fine team they have become. I believe they have improved further over the past few weeks; they have greater strength in depth throughout their squad. Travelling to Ireland will not be daunting for them. They know how to win away from home, as they proved when they defeated a good Cardiff team earlier in the month.

"There is no doubt they will be in confident mood at the RDS and we are well aware of their many threats.

"You have to pick out Visser and Laidlaw. The former has picked up six tries in three matches, which is a terrific strike- rate, and Greig controls matters very cleverly.

"We regard Edinburgh as a very big challenge and we will certainly need to be more co-ordinated than we were in Treviso."

Feckless Rogue wrote:I liked the sky blue one they wore in the 2010/11 season in the HC. I don't think Dublin GAA were happy about it though. They saw it as Leinster stealing "their colour", which was a bit bizarre. You can't copyright a colour.

An all black jersey tried to do that?

I liked the sky blue. But I liked it because it was a nice colour as opposed to it being like a Dublin GAA jersey. Anyway were the Dublin colours not different up until the 60s and then Heffo's missus mixed something in on one of the washes (urban myth probably).

It will be an interesting game defensively for Leinster. Do you use the drift defense to move across the field and cut down on the space Visser has to play with? That gives Laidlaw more time to control a game. Or do you rush up to put pressure on the centres and outhalf? But risk a long ball reaching Visser in space where he is deadly.

It will be a close game but I hope there will be a few tries.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Does anyone know when the new leinster HC jersey comes out?

Is there going to be a new jersey? I thought this is year 2 of the current jersey (and that they are to only update after every 2 years).

i heard There is going to be a new HC jersey for just HC games.

Just got the ol' email for collection of Leinster supporter pack and it mentions that the new HC jersey will be unveiled at the game this weekend! (ooooh, very fancy)

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Does anyone know when the new leinster HC jersey comes out?

Is there going to be a new jersey? I thought this is year 2 of the current jersey (and that they are to only update after every 2 years).

i heard There is going to be a new HC jersey for just HC games.

Just got the ol' email for collection of Leinster supporter pack and it mentions that the new HC jersey will be unveiled at the game this weekend! (ooooh, very fancy)

Ohhh thats exciting! Cant wait to see it.

Big test for Edinburgh this against what will probably be a full strength Leinster team. I'm assuming Edinburgh will be fielding their first choice team too so should be a cracker!

In true Edinburgh style I think we'll either sneak a victory or get hunmped by 40 points with not much in between!

As 1st choice as it can be, considering we will be missing Strauss, SOB and Fitz....

Quite a few back up players missing too...

We are very low on flankers, so I would'nt call it 1st choice exactly.

1st choice*

Full strength...

OK, well the strongest Leinster team avaiable! And beign the most successful club in Europe just now, that will be a strong team!

when will the teams go out?

Leinster is tomorrow, and Bradley likes to announce his team fairly late on so am assuming it will be tomorrow too.

For Leinster games, the announcement is usually noon on Friday for a Saturday game, their site is fairly good at getting that announcement out quick

I expect the Edinburgh XV will be as follows:

1.Chunk 2.Ford 3.Cross 4.Gilchrist 5.Cox 6.Denton 7.Rennie 8.Talei 9.Rees 10.Laidlaw 11.Visser 12.Scott 13.De Luca 14.Jones 15 Tonks

That's first choice/full strength, with perhaps a debate to be had over the props.

How did Mcfadden get on last week?

No body knows. The only ones who saw the match were at it.

Yeah, it was a bit wierd that the match was only available on TG4's website.

thebandwagonsociety wrote:Yeah, it was a bit wierd that the match was only available on TG4's website.

Given it was the usual slot for rugby...why didn't they put the hurling (or whatever else they were showing at the time) on the web? Were they making crass judgements on the make up of Hurling followers verses Rugby followers? - "Oh them Hurling guys won't have any 'puters to go to, poor lads".

I joke of course but I still think the sport that should have got preference was the sport that usually frequents that slot.

Its a valid point of view. Reckon it had as much to do with it being an important hurling game (was it the replay of the U21 all-Ireland final) while the rugby was an away game at the start of its season. Mind you, I didn't watch either game.

Edinburgh team announced later this morning.

Why do I get so excited about these team announcements??? I pretty much know what the team will be!

that Jones is warming the bench

The props will be a debate. Could it be that Chunck is going to start becoming 2nd choice???

Wow, few surprises in the Edinburgh team!!!

15 Greig Tonks

14 Lee Jones
13 Nick De Luca
12 Matt Scott
11 Tom Brown

10 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN
9 Richie Rees

1 John Yapp
2 Ross Ford
3 Geoff Cross
4 Grant Gilchrist
5 Sean Cox
6 Stuart McInally
7 Roddy Grant
8 Netani Talei

Substitutes
16 Andy Titterrell
17 Robin Hislop
18 Willem Nel
19 Robert McAlpine
20 Dimitri Basilaia
21 Chris Leck
22 Harry Leonard
23 Dougie Fife

Where's Visser?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Where's Visser???"

Did they think all Leinster's planning would have been to stop him?

Schmidt was talking about him in advance...but I don't see how keeping him off would disrupt Leinster's plans (whatever they are) too much.

Maybe just giving him a break for what will be a big season for him, his team and Scotland selection?

Can only think he is injured or being rested? Maybe Bradly has written off this game already and is going to spare some players?

Lee Jones should have been dropped to sort himself out!

Rennie better be ok. We're gonna need him for Scotland in a couple of months!

Good to see Tom Brown getting a run out on the wing

Probably first choice front five, with first choice half backs and centres. The rest a bit of mix and match.

Mcinally must be pretty chuffed at the amount of rugby he is getting, and lee jones is a lucky lad indeed.

I hope it is just a case of keeping visser fresh. He can't play every game this season, and it's important the team doesn't become too reliant on one player.

funnyExiledScot wrote:
Mcinally must be pretty chuffed at the amount of rugby he is getting

Why should he? He deserves it on his recent performances.

Because at the start of the season, with denton, talei and basilia all on the books, he must have been concerned for his place in the pecking order.

I agree that he's been very good this season and deserves to be picked.

Have to say that selection strikes me as him accepting that we'll probably lose, as opposed to picking our top team to try and test them and win the game. "Resting" Visser and Rennie and having the youngsters Hislop and McAlpine on the bench isn't great IMO.

Yes the Scotland players need rested and rotated but this is only the 4th game of the season and one where I would have liked him to put our 1st team out and give them a real test. We've got Dragons away next week so could rest people then, or maybe he is targetting that so wants the stronger players?

I also don't like rotating players one week on one week off - you need to have 2 or 3 games in a row to really get into the swing of things.

Put it this way - can you imagine what would happen if Man U rested RVP and Vidic on Sunday away to Liverpool??

Ouch....

15: Isa Nacewa
14: Andrew Conway
13: Brian O'Driscoll
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Fionn Carr
10: Jonathan Sexton
9: Eoin Reddan

1: Cian Healy
2: Sean Cronin
3: Mike Ross
4: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN
5: Tom Denton
6: Kevin McLaughlin
7: Shane Jennings
8: Jamie Heaslip

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Tom Sexton
17: Heinke van der Merwe
18: Jamie Hagan
19: Devin Toner
20: Jordi Murphy
21: John Cooney
22: Ian Madigan
23: Brendan Macken

...just really missing SOB, Fitz and Kearndogg and we have a full team...

Big test for the Laidlaw-Scott-De luca axis - basically Scotland's midfield against Irelands.

This will be a big step up for WP Nel when he comes on too - time to see what he's made of.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Have to say that selection strikes me as him accepting that we'll probably lose, as opposed to picking our top team to try and test them and win the game. "Resting" Visser and Rennie and having the youngsters Hislop and McAlpine on the bench isn't great IMO.

Yes the Scotland players need rested and rotated but this is only the 4th game of the season and one where I would have liked him to put our 1st team out and give them a real test. We've got Dragons away next week so could rest people then, or maybe he is targetting that so wants the stronger players?

I also don't like rotating players one week on one week off - you need to have 2 or 3 games in a row to really get into the swing of things.

Put it this way - can you imagine what would happen if Man U rested RVP and Vidic on Sunday away to Liverpool??

No better way for the 'understudies' to experience what they'll need in the coming years to keep Edinburgh charging than facing the current European champions. You have to learn quickly. It's why Schmidt keeps throwing on his young guys. yes, people will say, but he has proven quality as backup to his mainstays - the risks aren't so great. The 'proven quality' wasn't proven until it was tested.

I think Bradley is smart enough. Save his resources for tougher periods down the line both in Pro12 and in HC, and give valuable experience to his future prospects for effective rotation.

And he still could win the game! Nothing is impossible.

I just think Robin Hislop would get eaten alive by that pack, and is on the bench instead of grizzled veteran chunk.

I agree that it is good for young guys to get these experiences but I was really hoping we'd put out our strongest 22 and really test them - they're going to need it for Saracens at home in a few weeks.

As you say though we may win, and Bradley will be seen to be a genius!

I don;t think Nel has anything to fear. Healy and Ross are (imo) completely over-rated props!

tigertattie - Can open, worms everywhere....!

tigertattie wrote:I don;t think Nel has anything to fear. Healy and Ross are (imo) completely over-rated props!

Could be right, tiger. But, whatever about Ross, Healy isn't just there for his prop work. I think he brings other things with him.

tigertattie wrote:I don;t think Nel has anything to fear. Healy and Ross are (imo) completely over-rated props!

Eh, Castro? Lol. Only thing he is effective at is patting people sarcastically on the head. It's been 3 years since I've seen him make any ground.

I agree on Ross, but ask any AB supporter who knows their stuff about Healy and I am sure they will gladly educate you.

Healy and Ross are experienced international props - they are going to give anyone in the Rabbo a tough game!

Sorry tiger- I assumed you were from Leicester.. my apologies.

But you are wrong on Healy..

Cian Healy is a savage LH prop. People forget how young he is. Still only 24 He played in the 09 HC final at 21 and did fine against a fairly serious front row. Great ball carrier and tackler. All round cracking player.

Mike Ross may not be so good around the park, or carrying ball, but when it comes to scrumaging he is the Guru. He was the TH in the Premiership team of the season in his last year at Quins. You can slag off the Premiership for being turgid and boring at times but they do like a good scrum.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:
Mike Ross may not be so good around the park, or carrying ball, but when it comes to scrumaging he is the Guru. .

It is unfortunate for us then that he is up against John Yapp, renowned for not being a great scrummager....!