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

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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.

Awful performance but a win is a win.

Gutted, little fumble from Rees and it's game over. Edinburgh did so well given all the odds stacked amongst them

Phew! We made hard work of that one. Well played Edinburgh.

Our nous got us thro in the end. We are yet rusty.

But I'm happy with Carr & Macken tonight. They will grow on the back of this. 2 positives for me.

if edinburgh can learn to not drop the ball so much they can win the rabo.

if !

If you'd offered me a losing bonus point at the RDS, playing without Visser and Rennie and having absorbed 2 yellow cards at the start of the match, I would have taken it.

That was utterly grim !

alive555 wrote:if edinburgh can learn to not drop the ball so much they can win the rabo.

if !

I totally agree. Bradley has them rocking. They don't take a step back anymore for the full 80. Didn't used to. If they get more percise and controlled, in the last 5 metres, they could very well win the PRO12 and cause havoc again in the HC.

Had McVisser played tonight, Leinster were phhhoked.

Massively proud of that performance from Edinburgh - to go down to 13 men for 9 minutes and come away with a LBP at the end, and even be pushing for the win, is a massive achievement.

We would have lost by 30 points last season if that had happened!

Leinster were poor, but it was still a very strong team they had out.

Good stuff
Pack fronted up well all game

Perfect lineout again

Hislop would have gained massive confidence from suriving against an international tight head with only 5 men behind him

WP Nel is starting to look like the player we all though he would be - looks a lot more match fit

De Luca had a very strong game in attack and defence

Gilchrist was a stand out and would be happy for him to play for Scotland if Sale completely ruin Richie Gray, as they are threatening to do now!

Lee Jones was a 4 out of 10, when in previous weeks he has barely been a 1 out of 10!

I love Basalaia with the ball in hand!!! He dropped the restart after our try which was stupid, but he always gets over the gain line arms and legs everywhere

Bad points
Not very streetwise to give away 2 soft pointless yellows

Poor defence for each of the tries

Attack looked fairly blunt at times with not much go forward

Had so much possession before HT in their 22 but did nothing with it

Too many silly knock ons


So onwards and upwards - take confidence from the heart shown today and hopefully beat our bogey team away next week - the Dragons!

Pretty convenient for Leinster that Edinburgh got two yellows. That plank sexton was his usual rubbish self

Happy to take a lbp from that, strong leinster team out there.

Edinburgh shaping up nicely this season, looking forward to the next home game.

It's hard to win away games in the pro 12 but you always want to walk away with something, so 1 point from the RDS is nothing to be sniffed at, still think we could beat dragons away. The way we scored the try in the 2nd half should have been what we where doing for the good 10-15min spell in the 1st half kept it with the forwards on the leinster try line, force them to give away penalties and with any luck they get the yellows but again where to quick to go out wide really got to start trusting our pack more.
Brown did well on the wing so just a straight swap with Jones and Visser.

DOD wrote:Pretty convenient for Leinster that Edinburgh got two yellows. That plank sexton was his usual rubbish self

Agree with that. He only scored 12 points. Man is slacking.

Macken and Carr played really well. Cooney is growing into the job. Happy with the positives.

Watching Munster trying to play sexshy rugby here. Too weird. Its like watching yer grandma gettin her teets out at a family gig, ya know?

Horan, Stringer and ROG in a 2012 Munster side? Have we been asleep for 10 years here or wot?

Poor refereeing, same ref that officiated Dragons and Blues last week, he ruined that game also.

I'm hoping this less than impressive Leinster is just something trying to find a gear rather than a gearbox that's, in Gibbo's word, phhhoked.

Edgy.

Very uncharacteristic Leinster performance. They seemed to lack patience in attack made far too many unforced errors. Created plenty but really just butchered chances with poor handling and decision making.

A win is a win but Leinster need to buck up their ideas or they'll be the 3rd best province soon

for the silence for the Spences and rendition of SUFTUM. Very moving and classy stuff from Leinster

RDW_Scotland wrote:Massively proud of that performance from Edinburgh - to go down to 13 men for 9 minutes and come away with a LBP at the end, and even be pushing for the win, is a massive achievement.

We would have lost by 30 points last season if that had happened!

Leinster were poor, but it was still a very strong team they had out.

Good stuff
Pack fronted up well all game

Perfect lineout again

Hislop would have gained massive confidence from suriving against an international tight head with only 5 men behind him

WP Nel is starting to look like the player we all though he would be - looks a lot more match fit

De Luca had a very strong game in attack and defence

Gilchrist was a stand out and would be happy for him to play for Scotland if Sale completely ruin Richie Gray, as they are threatening to do now!

Lee Jones was a 4 out of 10, when in previous weeks he has barely been a 1 out of 10!

I love Basalaia with the ball in hand!!! He dropped the restart after our try which was stupid, but he always gets over the gain line arms and legs everywhere

Bad points
Not very streetwise to give away 2 soft pointless yellows

Poor defence for each of the tries

Attack looked fairly blunt at times with not much go forward

Had so much possession before HT in their 22 but did nothing with it

Too many silly knock ons


So onwards and upwards - take confidence from the heart shown today and hopefully beat our bogey team away next week - the Dragons!

Great assessment RDW. Ye know ye are not far away. Its a great buzz of expectancy. Reminds me of us in 2008/9. Bradley is very ambitious and likes good rugby. I do believe you have the man to take ye to the next level. Next step is to give that team the support it fully deserves. Turn up at Murrayfield. Lets bet honest, ye need a smaller ground.

Believe.

I was impressed with Edinburgh. They've added some steel this season and the squad additions means they'll be hard to beat all season. They didn't hit last years attacking standards, today, but its early season.

Thanks to our Irish brethren for their usual generous comments.

The difference between Bradley and Moffat (with the glaring exception of Jones, who should have been dropped for Fife three games ago) is that Bradley seems to be picking players that have trained well in the week and looks to persist with them.

Watched the highlights online and was very happy with Basalaia and Gilchrist in particular. Basalaia needs to be used more - he's a wrecking ball and consistent line breaker.

Has it occurred to anyone else how monumentally fecked up the proverbial we would be if one of the smallest men in Scottish rugby (Laidlaw) got injured? Perhaps best not to think about that too much:

Agreed George - the Irish are always generally humble in victory and generous in defeat on these boards!

I'm not even considering the possibility of Laidlaw getting injured - the man's got a heart of a lion - jist look at the way he felled heaslip own his on when he charged straight at him. Parks would have run a mile

Gibson wrote:To be honest, Id love to see Carr surprise us all. I'm just not sure he has it. But Id love him to prove me wrong. He will also benefit greatly from the experience around him. But he must use what surely is his last chance for a while. The coaches have told him this in no uncertain terms. It's The Leinster Way. But he seems like a really sincere guy. Loved how he praised Visser. And mentioned the Spences. He knew Nevin well from the Wolfhounds. Respect.
http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/mdtv/?play=media&id=12853

Maybe Fionn will break loose at the RDS tomorrow night. Conway too.


Believe.

Good man Fionn. You were told to get more involved and be more effective and boy you didn't let us down. Macken & Carr benefited greatly playing alongside BOD. Another few games like that from Carr and he seals his Leinster future. Delighted for him.

Highlights for both sets of fans. Bit out of sync, but feicit.

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/newsroom/8373.php

I don't know if anyone remembers, but in the past I had talked a bit about Jordi Murphy being a potential openside candidate for the future. Does anyone think he has been impressive so far every time he has came off the bench? He did fantastic setting up the try last night. Add on to that a very good turnover, good support play and some brilliant carries. He reminds me a bit of O'Brien.

Another example of Leinster having too many back row options. They could do with sharing.

Gibson - Both Carr and Macken were excellent. They tore defences to shreds at times.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I don't know if anyone remembers, but in the past I had talked a bit about Jordi Murphy being a potential openside candidate for the future. Does anyone think he has been impressive so far every time he has came off the bench? He did fantastic setting up the try last night. Add on to that a very good turnover, good support play and some brilliant carries. He reminds me a bit of O'Brien.

Another example of Leinster having too many back row options. They could do with sharing.

No chance,we're light at 8 and 7 if we get one more injury we're in trouble again.The 3 backrow slots really are the most attritional positions on a rugby pitch by far.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I don't know if anyone remembers, but in the past I had talked a bit about Jordi Murphy being a potential openside candidate for the future. Does anyone think he has been impressive so far every time he has came off the bench? He did fantastic setting up the try last night. Add on to that a very good turnover, good support play and some brilliant carries. He reminds me a bit of O'Brien.

Another example of Leinster having too many back row options. They could do with sharing.

Ror,
Jordi Murphy is a gem of a find. As is Ben Marshall. Gilsenan and Coughlan coming through. We could sell backrows. Only one is priceless to us right now. Shane Jennings.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I don't know if anyone remembers, but in the past I had talked a bit about Jordi Murphy being a potential openside candidate for the future. Does anyone think he has been impressive so far every time he has came off the bench? He did fantastic setting up the try last night. Add on to that a very good turnover, good support play and some brilliant carries. He reminds me a bit of O'Brien.

Another example of Leinster having too many back row options. They could do with sharing.

No chance,we're light at 8 and 7 if we get one more injury we're in trouble again.The 3 backrow slots really are the most attritional positions on a rugby pitch by far.

As I was sayin Sore. Jenno is the only 7 we have right now. With Ryan & SOB out. Ruddock injured too(6 or 8) Thank feic he's our best 7 and in fine form. And McLoughlin is in International form. Heaslip looks good after a rest. This helps.

I wouldn't say we are light at 8, with Heaslip back and the consistent Auva'a in tow.

Jennings has really been playing some excellent rugby so far this season. He wants that starting place in the back row when SOB returns.

How jenno isnt being called up to ireland squads, ill never know. He is one of the best players in the country.

Come now he wasn't making Leinster's first team last season - he was on the bench behind O'Brien so hardly surprising that he's not in the Ireland squad.

George Carlin wrote:Has it occurred to anyone else how monumentally fecked up the proverbial we would be if one of the smallest men in Scottish rugby (Laidlaw) got injured? Perhaps best not to think about that too much:

Yeah, I was thinking about this today - even if we ignore the current scrum-half question, what proven international-standard fly-halves do we have if Laidlaw suffers a knock? Weir is inexperienced, Jackson is unreliable, Wight can't kick, Leonard is unproven, Parks isn't playing.

We're looking at Gordon Ross. For serious.

My God, it's 2006 all over again.

Let's see what happens this season. Hes a far better 7 than SOB. Sick of saying it. And he was making Leinsters 1st team last year. This man has played in 4 x HC Cup Finals. He was instrumental in winning 3 of them.
I don't care if he never plays for Ireland again, Ive given up on that. As long as he is in the Leinster 23 - I'm happier. He's key. He's a leader. He organises the defence like a demon possessed. And still one of the best ground-hogs in the NH.

Artful_Dodger wrote:Come now he wasn't making Leinster's first team last season - he was on the bench behind O'Brien so hardly surprising that he's not in the Ireland squad.

He was making leinster's first team last season. Our backrow was rotated regularly during the season.

I've always felt that technically Jennings was a more complete player than SOB in the openside position - SOB just being physically stronger and more destructive.

And wildly more fashionable, of course.

Let's not forget how important that is nowadays.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:How jenno isnt being called up to ireland squads, ill never know. He is one of the best players in the country.

You do remember who the coach is, right? Kidney the plank will never pick him. Niall Ronan might get the call, but not Jenno...

My tuppence,

I felt the ref had something of a poor game and was extremely harsh to dish out 2 yellows in as many minutes. The 1st one was harsh with absolutely no warning. The 2nd was justified by repeated infringements, when it was the 1st infringement since the 1st yellow.....

All that aside Leinster although not at their best were still very good and played the ref like a fiddle in the breakdown. Kudos for the win.

Don't really understand the stick Sexton gets either, he controlled that game really well and got Leinster playing in all the right areas.

From an Edinburgh point of view, NDL had a stormer as did Ford. It was nice to see Talei clattetring into contact as he does.

Lee Jones certainly doesn't look like a Scotland cap now.... Tonks and Brown played well though.

All in all well done Leinster, Edinburgh despite being ham strung by 2 yellow cards held on well and missed basic tackles that let Leinster get their game killing try with 15 men on the park.

As others have said a LBP at the RDS isn't to be sniffed at. Chuffed with that result to be honest.

Jennings played very well. Our pack lost momentum when he went off.

Heaslip has to step up in the pack leadership stakes, thought he was doing his bit (but when Cullen and Jenno aren't on the field he has to step up and become the pack leader).

KmcL was immense, he was a man possessed for much of the game.

I'll hold off giving Denton a critique for a few weeks to allow him settle in.

BOD sublime. Darcy off due to rib tickler? Macken has improved on last season, he has to show consistency if he wants to stay in front of EOM.

Conway and Carr are very small wingers but both had good games.

Set piece, including a lot of lineout, misfired. Cronin in open spaces is a sight to behold, fantastic pace for a hooker, picks good lines, has a good pass and knows when to time it as well.

Defence was pants. It was so poor, I unusually had the people in front of me turning around to ask me to calm down, so frustrating (the play, not the people).

Oh, and contender for the most idiotic play at the RDS goes to Jamie Heaslip, with an opposition pack having 2 forwards in the bin, and pushing them back in a scrum 5 metres out the first time, chooses to pick and go from the base of the next scrum when the nudge was on and he had an armchair ride for an easy try (or a penalty try even if it had been taken down). Unfortunately that move wasn't quite stupid enough.

The reigning holder this award is Leo Auva'a who in the first home game decided to combine a dummy pass left, a dummy pass right and a hitch-kick together - managing to fool nobody except himself as he momentarily forgot that he had the ball in his hands a dropped it to the ground (genius!).

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:My tuppence,

I felt the ref had something of a poor game and was extremely harsh to dish out 2 yellows in as many minutes. The 1st one was harsh with absolutely no warning. The 2nd was justified by repeated infringements, when it was the 1st infringement since the 1st yellow.....

All that aside Leinster although not at their best were still very good and played the ref like a fiddle in the breakdown. Kudos for the win.

Don't really understand the stick Sexton gets either, he controlled that game really well and got Leinster playing in all the right areas.

From an Edinburgh point of view, NDL had a stormer as did Ford. It was nice to see Talei clattetring into contact as he does.

Lee Jones certainly doesn't look like a Scotland cap now.... Tonks and Brown played well though.

All in all well done Leinster, Edinburgh despite being ham strung by 2 yellow cards held on well and missed basic tackles that let Leinster get their game killing try with 15 men on the park.

As other have said a LBP at the RDS isn't to be sniffed at. Cuffed with taht result to be honest.

Might not have been shown in the tv footage, but the ref did pull Edinburgh aside on a couple of plays before the yellow (it was a penalty they conceded between the leinster 10m line and the halfway line at the grandstand side of the field). To be honest, that first yellow looked a complete brainfart by the Edinburgh prop - the lad jumps forward into a ruck off his feet and tried to slow down the ball so it couldn't be fed quickly to the numbers available to the left of the posts. But the lad is a prop, and that jump had all the grace of uncle buck doing a cannonball dive into a pool. It was between stupid and cynical play. The second yellow I was more surprised with (surprised the ref had a nerve to issue it), but the ref was coming around to that side of the ruck as the infringement happened and was very quick to go to his pocket. Leinster still managed to completely make a hash of that play though.

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

BOD sublime.

The punch drunk king showed that getting drunk on punching isn't the wisest of choices if there are opportunities to use your brain instead. His defining moment for me was when in our own half and rocking impotently over and back against a solid Edinburgh wall, trying to get out of our own half, he was the one who said 'enough of this nonsense' - turned away from the stalemate and chased after the space that eventually allowed the young 'uns to turn on the afterburners and got Macken in for his first. It was simple, his part was brief in the play but... it was his hands and brain that offered the try to the pups.

Couple of things on the RTE commentary and punditry;

After the minutes silence the commentator immediately went into a bit of a babble. The fans then broke into a stirring rendition of SUFTUM. I thought he would quieten down for a moment to let us experience it but no, he kept going. He handed over to Donal Lenihan whose inane drivel became unbearable as the camera panned around the crowd to show them singing their hearts out. Still they spoke over it. They didn't even have the excuse of being taken off guard as the commentator said at the end that it was mooted on message boards that this would happen.

Secondly; Having Shane Horgan and George Hook offering analysis at the end of the game is very unfair on poor George. Incisive, observant, relevant breakdown of the game by Shane completely showed up George for the blustering fraud he is.

Submachine wrote:Couple of things on the RTE commentary and punditry;

After the minutes silence the commentator immediately went into a bit of a babble. The fans then broke into a stirring rendition of SUFTUM. I thought he would quieten down for a moment to let us experience it but no, he kept going. He handed over to Donal Lenihan whose inane drivel became unbearable as the camera panned around the crowd to show them singing their hearts out. Still they spoke over it. They didn't even have the excuse of being taken off guard as the commentator said at the end that it was mooted on message boards that this would happen.

Secondly; Having Shane Horgan and George Hook offering analysis at the end of the game is very unfair on poor George. Incisive, observant, relevant breakdown of the game by Shane completely showed up George for the blustering fraud he is.

Em.................................. tough territory for me as I had very high opinions of Shane the player. He was playing wonderful rugby before he was injured and even today would be adding his unique attacking muscle to Leinster had the old body let him continue.

BUT........................ he is one tiresome motormouth as a pundit. It don't matter who is speaking, Shane always knows more, always needs that point to be apparent to the viewer, always pushes that point by dogging into his own time and the time of every other speaker. He needs to cool down, wait his turn, give others a chance to work for a living too.

SecretFly wrote:

Submachine wrote:Couple of things on the RTE commentary and punditry;

After the minutes silence the commentator immediately went into a bit of a babble. The fans then broke into a stirring rendition of SUFTUM. I thought he would quieten down for a moment to let us experience it but no, he kept going. He handed over to Donal Lenihan whose inane drivel became unbearable as the camera panned around the crowd to show them singing their hearts out. Still they spoke over it. They didn't even have the excuse of being taken off guard as the commentator said at the end that it was mooted on message boards that this would happen.

Secondly; Having Shane Horgan and George Hook offering analysis at the end of the game is very unfair on poor George. Incisive, observant, relevant breakdown of the game by Shane completely showed up George for the blustering fraud he is.

Em.................................. tough territory for me as I had very high opinions of Shane the player. He was playing wonderful rugby before he was injured and even today would be adding his unique attacking muscle to Leinster had the old body let him continue.

BUT........................ he is one tiresome motormouth as a pundit. It don't matter who is speaking, Shane always knows more, always needs that point to be apparent to the viewer, always pushes that point by dogging into his own time and the time of every other speaker. He needs to cool down, wait his turn, give others a chance to work for a living too.

I'll pass on your complaint.

Submachine wrote:Couple of things on the RTE commentary and punditry;

After the minutes silence the commentator immediately went into a bit of a babble. The fans then broke into a stirring rendition of SUFTUM. I thought he would quieten down for a moment to let us experience it but no, he kept going. He handed over to Donal Lenihan whose inane drivel became unbearable as the camera panned around the crowd to show them singing their hearts out. Still they spoke over it. They didn't even have the excuse of being taken off guard as the commentator said at the end that it was mooted on message boards that this would happen.

Secondly; Having Shane Horgan and George Hook offering analysis at the end of the game is very unfair on poor George. Incisive, observant, relevant breakdown of the game by Shane completely showed up George for the blustering fraud he is.

That sounds like poor form from RTE. I was at the game and it did seem a nice touch by the crowd with both the moments silence well observed and the SUFTUM sung by all around.

Hook is now the elder statesman of RTE punditry and knows that the way things work around RTE, means he doesn't have to do any homework anymore. He stopped learning the game a few years back and runs out set clichés in alternating patterns. He will throw out anecdotes of the game being simple, and reminisce about the days of old but doesn't try to inform or improve the viewers knowledge of the game.

O'Shea is a great pundit as he tries to show and explain the game beyond the obvious topics or comments, Brent has almost served enough time to take on Hook'esque cliché roles. Horgan is good, but he hasn't done a game yet where he has had to be properly critical of former teammates (that will be his acid test, to honestly critique a former teammate when they have played poorly - or comment/highlight weaknesses in their game).

SecretFly wrote:

Submachine wrote:Couple of things on the RTE commentary and punditry;

After the minutes silence the commentator immediately went into a bit of a babble. The fans then broke into a stirring rendition of SUFTUM. I thought he would quieten down for a moment to let us experience it but no, he kept going. He handed over to Donal Lenihan whose inane drivel became unbearable as the camera panned around the crowd to show them singing their hearts out. Still they spoke over it. They didn't even have the excuse of being taken off guard as the commentator said at the end that it was mooted on message boards that this would happen.

Secondly; Having Shane Horgan and George Hook offering analysis at the end of the game is very unfair on poor George. Incisive, observant, relevant breakdown of the game by Shane completely showed up George for the blustering fraud he is.

Em.................................. tough territory for me as I had very high opinions of Shane the player. He was playing wonderful rugby before he was injured and even today would be adding his unique attacking muscle to Leinster had the old body let him continue.

BUT........................ he is one tiresome motormouth as a pundit. It don't matter who is speaking, Shane always knows more, always needs that point to be apparent to the viewer, always pushes that point by dogging into his own time and the time of every other speaker. He needs to cool down, wait his turn, give others a chance to work for a living too.

Sounds like a guy that is trying too hard to be worth the paycheck he is receiving instead of having confidence in his right to be doing that role and relaxing into it?

BoyneRFC wrote:

SecretFly wrote:

Submachine wrote:Couple of things on the RTE commentary and punditry;

After the minutes silence the commentator immediately went into a bit of a babble. The fans then broke into a stirring rendition of SUFTUM. I thought he would quieten down for a moment to let us experience it but no, he kept going. He handed over to Donal Lenihan whose inane drivel became unbearable as the camera panned around the crowd to show them singing their hearts out. Still they spoke over it. They didn't even have the excuse of being taken off guard as the commentator said at the end that it was mooted on message boards that this would happen.

Secondly; Having Shane Horgan and George Hook offering analysis at the end of the game is very unfair on poor George. Incisive, observant, relevant breakdown of the game by Shane completely showed up George for the blustering fraud he is.

Em.................................. tough territory for me as I had very high opinions of Shane the player. He was playing wonderful rugby before he was injured and even today would be adding his unique attacking muscle to Leinster had the old body let him continue.

BUT........................ he is one tiresome motormouth as a pundit. It don't matter who is speaking, Shane always knows more, always needs that point to be apparent to the viewer, always pushes that point by dogging into his own time and the time of every other speaker. He needs to cool down, wait his turn, give others a chance to work for a living too.

I'll pass on your complaint.

It ain't a complaint - it's an observat..................................... wait, Shane, let me finish!!!! - Thanks. It's an observation.

Over to you, Shane.

Even though speaking over other people is a bad thing... the fact that he would be reducing the airtime of George Hook talking has to be a good thing... right?

Nope...not for me, bandwagon. An overly wrought opinion monkey is still a guy who needs valium, regardless of the vintage of the person or the notoriety.

Maybe Shane is a bit over exuberant at times but I'd say it's more to do with trying to do a professional job than anything else. The Hook/Pope/McGurk studio skits are fine and are supposed to be a bit slapstick (I hope). But seeing George trying to replicate that on a pitch with players doing a warmdown in the background is not a good fit.

Who'd have thought a conversation about Leinster v Edinburgh would have turned into a critque of Shane Horgan's punditry?

I guess we all have unique views on who we like to chat to us at the intervals. Speaking of which.......................... just reminded me!!!!........................ all is forgiven Shane, carry on.

It's that other crow in the roost I should really be talking about.... Mr. Stakeout man in his camera den with the little wise tactical snippets during the lulls.

Good Lord. Now there's a man earning his money.

Forgot about him. Shocking bad. Doesn't even ty to make sense.

Submachine wrote:Forgot about him. Shocking bad. Doesn't even ty to make sense.

I sometimes enjoy inventing what I think is going to be his morsel of indepth knowledge when he appears.

"Right - just spotted something to the left of play in.... yeah, if we stop it there. Okay, if you look at O'Driscoll's foot position you'll notice that above his feet he's wearing blue. Leinster are actually in blue this time, which explains why Edinburgh have chosen red. Bradley did his homework."