Toulon v Leinster - HC QF

First topic message reminder :

The winners of the last 3 HC's face off on Sunday in the QF on French soil.

Toulon have a few injuries but have squad jammed with internationals so they won't be weakened much.

Just off the back of a cracking win over Toulouse where little Freddie ran the show scoring a try, 2 conversions and 6 penalties to bag a handsome 27 points.

Leinster's win over Munster was, a more sedate affair, scoring only 1 try, and resting their top carrying threat Cian Healy.

Leinster haven't exactly been firing on all cylinders lately (despite winning their last 10 games in a row) but the Northampton game this year will give them the confidence that they can pull out a result.

Should be a cracker.

15: Rob Kearney
14: Fergus McFadden
13: Brian O'Driscoll
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Dave Kearney
10: Jimmy Gopperth
9: Eoin Reddan
1: Cian Healy
2: Richardt Strauss
3: Mike Ross
4: Devin Toner
5: Mike McCarthy
6: Rhys Ruddock
7: Shane Jennings
8: Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN
REPLACEMENTS:
16: Sean Cronin
17: Jack McGrath
18: Martin Moore
19: Leo Cullen
20: Jordi Murphy
21: Isaac Boss
22: Ian Madigan
23: Zane Kirchner

1/ Chiocci
2/ Burden
3/ Hayman
4/ Rossouw
5/ Suta
6/ J. Smith
7/ Fernandez Lobbe
8/ S. Armitage
9/ Tillous-Borde
10/ Wilkinson (.cap)
11/ D. Smith
12/ Giteau
13/ Bastareaud  
14/ Mitchell
15/ D. Armitage

The substitutes:
16/ Orioli
17/ Menini
18/ Castrogiovanni
19/ Mikautadze
20/ Bruni
21/ Michalak
22/ Mermoz
23/ Habana

Boom!! Need to take this quickly

If only they went to the front before we may still be in this game

Holy God in Heaven, givvis a Miracle.

You too Allah.

Yellow!

Yellow?

Go!

BELIEVE

small chance now - would be some come back!

ah pushing it too much kearney

steffon armitage. clearly MoM. wow. he is unbudgeable.

Armitage for MOTM he's been everywhere.

I welcome the reality check. We needed it, and it'll do us good long term

golden

Good lick Munster you need it

Luck*

assuming toulon close this out. would venture to say that leinster's 12/13 combo are too small against a side like toulon. both in defence and attack.

Better team. Better players. Better tactics. Simple as. Well done Toulon.   

Mon Munster!

Want ASM to beat the evil Saffacens and win the whole thing now, if I'm honest.

Best club and fans in Yurop.

They were big enough for France Quins. We can't all produce Basterauds

Top game - Toulon had to play some top rugby to win that. Leinster played with real intensity and pace hence the errors and forced a real quality performance from Toulon
As an aside I thought Barnes did well. Allowed a fair contest at the breakdown. No major errors.

This Leinster team are just no where near the team of 2 years ago.

Need a big rebuild.

And we need sexy toes back!   


Toulon well and truly deserving of the win, Munster will give them a better game.

Toulon fully deserved the win. But I think Munster can beat them. We were very poor.

Not very impressed with our new coach. Didn't like that we were getting a coach from the English Premiership. Was worried that Leicester fans obviously weren't upset to be losing him. We have players that can play at a high pace. But if the opposition can live with that we have no other idea's. What has MOC actually brought to Leinster?

that is some of the best rugby i have seen toulon ever play. have watched maybe 10 of their matches this season. valiant effort Leinster. But on this form, with this team, i think Toulon are unbeatable. their ability to win turnover ball at 8 and 13 is unlike any other side in european rugby currently, which makes them so dangerous. not to mention their attacking options.

great game though.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:They were big enough for France Quins. We can't all produce Basterauds

check your missed tackles vs breaks made at 12/13. darcy bounced off 2 players in 5 secs to concede 3rd try for example.

He's reverted to kidneyball from what I can tell. We know that doesn't work. Major shake up needed.

MOC's management of the 10 position has been awful. Gopperth hasn't started a game since Feb but yet he is just thrown in here. I don't think he's the coach for us.

Feckless Rogue wrote:Toulon fully deserved the win. But I think Munster can beat them. We were very poor.

Not very impressed with our new coach. Didn't like that we were getting a coach from the English Premiership. Was worried that Leicester fans obviously weren't upset to be losing him. We have players that can play at a high pace. But if the opposition can live with that we have no other idea's. What has MOC actually brought to Leinster?

Our defence is a bit better than last year, but our passing game is gone from the best in Europe to very average In little more than a season

What does that have to do with size. They just tackled poorly today.

Feckless Rogue wrote:Toulon fully deserved the win. But I think Munster can beat them. We were very poor.

Not very impressed with our new coach. Didn't like that we were getting a coach from the English Premiership. Was worried that Leicester fans obviously weren't upset to be losing him. We have players that can play at a high pace. But if the opposition can live with that we have no other idea's. What has MOC actually brought to Leinster?

leinster were not poor in a vacuum. pressure at the turnover and gain line is what this game was all about. Toulon made really key turnovers (armitage and basteraud) and leinster generally were going backwards around the corner with the toulon line speed and tackle impact and accuracy.

Have to say I really don't like the post match interviews. Especially from the losing side.

Toulon totally dominated the breakdown. That was the best Ive seen them play.

Unlucky Leinster - the score line probably doesn't do justice to how close it was but you have to admire the power and pace of Toulon - Leinster needed to take their chances when they had them as Toulon were always going to be hard to hold out.

Still think Munster will do it though - great weekend of rugby, albeit a disappointing one from an Irish perspective.

Steffon armitage is up there with Mccaw, warburton and pocock as the best open sides in the world(I know he plays 8). He dictated that game slowed Leinsters game and meant they could not play.

England need him with robshaw for the rwc if they are going to be contenders. I can't see past an all French final again which is a shame.

Is there no chance of Armitage getting an England call up? He'd be a great addition for them in the RWC

quinsforever wrote:

Feckless Rogue wrote:Toulon fully deserved the win. But I think Munster can beat them. We were very poor.

Not very impressed with our new coach. Didn't like that we were getting a coach from the English Premiership. Was worried that Leicester fans obviously weren't upset to be losing him. We have players that can play at a high pace. But if the opposition can live with that we have no other idea's. What has MOC actually brought to Leinster?

leinster were not poor in a vacuum. pressure at the turnover and gain line is what this game was all about. Toulon made really key turnovers (armitage and basteraud) and leinster generally were going backwards around the corner with the toulon line speed and tackle impact and accuracy.

Sounds about right to me.  Leinster tried everything they had and Toulon didn't crack. Most teams would have been a couple of tries down in the first half but some great defence kept Leinster in it. When Leinster attacked they could find no way thru the Toulon defence

steffon armitage when asked about playing at 8..."i'm just happy to be on the pitch...i'll play fly-half, full-back, wherever..." LOL   

I am not going to defend MOC - I felt he had taken us as far as he could and was not a good fit for Leinster.

However the Leinster players were not good today. I was really disappointed i expected better, but the basic skills you would expect of players of the calibre they have was not good enough. It is always easy to blame the coach, especially if he is an "outsider", but if players miss as many tackles as they did today, pass so badly and drop so many balls - well it is obvious who is most at fault.

CraigS1874 wrote:Steffon armitage is up there with Mccaw, warburton and pocock as the best open sides in the world(I know he plays 8). He dictated that game slowed Leinsters game and meant they could not play.

England need him with robshaw for the rwc if they are going to be contenders. I can't see past an all French final again which is a shame.

Throw O'Brien in with the other names and put Armitage behind him. But yes, Armitage is some player and I think England can no longer ignore the impact he has. He is the complete 7.

Golden wrote:Is there no chance of Armitage getting an England call up? He'd be a great addition for them in the RWC

I hope he is called up but it doesn't seem that foreign based players get a look in. Shame...

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Toulon totally dominated the breakdown. That was the best Ive seen them play.

Hmm I think Barnes got a lot of calls wrong - Toulon were off their feet for a lot of those turnovers. I think it was the missed tackles and the physicality difference between the two backrows and midfields

quinsforever wrote:steffon armitage when asked about playing at 8..."i'm just happy to be on the pitch...i'll play fly-half, full-back, wherever..." LOL   

He was in the backs more than at the breakdown I reckon.

And hard luck Leinster - that was an impressive looking Toulon side and I think they'll take some stopping this year.

I think most of us expected Toulon to win. They have a fantastic team. What makes me doubt MOC is that we really didn't have any answer to the obvious power game headed our way. Last week we were particularly bad also, and in the group stages we had some flattering scores.

I think we need to remember we don't have insanely good players. BUT what we do have is very smart players. Having a technical coach works out very well or us. But MOC, an average coach, won't take us forward.

Golden wrote:Is there no chance of Armitage getting an England call up? He'd be a great addition for them in the RWC

none currently. is a clear Lancaster policy. which i personally think is a mistake. quality is quality, and steffon armitage offers something slightly different than any of englands back row.

i really really hope they tweak the policy before RWC. steffon armitage is imo the greatest ball-winner in world rugby presently. i know SOB fans will beg to differ but thats ok.

LondonTiger wrote:I am not going to defend MOC - I felt he had taken us as far as he could and was not a good fit for Leinster.

However the Leinster players were not good today. I was really disappointed i expected better, but the basic skills you would expect of players of the calibre they have was not good enough. It is always easy to blame the coach, especially if he is an "outsider", but if players miss as many tackles as they did today, pass so badly and drop so many balls - well it is obvious who is most at fault.

That would be true if it was just this game but the basics have been pretty poor all season. Considering that was what Schmidt had us doing so well MOC must have some influence on this.

Judge him at the end of the season but so far we haven't been to impressive

As for Leinster, I fear you are going to be in a long transition phase as you look to replace D'Arcy, BOD and start blooding Madigan as the primary 10. Reddan isn't exactly young either. More depth is needed at the outside backs too.

That could be a long and painful process.

Why does Lancaster keep ignoring Steffon Armitage, he is a seriously class operator?

Hard luck Leinster. How can O'Connor attempt to play a power game when he doesn't have the power players?

Looks increasingly like a repeat of last years final. In fact with their resources, it looks increasingly like they will both be in the final for years to come.

So brutal-strength vs Rugby in the SF's?

We all really need ASM to win this. For rugby's sake.

Already have de shirt.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:As for Leinster, I fear you are going to be in a long transition phase as you look to replace D'Arcy, BOD and start blooding Madigan as the primary 10.  Reddan isn't exactly young either.  More depth is needed at the outside backs too.

That could be a long and painful process.

And for Ulster Rory?

stub wrote:

Golden wrote:Is there no chance of Armitage getting an England call up? He'd be a great addition for them in the RWC

I hope he is called up but it doesn't seem that foreign based players get a look in. Shame...

He had some real eye-catching moments to win MotM. however he also spent much of the game awol. Smith, Lobbe and Rossouw put in the real hard work to allow Armitage to shine. Lancaster wants exceptional work rate from his pack - so if Armitage was to feature he would nead real grafters around him in the back row. This would mean leaving out Billy V. I know who I would rather have.

Where was Jennings all afternoon? i noticed him only when he missed a tackle.

Quite overated player in my opinion.

Gibson wrote:So brutal-strength vs Rugby in the SF's?

We all really need ASM to win this. For rugby's sake.

Already have de shirt.

It's Munsters turn again Gibbo.

One can hope anyway