Vern Cotter and Joe Schmidt know each other well and have worked together in the past. If they had a 'good cop/bad cop' routine, I'd imagine that Vern was the 'bad cop'.
One month ago, Vern Cotter took les Jaunards to the South West of France for a dress rehearsal of their Heineken Cup semi-final against Leinster. Continue reading
The Cardiff Blues brought a knife to a gunfight at Lansdowne Road, and were absolutely hockeyed off the pitch in the first half. They saved some pride with a hard-fought if uninspiring performance in the second forty, but were ultimately held scoreless for 78 minutes, having opened the game with a Leigh Halfpenny penalty. Continue reading
Leinster lie waaay out in front in the RaboDirect 12 and seem assured of a home semi final and home final, should they win that match. Huge kudos must go to Joe Schmidt who, after an unimpressive start with the province, has his squad purring nicely. The whole Leinster organisation is operating smoothly at present, with the recruitment of Brad Thorn for the remainder of the season the latest piece of positive news. Continue reading
Nacewa collides with Brendan Williams, Treviso's creative spark - all the honours went to the Leinster man on the night, however.
A bunch of early tries generally leave people feeling that the game was over at half time or that it petered out; a bunch of late tries sends the people home happy. Continue reading
Leinster eased into a home quarter-final fixture in an odd sort of game against last year’s Top 14 runners-up, Montpellier. Saturday lunchtime at the RDS is better than Sunday brunch at Firhill, but not by much; Leinster have kicked off four of their six group games before 2pm, which doesn’t do much for the atmosphere. Coupled with the lack of big-name opposition – and to speak frankly, outright quality – in the group, it has been a relatively undistinguished qualification campaign compared to last season’s block-busting efforts against the best that the English and French could muster. Continue reading
Jonathan Sexton put in a performance that had rugby purists weak at the knees, and an über-confident Leinster fed Bath a fifty-burger on Saturday night in the Aviva Stadium. Continue reading
Come for the victory, stay for the John Wood the Younger showpiece of Georgian architecture that is the Royal Crescent
Leinster travel to the beautiful Somerset town of Bath in the first leg of their Heineken Cup double-header. Travelling fans are hoping for a smooth crossing in light of the recent hurricane force winds that have strafed the Irish Sea, and the team will be hoping to leave with the vital away victory which would put them in a commanding position at the top of the group. Continue reading
And then you chop-block the defensive end, Moose
Munster and Leinster have named ‘experimental’ teams for their upcoming fixtures in the Pro 12. Joe Schmidt has gone for a 5-5-5 formation, picking two scrum-halves and three out halves in midfield to try and control possession in a move that owes much to the influence of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. Tony McGahan has named only 11 players in his starting line-up, and will spring the remaining four one-by-one at five minute intervals from the fifteenth minute onwards. Continue reading
You'd take that result every day of the week.
Jonny Sexton nervelessly knocked over the last kick of the game amidst a racket of whistles and boos to grab a draw for Leinster against Montpellier, last season’s Top 14 runners-up. Continue reading
Digging Like a Demented Mole 