The Heineken Cup Thread

[screenexile]

What do Connacht want? They have to make do with the current system or face not having a team!!!

I think that given the fact they were nearly scrapped a few years ago they are doing pretty well considering. The current system is flawed but it seems to be the best for Irish Rugby.

[Main Street]

It's unseemly and unrugby-like for Connacht to be complaining about the class system.
How annoying it must be for those in the other provinces to have to listen to the Connacht wretches, whining about their condition.

[Crete Boom]

The reason why I listed those players is that it highlights how well Connacht have done out of the Leinster Academy with none of the expense of developing young talent. Connacht have developed as a team thanks to these players, you could argue that the Leinster Academy is an important cog in the Connacht system as their own academy, giving a player game time is only part of the development, skills and game understanding are developed at a very much younger age.

Some Leinster fans would annoy with the 'Man United' like syndrome of entitlement but the an béal bocht that comes from Connacht fans is equally annoying.

Anyhow Connacht are progressing and they should progress further under a new coach (have been at seminars with Elwood and to be honest he's not the greatest technical coach) and hopefully the Irish Rugby Tzar will give them more structure and a more equal footing.

The argument about the expense of developing these players in the academy is irrelevant as it's Leinster's problem if they weren't able to spot the talent in the likes of David Gannon/Mick Kearney/Dave McSharry etc... not Connacht's. The Connacht underage system was always efficient and effective in producing as many quality players as was possible but unlike the Leinster's didn't have the luxury of huge numbers piling in which even with terrible mismangement would still produce a decent 15 every year via the schools! Also when you have the big three even poaching talent from our academy like Munster with Sean Henry last year it  doesn't help. In spite of this you have O'Halloran , Eoin McKeown , Eoin Griffin , Robbie Henshaw , Denis Buckley , Danny Qualter, Darragh Leader , Gavin Duffy , Ronan Loughney, Andrew Browne, Johnny O' Connor , Kieran Marmion ,  David Heffernan and many more in the first team squad. Then you have the like s of Shane Layden , Conor Finn , Jack Carty and Arron Coneely who were involved at Irish u 20 level and the fact Connacht won the last two u20 inter-provincial championships I would argue that Connacht get the best return on their investment and manage their scant resources the best of the provinces at the moment.
   
    To level the Beal Bocht charge at us is a little harsh. It's hardly fair given the fact we have to operate with one hand tied behind our back. The IRFU tried to disband us twice. Then they refuse to allow us offer contracts of longer than one year to any of our players while we are under an IRFU review which Munster and Leinster used to their advantage to sign Keatly Croinin and Jamie Hagan by being able to dangle the huge carrot of three, yes three year contracts!!( I don't include Fionn Carr because he had planned to return to Leinster anyway). Also Connacht are forced to operate on a consistently smaller budget than the other three provinces. now you could say we didn't fight back enough and took most of this lying down but after Connacht took action and set up their own professional board to help develop the business and brand of Connacht rugby again the IRFU had to change the rules. When the board was asked to chose a CEO , the board , the finance committee and IRFU officer recommended and agreed to appoint a former Connacht player with a very impressive commercial business and marketing cv and lo and behold at the 11th hour an IRFU blazer pulled the name Tom Sears out of nowhere and informed Connacht if they wanted to keep the IRFU funding then this was the only man to put forward for final recommendation. Again could you imagine Munster , Ulster or Leinster being ordered by the IRFU to pick their man who wasn't even on a short list as their CEO?

So while you might think the Beal Bocht might be annoying it's even more annoying for Connacht fans and players to put up with the reality of the situation. Also while it's annoying for the rest of us to listen to the cocky arrogance of certain Leinster fans we can't really argue with 3 Heineken Cups in Four years  .

PS I think Connacht put a bit of time and effort into developing Damien Browne and I don't hear many thanks from Leinster fans especially after his performance in Clermont! .

[ApresMatch]

Any links to Leinster game?

[Walter Cronc]

Any links to Leinster game?

Using thefirstrow.eu

It's not it's usual self though, quite bitty.

[seafoid]

Tough day at the office for Leinster.

[Lecale2]

Tight for Ulster.

[u bent op uw]

How did the game go tonight compared to last week?. The score was very tight....amazing how a week can make a difference.

[CiKe]

I watched this. Ulster were pure shite. Couldn't houl on to the ball if you put it up their jumper. Trimble was pathetic and was whipped aff. Peenour had a late kick to win her. Garbage.

Shite match. Ulster deserved to be beaten.

First time had seen Ulster this season. They were brutal and architects of their own downfall, so many handling errors it was ridiculous. Looked very far from a potential Heineken Cup winning team.

[Lecale2]

10 all in Munster match. Game on.

[Celt_Man]

Munster laboured to that win over a poor enough Edinburgh team... Judging by that performance Munster will only get a bonus point win if Racing do the usual French away stunt and send the B team...

At the minute our Boys are the only ones in the Quarter Final positions at the end of Round 5

[Hound]

At the moment, Munster are effectively in the final qualifying position. Leicester play Toulouse next week, so that pushes the loser out of the reckoning

[Hound]

In terms of best 2nd placers, if teams finish level on points the first tie-break is tries scored, the next is points difference.

At the moment Munster have 9 tries and are +37, while Leinster have 8 tries and are +19.
Assuming Racing send over a depleted team, its highly likely Munster will remain ahead of Leinster, as they are playing the day after, so will know exactly how many tries they need.

Otherwise for Leinster to qualify, (in addition to gaining a bonus point victory over Exeter) they'll need either Montpellier or Saracens to get 1 point or less in their games v Toulon and Edinburgh.

One other potential (albeit unlikely) bananaskin for Munster/Leinster would be Leicester to beat Toulouse, but Toulouse obtaining 2 bonus points - that would put the runner-up on 20 points and well ahead of the Irish on try scoring.

[Celt_Man]

So Munster in and Leinster out...   Slightly disappointed for want of another word - even with their under-par group performances I think Leinster would have a better chance of winning it out than Munster...

However, how many times have Munster been written off before....

The Quarter Finals are:

Harlequins v Munster
Clermont v Montpellier
Toulon v Leicester
Saracens v Ulster

The winner of the first named quarter-final in each semi-final pairing will have home country advantage.

Semi-final 1: Saracens or Ulster Rugby v Toulon or Leicester Tigers
Semi-final 2: ASM Clermont Auvergne or Montpellier v Harlequins or Munster Rugby


Leinster into the Challenge Cup - I think Connacht need Leinster to win this competition out for them to get back into the Heineken Cup next year??

[Mayo4Sam]

Or Ulster to win the HC I presume?
You'd have to think if they can get past Saracens then it's a Clermont Ulster final