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Its a rediculous situation to be in when there is a stadium in the country that should be hosting the game!

Does a decision to use Croke Park need to go to Congress or are Central Council now empowered to make such decisions?

When do the tickets go on sale?

Exactly.

There won't be a public sale of tickets. All through clubs etc.

Ireland v France will sell out easily. Their prices are a consequence of supply and demand, and in fact they could add another 10% and still sell out with ease. Maybe more.

Dublin team to be named tonight.

Injury news from hill16.ie after last night's training session:

Blaine Kelly, Eamon Fennell both took a minor part in the training.
Alan Brogan is not expected to be able to play until the end of February.
Paddy Andrews trained with the squad fully.
Tomas Quinn is ruled out for several weeks with a groin problem.
Kevin Bonner is carrying a knock and is doubtful.
Colin Moran is also carrying a long-term injury (hip) which may require surgery and so will be out of playing contention for several weeks.

Draw for the semi-finals take place today.

Apparently each team has to nominate a "home venue" for the semis but it can't be their actual home ground and it must be able to hold 20,000.

Therefore Munster's home venue for a semi final will be the RDS (normal capacity is 18k but its reckoned they can up it to 20k).
And Leinster's home venue for a semi final will be Thomond Park - which would be gas craic!

And that leads to the question what happens if Leinster are drawn at home to Munster in the semis (assuming both win their quarters).
Would the game have to take place in Limerick, but Leinster get 70% (or whatever the home allocation is) of the tickets?
Hardly, but then the rules state you are not allowed play in your own venue.  Is Ravenhill an option? It would be fun to play in Thomond with a majority of Leinster fans and minority of Munsters.

Croke Park is not an option as things currently stand, but no doubt it'll be the possibility that gets the most media attention.
I'm not sure where I stand on that. I was for opening it up for Ireland internationals, but would certainly be against using it for say Bohs to play a Champions League game in. This is somewhere in the middle.

It should be remembered in this discussion that Ferguson has treated Tevez far worse than Benitez has treated Robbie Keane. Tevez was dropped after scoring 4 goals in one game! The respective reactions of the two players tells a lot.

Tevez has only started 9 league games this season (came on as sub 6 times) and has 2 goals and 2 assists in the league. He has 6 goals in the Carling Cup and one in the Champions League. in 2007/8 he started 31 games in the league and came on as sub 3 times, scoring 14 goals.

I think you'll find Tevez will retain his Carling Cup place 

A lot of bullshít talked about Keane's reaction. Choosing to watch a game at home rather than in the stands is "a nothing", happens all the time, but somehow got spun into a walkout. Nonsense.

With 12 minutes to go yesterday Wasps managed to blow a certain try which would have left them needing one more for a bonus point win and left Leinster in real trouble. Thankfully for Leinster they made a balls of it and Castres went down the field and scored themselves.

Even if Wasps had scored two more tries and won with a bonus point, Leinster would still have qualified as one of the best runners up.

Daniel Agger comments on his ongoing contract negotiations:

"We have only met once with Liverpool," he told Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet .

"At the meeting we had in early November, I was told the club would soon come back. Now it has been 12 weeks since we talked together.

"It's an annoying situation, and in principle it is a little frustrating not getting the message - especially when it has been almost three months. It was the club who said they would come back soon."

I loved seeing Barney's last minute goal against Cork in 1983 again 

Great composure shown by the 5 men (Canavan, Duff, Mullins, Hazely, Rock) in the move, and no panic even though the situation was perilous (somethin the current crop could do with learning!).

And of course it brought back all the fantastic memories of the trip to Cork for the replay...

Great show 

God I wish they'd getrid of these stupid stupid rules!

Not a stupid rule, just a stupid official.

Kuyt started the season in decent form compared to last season but it has been dropping at an alarming rate recently.  My main problem is that in games were we have to be more attack minded he offers nothing to us on the wing. Keane imo has just as much energy and workmanship as Kuyt yet we have never seen him thrown out wide were his speed and trickery could cause more problems than Kuyt.  Why does Babel not get a chance on the right? seeing he is mostly right footed i would prefer to see him on that side.
Really hope Keane hasnt walked out, my comment yesterday may have been more out of frustration. Would be bad for both player and club if he did.  What odds is he to score first Wednesday?

Agree with that.

Babel would be so much better on the right than he is on the left. Tell him to get to the endline and get crosses in. On the left all he does is cut inside almost every time. Very frustrating having Kuyt on the right. Typical example early v Everton. He was putting a cross in from about 30 yards out from the endline, over on the wing, aiming for around the peno spot I'd say. He clears the crossbar  

Has he been stubborn though?

Bar the dropping after he scored the double, has he not deserved to come off in the MAJORITY of the matches he has been. He hasn't exactly been brilliant to be fair.

Rafa's interview would suggest that it may be a bit of scare-mongering and that Keane may still be part of the plans.

Taking him off first so often only damages his confidence. And he hasnt been the worst man all the time.

Not using Robbie as a subsitutue against the likes of Hull and Stoke was very strange. It is beyond my comprehension how he could do that when we really needed a goal. Its awful to think that the reason might be stubbornness, i.e. I decided not to play Robbie, and I don't want to be proved wrong by him coming on and scoring a goal. That surely can't be the reason, but there no logical reason

In fairness that makes Munsters result all the more impressive however I'm thinking they've peaked too early as Munster generally don't qualify with such ease.

I think they peaked at the same time they have in previous years. They didnt qualify with ease because they played well throughout the tournament, they were poor enough early on but had some outragous luck.

But scoring 5 tries in Mountabaun shows, in my opinion, they are clearly the best team left in the tournament. Feck all between the other 7 at this moment in time. 

Carmen you're not talking much sense if you think Robbie was right to walk out.

Hound, Kuyt had a good shot saved by given, hit him in the face, I don't recall any other chance he missed.


Premiership:
Both Kuyt and Keane have five goals apiece.
Kuyt has started 22 games and Keane 17.
Kuyt has spent on average 87 minutes on the field - no surprise
Keane has spent on average 78 minutes - higher than I thought.

With Kuyt playing about 65% of his games on the wing, it is easy to spot who has been the better player.

I don't think those stats show a clear difference between them. Kuyt was certainly better in the early part of the season, but not since then.

The goals per minute ratio is about the same, pretty shíte for both of them really.

They do share one other thing in common. The time when they scored twice in a game when their shooting confidence must have been at its highest, they were immediately dropped!

The control and finish by Berbatov was pure class. Again.

Tevez is working his socks off, but its not happening in front of goal for him. In fairness he was unlucky with the great effort that came off the woodwork, but otherwise never looked like scoring. He needs a goal.

I think an interesting comparison between Berbatov and Keane is that United have altered their play to get the best out of Berba, whereas when Keane plays he has to try and fit himself into the Liverpool system (and often a different system on different days).

United's new system of play compared to last year isnt necessarily helping Ronaldo. The opposite side of that coin is that when Ronaldo isnt playing, United arent really any worse off (not hugely anyway). You couldnt say that last year when really everything revolved around Ronaldo. Is it a deliberate ploy of Ferguson to ensure Ronaldo is no longer as important as he was, or am I wrong about it and maybe the only difference is he's just not in as good form? I reckon Rooney's big improvement this year compared to last year has also got a lot to do with United's changed pattern of play. Last year he was often forced to play in odd positions in order to get the best out of Ronaldo.

Leinster were poor enough and looked as if they could have been there till next Sunday and not scored a try. However they are through and of all the away draws they could have gotten Harlequins looks like the handiest if there is such a thing as a handy draw in the quarters. On the plus side Kearney looked excellent. Munster look to be in good form as well 

Little bit harsh given Fitzgerald had what looked a perfectly good try chalked off by a poor decision.

The first half I thought they played well, albeit the second, especially the last 20, they didnt have any penetration.
Agree re Kearney, and nice to see Heaslip finally show a bit of form. Plus Leinster will be a lot better in spring conditions than they are in winter conditions.