Glasgow v Leinster

[Mole5000]

76 yards wide, grassline to grassline. Its lined 68 metres wide for rugby. Its also only 100 metres long in total. Most rugby pitches are 100 metres tryline to tryline

For Sextons kick on the half way line the Sky distance -o-meter said 50m (or was it yards) but not sure how accurate they are.

If that was the kick that was basically at the centre of the halfway line then the Sky distance-o-meter is fubbared then. If you look at the distance from the halfway line to the 22 and then the 22 to the try line they are within a meter or so of each other in length. Firhill is a tiny pitch, any penalty you give away outside the opposition 22 is basically putting you back into your own 22 and under pressure.

[Leinster Lout]

I thought O'Brien played well actually. Very competitive at the breakdown. I was particularly impressed when he robbed the ball on the deck, turned to Nigel to see if it was alright, all the while with about 4 Glasgow forwards hanging off him! I think he knows he's going to be playing 7 in the 6 nations so he's patrolling the breakdown a lot more even when he's playing 6, so he's not getting as many ball carrying opportunities in the open spaces.

Disappointed with Reddan who looked a bit lethargic, especially after his brilliant recent performances in the Heino. The game was definitely more suited to Boss.

[berniemac67]

i thought boss was outstanding. the try plus a great defensive contribution in the closing minutes after the sin-bninning.

[Sauvignon Blank]

i thought boss was outstanding. the try plus a great defensive contribution in the closing minutes after the sin-bninning.

True. Kudos to the team in what was always going to be a tricky fixture.
Think we should look at Joe's reaction to this result, he's delighted.

[cormac]

76 yards wide, grassline to grassline. Its lined 68 metres wide for rugby. Its also only 100 metres long in total. Most rugby pitches are 100 metres tryline to tryline

For Sextons kick on the half way line the Sky distance -o-meter said 50m (or was it yards) but not sure how accurate they are.

If that was the kick that was basically at the centre of the halfway line then the Sky distance-o-meter is fubbared then. If you look at the distance from the halfway line to the 22 and then the 22 to the try line they are within a meter or so of each other in length. Firhill is a tiny pitch, any penalty you give away outside the opposition 22 is basically putting you back into your own 22 and under pressure.

I watched Rob Kearney practicing a few kicks at goal in the warm-up and he was getting the distance (if not the accuracy) comfortably from just inside his own ten-metre line. Very short pitch.

[CiaranIrl]

Superb result.

Any away win always is, but jayzus that was close.

I know a lot of people don't like him, generally I'm happy when Ownes is ref, but good god he had an absolute shocker.

We need to discuss the scrum....and in particular Mike Ross....

I've touched on it a few times in the past, and no one seems to be alarmed, but increasingly I'm seeing Mike Ross as a weak link.

This game as example, gets penalised for a Leinster 5 metre scrum and blows a gilt try scoring oppertunity, and then gets pinged 70 yards back the pitch, again on a Leinster put in, and Glasgow score a try.

That's a 14 point swing and could have seriously derailed our campaign....If he does that against better oppisition, it could be a direct factor in us failing to win a trophy.

For me, I'll say it again, White has to be first choice...

Completely agree with you there, I suggested a while ago (Think it was the glasgow home match in the hc) that it would be a good idea to drop Ross for White and it wasnt taken very well! Ross has been pretty poor the last few weeks in the scrum..... White has been superb in every aspect of the game, I dont think anyone can deny that we were much better with white and van der merwe today

I think the criticism of Ross is an overreaction, frankly. He was excellent in the loose, and I it is very rare that he was been a weak link in the scrums. If people are referring to the Ulster game, their prop was the one scrummaging illegally, not ours. The ref was widely criticized for his performance that day. The scrum in the game was a mess.

With yesterday's game in mind, there was only one clear example where he was at fault, IMO. In the others, either (i) Healy slipped his bind or dropped his hand to the floor, or (ii) the Glasgow prop slipped his bind but Ross got penalised regardless. He has been a rock for us this season and last season. Given international duties, he has played a lot of very high level games in the last 12 months compared to what he would have experienced in previous years. Cut the guy a bit of slack.

[TrapperChamonix]

i thought boss was outstanding. the try plus a great defensive contribution in the closing minutes after the sin-bninning.

True. Kudos to the team in what was always going to be a tricky fixture.
Think we should look at Joe's reaction to this result, he's delighted.

Especially after getting the selection wrong

[Donny B.]

I think the criticism of Ross is an overreaction, frankly. He was excellent in the loose, and I it is very rare that he was been a weak link in the scrums. If people are referring to the Ulster game, their prop was the one scrummaging illegally, not ours. The ref was widely criticized for his performance that day. The scrum in the game was a mess.

With yesterday's game in mind, there was only one clear example where he was at fault, IMO. In the others, either (i) Healy slipped his bind or dropped his hand to the floor, or (ii) the Glasgow prop slipped his bind but Ross got penalised regardless. He has been a rock for us this season and last season. Given international duties, he has played a lot of very high level games in the last 12 months compared to what he would have experienced in previous years. Cut the guy a bit of slack.

Well said. Some people on here have very short memories.

[Donny B.]

i thought boss was outstanding. the try plus a great defensive contribution in the closing minutes after the sin-bninning.

True. Kudos to the team in what was always going to be a tricky fixture.
Think we should look at Joe's reaction to this result, he's delighted.

Especially after getting the selection wrong

Did he though? He picked a team to go through them but when it turned into a 'grinder' he had the grinder squad of Boss, Heinke, Browne and Ruddock (standing in very well for McLaughlin) to bring on. They all made a big contribution to the win. If we'd started Boss do you think we would have run away with it? Unlikely.

[fourthirtythree]

Did he though? He picked a team to go through them but when it turned into a 'grinder' he had the grinder squad of Boss, Heinke, Browne and Ruddock (standing in very well for McLaughlin) to bring on. They all made a big contribution to the win. If we'd started Boss do you think we would have run away with it? Unlikely.

That's true and they did the job but I'm not too happy with the continued selection of Darce and McFadden at 12 and 13. I don't think that's necessarily the team to go through them or anyone else.

But van der Merwe and Boss! Just thought I'd mention them both again. Boss in particular was fantastic.

[wixfjord]

I think the criticism of Ross is an overreaction, frankly. He was excellent in the loose, and I it is very rare that he was been a weak link in the scrums. If people are referring to the Ulster game, their prop was the one scrummaging illegally, not ours. The ref was widely criticized for his performance that day. The scrum in the game was a mess.

With yesterday's game in mind, there was only one clear example where he was at fault, IMO. In the others, either (i) Healy slipped his bind or dropped his hand to the floor, or (ii) the Glasgow prop slipped his bind but Ross got penalised regardless. He has been a rock for us this season and last season. Given international duties, he has played a lot of very high level games in the last 12 months compared to what he would have experienced in previous years. Cut the guy a bit of slack.

Well said. Some people on here have very short memories.

Ah in fairness, having short memories is nothing to do with it. If you pick a player on past performances or what happened last season, then surely that's Kidneyesque logic?

My own opinion is that White is as solid a scrummager, from what I've seen, and gives slightly more in the loose. Perhaps it's not a case of dropping Ross, but using White more in a Healy/VDM sort of way.

Having said that, Ross is becoming an increasingly important short distance carrier for us, and gave much needed go forward and resipte to the like of Healy, SOB and Heaslip yesterday. You'll still have journalists and commentators going on about how he's a passenger in the loose etc. etc. in the 6N though.

[TrapperChamonix]

True. Kudos to the team in what was always going to be a tricky fixture.
Think we should look at Joe's reaction to this result, he's delighted.

Especially after getting the selection wrong

Did he though? He picked a team to go through them but when it turned into a 'grinder' he had the grinder squad of Boss, Heinke, Browne and Ruddock (standing in very well for McLaughlin) to bring on. They all made a big contribution to the win. If we'd started Boss do you think we would have run away with it? Unlikely.

As I said on Friday "Am I the only one who wonders why we have picked an expansive away team for the 1st time against a team guaranteed to make a mess of the breakdown and the game played on a narrow football pitch?
I'm always worried before any away game (bath excepted) but I'm concerned having seen the team."

We tried to go wide on a pitch that wasn't wide enough (wasn't helped by being a pudding of a pitch). Most of the time Glasgow didn't put anyone in the rucks and just fanned 15 defenders across the pitch. It was like Rugby League defense with 2 more players. We needed to play much more directly up the middle and then look for space wide. I think Boss' contribution was telling in that regard.
I never envisaged that we would "run away" with it, nor should that ever have been our intention. But we could have built a more comfortable lead. You can say he picked a team that won and so everything was OK but it was in the balance till the end. And that puts too much strain on my ticker

[Raydollard]

We still give away simple penalties in very kickable positions. Need more control in that regard. Leo is seriously pass his shelf life and contributes virtually feck all. If it was such a short pitch, surprising that we butchered a few good chances. Boss earns his place I think.

Still we stuck with it and cannot be brilliant every single week. I would have no worries as at or near our best we will beat anyone. We have a bench that is game-changing.

[nelly the elephant]

Superb result.

Any away win always is, but jayzus that was close.

I know a lot of people don't like him, generally I'm happy when Ownes is ref, but good god he had an absolute shocker.

We need to discuss the scrum....and in particular Mike Ross....

I've touched on it a few times in the past, and no one seems to be alarmed, but increasingly I'm seeing Mike Ross as a weak link.

This game as example, gets penalised for a Leinster 5 metre scrum and blows a gilt try scoring oppertunity, and then gets pinged 70 yards back the pitch, again on a Leinster put in, and Glasgow score a try.

That's a 14 point swing and could have seriously derailed our campaign....If he does that against better oppisition, it could be a direct factor in us failing to win a trophy.

For me, I'll say it again, White has to be first choice...

Completely agree with you there, I suggested a while ago (Think it was the glasgow home match in the hc) that it would be a good idea to drop Ross for White and it wasnt taken very well! Ross has been pretty poor the last few weeks in the scrum..... White has been superb in every aspect of the game, I dont think anyone can deny that we were much better with white and van der merwe today

I think the criticism of Ross is an overreaction, frankly. He was excellent in the loose, and I it is very rare that he was been a weak link in the scrums. If people are referring to the Ulster game, their prop was the one scrummaging illegally, not ours. The ref was widely criticized for his performance that day. The scrum in the game was a mess.

With yesterday's game in mind, there was only one clear example where he was at fault, IMO. In the others, either (i) Healy slipped his bind or dropped his hand to the floor, or (ii) the Glasgow prop slipped his bind but Ross got penalised regardless. He has been a rock for us this season and last season. Given international duties, he has played a lot of very high level games in the last 12 months compared to what he would have experienced in previous years. Cut the guy a bit of slack.

Absolutely.....plus....he had another excellent game in the loose.....an area he's improved in a lot this season i think.

[Sauvignon Blank]

I think the criticism of Ross is an overreaction, frankly. He was excellent in the loose, and I it is very rare that he was been a weak link in the scrums. If people are referring to the Ulster game, their prop was the one scrummaging illegally, not ours. The ref was widely criticized for his performance that day. The scrum in the game was a mess.

I'm no scrum expert/afficianado but it appears practically most Props endeavour to scrum illegally. It is also 50/50 whether the Ref actually picks up on this a la HC Final V Saints. Hence why Props do it.
I am worried that Mike Ross struggles when an oppo Prop tries this tactic against him and he can't do anything about it.

White was definitely an improvement when he came on. I'll leave that to the experts to figure that one out.

[jezzer]

Healy and Ross are technical props as opposed to brute strength merchants. I notice that if they don't get the hit/bind the way they want it, they take their chances with letting it come down or (in Healy's case) he often puts his hand on the ground to readjust and then gets up under the THP. They were at it a lot on Sunday, maybe because Owens wasnt' being overly strict about it. IN terms of LHPs scrummaging illegally against Ross, I think the only time that happens is LHPs not pushing straight and boring in on the hooker. Generally, the THP sets the bind, it's rare that a LHPs arm bind on its own would be enough to put the THP in trouble.

Owens is a weird ref. It's not that he's bad, I think he's pretty good actually. But it's like he decides he's going to police one or two areas of a game in particular and lets a lot of other stuff slide. We were coming in from the side like crazy yesterday and got away with it. Weegies were often doing the same and both of us also in front of hindmost foot. Generally he keeps the game flowing pretty well.

The next game, he could decide he's only going to police a completely different aspect of the game. He's a ref that, if you get a feel for what way he's reffing early on, you can get away with murder. But he's never the same from week to week.

[Donny B.]

As I said on Friday "Am I the only one who wonders why we have picked an expansive away team for the 1st time against a team guaranteed to make a mess of the breakdown and the game played on a narrow football pitch?
I'm always worried before any away game (bath excepted) but I'm concerned having seen the team."

We tried to go wide on a pitch that wasn't wide enough (wasn't helped by being a pudding of a pitch). Most of the time Glasgow didn't put anyone in the rucks and just fanned 15 defenders across the pitch. It was like Rugby League defense with 2 more players. We needed to play much more directly up the middle and then look for space wide. I think Boss' contribution was telling in that regard.
I never envisaged that we would "run away" with it, nor should that ever have been our intention. But we could have built a more comfortable lead. You can say he picked a team that won and so everything was OK but it was in the balance till the end. And that puts too much strain on my ticker

Fair enough you did say that. But a big part of the problem was that our backrow were second best, both individually and collectively. It's not often it happens in fairness, but they hardly made a decent carry between them and we were hugely reliant on our front five to take the ball up. Glasgow targetted the breakdown very successfully with two opensides on the pitch and made a mess of the ball presented back to Reddan. Reddan did try to put pace on it, but did make a few bad errors as well. When Boss was brought on the game was made for him and he was fresh and able to really make an impact both in attack and defence. He'd had a bit of a dodgy spell recently, especially away to Connacht, but this was a welcome return to form.

However we started Boss and the rest of the grinder squad away to Montpellier and Bath, which were a last minutes draw and an even tighter win respectively. They were hardly much good for your ticker either?

[ceemec]

If that was the kick that was basically at the centre of the halfway line then the Sky distance-o-meter is fubbared then. If you look at the distance from the halfway line to the 22 and then the 22 to the try line they are within a meter or so of each other in length. Firhill is a tiny pitch, any penalty you give away outside the opposition 22 is basically putting you back into your own 22 and under pressure.

Not sure how screwed Sky's estimations are (I would think they're close enough) but Scott Hastings claimed that halfway was only 45m and very achievable for any kicker. In fairness, Sexton made that kick with some distance to spare.

[FourMasters]

ITV4 highlights roundup about to cover Leinster NOW (19.40).

[lineens weegie army]

If that was the kick that was basically at the centre of the halfway line then the Sky distance-o-meter is fubbared then. If you look at the distance from the halfway line to the 22 and then the 22 to the try line they are within a meter or so of each other in length. Firhill is a tiny pitch, any penalty you give away outside the opposition 22 is basically putting you back into your own 22 and under pressure.

Not sure how screwed Sky's estimations are (I would think they're close enough) but Scott Hastings claimed that halfway was only 45m and very achievable for any kicker. In fairness, Sexton made that kick with some distance to spare.

Firhill is about 90m long (from try line to try line) - if you look, the 10m line isn't far of halfway from the halfway line to the 22m line.

It isn't however particularly narrow - about 1.5 meters off the full 70. For all Mr Hastings claims it is ridiculously narrower, it is in fact wider than every pitch used during the 2007 RWC, and Murrayfield has been narrowed to less than Firhill on many occasions!



As for the game... Gutted! Really felt that, with a bit of fortune on our side, we could have had you yesterday. Disappointing to give up such a cheap try at the start of the second half, and butchered a couple of great chances ourselves, but no disgrace in loosing to you guys by a few points. Oh well, onto Bath next week. Much dependant on how our team react to yesterday, but it feels great to be going into round 6 still in with a chance of a european game after the 6 Nations.

Also, well done to those of you who travelled over for the game - a great travelling support, and having a few away fans to force us to up our game made for the best atmosphere I've heard at Firhill