Clermont - The Game

[johng]

I'd say it'd go fairly muddy.

[wixfjord]

It never fails to amuse me the furore that's caused by almost every ref. announcement on here!
Unfortunately, we have to be reffed by someone lads!
I know I'd certainly rather Barnes than Poite or Owens.

[Danthefan]

It never fails to amuse me the furore that's caused by almost every ref. announcement on here!
Unfortunately, we have to be reffed by someone lads!
I know I'd certainly rather Barnes than Poite or Owens.

Indeed.

Happy enough with Barnes. Would have preferred Poite but obviously we couldn't get him.

[kotenok]

I really think the pressure is on Clermont in front of their fans and having never won a HC SF, playing the Champions and a bogey team at that.

ASM manages to play this kind of matches because they have been 6 times semi-finalist this 6 last years and won 5 of them (1 in Bordeaux against Toulouse). Maybe 20 000 or more will be there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQstAtMKuPg

James is the best 10 in France from 6 years... and skrela maybe the 3third...

They have a revenge to take from the QF lost on your field.

It should be a big game!

[Donny B.]

Anyone remember our last away match against Clermont? Barnes was dreadful, giving them every 50/50 going, including disallowing a perfectly good Shane Jennings try. An awful ref who's arguably got worse since then and has actually been thrown off the top international panel. How then can they give this clown probably the biggest European match of the season? Terrible decision.

[22dropout]

Its been a particularly wet spring in France this year. Id say if anything its probable that conditions will be wet. I remember Toulouse a few years ago when it pissed rain all day and it was some kind of bank holiday.
From both a neutral perspective and form a Leinster perspective i hope it stays dry. I wonder whats Butch James game management skills are like if it came to something more tactical ? Haven't seen much top 14 to assess.

[CiaranIrl]

Anyone remember our last away match against Clermont? Barnes was dreadful, giving them every 50/50 going, including disallowing a perfectly good Shane Jennings try. An awful ref who's arguably got worse since then and has actually been thrown off the top international panel. How then can they give this clown probably the biggest European match of the season? Terrible decision.

We can't have an Irish ref, we can't have a French ref, and the HEC only uses European refs, so your options are Barnes, Owens or Pearson. What order of preference would you have?

[roarlad]

Can someone enlighten me on whether we will be wearing the Blue or the White jersey?
I've just had a google and saw that on the three occasions previously we've played, we've worn our home Blue kit and they wore their away White and Yellow kit regardless of the location of the match.
Presume this will be the case Sunday week?

[artaneboy]

Anyone remember our last away match against Clermont? Barnes was dreadful, giving them every 50/50 going, including disallowing a perfectly good Shane Jennings try. An awful ref who's arguably got worse since then and has actually been thrown off the top international panel. How then can they give this clown probably the biggest European match of the season? Terrible decision.

We can't have an Irish ref, we can't have a French ref, and the HEC only uses European refs, so your options are Barnes, Owens or Pearson. What order of preference would you have?

I'd rather Owens, but I'll settle for Barnes. He's not perfect but few are.

[Morf]

Can someone enlighten me on whether we will be wearing the Blue or the White jersey?
I've just had a google and saw that on the three occasions previously we've played, we've worn our home Blue kit and they wore their away White and Yellow kit regardless of the location of the match.
Presume this will be the case Sunday week?

They'll wear white. We'll wear blue I'd imagine. I think white is their H Cup jersey. We aren't wearing the 3rd jersey this year for 1st team matches (bar friendlies).

[sid]

We aren't wearing the 3rd jersey this year for 1st team matches (bar friendlies).

Thank christ.

[glenageary]

It never fails to amuse me the furore that's caused by almost every ref. announcement on here!
Unfortunately, we have to be reffed by someone lads!
I know I'd certainly rather Barnes than Poite or Owens.

Indeed.

Happy enough with Barnes. Would have preferred Poite but obviously we couldn't get him.

Yeap Poite is my favorite - I thought he played the final really well last year, including that obvious knock-on, he clearly wanted the game to flow and it made for a great game - sure i would be bitching if the saints had come back, but I think that Poite knew the momentum of the game and allowed for some sporting advantages

[West Brit]

Anyone remember our last away match against Clermont? Barnes was dreadful, giving them every 50/50 going, including disallowing a perfectly good Shane Jennings try. An awful ref who's arguably got worse since then and has actually been thrown off the top international panel. How then can they give this clown probably the biggest European match of the season? Terrible decision.

I remember well. We gave him stick all during the match but then spent a couple of hours in the pub that night with him and his touchies having a pint. Turned out he was a decent bloke and I think the touchie was Owen Coyle's brother (ok, maybe it was more than a pint we had). When we left them we ended up with the three Islanders from the Clermont squad having a pint in the next bar. My God I loved that Clermont trip!

Oh, and Barnes was absolutely dreadful that day - we have a photo of him in the bar with both arms in the air because we were convinced by his performance that only one worked.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'm far more worried about that first hit in the scrum and our first lineout than I am about the ref. If our set piece holds firm then I think we'll win. Clermont will come at us in in a manner similar to Northampton last May except that they'll have a bench to sustain the momentum. However, we have all the tools necessary to stop them getting that front foot ball.

I'd love to see someone run over Parra and wipe that smug look off his face. He might be a fine player but he's also a cheap shot merchant and I hope we show him up.

[glenageary]

Talk about running their pack into the ground in the 2nd half with our speed game is also a bit wishful! They have a good bench plus Hines really ran out of steam last year! Like hell he did! However we killed them in the aviva so they are for the taking if all our cylinders fire. They will be saying exactly the same I am sure. This must be one of the closest encounters yet.

[glenageary]

Talk about running their pack into the ground in the 2nd half with our speed game is also a bit wishful! They have a good bench plus Hines really ran out of steam last year! Like hell he did! However we killed them in the aviva so they are for the taking if all our cylinders fire. They will be saying exactly the same I am sure. This must be one of the closest encounters yet.

[Proudleinsterman]

How do people think the game will go if it rains?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/3031582

If just a bit of rain can't see it playing much of a part. If it is quite heavy, might encourage more of a tactical kicking game. Would prefer a dry day because one effect of wet weather is more mistakes and more scrums, so a lot will depend on who has the better scrum. Personally a dry day would suit us as I think we will want to keep the match at a high tempo, it suits our game and will strectch the french pack.

[Proudleinsterman]

I really think the pressure is on Clermont in front of their fans and having never won a HC SF, playing the Champions and a bogey team at that.

ASM manages to play this kind of matches because they have been 6 times semi-finalist this 6 last years and won 5 of them (1 in Bordeaux against Toulouse). Maybe 20 000 or more will be there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQstAtMKuPg

James is the best 10 in France from 6 years... and skrela maybe the 3third...

They have a revenge to take from the QF lost on your field.

It should be a big game!

Will be a hugh game, ASM are a great team and Leinster know they will have to perform to their best, but will take confidence from destroying ASM in the Aviva. Personally I think Leinster has a more rounded team, with Clermont having some exceptional individual players. Leinster have learnt how to win big HC games and I believe they are mentally and physically strong enough to go behind and still come back, ASM are more inconsistent, they can be sublime and poor in the same 5 mins and have never played in a HC SF. Will be intesting to see how they approach this game, against Saracens they kicked the ball away a lot, they can't afford to kick the ball away to Leinster. If they try and play a low risk game they will lose, they will have to take Leinster on up front and run at us. If they kick and hope for mistakes they could be waiting a while. Would prefer if James plays, he can blow hot and cold and is not a big tackler. ASM need a good start, if they give Leinster momentum and the crowd goes quiet Leinster will grow in confidence. I still think if we get equality in the setpiece we have a more rounded side and really expect Leinster to play their best rugby of the season Sunday week.

[Proudleinsterman]

Talk about running their pack into the ground in the 2nd half with our speed game is also a bit wishful! They have a good bench plus Hines really ran out of steam last year! Like hell he did! However we killed them in the aviva so they are for the taking if all our cylinders fire. They will be saying exactly the same I am sure. This must be one of the closest encounters yet.

We killed them in the Aviva by playing a high tempo game where they struggled to get their defence set, they have big men who when stretched take their time getting back into the defensive line. Saracens were not able to exploit this because their attack was toothless. Watched the Saracens/Clermont match again and whilst Clermont played well, Saracens were shockingly poor. Honestly think we have never been so adequately equipped to go to France and get a win. When I think back to the patched up side that got a heroic losing bonus point at the MM, I have to believe this team has the bottle to perform to whatever level is needed to get the job done. Yes ASM could win but I think this is going to be one of our finest moments.

[suisse]

I love how Roman Poite is suddenly considered a good referee. I'm convinced in the lead up to the HEC Final last year, a lot of people here were raging at the decision, the thinking was that Jerome Garces is actually a better referee. Poite is turning into the new man's Blind Dave. Three tries in that Final could have chalked off for critical obstruction in the lead up to a try. He somehow missed the spear on Felix Jones by John Afoa, when it was in his general eyeline at the time.

It never fails to amuse me the furore that's caused by almost every ref. announcement on here!

And with good reason. There's nothing you can do about a forward pass or an unseen knock on. These things happen in the course of a game. Some go for you, some go against you. It's childish to moan about things like that. Ultimately, the referee can't see absolutely everything that happens on the field of play.

However, Dave Pearson gave the wrong recommendation to Wayne Barnes for an off-the-ball tip tackle three yards from him that could have had serious implications on Donnacha Ryan and the game of rugby. He failed to do his job. This was not a shitty forward pass or a crooked line out feed. This was dumping someone on their upper back area. Pearson has a responsibility too, to protect the players. I know he is not refereeing the game, but he will be heavily involved.

This is Mark Lawrence's reaction (as the referee) when informed of Didby Iaone's tip tackle. Lawrence challanged the commendation of the touch judge, which was more than Barnes did. Lawrence ultimately sided with his TJ but at least he had the balls to look deeper.

http://www.rugbydump.com/2008/05/499/di ... ear-tackle

(also worth noting the typically biased and cringeworthy Aussie commentators. They are an embarrassment. Absolutely hate watching games that these morons are commenting on)