Heineken Cup - Leinster V ASM Clermont Auvergne

[FLIP]

10 penalty offences 5m out no card!!

[tate]

Not at the races today at all. LBP would be a result given what's happened all game.

[FLIP]

Not at the races today at all. LBP would be a result given what's happened all game.

Barnes seems intent to ensure we don't get that.

[Inquitus]

Noones ever qualified 2nd with 19 pts have they?

[FLIP]

YESSSSSSSSS MCFADDEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Inquitus]

Vitaly important try, at least 20pts is within the bounds of the possible.

[tate]

Where on earth did we knick that try from? Clermont should be f%~king pished with themselves to let us in for that. Barely deserved.

Edit: hope we make them pay for it in the knock-outs

[domhnallj]

Not a good performance. We should be out.

[tate]

Not a good performance. We should be out.

But we're not. Lots of improvement needed for the rest of the season though.

[FLIP]

No more games at the Aviva this year please. The pitch is a disgrace and it's something I think really hindered us in taking on their scrum like we did last week.

[rookie]

That was great

[domhnallj]

Not a good performance. We should be out.

But we're not. Lots of improvement needed for the rest of the season though.

True enough, we might sneak through yet and when we do everyone will pay.

[RichardP]

Not at the races today at all. LBP would be a result given what's happened all game.

Barnes seems intent to ensure we don't get that.

You can blame a lot of people for that loss; Barnes isn't one of them..so since you've taken on my remark as your signature you might as well BLAME kIDNEY

[neiliog93]

I have to say that Barnes was poor but he's not the reason that Leinster lost today.

I'll have to re-jig my predictions. Clermont to be 1st seeds and Leinster 8th seeds, with a rematch at the Michelin. Leinster to win. It really would be typical Leinster to do Clermont away in the quarter final after losing twice in the pool stages. Leinster will be a different proposition with a big revenge motive and Drico, Kearney etc back in harness.

[tate]

Any word on Luke, RK and Drico's returns? And an update on Strauss too

[fourthirtythree]

Lucky to get an LBP. They were way better.

All our set pieces were poor. Their restarts were excellent. Thought Ross should have been subbed 10 minutes earlier. Nothing seemed to work out, lots of players had of days.

[tate]

Must say I think our lineout is a bit of an Achilles heel. By no means certain with either hooker. Crowd were very quiet throughout too, RDS (in hindsight) would have been a better choice.

[CiaranIrl]

Going to Sandy Park requiring 4 tries is a massive ask. We're as close to out as can be without being mathematically out of it. Lunacy to expect 10 points from the next two games when we have only scored 3 tries in the last 4.

[Jaunard]

Now we know which side was actually the most exhausted physically after last game.

[neiliog93]

It doesn't necessarily require a bonus away to Exeter, 19 could be enough. But Leinster will have several key players back at that point, so a bonus is doable

biarritz might not beat quins at home, and even if they do, they'll still only finish on 18 (thanks connacht!)..I think Munster or Saracens will finish second on 20 points in their group, so you definitely have a point there (with racing metro falling short). Toulouse will beat leicester away, as leicester have been cr@p this year (needed a last minute try to beat treviso today)...ospreys have improved a lot and will also win at home to leicester. if leicester get 2 losing bonuses, they finish on 16. even if they win one of those games, it's still only 19 points for them, and therefore 20 would be enough for leinster. it's too late for the ospreys, who'll still only finish on 18 if they beat leicester and get a try bonus vs treviso.

So from those calculations, 19 might be enough (depending on leicester), but 20 probably would be, with munster/sarcens qualifying as the other runner-ups. there's definite cause to believe