Pro14 R4: Zebre v Leinster Sat 26th Oct 17:15 KO

[cormac]

Jack Conan out for six months after undergoing a procedure on his injured foot. No update on Cronin. Ciaran Frawley back into on-field training but won't play this week and sounds like it'll be a week too soon for Ed Byrne.

https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/injury-upd ... d=19ZL5859

Wonder if Zebre will have their Italian players back for this one?

[cormac]

Referee: Craig Evans (WRU, 7th Championship appearance)
AR1: Manuel Bottino (FIR), AR2: Chris Williams (WRU)
TMO: Jon Mason (WRU)

Live on eir sport 1, Premier Sports 2, DAZN, PRO14.tv

[arsebiscuits1]

I'd say we will go mostly full whack to keep the wheels moving:

Dooley, Kelleher, Bent
Toner, Fardy
Deegan, Doris, Connors
JGP, R Byrne
COB, ROL
Lowe, Keenan, Kelleher
Tracy, Milne, Vakh, Baird, Penny, HOS, H Byrne, JOB

Think we're overdue to see Kelleher and COB this season so will likely get a run out

[D4surfer]

I'd say we will go mostly full whack to keep the wheels moving:

Dooley, Kelleher, Bent
Toner, Fardy
Deegan, Doris, Connors
JGP, R Byrne
COB, ROL
Lowe, Keenan, Kelleher
Tracy, Milne, Vakh, Baird, Penny, HOS, H Byrne, JOB

Think we're overdue to see Kelleher and COB this season so will likely get a run out

Gavin Mullin might see some action after his performances in the Celtic Cup.

[LeinsterLeader]

Lots to like in that team. Deegan at 8, Cian Kelleher at 11, Adam Byrne 14, Baird on the bench.

No sign of COB. I can only imagine he's carrying an injury or his form has dropped badly



Edit: Sorry about the Picture. Not good at posting this stuff

[wixfjord]

15. Hugo Keenan (8)
14. Adam Byrne (53)
13. Rory O’Loughlin (64)
12. Joe Tomane (16)
11. Cian Kelleher (7)
10. Ross Byrne (74)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (73)
1. Peter Dooley (64)
2. James Tracy (95)
3. Michael Bent (127)
4. Ross Molony (85)
5. Scott Fardy (46) CAPTAIN
6. Josh Murphy (24)
7. Scott Penny (7)
8. Max Deegan (49)

16. Bryan Byrne (42)
17. Michael Milne (3)
18. Vakh Abdaladze (10)
19. Ryan Baird (1)
20. Caelan Doris (19)
21. Hugh O’Sullivan (15)
22. Harry Byrne (3)
23. Jimmy O’Brien (9)

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Really like the balance of the back row and happy to see Deegan at 8. Looking forward to seeing Baird and Doris off the bench as well. I like that we've left Kelleher out for this one, was delighted to see him start the last three games but wouldn't want to overdo it with him either and the other hookers are good players and experienced so deserve a go.

Good to see Adam back. Hopefully the continuity and experience that we've had with the half backs and centres means that he gets some ball. I'm not sure if this start is such great news for Cian Kelleher. He's had to wait until now to make an appearance and when he does it's in a position that is nailed on to be Lowe's for any big game, and obviously Lowe won't be away with Ireland this season.

Zebre away might not be the most exciting game of the season but given what happened Ireland next week I'm looking at all this weekend's games with an eye on how Ireland could be rejuvenated. I'd hope that Deegan, JGP, Ross Byrne, and Adam in particular put their hands up to start the European games and then get into the Irish squad on the back of that.

[wixfjord]

Tasty side, bench is a bit callow but very exciting on paper and will certainly bring impact.

Our 9/10/12/13 seems very settled at the minute.

Tomane deserves his spot but surprised COB hasn't gotten more time. He's either out of favour or carrying an injury. Had heard the former but not sure if it's true.

That back three looks like it could score a few tries given good ball.

Would be interesting to see who goes into the centre if one of them comes off. Presumably JOB.

[the spoofer]

Really like the balance of the back row and happy to see Deegan at 8. Looking forward to seeing Baird and Doris off the bench as well. I like that we've left Kelleher out for this one, was delighted to see him start the last three games but wouldn't want to overdo it with him either and the other hookers are good players and experienced so deserve a go.

Good to see Adam back. Hopefully the continuity and experience that we've had with the half backs and centres means that he gets some ball. I'm not sure if this start is such great news for Cian Kelleher. He's had to wait until now to make an appearance and when he does it's in a position that is nailed on to be Lowe's for any big game, and obviously Lowe won't be away with Ireland this season.

Zebre away might not be the most exciting game of the season but given what happened Ireland next week I'm looking at all this weekend's games with an eye on how Ireland could be rejuvenated. I'd hope that Deegan, JGP, Ross Byrne, and Adam in particular put their hands up to start the European games and then get into the Irish squad on the back of that.

I don't see how you could leave out Keenan based on his performances this year. One or two small errors (the switch with Lowe - not sure who was at fault) but he looks really talented. I hope the S&C lads have Lowe at home running a few kilo's off him, he looks 4 or 5 kilo's too "strong".

[curates_egg]

I'm looking at all this weekend's games with an eye on how Ireland could be rejuvenated. I'd hope that Deegan, JGP, Ross Byrne, and Adam in particular put their hands up to start the European games and then get into the Irish squad on the back of that.

Seriously? Pretty much the last thing I want to think about is Ireland. I'm looking forward to this next phase of our season to purge that poison out of my system.
I'm looking forward to see which of the players that has been putting their hands up at the start of the season is rewarded by the management when we get to the Euro games.
Is Henshaw really fit? If not, who do we go with? Lots of faith being shown in Tomane.
Has PMU done enough to overtake McGrath?
Will Deegan or Doris take Conan's place?
What about the back three? Larmour was one of the only form players for Ireland. Has anyone made the case to push Kearney out of the back three though?

On a side note, Mick Kearney has been selected to start for Zebre. I wish him well.

[curates_egg]

La formazione dello Zebre Rugby Club che sabato 26 ottobre alle ore 18:15 italiane scenderà in campo contro gli Irlandesi del Leinster allo Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi di Parma nel quarto turno del Guinness PRO14:

15 Michelangelo Biondelli* (2)
14 Edoardo Padovani*(73)
13 Giulio Bisegni (87)
12 Enrico Lucchin* (3)
11 Mattia Bellini (48)
10 Carlo Canna (79)
9 Joshua Renton (19)
8 David Sisi (43)
7 Johan Meyer (82)
6 Giovanni Licata* (26)
5 George Biagi (109) (Cap)
4 Mick Kearney (3)
3 Giosuè Zilocchi* (18)
2 Marco Manfredi (4)
1 Danilo Fischetti* (6)

A disposizione: 16 Oliviero Fabiani (108) 17 Daniele Rimpelli* (30) 18 Alexandru Tarus (3) 19 Leonard Krumov* (33) 20 Renato Giammarioli* (32) 21 Marcello Violi* (54) 22 Tommaso Boni* (74) 23 James Elliott (21)

[carlow man]

Does anyone know why Conor O'Brien has not had many minutes this season? He was ahead of tomane last year but seems to be either out of favour or maybe carrying an injury?

[limecat]

Match Preview

Another World Cup, another humiliation!

At least Ireland got to be humiliated against New Zealand, poor old Italy didn't even get the chance as their game against the Kiwis was cancelled. They would likely have been hammered too but it's hard to believe they could have played as poorly as Ireland did. Ireland went down without even throwing a punch. All their "positive" talk during the week turned out to be just empty bullshit as the heads dropped once the first mistake happened.

Read more...

[desperado]

Does anyone know why Conor O'Brien has not had many minutes this season? He was ahead of tomane last year but seems to be either out of favour or maybe carrying an injury?

Wasn't called out in the injury update. I would have expected that he'd get some time alright by now. Had hoped he'd be benching at least for this game. Also, no mention of Will Connors? Is he injured? thought he'd started very well this season and deserves a break after injury effectively ruling him out for all last season.

[carlow man]

They seem to be rotating the locks and back towers a fair bit already. Maybe the want them all to get decent minutes under their belts before the internationals come back? Connors looks a good bet to be on the bench covering the second and back row in the big pro 14 games.

[OTT]

Fourth game in and 23 players will have started at least one

Full Back:
Keenan 3
JOB 1

Centre:
ROL 4
Tomane 4

Wing:
Lowe 2
Dave Kearney 2
Adam Byrne 2
Ferg 1
Kelleher 1

OH:
R Byrne 4

SH:
RPG 4

LH:
Dooley 4

HK:
Kelleher 3
Tracy 1

TH:
Bent 4

Lock:
Fardy 3
Dev 3
Molony 2

Back Row:
Deegan 3
Doris 3
Connors 2
Murphy 2
Penny 2



Six players will have started all four games and 15 will have featured in all 4 match day 23's, very settled really which sort of surprised me.

A good few lads putting their hand up for selection for the European games on the form so far, hopefully that continues tomorrow.

[wixfjord]

They seem to be rotating the locks and back towers a fair bit already. Maybe the want them all to get decent minutes under their belts before the internationals come back? Connors looks a good bet to be on the bench covering the second and back row in the big pro 14 games.

Does Connors play 2nd row?
Or are you talking about Josh Murphy?

[wixfjord]

Really looking forward to seeing Baird today. Hopefully he gets a good run with the game in the balance.

[cormac]

Thought this was supposed to be on Eir Sports 1?

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Does our match remind anyone else of Wales and New Zeland from the 2003 WC?