Dragons Away, 19th Feb, 7.35pm

[mildlyinterested]

Quite a few Leinster legends have made their debuts for the province in Newport including Dave Kearney, Ian Madigan, Rhys Ruddock, Luke McGrath, Tadhg Furlong, Scott Fardy, James Ryan and Jordan Larmour. Will Marcus Hanan be another to add his name to the list?

Is he that highly rated??

Jack Boyle is one to look out for. He’s currently an u19

and therefore years away.

[Jonny tight lips]

There are a few omissions that are a bit strange.

Frawley, Cronin, Milne, HOS.

I wonder if Cronin is on his way. For me, along with Dave Kearney, the most under rated Leinster player in years. The guy has been phenomenal for us.

yes it's widely understood, that this is cronins final season with leinster.

Leaves us light next year, particularly with Kelleher likely to be away with Ireland. Would be great to get one more year out of Sean to give Dan a chance to get a bit more established and get a look at McKee

[MarkyDeSad]

I wonder if Cronin is on his way. For me, along with Dave Kearney, the most under rated Leinster player in years. The guy has been phenomenal for us.

yes it's widely understood, that this is cronins final season with leinster.

Leaves us light next year, particularly with Kelleher likely to be away with Ireland. Would be great to get one more year out of Sean to give Dan a chance to get a bit more established and get a look at McKee

Agree with Flash and JTL, I think Cronin is a great asset, certainly looks like he has another year in him, terrific player.

[Ruckedtobits]

Heavy duty experience among Dragons front-five and subs. We'll need to be precise in our set-piece work to get quality possession and maintain a high-tempo but in a controlled manner.

[limecat]

Match Preview

After an unfamiliar couple of months, Leinster finally returned to the top of their pool with a comfortable win away in Llanelli.

They can't afford to rest on their laurels though as they're still only four points ahead of Ulster, who they will meet in Ravenhill in two weeks time. Before that they have Glasgow next week but first up it's a trip to the Dragons.

Read more...

[MarkyDeSad]

https://twitter.com/SkyBetLeagueTwo/sta ... 42912?s=20

Judging by the weather forecast, heavy and persistent rain for most of the day, and the state of the pitch in that video clip we could be in for an old-fashioned mud-fest. Hmmmm.

[Barry]

https://twitter.com/SkyBetLeagueTwo/sta ... 42912?s=20

Judging by the weather forecast, heavy and persistent rain for most of the day, and the state of the pitch in that video clip we could be in for an old-fashioned mud-fest. Hmmmm.

Took his chance well

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

[mildlyinterested]

Good to see Birr, Clane and Naas represented in team.

[JB1973]

the weather is grey and damp here but not too cold and windy and the Rodney parade pitch is not as bad as it used to be

Roberts is out for the dragons that's a boost for you plus all their first choice back row misses out and in fact pretty much all their first choice back ups are missing as well

Their back 3 are all very fast though Williams at 15 is very small and can be targeted in the air

Dixon is a big lump at centre and owen is making his league starting debut he was v good for the under 20's but is another who is a bit small

They have their first choice half backs playing and I think Williams is very unlucky not be in the welsh set up a quality 9

Harris Hibbard and Screech are all decent sold pro level players and the young lock carter is heavily touted as one for the future

The back row look their biggest weakness , baker our old number 8 is on the bench for them so will look to see how he does when he comes on

The ex Leicester front rower bateman is also on the bench and the ex Connacht lock those two aside I don't see much impact Baldwin and lewis are very poor options at half

Best of luck anyhow, a leinster win helps keeps the dragons away from us in the league

[wixfjord]

That Dragons back three does look exciting in attack. Interesting to see if they get any ball.

[Blue not red blood]

Should be a good opportunity to increase our lead over Ulster, who on paper have a tougher task tonight.

[mildlyinterested]

Bent has pulled out of the squad for personal reasons. Tom Clarkson moves from the bench to the starting team. Greg McGrath moves up to the bench.

[mildlyinterested]

3 of the 4 props in squad now from leinster clubs.. Birr, Clane, Wexford.

plus Clarkson started out with Wicklow.

[Theleinsterlad]

3 of the 4 props in squad now from leinster clubs.. Birr, Clane, Wexford.

plus Clarkson started out with Wicklow.

That’s great to see

[cormac]

Luke McGrath 141st appearance tonight for Leinster. That makes him Leinster's most capped scrum-half, overtaking Eoin Reddan.

[Serb]

Is that a penalty and two knock ons conceded by Murphy in the first 4 minutes?

[Serb]

Pitch is supposedly plastic but looks an absolute mess. Lots and lots of handling errors from us so far (four knock ons)

[Lock9541]

Just noticed that there’s 9 St Michael’s lads starting

[Laighin Break]

Just noticed that there’s 9 St Michael’s lads starting

Please don't start with this...

[Serb]

Just noticed that there’s 9 St Michael’s lads starting

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