Heineken Cup 2021/22

[joooooe]

Leinster scored 30 tries across the 3 games played in the group stages of this year's Heineken Cup.

The record for the pool stages of the Heineken Cup is 36 by Stade Francais in 2000/01 (when of course they played 6 matches).

Leinster this season only the 7th time that a team has scored 30 tries in the group stages of the Heineken Cup. Previous times this has happened were as follows:

• 1997/98: Wasps: 31 tries;

• 1998/99: Perpignan: 35 tries;

• 2000/01: Stade Francais: 36 tries;

• 2002/03: Leicester: 31 tries;

• 2004/05: Leinster: 33 tries; and

• 2016/17: Leinster: 31 tries.

So:

• of the seven times that this has been done, Leinster have done it on three of those occasions and no other team has done it for 19 years;

• under the new format of 12 team groups and 4 games per team, Leinster this season became the first and so far only team to score 20 tries in a group stage, let alone the 30 they ultimately achieved;

• Leinster of course scored these 30 tries in just 3 games, so on a pro rata basis they are way out in front of any group stage performance of any team in the history of the competition; and

• Leinster this season became the first team to score 30 tries and not top their pool, largely due to that extraordinary match in Montpellier where the home team shut out Leinster in a match where Montpellier secured the bonus point as part of a 28-0 romp.

Also, no team that has scored 30 tries in the pool stage has ever gone on to win the tournament.

[paddyor]

Huzzah for double legged playoffs

The 2nd Row
@the2ndRow
·
13h
Sat 26th March #URC
Connacht host Leinster
Weekend of 8/9/10 April #HCC
Connacht host Leinster
Weekend of 15/16/17 April #Rd16p2
Leinster host Connacht

We are going to be absolutely sick of eachother
#Interpros

[ronk]

Leinster scored 30 tries across the 3 games played in the group stages of this year's Heineken Cup.

The record for the pool stages of the Heineken Cup is 36 by Stade Francais in 2000/01 (when of course they played 6 matches).

Leinster this season only the 7th time that a team has scored 30 tries in the group stages of the Heineken Cup. Previous times this has happened were as follows:

• 1997/98: Wasps: 31 tries;

• 1998/99: Perpignan: 35 tries;

• 2000/01: Stade Francais: 36 tries;

• 2002/03: Leicester: 31 tries;

• 2004/05: Leinster: 33 tries; and

• 2016/17: Leinster: 31 tries.

So:

• of the seven times that this has been done, Leinster have done it on three of those occasions and no other team has done it for 19 years;

• under the new format of 12 team groups and 4 games per team, Leinster this season became the first and so far only team to score 20 tries in a group stage, let alone the 30 they ultimately achieved;

• Leinster of course scored these 30 tries in just 3 games, so on a pro rata basis they are way out in front of any group stage performance of any team in the history of the competition; and

• Leinster this season became the first team to score 30 tries and not top their pool, largely due to that extraordinary match in Montpellier where the home team shut out Leinster in a match where Montpellier secured the bonus point as part of a 28-0 romp.

It happened 4 times in 5 years. Then we did it 3 times since.

This time was done in only 3 matches but it also had Covid affected squads.

[Theleinsterlad]

Why can't we have a sports minister like this one?
Who is our Minister for Sport?

France's Minister of Sport, Roxana Maracineanu, has contacted the president of EPCR to express her "misunderstanding" of the decision they claim "discredits the health protocol" of French rugby.

In a letter seen by AFP, she wrote: "I am awaiting an explanation of the reasons which led you to sanction Stade Toulousain when it had a full team to play the match against Cardiff and scrupulously respected the authentic LNR protocol to participate. at the European Cup, as indicated in your regulations."

In the letter, Maracineanu notes that France has put in place “a demanding and effective strategy to fight against the epidemic” and that their ministry “has validated the protocol presented by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby”, which they believe to be “extremely robust".

She also added that "Stade Toulouse had made the responsible choice to test very widely within the club, including the administrative staff, in order to immediately put anyone infected in isolation, avoid any start of a cluster and always maintain a sufficient workforce to calmly compete in the European Championship and Cup".

She then called the cancellation an "incomprehensible" decision that "penalises an exemplary club in its management of the crisis".

And she finished by claiming that the sanction discredits the health protocols of French sport.

“This responsible and transparent approach is today sanctioned by your decision," she wrote. "Beyond the moral and sporting consequences for the club and its players, your incomprehensible decision discredits the health protocol of our championship and all of French sport. It is totally incomprehensible”.

She really likes the word incomprehensible, wonder was it on the loo roll that particular day…. Funny how they were slapping these same adjudicators on the back when they stopped leinster from playing against a French team who benefitted

[Flash Gordon]

Why can't we have a sports minister like this one?
Who is our Minister for Sport?

France's Minister of Sport, Roxana Maracineanu, has contacted the president of EPCR to express her "misunderstanding" of the decision they claim "discredits the health protocol" of French rugby.

In a letter seen by AFP, she wrote: "I am awaiting an explanation of the reasons which led you to sanction Stade Toulousain when it had a full team to play the match against Cardiff and scrupulously respected the authentic LNR protocol to participate. at the European Cup, as indicated in your regulations."

In the letter, Maracineanu notes that France has put in place “a demanding and effective strategy to fight against the epidemic” and that their ministry “has validated the protocol presented by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby”, which they believe to be “extremely robust".

She also added that "Stade Toulouse had made the responsible choice to test very widely within the club, including the administrative staff, in order to immediately put anyone infected in isolation, avoid any start of a cluster and always maintain a sufficient workforce to calmly compete in the European Championship and Cup".

She then called the cancellation an "incomprehensible" decision that "penalises an exemplary club in its management of the crisis".

And she finished by claiming that the sanction discredits the health protocols of French sport.

“This responsible and transparent approach is today sanctioned by your decision," she wrote. "Beyond the moral and sporting consequences for the club and its players, your incomprehensible decision discredits the health protocol of our championship and all of French sport. It is totally incomprehensible”.

She really likes the word incomprehensible, wonder was it on the loo roll that particular day…. Funny how they were slapping these same adjudicators on the back when they stopped leinster from playing against a French team who benefitted

Not sure that's true. Interestingly if the game is played and Toulouse win they will face Leinster in the last 16. Ulster will then play Bordeaux and Munster will face Connacht.

[Ruckedtobits]

Irish Provinces Team of the week

Purely based on their respective performances and not the quality of opponents, my Irish Provinces team of the week would be:
15. Lowry
14. Wooton
13. Hume
12. McCluskey
11. Lowe
10. Carty
9. Cooney
1. Porter
2. Kelleher
3. Furlong
4. Treadwell
5. Beirne
6. O'Mahony
7. JVdF
8. Vermullion

A great start for all four teams and another weekend to look forward to when others can put their hands up and deepen the Irish Depth Chart further.

Week Two - Ulster v Saints; Munster v Castres; Leicester v Connacht; Leinster N/ A

Certainly not as easy to select an Irish Provinces XV this weekend but this is my selection:

15. Lowry
14. Porch
13. Hume
12. Bundee Aki
11. McElroy
10. Carty
9. Marmion

1. Kilcoyne
2. Herring
3. Moore
4. Dillane
5. Beirne
6. Rea
7. Timoney
8. Vermullion

A couple of strong contenders in Connacht back-row who lost out because of last quarter fatigue-based mistakes. Four Connacht selections despite losing in Welford Road. Ulster's back-row unit probably the key element in their winning against Saints.

Week 3 - Castres v Munster; Connacht v Leicester; Leinster v Monpellier; N'hampton v Ulster

With all four Provinces in action and three highly competitive contests, many players in contention this weekend. However, the selected group augur well for Irish 6 Nations prospects:

15. Lowry
14. Baloucoune
13. Ringrose
12. Aki
11. Earls
10. Burns
9. JG Park

1. Porter
2. Herring
3. Moore
4. Beirne
5. Murray
6. O'Mahony
7. Van der Flyer
8. Coombes

Honourable mentions for Haley, Hume, J O'Brien, R Byrne, Carty, Doak, Kelleher, Burke, Treadwell, Rea, Doris & Conan.

Week 4: Leinster v Bath; Ulster v Clermont; Connacht v Stade Francais; Munster v Wasps

Once again, selection based on overall performances of players, in attack and defence. A number of uneven performances, brought about in part by team substitution policies, most notably in Ulster and Connacht games.

15. Hugo Keenan;
14. Jordan Larmour;
13. Gary Ringrose;
12. Robbie Henshaw;
11. Jimmy O'Brien;
10. Johnny Sexton;
9. Caolin Blade
1. Andrew Porter;
2. Ronan Kelleher;
3. Marty Moore;
4. Tadhg Beirne;
5. Niall Murray;
6. Caelin Doris;
7. Josh Van der Flyer;
8. Jack Conan.

No apologies for a Leinster dominated team, but there were a number of close-run decisions notably: Keenan v Lowry; Larmour v Balacoune v Hanson; Ringrose v Hume; O'Brien v McElroy v Woottam; Blade v Murray; Kelleher v Sheehan v Herring; Niall Murray v Treadwell v Klein; Conan v Coombes v Butler; Doris v O'Mahony v Timoney.

Overall, the performances, over the past fortnight in particular, auger well for Farrell and the Irish coaches. A few "outsiders" have put up their hands but in general the Irish panelists have odisplayed the story of form which justified the panel selection. The second row still looks a little bare but apart from that Ireland's cupboard looks well stocked entering this 6N Championship.

[Xanthippe]

Why can't we have a sports minister like this one?
Who is our Minister for Sport?

She really likes the word incomprehensible, wonder was it on the loo roll that particular day…. Funny how they were slapping these same adjudicators on the back when they stopped leinster from playing against a French team who benefitted

Not sure that's true. Interestingly if the game is played and Toulouse win they will face Leinster in the last 16. Ulster will then play Bordeaux and Munster will face Connacht.

If the six 28-0 results had been given as 0-0 draws this would have been the final tables:




and then the alternate brackets would be:

[Oldschool]

Leinster scored 30 tries across the 3 games played in the group stages of this year's Heineken Cup.

The record for the pool stages of the Heineken Cup is 36 by Stade Francais in 2000/01 (when of course they played 6 matches).

Leinster this season only the 7th time that a team has scored 30 tries in the group stages of the Heineken Cup. Previous times this has happened were as follows:

• 1997/98: Wasps: 31 tries;

• 1998/99: Perpignan: 35 tries;

• 2000/01: Stade Francais: 36 tries;

• 2002/03: Leicester: 31 tries;

• 2004/05: Leinster: 33 tries; and

• 2016/17: Leinster: 31 tries.

So:

• of the seven times that this has been done, Leinster have done it on three of those occasions and no other team has done it for 19 years;

• under the new format of 12 team groups and 4 games per team, Leinster this season became the first and so far only team to score 20 tries in a group stage, let alone the 30 they ultimately achieved;

• Leinster of course scored these 30 tries in just 3 games, so on a pro rata basis they are way out in front of any group stage performance of any team in the history of the competition; and

• Leinster this season became the first team to score 30 tries and not top their pool, largely due to that extraordinary match in Montpellier where the home team shut out Leinster in a match where Montpellier secured the bonus point as part of a 28-0 romp.

Also, no team that has scored 30 tries in the pool stage has ever gone on to win the tournament.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Which has two meanings
The obvious one and the one we're interested in, ie just because you didn't win the cup having scored a certain number of tries or more doesn't mean you're not going to win the cup this time.

However when a team scores that many tried in the qualifiers all the other teams focus on ways to counter them
Traditionally the solution has been to take them on up front and defend the life out of them.
And maybe therein lies the solution.
Do unto them as they would do unto us

[Oldschoolsocks]

Has anybody, even informally, looked at the effect on both Pools if EPCR assigning a 0-0 result for every unplayed game? EPCR now need to find a solution which isn't going to cost them a legal fortune or an embargo by some teams. That might be a 'get out of jail card' for them

I would be mildly shocked if Xan hasn’t tbh…

Told ya

[blockhead]

If Xan is correct then I would suggest both Toulouse and ourselves should just run along now and stop annoying the good people in the EPRC.

[Flash Gordon]

She really likes the word incomprehensible, wonder was it on the loo roll that particular day…. Funny how they were slapping these same adjudicators on the back when they stopped leinster from playing against a French team who benefitted

Not sure that's true. Interestingly if the game is played and Toulouse win they will face Leinster in the last 16. Ulster will then play Bordeaux and Munster will face Connacht.

If the six 28-0 results had been given as 0-0 draws this would have been the final tables:




and then the alternate brackets would be:

[Oldschool]

If Xan is correct then I would suggest both Toulouse and ourselves should just run along now and stop annoying the good people in the EPRC.

Very magnanimous of you.

[Xanthippe]

If Xan is correct then I would suggest both Toulouse and ourselves should just run along now and stop annoying the good people in the EPRC.

If???????



(Joking.......)

[Ruckedtobits]

She really likes the word incomprehensible, wonder was it on the loo roll that particular day…. Funny how they were slapping these same adjudicators on the back when they stopped leinster from playing against a French team who benefitted

Not sure that's true. Interestingly if the game is played and Toulouse win they will face Leinster in the last 16. Ulster will then play Bordeaux and Munster will face Connacht.

If the six 28-0 results had been given as 0-0 draws this would have been the final tables:




and then the alternate brackets would be:

Thanks @ Xanthippe. Great work (and super presentation).

For what it's worth, if Leinster & Toulouse pursue EPCR on the basis of misinterpretation or discrimination within their own rules, It may be that a financial settlement may be a resolution of their complaint.

[joooooe]

Leinster scored 30 tries across the 3 games played in the group stages of this year's Heineken Cup.

The record for the pool stages of the Heineken Cup is 36 by Stade Francais in 2000/01 (when of course they played 6 matches).

Leinster this season only the 7th time that a team has scored 30 tries in the group stages of the Heineken Cup. Previous times this has happened were as follows:

• 1997/98: Wasps: 31 tries;

• 1998/99: Perpignan: 35 tries;

• 2000/01: Stade Francais: 36 tries;

• 2002/03: Leicester: 31 tries;

• 2004/05: Leinster: 33 tries; and

• 2016/17: Leinster: 31 tries.

So:

• of the seven times that this has been done, Leinster have done it on three of those occasions and no other team has done it for 19 years;

• under the new format of 12 team groups and 4 games per team, Leinster this season became the first and so far only team to score 20 tries in a group stage, let alone the 30 they ultimately achieved;

• Leinster of course scored these 30 tries in just 3 games, so on a pro rata basis they are way out in front of any group stage performance of any team in the history of the competition; and

• Leinster this season became the first team to score 30 tries and not top their pool, largely due to that extraordinary match in Montpellier where the home team shut out Leinster in a match where Montpellier secured the bonus point as part of a 28-0 romp.

Also, no team that has scored 30 tries in the pool stage has ever gone on to win the tournament.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Which has two meanings
The obvious one and the one we're interested in, ie just because you didn't win the cup having scored a certain number of tries or more doesn't mean you're not going to win the cup this time.

However when a team scores that many tried in the qualifiers all the other teams focus on ways to counter them
Traditionally the solution has been to take them on up front and defend the life out of them.
And maybe therein lies the solution.
Do unto them as they would do unto us

Another interpretation is that in order to score 30 tries you probably played against rubbish teams (which was the case this season anyway). Having thus not been tested, you are unprepared for the big games (i.e. the ones against good teams) when they come along.

[ronk]

Better than not scoring 30 tries against those teams.

Anyway Montpellier got a bonus point win against Exeter which counts for something unless Exeter would rather play Munster than Sale.

Bath's other match was losing at La Rochelle, hardly damning.

[blockhead]

Connacht have said that the 1st leg of the Heino last 16 will be in the Sportsground with about 8,000 capacity.

[cormac]

Going to be a mad scramble for tickets so.

Of the 198 points we scored in the pool stages, they were all either tries or conversions. I'm not sure we even attempted a penalty kick or drop goal.

[Keith]

Connacht have said that the 1st leg of the Heino last 16 will be in the Sportsground with about 8,000 capacity.

I thought Connacht could get their capacity up to 10k for the big games? I'm sure they got 10k for a HC game against Toulouse before.

[Blueberry]

Better than not scoring 30 tries against those teams.

Anyway Montpellier got a bonus point win against Exeter which counts for something unless Exeter would rather play Munster than Sale.

Bath's other match was losing at La Rochelle, hardly damning.

I know always impossible to please everyone.........bottom line is we racked up the points and got max pts, bookies have us as favourites to win the comp. Impressive.

Exciting thing is we are scoring tries for fun and it becomes a habit, if we click for 20-30 mins against any side we can rattle in 2-3 tries....even a Toulouse or Racing.

But step 1 obliterate Connacht.....I am sure the lads are taking it one game at a time.....