Leinster v Toulouse HC SF Sat 14th May 3:00pm

[blockhead]

According to An Garda Síochana press release, we are playing Connacht next Saturday.
The thin blue line eh.

[curates_egg]

Does anyone have a spare ticket in BLK 122 (in or near row AA 26-28)?
Got one ticket too few and my dad would like to join.

Call the branch ticket office, they are generally very helpful about these things.

Thanks.

[Scooby Shaggy Swerve]

Some great seats in lower East & West on halfway line now on sale, (Toulouse returns apparently)

https://t.co/7dWbY98KlO

Hell of lot better the 4 I bought on Monday. (BLK127)

[footrush]

Some great seats in lower East & West on halfway line now on sale, (Toulouse returns apparently)

https://t.co/7dWbY98KlO

Hell of lot better the 4 I bought on Monday. (BLK127)

Fantastic !, good things come to those who wait !. Wonder how close we are to selling this one out ?.

[riocard911]

30,000 tickets already sold – Get yours here

May 10, 2022 12:17 pm Site Editor

https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/30000-tick ... ours-here/

[mildlyinterested]

Some great seats in lower East & West on halfway line now on sale, (Toulouse returns apparently)

https://t.co/7dWbY98KlO

Hell of lot better the 4 I bought on Monday. (BLK127)

Fantastic !, good things come to those who wait !. Wonder how close we are to selling this one out ?.

not close.

32k at the minute, i'd say we will be doing well to pass 40k. Which will be a great achievement on 5 days notice.

[Blue not red blood]

Great weather forecast I believe for the weekend

[ronk]

In previous years when we lost we didn't face teams capable of extreme physicality and we had a patched element to the matchday squad.

This year we played 4 South African sides and Leicester away at their peak. We're much better prepped and have strengthened our starting pack by moving Porter. Fardy isn't that much of a loss, he was fading.

We also don't have to go to France. But Toulouse got results twice in Ireland in recent weeks. So they're coming in hot too.

[wixfjord]

I'm not sure what playing 4 SA sides has really taught us considering nobody from this 23 played Stormers or Sharks, a handful played against Lions and the Bulls didn't put up much resistance in September. Big difference to a proper heavyweight Toulouse side in a SF.

One key area we have a big advantage though is in fitness and freshness.

Toulouse have been playing big arm wrestle games for 6 weeks now.

They've lost to Toulon, Ulster and Castres in that time and just come through a 100 minute away game, to turn around and come back for another intense away game.

Meanwhile the toughest test we've had against Leicester was after a three week training block for most of our 23.

That has to catch up with Toulouse at some stage.

They're due to be down quite a few in the backline too, possibly Medard, Delibes, Guitone, Tauzin, Germain.

Possible centre combo is Akhi and Nanai Williams or Holmes. That's again an area we should have the upper hand.

[Theleinsterlad]

I'm not sure what playing 4 SA sides has really taught us considering nobody from this 23 played Stormers or Sharks, a handful played against Lions and the Bulls didn't put up much resistance in September. Big difference to a proper heavyweight Toulouse side in a SF.

One key area we have a big advantage though is in fitness and freshness.

Toulouse have been playing big arm wrestle games for 6 weeks now.

They've lost to Toulon, Ulster and Castres in that time and just come through a 100 minute away game, to turn around and come back for another intense away game.

Meanwhile the toughest test we've had against Leicester was after a three week training block for most of our 23.

That has to catch up with Toulouse at some stage.

They're due to be down quite a few in the backline too, possibly Medard, Delibes, Guitone, Tauzin, Germain.

Possible centre combo is Akhi and Nanai Williams or Holmes. That's again an area we should have the upper hand.

Think he means that having changed our playing style since last year against La Rochelle we have tried it against two of the largest SA packs in the URC with technically an under 21 team and only lost by less than 7 points in both cases which gives us the blueprint on how to play against big packs

[wixfjord]

I'm not sure what playing 4 SA sides has really taught us considering nobody from this 23 played Stormers or Sharks, a handful played against Lions and the Bulls didn't put up much resistance in September. Big difference to a proper heavyweight Toulouse side in a SF.

One key area we have a big advantage though is in fitness and freshness.

Toulouse have been playing big arm wrestle games for 6 weeks now.

They've lost to Toulon, Ulster and Castres in that time and just come through a 100 minute away game, to turn around and come back for another intense away game.

Meanwhile the toughest test we've had against Leicester was after a three week training block for most of our 23.

That has to catch up with Toulouse at some stage.

They're due to be down quite a few in the backline too, possibly Medard, Delibes, Guitone, Tauzin, Germain.

Possible centre combo is Akhi and Nanai Williams or Holmes. That's again an area we should have the upper hand.

Think he means that having changed our playing style since last year against La Rochelle we have tried it against two of the largest SA packs in the URC with technically an under 21 team and only lost by less than 7 points in both cases which gives us the blueprint on how to play against big packs

Is that really the case?

Didn't see much of a different blueprint against Sharks or Stormers personally?

I'm not sure those games are of any use really when none of the starting 23 played in them.

[ronk]

Leo was there. The coaching team can be better prepared. There's a wider panel and ideas permeate through training. The other teams we faced were hardened by their matches too.

The 23s weren't completely different. Porter, Ala'alatoa, Ruddock, Tommy O'Brien. Kelleher would have too.

[mildlyinterested]

I dunno, I don't think playing the SA teams will have had much effect in preparing us for Toulouse.

[ronk]

I dunno, I don't think playing the SA teams will have had much effect in preparing us for Toulouse.

Tell ya what, if we win I'll claim that I was right and if we lose we can say that you were wrong.

[Blue Man]

Some great seats in lower East & West on halfway line now on sale, (Toulouse returns apparently)

https://t.co/7dWbY98KlO

Hell of lot better the 4 I bought on Monday. (BLK127)

Fantastic !, good things come to those who wait !. Wonder how close we are to selling this one out ?.

not close.

32k at the minute, i'd say we will be doing well to pass 40k. Which will be a great achievement on 5 days notice.

Appreciate the logistics of shifting tickets are difficult but for me Leinster’s capability around Sales & Marketing is poor.
For a match like this, they should be laying on coaches to every regional club across the province (I’m open to correction but don’t think this is happening). There should be group packages for minis through clubs and schools (my minis certainly haven’t received any info on such an offer). There should be a two match package for the semi final and Munster match (appreciate this is tricky but not insurmountable). Point of distribution should be expanded; set up kiosks in Lifestyle sports, Super Value or Dunne’s.
Complete lack of creativity or customer focus from Leinster once again.

[wixfjord]

Fantastic !, good things come to those who wait !. Wonder how close we are to selling this one out ?.

not close.

32k at the minute, i'd say we will be doing well to pass 40k. Which will be a great achievement on 5 days notice.

Appreciate the logistics of shifting tickets are difficult but for me Leinster’s capability around Sales & Marketing is poor.
For a match like this, they should be laying on coaches to every regional club across the province (I’m open to correction but don’t think this is happening). There should be group packages for minis through clubs and schools (my minis certainly haven’t received any info on such an offer). There should be a two match package for the semi final and Munster match (appreciate this is tricky but not insurmountable). Point of distribution should be expanded; set up kiosks in Lifestyle sports, Super Value or Dunne’s.
Complete lack of creativity or customer focus from Leinster once again.

It's all well and good saying that, but this isn't a LR gig, it's an ECPR gig. So they've no control over ticketing packages, pricing etc.

In terms of laying on buses, this game was confirmed on Sunday, who exactly do you expect to organise that and pay for it? This is a small marketing & PR team of probably 10-12 people.

[carlow man]

Re blue man. Absolutely spot on. The marketing department (if there is one) must be one person cos its shocking. Been like that for years. Badly behind many other clubs especially the French ones. Our idea is innovative thinking is sticking flags down the back of seats at the aviva.

[carlow man]

Leinster rugby have made a small fortune over the last 10 years. I'm sure they could stretch to putting on a few buses for fans further afield if they wanted to ensure a sold out aviva.

[wixfjord]

Leo was there. The coaching team can be better prepared. There's a wider panel and ideas permeate through training. The other teams we faced were hardened by their matches too.

The 23s weren't completely different. Porter, Ala'alatoa, Ruddock, Tommy O'Brien. Kelleher would have too.

I think that's very far fetched to say any ideas from Stormers & Sharks losses would permeate through the team.

What specifically did we learn from those two games that would be worth bringing back? What did we do differently in those two games?

Neither Sharks or Stormers are anywhere near as big as Toulouse or as well drilled as Leicester either.

We'll take a lot form last weekend hopefully, but I think the big thing we'll take is to be as good as we can at our own high tempo, highly accurate game that the first 23 know how to play.

[Blue Man]

Well done Wixfjord, keep thinking big…

I think Leinster will have had a big day over packages and pricing. I would like to think that some scenario planning went into preparing for the semi final and it’s not particularly difficult to organise some coaches, even Munster managed that much and that’s a poorly run organisation.