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

[Ray Donovan]

A lot of blue dots there on Ticketmaster’s website alright.

[suisse]

The marketing and PR is definitely substandard at Leinster and, also, rather embarrassing. Their weird obsession with "the lads" in social media posts is probably the worst I've seen from any club in any sport, anywhere.

Look at the lads. Ah, the lads. Aren't the lads deadly? They're great, the lads. The lads are ready. The lads walk past a 'sea of blue.' The lads are relaxed. The lads.....

[molloyjh]

The marketing and PR is definitely substandard at Leinster and, also, rather embarrassing. Their weird obsession with "the lads" in social media posts is probably the worst I've seen from any club in any sport, anywhere.

Look at the lads. Ah, the lads. Aren't the lads deadly? They're great, the lads. The lads are ready. The lads walk past a 'sea of blue.' The lads are relaxed. The lads.....

I mean it is a team centred around a bunch of lads. The things people find to complain about……

[molloyjh]

A lot of blue dots there on Ticketmaster’s website alright.

Outside of the South Lower there isn’t much. And the South Lower is not the cheapest section, nor the best, so it’s the last section to appear on the Ticketmaster site unless you’re looking specifically for it. If they can shift a bunch of those tickets in the next couple of days then we should be tipping on close enough to 40k.

[wixfjord]

The marketing and PR is definitely substandard at Leinster and, also, rather embarrassing. Their weird obsession with "the lads" in social media posts is probably the worst I've seen from any club in any sport, anywhere.

Look at the lads. Ah, the lads. Aren't the lads deadly? They're great, the lads. The lads are ready. The lads walk past a 'sea of blue.' The lads are relaxed. The lads.....

WTF

[Oldschool]

Ah lads, would you go easy.

[mildlyinterested]

The scrum this weekend could be ugly for Leinster.

[curates_egg]

The marketing and PR is definitely substandard at Leinster and, also, rather embarrassing. Their weird obsession with "the lads" in social media posts is probably the worst I've seen from any club in any sport, anywhere.

Look at the lads. Ah, the lads. Aren't the lads deadly? They're great, the lads. The lads are ready. The lads walk past a 'sea of blue.' The lads are relaxed. The lads.....

Give me that any day over this 'player/star of the match' millennial PC shite that has taken over the PR of rugby (and other sports) over the past two years. It's the men's rugby team FFS.

[curates_egg]

The scrum this weekend could be ugly for Leinster.

No sign of Healy in the training photos. Is that what you're referring to?
Our scrum should struggle against most French sides but it (in itself) hasn't been our downfall in any game recently.
Hopefully, we don't get sucked into a power battle with them. It's a mistake we have made for the last few seasons that has surely finally been learned from.

[mildlyinterested]

The scrum this weekend could be ugly for Leinster.

No sign of Healy in the training photos. Is that what you're referring to?
Our scrum should struggle against most French sides but it (in itself) hasn't been our downfall in any game recently.
Hopefully, we don't get sucked into a power battle with them. It's a mistake we have made for the last few seasons that has surely finally been learned from.

No just in general how weak the scrum has looked this season when attacked by a powerful tight 5.

lets hope both teams handling is quite good.

[bronxbull]

Will we see a return to the Mick Doyle days of a 'means of restarting the game' attitude to the scrums on our put in?
Survive the engage,quick ball and run the legs off them.
We are much better than 'give it a lash' but we will not win an arm wrestle against any of the teams left in the tournament.

[Blue Man]

The scrum this weekend could be ugly for Leinster.

It’s a big concern. There’s a strong argument (and certainly one that Tigers fans are making) that we got some lucky calls against Leicester at the scrum (possibly due to a post Twickers pay back). We looked under pressure throughout the quarterfinal and the Irish pack struggled against England and France.
Toulouse have a monstrous front five and French internationals on the bench. It’s the area I’m most concerned about. Lack of a tight head lock remains a challenge. I don’t think Dev is the answer but he may come into the selection discussion.

[mildlyinterested]

The scrum this weekend could be ugly for Leinster.

It’s a big concern. There’s a strong argument (and certainly one that Tigers fans are making) that we got some lucky calls against Leicester at the scrum (possibly due to a post Twickers pay back). We looked under pressure throughout the quarterfinal and the Irish pack struggled against England and France.
Toulouse have a monstrous front five and French internationals on the bench. It’s the area I’m most concerned about. Lack of a tight head lock remains a challenge. I don’t think Dev is the answer but he may come into the selection discussion.

tighthead side isnt my worry.

[munster#1]

Hi all, best of luck this weekend.

I am really looking forward to this game, it has the makings of a very exciting encounter.

I think Toulouse will be a tougher assignment than Leicester, but I doubt Leinster will have to get out of 4th gear to beat them.

The scrum will be a challenge, but with essentially the Irish pack, I’d imagine that Leinster will do a better job than Munster.

I predict Leinster to win by 16 points.

[glenageary]

All the signs would say that Leinster by 2 scores

Ulster beat them, nearly twice, Munster drew with them, Wasps beat them (and Munster beat wasps) and they dont win away in the Top14.

But they are Toulouse - of all the french teams - they can pull out glorious rugby

so I am worried ... but we can win and should win. Last year's semi still hurts... and that will be used.

[glenageary]

They are coming to to town today, a day earlier than last week - that sounds confident on their part.

[bronxbull]

The guys mentioned it on Blues Talk that Porter really hasn't had that much top class experience on the loose head side.
Porter is obviously, in top form, a huge asset around the pitch, especially at the breakdown.
Andrew is not yet dominating at scrum time and with Healy nearing the end of a great career the problems may be on the loose head side.
Ed Byrne has improved but can he survive against a giant French pack?
I believe Tadhg and Big Mike will be fine on the tight side.Tadhg has been subdued since the Lions tour,maybe he is carrying an injury.
I suppose they are always carrying an injury of some kind or another in the front row.
We obviously don't have a Bakkies Botha or even a Brad Thorn to add ballast and sheer power to help the guys in the front row.
It won't be fixed this week anyway so just keep the ball off the deck!

[Oldschool]

The scrum this weekend could be ugly for Leinster.

There's no parade, would you stop raining.
However minimising knock ons would be a big help.
Anyone remember the Argies deliberately kicking off short of the 10m line to force a scrum back.
It didn't work because we(Ireland) knew what was coming.

[Oldschool]

Hi all, best of luck this weekend.

I am really looking forward to this game, it has the makings of a very exciting encounter.

I think Toulouse will be a tougher assignment than Leicester, but I doubt Leinster will have to get out of 4th gear to beat them.

The scrum will be a challenge, but with essentially the Irish pack, I’d imagine that Leinster will do a better job than Munster.

I predict Leinster to win by 16 points.

16 points - You obviously don't work in a bookies office.
It's a fair bet that most Leinster fans would be quite happy with an +1 win.
Thanks for the best wishes BTW.

[ronk]

The scrum this weekend could be ugly for Leinster.

It’s a big concern. There’s a strong argument (and certainly one that Tigers fans are making) that we got some lucky calls against Leicester at the scrum (possibly due to a post Twickers pay back). We looked under pressure throughout the quarterfinal and the Irish pack struggled against England and France.
Toulouse have a monstrous front five and French internationals on the bench. It’s the area I’m most concerned about. Lack of a tight head lock remains a challenge. I don’t think Dev is the answer but he may come into the selection discussion.

If you play the collapse lottery you accept the price. Genge did it for England, got caught after the fact and it made it harder for him to get away with later. The Leinster scrum is pretty strong.

Toulouse were all over Munster when it was Archer but switching to Ryan (& Loughman) fixed that mostly.