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

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Toulouse's discipline was dreadful last week regularly giving Munster really soft penalties. Lets hope they continue in that vein tomorrow.

We will need 100% focus on restarts, an area where we have shown occasional sloppiness. Kick chase will be so important. Get that right and we should be in decent shape.

Discipline is something that fatigue can have an impact on so will probably be a good indicator of the kind of shape they're in as the first half goes on.

[LeinsterLeader]

From Leinster twitter

"......tickets sales have now gone beyond 39,000......."

[MylesNaGapoleen]

To be honest there has been a lot more said on this thread about our weaknesses then our strengths but our strengths have been enough so far and hopefully that will continue tomorrow.

The thing I'm leaning on mostly is this....... for the last umpteen years (Saracens Q/F being the notable exception), no matter how we've been playing, when we rock up at the Aviva we've been 'different gravy'. If we can bring the normal 'Aviva' level of performance tomorrow, I think it'll be enough.

COYBIB

fair point.

I think fitness-wise, we will last longer than them. the internationals looked tired last week..dupont in particular.full house at the aviva should fire up the lads.

I remember the 2018 sarries q/f and was more nervous then than now tbh and we (thanks to a superb dan leavy) bossed it from the k.o.

[brotheroffrank]

From Leinster twitter

"......tickets sales have now gone beyond 39,000......."

despite Communions/Confirmations and Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour last week a busload arrived in red [40,479 (Munster & Stade supporters both preferring red jerseys!)]; looks like we are getting to that number supporting the Boys in Blue without talk of Omnibuses, the Ginger haired lad from Game of Thrones or the Holy Ghost....

[blockhead]

From Leinster twitter

"......tickets sales have now gone beyond 39,000......."

despite Communions/Confirmations and Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour last week a busload arrived in red [40,479 (Munster & Stade supporters both preferring red jerseys!)]; looks like we are getting to that number supporting the Boys in Blue without talk of Omnibuses, the Ginger haired lad from Game of Thrones or the Holy Ghost....

They paid E20 per ticket.

[curates_egg]

From Leinster twitter

"......tickets sales have now gone beyond 39,000......."

despite Communions/Confirmations and Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour last week a busload arrived in red [40,479 (Munster & Stade supporters both preferring red jerseys!)]; looks like we are getting to that number supporting the Boys in Blue without talk of Omnibuses, the Ginger haired lad from Game of Thrones or the Holy Ghost....

They paid E20 per ticket.

And we have sold 40,000 tickets in 4.5 days.

[limecat]

Match Preview

Leinster got the job done in the first half last week away to Leicester. Then in the second half it was just about keeping Leicester at bay which they did convincingly enough for the most part. Some were critical of the overall Leinster performance but a proud Leicester team was always going to have a decent spell in possession. And the tough second half when Leinster had to dig in and produce big defensive moments will battle-harden them more than scoring another twenty points in a handy win. It should stand to them for the tough fight they face against Toulouse tomorrow afternoon.



Read more...

[IanD]

Match Commentary on RTE Radio 1.

Recommend you listen on an FM device - stream was around 25 seconds delayed last day out.

[D4surfer]

bookies currently have Leinster at 2/7 and Toulouse at 7/2 with a handicap of 9 points. I'm optimistic, but I'm not sure I'm that optimistic.

Strangely the bookies now have Leinster at 1/4 and Toulouse at 9/2 with a handicap of 10 points. They clearly think Leinster’s chances have improved since the team announcements.

[wixfjord]

Mola went into this week with a casualty list featuring Arthur Bonneval, Santiago Chocobares, Tim Nanai-Williams, Nelson Épée and Sofiane Guitoune, and last week in the Aviva Stadium injuries struck Maxime Médard, Dimitri Delibes and Baptiste Germain.

GT in the IT. Also doesn't list Tauzin who is injured too.

Meanwhile we have pretty much our first choice 11-15 out. Particularly in the centres I do fancy us to cause them issues.

They've also got 38 year old Joe Tekori and a third choice scrum half who has played less than 300 minutes for them on the bench.

Faumuina is also injured and I'd fancy Church to have a good crack at Ainu'u, who looks powerful and is benching on the TH side but is a LH by trade and has only 1 start in his career at 3.

[wixfjord]

According to LR and Toulouse stats, our starting second row is giving away 37kg to theirs.

That's a lot of weight to try mitigate.

[wixfjord]

Re-watching the game Ulster won in Toulouse, Ulster were able to make lots of inroads with their attacking maul by shifting the point of focus and not just making it an arm wrestle. Their lineout totally misfired to the point it was a weapon for Toulouse, but a lot of that was down to Flament and Arnold jumping. When they did get clean ball to maul and got moving quickly they milked pens.

Ulster also didn't make enough use of their wide attack which made serious ground every time they went.
Of course the red card helped there, but when Ulster used a screen pass and went wide or got Hume on an outside line they ate up metres.

They also used Toulouse's pack size against them by going down the blindside a lot and forcing big lumbering front fives to move around.

I would think we'll be doing some of that tomorrow, trying to bring pace to the set piece (scrum & lineout) and using our wingers moving across the pitch to create the extra man.

I'd also hope to see us use Ryan/Molony as defensive jumpers for lineouts outside the 22. Both are very springy and Arnold is really Toulouse's key lineout man with Flament on the bench. Meafou & Tekori basically can't be lifted and Elstadt isn't great either.

[munster#1]

despite Communions/Confirmations and Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour last week a busload arrived in red [40,479 (Munster & Stade supporters both preferring red jerseys!)]; looks like we are getting to that number supporting the Boys in Blue without talk of Omnibuses, the Ginger haired lad from Game of Thrones or the Holy Ghost....

They paid E20 per ticket.

And we have sold 40,000 tickets in 4.5 days.

This is in no way me trying to start a provincial pissing contest, as I am not 4, but this is a HC semi final in Leinster’s second home, in their home city, where 1m people live within minutes of the stadium, and a large percentage of their fan base is within an hour.

Whereas many Munster fans would have had to travel in excess of 3-4 and even more hours each way door to door.

Leinster should be comparing themselves to Leinster when looking at ticket sales and not Munster.

Best of luck tomorrow, and enjoy the day out.

[curates_egg]

They paid E20 per ticket.

And we have sold 40,000 tickets in 4.5 days.

This is in no way me trying to start a provincial pissing contest, as I am not 4, but this is a HC semi final in Leinster’s second home, in their home city, where 1m people live within minutes of the stadium, and a large percentage of their fan base is within an hour.

Whereas many Munster fans would have had to travel in excess of 3-4 and even more hours each way door to door.

Leinster should be comparing themselves to Leinster when looking at ticket sales and not Munster.

Best of luck tomorrow, and enjoy the day out.

I’m not comparing with anyone, so you are quoting the wrong person.
That said, I would love to see if another club could sell 40,000 tickets in 4.5 days at the prices these have gone for.
The Racing La Rochelle tickets are on average way cheaper. I would be astonished if they break 30,000.
If you want a comparison, that’s the relevant one.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Tbf the Munster fans didn’t have to worry about travelling for the final as well.

[Dexter]

They paid E20 per ticket.

And we have sold 40,000 tickets in 4.5 days.

This is in no way me trying to start a provincial pissing contest, as I am not 4, but this is a HC semi final in Leinster’s second home, in their home city, where 1m people live within minutes of the stadium, and a large percentage of their fan base is within an hour.

Whereas many Munster fans would have had to travel in excess of 3-4 and even more hours each way door to door.

Leinster should be comparing themselves to Leinster when looking at ticket sales and not Munster.

Best of luck tomorrow, and enjoy the day out.

The two are in no way comparable. Frankly it's just childish making some sort of contest out of it, from either "side".

[curates_egg]

Tbf the Munster fans didn’t have to worry about travelling for the final as well.

To be fair, there were still a lot of optimistic Munster shirt wearers at finals for 4/5 years after 2008. But, indeed, not many budgeting for it since. Similar to English club fans.

[munster#1]

And we have sold 40,000 tickets in 4.5 days.

This is in no way me trying to start a provincial pissing contest, as I am not 4, but this is a HC semi final in Leinster’s second home, in their home city, where 1m people live within minutes of the stadium, and a large percentage of their fan base is within an hour.

Whereas many Munster fans would have had to travel in excess of 3-4 and even more hours each way door to door.

Leinster should be comparing themselves to Leinster when looking at ticket sales and not Munster.

Best of luck tomorrow, and enjoy the day out.

The two are in no way comparable. Frankly it's just childish making some sort of contest out of it, from either "side".

Agreed, it is a wasted and childish effort.

If it were Munster facing into a semi final this weekend I wouldn’t be given Leinster a second thought.

Unfortunately I will be sitting in a pub in west Cork shouting on the boys in blue.

[Blue Man]

European Cup semi final between the two most successful sides in the competition’s history; this is massive. Fortunately it’s in our backyard and I really hope the fans bring color, noise and an intimidating atmosphere.
The scrum is my big concern, I think we’ll struggle there but hopefully can generate a fast heal and Jack / JGP can get it away fast. They’re front five will tire but unfortunately they have another five giants on the bench. Memo to team - don’t knock the f0cking ball on!
Our ability to generate quick ball, run clever lines and sustain shape and width through multiple phases is first class and will really cause them problems. I’m intrigued as to whether we’ll launch aggressive starter plays, I suspect the brainstorm trust have a few tricks ready for tomorrow.
I’d like to see our backrow destroy them on the deck and terrorise DuPont the way the turnips did. I think JS will have a big game and I reckon our 3/4s is better than theirs.
I’m still unbelievably nervous but think we’ll head it by 8 points

[chrismcc]

Agreed, it is a wasted and childish effort.

If it were Munster facing into a semi final this weekend I wouldn’t be given Leinster a second thought.

Unfortunately I will be sitting in a pub in west Cork shouting on the boys in blue.

Whilst it's unfortunate munster didn't make it through that doesn't sound like the worst way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Edit:even if there was no rugby on!