Leinster v Glasgow Sat 26th Nov 3:15pm RTE/Premier Sports

[wixfjord]

Good to have some guys coming back in.

Sounds like Lowe & JL will be back for Europe too.

Team I'd go for:

Byrne, McKee, Mike, Molony, McCarthy, Rhys, Penny, Deegan, McGrath, Ross, DK, Ngatai, Osborne, Turner, Cosgrove,

Kelleher, Milne, Vakh, Jenkins, Baird, Foley, Harry, Russell

Getting a few other Irish guys into the mix would be great too.

I'd start Kelleher. It's not like he's coming in cold.

Define 'cold'? Hasn't played since mid September has he?

[cormac]

Good to have some guys coming back in.

Sounds like Lowe & JL will be back for Europe too.

Team I'd go for:

Byrne, McKee, Mike, Molony, McCarthy, Rhys, Penny, Deegan, McGrath, Ross, DK, Ngatai, Osborne, Turner, Cosgrove,

Kelleher, Milne, Vakh, Jenkins, Baird, Foley, Harry, Russell

Getting a few other Irish guys into the mix would be great too.

I'd start Kelleher. It's not like he's coming in cold.

Define 'cold'? Hasn't played since mid September has he?

Yeah, he hasn't played since September 23rd.

[paddyor]

Good to have some guys coming back in.

Sounds like Lowe & JL will be back for Europe too.

Team I'd go for:

Byrne, McKee, Mike, Molony, McCarthy, Rhys, Penny, Deegan, McGrath, Ross, DK, Ngatai, Osborne, Turner, Cosgrove,

Kelleher, Milne, Vakh, Jenkins, Baird, Foley, Harry, Russell

Getting a few other Irish guys into the mix would be great too.

I'd start Kelleher. It's not like he's coming in cold.

Define 'cold'? Hasn't played since mid September has he?

As in hasn't played in 3-4 months. Late September is a lot longer than I thought though.

[pangurban1]

Any chance the great Munster team that beat South Africa last week could join them?

I'm willing to start a whip round to bring over Bristol's even better Saffer bashers.

[pangurban1]

Very informative thread for this early in the week, good going.

[hugonaut]

Good to have some guys coming back in.

Sounds like Lowe & JL will be back for Europe too.

Team I'd go for:

Byrne, McKee, Mike, Molony, McCarthy, Rhys, Penny, Deegan, McGrath, Ross, DK, Ngatai, Osborne, Turner, Cosgrove,

Kelleher, Milne, Vakh, Jenkins, Baird, Foley, Harry, Russell

Getting a few other Irish guys into the mix would be great too.

That's a good team, with a fair bit of pop off the bench as well. I have the same view as you, at the moment it is Vakh > Clarkson, Foley > Nick McCarthy and Turner > Russell. I'd give McKee the start too, even with Kelleher back. We'll use both of them in this game and McKee did really well in his last outing. He was one of our best players.

[Ruckedtobits]

Glasgow may only be in 7th place with a 50% win record, but they've a game in hand and despite losses to Benetton, Ospreys & Sharks, they were showing real signs of recovery in their big win against Benetton just before the break.

Warriors have the ability to raise their game for big opponents. Last January, they gave La Rochelle a big scare in the H-Cup when running them to a 30-38 game in Scotstoun. Away from home and missing a few of their Scottish starters, they just might give this game a pass with successive upcoming away games to Zebre and H-Cup in Bath following Dublin, before they travel to France for a fixture with Perpignon.

Leinster would be happy to welcome a less than full strength Warriors but they'll have to wait and see that selection. We will have a team full of players looking for opportunities to impress but we'll need to start strong and forcefully upfront in order to continue the great start to the season.

[cormac]

They're a real Jekyll and Hyde team. Three home games, three bonus point wins. Away from home they haven't picked up a single point with big defeats in Treviso, Swansea and Durban. Their away form towards the end of last season was equally awful, culminating in a real humiliation at the RDS.

[riocard911]

They're a real Jekyll and Hyde team. Three home games, three bonus point wins. Away from home they haven't picked up a single point with big defeats in Treviso, Swansea and Durban. Their away form towards the end of last season was equally awful, culminating in a real humiliation at the RDS.

You'd imagine, they'd at least be trying to amend for that and won't just roll over.

[ronk]

Well they certainly have motivation. They have their stars back and we won't. A win now makes a big difference in the table. They'll want a big showing after the URC QF, which they immediately sacked their coach after.

We're usually well motivated too though and we have players who will be wanting to make an impression after the break.

[neill_m]

Leinster vs Glasgow Warriors at RDS Arena, Dublin - 15h15
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen
Assistant Referees: Keane Davison, Andy Fogarty
Television Match Official: AJ Jacobs

[curates_egg]

Good to have some guys coming back in.

Sounds like Lowe & JL will be back for Europe too.

Team I'd go for:

Byrne, McKee, Mike, Molony, McCarthy, Rhys, Penny, Deegan, McGrath, Ross, DK, Ngatai, Osborne, Turner, Cosgrove,

Kelleher, Milne, Vakh, Jenkins, Baird, Foley, Harry, Russell

Getting a few other Irish guys into the mix would be great too.

I have the same view as you, at the moment it is Vakh > Clarkson.

You've been nothing if not loyal in your devotion to the Vakh cause.
I would take Vakh getting capped for Georgia as a very strong indication that he believes/has been led to believe that he has no long-term future at Leinster.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I thought it was very instructive that Clarkson got picked to start against Scarlets (having benched against Munster the previous week), with Vakh on the bench. There have been various opportunities to start Vakh earlier in the season (none more so than Treviso at home), but he missed out on the one opportunity that finally emerged. The fact they have persisted with the questionable Healy at 18 experiment is not a vote of confidence either.

[mildlyinterested]

Clarksons performances to date are hardly a vote of confidence either.

[curates_egg]

Clarksons performances to date are hardly a vote of confidence either.

Yeah. I think it's fair to say the coaches don't seem very convinced by either.
But Clarkson is the only one of the two that has started a game.
And Healy, who we all believe is unfortunately in decline, is still being togged out in the 18 shirt, even though nobody really believes in that any more.

[brotheroffrank]

Good to have some guys coming back in.

Sounds like Lowe & JL will be back for Europe too.

Team I'd go for:

Byrne, McKee, Mike, Molony, McCarthy, Rhys, Penny, Deegan, McGrath, Ross, DK, Ngatai, Osborne, Turner, Cosgrove,

Kelleher, Milne, Vakh, Jenkins, Baird, Foley, Harry, Russell

Getting a few other Irish guys into the mix would be great too.

I have the same view as you, at the moment it is Vakh > Clarkson.

You've been nothing if not loyal in your devotion to the Vakh cause.
I would take Vakh getting capped for Georgia as a very strong indication that he believes/has been led to believe that he has no long-term future at Leinster.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I thought it was very instructive that Clarkson got picked to start against Scarlets (having benched against Munster the previous week), with Vakh on the bench. There have been various opportunities to start Vakh earlier in the season (none more so than Treviso at home), but he missed out on the one opportunity that finally emerged. The fact they have persisted with the questionable Healy at 18 experiment is not a vote of confidence either.

Whereas others might think that Vakh getting capped for Georgia could be more nuanced than that.

Perhaps it is a further indication that he takes pride in his Georgian Roots....?
https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/early-star ... eve-goals/
https://business.dcu.ie/taste-of-georgi ... o-ireland/
Bear in mind that Europe’s first twenty-first century war, the Russo-Georgian War, was only fourteen years ago....[Russia also invaded Georgia in 1921 and it was only in 1991 that Georgia reclaimed its independence]...the Georgian Rugby Squad are likely to be rightly proud of any statement they can make at RWC 2023 ... and if a THP believes/has been led to believe that he will be going to France 2023 as a Georgian THP then look at what could happen...
The only team in their group that Georgia haven't beaten/drawn against in the past 24 months is Australia (who they play in the first round) which may mean its all to play for in their last pool game (against Wales)...then if they can pull off another win against Wales they may be heading to a Quarter Final (a rainy day in Nantes on 7th Oct next may help that aspiration-the pressure could all be heaped on an aging welsh scrum/team, potentially carrying injuries from their previous game V Australia) ... consequently a decision to play for Georgia....a team that takes great pride in scrummaging, etc, when he wont get called into the Irish Squad for France 2023 may not be such a bad option...a strong showing in France could be a huge step in his career ...

We have two THP's whose Fathers played International Rugby; its not like Leinster didn't know about Vakh's ties to Georgia...

[ronk]

Clarksons performances to date are hardly a vote of confidence either.

Yeah. I think it's fair to say the coaches don't seem very convinced by either.
But Clarkson is the only one of the two that has started a game.
And Healy, who we all believe is unfortunately in decline, is still being togged out in the 18 shirt, even though nobody really believes in that any more.

Clarkson has done okay but probably needs a few years to develop and get experience.

He's a 22 year old prop. Lots of props that age are still in the academy and his gametime compares fairly well with quite a few players across the provinces.

He's not a once in a generation freak like Healy, Furlong or Porter so he won't have that trajectory. He may well get capped but not soon. We've been absolutely spoiled by having Michael Bent as third choice tighthead. How long since we saw a tighthead come through the old fashioned way?

He's a good young prop who did well at U20 level and was accelerated when Aungier and Salanoa left suddenly and there was an injury crisis. He's seen off a few challenges from temp signings and Illo left so it's not like he was the only option. Coaches backed him.

If we sold a freak; Clarkson is a let down. But that's not how he was billed and he's a long way to go. Bent was 26 when he joined Leinster, Ross was that age leaving Munster. Sam Illo skipped the academy! And then got a lot less gametime than Clarkson in a team with less competition. He's coming along about as quickly as Knox but is a year younger and didn't get the early promotion.

[ronk]

Vakh getting capped could mean that he's retiring soon with injury. Or that he's staying with Leinster, or that he's leaving Leinster. Or that he doesn't know whether he's leaving and decided to go for it anyway. Or that he didn't even think about it the first time he got a callup.

[paddyor]

Missing out on EI tour maybe had an impact

[IanD]

Munster have their Internationals back for the weekend so we may may have a few more names in the hat than we thought.

RTE news : Internationals return in further boost for Munster

http://www.rte.ie/sport/united-rugby-ch ... r-munster/

[neill_m]

https://www.the42.ie/hansen-munster-5927147-Nov2022/

With the URC returning to action this weekend and the Challenge Cup getting underway in early December, Connacht are preparing for a demanding run of 10 games before the next international break, which arrives ahead of the 2023 Six Nations.

And Connacht director of rugby Andy Friend has explained the province will be able to call on their Ireland internationals for a maximum of seven of those games.

“The only stipulation on those (Ireland) boys is that from an IRFU point of view there is nine games. It’s a 10-game block but the 10th game (at home to the Lions) will be leading into the Six Nations camp, so for the next nine games those Irish players are allowed to play seven.

“We have to rest them at various stages but there has been no demand on when they are to rest. That’s really up to us.”