European Champions Cup [Most Improved]

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Me neither, thought it was a dreadful call.

Real pity for Toulouse, aside from the intercept they were looking great.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

WHAT.A.TRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dave Cahill]

Leinster's four wise men in the crowd

[wixfjord]

Impressive guns on Fogs.

[desperado]

Rugby the winner today.

[wixfjord]

Well well, a home semi!

Gonna be very tough, but I'd still prefer being at home rather than going to that stadium.

Hands up if you indulged in a bit of Zebo focused schadenfreude when he popped up on screen at the end...

[Dave Cahill]

Well well, a home semi!

Gonna be very tough, but I'd still prefer being at home rather than going to that stadium.

Hands up if you indulged in a bit of Zebo focused schadenfreude when he popped up on screen at the end...

I thought he'd been subbed to be honest

[hugonaut]

Well well, a home semi!

Gonna be very tough, but I'd still prefer being at home rather than going to that stadium.

Hands up if you indulged in a bit of Zebo focused schadenfreude when he popped up on screen at the end...

Just a bit ... his tweet post-Wales showed him up as a mé-féiner and a twit. They're not the worst characteristics in the world, but they're not good ones either.

He's also getting further and further out of shape the longer the season goes on. I figured that there was a good chance that that could happen, but I'm a little surprised at the extent of it. That was a wide open game with numerous linebreaks. He used to thrive in those, but he just wasn't able to get to the right place at the right time.

A home semi-final is great for us. Toulouse are a quality team, but any team you play in a semi-final is going to be a good team. Home advantage is so important.

[Hippo]

Huge decision. Not a red for me.

How was it not a red?

[blockhead]

Well well, a home semi!

Gonna be very tough, but I'd still prefer being at home rather than going to that stadium.

Hands up if you indulged in a bit of Zebo focused schadenfreude when he popped up on screen at the end...

Just a bit ... his tweet post-Wales showed him up as a mé-féiner and a twit. They're not the worst characteristics in the world, but they're not good ones either.

He's also getting further and further out of shape the longer the season goes on. I figured that there was a good chance that that could happen, but I'm a little surprised at the extent of it. That was a wide open game with numerous linebreaks. He used to thrive in those, but he just wasn't able to get to the right place at the right time.

A home semi-final is great for us. Toulouse are a quality team, but any team you play in a semi-final is going to be a good team. Home advantage is so important.

To be fair to Zebo. He's used to losing. Been losing in a munster shirt all his professional career. Now that he is with Racing(the munster of the top14(all fur coat and no knickers)), he will probably win fup all there too.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Huge decision. Not a red for me.

How was it not a red?

I was the same, didn't think he particularly led with the shoulder, thought there was a genuine attempt to wrap, didn't think he was particularly high/upright (you can compare the height of it with Matthew Cardy in the background), thought Imhoff was the one initiating contact, and he was ducking down. Personally I thought it was an unfortunate incident and not even sure I'd like to see a penalty for it, but with the laws the way they are I know it had to be punished. I think Pearce could easily have downgraded it to a yellow though and I suspect the TMO was thinking along those lines but didn't want to disagree with him.

Imhoff commiserating with Holmes told you all you needed to know IMO.

[cormac]

It's exactly the type of tackle that World Rugby are trying to eliminate. Holmes took a risk with trying to hit him up high on his chest and as we saw it doesn't take much for that to end up as a high tackle with a shoulder in the throat.

[ribs]

Isn’t there a law that doesn’t allow ducking a tackle?

[desperado]

Huge decision. Not a red for me.

How was it not a red?

I was the same, didn't think he particularly led with the shoulder, thought there was a genuine attempt to wrap, didn't think he was particularly high/upright (you can compare the height of it with Matthew Cardy in the background), thought Imhoff was the one initiating contact, and he was ducking down. Personally I thought it was an unfortunate incident and not even sure I'd like to see a penalty for it, but with the laws the way they are I know it had to be punished. I think Pearce could easily have downgraded it to a yellow though and I suspect the TMO was thinking along those lines but didn't want to disagree with him.

Imhoff commiserating with Holmes told you all you needed to know IMO.

Agree with all that. What I found strange was Pearce checked (and said it at the time) for Imhoff dipping down into the tackle. He stated 'no mitigating circumstances', and went for the Red. Imhoff does lean down and into the tackle; neither player was upright, and Holmes went into the tackle low, and wrapping (not just 'an attempt to wrap'). If Pearce had looked at it one more time for mitigation he might have seen it. Any number of Owen Farrells tackles (Nov series and 6N) were worse and no red cards. My opinion is still that it was harsh, and could have been yellow. I think Pearce reffed pretty well, and was decisive in a fairly charged atmosphere; again all players and fans are looking for is consistency.

[cormac]

Pearce did ask whether the player had ducked into the tackle but came to the conclusion that he hadn't dipped enough for it to be a mitigating factor.

Whether you agree or otherwise with his conclusion I felt he was very thorough in going through the whole decision.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

It's exactly the type of tackle that World Rugby are trying to eliminate. Holmes took a risk with trying to hit him up high on his chest and as we saw it doesn't take much for that to end up as a high tackle with a shoulder in the throat.

I'm not sure that's true. The Kaino incident against Bath is more what they're trying to get rid of IMO (at least for now, think there may be plans to have a law about bending your legs to tackle?) and whilst I disagreed with that too I think it's a far more understandable decision to make, he was far more upright.

I just watched it again and really don't see how his starting positioning is so bad that a red could be justified. Imhoff dips and the impact means that the tackle slips up, really don't get why all the blame goes on Holmes. If you try and run over someone then you know there's a good chance of getting hurt. Someone could make the same tackle but the ball carrier heads for a soft shoulder instead and it's just play on, nonsense IMO.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Amazing game yesterday but I thought Racing looked like they didn't give a sh!t at times. Had a feeling they'd lose when they took Ryan off. I know they were taking three points but so much about their game indicated that they were only going to be happy by being flash and playing Toulouse off the park, and a cool head like his was exactly what they needed.

Thomas trying a cheeky chip out of the 22 after they'd been under the pump was one example and it cost them a try. Russell throwing a pass out the back to nobody when they had an advantage was another. Someone threw a 20m pass to blow an overlap when simple hands would have meant a try too. Just so casual. A steady outhalf with half the talent would have won them the game after the red card IMO.

I was surprised because I thought they were looked mentally tough against us and were building nicely, but think signing Russell and Zeebs backfired on them yesterday.

[wixfjord]

Russell is the most annoying player in world rugby for me. All the talent with none of the temprement or game intelligence at times.

(Come to think of it there are another few players in that Metro side with similar issues...)

[Ruckedtobits]

Pearce did ask whether the player had ducked into the tackle but came to the conclusion that he hadn't dipped enough for it to be a mitigating factor.

Whether you agree or otherwise with his conclusion I felt he was very thorough in going through the whole decision.

There was a meeting of the EPCR Match officials recently at which they agreed a number of protocols for the knock-out games. These would have been about what they going to focus their attention on and how to get some form of uniformity. Given the very different personalities, this is difficult. Of all the games at the weekend Pearse worked best with his ARs, whilst Poite (IMO) ignored or discouraged his from getting involved.

Holmes was unfortunate, but on balance with the focus on safety, I agreed with the decision. I might not have if Toulouse had lost.

Even Owens referred to his ARs over the weekend and it made a difference. Barnes will probably have Pearse and Carling for Dublin in the s/f. All three will work together to apply the laws, not least because all three will probably be auditioning for games at RWC.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Maybe a correct call shouldn't impress me so much but I have to say I thought the penalty that cancelled out the Racing try at the lineout was a great call from the AR. Can't have been easy to go back a reasonably long time to an incident that the ref had missed (I think?) and torpedo the crazy celebrations that were going on.