Bath v Leinster

[jezzer]

Till they run out of beer.....

They had a limited edition ale called "Wet Otter" for the QF, that turned out to be a lot more limited than they thought, gone in about an hour!

[TrapperChamonix]

It's to play a multiphase game that I went with Browne, but I take your point. As to their heritage, I totally agree. I hate to see teams with great pedigrees be dismissed on the board. I have to say though that the standard of all the AP teams is very underwhelming. The HEC powerhouses are always capable of raising it for the Cup but I just can't see Bath turning us over. Screw the Mocker gods. Just can't see it.

2 HC QF out of 8 attempts in the last 12 years
Amlin win in 08 beating Worcester in the final and beaten Finalists in 07 & 03
Yes they had an amazing win in Paris in 98 but the truth is that they were a powerhouse in the 80's and 90's. By the turn of the century they had been superseded by Wasps as the main domestic rival to Leicester. They may well come again but an objective (and by the looks of their own fans forum and subjective) assessment would place them currently as a 2nd ranked English team.

I must be David Kelly

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/h ... 56167.html

[jezzer]

Bath never wore letters, as far as I remember. Quins and Leicester did, among others, but not Bath. Open to correction - if they did it was well before the glory years Kelly is talking about.

[claire_m]

Bath never wore letters, as far as I remember. Quins and Leicester did, among others, but not Bath. Open to correction - if they did it was well before the glory years Kelly is talking about.

I'm fairly certain it was Bath and Leicester who DID have letters, and I don't think Quins did...

[jezzer]

Bath definitely didn't but you could be right about Quins (again!) I took the chance of not Googling beforehand, but I still have a vision of Quins players with letters in my head.

[Hippo]

Bath definitely didn't but you could be right about Quins (again!) I took the chance of not Googling beforehand, but I still have a vision of Quins players with letters in my head.

Leicester only I thought?

[dod]

Leicester and Bristol wore letters.. Bath use to play without a number 13 so 1-12 and then 14-16..

[flustered]

Moody ruled out for 3 months due to shoulder surgery.......

[cormac]

Leicester and Bristol wore letters.. Bath use to play without a number 13 so 1-12 and then 14-16..

Yep, but both Leicester and Bristol lettered their players in opposite ways if I recall. At Leicester the front row were A,B,C, while at Bristol the full-back wore A.

[Westy]

Isn't it amazing that we really can't pick Leinster's strongest side this season, even last year we knew the strongest XV. There are so many positions that are debatable, will it be Healy/VDM, Strauss/Cronin, Toner/Sykes, O'Brien/Ruddock/McLaughlin, O'Brien/Jennings, Reddan/Boss, D'Arcy/McFadden, O'Malley/McFadden, Isa/Kearney, the only players in the Squad who are nailed to their position imo is Sexton, Ross and Cullen. I would have laughed if somebody told me an Irish team would be in this position only three years ago. Good stuff.

[wixfjord]

Moody out for 3 months.
Donald and Louw fit for Sunday.

http://planetrugby.co.uk/story/0,25883, ... 35,00.html

[bluemagic]

Has anyone else noticed that in every single paper in this country Munster get much more coverage than we do? Ive noticed it for quite some time now, but this week has really stood out, loads of articles on munster and one small one on sexton..... Its rediculous, if Munster get a loosing bonus point the headlines will be "Brilliant munster salvage bonus point" whilst when we come out of the south of france with a draw all the talk is "Leinster get last minute quick to get lucky draw"

[[Jackass]]

Welcome to 2001.

It's been that way for at least a decade now.

There were very little newspaper pages even stuck together from the amount of jizz on them about our 2 HEC's in 3 years compared to what there was about Munster.

They're the darling of the papers, which is more or less the only reason they're still considered a top tier European team...

[fourthirtythree]

More popular team= More coverage. No big deal. It's just marketing and money and there are far worse examples of it out in the world that have skewed coverage of far more important things.

There's plenty of flattery for Leinster in the media as well. It will never reach the sickening love in level that Munster media saturation went to, but is that a bad thing?

[dod]

Has anyone else noticed that in every single paper in this country Munster get much more coverage than we do? Ive noticed it for quite some time now, but this week has really stood out, loads of articles on munster and one small one on sexton..... Its rediculous, if Munster get a loosing bonus point the headlines will be "Brilliant munster salvage bonus point" whilst when we come out of the south of france with a draw all the talk is "Leinster get last minute quick to get lucky draw"

Don't really care what the media think..

[TerenureJim]

More popular team= More coverage. No big deal. It's just marketing and money and there are far worse examples of it out in the world that have skewed coverage of far more important things.

Are they the more popular team though? I'd say it's really just in media circles, in general ourselves and Ulster would have similar levels of support to them and if we want to be specific well we're ahead on attendance figures (thanks Lansdowne RD).

There's plenty of flattery for Leinster in the media as well. It will never reach the sickening love in level that Munster media saturation went to, but is that a bad thing?

I'm fine with the flattery when it's in a review of a game where we've cut a team to ribbons with exciting back play rather than struggled against a team that should put us away only to snatch a drop goal. I really hope we don't get the sycophantic drooling that was and is laid on Munster and all the phrases like brave & faithful etc that they've been labeled with. It covers over too many cracks in serious analysis and people start thinking their own sh!t don't stink. At this stage it doesn't look like we will and that's no bad thing.

[berniemac67]

i couldn't give two f%~ks who gets more column inches, but what gets my goat is the shite in the indo today about bath being rubbish.

are they actively trying to rile the opposition? would they publish cr@p like that two days before a munster away match?

[nelly the elephant]

More popular team= More coverage. No big deal. It's just marketing and money and there are far worse examples of it out in the world that have skewed coverage of far more important things.

Are they the more popular team though? I'd say it's really just in media circles, in general ourselves and Ulster would have similar levels of support to them and if we want to be specific well we're ahead on attendance figures (thanks Lansdowne RD).

There's plenty of flattery for Leinster in the media as well. It will never reach the sickening love in level that Munster media saturation went to, but is that a bad thing?

I'm fine with the flattery when it's in a review of a game where we've cut a team to ribbons with exciting back play rather than struggled against a team that should put us away only to snatch a drop goal. I really hope we don't get the sycophantic drooling that was and is laid on Munster and all the phrases like brave & faithful etc that they've been labeled with. It covers over too many cracks in serious analysis and people start thinking their own sh!t don't stink. At this stage it doesn't look like we will and that's no bad thing.

That's all very well TJ but I would hope that you wear your Leinster Jersey "with honesty and pride"!

[CiaranIrl]

Heading over for this. Can't wait. Any bar recommendations?

The Boater, Saracens Head & Poulteney Arms are three good ones.

Poulteney Arms is a must.

#

Cheers lads.

[CiaranIrl]

Isn't it amazing that we really can't pick Leinster's strongest side this season, even last year we knew the strongest XV. There are so many positions that are debatable, will it be Healy/VDM, Strauss/Cronin, Toner/Sykes, O'Brien/Ruddock/McLaughlin, O'Brien/Jennings, Reddan/Boss, D'Arcy/McFadden, O'Malley/McFadden, Isa/Kearney, the only players in the Squad who are nailed to their position imo is Sexton, Ross and Cullen. I would have laughed if somebody told me an Irish team would be in this position only three years ago. Good stuff.

Heaslip is nailed on at 8 as well, but yeah - savage problem to have.