European Cup 2022 Quarter Finals Weekend

[Torquemada 1420]

The reason why ST is having a hard time is because they lost composure during the 6N. They mess it up completely this year. Ramos, to me, is a better option at FB than Jaminet who is shaky, at best, under high ball and is one dimensional, considering Ramos covers FH and is a more complete/all round player at this stage.

Thing is with Ntamack is that the lad is what 23? Double world champion in U20, 6N grand slammer, has 2 T14, 1 European cup, around 30 caps and still, you recognise no talent in the guy when the rest of the planet does. Carbonnel had a tough time this year and is just back to form, Berdeu is very solid and so is Gibert, good for France. Why aren't they selected ahead of Ntamack?? Because Galthie is a charitable ST lover head coach? I think not. He is not perfect every game he plays in but you have the knack of only noticing/remembering the bad stuff when in full hate mode.

Edit: and Dupont is taking too much on himself because he needs to learn to share the burden and rely more on others . He will be burnt in no time if he does not.

You keep going back to Jaminet and ignoring the reason he has to be selected i.e. Ntamack is a FH who can't kick and so it's imperative that France (and Toulouse) has someone on the park who can take 3 points. End of. Get a FH who can kick (anyone else in T14) and Jaminet can go. Ramos is flakier than Jaminet IMHO and there is no-one at FB in T14 who can catch a high ball. In fact, there is no-one in France who can catch a high ball: it remains the worst aspect of French play and why everyone targets it at both intl and club level. Just maybe Luc could provide an answer but that's early days for me. You realise that when Jaminet arrives at Toulouse next season, Ramos is finished at FB and will either be a bench, utility player or maybe have to move into 12 but he's too weak a tackler to play there.

None of those 3 is int level and 2 of them probably never will be (Gibert might): but they are still playing better than Ntamack. Yes, Ntamack has some talent when he runs with the ball
- but he rarely does it. Why TF did he kick the ball away with an overlap to win the game yesterday?
- because he has NO rugby brain. It's not just that his out of hand kicking skills are ordinary but that he has no rugby brain. Like Russell, he plays off the cuff but he actually reads the game even worse than Russell does.

We agree on Dupont but you don't recognise the cause. On another note, you know how I keep on going on about Jelonch and Cros (even though the latter puts in a huge tackle rate) do no not do a good enough job at the breakdown? Well, how many times were Toulouse turned over yesterday? 19? Yes, Pearce was cheating, but this is not isolated: ST have the worst turn over rate at the breakdown in the comp and yet have France's 2 backrowers?!!!! I really hope Ollivon stays fit for next year. And that miserable protection of the ball at the breakdown is another reason Dupont is struggling.

In short, if your backrow is not doing its job and your FH can't manage a game, your SH is up sh*t street.

[La soule]

The reason why ST is having a hard time is because they lost composure during the 6N. They mess it up completely this year. Ramos, to me, is a better option at FB than Jaminet who is shaky, at best, under high ball and is one dimensional, considering Ramos covers FH and is a more complete/all round player at this stage.

Thing is with Ntamack is that the lad is what 23? Double world champion in U20, 6N grand slammer, has 2 T14, 1 European cup, around 30 caps and still, you recognise no talent in the guy when the rest of the planet does. Carbonnel had a tough time this year and is just back to form, Berdeu is very solid and so is Gibert, good for France. Why aren't they selected ahead of Ntamack?? Because Galthie is a charitable ST lover head coach? I think not. He is not perfect every game he plays in but you have the knack of only noticing/remembering the bad stuff when in full hate mode.

Edit: and Dupont is taking too much on himself because he needs to learn to share the burden and rely more on others . He will be burnt in no time if he does not.

You keep going back to Jaminet and ignoring the reason he has to be selected i.e. Ntamack is a FH who can't kick and so it's imperative that France (and Toulouse) has someone on the park who can take 3 points. End of. Get a FH who can kick (anyone else in T14) and Jaminet can go. Ramos is flakier than Jaminet IMHO and there is no-one at FB in T14 who can catch a high ball. In fact, there is no-one in France who can catch a high ball: it remains the worst aspect of French play and why everyone targets it at both intl and club level. Just maybe Luc could provide an answer but that's early days for me. You realise that when Jaminet arrives at Toulouse next season, Ramos is finished at FB and will either be a bench, utility player or maybe have to move into 12 but he's too weak a tackler to play there.

None of those 3 is int level and 2 of them probably never will be (Gibert might): but they are still playing better than Ntamack. Yes, Ntamack has some talent when he runs with the ball
- but he rarely does it. Why TF did he kick the ball away with an overlap to win the game yesterday?
- because he has NO rugby brain. It's not just that his out of hand kicking skills are ordinary but that he has no rugby brain. Like Russell, he plays off the cuff but he actually reads the game even worse than Russell does.

We agree on Dupont but you don't recognise the cause. On another note, you know how I keep on going on about Jelonch and Cros (even though the latter puts in a huge tackle rate) do no not do a good enough job at the breakdown? Well, how many times were Toulouse turned over yesterday? 19? Yes, Pearce was cheating, but this is not isolated: ST have the worst turn over rate at the breakdown in the comp and yet have France's 2 backrowers?!!!! I really hope Ollivon stays fit for next year. And that miserable protection of the ball at the breakdown is another reason Dupont is struggling.

In short, if your backrow is not doing its job and your FH can't manage a game, your SH is up sh*t street.

Our SH have been the kickers for a very, very long time now. I don't see why the FH should be the de facto kicker. This is not England. I don't care if the kicker plays prop frankly. Agree on the systemic failure under high ball in France and disagree that Ramos is flackier. I reckon Jaminet made a mistake by signing at Toulouse and as a one dimensional player might not see as much game time as he thought he would. Saying that, with Holmes going, there will no one to cover at FH but Ramos. He already won T14 finals playing there so should be adequate.

Regarding Ntamack kicking the ball away: is there just a tiny chance that he might actually been asked to kick the ball, you know, as part of a game plane, good or bad, put together by the coaching staff?
I have seen him organising game very well and he is a very good allrounder with a cool head. He is not perfect but certainly does not deserves your one eye dismissive take on his game. Again, you have form for this.

I am not going into your Cros/Jelonch non-sense.I know you would most likely pick Macalou ahead of them and it says it all.

I do hope too that Olivon gets back to form and challenges. He is a great player and a very good leader. If you add Woki to the mix, we are blessed in the BR position considering there are plenty of talented other options available.

[Uncle fester]

Bit of a shit way to lose but Toulouse far too powerful and we were missing some of the players who might have countered that.

Proud of the way the young guys stood up. Losing POM was the difference.

FM. OTTOMH, Tolouse were missing Nanai-Williams, Tauzin, Guitoune, Faumauina, Arnold, Chocobares, Bonneval, Holmes and Tolofua.

And anyway, you were playing with 17 men and still lost.

The advantage of playing in an easy, domestic comp:

With their league position secure, Leinster have spent three weeks preparing for this match and it showed, both in the 13 Ireland internationals in their starting XV

Bore off torq

[Torquemada 1420]

https://www.planetrugby.com/champions-c ... -leinster/

Leicester Tigers captain Ellis Genge says his team could have beaten Leinster
Delusional or what?

[Torquemada 1420]

Our SH have been the kickers for a very, very long time now. I don't see why the FH should be the de facto kicker. This is not England. I don't care if the kicker plays prop frankly. Agree on the systemic failure under high ball in France and disagree that Ramos is flackier. I reckon Jaminet made a mistake by signing at Toulouse and as a one dimensional player might not see as much game time as he thought he would. Saying that, with Holmes going, there will no one to cover at FH but Ramos. He already won T14 finals playing there so should be adequate.

Regarding Ntamack kicking the ball away: is there just a tiny chance that he might actually been asked to kick the ball, you know, as part of a game plane, good or bad, put together by the coaching staff?
I have seen him organising game very well and he is a very good allrounder with a cool head. He is not perfect but certainly does not deserves your one eye dismissive take on his game. Again, you have form for this.

I am not going into your Cros/Jelonch non-sense.I know you would most likely pick Macalou ahead of them and it says it all.

I do hope too that Olivon gets back to form and challenges. He is a great player and a very good leader. If you add Woki to the mix, we are blessed in the BR position considering there are plenty of talented other options available.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? WTF has SH being kicker to do with the debate? Dupont does not kick (well, actually, probably better than Ntamack, but that's not the point because we are talking for France) which means someone else has to do the job because Ntamack can't. That's why Jaminet has to play. You keep saying Jaminet should not play and I'm fine with that: drop Ntamack and play a FH who can kick and problem solved.

The cool head thing is true but a red herring. You can be completely calm and have no brain. In fact, the 2 often go hand in hand. Like dim lads hanging around a street corner talking "maaan".

Toulouse backrow. Explain why they have the highest turnover rate in the Europe (and possibly in T14 but I can't find stats for that). I'm still okay-ish with Cros because his work rate is so high but Jelonch is a spare part luxury if you want 2 back rowers who can't protect the breakdown. I do agree that Woki should be at flank and put Le Roux back at lock.

[La soule]

Our SH have been the kickers for a very, very long time now. I don't see why the FH should be the de facto kicker. This is not England. I don't care if the kicker plays prop frankly. Agree on the systemic failure under high ball in France and disagree that Ramos is flackier. I reckon Jaminet made a mistake by signing at Toulouse and as a one dimensional player might not see as much game time as he thought he would. Saying that, with Holmes going, there will no one to cover at FH but Ramos. He already won T14 finals playing there so should be adequate.

Regarding Ntamack kicking the ball away: is there just a tiny chance that he might actually been asked to kick the ball, you know, as part of a game plane, good or bad, put together by the coaching staff?
I have seen him organising game very well and he is a very good allrounder with a cool head. He is not perfect but certainly does not deserves your one eye dismissive take on his game. Again, you have form for this.

I am not going into your Cros/Jelonch non-sense.I know you would most likely pick Macalou ahead of them and it says it all.

I do hope too that Olivon gets back to form and challenges. He is a great player and a very good leader. If you add Woki to the mix, we are blessed in the BR position considering there are plenty of talented other options available.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? WTF has SH being kicker to do with the debate? Dupont does not kick (well, actually, probably better than Ntamack, but that's not the point because we are talking for France) which means someone else has to do the job because Ntamack can't. That's why Jaminet has to play. You keep saying Jaminet should not play and I'm fine with that: drop Ntamack and play a FH who can kick and problem solved.

The cool head thing is true but a red herring. You can be completely calm and have no brain. In fact, the 2 often go hand in hand. Like dim lads hanging around a street corner talking "maaan".

Toulouse backrow. Explain why they have the highest turnover rate in the Europe (and possibly in T14 but I can't find stats for that). I'm still okay-ish with Cros because his work rate is so high but Jelonch is a spare part luxury if you want 2 back rowers who can't protect the breakdown. I do agree that Woki should be at flank and put Le Roux back at lock.

You are fixating with a FH being the kicker. Why???
+ Ntamack kicking success rate is at 76%, considering he is not first choice kicker, it is not top but most likely can be easily bettered if required.

The cool head is no red herring, you decided it was. He is very good in defense and can play in the centre too. Stop fixating.

Do I dare to say that ST are reigning Europe and T14 champion with the shit players you are mentioning playing a leading part in that success? I am happy with those lads. They also just won away in Dublin. Not many teams achieve that. You are a hater

[fishfoodie]

Good Start LI

We need another Province in Europe

[sockwithaticket]

We've started to see more of these incidents, team doctors disputing the need for an HIA. Whether or not you agree with it doesn't matter, the protocol is that the independent doc has ultimate say and once they've relayed their judgement via the ref just comply. Worst case scenario is you're burning pitch time while having the pointless debate, so get your player off and check them out asap to get them back on asap if they pass the HIA.

[fishfoodie]

We've started to see more of these incidents, team doctors disputing the need for an HIA. Whether or not you agree with it doesn't matter, the protocol is that the independent doc has ultimate say and once they've relayed their judgement via the ref just comply. Worst case scenario is you're burning pitch time while having the pointless debate, so get your player off and check them out asap to get them back on asap if they pass the HIA.

Yeah, it is a disturbing intervention. They should take a zero tolerance on it, & sanction the club with a serious fine if any of their officials forget who's getting sued for millions, & who kept sending players with concussion issues back onto the field.

[sockwithaticket]

That was fairly close to a proper scrap!

We've started to see more of these incidents, team doctors disputing the need for an HIA. Whether or not you agree with it doesn't matter, the protocol is that the independent doc has ultimate say and once they've relayed their judgement via the ref just comply. Worst case scenario is you're burning pitch time while having the pointless debate, so get your player off and check them out asap to get them back on asap if they pass the HIA.

Yeah, it is a disturbing intervention. They should take a zero tolerance on it, & sanction the club with a serious fine if any of their officials forget who's getting sued for millions, & who kept sending players with concussion issues back onto the field.

Agreed. The England U20s doc got a paltry penalty for his carry on during the 6N. Proper sanctions needed to put the kibosh on it before it becomes more prevalent.

[fishfoodie]

Good officiating there, just bin the pair of them

[sockwithaticket]

They're also missing a strike to the back of the head by a Toulon player on a Irish player in the group that spun out towards the halfway line.

[fishfoodie]

They're also missing a strike to the back of the head by a Toulon player on a Irish player in the group that spun out towards the halfway line.

I think there was also a bit of a 1970s rucking at the ruck that started the whole fraca

[Margin__Walker]

Boy, he milked that

[La soule]

They're also missing a strike to the back of the head by a Toulon player on a Irish player in the group that spun out towards the halfway line.

The hair pulling deserves a red on its own.

And a punch in the face.

[Prembore]

Oscar for the Toulon 10

[sockwithaticket]

I love it when a TMO says 'I'll get the best angle', like a ref wants anything else.

[Prembore]

I love it when a TMO says 'I'll get the best angle', like a ref wants anything else.

"Best angle that the French director will give me"

[Margin__Walker]

That was a bad call. Few more scrums would have wasted time and probably ended up with a LI prop in the bin. They'll likely still win, but all the same...

[Prembore]

Wow

[fishfoodie]

Speechless

[Lobby]

What a try!

[La soule]

Fantastic line and speed. Well done.

[Margin__Walker]

That kid is unreal

[sockwithaticket]

What a wonder try!

[Deveron Boy]

Wow

Super wow - Henry Arundul

[ASMO]

What a try, try of the season, Jones bloody better pick him

[sockwithaticket]

What a try, try of the season, Jones bloody better pick him

He is in the sort of form where it'd be gross negligence and a fireable offence not to select him.

[sockwithaticket]

Oof. Not sure that pass which led to the final scrum actually did go forward.

Hard lines Irish. If it had stayed dry I think they might have found another score.

[OomStruisbaai]

French teams are vokken lucky. Must be the help of the refs.

[ASMO]

Sale about to get bummed by Racing

[GogLais]

Never seen it before - does Racing’s stadium have a fixed roof? If it doesn’t, why does it seem to be closed?

[GogLais]

Can somebody smash Finn Russell please?

[sockwithaticket]

Luke James either needed to send that left or hold onto it.

[sockwithaticket]

Can somebody smash Finn Russell please?

He really was acting the prick with those head pats for Curry.

[GogLais]

Can somebody smash Finn Russell please?

He really was acting the prick with those head pats for Curry.

Yeah, I know they all do it but he didn’t know when to stop.

[Brazil]

His bleat when he got whalloped on that high ball was delicious though.

[TheFrog]

I came to check whether there was any Russell hate on here and I am satisfied.

[I like neeps]

"putting into practice what they've been training all week"

What - being offside?

[TheFrog]

Sharks defense impressive. Racing is going backwards.