Heineken Cup fixtures

[merseyboy]

Heineken Cup fixtures
.
Saturday, 11 April 2009

Cardiff Blues v Toulouse, Quarter Final, 15:30
Leicester v Bath, Quarter Final, 18:00

Sunday, 12 April 2009

Harlequins v Leinster, Quarter Final, 15:30
Munster v Ospreys, Quarter Final, 13:00


So what are we thinking for the HC fixtures this weekend. I think Leicester and Munster will go through without huge problems, but the other two are too close to call. I'll give it a go though. Strangely i'm going to go for narrow wins for the away sides. Toulouse and Leinster to go through.

Cardiff have been the best team in the tournament this year, but recent iffy form and a Toulouse team packed full of class might just fancy their chances. Especially as Cardiff are favourites, which means added pressure. Cardiff are now expected to win.

Leinster, with the momentum from Irelands grand slam and more experience and know how in these situations i think will give them the edge. However quins deff made the right idea playing at the Stoop and not Twickenham and if Nick Evans turns it on - going to be a great game this one.

[DJC]

Toulouse
Leicester
Quins
Munster

[merseyboy]

London Irish 30 Bourgoin 32 - D. Armatige misses last min conversion to force extra time as Irish crash out of of the European Challenge Cup at home.

Big shock this one. Didn't expect Irish to lose at home to a team who have been threatened with relegation from the French league all season. Dissapointing for irish

[merseyboy]

Tigers vs Bath

Leicester will be without veteran prop Julian White after his ban for punching England colleague Andrew Sheridan.
Martin Castrogiovanni is likely to take over at tight-head, but ex-England captain Martin Corry is ruled out and All Black Aaron Mauger is rated 50-50.
Bath have been boosted by the news that fly-half Butch James can play after being cleared of a stamping charge.
The South African is set to be joined at half-back by compatriot Michael Claasens who returns from injury.

[Twit]

merseyboy said:

London Irish 30 Bourgoin 32 - D. Armatige misses last min conversion to force extra time as Irish crash out of of the European Challenge Cup at home.

Big shock this one. Didn't expect Irish to lose at home to a team who have been threatened with relegation from the French league all season. Dissapointing for irish

I was at that game last night, Irish were awful, the handling wasnt there and they simply didnt come out for the second half. Full credit to Bourgoin, they really got on the gas at the beginning of the second half but Irish should won that one without too much trouble.

It was a pity the conversion was missed as the two Armatige brothers actually played well.

[merseyboy]

Twit said:

merseyboy said:

London Irish 30 Bourgoin 32 - D. Armatige misses last min conversion to force extra time as Irish crash out of of the European Challenge Cup at home.

Big shock this one. Didn't expect Irish to lose at home to a team who have been threatened with relegation from the French league all season. Dissapointing for irish

I was at that game last night, Irish were awful, the handling wasnt there and they simply didnt come out for the second half. Full credit to Bourgoin, they really got on the gas at the beginning of the second half but Irish should won that one without too much trouble.

It was a pity the conversion was missed as the two Armatige brothers actually played well.

Not a good time to start a poor run of form. Leicester seem to have hit form at the right time in the season, yet again, just surprised to not see Wasps doing the same.

It would be nice to see a GP final without either Wasps or Leicester, but have a feeling the Tigers will at least make the final

[anonymous-user]

Don't suppose anybody knows if I can watch the Blues game online? Haven't got sky and somehow radio coverage isn't the same

[merseyboy]

Symbolica said:

Don't suppose anybody knows if I can watch the Blues game online? Haven't got sky and somehow radio coverage isn't the same

http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=35613&part=sports

[anonymous-user]

merseyboy said:

Symbolica said:

Don't suppose anybody knows if I can watch the Blues game online? Haven't got sky and somehow radio coverage isn't the same

http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=35613&part=sports

[merseyboy]

Cardiff 9 - Toulouse 6
Tigers 20 - Bath 15
Munster 43 - Ospreys 9
Quins 5 - Leinster 6

Thought Cardiff played well in parts but Toulouse created the better chances. How M. Williams was allowed to stay on the pitch when he cynically slowed down Toulouse ball on his own goal line i will never know. Think Cardiff got away with that one.

Tigers - thought Bath were the better team for most of the game, Tigers looked like the team that started the season rather than the impressive performances of late (they did have a lot of injuries though) - so i think they got away with that.

Munster - simply awsome, Ospreys, simply woeful - lot of Ospreys players playing themselves out of the Lions i think. S. Williams, T. Bowe, Hook, Wyn-Jones and Phillips were not good at all.

Quins - Amazing tackling and defence from Leinster won the game. Quins needed evans on the pitch for the whole game and really needed a playmaker able to do more at 12 than JTH simply bashing.

Semi Finals

Cardiff vs Tigers (Cardiff) - too close to call, home advantage should give Cardiff the edge, but if Tigers have a fit squad then they usually know how to win semi-finals. Take Cardiff to JUST edge it.
Munster vs Leinster (Croke Park) - can't see past Munster. Will take a massive performance from Leinster.

[DJC]

Shocked to see Leinster actually producing in a big match, they wont be beating Munster though.

Tigers to beat Cardiff as I think(hope) they will front up. Big battle at the breakdown and I think the old tigers mentality will take it, whilst the back division, well, lets be honest everyone just wants to see Robinson and Halfpenny v Tuigy

[merseyboy]

DJC said:

, lets be honest everyone just wants to see Robinson and Halfpenny v Tuigy

Which might not happen as Tuigy has been cited for his challenge on Abendanon. It wasn't a great challenge but it certainly doesn't warrant a citing.

[Twit]

merseyboy said:

Which might not happen as Tuigy has been cited for his challenge on Abendanon. It wasn't a great challenge but it certainly doesn't warrant a citing.

I think it does, he was taken out of the game by the challenge and there was no reason at all for it as the ball was floated well above them. Did you hear Will Greenwood going on about it, he said there was no justifiction for it at all. Had Tuigy got a yellow card then it would have been sorted but he didnt. I can certainly see why Bath have cited him.

Other than that I thought it was a decent weekend, missed the Cardiff game but saw the Bath game, throught that although Bath were the better side it was the Tigers that exerted most control although the last try was a joke he hadnt got a clue what we was doing! Munster were as awesome as Ospreys were terrible. Looking at Lions I can see a fair number of the dead cert welsh players now sweating a bit. I thought the final game was the best, amazing defensive display by Leinster but Quins helped by being so one dimensional trying to bang through the forwards all the time.

Going forward I think its going to be a Tigers v Munster final again, not sure what type of game that will produce but we'll see.

[BigMans197]

Twit said:

merseyboy said:

London Irish 30 Bourgoin 32 - D. Armatige misses last min conversion to force extra time as Irish crash out of of the European Challenge Cup at home.

Big shock this one. Didn't expect Irish to lose at home to a team who have been threatened with relegation from the French league all season. Dissapointing for irish

I was at that game last night, Irish were awful, the handling wasnt there and they simply didnt come out for the second half. Full credit to Bourgoin, they really got on the gas at the beginning of the second half but Irish should won that one without too much trouble.

It was a pity the conversion was missed as the two Armatige brothers actually played well.

Classic case of not showing the opposition any respect. Tough call on a part time goal kicker to nail that kick from the touch line. Oh well, Irish are going to have to take the Premiership title instead!


Didn't get to see any of the HC games, but from what I have read, a would guess at a Munster v Cardiff final?

[hornetrider]

BigMans197 said:

Didn't get to see any of the HC games, but from what I have read, a would guess at a Munster v Cardiff final?

I think the Blues could lose to the Tigers, the Welsh seem to be imploding at the moment.

[merseyboy]

Twit said:

merseyboy said:

Which might not happen as Tuigy has been cited for his challenge on Abendanon. It wasn't a great challenge but it certainly doesn't warrant a citing.

I think it does, he was taken out of the game by the challenge and there was no reason at all for it as the ball was floated well above them. Did you hear Will Greenwood going on about it, he said there was no justifiction for it at all. Had Tuigy got a yellow card then it would have been sorted but he didnt. I can certainly see why Bath have cited him..

I don't agree and think its yet another of those decisions where 1 person in 20, doing the same thing get cited. Haskells hit on Jordan Crane last year being the perfect example. Far worse and nothing. Possibly should have been a yellow on the day, but the ref missed it and thats that. Citing should only be used for serious foul play missed by the ref, where a red card is an option. abendanon was running a decoy line, created to make the defender think he is getting the ball, this fact alone must be taking into account when considering a tackle away from the ball? If you do this right then the defender thinks he has the ball. Its nonsense

How about the Banaham tackle of G. Murphy from the same game. Why isn't Banahan being cited for pretty much the same thing?

Leicester have a policy that they never ask for players to be cited, they feel its down to the referee and the citing officer. I wish other clubs would follow suit. Looks like sour grapes to me.

Edited by merseyboy on Wednesday 15th April 13:01

[merseyboy]

BigMans197 said:

Twit said:

merseyboy said:

London Irish 30 Bourgoin 32 - D. Armatige misses last min conversion to force extra time as Irish crash out of of the European Challenge Cup at home.

Big shock this one. Didn't expect Irish to lose at home to a team who have been threatened with relegation from the French league all season. Dissapointing for irish

I was at that game last night, Irish were awful, the handling wasnt there and they simply didnt come out for the second half. Full credit to Bourgoin, they really got on the gas at the beginning of the second half but Irish should won that one without too much trouble.

It was a pity the conversion was missed as the two Armatige brothers actually played well.

would guess at a Munster v Cardiff final?

This is now the fav for the final. Munster i think are 80% favs to make the final but i'd say its Cardiff 55% - Tiger 45% - home advantage should be key but Tigers just know how to win in high pressure games.

[merseyboy]

Tigers have banned Tuilagi for 1 week - which usually means that there will be no more action taken.

[DJC]

Yep...pre-emptive strike from the club. They have been hit with enough discipline measures this season to learn a few lessons!