English-man, Irish-man, Scots-man, Welsh-man, Samoan-man, NewZealand-man walk into a bar .........in Australia. It's not a joke, It's a Lions Tour

Okay so, not for the first time, I have re-discovered my passion for forcing my opinion upon unsuspecting rugby fans. I've decided to re-launch this blog again for the Lions Series tour of Australia this coming Summer. I'll try to remain completely unbiased toward Irish players as much as possible too. 

First off, I'll start by stating how shocked I was at the exclusion of Rory Best! We've heard numerous reasons for his omission ranging from the likely "bad darts" story to the bizarre explanation of "Saving him for later in the tour"... Most likely thought up by a very angry Ulster man! #SUFTUM #RoarforRory

But lets face it, he was hard done by! Surely, he deserves to be on the tour more than Dylan "the Gentleman" Hartley.  Alas though, it is most likely that Rory Best will be watching the Lions from his couch. 

Rory Best wasn't the only unlucky player... To name a few, Simon Zebo, Peter O'Mahoney, Chris Robshaw, Donnacha Ryan, Andrew Sheridan, Brad Barrit and I'm sure there are more, were all desperately unlucky not to make the plane. Although in O'Mahoney & Robshaws case, the backrow is unbelievably competitive as it is! 

Other than the announcement of the squad, there is no real news to talk about...So for now, its over and out. 

I'll leave you with this video if your looking for that bit of motivation to make it to Oz this Summer.

Keep Calm and score 4 tries.. and qualify

Simple advice for the Irish sides this weekend

Ideally, we want Toulon to stop Montpellier (who will be without their captain) from qualifying. That way, we can have 3 irish sides in the latter stages of the competition.

Ulster

Having already qualified for the knockout stages, Ulster will look to get a win in Castres to gurantee a quarter final at Ravenhill. They sit top of their pool on 19 points and could be equalled by Northampton however they would still top the group having a better head-to-head. Thats irrelevant though, this Ulster team have been one of the stand out performers in the competition this year and I fully expect them to beat a disinterested Castres team and secure a home QF. I also expect Northampton to reach 19 points but their chances of qualifying are very slim even they do get to 19 points.

Leinster

It's quite simple here, they can't top their group, so a runners up spot is all they have in sight. What Leinster must do is firstly beat Exeter and beat them scoring tries. Having gone for it last week right from the kick off, they will go into this weeks encounter in a confident mood. They were brash last week choosing to kick for the corner on occasions were 3 points were on offer, but it paid off and they scored 5 tries leaving them just 1 behind Munster in total. They travel to England this weekend to face Exeter who gave them a tough time at the RDS. That was a different Leinster side though, and this weekend they should be at full strength and showing signs of the form that saw them crowned European champions last year. I expect Leinster to go to Exeter and deliver one of their best performances this year. Question is, will it be enough to see them through to the knockout stages?

Munster

Munster have the advantage of playing on Sunday, when they will know exactly what is required to qualify. Assuming Montpellier manage to get at least 2 points from their Toulon game ( anything will do, a win, draw, loss by 7 having scored more than 4 tries etc.) then there will be only 1 runner up spot left. Then it gets interesting with Munster & Leinster the only 2 teams who can finish on 20 points battling it out for last place. Currently Munster have scored 9 tries in this while Leinster have scored 8. Should Montpellier qualify and Musnter and Leinster both end up on 20 points, it will come down to who has scored more tries. To put it simply, as long as Munster get a bonus point win and equal what Leinster do this weekend, they'll qualify.
Munster haven't been playing well and the absolutely farcicle situation with O'Gara being cited will not help matters, but they've been in this familiar position before (or atleast the supporters have) in 2003 when Gloucester rolled into town and the "Miracle Match" took place. Can we expect the same of this current crop of players though? Sunday will tell a tale.

Zebo's try scoring abilities will be vital on Sunday as Munster need atleast 4 tries to qualify

Ruck-That TOP 8 Prediction

(1) Harlequinns                        28pts.

(2) ASM Clermont Auvergne   28pts.

(3) Toulon                                27pts.
(4) Ulster                                  24pts.
(5) Saracens                             23pts.
(6) Leicester Tigers                   22pts.
(7) Leinster                               20pts.
(8) Munster                              20pts.

Heineken supplies running dangerously low in Ireland?

 

Okay, so it's been a very long time since you've heard anything from me on the rugby front. Take a scroll down the page and you'll see my last article on this blog was during the World Cup where I predicted Ireland and Sean O'Brien to hand Wales their own ass.. How very wrong I was! 

Fast forward to the present though and it's another massive weekend for Irish rugby as Ulster book their place in the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup (well done) and both Munster & Leinster look to make a great escape from their pools.

So it's do or die for Munster & Leinster, below explains what needs to happen for both to go through.

Everyone who follows the Heineken Cup will know that there are 6 pools. It'll be the winners of the 6 pools along with the 2 best placed runners-up who will make up the Quarter final pairings. From looking at the groups, Pool 2 (below) will probably give us a runner up provided Ospreys lose this weekend.  From an Irish perspective, we want Ospreys to hammer Leicester Tigers out the door and stop them getting a losing bonus point.

1			Leicester Tigers													14
2			Toulouse													13
3			Ospreys													9
4			Benetton Treviso													1

Pool 6 then shows a similar situation ...

1			Toulon													18
2			Montpellier													18*
3			Sale Sharks													4*
4			Cardiff Blues													1

 

 *Toulon have yet to play Cardiff this weekend and unless there's an almighty upset then I'd imaigne they'll win handy and take themselves to 5 unbeaten games and a total of 23 points.

 This would set up a last round game between the 2 french sides with Montpellier hosting Toulon where a home win would see them qualify more than likely as a best place runner up. Even they did manage to top the group, then Toulon would get 2nd place and qualify. So, again, from an irish perspective, we want Toulon to go 6 from 6 really and stop Montpellier advancing beyond their 18 points so far.

 Currently Ulster have qualified as group winners and will look to secure a home quarter final next weekend in France. Munster can still top their group if things go tits up for Saracens this evening when they visit Racing Metro, failing that, they can achieve 2 bonus point wins and reach a maximum of 21 points. Leinster on the other hand, simply need to turn on the style they showed last year and pick up two bonus point wins to reach a maximum of 20.

Its going to be a real hum dinger of a closing round next weekend if Leinster and Munster can both get bonus point wins this weekend and keep themselves alive in the competition.