RugbyRebels

I’m adding this thread with some trepidation. I think I’ll be watching from behind the sofa this evening ... hard to see a win here, but I’m hoping we can pull a performance out of the bag.

Great to see Rob Buchanan back! I genuinely thought retirement was more likely than him returning.

Clermont:

15. Tuicuvu 14. Penaud 13. Moala 12. Fofana 11. Raka 10. Lopez 9. Parra 8. Lee 7. Lapandry 6. Iturria 5. Vahaamahina 4. Timani 3. Slimani 2. Kayser 1. Falgoux

16. Ulugia 17. Kakabadze 18. Simutoga 19. Jedrasiak 20. Chouly 21. Laidlaw 22. Nanai-Williams 23. Betham

Quins:

15. Brown 14. Chisholm 13. Alofa 12. Tapuai 11. Walker 10. Smith 9. Hidalgo-Clyne 8. Clifford 7. Robshaw 6. Dombrandt 5. Glynn 4. Symons 3. Sinckler 2. Buchanan 1. Marler

16. Elia 17. Auterac 18. Ibuanopke 19. South 20. Kunatani 21. Saunders 22. Lang 23. Saili

Walker from nowhere?!?! And another Andy Robinson-esque reshuffle of the backrow. Would LOVE to be there to watch this, in this weather, in that stadium, in that town.

Very difficult to see anything other than a reasonably comfortable home win. Quins have gone off the boil of late and this is one of the hardest places to go and get a result.
Front row should be fun. Marler against Slimani is a true heavyweight contest.

The stadium will be full- all tickets have been sold and the atmosphere’s going to be terrific! Clermont May be favourites but let’s not be surprised if Quins sneak the win!

fivepointer wrote:Very difficult to see anything other than a reasonably comfortable home win. Quins have gone off the boil of late and this is one of the hardest places to go and get a result.
Front row should be fun. Marler against Slimani is a true heavyweight contest.

Exactly. Clermont are a brilliant side and I would not have fancied our chances too much even with our first choice 23 going in to the game on a great run of form.

Weirdly, I wonder whether being massive underdogs actually helps us in a knock out scenario. We literally have nothing to lose and while I don’t think it’s at all likely, I wouldn’t altogether rule out a crazy upset.

Clermont shipped a lot of points against Saints (twice) and if they come in to this with too much of a complacent attitude, who knows?

That 3/4 line as ridiculous.

Ours is a just a tad underwhelming.

I know! I’m just relieved we’re not facing Yato and Abendanon and Naqalevu as well!

Mellsblue wrote:Walker from nowhere?!?! And another Andy Robinson-esque reshuffle of the backrow. Would LOVE to be there to watch this, in this weather, in that stadium, in that town.

Of all the places to be in France you'd choose that town? That’s like looking to England and saying if I could be anywhere I'd choose Bedford!

Turned into quite a good game in the end, with Quins falling just short with a late comeback. Stymied by another piece of Sinckler idiocy - first annoys the ref by randomly shrieking at ball carriers when defending, and then Quins have an attacking maul only for Kyle to wrestle with a Frenchman and throw them onto the ground, at the ref's feet. Unsurprisingly, penalty given, attack ruined.

Puja

Puja wrote:Turned into quite a good game in the end, with Quins falling just short with a late comeback. Stymied by another piece of Sinckler idiocy - first annoys the ref by randomly shrieking at ball carriers when defending, and then Quins have an attacking maul only for Kyle to wrestle with a Frenchman and throw them onto the ground, at the ref's feet. Unsurprisingly, penalty given, attack ruined.

Puja

I wish this was at all surprising to read. Thought he’d turned a corner recently, but no.

It’s a huge problem. He does so much that is good but then completely ruins it with his di**head moments.

Yep, Sincklers action was brainless. He isnt some newbie any more and should know better.
Quins put in a very creditable effort i thought. They were undone by the 2 quick tries just before h/t, but kept in the game, scored some good tries and battled gamely.
Very tidy all round game from Marcus Smith. Showed some nice running, passed well and his kicking was pretty much spot on.

Scrumhead wrote:It’s a huge problem. He does so much that is good but then completely ruins it with his di**head moments.

I didn’t see the game or this incident (or the Faf one) but it seems before he was getting wound up by others and now he’s just taking it on himself to be the winder-upper and getting caught?

Smith really rose to the occasion and controlled the game with maturity and a bit of invention at the right times.

Even if the Challenge Cup is the lesser of the two European competitions, it’s still a major semi final, away from home (in a notoriously intimidating arena) against a team that are more than good enough to be in the Champions Cup, so his performance was very impressive.

I’d even go as far as to say he was the better of the two 10s. Clermont didn’t really attack that well IMO.

Mikey Brown wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:It’s a huge problem. He does so much that is good but then completely ruins it with his di**head moments.

I didn’t see the game or this incident (or the Faf one) but it seems before he was getting wound up by others and now he’s just taking it on himself to be the winder-upper and getting caught?

It was the shrieking in defence that really wound me up - it never had the possibility to achieve anything other than pissing off the ref. So why do it? What was the possible gain? If we had literally any other options on the tighthead, I'd be in favour of Eddie telling him he's dropped till he sorts himself out, as he's a liability at present.

Frankly, the more games I see him in this season, the more I start to agree with O'Mahoney's assessment of him.

Puja

Quite. Almost all of the stuff that gets him penalised outside of the scrum is unnecessary.

Taking the slap on de Klerk and the two incidents with Iturria (for France and Clermont) as examples. There was no potential upside in any of them. Just brain dead.

Puja wrote:

Mikey Brown wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:It’s a huge problem. He does so much that is good but then completely ruins it with his di**head moments.

I didn’t see the game or this incident (or the Faf one) but it seems before he was getting wound up by others and now he’s just taking it on himself to be the winder-upper and getting caught?

It was the shrieking in defence that really wound me up - it never had the possibility to achieve anything other than pissing off the ref. So why do it? What was the possible gain? If we had literally any other options on the tighthead, I'd be in favour of Eddie telling him he's dropped till he sorts himself out, as he's a liability at present.

Frankly, the more games I see him in this season, the more I start to agree with O'Mahoney's assessment of him.

Puja

Well if anybody knows about being a total c**t it’s POM.

POM and Kyle show the true Lions band of brothers ethos