RugbyRebels

LEINSTER vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
Heineken Champions Cup, Round 2 (Pool A)
Saturday 19 December 2020
RDS Arena
Kick-off: 1pm

15 Tom Collins
14 Ryan Olowofela
13 Fraser Dingwall
12 Rory Hutchinson
11 Taqele Naiyaravoro
10 George Furbank
9 Tom James

1 Alex Waller (c)
2 Sam Matavesi
3 Paul Hill
4 Alex Moon
5 Api Ratuniyarawa
6 Nick Isiekwe
7 Tom Wood
8 Shaun Adendorff

Replacements:
16 Mikey Haywood
17 Francois van Wyk
18 Owen Franks
19 Alex Coles
20 Teimana Harrison
21 Henry Taylor
22 Piers Francis
23 Matt Proctor

Not available due to injury:
Dan Biggar (knee), Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi (achilles), Lewis Ludlam (shin), Ollie Sleightholme (ankle), and Kayde Sylvester (achilles).

Waller is an idiot. What on earth are you expecting to achieve by scrumming against Leinster on your 5m line when instead you could have used the free-kick.

Great line by Dingwall.

Raggs wrote:Waller is an idiot. What on earth are you expecting to achieve by scrumming against Leinster on your 5m line when instead you could have used the free-kick.

It was utterly moronic.
The "defence" for the first Leinster try was schoolboy level. Saints have done well to come back into the game and score a couple of neat tries. Now just tighten up, dont give up soft possession and territory.

fivepointer wrote:

Raggs wrote:Waller is an idiot. What on earth are you expecting to achieve by scrumming against Leinster on your 5m line when instead you could have used the free-kick.

It was utterly moronic.
The "defence" for the first Leinster try was schoolboy level. Saints have done well to come back into the game and score a couple of neat tries. Now just tighten up, dont give up soft possession and territory.

What happened?

Puja

Tom James has been quite impressive so far. Nothing too flashy but very solid for a third choice nine. Hutchinson seems to be playing ten as much as Furbank though, who's a little MIA atm.

Thought Tom James was excellent. Took his try nicely, got the ball away quickly and accurately. Based on that, he should get some more game time.
Saints were a frustrating mix of some very good parts allied with some truly awful parts.

Puja wrote:

fivepointer wrote:

Raggs wrote:Waller is an idiot. What on earth are you expecting to achieve by scrumming against Leinster on your 5m line when instead you could have used the free-kick.

It was utterly moronic.
The "defence" for the first Leinster try was schoolboy level. Saints have done well to come back into the game and score a couple of neat tries. Now just tighten up, dont give up soft possession and territory.

What happened?

Puja

Waller an idiot what happened?

Saints won a scrum 5m out from their tryline, forced a knock on. The scrum ended up being a free kick due to Leinster shoving early. Saints scrum has not been great recently, and Leinster is Leinster. Waller, as captain, decided that instead of using a free kick on his 5m line to clear his lines with a massive kick, that the correct call was to scrum again. They lost possession with a free kick against them.

EDIT - Thing is, outside of a penalty (and how likely would that have been?) what result is Waller expecting that is better than a free kick under no pressure from his 5m line?

Saints were awful. Leinster weren't great but didn't need to be. At times this game saw uncontested plays by both defences, mostly from Saints.