2022/23 Champions/Challenge Cup

[Paddington Bear]

Just watched the game on catch up. Leinster are in a different league to anything the Prem can offer. This isn’t the same as saying English sides can’t compete - Leicester did and they had a brief window to take control of this game. But when it really mattered Leinster had so much more power, pace and skill and their execution was faultless.

[Zig]

Twenty years ago Leicester were the undisputed best team in Europe while Leinster weren't even the most popular team in the province.

Leicester are still a top team in England but they've lost ground on the rest of Europe.

[ASMO]

Just watched the game on catch up. Leinster are in a different league to anything the Prem can offer. This isn’t the same as saying English sides can’t compete - Leicester did and they had a brief window to take control of this game. But when it really mattered Leinster had so much more power, pace and skill and their execution was faultless.

Basic skills are just not there, passing in front of the man instead of 10 feet in the air or to the grass, so many times Leicester had good ball and lack of basic skills let them down. What are the coaches teaching these days.

[Camroc2]

There was a large cheer when the G-man came on last night. Helped that we were out of sight on the scoreboard, I suppose.

[dpedin]

Leicester flattered to deceive for 30mins then were completely overrun by Leinster. For me the gap in dynamism and athleticism of all 23 players between the two teams for 80mins was huge. Leinster knew they would eventually tire out the Leicester pack and waited for the gaps to emerge. For example when Cole came trotting onto the pitch Leinster were delighted and knew they could target his defence given his lack of mobility, and they were right. Leinster were always looking for breaks and options to go wide and keep Leicester guessing, they would go through numerous phases and probe the defence and keep Leicester moving about making tackles and getting knackered. Leicester on the other hand were very much a one trick pony and once they had exhausted their main strike players against the brick wall they had nothing left. You will not beat Leinster with big men running at their big men. Defence was huge for Leinster and they are very destructive in the tackle, Leicester's defence out wide and their midfield in particular, just looked confused and under prepared.

Shipping 50+ points is going to hurt Leicester!

[CM11]

The 10 min Doris was in the bin summed up the game. It's not the first time this season a card has woken Leinster up. Ruined Ulsters season. We'll see what impact that has on Leicester.

The problem with relying nearly entirely on kicking and your pack to squeeze the opposition is that your backs don't know what to do with attacking ball. That Leicester backline was the worst Leinster have played all season. Just absolutely clueless ball in hand.

[Sards]

So pleased there is no expectation on the Sharks.
To make matters worse, my batteries are faulty on my inverter. Not even 6 months old. It's taking forever for them to test and replace. So I will only be able to watch the first 40.

[Biffer]

When my son and I were down in Leicester for the last round watching Edinburgh be very mediocre, a couple of Leicester supporters behind us thought I was being absurd when they overheard me saying Leinster would put 40 on either of the teams out last week.

I was not far wrong.

Most of the Leicester fans I met agreed with your assessment tbh.

[JM2K6]

Twenty years ago Leicester were the undisputed best team in Europe while Leinster weren't even the most popular team in the province.

Leicester are still a top team in England but they've lost ground on the rest of Europe.

Leicester ended up rotting from the head down and while their title win is a huge thing they're nowhere near the Leicester of old. They have a tyro coach, a one dimensional game plan, and perhaps a lower potential ceiling than many other premiership sides. However they also have a higher floor due to the physicality and safety first approach.

They won a title but replaced Ford with a worse version. Their preferred backline probably isn't semi fit Kelly and a wing at 13, but I'm not going to pretend Guy Porter is any kind of magic bullet. Having Steward and Brown both start gives them a lot of power and huge aerial ability but you lose a lot elsewhere, although individually both played pretty well.

The pack is always where Leicester will focus and I finally see the big deal about George Martin, both Chessums are going to be huge players, Wiese is an animal, Reffell in the top 3 7s in the country, etc. Imho their biggest problem is they just can't get the set piece quite right. Montoya is a fabulous player but the lineout is a bit shaky, and Tigers don't hurt opposition lineouts that much; Heyes is really promising but he's not quite there yet to guarantee scrum advantage. I'm sure when Cole retires they'll spend big on someone like Malherbe or some massive Frenchman.

Will all that said, it's a team stuffed with smaller names compared to most teams in this tournament and this both reflects Leicester's problems of the last decade and the gap between our league and the rest. I can see why people get a bit whiny and bitter about it, as the ability to have squads stuffed with internationals is a huge advantage, but there's no cause for complaint from an English perspective as our main concern is literally keeping the lights on at our major clubs and keeping the premiership from going bust. So on that front, well done Tigers for getting this far with a team of relative unknowns.

[Torquemada 1420]

FM: that pass by Lebel has to be the worst ever in the history of this comp

[Torquemada 1420]

That's what you get for tackling like a moron.

[ASMO]

Lucky boy, could easily been a different colour

[fishfoodie]

"an another one down, and another one down ....."

YC probably the right decision, but he's off one way or another

[TheNatalShark]

Good catch from the officials I guess, hopefully he hasn't concussed himself for his troubles, but yes needs to get into an appropriate position to react if he is going to try flying into a tackle area

[OomStruisbaai]

Great start by the Sharks

[TheNatalShark]

Fantastic steal from Ox

Williams playing well and making right decisions

[fishfoodie]

that's some gas

[sockwithaticket]

that's some gas

I actually said 'woah' out loud. Astonishing acceleration.

[Torquemada 1420]

That's 2 trys Lebel has butchered now with crap passes.

[TheNatalShark]

Sharks are going to struggle to keep that out if Toulouse get 3 or 4 positions like that during the game. Biting so hard

[OomStruisbaai]

Ramos try to fake a try.

[Torquemada 1420]

You have to be sh*tting me. How is Mallia coming back on?

{EDIT} no.

[TheNatalShark]

So fucking dumb that those are penalties. Absolutely nothing Mapimpi did wrong there, Toulouse man beaten and backtracking and can't tackle man following the ball because he has been beaten already

[OomStruisbaai]

So fucking dumb that those are penalties. Absolutely nothing Mapimpi did wrong there, Toulouse man beaten and backtracking and can't tackle man following the ball because he has been beaten already

WTF was wrong there?

[TheNatalShark]

So fucking dumb that those are penalties. Absolutely nothing Mapimpi did wrong there, Toulouse man beaten and backtracking and can't tackle man following the ball because he has been beaten already

WTF was wrong there?

Rationale was that Mapimpi was "ahead" of the ball. The only thing that put Mapimpi ahead was the Toulouse player tackling him into the contact arear

[Torquemada 1420]

So fucking dumb that those are penalties. Absolutely nothing Mapimpi did wrong there, Toulouse man beaten and backtracking and can't tackle man following the ball because he has been beaten already

WTF was wrong there?

That's given as obstruction 100% of the time, like it or not.

[TheNatalShark]

And these commentators that keep fucking calling Am as Notshe claiming that Bongo's collar scraf was at least a yellow. Good god these are dumb fuckers.

[paddyor]

So fucking dumb that those are penalties. Absolutely nothing Mapimpi did wrong there, Toulouse man beaten and backtracking and can't tackle man following the ball because he has been beaten already

WTF was wrong there?

He was ahead of the ball.

[OomStruisbaai]

So fucking dumb that those are penalties. Absolutely nothing Mapimpi did wrong there, Toulouse man beaten and backtracking and can't tackle man following the ball because he has been beaten already

WTF was wrong there?

That's given as obstruction 100% of the time, like it or not.

Did you give the ref a golden watch?

[TheNatalShark]

So fucking dumb that those are penalties. Absolutely nothing Mapimpi did wrong there, Toulouse man beaten and backtracking and can't tackle man following the ball because he has been beaten already

WTF was wrong there?

That's given as obstruction 100% of the time, like it or not.

I know. I'm saying it's dumb it is a penalty, a scrum would perfectly suffice if you want to turnover.

There is plenty of scope for the ref to adjudged if something is a professional foul or accidental.

[Torquemada 1420]

WTF was wrong there?

That's given as obstruction 100% of the time, like it or not.

Did you give the ref a golden watch?

It's only safas who indulge in that kind of corruption so zip it.

[Torquemada 1420]

I know. I'm saying it's dumb it is a penalty, a scrum would perfectly suffice if you want to turnover.

There is plenty of scope for the ref to adjudged if something is a professional foul or accidental.

Yeah: too many pens for stuff that should simply be a free kick.

[Torquemada 1420]

Brilliant rugby.

Ntamack in another piece of gutless, turnstile defending though.

[OomStruisbaai]

Vok daai was mooi!!!!

[sockwithaticket]

Jesus christ there's some speed on that field. Can we get Williams and Lebel to have a race at half time?

[TheNatalShark]

I know. I'm saying it's dumb it is a penalty, a scrum would perfectly suffice if you want to turnover.

There is plenty of scope for the ref to adjudged if something is a professional foul or accidental.

Yeah: too many pens for stuff that should simply be a free kick.

Free kick even better.


Absolutely brilliant from Bosch and Williams.

Really poor line from Toulouse, they don't seem to be expecting the Sharks to have any pace or will to run it back.

[OomStruisbaai]

Bosch and Williams are brilliant.

[_Os_]

Now that's Natal rugby.

I saw some Frenchmen in the crowd with their mouths open in awe.

Also ... Kockott!

[fishfoodie]

That's controlled power, but Leinster would have used the penalty to go to the corner, not pick off 3 pts

[Torquemada 1420]

Sharks killing ST at the breakdown. That needs to be sorted or game is done.