Kidney?Originally Posted by busby
Kidney?
He's right. Kidney gets killed for the backs lack of a gameplan when the core of the Leinstertainment back line of Sexton, D'Arcy, BOD and Kearney get let off scot-free of all responsibility. Do they forget everything the minute they leave Joe Schmidt's side?
Read my response out loud.
Never mind perception because it isn’t real. It’s only what people think. Go out and make them think something else.
- Alan Quinlan on believing in yourself
I like Quinnie, he had a lot of bad blows in his rugby career. A good player, lived on the edge, but unlikely to win Mastermind, if ya know what I mean. Add to that his devotion to his beloved Munster and Kidney, his one time boss and mentor.
He's hardly going to go on the record and state the bleedin obvious, i.e., Kidney is in way above his head.
Kindey's record as manager is now very ordinary, I don't have the stats at hand but I'd imagine his win/loss ratio is close to or below EOS (A cork man who is persona non grata even on munsterfans).
In 20 years time people will look back and wonder how the hell we kicked out Gatland and replaced him with EOS and then Kidney, what a waste of a wonderful generation of players.
I agree with almost everything you said about Kidney GIB, but that is one sh*tty and petty blow to take at someone.
As far as Quinnie's devotion to Munster goes, it's blown out of proportion by many people. I've found Quinnie to be very impartial(he ain't perfect but I wouldn't hesitate to say he's going to be a fantastic pundit as time goes on), much more so than others RTE have had on.
Need we remember Horgan's input a while back about Reddan? I'd say they were afraid to bring the shot back to studio with Horgan fawning himself silly, lad in hand.
Additionally, he's right. I'd imagine he means that about a few Munster players as well as anyone else.
Last edited by Kevy-Wevz; 10th-June-2012 at 16:37.
I think Quinnie is one of the better analysts out there, no need to be having cheap shots at him.
To be frank with you, you're talking through your hole.
I've met him a few times, lovely bloke. Based on my conversations with him and from reading your inane ramblings on here you're in no position to be calling anyone thick.
Could we refer to GIB as bungalow from now on? Nothing upstairs.....
"If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards - checkmate!" Zapp Brannigan
Is Quinnie no longer writing for the IT? Shame if he's not, his articles were very good.
Had a quick look and there's nothing there from him for a while, and he's not listed in the "columns and regulars" section.
We'll have to uncuff him and "de-dildo" him, obviously... Smash up the furniture like he was chasing you all rapey. Fortunately, he's Italian so that shouldn't be too hard to sell.
The nature of his columns - a man on the inside - always meant that they'd have a limited timscale I reckon.
For some reason it's in my head that his articles will appear on Thursdays this season.
Either I saw it on Twitter, or somesuch, or else a mischievous hamster planted the notion.
Sent from my Commodore 64
He has been signed up for this season.
Of those 3 in the pics -Toland is muck, Thornley is a yes man.
Williams is the best of the above it pains me to say.
The only thing lance is on is his bike 6 hours a day, busting his ass, what are you on?
Toland can write some incredibly irrelevant and/or nonsensical stuff some of the time, but he's also capable of delivering an insightful, well-written analytical piece. His articles are like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get.
Never mind perception because it isn’t real. It’s only what people think. Go out and make them think something else.
- Alan Quinlan on believing in yourself
Any idea when he'll be contributing again..? I miss his insight on the game
I'd guess when the HC swings into full gear.
"If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards - checkmate!" Zapp Brannigan
I have heard that he starts again next week.
Just after a Munster/Leinster clash, good timing
Ya i just asked him on twitter he is back in the IT next wednesday
So, I was kinda right. Hamster was only feckin' around with the days of the week.
Sent from my Commodore 64
And so he returns...........talking HEC.............and discussing the English!
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...325094083.html
The first part of that article is a really good perspective on the situation as it lies.
Anybody who sees a psychiatrist would want their head examined.*&nb sp;Henry Ford
"Of course, if the Irish provinces start four from four, it might only give our friends across the water more to get riled up about. Sure what harm?"
He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
You have got to love Quinnie!
Otaga Daily Times 2/5/2012
Taz-Where did you get that information as I have seen nowhere that he(Penney) was ruled out?
Editor - The writer stands by the Penney information.
Otaga Daily Times 3/5/2012
Editor-- This article originally said Rob Penney had missed out on the Munster coaching job. That information was incorrect.
Article in full
Toulon have resources to test the bestDefining moments in last year's competition: Brian O'Driscoll's one-handed offload to Seán O'Brien in Leinster's final win over Ulster. Photographs: Inpho/Getty
In this section »
ALAN QUINLAN
FROM THE BLINDSIDE : The progressive French club have had a couple of seasons to get used to the Heineken Cup and it looks like they’re going to really target it this year
THE START of the Heineken Cup feels a bit different this year. No matter how much you just want to concentrate on the rugby and look forward to the matches, you can’t ignore all the meetings and negotiations that are going on behind the scenes about the competition’s future. There were talks in Rome on Monday and there’ll be more in Dublin in a few weeks. The whole situation is just a little bit nervy at the minute.
It’s a shame because the one thing we should be doing at this time of year is checking out the fixtures and the pools and pinpointing the must-win games for all the contenders. But instead, we’re sitting here wondering what the Heineken Cup will look like in a couple of years or, in the worst-case scenario, if it will still exist at all.
That’s a pretty shameful move on the part of the English clubs, it has to be said. Whatever their gripes – and they’re not all wrong, it must be acknowledged – they still should have a bit more class than to threaten such a brilliant competition.
The financial ins and outs of it have been done to death at this stage so there’s nothing to be gained from me spelling them out here. For me, this comes down to the simple fact that the English clubs have always felt they were better than the tournament.
And that’s not always a bad thing, by the way. Many a great victory over the years has been built on the back of underdogs going out to bring an English team down a peg or two. It gave those games an extra bit of oomph and it definitely gave Irish teams something to aim at in the early years.
What has been interesting to watch, though, is the way they’ve changed their tune over the years when they talk about the effect on them of playing in the Premiership. In the early days, they were always going on about how the level of competition over there was what had them battle-hardened when they went into Europe.
I remember it was all we had to listen to after Northampton beat Munster in the final in 2000. We hadn’t had a game for a fortnight before that final whereas Northampton came in having played Saracens the week before.
Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio were always very outspoken about how playing week-in and week-out suited their players and made them better and how it was a big factor in them winning all those Heineken Cups. But if it was true then, how come it’s not true now?
All of a sudden, seeing as Leicester and Wasps aren’t picking off Heineken Cups by the truckload, their system is being seen as a disadvantage. The Irish way of minding our players, of taking care of them and making sure they’re fit for the biggest games, all of a sudden that’s unfair. They want to have it both ways.
This is all about money. Everything they’re complaining about comes down to money in the end. And anything they manage to push through in these negotiations will only matter because of money. They probably have a point in objecting to the automatic entry of teams from each country and it would do the Rabo Pro12 no harm if qualification was more stringent.
But if you follow that argument through to the end, it will obviously mean fewer Scottish and Italian clubs playing in the Heineken Cup, which will mean the competitiveness of their international teams will inevitably suffer.
What the English clubs don’t seem to have grasped is the international game is where the money is. Those clubs might be suffering financially but the RFU isn’t. It has built up a very healthy balance sheet on the back of a very competitive international calendar. But that competitiveness has to grow from the ground up and the only way that can happen is if the countries with the smaller playing pools can still have proper representation in the biggest club competition.
Think of it like this. In Ireland, we pick our international team from basically four provincial teams. In Scotland, they pick from two. Same in Italy. What if a rule came in saying that the English team could only pick from their top four clubs?
That might sound completely off the wall but is it any more anti-competition than condemning the clubs in the smaller countries to a lower-level competition like the Amlin just because the English clubs (a) want more money and (b) are sick of the Paddies winning the competition year after year?
We’ve been here before.
I played in the 1998/99 season when the English clubs withdrew for a year and we definitely missed them.
You would have always looked forward to getting an English team into Thomond Park because it just got everyone up on their toes a little bit more. It brought more buzz and excitement and we were glad to see them come back the following year, even though one of them beat us in the final.
That was a different era though. There is more money involved now, more TV rights, more people through the gates, higher salaries, higher stakes.
Whatever comes out of the talks, I don’t see any way the Heineken Cup will go to the wall. The English clubs might get some concessions somewhere along the way regarding the qualification criteria but there’s just no way they’ll be able to strike out on their own and set up a breakaway league.
The tournament needs them and the game is too professional now to allow something like that.
As for the tournament itself, a lot of the usual big-hitters like Leinster, Toulouse and Clermont are at the top of the betting but I really fancy Toulon.
They’ve had a couple of seasons to get used to the competition and it looks like they’re going to really target it this year. With the resources they have and the amount of English and Welsh imports they’ve brought over recently, they’re going to be very tough to beat.
The bookies have them at around 7/1 or 8/1 but when you think that two of the teams ahead of them – Leinster and Clermont – are in the same pool, Toulon have definitely got the better of the draw. They have Sale, Montpellier and Cardiff in their pool so you would expect them to come out on top there and take a home quarter-final into the bargain. I reckon there’s a bit of value in them anyway.
The fixtures have been kind enough to the Irish teams for the opening weekend and I don’t think it would be going too far overboard to say we can expect four wins out of four. Ulster have beaten better teams than Castres in Ravenhill even at times when they weren’t playing as well as they are now. Leinster shouldn’t have too many problems with Exeter at home, nor should Connacht with Zebre away.
Munster’s task is obviously the toughest, away to Racing Metro, but even so they should be up to it. Racing lost at home last weekend to Montpellier and took a bit of a beating the previous week from Grenoble, who are only after being promoted to the Top 14. That’s not the sort of form you need to be taking with you into the Heineken Cup.
Of course, if the Irish provinces start four from four, it might only give our friends across the water more to get riled up about. Sure what harm?
Marty in the Morning
Good to see someone say what everyone thinks.
For the over the hill and the past-it, nothing is impossible.
Quality from Quinnie, would think Sky will have him in to argue the case for keeping things as they are.
Good man Quinnie. Love the Leinster prognosis. No pressure then.
Hello friends in Brussels. Baldy here
The Irish Times - Wednesday, October 17, 2012Leinster happy to avail of the benefit of the doubt
FROM THE BLINDSIDE: Like Munster in their heyday, champions Leinster are now tending to get the majority of the 50-50 decisions when the referee has to make a big call
WHEN MUNSTER played Saracens at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry back in 2008, we were at the very top of our game. We had just beaten Gloucester on their own patch in the quarter-final and we were on our way to our second Heineken Cup win in three seasons. We were playing some good rugby and we had momentum. A lot of people felt that we were favourites to win the competition even before we played in the semi-final.
Read the rest of the article http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/
Good article.
"They’re the benchmark that everyone else has to raise their game to meet." Alan Quinlan on Leinster
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Defining moments in last year's competition: Brian O'Driscoll's one-handed offload to Seán O'Brien in Leinster's final win over Ulster. Photographs: Inpho/Getty