European Club Rugby
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Leinster have named a strongish looking side for their PRO14 away game with Benetton at the weekend. Getting his first start is former Chiefs winger, James Lowe. He’ll partner with Leinster’s latest wunderkind, academy player Jordan Larmour at full-back, who’s been impressing of late.
Another player plucked from the sub-academy is the TH replacement with the wonderful Irish name, Vakhtang Abdaladze, who played for the U20’s last year. Moved to Dublin when he was 10, his father, Nika, is a former Georgian test prop who got a couple of caps.
1 Jack McGrath, 2 James Tracy, 3 Andrew Porter, 4 Ian Nagle, 5 Scott Fardy, 6 Jordi Murphy, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 Jack Conan 9 Luke McGrath (capt); 10 Ross Byrne, 11 James Lowe; 12 Noel Reid, 13 Garry Ringrose, 14 Dave Kearney, 15 Jordan Larmour;
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Ed Byrne, 18 Vakh Abdaladze, 19 Mick Kearney, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Nick McCarthy, 22 Fergus McFadden, 23 Rory O'Loughlin. -
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Lowe did well for his first start. Hungry for the ball and chances to score. In truth, they were both from 10-15m out facing shit defence but you take your chances when you can and he did. He linked very well with young skipper for the match, No 9 Luke McGrath who was my man of the match in creating and scoring chances.
I presume Cullen will select Lowe for the Xmas back-to-backs against Exeter in the European Cup over next two weeks. Should be a good step-up in quality and speed that he’ll be used to.
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Lowe did well for his first start. Hungry for the ball and chances to score. In truth, they were both from 10-15m out facing shit defence but you take your chances when you can and he did. He linked very well with young skipper for the match, No 9 Luke McGrath who was my man of the match in creating and scoring chances.
I presume Cullen will select Lowe for the Xmas back-to-backs against Exeter in the European Cup over next two weeks. Should be a good step-up in quality and speed that he’ll be used to.
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Quite surprised that Lowe has managed to keep his playing options open. Don't know if he was ever approached for Sevens but surely would have made a good player in that version of the code.
To answer the question above.....
"New Zealander James Lowe, who arrives at Leinster this summer from the Chiefs, would be eligible to play for Ireland by autumn 2020, getting in before the December 31st 2020 cut-off."
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Quite surprised that Lowe has managed to keep his playing options open. Don't know if he was ever approached for Sevens but surely would have made a good player in that version of the code.
To answer the question above.....
"New Zealander James Lowe, who arrives at Leinster this summer from the Chiefs, would be eligible to play for Ireland by autumn 2020, getting in before the December 31st 2020 cut-off."
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@dmx said in NH club rugby:
@pot-hale
So when is he qualified to pull on an Irish jersey?
His Leinster contract runs to June 2020. He’s not a nominated project player. Normal rule under Player Succession policy for Leinster, Munster and Ulster is that NIE players contracts are not renewed. Nucifora enforcing this more and more. Lowe arrived in second week of November so he wouldn’t be qualified until mid-Nov 2020. If his contract was renewed which is unlikely given the number of domestic wingers developing, then the first opportunity for playing internationals would be Six Nations in 2021 at age 29. At that point, the future Ireland coach will want to be nailing down positions/players for RWC 2023 when Lowe would have turned 31. Lowe also has medical history with his knees. Sweetnam, Conway, Stockdale, Byrne, Larmour and possibly Wootton, will be ahead of him.
I don’t see it happening.
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@crucial said in NH club rugby:
@Pot-Hale he suffers from a form of arthritis.
You’re quite correct - juvenile rheumatoid arthritis from when he was a kid. It still affects him despite treatment apparently. Hands and wrist joints and neck/upper spine are main areas, with shoulder/knee a lesser possibility.
“It's a scary prospect thinking it could all be over very quickly, especially with my arthritis. And I keep on breaking as it is anyway, " said Lowe.
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I thought he went awfully close to the AB jersey 2 years ago, perhaps he was thinking about it too much in the playoffs and he seemed to lose his concentration on a couple of occasions. Will be a dead cert for Ireland in 2020 if fit.
@dmx said in NH club rugby:
I thought he went awfully close to the AB jersey 2 years ago, perhaps he was thinking about it too much in the playoffs and he seemed to lose his concentration on a couple of occasions. Will be a dead cert for Ireland in 2020 if fit.
Not convinced myself. He's relatively slow for a winger, which will only get worse as he ages.
Ireland actually have a couple of cracking prospects in the back 3: Jacob Stockdale , who is already capped, and a young lad called Jordan Larmour, who does a fine Christian Cullen impression.
If he keeps his speed up, Lowe will definitely be in with a shot, but 2020 is, well, 3 years away yet.
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Isaia Toeava has re-signed with Clermont for two more seasons.
Meanwhile, Luke McAlister - who was brought in as injury cover for Camille Lopez - has also joined the injury ward and will be out for two months with a broken hand. He's the fourth of Clermont's halves to be struck by injury this season (Lopez, Laidlaw, Fernandez). Loni Uhila is also injured, by the way (broken arm).
Also interesting to read that for the second year, Ian Foster has spent a week in Clermont to attend their training sessions, both sharing his knowledge and learn a few thing as well.
Google translate does a decent enough job to read this story:
https://www.asm-rugby.com/actus/ian-foster-et-franck-azéma-sur-la-même-longueur-d’onde
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Itoje out injured with a fractured jaw. 6 weeks minimum. Collided with Mike Brown's head.
I think this says more about Brown's head than Itoje's jaw. Unkind people have been saying this underline's Brown's usefulness to England.
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Itoje out injured with a fractured jaw. 6 weeks minimum. Collided with Mike Brown's head.
I think this says more about Brown's head than Itoje's jaw. Unkind people have been saying this underline's Brown's usefulness to England.
@catogrande said in NH club rugby:
Itoje out injured with a fractured jaw. 6 weeks minimum. Collided with Mike Brown's head.
I think this says more about Brown's head than Itoje's jaw. Unkind people have been saying this underline's Brown's usefulness to England.
Somehow I think England will still go OK
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Glasgow lose to Cruden's Montpellier, making it 0-3 for Rennie...and out of Europe. They were pretty crap tonight, with no lineout and poor handling.
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Well, with a choice between agonising over which player NZ missed most in November or who was the best player...and watching some actual rugby...I went with watching rugby.
Once again Victor Vito's La Rochelle on fire, great to watch, and now 15 points from 3 games. Didn't realise Rene Ranger had headed to France again, but he had a wee cameo off the bench.
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Last night, EPCR decided to postpone the Saracens v Clermont match due to snow on the roads to the stadium, mentioning safety reasons. I don't know whether that's the case, but it sounds like a terrible excuse for bad preparation because the snow was announced several days ago. While no attempt seemed to have been made to clear the pitch, Clermont players apparently still had to wait a long time in their hotel rooms before being informed that the game would not be played on Sunday. (Btw, the Harlequins v Leinster game at Twickenham went ahead as planned.)
https://twitter.com/ChampionsCup/status/939833021095710721
Meanwhile, several groups of Clermont fans travelled all the way from Clermont-Ferrand to London to watch the game and had to return without watching any rugby. Also after waiting for hours to hear what would happent to the game.
Now, it's decided to play the game behind closed doors, without public, on Monday, 5.30pm UK time (6.30am Tuesday NZ time).
At least the Clermont players seemed to enjoy the snow with a forwards v backs snowball fight
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Last night, EPCR decided to postpone the Saracens v Clermont match due to snow on the roads to the stadium, mentioning safety reasons. I don't know whether that's the case, but it sounds like a terrible excuse for bad preparation because the snow was announced several days ago. While no attempt seemed to have been made to clear the pitch, Clermont players apparently still had to wait a long time in their hotel rooms before being informed that the game would not be played on Sunday. (Btw, the Harlequins v Leinster game at Twickenham went ahead as planned.)
https://twitter.com/ChampionsCup/status/939833021095710721
Meanwhile, several groups of Clermont fans travelled all the way from Clermont-Ferrand to London to watch the game and had to return without watching any rugby. Also after waiting for hours to hear what would happent to the game.
Now, it's decided to play the game behind closed doors, without public, on Monday, 5.30pm UK time (6.30am Tuesday NZ time).
At least the Clermont players seemed to enjoy the snow with a forwards v backs snowball fight
Harlequins v Ulster
Exeter v Leinster -
Last night, EPCR decided to postpone the Saracens v Clermont match due to snow on the roads to the stadium, mentioning safety reasons. I don't know whether that's the case, but it sounds like a terrible excuse for bad preparation because the snow was announced several days ago. While no attempt seemed to have been made to clear the pitch, Clermont players apparently still had to wait a long time in their hotel rooms before being informed that the game would not be played on Sunday. (Btw, the Harlequins v Leinster game at Twickenham went ahead as planned.)
https://twitter.com/ChampionsCup/status/939833021095710721
Meanwhile, several groups of Clermont fans travelled all the way from Clermont-Ferrand to London to watch the game and had to return without watching any rugby. Also after waiting for hours to hear what would happent to the game.
Now, it's decided to play the game behind closed doors, without public, on Monday, 5.30pm UK time (6.30am Tuesday NZ time).
At least the Clermont players seemed to enjoy the snow with a forwards v backs snowball fight
@stargazer said in NH club rugby:
Last night, EPCR decided to postpone the Saracens v Clermont match due to snow on the roads to the stadium, mentioning safety reasons. I don't know whether that's the case, but it sounds like a terrible excuse for bad preparation because the snow was announced several days ago. While no attempt seemed to have been made to clear the pitch, Clermont players apparently still had to wait a long time in their hotel rooms before being informed that the game would not be played on Sunday. (Btw, the Harlequins v Leinster game at Twickenham went ahead as planned.)
Meanwhile, several groups of Clermont fans travelled all the way from Clermont-Ferrand to London to watch the game and had to return without watching any rugby. Also after waiting for hours to hear what would happent to the game.
Now, it's decided to play the game behind closed doors, without public, on Monday, 5.30pm UK time (6.30am Tuesday NZ time).
At least the Clermont players seemed to enjoy the snow with a forwards v backs snowball fight
Not so sure you have the story right there @Stargazer
We had tickets to the Sarries game given to us and knew not to bother going in the morning. Being in South London we were surprised to see the pictures as we had only had a bit of sleet at that stage.
The decision was more to do with the roads and transport than the pitch. As you are probably aware, the transport infrastructure gets even more fragile with 'unusual' weather in these parts. One car accident can gridlock a large area.
The Quins game went ahead, the snowing was only for an hour or two down our way and was only settling on large exposed areas. Roads were fine.
