Celtic League Preview.

browner · Post by **browner** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 9:56 am

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/ ... 63,00.html#

colinh · Post by **colinh** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 10:13 am

Just read it Browner ..... seems to think the Ospreys will be the team to beat. No surprises there as they area young side. He is going with the safe bets of them and Munster. Maybe we can surprise a few people. His comments on David Humphries were interesting:

Ulster are understandably seen as up-and-comers. Yet theyâ€™ll only truly grow up when they sever the almost umbilical link with David Humphreys, now heading into his final year.

I doubt if his comments were made after having seen any side play but just on past form.

Colin

ballpark · Post by **ballpark** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 11:23 am

O'Reilly is a Tom English clone but his comments re Humphreys are spot on. Just that the alternative Wallace isn't looking the part.

See Neill Best admitted in another Sunday rag that Cardiff were a bogey team for us. At least he knows what to expect but whether he, like the team is confident going there is another matter.

colinh · Post by **colinh** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 11:52 am

Harrison was throwing punches less than five minutes into his debut game against London Irish, which no doubt pleased the Ravenhill regulars.

Bp you took the words right out of my mouth. I was going to say that he is just another lazy hack and taken on where English has left off. But I thought his comments about Harrison gave the wrong impresion and I suppose he dared not critise the new doyene of Irish rugby Casey. But at least he acknowledged the role of the Ravenhill regulars if only in a bregrudging manner. The partisan crowd of Ravenhill has been the undoing of many a fair side of the years and to be honest every European champion needs a baying crowd like the Ravenhill regulars. Lets face it the Ravenhill regualrs turned out in force last season no matter how badly Ulster did ........... a lot of teams cannot say that about their fans even the successful ones.

Colin

Rooster · Post by **Rooster** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 9:54 pm

Casey was lucky not to have been carded for his antics with Harrison and just about all the rest of our forwards

That bit of journalism today is pure speculation on what teams did last year and I will be surprised if Munster finish up higher than 4th

ballpark · Post by **ballpark** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 10:59 pm

Given their forward power i personally think Munster will be 2nd as predicted. Should be interesting though. Perhaps the O's might suffer a reation to last years triumph just as Ulster and the Scarlets did to finishing first and second. See the O's lost to Wasps, So much for relaxing in their new role as CL champions.

Rooster · Post by **Rooster** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 11:19 pm

And the Welsh think they are going to beat the English for the AW cup

Freddie Benson · Post by **Freddie Benson** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:16 am

ballpark wrote:See the O's lost to Wasps, So much for relaxing in their new role as CL champions.

18500 there to see it though
wtf did they all come from

Rooster · Post by **Rooster** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 9:13 am

Probably a lot of Wasps there Freddie, it's that time of year

Freddie Benson · Post by **Freddie Benson** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 7:37 pm

I didn't think they were Taffies given their usual level of support

BR · Post by BR » Tue Aug 30, 2005 12:30 pm

Freddie Benson wrote:I didn't think they were Taffies given their usual level of support

To be fair, I think the Os have got this region thing right. A lot of people would be going to see the new stadium, but if they can keep a proportion of that extra support foir the CL, then fair fcks to them. Their season ticket sales went very well I believe.

They certainly look like the side to beat on paper, and I think I'm pretty happy that we will be seeing them visit without their internationals.

colinh · Post by **colinh** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 12:46 pm

They certainly look like the side to beat on paper, and I think I'm pretty happy that we will be seeing them visit without their internationals.

This may be the case but if you add the money Â£75k put up for the Powergen looks like we could be the poor relations in this deal .............. I am beginning to have doubts about the whole thing. If there is so much money being put into the Powergen the Premiership teams may just play their best teams but balance that out against an overplayed Premiership it may just be the middle ranking teams who may be on the fringes one way or another of HEC that will take it seriously now that HEC qualification is linked to it.

There is more pressure on Premiership teams to qualify than Celtic due to the national disposition. In so much as the main criteria is that you must be in normally the top three of your country so you could fining one from the bottom of the CL and still qualify. It would buck people up if it was just the top 7 to qualify but the Unions would never agree and the financial implications would be immense.

Colin

Rooster · Post by **Rooster** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 12:57 pm

Did the Powergen not always have a Heiny place

didn't make any difference in the past so it won't now. Teams at top of Premiership want to stay there and teams at the bottom don't want relegated so if they are stretched as usual for players due to injury etc the AW cup will fall by the side

BR · Post by BR » Tue Aug 30, 2005 1:30 pm

colinh wrote:
They certainly look like the side to beat on paper, and I think I'm pretty happy that we will be seeing them visit without their internationals.
This may be the case but if you add the money Â£75k put up for the Powergen looks like we could be the poor relations in this deal .............. I am beginning to have doubts about the whole thing. If there is so much money being put into the Powergen the Premiership teams may just play their best teams but balance that out against an overplayed Premiership it may just be the middle ranking teams who may be on the fringes one way or another of HEC that will take it seriously now that HEC qualification is linked to it.

There is more pressure on Premiership teams to qualify than Celtic due to the national disposition. In so much as the main criteria is that you must be in normally the top three of your country so you could fining one from the bottom of the CL and still qualify. It would buck people up if it was just the top 7 to qualify but the Unions would never agree and the financial implications would be immense.

Colin

Sorry Colin - I don't follow that.

Are you saying that the O's will not take the CL seriously, because they are almost sure to get one of the 3 welsh HEC berths? And that they will then be able to concentrate on the lucrative AW cup?

How has the change in Irish qualifying criteria changed that?

colinh · Post by **colinh** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 2:31 pm

Sorry Colin - I don't follow that.

Are you saying that the O's will not take the CL seriously, because they are almost sure to get one of the 3 welsh HEC berths? And that they will then be able to concentrate on the lucrative AW cup?

How has the change in Irish qualifying criteria changed that?

Neither ............. There may be an arguement that the Powergen could be taken seriously by the Premiership sides who are mid table and not in danger of relegation and promotion. It could be abetter competition than many of us are giving it credit for.

They certainly look like the side to beat on paper, and I think I'm pretty happy that we will be seeing them visit without their internationals.

Well I will not be glad to see the Os come here without GH et al. If nothing else I would like to see Miss Church and comment on how much weight she has put on. But the Os not coming here with a full side kind of defeats the whole object of the thing and that is for the league to be played in the main part with the best teams. I know know how the Welsh feel about not seeing BOD et al playing. We should not be worried about what players any team brings as we have the technology to overcome. After all an out of sorts Ulster team almost beat Os at home last season and would have done so without a dodgy ref.

This thing may be tied down for 4 years but the money from the WRU is only a sop for us not seeing their internationals if what has been said above is true. Until HEC qualification rests solely with league positions in the CL and there is a big sponsor there will never be a truely competitive CL. We may be closer to a sponsor but we are a long way from the CL being the sole route into Europe. By that I mean that the first 7 or 8 teams from whatever Union will qualify. Realistically I do not see that happening.

You could also argue that the WRU has given 4 years to attract a major sponsor to put in the same money as the Powergen if not they are off. The WRU has also 4 years to work their way into some sort of meaningful well sponsored competiton whther it be with the Celts or somewhere else.

Colin