Leinster Vs Aironi RDS Sat 6pm NO TV

Hagz

3rd try for Madigan this season. He may be a sub-standard kicker, but he's good with ball in hand.

.ak

Interesting event before the try... We were mauling 5m from their line, a stray ball came onto the field and the aironi 9 kicked the ball into the the pack! Ar should've seen it. Advised the ref... Should've been a card!

frackingishell

sub-standard? what's standard then?

Hagz

frackingishell wrote: »

sub-standard? what's standard then?

Ah ya know what I mean. He's not good at kicking off the tee.

.ak

Lovely try from isa! On the right wing. Isa doesn't convert. 12-7

Appreciate the updates ak.

Leinster's twitter feed has to be slightly propaganda-esque really. I prefer the harsh truth!

ongarite

Super try from Fitzgerald.

.ak

50m intercept try from fitz. Some pace! Isa converts. 19-7

seanin4711

would be appreciated!

czech

fair play to you
.ak

El_Duderino 09

Thanks .ak

How long is left?

ongarite

6 mins left, pressing for the bonus point now.

.ak

seanin4711 wrote: »

would be appreciated!

19-7 Leinster

seanin4711

.ak wrote: »

50m intercept try from fitz. Some pace! Isa converts. 19-7

nice one.

.ak

TRy from a scrum 5, rhys ruddock, isa coverts, bp! Full time

Hagz

Yes! Great

Rhys you beaut.

Appreciate the updates .ak!

.ak

Fitzgerald motm, had an awesome game. Battery almost dead so sorry can't be more descriptive. I'll write my 2c later.

Profiler

Thanks for all the updates .ak

Much appreciated.

That's half of the Italian job done, now for the game tomorrow morning :cool:

BarackPyjama

Brilliant. A bonus point against an admittedly inferior team but we have a seriously depleted squad. A great result you'd have to say. I'm still fuming that this wasn't televised. Is rugby really still so unpopular in Ireland that we can't broadcast these games? :mad:

Hagz

I wonder how good Fitz was. Was he just the best of an average bunch?
I hope he played well because 12 could be his new home. With the depth of wings Schmidt has at his disposal, and the aging / off form D'arcy, he would be adding a serious string to his bow.

BarackPyjama

Hagz wrote: »

I wonder how good Fitz was. Was he just the best of an average bunch?
I hope he played well because 12 could be his new home. With the depth of wings Schmidt has at his disposal, and the aging / off form D'arcy, he would be adding a serious string to his bow.

I always rated Fitz at 12. He's had some good games at center but he would need to slot in and make it his home to be consistent. He's been shifted from wing to center to full-back over the last couple of seasons and it's not been good for him. We need to decide what position Fitz (and Earls for that matter) play and leave them there.

Mister Dread

The last two home games have not been screened. This has meant no big screens at these games and I think also no TV ref.

chancer12

Thanks .AK for the updates, much appreciated, great result, raging it wasn't televised. Sounds like an exciting 2nd half ........ WELL DONE LEINSTER!

yosser hughes

Just back from the game. Miserable night for rugby and a lot of mistakes in the first half. I thought Madigan made a difference when he came on. Scored a try too.We did well to sneak the bonus. Great result.

Burgo

Really appreciate the updates .ak, and absolutely delighted with the win

Losty Dublin

BarackPyjama wrote: »

I'm still fuming that this wasn't televised. Is rugby really still so unpopular in Ireland that we can't broadcast these games? :mad:

It's down to resources, TV time to hand and money I guess. RTE can only carry so much rugby and they covered Ulster last night and the Italy game tomorrow; the interest in what is effectively an A game against minor opposition just isn't going to be there for sponsors or fans alike to justify it. The live TV crewing and set ups cost silly money so there isn't much point in having them there unless there is a TV station committed to showing the game that will get low viewership and lower sponsorship/ad revenues.

Digifriendly

Losty Dublin wrote: »

It's down to resources, TV time to hand and money I guess. RTE can only carry so much rugby and they covered Ulster last night and the Italy game tomorrow; the interest in what is effectively an A game against minor opposition just isn't going to be there for sponsors or fans alike to justify it. The live TV crewing and set ups cost silly money so there isn't much point in having them there unless there is a TV station committed to showing the game that will get low viewership and lower sponsorship/ad revenues.

You're absolutely right but still need for a highlights show by RTE or TG4 each weekend showing clips from matches involving Irish teams. If Wales and Scotland can do it why not Ireland?

molloyjh

Just home from the game. Watching it from the Terrace without the benefit of the big screen meant that I did miss certain things. Overall we were the better side in the first half. Aironi dominated for the first 15 but we got ourselves back into it well. Like the last few weeks though we got ourselves into some good positions and just couldn't make them count. Isa uncharacteristically missing 3 in a row didn't help.

Madigans introduction really helped in the second half. It was really all Leinster at that stage and the Italians tired towards the end. Defensively they did a good job but it was only a matter of time before we took the lead and though we left it late the bonus poInt was inevitable too given the tired Aironi bodies.

It's a good result and performance to continue to build from. Next week against Connacht will be tough but given that we're missing so many (is it 23?) the fact that we're now 3rd is pretty good going. Onwards and upwards!

CatFromHue

I felt that once Aironi got out of the bonus point zone they forced it and made things worse for themselves.

I didn't like the way our backs were running laterally so much. It just eats up space for the wide men or makes them run a scissor into the oncoming defence. We can't seem to finish off a 3 on 2 either. There was a prominent case in the second half that we messed up.

All in though it was good to get win and great to get the bonus point.

Our lineout was pretty good, I don't think we lost any and made it difficult for Aironi too.

justsomebloke

As you can imagine the weather had a major impact on the game, lots of handling errors and people losing their footing ( Luke especially seemed to have probems standing up straight).

Leinster were the better team for the majority of the game however had problems converting that to points especially in the first half, Isa just couldn't kick for whatever reason. I think a major issue was the lack of impact when close To their goal line. Aironi where easily able to pick out are lines and had plenty of cover even when we had over laps we also seemed to only pass the ball out wide to Kearney on a few occasions and due to being on his own all he could do was come back into the centre of the pitch so as not to be caught and give away a penalty.

Losty Dublin

Digifriendly wrote: »

You're absolutely right but still need for a highlights show by RTE or TG4 each weekend showing clips from matches involving Irish teams. If Wales and Scotland can do it why not Ireland?

I agree that it would be great to have it but as it is the rugby ratings are not great. Factor in the TV post production alone which for a decent job as good as what the live show gets and it's over €30,000 a game; quite an outlay for maybe 10 minutes TV time. It could easily be done cheaper but that's another story

.ak

Hagz wrote: »

I wonder how good Fitz was. Was he just the best of an average bunch?
I hope he played well because 12 could be his new home. With the depth of wings Schmidt has at his disposal, and the aging / off form D'arcy, he would be adding a serious string to his bow.

He deserved MoTM, but it was a close call between him and Madigan to be honest.

What I was very impressed with was his skillset he used, he didn't come across as a winger pushed inside, but showed a lot of skill that a center requires. He constantly took the ball over the gain line, showed some unbelievable off-loading skills too. O'Malley linked up with him nicely too. Every time he got the ball he ran up the center and if he was caught on the wing he'd push up the midfield which is refreshing to see from a 'utility' back.

I'll hold my hand up and say I've often knocked Fitzy's form over the previous season, but it really looks like this move has done him a world of good, and dare I say it maybe being left out of the WC squad has helped him too.

Fair play. His try was probably the most impressive 50 meter run I've seen.. He left everyone infront of him for dead.

ambid

.ak wrote: »

He deserved MoTM, but it was a close call between him and Madigan to be honest.

What I was very impressed with was his skillset he used, he didn't come across as a winger pushed inside, but showed a lot of skill that a center requires. He constantly took the ball over the gain line, showed some unbelievable off-loading skills too. O'Malley linked up with him nicely too. Every time he got the ball he ran up the center and if he was caught on the wing he'd push up the midfield which is refreshing to see from a 'utility' back.

I'll hold my hand up and say I've often knocked Fitzy's form over the previous season, but it really looks like this move has done him a world of good, and dare I say it maybe being left out of the WC squad has helped him too.

Fair play. His try was probably the most impressive 50 meter run I've seen.. He left everyone infront of him for dead.

Agree with all this.

The thing that impressed me most about Fitz was that he seemed to take a lot of responsibility, certainly compared to Ulster's senior players last night. Fitz seemed to make good decisions at 12, challenged the Aironi defence with his running game, and his defence was excellent. He lost his footing a couple of times but that's not his fault.

Madigan was excellent too. The game completely changed when he came on and Aironi couldn't cope with his running. He constantly found gaps which seemed to unnerve Aironi, so the defence was fixed and that seemed to create space for the other backs.

This inexperienced Leinster team were in a game losing position and turned it round to dominate the second half. Some handling errors because of the conditions, but the set piece was good and I think we lost only one lineout.

Hagan was a monster! Utterly awesome. The scrum struggled just a little when he left exhausted and was replaced by McGrath, but what a player. He acknowledged the crowd too when being subbed which was a nice touch.

Toner carried lots and did it well. His lineout was strong and he played with a great urgency all match - easily one of the better games I've seen him play.

Excellent performance from Leinster. Great job from Joe Schmidt.

Hagan has been sensational in every Leinster game I've seen him play so far. He's a sick athlete with incredible hands for a TH.

Ross should be worried!

.ak

justsomebloke wrote: »

As you can imagine the weather had a major impact on the game, lots of handling errors and people losing their footing ( Luke especially seemed to have probems standing up straight).

Leinster were the better team for the majority of the game however had problems converting that to points especially in the first half, Isa just couldn't kick for whatever reason. I think a major issue was the lack of impact when close To their goal line. Aironi where easily able to pick out are lines and had plenty of cover even when we had over laps we also seemed to only pass the ball out wide to Kearney on a few occasions and due to being on his own all he could do was come back into the centre of the pitch so as not to be caught and give away a penalty.

Agreed, spot on analysis.

In my opinion, Noel Reid was out of his depth... As was to be expected. He didn't do anything WRONG mind you, but he just didn't push himself to give the backs anything to go on.

Which is part of why it was a game of two halves. Madigan lit the game up, and picked the tempo up. He is becoming very good at game management, and his kicking from hand is top notch.

The other aspect is obviously the team went into the game with a plan of playing tight rugby and hoping to get some penalties and kick points, which obviously seemed attractive considering the weather and how the game went last week.

It obviously needed bit of re-jigging at half time for two reasons; Isa wasn't kicking well, and secondly the set pieces were outstanding, and I think the team were a little caught off guard at how well they were mauling and scrumming, thus they didn't capitalize on some try scoring opportunities.

Thankfully they backed themselves to do it in the second half and a constant attack on their midfield yielded 4 outstanding tries.

Have to say I was very impressed with Leo Auva'a again. I'm a big fan. He made some silly mistakes today, but he made up for it with some serious meat n' veg yardage. Every scrum we had pretty much meant Leo was going to pick and go and give us 10-20 meter advantage. Great stuff!

The Ruddock bro's were outstanding. I question Rhys's ability at game management as captain though. He should've seen what was happening in the first half and backed the set pieces instead of kicking for points. Something was obviously said at HT and the game plan changed.

Willis was very good, really barking orders around the park and some nice pick n goes.

Sykes had a decent run out, but plenty of handling errors.

Front row dominated, Strauss got around the park as usual.

Isa ignited the backline constantly once again.

Eoin O'Malley was very slick, and showed some lovely skills with his hands. Quiet first half mind you.

Kearney had a decent game, his physicality really works well. Took a high ball in the pissings of rain that even Rob would be proud of!

Carr was a little quiet today compared to the usual outings, but I guess that had to do with the majority of our attack being in the midfield?


Thanks for all the thanks for the updates! Ha. Apologies I couldn't be more descriptive, but it's hard to punch in the updates on my phone with one hand and a pint in the other whilst screaming! Haha. Anyhow, hope everyone enjoys the other Italian match tomorrow!

GerM

It should work out perfectly, I hope. Ross is going to start to slow down in the next couple of years. He's 32 this winter. He'll still be our go to guy for the next 18 months or so and will hopefully round out a nice international career with 30 or so caps but in the not too distant future, the all round game of Hagan will overtake him. I just hope he works with Hagan to improve his already good scrummaging. If Hagan can become the technician that Ross is, we've an absolute gem on our hands.

Couldn't make match due to young nephew, selfishly, having no stamina for sitting in the rain for 2 hours. From reading reports on LF though, Toner put in a serious shift and would have been a deserving MOTM. Infuriating that he's so talented but only translates that into performances about once in every three or four games. If he could play like he's capable of week in week out he would be in NZ right now.

ambid

GerM wrote: »

It should work out perfectly, I hope. Ross is going to start to slow down in the next couple of years. He's 32 this winter. He'll still be our go to guy for the next 18 months or so and will hopefully round out a nice international career with 30 or so caps but in the not too distant future, the all round game of Hagan will overtake him. I just hope he works with Hagan to improve his already good scrummaging. If Hagan can become the technician that Ross is, we've an absolute gem on our hands.

Couldn't make match due to young nephew, selfishly, having no stamina for sitting in the rain for 2 hours. From reading reports on LF though, Toner put in a serious shift and would have been a deserving MOTM. Infuriating that he's so talented but only translates that into performances about once in every three or four games. If he could play like he's capable of week in week out he would be in NZ right now.

Yeah Toner was excellent. He seemed angry tonight. Barking orders at lineouts, crashing the ball into tackles, hurling himself into the air to try to steal their lineouts. He seemed really aggressive and, well kinda pissed off really. Maybe he changed his mental preparation, or maybe Gibbs slapped him a little, but if that could be replicated and he could repeat this performance then we wouldn't be too worried about our second row options.

[Jackass]

Aiorni scrum eaten alive, very important result, crucially with the BP, we're back in touch with the top of the table with a string of results going our way this weekend, hopefully we can build momentum now and get a run of wins together. The kids keeping the house in good order though whilst the lads are away. I struggle to get over bad results, but it's always going to nag throwing away the win v Glasgow last weekend and we'd be level with Munster now.

Oh well. But happy enough and Lukey getting his score and MOTM hopefully will give him a boost and see him return to form. Madigan is a little legend also. Still interested in seeing him as a 9 though.

Hagan has a massive future for Leinster and Ireland.

CatFromHue

I think Madigan has the potential to be a great full back. He seems comfortable under the high ball, is a good enough kicker, looks good defensively, and is a very jinky runner.