[Match Thread] Castres Olympique v Leinster Rugby 1pm SS3

zane kirchner was class today.

sydthebeat

UnitedWeStand wrote: »

Reddan another dimension. I would say he should've started but Boss helped tire down this Castres team - Schmidt used him the same way, don't think he should cop too much stick. More Reddan should get huge praise, we only look like getting our backs into the game with him.

Boss certainly deserves stick

Leinster dug a hole for themselves and then dug themselves out with the assistance of Castres. Lots to work on but considering the number of players missing its a good start.

Swan Curry

What are Sky doing?

molloyjh

[Deleted User] wrote: »

zane kirchner was class today.

Our back three were good all considered.

CatFromHue

Delighted with that win.

Granted no tries but the Castres defence was pretty good and an away win in France is always welcomed.

mr. pleasant

what's the closest we've been to their line? 5m away in the first half, 20m in the second?

.ak

I don't care how ugly that was, that was sweet!

Swan Curry

The real highlight of today was Luke Fitzgerald playing 80 minutes of rugby and not breaking.

sydthebeat

Toner motm ! Absolutely

That was brutal. Kircher was good and Heaslip was outstanding, but as a team the performance was shocking.

molloyjh

molloyjh wrote: »

Our back three were good all considered.

Disappointed not to see the Ginger Prince cross the line alright.

Glad to see that we only imploded for 20minutes and managed to lift it back up. Scrappy, physical, ugly win.

The last word the only thing that really matters now though.

Teferi

Zane with the best performance of the backs. Heaslip involved in everything, Dev and Kane going well too. A hint of theatrics from Maccer after he came on and got in a bit of fisticuffs. Not a great performance but fantastic to get the win.

errlloyd

8 points from those two games is class.

Zzippy

Has Luke tripped en route to the dressing rooms and broken anything yet?

.ak

mr. pleasant wrote: »

what's the closest we've been to their line? 5m away in the first half, 20m in the second?

As much as we love to bemoan our side, I'd put that down to an excellent defence. The first half was a massive onslaught.

I don't think Madigan offers much incision at 12, Reid and Gopps clicked well of first phase. Really think the next round will require Reid and Darce in midfield.

Thing is madigan's boot is winning us games.

Swan Curry

Zzippy wrote: »

Has Luke tripped en route to the dressing rooms and broken anything yet?

He got his fingers caught in the door of the changing room,out for 6 months.

.ak

Zzippy wrote: »

Has Luke tripped en route to the dressing rooms and broken anything yet?

Thankfully not. No action on his side in the 2nd half but he was very good in the first half. Great to have him back.

Clegg

Toner was given MoTM by the French but I think it should've went to Heaslip again. Was everywhere today.

Kanrith

Leinster always seem to play better when the pressure comes on.

awec

errlloyd wrote: »

8 points from those two games is class.

No more than expected surely?

mr. pleasant

yeah madigans boot won us this game, and i am happy leinster won it. still, i think it was more castres pressing the self-destruct button and 1-2 close calls going leinsters way.

Flipper22

Whew that's a relief! At half time I thought we'd win comfortably but we couldn't have been any worse in that third quarter, braindead stuff. Jamie was excellent again, thought he should've got MOTM. Reddan made a huge impact. And Luke played the full 80!! Had some nice moments as well.

errlloyd

awec wrote: »

No more than expected surely?

Sure, but id also expect us to be top of the league. Ive slightly lowered my expectations. Effectively given injuries i feel this was our most difficult pair of pool games.

.ak

Teferi wrote: »

Zane with the best performance of the backs. Heaslip involved in everything, Dev and Kane going well too. A hint of theatrics from Maccer after he came on and got in a bit of fisticuffs. Not a great performance but fantastic to get the win.

Thought maccer was one of the subs that really turned things for us. A massive tackle in our half snaffled an attack and he added massive power to our scrum.

Heaslip really was immense again. Hit the nail on the head himself; does what he's asked, and tbh he was asked a lot today. We'd have lost without him tbh.

corny

maddness wrote: »

It's nice to remember the time when Leinster scored tries.

When you're constantly knocked backwards in the tackle and are second best in the set piece you're going to find it tough. Thought we did quite well considering.

We haven't set the world alight under MOC but we really do miss our strong carriers. If Te'o (jumping the gun i know), Healy and SOB were playing today we'd have got close to the BP win.

.ak

Did heaslip not get motm? Who got it?

Pudsy33

.ak wrote: »

Did heaslip not get motm? Who got it?

Big Dev

Mahatma Geansai

awec wrote: »

No more than expected surely?

Very good return considering the performances though. Going into the fixtures, 8 points should have been the very minimum expected, but looking back now, 8 points is a fantastic return.

Irlandczyk

.ak wrote: »

Did heaslip not get motm? Who got it?

Devin Toner

Teferi

.ak wrote: »

Thought maccer was one of the subs that really turned things for us. A massive tackle in our half snaffled an attack and he added massive power to our scrum.

Heaslip really was immense again. Hit the nail on the head himself; does what he's asked, and tbh he was asked a lot today. We'd have lost without him tbh.

Absolutely agreed on McCarthy. Definitely a decent shift from him but he definitely had half a thought to repeat his Oscar winning performance against Glagow when he got into that little fight.

corny

Clegg wrote: »

Toner was given MoTM by the French but I think it should've went to Heaslip again. Was everywhere today.

For the less obvious reasons i think too.

He grabbed the game by the scruff just as Leinster were falling apart in the second half. What a captain should do.

irishbucsfan

awec wrote: »

No more than expected surely?

I would say Castres away from home would have been where I thought we'd be most likely to lose. That's not to say I don't think it's possible in London or Coventry, but I think we've navigated the trickiest leg of the pool today and I'd be very confident of qualifying now.

.ak

awec wrote: »

No more than expected surely?

I don't think so. Castres are a good team, and we only got over the line last year there with some magic from the midfield axis. 5 points would've been absolutely required tho.

Hopefully wasps get 4 points later.

Hagz

The capitulation in the second half had nothing to do with MOC or the coaches that's for certain. The players need to accept blame for that. Stupid ill-disipline.

Flipper22

Saul Freezing Meadow wrote: »

That was brutal. Kircher was good and Heaslip was outstanding, but as a team the performance was shocking.

Only in the third quarter. Other than that I thought it was a good performance, albeit lacking some incision. I think most of that was down to our 9/10/12 combo, although Castres were hitting very hard.

sydthebeat

Question the coach should answer:

1. Why did our starting front row play 70 mins before any change? We were getting minced both on their and our own ball

2. So you not practise pods off rucks? Way too often today the one out ball was met by an isolated carrier who ended up losing ground.

3. Why did you persist with boss for 65mins? We had absolutely no incision with him on, reddan could nearly have been motm for his 15 mins.

tbm

Ultimate Rugby app giving MOTM it to Heaslip.

.ak

Hagz wrote: »

The capitulation in the second half had nothing to do with MOC or the coaches that's for certain. The players need to accept blame for that. Stupid ill-disipline.

Yeah, there was an element of little things going away from us. Happens all the time in rugby, especially if a red favours an attacking side. Point is we stuck with it, kept our patience.

molloyjh

As good a result as it was I can't understand how anyone is happy with the performance. We created zero scoring opportunities and relied on Castres' ill discipline for everything. They can't stop conceding tries in the Top14 and yet we never looked like getting across their line once.

Neil3030

That's us through to the semis.

George Hook

I'm shocked Leinster won. When I left to go for my run Castres were in front and defending really well.

Great win guys!

shootermacg

sydthebeat wrote: »

Question the coach should answer:

1. Why did our starting front row play 70 mins before any change? We were getting minced both on their and our own ball

2. So you not practise pods off rucks? Way too often today the one out ball was met by an isolated carrier who ended up losing ground.

3. Why did you persist with boss for 65mins? We had absolutely no incision with him on, reddan could nearly have been motm for his 15 mins.

I would imagine that was the plan. Tire out the big pack then wrap it up in the last 15. I hope that answers your questions.

Kanrith

When Reddan came on, we started looking dangerous. We really upped the tempo towards end.

irishbucsfan

molloyjh wrote: »

As good a result as it was I can't understand how anyone is happy with the performance. We created zero scoring opportunities and relied on Castres' ill discipline for everything. They can't stop conceding tries in the Top14 and yet we never looked like getting across their line once.

Our style of play is definitely reminiscent to the Cheika/Gaffney/McQuilkin days. But I felt a lot more comfortable with the systems back then than I do now. Although I think somehow Gaffney's flat line attack was even more boring than Moc's, not sure where these Aussies come up with this stuff.

sydthebeat

shootermacg wrote: »

I would imagine that was the plan. Tire out the big pack then wrap it up in the last 15. I hope that answers your questions.

Well if that was the plan it failed miserably.

Castres pack were firmly on top for pretty much all of the game.

Their own indiscipline is what cost them the game.

WTO

A win is a win. 8 & 15 my pick of the leinster players. I reckon with a different midfield (Darcy/Te'o or Reid/Darcy) things could improve.

Hagz

Cian Healy
Mike Ross
Martin Moore
Sean O'Brien
Shane Jennings
Jordi Murphy
Kevin McLaughlin
Fergus McFadden
Dave Kearney
Rob Kearney

If we can get even half of them back for December we'll be a different beast.

mistdub

Would love to see 9/10/12/13 of reddan mads Reid and darce next weekend, won't happen though..

Irlandczyk

Out of interest, what's up with Moore?