Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread VI: End of the MOC [Revenge of the STH]

errlloyd

On paper we have a team of players who once were great and may once be great. At the moment no one is playing brilliantly (the same can be said of toulon). That is she struggle

CatFromHue

Bolloxology wrote: »

On paper we have a great side.
Unfortunately Rugbys not played on paper.
We look disjointed,badly drilled,out of condition and at times plainly not arsed.
Just hope Johnny rallies them for a good performance.

I think alot of this attitude comes from the loss against Wasps were our team was

15. Ian Madigan
14. Zane Kirchner
13. Fergus McFadden
12. Noel Reid
11. Dave Kearney (Garry Ringrose, 70)
10. Jonathan Sexton
9. Eoin Reddan (Luke McGrath, 48)
1. Jack McGrath (Cian Healy, 48)
2. Richardt Strauss (Sean Cronin, 25)
3. Mike Ross (Tadhg Furlong, 48)
4. Devin Toner
5. Mike McCarthy (Hayden Triggs, 41)
6. Jordi Murphy
7. Sean O'Brien (Jack Conan, 39)
8. Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

REPLACEMENT NOT USED: Cathal Marsh.

That's not a great team on paper, the backs are all over the place and a backrow of Murphy, Conan, and Heaslip isn't great.

Zzippy

CatFromHue wrote: »

I think alot of this attitude comes from the loss against Wasps were our team was

15. Ian Madigan
14. Zane Kirchner
13. Fergus McFadden
12. Noel Reid
11. Dave Kearney (Garry Ringrose, 70)
10. Jonathan Sexton
9. Eoin Reddan (Luke McGrath, 48)
1. Jack McGrath (Cian Healy, 48)
2. Richardt Strauss (Sean Cronin, 25)
3. Mike Ross (Tadhg Furlong, 48)
4. Devin Toner
5. Mike McCarthy (Hayden Triggs, 41)
6. Jordi Murphy
7. Sean O'Brien (Jack Conan, 39)
8. Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

REPLACEMENT NOT USED: Cathal Marsh.

That's not a great team on paper, the backs are all over the place and a backrow of Murphy, Conan, and Heaslip isn't great.

Just the 15 internationals starting. You're right, not a great team!

JPNelsforearm

Zzippy wrote: »

Just the 15 internationals starting. You're right, not a great team!

square pegs, round holes:p

Zzippy

Zzippy wrote: »

Just the 15 internationals starting. You're right, not a great team!

Fairly sure this has been done to death by now but...

Fullback on the wing.
Winger in center.
Outhalf at fullback.
Ugh.

Ringrose should have started center with Madigan on the bench, Zane at FB and McFadden on the wing.

Clegg

We've a few players who seem in form right now. Ruddock, JVdF, Fitz, Te'o. Healy needs dropping and I'd rather never see Tom Denton in a European game. He's a nothing player.

What really worried me was the lack of discipline. It killed any chance we had of winning today.

awec

IMO there must be a genuine concern now of Leinster finishing this pool without a single win. By the time you play Bath at home they will probably still have something to play for. Toulon next week is a big ask for the players to get up for.

AbusesToilets

This season was lost against Wasps, no two ways about it. Cullen needs to recognise that the lack of form of players like Sexton and Healy and take action.

irishbucsfan

awec wrote: »

IMO there must be a genuine concern now of Leinster finishing this pool without a single win. By the time you play Bath at home they will probably still have something to play for. Toulon next week is a big ask for the players to get up for.

Doesn't really make a difference whether or not we win a game. It's meaningless. We should be using those games to rotate and give experience while focusing on the league.

AbusesToilets

League needs to be the priority, both to build form and experience and to avoid another brutal pool.

Worst thing about this season is this pool should have been eminently winnable by Leinster. They could have beaten Bath and Toulon away.

CatFromHue

If the game next week was in the RDS I'd be in favour of doing some rotation so we're strong for the trip to Munster the week after. As it's in the Aviva though with so many people at it you have to go full strength and go for the win.

Clegg

VdF with 19 tackles and 1 missed. I think it's encouraging from a Leinster perspective that there is someone coming through with a huge work ethic and ability to scuttle around the defensive line to make tackles.

JPNelsforearm

Clegg wrote: »

VdF with 19 tackles and 1 missed. I think it's encouraging from a Leinster perspective that there is someone coming through with a huge work ethic and ability to scuttle around the defensive line to make tackles.

I thought he was brilliant, all you could ask for from a seven on the back foot.

AbusesToilets

Think he has to start going forward. Himself and Ruddock were immense today.

I'd have SOB ahead of VDF every day but it puts Jordi Murphy's position in the squad under pressure. We badly badly missed SOB today and were taken to the cleaners at the breakdown. SOB's power on the deck would have made a huge difference.

AbusesToilets

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd have SOB ahead of VDF every day but it puts Jordi Murphy's position in the squad under pressure. We badly badly missed SOB today and were taken to the cleaners at the breakdown. SOB's power on the deck would have made a huge difference.

what do you think of SOB's form this year? I'd be concerned for him going forward, picking up a lot of knocks and niggles. Hope he's not on the downward slope of his career.

AbusesToilets

AbusesToilets wrote: »

what do you think of SOB's form this year? I'd be concerned for him going forward, picking up a lot of knocks and niggles. Hope he's not on the downward slope of his career.

He was our best player against France and it was probably the performance of the Tournament from and Irish perspective (Henderson had good games against poorer teams).

Since coming to Leinster he has played well, was very noticeable when he went off against Wasps the difference it made to the team.

Sexton is our most important player, even making a lot of mistakes today he is still so important and our shape is way way better than with Madigan. SOB is probably our second most important player though Heaslip does a huge amount of clean up work and is the filler within our pack.

BoardsMember

[Deleted User] wrote: »

He was our best player against France and it was probably the performance of the Tournament from and Irish perspective (Henderson had good games against poorer teams).

Since coming to Leinster he has played well, was very noticeable when he went off against Wasps the difference it made to the team.

Sexton is our most important player, even making a lot of mistakes today he is still so important and our shape is way way better than with Madigan. SOB is probably our second most important player though Heaslip does a huge amount of clean up work and is the filler within our pack.

Sexton playing to his level of ability is important to us, but he was very poor today and just doesn't look right in himself at all. He's not Barking at players, he looks to be introvert and and down on himself. His kicking from the hand has been brutal and his passing is poor too.

JPCN1

BoardsMember wrote: »

Sexton playing to his level of ability is important to us, but he was very poor today and just doesn't look right in himself at all. He's not Barking at players, he looks to be introvert and and down on himself. His kicking from the hand has been brutal and his passing is poor too.

You can't be barking at fellas playing the way he is. Not the player he was at all though hopefully he can rediscover form very quickly. Otherwise the bench for either Marsh or Madigan.

Nobody should be considered undroppable.

.ak

I thought healy was good today.

CMOTDibbler

JPCN1 wrote: »

You can't be barking at fellas playing the way he is. Not the player he was at all though hopefully he can rediscover form very quickly. Otherwise the bench for either Marsh or Madigan.

Nobody should be considered undroppable.

People say that about players who are coasting and resting on their laurels. Sexton is not that type of player, he's going to be harder on himself than anyone else could be. All players suffer drops in form, it will come back.

vienne86

.ak wrote: »

I thought healy was good today.

He really seemed to be more like his old self, which was great, though I could have killed him for getting carded. Leo will give him a rollicking so hopefully he'll be more careful next time.

Stheno

vienne86 wrote: »

He really seemed to be more like his old self, which was great, though I could have killed him for getting carded. Leo will give him a rollicking so hopefully he'll be more careful next time.

I thought he seemed much more his old self also

.ak

vienne86 wrote: »

He really seemed to be more like his old self, which was great, though I could have killed him for getting carded. Leo will give him a rollicking so hopefully he'll be more careful next time.

Honestly I couldn't disagree more with that yellow card, but just one of those things people see it differently. I'd have done the same, I don't think he was trying to knee anyone, but he was milking the fact the hooker was in an offside position and clearly trying to stop people joining the ruck from that side. The fact his knee accidentally clipped his head is a silly reason to sin bin someone. I could pick out dozens of incidents in rucks where people clip people by accident. The fact it was outside a ruck a should make no difference, the hooker knew exactly what he was doing. Toulon were using that tactic all day until nige started pinging them in the 2nd half for it.

Hagz

Couldn't agree more. He just went to push the guy to emphasise that he was in the way and in the process his knee made contact with his face.

The contact wasn't even significant and certainly wasn't enough to cause damage. Slow-mo just makes everything look worse, e.g. Bastareaud slap on his team-mate's head. Slow-mo also makes things look a lot more calculated as well, e.g. Fitzgerald making contact with Andrew Conway.

Then you have the pathetic antics of staying down on the ground and playing games with the medic like Guirado was doing. There's not much a ref can do in those circumstances but it's infuriating.

irishbucsfan

Ah lads ffs, he hit someone off the ball away from contact and he dropped his knee into the guy's head while doing it. It was 100% a yellow card, nothing more, nothing less.

flouncer

former total wrote: »

Grand. Free money available at all reputable bookies.

Lost eur50 today. But I believed. Obviously I'm stupid. But I do like to believe

Clegg

Healy was a step up from recent performances, but I still don't think he justified his selection over McGrath. Heaslip stepped it up too which is good to see. I agree with the posters above that JVdF is now a real contender for the full strength 23 and Murphy's position is in trouble. Kind of an obvious statement after him being selected in front of Murphy, but today's performance solidified the thought.

Bridge93

There's not a whole lot I would change team wise for next week if all are fit. McGrath for Healy maybe and I've been calling for Ross to go for a while but don't see it happening.
I'd like to see Ross Moloney on the bench too. Personally see Denton as a nothing player and his card was so unnecessary. Moloney is the future, not Denton

.ak

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Ah lads ffs, he hit someone off the ball away from contact and he dropped his knee into the guy's head while doing it. It was 100% a yellow card, nothing more, nothing less.

But it wasn't exactly away from the ball. He was in the channel on the wrong side of the ruck. Healy, if he wants to join the ruck, had to run through him. You used to see players getting walked on for that, now people frown on that so he shoved him back into the ruck to make a point to the ref. unfortunately he accidently kneed him in the head... I don't see what's different here to people getting kneed on or stepped on accidentally in a ruck. It's a contact sport and accidents happen. I actually saw toner getting a shin to the face during the game, and he got straight back up. Because as we all know when you're near a ruck there's a chance a random limb will catch your head.

I thought it was an incredibly soft yellow and I don't think nige wanted to give it.