Leinester vs Montpellier match thread; Sat Oct 14th 1pm; Sky Sports

Byrne learning life lessons here. Has been average defensively. Exceptional going forward.

Exceptional from Barry Daly. From his aerial take and work rate to finishing that.

Buer

Clegg wrote:

That was a great pass from Carbery as well. Waited for the last possible moment to release it.

Didn't appreciate how good it was until the replay. Superb.

dregin

Did something catastrophic lead to this rule against kicking the ball in the ruck? Seems complete overkill

Buer

Really silly from Molony. We had that turnover won before that.

Denying them a BP is as important as us getting one.

Henshaw going great at 13 but Montpellier have no width and he's been given a lot of space.

We really need a penalty or drop goal now at least to see this out.

leakyboots

Montpellier are monsters at the breakdown

Clegg

Jaysus there's no way Leinster should be in this position.

DDC1990

Luke Fitzgerald's whinging is incredibly annoying.

Clegg

Feck sake.

Stheno

Yellow for Adam Byrne penalty try?

Buer

leakyboots wrote:

Montpellier are monsters at the breakdown

They are but Leinster are badly missing guys like Fardy and SOB who would be clearing those guys.

Dave_The_Sheep

Throwing this one away here. Jesus, we should be further in front.

leakyboots

Two try denying penalties there - maul pulled down and ball stopped in midfield

Wayne Barnes screwed us twice there with terrible decisions at the breakdown.

Clegg

Holy **** Montpellier blew an overlap.

BBDBB

Lucky escape, poor decision

LuckyGent88

Why not take the scrum in front of the posts??

Surely a better platform. What a stupid selfish play there not to pass on the outside

leakyboots

Brainless from Nagusa, he had Nadolo outside him

leakyboots

Leo is no oil painting!

Buer

LuckyGent88 wrote:

Why not take the scrum in front of the posts??

Leinster are a man down. Full width of pitch to expose it. Was worked grand too until Nagusa.

leakyboots

leakyboots wrote: »

Leo is no oil painting!

His wife doesn't seem to mind and she is pretty stunning.

leakyboots

Deleted User wrote: »

His wife doesn't seem to mind and she is pretty stunning.

Whoosh

ionadnapokot

[Deleted User] wrote: »

His wife doesn't seem to mind and she is pretty stunning.

Total roide
Leo that is

Clegg

Slightly risky decision to go for the kick?

Clegg

VdF and Ruddock had monster games but Henshaw is a deserved motm.

BBDBB

Tough game, well done to Leinster

sydthebeat

5 - 1 return for this game is fantastic.

Dave_The_Sheep

Butt clenching stuff at the end.

Henshaw always seems to play with a smile on his face.

leakyboots

Jaysis, Montpellier are all brawn and no brain, Pienaar and Nadolo kicking there at the end. Good win for Les Bleus

errlloyd

**** me that wasn't good for me. What a game from the lads.

Sensational win. We were the better team but Montpellier were all in for this for 80 minutes.

Get a fully fit squad out there and were real contenders this year.

Delighted for Ross Byrne and Barry Daly. Massively exceeded expectations.

Sephiral

Struggled to close that out. Not surprising considering they finished without Fardy, O Brien, Heaslip, Sexton, Nacewa and Kearney. That is an absolute mountain of experience to lose. Good heart from a young team considering.

Henshaw really should be played at outside centre.

Buer

Cracking game. As physical a game as we'll see in the pool stages. A bit disappointed with the result purely based on how the game went and Leinster's dominance for significant periods. Critical thst you don't allow Montpellier leave with anything and that wasn't achieved.

Offset largely by the try BP but Montpellier will take heart from today. Both teams have players to return.

Thought Daly was in with a shout for MOTM. Other great performances from Toner and Ruddock up front. Carbery is becoming our first choice 15 at this point. Revels in the wider space.

Adam Byrne will continue to divide Leinster fans, I reckon. Insanely dangerous in space but he's simply a non-entity in defence. I lost count of how many kick chase tackles he appeared to let away.

I'd certainly have taken that before the game though. Sexton, Ringrose, Nacewa, Fardy, SOB, Heaslip, Lowe and Leavy all to come back before rounds 3 and 4, hopefully.

whatawaster

Sephiral wrote: »

Henshaw really should be played at outside centre.

Ringrose though

wp_rathead

whatawaster wrote: »

Ringrose though

He did well at 12 Vs Australia
Ringrose 12 - Henshaw 13 would be interesting?

wp_rathead

wp_rathead wrote: »

He did well at 12 Vs Australia
Ringrose 12 - Henshaw 13 would be interesting?

Montpellier were extremely slow coming across. We should have taken more advantage of it from 30 mins on.

It was a day for holding your width at 13 which Henshaw did perfectly but I'd imagine the running threat of Ringrose would have made serious hay today.

leakyboots

MattD wrote: »

Has Adam Byrne made a tackle today? I love his running, but Jesus he needs to hit a man...

Buer wrote: »

Based on today one Leinster winger is certainly worth a call up and it isn't Adam Byrne.

Deleted User wrote: »

Byrne learning life lessons here. Has been average defensively. Exceptional going forward.

Exceptional from Barry Daly. From his aerial take and work rate to finishing that.

Average... that's being beyond generous - Byrne missed 6 (!) of his 7 tackles today and was lucky to not give away a penalty try at the death.

Steady the horses on Daly, what is it with this place and as soon as someone in blue turns in a decent performance they're automatically parachuted into the Irish squad? Exciting prospect though he is

Zzippy

Henshaw, VDF, Ruddock had monster games. Robbie is so much more effective at 13, useful at 12 but a complete waste of his talent. Great win for Leinster

thomond2006

Excellent game and result for Leinster. Adam Byrne moves up the Ireland power rankings.

sydthebeat

Special word for James Ryan, comes in at short notice to start and plays like a veteran.

That lad is going places.

Clegg

Dunno what to do about Byrne. He's so dangerous wth the ball in hand and a threat in the air, but he can't defend at all. He played very well today when in attack, but we can't rely on him when the oppo have the ball

Buer

wp_rathead wrote:

He did well at 12 Vs Australia Ringrose 12 - Henshaw 13 would be interesting?

Would it be better than the alternative, though? They both enjoy the wider channel but, for me, Ringrose exposes that more than Henshaw. If Ringrose played today, I'm almost certain a couple of big clean line breaks would have come from 13 given how iffy Montpellier looked when it was moved.

As good as Henshaw was, a lot of his best work was in the manic frenzy of the closer exchanges. Turnovers, snaffling lose ball, collecting a fumbled kick etc.

For me, they're both excellent at 13 but, for me, there's no doubt that Henshaw is a better 12 than Ringrose.

thomond2006

A word on Ruan Pienaar. He was phenomenal today. The kick to the corner that forced Carbery to concede a 5m lineout was delicious. He was offside quite a bit in defence but didn't overdo it. His passing was crisp. Top player.

Buer

leakyboots wrote:

Steady the horses on Daly, what is it with this place and as soon as someone in blue turns in a decent performance they're automatically parachuted into the Irish squad? Exciting prospect though he is

I'm far from the most reactive person in terms of promoting young players. I said based on today. It was hypothetical. Players aren't called up based on one game.

Daly isn't the exciting player that others might be but, as I said earlier, I was most impressed by his smart decision making and defensive work. Very complete showing today even outside the try.

He showed more intelligence for me than I generally see from guys like Byrne, Healy and Sweetnam who are normally the ones getting such hubris.

Buer

thomond2006 wrote:

Excellent game and result for Leinster. Adam Byrne moves up the Ireland power rankings.

I'm scared you're being serious.

irishbucsfan

Buer wrote: »

I'm scared you're being serious.

I think his rankings are in ascending order

Buer

sydthebeat wrote:

Special word for James Ryan, comes in at short notice to start and plays like a veteran.

Was a very tidy and accomplished performance. Needs a bit more menace in him. Turned over one line out when it was prised from him as he came down. But this was a huge Montpellier pack. He went toe to toe and went well. He carried strongly and tackled his heart out.

That was, by a distance, the best opponent he has faced and he was completely at home.

irishbucsfan

I was very impressed by Carberry again. I need to watch it back but I reckon serious consideration now needs to be given to keeping him at 15.

thomond2006

Buer wrote: »

I'm scared you're being serious.

He survived Nadolo.

leakyboots

leakyboots wrote: »

as soon as someone in blue turns in a decent performance they're automatically parachuted into the Irish squad?

Thankfully no one was saying the same about Sweetnam all last season or that would be just really hypocritical....