Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread X: [****]

razorblunt

You could see the exact moment Cronin’s brain imploded on that lineout throw.

Clegg

Pure rubbish.

sydthebeat

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Yeah he didn't look like he wanted to go off either

Hopefully just a precaution

Clegg

Such a disappointing performance again.

Personally I think we're in trouble going into next week. We needed momentum going into the Toulouse game.

MaybeMaybe

Not even a losing bonus point at home. Poor showing

Dave_The_Sheep

Hogg, you glory hunting greedy bastard.

A-Train

Another terrible performance. I can’t see how they can turn it on for next week when Toulouse are on fire.

thomond2006

Ah lads.

sydthebeat

Getting a little bit pee'd off of larmours backwards running

Clegg

Yeah.

That's not good.

ScrubsfanChris

Clegg

Strange game. We attacked well and played fast, accurate rugby that had Glasgow on the back foot. But then we just switched off for long stretches and let Glasgow back in.

There were good individual performances amongst that dross. Henshaw, JGP and Tomane were the standouts for me. SoB was better, but still not near his best. Deegan looked good off the bench. SoB will start next weekend, but I don't think he should. It's also good to see Rob scoring trys again.

Tomtom364

Munster fans wrote:

You had one job!!!!

:mad:

errlloyd

Just the 41 tackles for Jonny Grey. There is a lad on their team who made 23 tackles. He's 7th on their list

kingofthekong

Leinsters form has fallen off a cliff

Exclamation Marc

kingofthekong wrote: »

Leinsters form has fallen off a cliff

I wouldn't worry.

Leinster were never going to bust a gut for this game, or the last.

A loss is disappointing but context is everything. We lost against Treviso at home last year and everyone was worried. We subsequently won the double.

Former Former

Meh. Maybe it means something, maybe it doesn't. Same thing happened last year. We lost at home to Benetton a week before we annihilated Scarlets in Europe. We conceded a cricket score in Galway then won the European Cup.

We were in BP win territory at one stage today. If we'd needed to close it out we probably would have. Glasgow on the other hand really needed a win.

The players are human. They can't treat every game like a cup final especially when it makes precisely zero difference whether you win by fifty or lose by fifty.

Eod100

kingofthekong wrote: »

Leinsters form has fallen off a cliff

They've got the most out of the competition and are experimenting with the team. Think motivation would naturally take a dent when you've already qualified for home semi

OldRio

Turning form on and off. As and when needed is a tricky thing that's for sure.
Manys a team that's come unstuck.

Former Former

Former Former wrote: »

Meh. Maybe it means something, maybe it doesn't. Same thing happened last year. We lost at home to Benetton a week before we annihilated Scarlets in Europe. We conceded a cricket score in Galway then won the European Cup.

We were in BP win territory at one stage today. If we'd needed to close it out we probably would have. Glasgow on the other hand really needed a win.

The players are human. They can't treat every game like a cup final especially when it makes precisely zero difference whether you win by fifty or lose by fifty.

Thank you for taking the thoughts out of my head, and typing them into a post.

molloyjh

Former Former wrote: »

Meh. Maybe it means something, maybe it doesn't. Same thing happened last year. We lost at home to Benetton a week before we annihilated Scarlets in Europe. We conceded a cricket score in Galway then won the European Cup.

We were in BP win territory at one stage today. If we'd needed to close it out we probably would have. Glasgow on the other hand really needed a win.

The players are human. They can't treat every game like a cup final especially when it makes precisely zero difference whether you win by fifty or lose by fifty.

This. The Ulster game is the benchmark for where we are, not this. I'm not sure that's of much comfort as we weren't great that day, but this isn't a sign of anything. We've got players back and guys coming back to form. We're in as good a place as we can be given our starting point in the QF.

Bazzo

I didn't see the match, could someone give me a succinct breakdown of how it was Tomane's fault please?

Squidgy Black

Bazzo wrote: »

I didn't see the match, could someone give me a succinct breakdown of how it was Tomane's fault please?

He missed a conversion right beside the sideline with a strong cross wind in the first 15 minutes when Byrne was in the sin bin, and was probably his first competitive place kick in quite a while.

Should've been hauled off immediately and flogged by the masses as repentance.

Bazzo

Bazzo wrote: »

I didn't see the match, could someone give me a succinct breakdown of how it was Tomane's fault please?

Conor O'Brien was about to score the winning try, and Tomane blocked him.

He was pretty good today against an extremely determined Glasgow, Henshaw and he bossed the midfield and his breakdown work showed a good deal of evolution from the start of the season both in terms of technique and decision making. I'm pretty happy that he has reached this point after the year that's been - it's taken the guts of a season to transition from what he was accustomed to in France to the level of detail that Leinster operate with but he was a lot more confident going about his business today and it showed in the level of accuracy that he brought.

Won't trouble Henshaw or Ringrose but is right up there and gives us something a bit different at 13 in the sense that he can stop forwards without coughing up gainline.

The Kearney's scored a heap of tries and Tomane was top notch, loads of upset gob****e's in the wider rugby community this evening and I'll be toasting them with my night cap before bed!

Dubinusa

Not sure what to expect next week!
I do think we're not going well presently.
Toulouse will be very difficult and if we don't impose our gameplan, we will struggle.
Great to see Connors back. I still think he's going to be a very good player.
Is Molony injured? He hasn't played in a while?
I reckon Munster can beat Sarries, they seem to be going well and their defense is great.
Hopefully, one Irish side makes it to the final.

Clegg

We're in a bit of a quandary regarding selection for next week. We look predictable in attack without Lowe in the side, but JGP is our best scrum half at the minute. Patterson isn't ready to be in the squad for a European semi final. Fardy must be in the squad as well.

salmocab

Clegg wrote: »

We're in a bit of a quandary regarding selection for next week. We look predictable in attack without Lowe in the side, but JGP is our best scrum half at the minute. Patterson isn't ready to be in the squad for a European semi final. Fardy must be in the squad as well.

JGP is nailed into the 23 I would say. Do it’s a choice between Fardy benching or Lowe starting I’d think. Personally I would go with Lowe but I think Fardy will get that nod.

Buer

Jesus. Have to chuckle at the hand wringing. We had a decent team out, fell behind to a full strength Glasgow due to a couple of sloppy pieces of play but put the shoulder to the wheel to score 4 tries. We emptied the bench and had a very disjointed side on the field for the final 20 and Glasgow beat us. They needed to win, we needed to avoid injuries.

Fairly happy with the showing. Good run out and performances for Toner and Henshaw. Best distributing showing I've seen from Ross Byrne. His passing was better, more varied and accurate than I can remember. Tomane had a very good showing; glad he's stepping up and settling in now. I thought JGP (who is arguably our POTY) was poor enough...multiple inaccurate passes including the one that led to a Glasgow penalty and the Byrne yellow. Early in the second half I think he threw about 3 or 4 in one passage requiring Furlong to check and catch over his head and Dunne dive to his knees to gather. His replacement wasn't much better. I had high hopes for HOS but he hasn't settled at all yet although he's barely out of nappies so I'm not too bothered. The intercept happens but he just hasn't clicked in any facet. Poor kicking, bad decision to snipe under the posts late on which killed the clock and possession.

Up front, Dunne was good again, he has excellent hands for a lad who is over 6'7". I thought Murphy and Doris were solid with Murphy coming up with a couple of very good moments. His evolution into the second coming of Kev McLaughlin is coming along very nicely. SOB was busy without really clicking but he looked decent against a good Glasgow pack.

I think DK has earned a start for next week. Whether that's with RK at 15 or Larmour and Byrne on the other wing remains to be seen but he was very polished today. I really hope the rumours of a departure are wrong as he has been Leinster's best all round wing in 2019.

Today's result will have no impact on next week. If we lose, it will be because we lose to an excellent Toulouse side. Going into last season's semi final, we lost to Treviso at home (and they were not half the side they are this year) so I'm not going to worry for a moment. A lot of key lads to come into the team and a very different mentality and level of concentration will be on display.

Buer

salmocab wrote: »

JGP is nailed into the 23 I would say. Do it’s a choice between Fardy benching or Lowe starting I’d think. Personally I would go with Lowe but I think Fardy will get that nod.

I would be shocked if Lowe was in the 23. Given our injuries at lock and in the back row, it would be madness to omit Fardy. It would essentially mean putting Jack Dunne into our 23 for a European semi-final instead of going with someone like Dave Kearney, a former first choice Irish international, on the wing.

Aside from that, our other wingers are playing great stuff. DK in particular is on fire.

Buer

thomond2006 wrote: »

Ah lads.

Silver linings and all that.