Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XI (The Finals Countdown)

durkadurka

For a winger James Lowe fairly has a parachute strapped to his arse.

Shefwedfan

durkadurka wrote: »

For a winger James Lowe fairly has a parachute strapped to his arse.

Say the person sitting on their arse at a computer

Buer

If I was to guess, I'd say Darren Cave doesn't massively like Leinster.

KH25

Whitehouse is an embarrassment. Hands down the worst referee around.

Shefwedfan

Buer wrote: »

If I was to guess, I'd say Darren Cave doesn't massively like Leinster.

Any final he got to Leinster was in the way? I think I might be right?


Pro 12 final and the HC final

razorblunt

durkadurka wrote: »

For a winger James Lowe fairly has a parachute strapped to his arse.

He was in a head to head race vs a 7s player and a guy who could probably be an actual sprinter and he didn’t too bad at all.

Clegg

Shame we couldn't finish off either intercept from Lowe or Tomane. Edinburgh really are very loose. Once you take away their set piece they don't have much to their game.

Clegg

Was Doris's substitution injury enforced?

durkadurka

Gorgeous

Buer

Porn.

Buer

Buer wrote: »

If I was to guess, I'd say Darren Cave doesn't massively like Leinster.

I think he's been fair enough on some of the contentious calls. He's great to listen to in podcasts, doesn't strike me as a grudge carrying type of person.

Neil3030

That sort of filth needs to be pixelated in any replays.

sydthebeat

ship those leinster lads out to play Samoa tomorrow

Neil3030

One replay angle made that look like Deegan was the coach of an U-9 team, trying to keep up with the player carrying the ball.

Clegg

I feckin loved that Milne try. Great strength from Lowe at first receiver to get over the gain line, but more importantly was seeing our forwards keeping their depth and running on to the ball at pace. Toner ran into it and offloaded to Tracy who could run into it too. Them a ruck and a pass to Milne who is also running at pace onto the ball. It's so, so hard to stop for the opposition.

Then the money shot with the O'Brien/Lowe double penetration.

Soaking.

sydthebeat

Hairy Joe has been quite good tonight, especially in defense.

awec

Lots of moist loins around the RDS tonight.

sydthebeat

Jesus, that should be meat and drink to a flanker

Buer

MOTM will be interesting. Tomane has been consistently very good but I imagine the yellow will scupper him. Deegan, Fardy, Penny, JGP and Keenan all impressed too.

We await with bated breath.

Neil3030

Hope Venjur wasn't chopping any chillies tonight

Squidgy Black

Have a feeling Tomane's going to have a big impact this season with Henshaw being perpetually injured and on international duty. Similar to Lowe's season last year, just takes a year or so to settle in.

Shefwedfan

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Have a feeling Tomane's going to have a big impact this season with Henshaw being perpetually injured and on international duty. Similar to Lowe's season last year, just takes a year or so to settle in.

Said it last season, Tomane just needed time, he is class act

Leinster look great. They look well conditioned, well drilled and really motivated. Was great to see Toner elated at full time. He's enjoying his rugby despite the fact that he must be carrying a lot of disappointment.

Gibson park well deserving of MotM. Said earlier in the thread that I reckon he could be the next capped Leinster player and I stand by that at full time. He's adapted very well to Northern Hemisphere rugby and I think he has a different skill set to our current options.

Murray, Marmion and McGrath are all great at spotting gaps around the rucks but I feel Gibson Park is better at keeping defences flat and honest because he can drift and then release with a pretty impressive range of passes and he has plenty of acceleration to be a threat himself. I think his status has held him back, reckon he's going to have a huge season and think he'll feature for Ireland after the World cup the first time we play a tier 2 nation or Italy. Or Scotland.

James Lowe also clearly enjoying his rugby, he's constantly involved - looking for work from the moment he walks on the pitch and thought he was MotM contender from the backs. Fardy led the pack very well, he covered a lot of ground and was constantly winning contact, his tackling technique is incredible. It feels like a shame watching him play like this - he would add a huge amount to that Australian pack.

It's notable that the first names who come to mind after that game are all southern hemisphere players. They were just a class above tonight. Tomane starting to play with confidence and it's changing the nature of the player he has been up until now. Real edge to him tonight, he was given a card for something I've complained about for years, and ultimately agree with, but am frustrated that it's a Leinster player who's been randomly penalised for it (eventually).

Toner was up there with Lowe, Park, Toner and Tomane. His work rate and impact on the set piece was exceptional but he showed his international quality with some of his distribution. He can step in on the complex calls and add good value. Still feel very sorry for him.

Generally good performances all around though, Leinster played a lot of rugby and showed a lot of maturity when down to 13. I felt that this might be a transition year but looking at these early performances I reckon we've some serious talent coming through and an entire squad that are genuinely well coached. We look the biz at the moment anyway - hope it persists.

Squidgy Black

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Gibson park well deserving of MotM. Said earlier in the thread that I reckon he could be the next capped Leinster player and I stand by that at full time. He's adapted very well to Northern Hemisphere rugby and I think he has a different skill set to our current options.

Murray, Marmion and McGrath are all great at spotting gaps around the rucks but I feel Gibson Park is better at keeping defences flat and honest because he can drift and then release with a pretty impressive range of passes and he has plenty of acceleration to be a threat himself. I think his status has held him back, reckon he's going to have a huge season and think he'll feature for Ireland after the World cup the first time we play a tier 2 nation or Italy. Or Scotland.

He has a unique ability that none of the Irish scrumhalves have in that he can just whip a pass out wide with little to no windup, as seen last week. I think he'll definitely pick up a cap, but I think his international career depends on the style Farrell will play, and also if he can usurp McGrath at some stage, which I think is a possibility as after last season the gap is closing.

Only counter point would be that we actually have quite a backlog of Irish scrumhalves at the moment, Murray/McGrath/Marmion/Cooney, and also Blade has been going really well with Connacht and was unlucky to not get a call during the 6 Nations and is certainly laying down a marker so far this season with his performance against the Dragons.

Clegg

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Generally good performances all around though, Leinster played a lot of rugby and showed a lot of maturity when down to 13. I felt that this might be a transition year but looking at these early performances I reckon we've some serious talent coming through and an entire squad that are genuinely well coached. We look the biz at the moment anyway.

FWIW I think you'd be right in believing this will be a transition year/season. We were at our very best in 2018 and just tapered off very slightly last season. Those were our peak years with that squad.

We're not going to fall off a cliff or anything close to that. But I just don't expect us to make another Champions Cup Final. Saracens are at their peak right now and Toulouse are a year ahead of us in their rebuild. We've a few long term injuries to key players and we won't see many regulars until about Christmas due to the World Cup. Then they'll be gone again in January to begin prep for the Six Nations.

Our squad needs to be refreshed, new players blooded and some younger guys given a chance in the first choice XV. That's exactly what appears to be happening though, so I'm not worried about this season at all. It won't be like the 2015 season when Leo was just starting out as a coach and we were wondering if the academy could produce enough talent to get us through. We've a core of experienced leaders in the side and they're helping guide the young tyros through games. It's going really well for us right now.

Neil3030

If Johnny stays fit for the season we should be there or thereabouts in the Heino.

After that it's largely whether any of the young lads in the back row can make a step up - Doris, Penny, Deegan, Connors, Murphy; or what the extent of Conan's injury is. A back row of Ruddock, VdF plus one other (Conan or Leavy back, or a young lad stepping up) should be able to compete at the top level.

Our depth at 9, front row and second row is healthy.

Tomane on this form also allays concern about Henshaw getting injured.

Lowe, Larmour, Kearney x2, Ferg, Kelleher, and possibly Keenan make for a decent raft of backs.

Shefwedfan

Squidgy Black wrote: »

He has a unique ability that none of the Irish scrumhalves have in that he can just whip a pass out wide with little to no windup, as seen last week. I think he'll definitely pick up a cap, but I think his international career depends on the style Farrell will play, and also if he can usurp McGrath at some stage, which I think is a possibility as after last season the gap is closing.

Only counter point would be that we actually have quite a backlog of Irish scrumhalves at the moment, Murray/McGrath/Marmion/Cooney, and also Blade has been going really well with Connacht and was unlucky to not get a call during the 6 Nations and is certainly laying down a marker so far this season with his performance against the Dragons.

Marmion and Cooney are not up to it.....they have been around long enough and made little impact.

McGrath similar but that could change at this World Cup.

I can see JGP getting capped but unless the style of game changes he won’t be regular.

stephen_n

I’m amazed there wasn’t more commentary on here about the clusterfvck that was the scrums last night. I’d say Benty must have wanted to punch Millhouse. From the very first scrum of the game the Edinburgh loosehead was dropping his bind, not even subtly. As soon as the pressure came on he dropped his left shoulder every single time. That’s the reason the crowd were so pissed off with Millhouse, completely farcical interpretation of what was going on. 5 penalties in a row against two different tightheads before he told him to stay up.

antietam1

stephen_n wrote: »

I’m amazed there wasn’t more commentary on here about the clusterfvck that was the scrums last night. I’d say Benty must have wanted to punch Millhouse. From the very first scrum of the game the Edinburgh loosehead was dropping his bind, not even subtly. As soon as the pressure came on he dropped his left shoulder every single time. That’s the reason the crowd were so pissed off with Millhouse, completely farcical interpretation of what was going on. 5 penalties in a row against two different tightheads before he told him to stay up.

Well he did ask the Ed prop to paint a picture.
McFadden is another player injured by foul play while scoring a try.