Leinster vs Munster - The buildup for the ages!

troyzer

Was that D'Arcy on the co-commentary?

FrannoFan

molloyjh wrote: »

From the start Conway was at that stuff. When Lowe got pinged for playing the 9 (Munsters first penalty) Conway made sure to get a shove in there too. He seemed to be mad keen to get in Lowes face. It didnt do him or Munster any good though and if anything he just let himself down a bit. He should have been focusing on the game. The same could be said for Kleyn on a few occasions too.

Have only managed to see the first half back. Munster in many ways played very well in that 40. Theyd probably have put 2 or 3 tries on most teams. One area that struck me as an issue though was the breakdown. We turned over ball 3 times (Henshaw, VDF and Healy IIRC) and Munster spilled the ball on the deck a couple of times too. We came close to another couple of turnovers as well, and while they didnt come off they did slow down Munsters ball. It looked to me like after a handful of phases they got a bit too disjointed and struggled to secure ball effectively as a result. It's always going to be hard to create overlaps and/or mismatches when you need to go through multiple phases but you either cant or you're doing so too slowly. Against most teams this is far less of an issue. Against the better teams though it becomes pretty huge.

A few munster players were trying to rile leinster players which was a solid approach after how effective it was down in thomond. Sort of backfired as murray went for the late-ish hit on Byrne and Ringrose made a big break up the middle. Ruddock Toner and VDF never as likely to be baited by that approach as all fairly calm players.

worth a go but was fairly inconsequential overall

Lucas44

daddy pig wrote: »

O'Mahonys stats in the two biggest games of Munsters year.

Attacking
Saracens : Passes - 0, Runs - 6 for 7 metres, Clean breaks/Defenders Beaten/Offloads - All 0
Leinster : Passes - 5, Runs - 7 for 12 metres, Clean breaks/Defenders Beaten/Offloads - All 0

Defending
Saracens : Turnovers Conceded - 0, Tackles - 15, Missed Tackles - 1, Lineouts Won - 0
Leinster : Turnovers Conceded - 1, Tackles - 9, Missed Tackles - 1, Lineouts Won - 0

The number of tackles he made were the lowest in both matches for any Munster back row.
Apart from O'Donoghue going 3 carries for 3 metres he also had the worst carries of any Munster back row.

He just seems to go missing when it matters - with Jack Conan in the form he has been all year should we be going back to Stander at 6 for Ireland with O'Mahony on the bench? When you see Ruddock put up stats of 8 carries for 26 metres and 19 tackles with one missed will he even be under pressure for that?

Yet again the boards.ie experts are wrong with pom in pro14 team of the season, stats don’t fully reflect a players season or performance

troyzer

Lucas44 wrote: »

daddy pig wrote: »

O'Mahonys stats in the two biggest games of Munsters year.

Attacking
Saracens : Passes - 0, Runs - 6 for 7 metres, Clean breaks/Defenders Beaten/Offloads - All 0
Leinster : Passes - 5, Runs - 7 for 12 metres, Clean breaks/Defenders Beaten/Offloads - All 0

Defending
Saracens : Turnovers Conceded - 0, Tackles - 15, Missed Tackles - 1, Lineouts Won - 0
Leinster : Turnovers Conceded - 1, Tackles - 9, Missed Tackles - 1, Lineouts Won - 0

The number of tackles he made were the lowest in both matches for any Munster back row.
Apart from O'Donoghue going 3 carries for 3 metres he also had the worst carries of any Munster back row.

He just seems to go missing when it matters - with Jack Conan in the form he has been all year should we be going back to Stander at 6 for Ireland with O'Mahony on the bench? When you see Ruddock put up stats of 8 carries for 26 metres and 19 tackles with one missed will he even be under pressure for that?

Yet again the boards.ie experts are wrong with pom in pro14 team of the season, stats don’t fully reflect a players season or performance

It's hardly a surprise he made the team of the season. He's probably played more Pro14 minutes than any other top Irish international.

LostArt

Lucas44 wrote: »

Yet again the boards.ie experts are wrong with pom in pro14 team of the season, stats don’t fully reflect a players season or performance

Wouldn't this be part of the criticism though? Very good in the Pro14 against bang average teams but lacking in form against top end teams since the NZ game

daddy pig

Lucas44 wrote: »

Yet again the boards.ie experts are wrong with pom in pro14 team of the season, stats don’t fully reflect a players season or performance

It is true that being in the pro 14 team of the year is one of the highest accolades of a players career.
To be named alongside Rabz Maxwane, Pierre Schoeman and Dan Evans is certainly something to tell the grandchildren about.
Don't worry about stats from the biggest games of the year against Saracens and Leinster when trophies were actually on the line.