Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XII (The Byrne Supremacy)

sydthebeat

Interested Observer wrote: »

Just looked at the team, it looks like it's about 10 players short of first choice, I think there's only 2 forwards who started against NH who are starting against Leinster. NH had Furbank at 10, Exeter had Harvey Skinner (who??).

Harvey skinner. Their reserve 10... Who is on the bench today... And has 16 appearances already this season for chiefs.

They weren't missing the colour of ten first teamers. hill, gray and LCD from the pack, slade from the backs is about it. Nowells been injured for ages.

They're simply not as good this year as last year. I'm confident of a 2 score win, but obviously this is gong to be a mammoth task and loads of things have to go right.

Garda Kenny

sydthebeat wrote: »

Harvey skinner. Their reserve 10... Who is on the bench today... And has 16 appearances already this season for chiefs.

They weren't missing the colour of ten first teamers. hill and LCD from the pack, slade from the backs is about it. Nowells been injured for ages.

They're simply not as good this year as last year. I'm confident of a 2 score win, but obviously this is gong to be a mammoth task and loads of things have to go right.

My worry for us is team cohesion and a lot of players having not played together in these combinations before. I wonder where our tries come from. I can’t see the back line creating many great chances - question marks remain over O Laughlin and Larmours match sharpness for me. Do they link in well with the rest of the back line? I’m not so sure it all works well together.

I can see a couple of match ups going our way Lowe and Keenan but as a unit and inter linking I’m not sure the backs can step up and replicate pro 14 try creating chances.

Johnny will have to step up with Luke and create our chances today as i can’t see them coming elsewhere. Robbie will and always does create plays and make a difference but I see him being marked out of it today.

Interested Observer

sydthebeat wrote: »

Harvey skinner. Their reserve 10... Who is on the bench today... And has 16 appearances already this season for chiefs.

They weren't missing the colour of ten first teamers. hill, gray and LCD from the pack, slade from the backs is about it. Nowells been injured for ages.

They're simply not as good this year as last year. I'm confident of a 2 score win, but obviously this is gong to be a mammoth task and loads of things have to go right.

Look, I hope you're right but I'm not convinced at all.

Squidgy Black

Livestream for the second half of the A game, been very sloppy with a lot of handling errors https://youtu.be/cQsmehpcBHw

Clegg

There's a Leinster player on the ground who looks in a very bad way. Tried to stand up a few times but couldn't manage it. Holding on to his shoulder. Couldn't make out who it was.

Squidgy Black

Clegg wrote: »

There's a Leinster player on the ground who looks in a very bad way. Tried to stand up a few times but couldn't manage it. Holding on to his shoulder. Couldn't make out who it was.

Soroka

Squidgy Black

Finished up 38-27 to Connacht, not a bad result considering the amount of senior players in the Connacht side compared to a team with mostly sub-academy players and a few lads playing out of position.

Fair few points left on the board with missed conversions too so could've been closer.

Hopefully Soroka was just a stinger and won't be out for long

arsebiscuits1

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Finished up 38-27 to Connacht, not a bad result considering the amount of senior players in the Connacht side compared to a team with mostly sub-academy players and a few lads playing out of position.

Fair few points left on the board with missed conversions too so could've been closer.

Hopefully Soroka was just a stinger and won't be out for long

There was patches of very good Leinster play. You could see how little rugby some of those fellas had and how little they played.

Pack were good. SOB stood out and Soroka showed a good mean streak even if he was indisciplined.

Ben Murphy notably better than Foley. Really not seeing anything from Foley to suggest he should be backed. Passing hasn't been good enough any time I've seen him.

Back 3 looked very lively too.

Absolute shocker from Corkery unfortunately. I know the wind is tough in the sportsground but none of his kicks were close. Missed touch and didn't really get his backline moving. Poor display from him.

Great to see Vakh back. I forgot how much of a unit he is. Looked the biggest fella on the pitch. Absolutely schooled his side of the scrum.

molloyjh

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

There was patches of very good Leinster play. You could see how little rugby some of those fellas had and how little they played.

Pack were good. SOB stood out and Soroka showed a good mean streak even if he was indisciplined.

Ben Murphy notably better than Foley. Really not seeing anything from Foley to suggest he should be backed. Passing hasn't been good enough any time I've seen him.

Back 3 looked very lively too.

Absolute shocker from Corkery unfortunately. I know the wind is tough in the sportsground but none of his kicks were close. Missed touch and didn't really get his backline moving. Poor display from him.

Great to see Vakh back. I forgot how much of a unit he is. Looked the biggest fella on the pitch. Absolutely schooled his side of the scrum.

How did the centres go?

Exclamation Marc

Well that was f*cking delightful. What a win. We go on!

the baby bull elephant

Between today and the Munster game I think Kelleher has only been involved in one lost lineout? Great to see with him still being all impact in the loose.

dublin49

I THINK Conan is brillant,power and footwork ,top class.Might be a Lion yet

Squidgy Black

dublin49 wrote: »

I THINK Conan is brillant,power and footwork ,top class.Might be a Lion yet

He outplayed Sam Simmonds by a mile today, and the English media haven't stopped hammering on about him being a likely tourist the past few months

Clegg

Huge game for some young Irish forwards today. Kelleher was excellent at the scrum, lineout, breakdown and in the carry. Baird stole two lineouts in the 30 minutes he was on. One in the Exeter 22 which led to a Leinster try and another in our 22 which prevented an Exeter try. Future is bright.

Thought VDF and Henshaw were the best players in the pitch today.

Sangre

Squidgy Black wrote: »

He outplayed Sam Simmonds by a mile today, and the English media haven't stopped hammering on about him being a likely tourist the past few months

Thought he was awesome today. His run from the base of the scrum in the last few minutes was a critical piece of play.

Fairly sure he nabbed a try with a trademark stretch but they never went back and checked it. Anyone else notice that?

Interested Observer

That was so good. I was a doubter but never been so happy to be wrong. Now bring on the Frenchies.

sydthebeat

First ten minutes had me cacking it but pretty much from then, bar about another 10 mins after half time, we looked the superior team that I thought we would be going into the game.

They exploited our midfield defense perfectly by deep pull backs and rapid speed... but I think we got to grips with that eventually. Best thing was our defense against their power game. Ruddock fardy healy and Dev all immense the.

VDF could have been motm for me, I thought he was on fire and maybe his best ever game for us.... Though I won't begrudge Robbie of his award.

Special mention for Ross Byrne. Off the bench and played like a seasoned Pro.

Big Dev doing 70 as well, give that man at least another year.

salmocab

Am I right in saying there no game next week, then Munster followed by the semi the week after?

Dave_The_Sheep

What's the prognosis on Ringrose? We missed him today.

Squidgy Black

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

What's the prognosis on Ringrose? We missed him today.

Was syndesmosis I think, so was anywhere from 4-6 weeks but can be a bitch to recover from. He hasn't been back training yet so I'd say if there's no update in the next week or so it could be a case that they'll look at surgery

AbusesToilets

Any chance of Frawley being fit forr the semi?

Interested Observer

AbusesToilets wrote: »

Any chance of Frawley being fit forr the semi?

It's 2 or 3 weeks away so you'd hope him, Ryan, Doris would all be back. Maybe even Ringrose.

Buer

AbusesToilets wrote: »

Any chance of Frawley being fit forr the semi?

Even if he is, I don't see him in the 23. Can't see them breaking up the centre partnership for him or dropping DK from the squad.

ROL ain't a world beater but didn't take a backwards step today. They also won't want to start from scratch with another partnership.

kuang1

Well done today Leinster.
Brilliant watch for this Munster/semi-neutral fan.

2 serious heavyweights going at it relentlessly that was. Happy for ye that ye came out on top. Ye'll take some stopping now.
Fair play.

AbusesToilets

Buer wrote: »

Even if he is, I don't see him in the 23. Can't see them breaking up the centre partnership for him or dropping DK from the squad.

ROL ain't a world beater but didn't take a backwards step today. They also won't want to start from scratch with another partnership.

Dunno about that. Haven't been impressed by ROL at all, think he's been relatively poor

Podge_irl

AbusesToilets wrote: »

Dunno about that. Haven't been impressed by ROL at all, think he's been relatively poor

I wasn't impressed by him either, but the team was clearly lacking some coordination/fluidity in the first 20 minutes. They'll be fairly keen to keep the same squad together I would imagine.

Of course if Ringrose makes it back he is straight in.

All_in_Flynn

I can’t remember the last time we’ve played as well as that. I thought it was a fantastic performance.

What has happened to VDF? His carrying has improved so much. Has there been much chat about it on here? It might just be my eyes playing tricks but he looks heavier. He was my clear motm.

Was also very impressed by Keenan again. Bar his missed tackle for the opening try he was pretty much flawless. He’s deceptively strong in contact too. Some find. Reminds me so much of Ben Smith.

Very happy for Ross Byrne. Excellent performance. I think that performance will stand to him.

Not sure how much longer you can keep the muzzle on Baird. He looks to me like he should be starting now. Bit of a freak athlete. Ireland doesn’t produce many of his type.

KaneToad

sydthebeat wrote: »

First ten minutes had me cacking it but pretty much from then, bar about another 10 mins after half time, we looked the superior team that I thought we would be going into the game.

They exploited our midfield defense perfectly by deep pull backs and rapid speed... but I think we got to grips with that eventually. Best thing was our defense against their power game. Ruddock fardy healy and Dev all immense the.

VDF could have been motm for me, I thought he was on fire and maybe his best ever game for us.... Though I won't begrudge Robbie of his award.

Special mention for Ross Byrne. Off the bench and played like a seasoned Pro.

Big Dev doing 70 as well, give that man at least another year.

He is a seasoned pro!

dublin49

Lowe made some good ground especially in first half,

KH25

AbusesToilets wrote: »

Dunno about that. Haven't been impressed by ROL at all, think he's been relatively poor

I thought he grew into the game. Definitely started poorly, but he improved and kept working hard. It was a shame to see his try chalked off!