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

Clegg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186268#Comment_119186268

If course physical collisions take their toll and puts you under pressure you may not be accustomed to. But the argument being made above is that Leinster can't hack it physically. That isn't the case. They can mix it well with any side. The bigger issue is what they do with the ball once it's away from the pack.

Errors creep in which shouldn't really, because at that moment pressure actually isn't on them. There were plenty of instances against La Rochelle and tonight that poor decisions were made in attack and handling errors committed that shouldn't have been. That isn't an issue with physicality. That a mental thing.

vienne86

That was frustrating. The Bulls deserved to win as they were in our faces the whole time, and they managed to win in a fairly noisy RDS. We certainly didn't get much from the ref, but that doesn't explain all the lost lineouts and knock ons. Sexton coming on made a huge difference and quite what Leinster and Ireland will do when he retires.......well it's worrying.

Itxa

Couldn’t agree more than with Neil3030 above Arendse and Tambwe absolutely looked like ripping us up every time they got the ball. Skinstadt said Tambwe was a sprinter - he looked it any time he got turned in defence he turned around and ate up the yards to catch the slower Irish guys. They look like better athletes but that alone doesn’t win you games. But there is now what looks like a substantial talent or at least athleticism gap between our players and the new entrants to the League

StevenToast

Where were the leinster fans tonight?

It was a pathetic crowd for a home semi final......getting excited by a few sexton fist pumps.....that apathy fed in to the leinster players....

Itxa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186042#Comment_119186042

Agreed. Leo got putcoached today and it looks like he learned nothing from the European final. It is so easy to stay with Leinster if you can confront them and beat them physically. We’re not that dominant physically and Louwe, Nortje and Steenkamp just stayed within themselves and slowly squeezed us physically. Not sure why Leo doesn’t think more teams will start doing the same in future but I await to see if anything is done to address the issue.

Itxa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186088#Comment_119186088

Agreed. Frawley has to be brought in at ten.

Rugbymad2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186270#Comment_119186270

12/13 internationals against 0 internationals

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186059#Comment_119186059

thought Doris was terrible TBH.

Think he’s been very poor for a while now. Dining out on past performances at the moment.

SaoPaulo41

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186323#Comment_119186323

Give it a rest

Shehal

I think alot of the Leinster & Ireland players and fans seem to think playing a big physical team means its an excuse for them to role over and not lift a finger. In the La Rochelle and Bulls game the issue wasnt a lack of size but a lack of heart or desire, continuing to whinge about the size of players is just a nice shiny distraction but it wont fix the problem of lack of heart, it will just hide it for another season but by the time we realise size isnt an issue we will have already conjured up our next excuse and it again wont be the main problem like always.

Neil3030

Bulls rarely bit on Leinster's decoy runners and consequently piled pressure on second receivers and playmakers. People make poor decisions under increased pressure. I'd argue Bulls relaxed on Leinster's decoys because they knew from earlier exchanges that they could defend man-to-man. So it's all related. Power, pressure, decision making. No single component is solely to blame.

stephen_n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186291#Comment_119186291

Bulls flooded the midfield and we kept trying to play through it. That lead to mistakes, same way as we did with La Rochelle. That’s both a mental thing and a gameplan thing.

Yep the lineout malfunction was fundamental in our loss and very hard to understand. Which was possibly something to do with complacency on our part.

Mad that the scrum which was supposed to be our weakness ended up being a strength and our lineout disintegrated.

Shehal

At the minute Leinster's plan for playing big physical teams is

A. Run into a brick wall

B. Give up

And repeat.

RichieRich_89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186279#Comment_119186279

I don't think you can really read too much into it. Ireland are a different team with different coaches. And Leinster failing when an opposition team fronts up to them isn't anything new anyway. Lancaster has coached England and Leinster across 11 tournaments above Pro14/URC level, i.e. European Cup, 6N, RWC, and won one trophy across those 11 tournaments. And now that the league has tougher teams in it we see Leinster also coming up short there.

Clegg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186425#Comment_119186425

I'm not sure you'll get any bites on such poor bait.

Shehal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186457#Comment_119186457

Is it bait though, just watch the 80 minutes in Marsaille and 80 minutes tonight, you tell me who the game mattered more to?

Clegg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186475#Comment_119186475

Of course it's bait.

And poor one at that

Shehal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186485#Comment_119186485

Or here's another idea, wake up and smell the coffee. What other country suffer's these issue's on a consistent basis? We've already determined that Leinster didnt get beat up versus LAR and the pack man for man was on par with the Bulls tonight so surely that writes off the excuse about pack size? So what else does that leave? Stop making excuses and fix the bloody problem is my advice? If you want to make excuses and enjoy a trophy-less season and a RWC QF exit (if not pool stage exit) then sit back in you're apple tree and do nothing or like I said go out and fix the problem.

normanbond

Cullen doesn’t have the smarts

O Gara and White have easily dissected his game plan …..

time to go??

Give Lancaster top role!

Itxa

Someone said earlier that it’s embarrassing hearing Leinster fans give pre game predictions. I would second that. Someone said earlier that Leinster are on +30 but they think with the rain it will be around16-20 point spread.

I almost choked reading the casual misinterpretation of where we are as a rugby team. We can be good but with pressure applied and against better athletes we are found wanting.

The current players are ultra professional but many are average athletes. They train, diet and exrercise to their maximum abilities but it is not enough against more tailored opposition. I also think some of the conditioning is being done in the wrong areas.

Tuning up players should be the order of the day going forward - don’t overtrain. Rest, relax, tailor training to a higher degree than is being done. For the backs - More callisthenics and plyometrics and less skills and patterns. Forwards needs to feed up and bulk up. There is now a deficit which needs to be made up

RichieRich_89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186528#Comment_119186528

Lancaster already is the coach. He coaches the attack and the defence. It's not perfect but it's a hell of a lot better than what was served up when Cullen was the coach - finishing bottom of their Euro pool and getting completely outclassed by a Connacht team with hardly any internationals in the league.

Madeoface

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186323#Comment_119186323

We're not like munster folk for example. Losing a qrt final in front of bandwagoners on a big day out won't tickle us and make us all warm and self congratulatory just because a song is played in the stadium.#zombie

Not to say leinster doesn't have a huge amount of bandwagon riders either, but...

The stony silence is simply the shock of watching the team lose this trophy after so many years , without really trying hard to retain it.

Now that this is going to be a trophy to fight for with the saffers, I think, and hope, urc will be better attended by leinster and other Irish fans in the future. One thing is certain, 2 provinces haven't a chance of Heineken success in the short term (Connaught and Munster) so a league semi should be their goal as a high bar. Leinster and Ulster should be looking at the final at goal setting stage.

Losing today? It was not fun; but it's good for the urc as the league had, sadly, become a turkey shoot for leinster, something only lost on a post erc success...now it's different and on that front it's great to have genuine competition. So.....

Well done Bulls....but gwan ulster.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186588#Comment_119186588

Agree, sending out B teams while the A's rested for the H-cup should not be what it's about, saffers bring serious competition which has been lacking for far too long.

Burkie1203

Andrew Goodman to replace Felipe it seems.

Think the coaching changes are a positive step. Freshen things up a bit.

Brewster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186270#Comment_119186270

No question better team won, had a better line out, maul, defence, won battle in air etc etc. Leinster scored a world class try but it was too little too late in the game. Leinster needed an injury time try to take bad look off scoreboard in the end. Obviously Sexton missing the conversion didn’t help. Steyn penalty obviously clinched it.

Burkie1203

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186916#Comment_119186916

Leinster losing lineouts on their 5m killed the chances of a win. Its not like the opportunities weren't there. Was it 4 lineouts in middle-of 2nd half that were lost in the Bulls 22?

Can't be doing that. For all the talk about the team being outplayed, they had plenty of good territory from penalties

Leinster had a functioning lineout last night they win IMO

Itxa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186921#Comment_119186921

It’s all ifs, buts and maybes. You can’t say they would have won if they won those lineouts. The very idea of removing the error count will win you games is cynical. It negates the belief that creativity wins you games and relies on the idea that if you contain an opponent and do nothing wrong you can win. I thought the bulls looked in control most of the game.

Burkie1203

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186939#Comment_119186939

Ifs and buts yes, but history tells us that if your set piece doesn't function its very hard to win games

That Leinsters set piece malfunctioned so badly on the bulls 5m line, territory and possession gained from winning penalties, tells me that they did a lot right elsewhere to get into that position.

Small margins. A lineout win and a maul try on 65 minutes and its game on.

Small margins, small mistakes, big price. That's pro sport.

Itxa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186962#Comment_119186962

But essentially it’s hypotheticals. The Bulls only won those lineouts against the head because the pressure was on. They had to win them or face defeat and they pulled it off. You can’t say it was just a technical thing- pressure, the high stakes etc had a role to play there and the Bulls held strong under the pressure. That’s mindset.

Interested Observer

Been a long time since Leinster have completely imploded like that. Found that far more disappointing than even the CC final.