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

Larbre34

And thats why Townsend hates him. He's an absolute flake and a petulant drain on a team.

Just imagine what a dose he is around a team environment.

I honestly don't know if his undoubted instinctive playmaking outweighs his lack of resilience.

Dubinusa

I wonder what Stu thinks. This is his baby next year.

Great result for us. Hopefully we get Furlong and Johnny back next week.

Burkie1203

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119979658#Comment_119979658

A lot depends on how much latitude he is given. And if he can improve their discipline

Nigzcurran

I’d love to know what TRC thinks! 😂

Clegg

Very pleased by how well the lineout went. We've struggled at times to secure our own ball. Going 100% against a side with lauded defensive jumpers like Racing is excellent.

stephen_n

Waiting for TRC10 to claim we were dominated upfront?

AbusesToilets

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119979658#Comment_119979658

Probably enquiring if Bryne fancies a trip across the channel.

Exclamation Marc

Excellent win. Performances across the board were fantastic and our strength in depth is really paying dividends. Not surprised with the win but certainly didn't expect that margin. Roll on Gloucester next week.

stephen_n

Considering the disruption yesterday. The fact they had to train in a kids training ground this morning apparently. That was some performance. Especially when you factor in the absence of Sexton, Henshaw and Furlong. A real statement of intent.

Racing were very, very poor though.

pickarooney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119979606#Comment_119979606

What did he do wrong today?

Clegg

Ryan was excellent again. He's firmly back to his best now.

Burkie1203

Gloucester are decidedly poor

pickarooney

Not that poor in the end. Lot of second half turnarounds .

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119979841#Comment_119979841

Took poor decisions, and when he made good decisions he executed them poorly. Racing as a whole were rubbish but when the chips are down, I don't know if there's an elite OH I'd less like to have at the helm than Russell.

Then I see things like this:

https://mobile.twitter.com/andymcgeady/status/1601588598499078148

And I wonder what planet people are on, or is it me?

pickarooney

I think it's an Irish/boards circle-jerk thing tbh. The French commentators and press picked him as the best (only) performing Racing player today. I thought Fickou was better but Russell had a decent game from where I was sitting.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119980715#Comment_119980715

For most things, and generally speaking yes - it is you.

When it comes to Finn Russell though you are spot on. He's an extremely talented footballer that by rights should be a multiple world player of the year winner / nominee. Instead he's an absolute child, no sense of maturity, responsibility or determination about him. He still has time to grow up and become the sensation he really should be - but everytime he interacts with adversity he seems to get more juvenile so I wouldn't have a lot of hope.

I wouldn't pick him for any of the provinces and wouldn't have him near the Irish team,

LostArt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119979560#Comment_119979560

Nah, just hand us the trophy now 😆

molloyjh

Russell was poor today. Missed 5 tackles, brought absolutely no control to things (someone mentioned the time in the second half that they got marched back from our 22 back into their half for example) and was generally a non-entity in that game. His attempt on Lowe for the Ringrose try looked like a TH going after a winger. He’s the definition of a show pony. I just don’t get what people see in him at all.

stephen_n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119980750#Comment_119980750

I thought Fickou was by a long way the best player for Racing today. Russell wasn’t awful but he was bang average at best. Having said that, most 10’s would look average behind a pack beaten that badly.

Neil3030

N'gatai looks like an astounding piece of business by Leinster.

Baird also finding another gear lately.

blackcard

I thought the only negative about Leinster today was getting turned over at a number of rucks. Discipline was much improved and great to see 100% success at line outs and a very good scrum

pickarooney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119981363#Comment_119981363

And yet when you ask Racing fans how they manage to be second in the top 14 with such a powderpuff pack the answer is unanimously 'Finn Russell'.

Dave_The_Sheep

Rewatching the game, the hit by Russell on Doris looks ok from the one view we have (slowed down a bit). Seems to be a shoulder hit. Open to correction though.

molloyjh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119982112#Comment_119982112

That’s fine, but the reality is that in big games that I’ve seen he’s rarely delivered. I’m also not sure I’d be calling that pack powderpuff. They aren’t the monsters that LAR are but they aren’t small.

TRC10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119979670#Comment_119979670

Still a lot of question marks for me. Decent performance but Racing were absolute gash too. We're very reliant on the pick and go and driving maul. It was effective today but will it be enough come the business end? I'm not sure. We need to have different ways of scoring. Watching the other games, the other teams play a lot more rugby than us. LAR, Stormers, Bulls, etc. We're playing an incredibly attritional game and I'm not sure if it's sustainable. It's good to see us being a bit more physical, but I'm disappointed that it's come at the expense of our attack which was a lot better last season. Our tries seem to be much harder work this season, as opposed to last, when we could cut teams open with ease.

The breakdown is a real worry. We're getting counter-rucked way too easily. Teams will really go after us there.

So yeah. A good start. But we've had big pool stage wins before and come up short. I'll believe the hype when they're holding the trophy.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119982235#Comment_119982235

Completely agree. Ringrose and vdf tries were text book leinster. No imagination.

Edit: next match will be a far harder task than racing away. Plenty to work on, but a handy warm up for a first European match.

AbusesToilets

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119982107#Comment_119982107

Thought Pearce was letting Racing get away with a lot of flopping onto Leinsters side at the rucks. I'll never understand how so often when there is a counter ruck situation, the defenders can drive over and fall all over the ball, yet invariably win the turnover.

Nigzcurran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119982235#Comment_119982235

Yeah but ye reckoned we were screwed without the 3 lads. Any chance of admitting you were wrong and giving some praise to their replacements?

Former Former Former

Also, how good is Ringrose these days?

Absolutely incredible in every facet of the game.

Dave_The_Sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119982112#Comment_119982112

As much as I have very little time for Russell, the Wade score was a really lovely bit of skill by him. The sleight of hand, footwork, delayed pass, all excellent stuff. Showed what he's capable of at his best. If anything it was a typical Russell performance, some great stuff, but a lack of control overall and was anonymous a lot of the time. No denying he's got the talent though at times, as we all know.