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

lawrencesummers · 21-01-2023 9:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139910#Comment_120139910

The Problem byrne has is that he is stepping out of a massive shadow, or at least trying to do so, he will always be held to the same standard as the generational talent that is sexton and he was never and will never be that player. Its an impossible act to follow.

Dubinusa · 21-01-2023 10:42pm

Can't wait until Henshaw comes back and Ringrose is on the bench! Henshaw is just such a better 13! Ringrose has that goofy Blackrock face and constantly smirks. If Henshaw is not back soon, maybe we can bring in someone else from Blackrock that doesn't have a dose of the smirks!

Haven't seen the above yet!

21-01-2023 10:44pm

When I get my hair cut during the week I'm asking for a Dan Leavy.

Shehal · 21-01-2023 10:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139922#Comment_120139922

The other issue is when a 10 other then Sexton plays anything that goes wrong is blamed on the replacement for Sexton, like today it was clear the issues were ruck protection, sloppiness at the Line out and struggling in the scrum and yet Byrne was used as a scapegoat just because of one bad cross field kick. Ironic because when these failure's above happen with Sexton in the team he looked equally poor but for some reason we only seem to look for these flaws when someone else is at 10.

Dubinusa · 21-01-2023 10:49pm

Couldn't wait until they yanked JGP! He was poor today. Doris was poor too, imo. Baird did really well. Conan as usual, grew into it and was fantastic. I know, I know, he can't score from 5metres out. Ross was decent. The backline very good and congratulations Scott Penny!

Joe McCarthy mixed the good with the poor discipline. He's raw, I know but.... it's like he learned to play with Archer !

Healy shut me up again. 😕

Clegg · 21-01-2023 10:50pm

As it stands I think Leinster plays Ulster in the Round of 16. Not the team I'd want most, but we should win.

CIARAN_BOYLE · 21-01-2023 10:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140124#Comment_120140124

Its going to be Ulster (unless London Irish beat Montpellier by more than 27 points).

Clegg · 21-01-2023 11:40pm

The criticisms of Leinster have been overblown yet again.

Yes, Leinster have issues at the set piece, but it's not like they've gone into this season oblivious to them as some would have you believe. The signing of Jason Jenkins brought a major strengthening of the set piece and his absence in recent months has shown how important he is to that aspect of the game.

I'm not saying that things will be rosy again once he returns, but there needs to be some recognition that Leinster aren't playing with a full deck here.

Rigor Mortis · 21-01-2023 11:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139294#Comment_120139294

It worked for La Rochelle last year

gameoverdude · 22-01-2023 12:07am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140328#Comment_120140328

Leinster are a different beast this year. Defence is nuts.

Turnover fromloose ball or jackling frightens teams. Do they stand back? Risk an offside penalty?

Will they win? I dunno. So far...been here before

TRC10 · 22-01-2023 2:57am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139750#Comment_120139750

The problem is, it's the same cracks that have been there for the last 4 years and have been found out literally every year since. The problems aren't being fixed, just papered over. There is still a clear blueprint on how to beat Leinster. That can't be said for LAR and Toulouse.

If they go the whole season unbeaten and win both the URC and Champions Cup, it will be, in your words, still just papering over the cracks until they get ‘found out’ by a team who beats them.

If that happens I'll have been wrong and I'll admit as much in here at the time.

Dubinusa · 22-01-2023 4:30am

They brought Jenkins in to solidy the scrum. He's been out. Furlong has played twice. I'm not sure what is expected. McCarthy is learning, he's raw and fairly indisciplined. He started because Jenkins can't. Big Mike is the go to tight head. It's not ideal, they won. Will they win? I don't know. A lot of heft was absent and they did fairly well.

Ryan Baird is looking amazing at blindside. Fantastic effort. Conan was great@

Dubinusa · 22-01-2023 4:35am

Ross Byrne did ok. Very steady. Is he an international out half? I suppose we'll see. But.... the other lads are pretty poor in their showings.

It's a shame that Frawley bit the dust in match 1. He's not going to make enough of an impression to push for the world cup squad.

James Ryan was quietly brilliant. Again. Ross Molony is just so good! It's a pity he's on the light side.

AbusesToilets · 22-01-2023 7:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140328#Comment_120140328

Largely because the ref refused to yellow them in the first half, which let them kill attacks without serious repurcussions. As he did us at the end. That game turns out differently if they're down a man going into the 2nd half.

CJay1 · 22-01-2023 8:03am

There is still a clear blueprint on how to beat Leinster. That can't be said for LAR and Toulouse.

Eh? Leinster handily beat Toulouse last year . Blueprint worked ok that day

pickarooney · 22-01-2023 8:06am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140676#Comment_120140676

Six teams have found the blueprint to defeat La Rochelle since September.

Former Former Former · 22-01-2023 8:45am

There are currently three points separating LAR and Racing in the Top 14 table. Anyone who thinks LAR are an unstoppable behemoth wasn't watching the Ulster game last week.

Yeah they might beat us. Toulouse might beat us. Ulster might beat us. This is sport. Any given Sunday etc etc.

As of now, we're playing great rugby, 16 straight wins, and we're doing it without Furlong, Jenkins, Connors, Sexton, Frawley, Ngatai, Henshaw and Lowe. And now we won't have to leave Dublin for the rest of the European Cup.

Plenty to be happy about.

phily2002 · 22-01-2023 9:22am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140799#Comment_120140799

Yep even yesterday it was a red card that changed the game. They haven't travelled well this year. They are a good side but the top half half of the French league is very close with no clear dominant side.

There's a number of teams that can win it. Leinster, Saracens, Toulouse and Larochelle should all be there or there abouts.

I'm glad TRC10 is a Leinster supporter and not one of the other provinces. If winning every game has him complaining this much, he'd explode at the other provinces.

Champions cup 4 from 4 with 150 points in the plus.

Urc 12 from 12 with 196 points in the plus.

Things can change very quickly. It's a great time to be a Leinster fan. Enjoy the moment and all that...

22-01-2023 9:56am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139532#Comment_120139532

Racing caused huge problems for 60 minutes but couldn't sustain it.

They didn't though, did they?

They virtually never had a sustained period of pressure or possession in the Leinster half, much less or 22.

We gave away sloppy penalties to give them territory, and eventually (when down to 14) they got a maul over. We repelled around 5 or 6 similar lineouts inside our 22. The other try came from a really fortuitous line break, after the kick was half blocked down, and a host of Racing players 20m in front of the kicker were suddenly onside. That led to the big overlap which Russell executed to perfection. You can't really legislate for that sort of bizarro play though.

Scrum wasn't really a problem - we gave away a penalty or two and won one or two too. It wasn't decisive.

This old schtick you're constantly peddling that everyone else is drinking the kool aid and only you can see the supposed massive deficiencies in Leinster's game is tiresome.

You are just relentlessly negative at all times about Leinster. I don't think I've ever seen you say anything positive. I would genuinely suggest you take a break from watching them for your own good.

22-01-2023 10:01am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139593#Comment_120139593

No, in actual fact, we've blown Toulouse away the last three times we've met them in Europe: 29-13 win in the group stages in Jan 2019, a 30-12 win in the knock outs that same year, and 40-17 in the knock outs last year.

FrannoFan · 22-01-2023 10:18am

Hard to compare la Rochelle to Leinster season form because the top 14 is just so gruelling. It's a slog. If you have a weaker team out or slightly off mentally in top 14 you lose. What they do well is peak for end of the season.

We have an awful record of winning in France

Thankfully we won't be required to do that from here in. At home we are an incredibly tough team to beat. Even if we have set piece and maul wobbles we look capable of creating plenty of try scoring chances. I think execution will need to be better as we go on but that's to be expected.

22-01-2023 10:23am

Was at the game, and then watched it back this morning.

I don't really get the negativity. Leinster were creating a lot in the first half, we had a lot of territory and possession, and simple execution let us down a couple of times with the final pass, or just forcing an offload.

Racing showed up and still have a lot of quality, and they were really game in defence. Christian Wade knocking himself out off Ringrose's hip with the clock in the red trying to stop Leinster's 6th try when Racing were out of the competition kind of exemplifies that Racing's attitude at least was good yesterday, and in marked contrast to Le Havre.

Gael Fickou and Wenscelas Lauret defended brilliantly for Racing all day, and as a team they made a nuisance of themselves at the ruck.

That said, they couldn't live with the pace of the game. It was evident around the 60 min mark that a lot of their players were out on the feet, and then we fairly ruthlessly put them away.

It wasn't a vintage Leinster performance by any means, but it was still a comfortable, 6 try win over a good side, who people would have expected to be contenders before the tournament started.

On performances, I thought Ringrose was obviously superb, but I felt Larmour (really physical carrying), Ryan and Porter were very good too. Conan for me had a relatively sleepy 50 mins, but a big half hour after that. Bench brought good impact, with Baird in particular bringing some big carries and hits.

On Ross Byrne - yeah, the crossfield kick was big error, but it shouldn't be overblown. It was one moment of poor execution. He had lots of great moments yesterday - a beautiful cross field kick to Jimmy O'Brien after 3 mins that nearly created a try, a nice line break and a good part in O'Brien's first try after 14 mins, a really nice whipped right to left pass to JOB on the touchline after 40 mins (after the scrum that finished Nyakane), a great hit on Fickou on 43 mins, a great line break and then a sublime left to right spin pass across his body to Sheehan which led directly to Keenan's try after 52 mins, a beautiful push pass to Ringrose with the last play of the game for that try.

Our backs looked dangerous all day virtually, he had a couple of line breaks and played a central role in 3 tries, and showed up in defence in a big way again.

I've never seen a player like him in Irish rugby where his really good moments are dismissed quickly or credited to others, whereas his mistakes are held up as a stick to beat him with for years in some cases.

Interested Observer · 22-01-2023 10:33am

Ross Byrne involvements in tries yesterday:

Try 1 - takes it right to the line, puts Ringrose through the gap, feeds JOB

Try 2 - makes the line break himself, good pass out to Sheehan who provides the assist

Try 3 - lineout drive, not involved

Try 4 - once again playing very flat, puts JOB through the gap who makes that lovely offload to Keenan

Try 5 - all Ringrose

Try 6 - gives the direct assist this time

On the rewatch, having been at the game, I thought Conan was excellent. He carried so much in traffic often with a couple of defenders in his face and basically always went forward. He's down for 50m gained and given he wasn't really ever put into space that's a very strong showing. Also won a key turnover at the ruck on the second half to kill any hint of Racing momentum.

stephen_n · 22-01-2023 11:30am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140834#Comment_120140834

I don’t think it’s accurate to call TRC10 a Leinster fan, or even a rugby fan for that matter. No one who actually likes the sport, or a team could be that constantly negative about them or it.

Not sure what’s happening at scrum time or what picture we are painting but the first scrum penalty yesterday was a complete joke. The entire Racing front row stepped a foot to the left when the drive came on. The AR stood there, looked at it and said, ah ok, sure driving in anyway straight isn’t a requirement.

Dubinusa · 22-01-2023 2:46pm

That was a nice physical test. That's what Leinster needed. Ospreys pushed us, Gloucester hung in for a bit and now Racing.

Was happy to see Kelleher going well. Good effort from him. He's very physically strong and he absolutely creamed a Racing player in the 1st half.

Joe McCarthy is certainly physical enough. He's athletic and explosive. He's kind of like Josh Murphy in regards to his discipline. I think it's harsh to criticize him as much as some have been. There's definitely room for improvement. He's on 18 caps?

I would say that JGP was poor. He wasn't on his usual game. He isn't playing as well as he was last season.

Larmour was fantastic. As was JOB.

Onwards to Cardiff!

22-01-2023 3:01pm

Was up early doors and looked back over the game. Ross Byrne and Andy Farrell will be very happy with that performance.

Created gaps and filled them with backs and forwards running onto the ball at pace but was subtle about it - had options either side of the ball and delayed thr pass nicely.

Certainly has loads to tidy up and needs to work the percentages better, if your taking a risk in your own 22 it needs to be executed perfectly - that cross kick was right out of the O'Gara 2012 playbook.

Gibson-Park needs to play a bit inside himself for a bit, once a game is fine but putting your team under pressure 3-4 times a game because of questionable decisions isn't on.

Bit concerned about the injury update. Physical game, few lads looked dinged up.