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

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172775#Comment_120172775

Not really tbh. That was closer to our third string but a full strength Cardiff would have given us a good game and any of the better sides would have crushed us.

Interested Observer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172775#Comment_120172775

Cardiff were also missing a huge number of players, I didn't personally count them but think I read 20 out through call-ups and injury.

hold my beer

Lol at anyone who bet on Cardiff to win

bingobango12

Really shows how important the likes of Ruddock and McGrath are. Not the best players in their positions in the world but really solid pros.

On a side note, would McGrath be fourth choice for Ireland or Blade?

Bleating Lamb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172788#Comment_120172788

Yeah I figured a good few lads last night were young players,unbelievable strength in depth there at the moment all the same.

pickarooney

When was the last time Leinster kicked for the posts on a penalty? It's either lineout+mauk or 5 metre bamboozlement every time it seems.

Not complaining, mind.

edit: it wasn't that long ago, against Ospreys when 10-0 down. Munster before that.

Ross Byrne has probably got a shockingly low percentage this season seeing as he's missed at least three already.

stephen_n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172984#Comment_120172984

Blade I would imagine but it’s hard to tell. Luke’s passing will always be an issue. If he could pass, he’d be better than JGP.

Interested Observer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120173038#Comment_120173038

McGrath is a brilliant rugby player, but imo not a brilliant scrum half. He does so many things so well.

CORMACREYN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120173005#Comment_120173005

Leinster have only kicked eight penalties so far this season. That penalty away to the Ospreys is the only one they’ve scored against non-Irish opposition.

Interested Observer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120173257#Comment_120173257

That's absolutely nuts. Including in Europe?

CORMACREYN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120173375#Comment_120173375

Yes, they haven’t kicked any penalties in Europe yet.

Dubinusa

Watched this back and was impressed with Milne's tight carrying. The lad is strong and explosive. Shame he missed a season. He is getting a run now and looks to be on the right track.

The pack was very efficient. 2nd row put in a serious effort. Both lads were very good. Ross is such a vital cog for us and Deeny getting exposure will benifit.

The back row dominated. They were brilliant. Rhys and Deegan showed their class and experience and Penny was a menace. Connors was fantastic. I'd keep him on the bench until he's match fit. Culhane didn't look out of place.

Big Mike was quiet. 1st time in a while that he wasn't carrying a lot but, McKee certainly made an impression.

Turner is really impressing. Where does he fit? He's good enough to make a lot of urc teams, imo. His acceleration and step are brilliant.

Brownlee is one to watch down the road. He played very well. He just turned 20 in September! He looks very capable and dare I say. Could be Ngati's replacement in another year or so.

Cosgrave was decent. Still has time. MOR did ok.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172788#Comment_120172788

On another note, our tap and goes this season are a work of genius. That is Goodman I presume. We have now used 7 different moves to score from.

Max Deegan was asked about this post-match and said the coaches had given the players some autonomy to try and come up with these, and the players were trying to outdo each other with new moves etc.

It's funny, I remember up to JCT level rugby super elaborate quick tap penalty options being a big part of our game, and a huge thing the forwards would work on after and before training, but then it seemed to get coached out of the game as a frivolity. It's brilliant to see it back, from the Bulls last season and Leinster taking it to another level this season.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120173257#Comment_120173257

Yeah, only 8 penalties all season.

Leinster are averaging c. 5.1 tries a game, have scored 88 so far this season, only failing to get a TBP on 4 out of 17 occasions (Ulster away, Connacht away, Munster away and Ospreys away).

Dubinusa

It drives me mad when Leinster refuse the points! I always believe taking the points keeps the pressure on the opposition.

It was nice to see that Leinster were very good with the discipline yesterday. At least for the 1st 65 minutes.

CIARAN_BOYLE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120174076#Comment_120174076

I wonder if it will continue in knockout games.

Is the Leinster default to chase tries for bonus points in the league and Europe as league games will be won.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120174076#Comment_120174076

Refuse the points?? Pressure the opposition??

We've a points difference of over 100% more than the next biggest points difference in both the URC and the Heineken cup.

If that's refusing the points I'd hate to see what we'd be like if we took them.

(Actually, patently we'd have as lesser overall points if we kicked our penalties, and our opposition would be under less pressure)

Sangre

Obviously a few years ago but I recall that a schmidt tactic was to go for corner to try and penalise defending teams as much as possible. The purpose was not necessarily to score a try but discourage teams from conceding penalties. The intended goal was to stop teams illegally slowing down our ball to allow for quick rucks overall. Perhaps this tactic continues

In other words, maybe the real treasure was the ruck speed we made along the way.

Dubinusa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120174284#Comment_120174284

If we are playing a really good side, I would grab the points. Could our maul be a weapon against LAR? Sarries?

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120174390#Comment_120174390

Taking the points didn't exactly work out spectacularly against LAR last time

stephen_n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120174404#Comment_120174404

This is exactly it, taking points can be good in a tight game but we did it too much in that game. This year they seem very focused on tries but I reckon when we are in a tight game. We will take the shot at goal more often.

Be interesting to see how long it takes kickers to adjust to the shot clock. I think it had an affect on accuracy yesterday. I’d like to see how the overall shots on target was affected, or if it was yesterday.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120174076#Comment_120174076

The last game I can remember where we made a concerted effort to take every shot at goal was La Rochelle and in hindsight it was a significant mistake.

We kept them in the game and didn’t have the scoreboard pressure we deserved.

As others have pointed out, I can’t think of a single game this season where I think “I wished we kicked more penalties there.”

pickarooney

Well we've won every single game, obviously there can't be any regrets about passed up points. The business end of the season should be a different story.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120174390#Comment_120174390

Our maul can be a weapon against any team. Mauls are about organisation cohesion and technical expertise in the game today, it's not just get 8 lads in a huddle and push hard. Leinster have scored maul tries against a whole host of great sides, and Ireland have scored maul tries in the past 12 months against France, NZ & South Africa with occasionally 6 or 7/8 from a Leinster pack.

Some sides that wouldn't be notoriously powerful up front also have effective mauls and can score a lot of tries from it: Ulster a good example.

Former Former Former

Reminder that we won the 2018 European final without scoring any tries then scored a heap of them in the Pro14 final.

We took our shots on goal in Thomond last month and then none a week later at home to Connacht.

You play the game that's in front of you. Keeping the scoreboard ticking over against La Rochelle, in France, was absolutely the right call.

Clegg

There's an interview with Cullen in today's Irish Times. He says Henshaw, Jenkins, Ngatai and Frawley should all be available to play in the coming weeks.

Leinster’s next game is against the Dragons at the RDS on Saturday, February 18th, a week before Ireland face Italy in Rome, and this seems like the most obvious game for Henshaw to return to competitive action.

Cullen also confirmed that Charlie Ngatai (hamstring), Jason Jenkins (hamstring) and Ciarán Frawley (knee) will be available sooner rather than later. “Yes, they will feature. You have named four or five guys there. Some of them will be back for the Dragons game in a couple of weeks’ time. They all should be back by Edinburgh, I hope.”

Interested Observer

Racing beat La Rochelle in Paris at the weekend, was a tight game but just puts a bit of context onto Leinster's wins against Racing. They're absolutely no mugs. They're tied on points with La Rochelle in the T14 table now as well. And they were targeting Europe, Russell said so straight out after the game last weekend.

Rigor Mortis

Of the injured, it is really beginning to feel that the order of importance in terms of end of season

1.Furlong, 2. Jenkins, 3. Sexton

Getting our pack right is key for the season end games. I think Ross could get us over the line if our pack had parity. I think with Furlong and Jenkins we will have that and more.

Interested Observer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120176981#Comment_120176981

Agreed I think Leinster could win the comp with Byrne at 10. Furlong is absolutely essential, and tbh I missed a bit of the rugby early in the season so don't have enough of an opinion on Jenkins but if he shores up the scrum then yeah pretty important.

arsebiscuits1

Forget this 6 nations fly on the wall documentary.

If Netflix want to create some proper sporting content they should create a series called "Will Connors tackling people for an hour"

It would go down as one of their best ever shows.

For real though. I don't think there is a technically better tackler than Will in the game right now.