Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Dubinusa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120535819#Comment_120535819

Lol

Dubinusa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120536480#Comment_120536480

Ruddock is injured

Dubinusa

Good win. Ryan immense and Conan brilliant.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120537639#Comment_120537639

Don't really know if I've ever seen that level of physicality from Ryan before. He was absolutely incredible.

flatface

Ryan was like a man possessed. I think Porter was very strong too, one ruck I think he single handed cleared 3 Toulouse players. Very SOB like.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120537893#Comment_120537893

I've been critical of Ryan. I thought he was good, but not as good as people said he was and wasn't realising his potential. This season had been different. He's become a brutish second row for Ireland and leinster. Together with the lineout and other parts he was always good at, he's the kind of second row that features in teams that win things.

letsbefair

The big question now is to make sure the starting front row are fit for the final. All three are vital.

flatface

missing Henshaw did not have the feared impact at all. Ngatai had lots of very positive contributions, I was very impressed considering he came in cold.

All_in_Flynn

Some performance. Thought our pack were immense. They really went after Toulouse at ruck time. Toulouse were getting dirty ball all day as a result.

James Ryan is playing at a very very high level. He was folding lads in half with his clean outs. I can't remember who is was on (Maybe Arnold!?) but that one in particular was ridiculous.

Larmour did ok. Just wish he'd straighten up sometimes and recycle the ball quicker as a result.

Not enough talk about JGP in my opinion. He was phenomenal. Kicked brilliantly and his decision making was close to perfect. I would love to see the % of tries we score on the short side. JGP is so good at manipulating and identifying weaknesses that side. It's a huge weapon.

Think the biggest threat now to 5th star is the schedule. Get there with our front-liners and I'd find it hard to see us not winning.

Madeoface

Just watched it back. Charlie Ngati was incredible for a guy with no games in 4 months. Iirc he was dreadfully unlucky with injury in terms of NZ caps 5/6 years ago. Hats off to the recruitment team again....is he only on a 1 year deal? Handy bloke when the internationals are away.

bingobango12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538101#Comment_120538101

Agree with the final point. Would hope the second string would have too much for the Sharks at home minus Kolisi and Etzebeth. Same if it turns out to be Munster. Glasgow are playing great rugby though, I would be worried about meeting them and putting out a seconds side in the semis if both get through their quarters.

stephen_n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120537004#Comment_120537004

That would be ok if he hadn’t already raised his head to look up. The headbutt on VDF was the second time he raised his head. He most certainly was not just looking up.

JimmyCorkhill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538138#Comment_120538138

Do you think Leinster will play some players not involved yesterday against the Sharks?

Maybe some of the players that went to South Africa?

RidleyJones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538150#Comment_120538150

It's ridiculous anyone to claim it wasn't a headbutt to be honest. It was clearly a head butt. The only question was should JVDF been running at him, on live coverage I think the Toulouse player pushed a hand into Josh face and threw him onto the ground, the replays didn't show this and just JVDF running into the breakdown to do something

In reality it should have been a red card to Toulouse player and probably a yellow to JVDF but it's over and done with so it doesn't really matter. I do expect the Toulouse player to get cited

RidleyJones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538101#Comment_120538101

I think you are talking about the same one I remember, I seen it first and thought maybe it was illegal because he emptied him. Then it was a replay and it was a perfect clear out and put him on his ass....great to see

Shehal

The game went just the way I said it would go. Yes Toulouse improved but the reality is Leinster are still a 10-15 point better side and it showed. I learned from the six nations to stop being worried because Leinster & Ireland are comfortably the best side's in Europe and predicting Ireland to beat France by 10-15 and Leinster to beat Toulouse by 10-15 points isnt being optimistic or arrogant, its just being realistic.

bingobango12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538173#Comment_120538173

I’ve no idea how they will line up. Doubt it would be too many from the SA trip.

Healy McKee Mike Molony Baird Doris Penny Deegan McGrath H. Byrne Ngatai/Frawley/Osbourne (depending on Henshaw injury for Ngatai) Kearney Larmour O’Brien would be strong enough to get the win in my opinion.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538179#Comment_120538179

VDF is doing absolutely nothing wrong there, and any talk of him getting a yellow is ridiculous.

He’s making a pest of himself at the ruck, just like players do at virtually every ruck. Neti clearly looks up, and bucks him head up and into him. It was a clear and blatant headbutt, and should have been a red card.

Aldegheri acted the scrote on the ground too, pushing VDFs face into the ground with his forearm and leaning on VDFs head.

Super performance and win, especially considering we’re without Sexton, Lowe, Kelleher and Henshaw.

Many have said it, but James Ryan was just immense. He should have been MotM imo. Whole pack were superb. They were 65kg lighter than that Toulouse pack and yet never gave an inch in the tight and smashed Toulouse out of rucks all day.

Backs were excellent. Half backs were the superior set on the day. Ngatai was immense - that performance alone justified his signing, but he had loads of great moments earlier this season too.

Dan Sheehan’s extra terrestrial level of athleticism on show again. There isn’t a front row player in the world with his combination of speed and power, but he brings incredible accuracy out of touch, huge work rate and a great knack for scoring tries too.

Leinster 100% have Toulouse’s number in the past 5 years or so.

Sheehan reminds me a bit of Dane Coles. His acceleration after catching that ball was phenomenal. And just catching it was not exactly easy.

Clegg

In our defeats to La Rochelle and The Bulls both sides targeted Leinster's lineout and stole a lot of throws. It was very satisfying to see Toulouse try and fail at that same tactic.

They threw up lot of jumpers but couldn't disrupt our lineout and we were able to launch a lot of plays from there. Ryan and Molony did excellent work.

pickarooney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538089#Comment_120538089

Ngatai played better than Henshaw has in any game since coming back from injury. Great to see. When Frawley and Osbourne are fully fit there's a lot of depth there, and Brownlee could be an option in the future.

AdamD

I know its completely my own fault for not buying the tickets a year ago, BUT, Leinster getting an allocation of 2,800 tickets for season ticket holders is a ridiculously low amount...

CIARAN_BOYLE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538173#Comment_120538173

I think it will mostly be people who were on the bench yesterday getting a start. Penney, Henshaw and Lowe could come back in too.

Maybe a Milne or Deegan would get a chance depending on fitness.

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538179#Comment_120538179

A yellow to VDF? "Should JVDF have been running at him?"

It was a ruck. He's entitled to join from the hindmost foot and contest it. In fact, that's exactly what he's supposed to do, contesting rucks and mauls is page 1 of the Back Row Manual.

All this shyte is just the usual ABL noise.

Clegg

Toulouse were a lot better than last seasons semi final. They were stronger in contact over both sides of the ball and defensively I thought they dealt well enough with Leinster's multiple waves if attack. This was a very good test for Leinster's championship credentials and they won through.

Madeoface

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538294#Comment_120538294

Yup. But these days the Aviva is more of an 'event' than a game whether that be Leinster or Ireland. Save your squids and watch it in your local / club. More craic.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538294#Comment_120538294

All finals are same. Its lower in Aviva than other venues because of Avivas capacity. f it was an 80k stadium it would only have been maybe 5k or so tickets..

hold my beer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538344#Comment_120538344

Such nonsense. Did you even watch yesterday's game

Dupont's comments after the game were interesting. I was reading them through Google translate but he reckoned Toulouse were a lot better than last season, but Leinster were able to absorb pressure in areas that Toulouse would generally expect to score. Also dismissed any ref talk, said if you concede 40pts the result speaks for itself.