Leinster vs. Ospreys, 20.15, 19th March, (eir Sport 1, TG4)

Buer

Leinster took off DK, Bent and Fardy off when cruising.

The team on the field for the last 15 was an A side. It has no bearing on next week.

MOR, Andrew Smith (in the bin) , Jamie Osborne, Frawley, ROL, HB, Hugh O'Sullivan, Dan Sheehan, Penny, Molony, Toner, Dunne, Clarkson, Cronin, Hanan.

I won't read too much into it. I thought we were on the ropes with 10-15 left. There will be far greater cohesion next week and I'm not sure any of the above will start.

armchaircoach

Who are you planning on replacing them with?

Dave_The_Sheep

Buer wrote: »

O'Sullivan's Leinster career died tonight.

I thought I read something about his contract not being renewed anyway? Or did I make that up in my head.

Squidgy Black

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

We lose and Frawley gets injured in the last minute.

Someone else should probably do the match thread for the next few games...

It's the tables Dave. We had no tables and we had players.

Squidgy Black

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

I thought I read something about his contract not being renewed anyway? Or did I make that up in my head.

Was chat about it in the Leinster thread but nothing confirmed

arsebiscuits1

Underwhelming second half from Leinster.

Harry especially poor in the second 40.

Went straight to neutral instead of 5th gear after our 3rd try. Far too casual with the ball in our half and we paid.

But the decision not to let MOR play the ball before Ospreys third is a shocker.

Have never really rated Olly Hodges as a TMO. Surely these decisions are worth a look?

Was the decision to put Sheehan on at 8 tactical? Or did they not back SOB to come on? He'd already been on

Clegg

Don't think Penny will feature next week either. He was looked at extensively by our physios throughout the game.

molloyjh

So Clarkson off injured and Bent in the wars at the end. Murphy looked like he had a busted nose, Penny didn't look fit, SOB injured, 2 half backs who looked poor, H Byrne is not the Messiah, Frawleys shoulder playing up again and ROL bandaged so badly he could hardly see.

The result is irrelevant, but the injuries are very much not. We won't get front line internationals back next week so we are going into a final fairly crocked. Munster don't really have any excuse now....

arsebiscuits1

Clegg wrote: »

Don't think Penny will feature next week either. He was looked at extensively by our physios throughout the game.

He looked absolutely knackered tonight.

Whether he was carrying something or he's just played so much recently he just didn't look at the races tonight.

molloyjh

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

Underwhelming second half from Leinster.

Harry especially poor in the second 40.

Went straight to neutral instead of 5th gear after our 3rd try. Far too casual with the ball in our half and we paid.

But the decision not to let MOR play the ball before Ospreys third is a shocker.

Have never really rated Olly Hodges as a TMO. Surely these decisions are worth a look?

Was the decision to put Sheehan on at 8 tactical? Or did they not back SOB to come on? He'd already been on

ROL was also clearly hit high immediately before that last Ospreys penalty. Right in front of the ref and front and centre of the main camera. I have no idea how that wasn't looked at.

Clegg

It'll be a disgrace if the IRFU don't allow our frontline players back for next week. Unfortunately I fully expect it to happen.

A final is a final and should always take precedence over any other game.

armchaircoach

Clegg wrote: »

It'll be a disgrace if the IRFU don't allow our frontline players back for next week. Unfortunately I fully expect it to happen.

A final is a final and should always take precedence over any other game.

Call me cynical, but I suspect there are a good few in the irfu who are quite pleased at their flagship brand finally looking like they will get their first silverware in a decade. I agree that we should get players back, I just won't hold my breath.

TRC10

If Frawley is injured then it will probably be
12-Henshaw 13-R.O'L won't it

Squidgy Black

molloyjh wrote: »

So Clarkson off injured and Bent in the wars at the end. Murphy looked like he had a busted nose, Penny didn't look fit, SOB injured, 2 half backs who looked poor, H Byrne is not the Messiah, Frawleys shoulder playing up again and ROL bandaged so badly he could hardly see.

The result is irrelevant, but the injuries are very much not. We won't get front line internationals back next week so we are going into a final fairly crocked. Munster don't really have any excuse now....

The hope would be we get Ross, Ed Byrne, Ruddock and maybe Larmour if he doesn't get much time off the bench this weekend. Or maybe Lowe but I wouldn't be too sure.

Squidgy Black

TRC10 wrote: »

If Frawley is injured then it will probably be
12-Henshaw 13-R.O'L won't it

There's zero chance of us getting Henshaw back next week he's played every game of the 6N, most of them 80 minutes too I think

Clegg

Squidgy Black wrote: »

The hope would be we get Ross, Ed Byrne, Ruddock and maybe Larmour if he doesn't get much time off the bench this weekend. Or maybe Lowe but I wouldn't be too sure.

There'll be a few more than that surely? I reckon Kelleher, Porter and Baird will play in the final. Lowe and JGP should be back as well.

Although that's an awful lot of players to bed back into the side in one go.

Squidgy Black

Clegg wrote: »

There'll be a few more than that surely? I reckon Kelleher, Porter and Baird will play in the final. Lowe and JGP should be back as well.

Although that's an awful lot of players to bed back into the side in one go.

Any lads who started a game are a toss up to be honest, and Porters played a fair few minutes I think, but that was more just a worst case scenario kind of thing. Baird should definitely be back though. It's hard to tell how tough the IRFU will be with the rest period but I really wouldn't hold my breath.

randomname2005

molloyjh wrote: »

ROL was also clearly hit high immediately before that last Ospreys penalty. Right in front of the ref and front and centre of the main camera. I have no idea how that wasn't looked at.

It shouldn't have come down to that though.

Clegg

We really missed Luke McGrath tonight. He's a leader and would have taken the pressure off the shoulders of a young midfield. Also would have given his pack greater organisation in the closing stages. We were a mess with a few minutes to go.

molloyjh

armchaircoach wrote: »

Call me cynical, but I suspect there are a good few in the irfu who are quite pleased at their flagship brand finally looking like they will get their first silverware in a decade. I agree that we should get players back, I just won't hold my breath.

Ah stop, that's just tin foil hat stuff. Front line internationals have already played a good deal of rugby since the resumption. At least 1 inter-pro in August, at least 1 league KO game, the HEC QF, at least 1 or 2 P14 games from this season before going into the 2020 6Ns and playing 2 games there. Throw in 3 ANC games, 2 HEC games, 2 inter-pros and 5 2021 6Ns games. That's about 18 games already this season with the HEC to come. There's no way these guys will play 4+ big games in a row. None. Nor should they.

molloyjh

randomname2005 wrote: »

It shouldn't have come down to that though.

Well Morris also should have been pinged for playing O'Reilly on the ground ahead of the second Ospreys try. There was another high tackle on O'Reilly that wasn't checked, but the TMO did get involved for Smiths high tackle. There was some frustrating officiating as well as the poor performances on our part. We had a load of kids out there and a new series of injuries. There were a lot of factors at play.

arsebiscuits1

A word for Andrew Smith too.

The poor kid still has a 0% win record for Leinster.

randomname2005

molloyjh wrote: »

Well Morris also should have been pinged for playing O'Reilly on the ground ahead of the second Ospreys try. There was another high tackle on O'Reilly that wasn't checked, but the TMO did get involved for Smiths high tackle. There was some frustrating officiating as well as the poor performances on our part. We had a load of kids out there and a new series of injuries. There were a lot of factors at play.

Agree but we had a 19 3 lead. Hb had a kick blocked down he had ample time to clear and I'm sure if we looked back we would see decisions going our way before the crazy last few minutes. Pulling it out of the bag would have been a great learning experience but so will this result. Hopefully the injuries are not serious

Ardillaun

Not much to learn from this but I was impressed by the cohesion of the Leinster backs in the first half. Fair play to Ospreys for hanging in there long after I had written them off.

Garda Kenny

Sheehan Byrne Osborne and Frawley the pick of a bad bunch for me. They weren’t bad they just didn’t care. You’d have to wonder why when places are up for grabs constantly in this Leinster set up.

Byrne looks confident nay sometimes cocky in his delivery of play. He spreads well, times his passes, kicks well not too much and makes good decisions. He takes good lines with conviction but needs to learn to do that not only when going for the tryline.

Sheehan is a human wrecking ball and reminds me of Keith Wood at hooker. Always makes yearns in contact and offers himself on the charge regularly which he makes consistently ground from. Offers himself and effectively in defence also.

Osborne and Frawley were quiet enough playing the link men mainly but I thought their organisation in defence was the best part of the team last night. A good midfield partnership can hold the whole team together in defence and attack.

Phenomenal comeback by Opsreys will give the players and coaches a good kick up the backside for next week.