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

Only positive from this game is Leavy has shown he's still quality and will be a starter once he's fully match fit.

That was pure muck. Utter.

We played as badly as I’ve seen us play in a long time, but Dragons brought absolutely nothing to the game. They barely got into our 22 at all and just clung on because of our errors. They absolutely did not deserve to win.

VDF, Ryan, Porter and Sheehan had good games as individuals. Some big contributions around the pitch. But there were so many errors around the pitch elsewhere that we never built on their big moments.

Keenan and RoL were the pick of the backs. Which is impressive as neither saw much of the ball for the first 40 minutes.

We’re in the RDS next week.

Right, let’s make sure we clarify a few things. Dragons did not deserve to win that game. They should not have won that game. They created the sum total of nothing at all. They spoiled really well, but to win a game you have to be able to score. They never once came even close to threatening our line. So let’s drop the “Dragons should have won” or “Dragons deserved to win” garbage please. Because that’s all it is. There is no basis in reality for it at all.

Leinster played badly. It happens. It actually happens to plenty of teams in Rodney Parade. Linking that game with what has happened in the HEC knock outs over the last few years is nonsense. Mainly because we won. And were the only team to create anything. And were the only ones playing any rugby. What Dragons did was spoil really well. We let them. That was compounded by poor performances from a number of individuals, some of whom wouldn’t be in the 23 in any meaningful games.

That brings us to the most important point. In bigger games against better opposition, we would have selected a better team and been more focused and possibly even better prepared. That’s not an excuse for such a poor performance today, but it is reality.

We weren’t as good last week as some suggested. We’re not as bad this week as some suggest. Plenty of teams have had days like today in Rodney Parade. We won. Let’s just take the points and move on. If we start seeing further performances like that one then maybe we can start talking about issues or worrying that we may have similar issues in the big European games. But for now it was just another example of a sh!tshow in Newport. It wasn’t the first and won’t be the last.

I see your point but I'd still send today's team out in the Aviva next week.

You’re drawing links between things that just aren’t there. Dragons spoiled and we performed poorly enough to let them. That categorically isn’t what happened against Saracens or Lyon. At all. Dragons didn’t really bring a huge amount of line speed or physicality. They lost nearly every metric going. And do you think that the Dragons did something that the likes of Munster or Ulster or Exeter are incapable of?

You're overreacting. In a big way.

What? Again so soon? What's he been promoted to now? Defence coach?

Any reduced ticket prices for members on Sat in the RDS?

Anyone hear anything about the terrace this Sat? Is it business as usual? Didn't see anything saying different.

From what I understand, the Sportsground were able to serve pints because the bar and stands were all outdoors. Thomond wasn’t allowed serve pints because the bars are indoors. So the Centurian for example probably won’t be open.