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

Finsally, lovely finish by Hawkshaw. Great burst by Ruddock

Delighted for Hawkshaw.

And there's another one.

Clegg gutted.

Luke really needed that score after a poor performance

Not at all. I want us to win and perform well.

But I don't want us to play poorly and for people to be happy to ignore the obvious decline we're seeing around the pitch.

Jaysus.

The Connacht knock on and Porch slip. They're killing themselves.

Frawley is pretty good at this rugby lark.

It's the first time (that comes to mind) that I've ever seen him stand out for Leinster and it's against a tired 14 man Connacht. I wish him well but he's had more poor to average games than good ones in blue. My only concern with him leaving is who's behind him.

We'll miss the players who are leaving for Connacht and Exeter. But I think we've made a bet on the talent coming through the academy and the recent graduates, that they'll eventually be better than those who are leaving.

I like Josh Murphy, but I think Joe McCarthy has already shown the goods to be a very good player. ROL is also very good, but has already fallen behind Ringrose and Osborne at 13 and Henshaw and Frawley at 12. Dooley is a loss, but the Ireland u20 loosehead Jack Boyle looks the goods. Adam Byrne is a massive unit and I think could've been a great asset for Leinster had he been fit. But TOB has come through very well and has the ball playing skills that I think Byrne has always lacked.

You've exaggerated the whole thing.

Let's just admit it and we'll all carry on.

It's very, very hard for a squad of 50+ to show up with 80 minutes of excellence, week in, week out. There are 15 other players on the field after all.

But all we ever need is to tweak a few points of emphasis, in any match, against any team, and we'll always win.

It's not a Leinster decline, its greater investment and quality from other teams in the League. The bad news for them is, it won't make any difference.

Can't agree with this. Our losses to Ulster and Cardiff this season showed definite frailties at the ruck and with how we deal with opposition kicking tactics. The ruck issue has been evident for a few seasons and the kicking and positioning issues are new. But in all of those games, and in this one for the first 50 minutes, we've seen us also being incredibly loose in how we play.

Loose is the way we play. Its how we win.

Yeah you will loose a few set pieces, maybe a bit of platform for spells by under-resourcing the odd ruck, but when our running and offloading game is that good, who cares?

It's how Ireland win, its how New Zealand win and I daresay Leinster taught them both a thing or two.

Yes, there are some errors, but they absolutely do not amount to a decline, that's just nonsense talk. We're still beating all round us and come the knockouts of both and looking around the other NH leagues, I'd back us for the double any day.

He must post here so, we’ve a couple here do the same.