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

Some team named. Didn't see McCarthy selection coming and it's a tough call on Frawley.

Wow! No Larmour! He must be dropping down the rankings. Delighted for J.O.B. He's a fine player. McCarthy making his Euro debut, too.

Leinster will have to weather a storm for periods of this match. Tigers are a forward oriented side. If this was a home match I would be confident. I am nervous for this one.

Larmour is still injured. He was supposed to be back for the trip to SA but hasn't even been training afaik.

Think JOB would still be starting though, he deserves it.

Someone thinks he is :)

The Leinster scrum isn't terrible but it's not likely a weapon. Genge could be an important element if there are a lot of scrums.

Likewise Ashton and Weise are bigger and stronger than their Leinster counterparts. Leinster is probably as skillful as anyone in the competition, but their weak spot is still the potential for a team to just run over them.

I don't know if Leicester had the size or strength to run over this Leinster side. But it's probably their best bet.

Delighted with TOB's inclusion. I wondered about why he wasn't involved in the squad last week and whether he might be considered for a bench spot this week. He was so useful in the Sharks match. Hope he can express himself in the game tomorrow.

I hope they can make the difference. I'm presuming Cole doesn't have the legs he used to have, but he's a destructive scrummager.

Is it the same ref?

Edit: yes it's Mathieu Raynal who reffed the England game is in charge tomorrow. I'm sure leinster has been his ear from the earliest opportunity.

Anyone have any suggestions for where to watch it in Madrid?

According to Murray Kinsella he's been back in contact training for weeks and the players who stayed home from SA had the legs run off them in those couple of weeks so hopefully his fitness should be fine.

Spare a thought for Josh Murphy, has been excellent recently and I'm sure he's very disappointed at not making the squad. I'd have had him in ahead of McCarthy personally.

I just don't see the hype around Josh Murphy personally. Too small for lock, not skilful enough for the back row. And just generally quite a clumsy, indisciplined player. I don't think he makes the Connacht XV next season.

With McCarthy and Soroka coming through, I don't think his departure weakens us at all. They both have potential to be much better players.

Somewhere that dispenses beer :)

Few interesting tidbits from BOD on OTB, recommend listening to it but:

Leicester usually kick the leather off the ball, Ford kicks as much as he passes, and they play no rugby in their own half. Having a FB as good as Keenan will help there.

Didn't seem to think the break for the first team would do any harm, can be like a little pre season and gives a chance to work on detail.

And most interesting, says he'd heard talk that Leinster expect Joe McCarthy to be a James Ryan standard player, he's at that sort of level.

Been a slow enough journey for Moloney, considering he was a sub in our semi final defeat to Clermont in 2017. Since then he has only managed to be selected for two sub appearances in knockout games. Not including the Connacht games.