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

It's amazing that several posters here were thinking Leinster by 15? Stunning complacency.

I think the best 2 sides made the final, both vastly better than the rest of the last 8. Racing 92 could possibly have beat Leinster today, but for me, the top teams made it.

La Rochelle are now a team with pedigree. I thought they'd win last year. ROG has done well. He's one of 2 or 3 Munster lads to achieve amazing things recently. Felix Jones and Donncha Ryan. Fair play to them. ROG could be a good shout for the next Ireland coach. But, knowing us, Friend will probably be selected.

The Scarlets game was close only in terms of the scoreline, two late tries put a better spin on things for the Scarlets, but let's be honest, we **** hockeyed them that game.

Munster last season was, to a lesser degree, a comprehensive win just not borne out on the scoreboard.

I feel Leinster didn't really throw anything unexpected at La Rochelle. Had they shown their hand too much in the preceding matches? Their defence knew exactly what was coming and they were able to get up into the passing channels. And then Leinster's flow was broken up by their excellent work on the deck. And, conversely, Leinster didn't seem to be able to stop La Rochelle getting the ball wide.

I think McCarthy should have been on much earlier. In hindsight maybe he should even have started.

I suppose we all go back to out pre-conceived notions when looking for answers. Personally, I can't help wondering if Josh Murphy at blindside would have cleared out rucks better, leading to cleaner ball for JGP.

There's no sense in hand wringing or blaming Barnes. What happened was simply, that on the day, Leinster were below standard and were sloppy. There's no point of pointing fingers as it was a team effort that most lads didn't rise up to the challenge.

Outside of Ryan and VDF, no Leinster player really played well. Those 2 played really well and put themselves about.

J.O.B is a good player. He's not a top level winger. I wonder if Larmour would have done better?

Rewatched the game because I'm a masochist. Overall, La Rochelle deserved to win. They took their scores well and upped the pressure in the final ten minutes to the point where Leinster couldn't hang on.

That being said, this was a huge missed opportunity for Leinster. They weren't overpowered by La Rochelle in phase play and their advantage at the scrum was negated by Leinsters excellent lineout mauling. I've seen some posts online about Leinster being dominated up front. That's just not the case.

The defeat came from Leinster being unable to implement their attacking plan. La Rochelle contested the rucks and made things more difficult, but Leinster clearly had that scouted and committed an extra cleaner to secure the ball.

The biggest issue that I can see was we just took the wrong options in attack. The pass was a bit inaccurate, hitting the shoulder rather than being in front of the carrier. Or their were just simple handling errors leading to knock ons. It felt like Leinster were anticipating a big hit in contact and bracing themselves for impact which didn't actually arrive. Everything in attack was too rushed.

we lost but even though we had an off day it was very close. It’s a very young side and will be better next season. Leinster and Ireland need to employ a scrum guru as it is killing us

"I knew defensively the way we'd set up we wouldn't really let them play..." - O'Gara

One try scored and five conceded in the three finals Leinster have made over the last five tournaments.

Nothing much else can be said about the final I think. We could have won and probably would have if we had a lucky break or two.

I hope the players can regather themselves mentally and physically as we've another huge game next Saturday. I'd hate for them to finish the season without any silverware as they deserve something from the season.

No idea what sort of team to expect for Glasgow. A lot of the forwards will need to be rotated out as they took part in a hugely intense final. But we need to see some sort of continuity elsewhere. Would probably select the same backline sans Sexton and Lowe. The former took a knock and I think the latter was clearly unfit for the final anyway.

I'm not even sure we can afford to field this pack against Glasgow. They shithoused their way to victory against us last season at the RDS and I feel like we need a strong 1-8 to combat them. But those lads must be shattered.

Healy

Sheehan

Ala'alatoa

McCarthy

Baird?

Ruddock

Penny

Deegan

JGP

Byrne

Henshaw

Ringrose

Larmour

JOB

Keenan

McCarthy put on more size? He's already 119/120kg at 6'6''

Can't understand how they're letting one of their biggest locks in Jack Dunne go. Yes, McCarthy looks better than him, but what if McCarthy is unavailable? Or you could fit both of them in the XXIII.

I suppose Jenkins replaces Dunne for however long his contract is, but will Leinster be allowed to keep him on beyond that if they want to?

Good man Jim! You were missed!

I wonder at times if we'd be stronger for breaking the Henshaw/ ringrose axis. They're both good players, great even on their day, but I've never been convinced they're a great combo.

With the issues we were having with the rush defense, I wonder if a player like Frawley wouldn't have added an element that could've unlocked them

Still raging we lost that. Hopefully the anger drives the players on to win it next season. The match thread really bringing out the bottom feeders

The signing of an nz 12 can only mean frawley moves to 10 next season. Anything else means the transfer makes no sense.

We have henshaw/ringrose backed up by frawley/osbourne where does he fit if it's not to move frawley to 10