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

Tadhg McElroy signed on a short term contract. Interesting pickup.

I'd say that they've done ok. But, Porter is still having some problems. Our scrum is just ok. I would hope to see improvements.

There is a small minority of posters who demand that Leinster are utterly dominant in every aspect of every game for the full 80 minutes, and anything less is a damning indictment of the players, coaches, the IRFU but most of all the arrogance and hubris of those Leinster fans who can't see how sh1t we actually are.

Do you actually enjoy supporting rugby or do you just enjoy being right to strangers online?? Because yes it is the case that your consistent blanket and vaguely worded negativity will mean that you can consider yourself correct on some things - much like a stopped clock being right twice a day...

But then I genuinely wonder what enjoyment some people like yourself can actually get out of rugby.

Our lack of a scrum platform has been our downfall. We've come out on the wrong end. There's no harm in wanting improvement? Unless, we want to be perennial runner ups!

It was the quarter final that Sarries scrum demolished ours. Not the final. They had to go away and completely rearrange how we were engaging in the scrum. Which fixed the stability problems on the hit. Can’t remember if it was McBryde or Fogarty who did that.

The reality is, Porter is only a year into switching sides. Which can’t be easy. Yet you seem to want him destroying packs or we should sack our scrum coaches. You said that McBryde is stealing a living on more than one occasion.

Our lack of a scrum platform!? That’s very specific. I think had Sexton cleared that ball on around 60 mins in the final none of us would be having this conversation. LAR were knackered and we had some daylight on the scoreboard. We made a number of errors in the HEC final that saw us give LAR entries into the game that they didn’t earn. Add to that the fact that Barnes plain refused to deal with their cynicism and they utterly closed down the game in the last few mins with one out short carries off rucks with latches sealing it off again and again and that’s ultimately why they won. They didn’t roll over us in the last few mins. They made tiny gains again and again and again and basically sealed off on every short carry. How many phases did it take to get that last try?

There really is some awful amount of sh!te spouted about that game. We bottled it. Barnes bottled it. And LAR happily played the worst attacking rugby imaginable to slowly eek out a victory and run down the clock at the same time at the end. Had we kept our heads we could have won that game despite anything and everything else that happened in it.

He wasn't training today so looks like it'll be Foley and McCarthy. Going to be a seriously patched up team.

Frawley, Keenan and Furlong back training though, might see them against Munster.

Our scrum should be dominant. Imo! That's enough from me about the scrum! Lol

There's a bit of revisionism here. The same front row were having problems last year and the year before for Ireland, it was one of the areas that has seen great improvement more recently but the scrum problems that were the weakest part of Ireland's game were also an issue for Leinster on several occasions. It was widely discussed at the time and stuff like Porter's transition, young hookers, and persistently getting on the wrong side of reffing judgements at scrum time were posited as explanations. It was a real issue. And I know Porter and Kelleher were missing for England.

....update

Did you miss the last sentence where I said we could and should have won it regardless of LARs approach and Barnes’ failings? That clearly points to the fact that I was not blaming the ref. But it is true that he was very lax on LARs cynicism and time wasting.

LAR approached the last few mins of the game by taking the ball from a ruck, carrying basically to the side of that ruck with latchers to secure possession and not looking to make much territory. They backed their ability to close out rucks from jackal threats by staying so close to the ruck and meaning that they always had bodies to shut off the ruck completely. Such short carries meant they almost totally removed the risk of knocking on. So if they went another 5 mins doing it it was no great shakes to them. That’s what I was referencing about them running down the clock. It was clearly a part of what they were doing.

As for their fitness, they absolutely were knackered coming up to the hour mark. Maybe not all of them, but a good few were.

I have nailed my colours to the mast of being a fan of the emerging Ireland tour. I thought it was a great opportunity for Deegan and Penny to develop their leadership qualities.

It has also been a great chance for the likes of Deeny and Culhane to put their hands up and show they're ready for senior rugby.

But man alive I can't remember a time in history that Leinster have been this thin on the ground in terms of back rows lol.

I know we have SOBII to come in if needed who looks like he's packed some serious KGs on.

Back 3 looking a bit thin too.