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

By that logic my 10 month old nephew is now 2?

About as good a performance as you could hope for after a month of no rugby. A sloppy enough game which was partially our own doing.

Its truly a privilege I hope I can never take for granted that I can consider a 40-5 win as "sloppy" or even "underwhelming"

One thing that surprised me was our tackle height. Leinster have been on of most disciplined teams regarding tackle height but last night we saw multiple players going in very upright and were pinged for 4(?) and lucky not to get away with a few more.

Several standouts for me. But I must start with Kelleher. Sheehan has rightly been lauded for a stellar 6 months but Ronan displayed signs of the genuine world class ability he also has. I do not know how you pick between these fellas but their battle over the coming years will be a sight to behold. Kelleher made 17 (SEVENTEEN!!) tackles while on the pitch (55 mins) that is super human stats for a front row. What's not seen from the stats is the nature of the tackles. His technique and strength are so good he positively empties the biggest and most powerful players on the gainline. I'd wager over half of those tackles were impact or effective.

Big Joe is a frustrating one at times. It's abundantly clear that athletes of his ability do not come around all that often and his positives far outweigh the negatives. Nevertheless there are penalties that just do not need to be conceded. He's a player that obviously thrives on the edge. I have no doubt he will come good but it still is maddening to see some momentum sapping penalties conceded. To give him credit, the place to iron these out is AIL and lower league games which he essentially bypassed as he's clearly ready for this level. I have no doubt he will learn.

Each time I see Jamie Osborne play he convinces me a little bit more that he's not just an excellent player - he's a generational player. The first try was made by an otherworldly good pass that would technically be graded as "poor". Glasgow do a pretty good job of disrupting this but Leinsters skills made it so that they managed to dot down where as 90% of the time it wouldn't happen.

Osborne holds really good depth and Byrne gives him a pass he has to check to catch (the pass was necessary as a Glasgow player made a good read and almost intercepted - Ross really threaded the needle here). Osborne has the ball for less than a second, checks his run, takes one step and launches an astonishingly good catch pass under the circumstances. Firing a 20m catch pass like that is not something any player can do. Yes it doesn't go to hand but the fact he gets good pace and a spin on it means the bounce was always going to be kind and DK has a nice run in to finish. Just supremely good skill, execution, confidence, the lot!

Cian Healy is still learning! Mad for a dumb penalty when you need it least.

I think McCarthy will be fine. PO'C will sort him out. He gave away a few pens on the Emerging Ireland side but the Irish coaches must also like what they see. It's good to see a young lock having a wild streak. Ireland need more of them.

'Better to be looking at it than looking for it'

Yes I know that and as the other poster rightly pointed out, they almost look like lazy penalties.

He has that fire and the power to be a mainstay for Leinster and hopefully Ireland. I would hope that the coaches encourage that edge he has. EVERY rugby team needs at least one of them in their pack.

I agree i think the niggle and aggression he has in his game is excelent and something most locks in this country struggle with, but ye hes gotta iron out the clearly biggest issue in his game and thats unforced penalties

Great to hear Kelleher played well. It is incredible that Leinster can pick between him and Sheehan (who was THE breakthrough player of the year in world rugby. By a mile)

Personally I would be in favour of just alternating the amount of times they start. The best hooker duo in world rugby. Or am I just getting carried away?

Liking the Osbourne 'Generational' talent comment! Are you talking O'Driscoll generational? Or more Ringrose generational?

He appears to me to be a very different player from those two. As you say his catch-pass under pressure looks excellent and I think his passing in general is better than the lads. I also think he has a better kicking game. That left foot looks very useful.

Biggest question marks are his defense and what he will be like in those big games. O'Driscoll & Ringrose were/are elite in those.

I see him more of a Henry Slade type player. Ringrose is only turning 28 in January, Osborne is going to struggle to get those big games to really help develop as a 13 with him around.

Not knocking Kelleher at all but his basics as a hooker were poor to average at best. One definite scrum penalty against him. Also several stray lineouts, an area of his game that has always been a weakness. Even in the warm up he was struggling to nail his darts. Around the pitch both in defense and attack he is phenomenal though.

Larmour and Lowe are back in full training and could take part against Ulster this weekend. Harry Byrne, Ronan Kelleher and Ryan Baird are also fine to play. Ngatai and Sexton are doubts, but will be assessed later in the week.

Robbie Henshaw is out until the New Year with a wrist injury. At least it isn't his hamstring as originally feared.

https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/cullen-issues-injury-update-ahead-of-ulster-clash/

Osbourne needs to find his position.

I've confidence he could break through as an international but he needs to find a position (be it 12/13/15) and get ahead of the incumbents who are all Irish internationals.

There are definitely examples of successful internationals who haven't "found their position". Eliot Daly for example comes straight to mind. JOB has gotten a jump ahead for Ireland recently from not being nailed down to one position.

Yeah that's not true though....

There is a strange perception and narrative that he is poor from touch and its quite untrue. His stats are frequently 85-90% or better. This is on par with his peers. It's quite a rarity for a team to go an entire game without losing a line out.

2 of his throws we scored directly off first phase and a third one was off 3rd phase.

12 mins we lose a throw, out jumped at the front. McCarthy was at full tilt to take it and got pipped because he jumped at 3 rather than 2. Poor call but not on the throw (Kelleher also is first to make the hit slowing down Glasgow on potentially dangerous turnover ball)

35 mins we lose another throw. This one to the very tail with Ruddock actually being lifted on the 15m line. He gets a hand to it and there's literally cms in it. Throw is at fault here but it's a pretty low percentage play in terms of line out throws.

62 mins we retain possession off a sloppy line out. Again we got to the front and jump at 3 rather than 2 and Glasgow out jump us and get a hand to disrupt. Throw was fine and hits Baird at full stretch. Another poor read as it was rather telegraphed (we were also unlucky not to get either a knock on advantage or a pen advantage here as Glasgow either knocked it on in the air or played the arm)

4 scrum pens conceded. First one Byrne got minced. Second one ref said Clarkson folded (although Byrne also got minced again). Third one Clarkson got shoved back a good distance ref again said "folding in". Ostensibly a prop penalty not a hooker. 4th pen is conceded against Clarkson where the ref says Kelleher doesn't "have his brake foot which caused the instability and Clarksons collapse" Which is really clutching at straws frankly. Clarkson sets his feet too far back.

2 scrum pen won. Big strong 8 man drive with Byrne getting the upper hand on this one (with Kelleher claiming he was headbutted for his troubles). Second one was won by Milne causing 18 to hinge.

1 scrum freekick. Instability from front row. Kelleher did get warned about brake foot before reset so possibly a factor.

His yellow was unlucky too tbh. He burst a lung to get in a good Jackal position and 11 comes first through the side and then through our gate to dump Kelleher over the ball which the ref interpreted as cynical play falling over the ball (and we were on a warning)

I wouldn't mind seeing the Ringrose/O'Brien centre partnership that worked well for Ireland against the Springboks if Ngatai is unavailable.