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

Did anyone point out to him that Leinster have the same 6 day turnaround? Or is there any point.

We'll probably score 50 against Gloucester but won't learn or gain anything from it, apart from it helping us get the top seeding.

With the new format, the competition really doesn't start until the knockout stages. That's why I'm not getting giddy about pool stage wins. Because there's very little at stake. You can win just one game and still qualify.

Gloucester are absolutely right to send a B-team over. They have 5 points in the bag after one game, so are very likely to qualify regardless of tomorrow's result. And this is by far their least important game out of their next four. They have three huge Premiership games coming up over the Christmas period. They'd be mad not to rest players for this game.

That tweet is beyond ridiculous. However this group stage is too. I don't think I could confidently explain the system off hand to a casual rugby follower, and that is a serious issue.

I particularly enjoyed the years of them claiming they were doing badly because their league had relegation. Apparently we were supposed to believe their top 6 from the prior year were absolutely terrified of picking up less than the 2 wins a season London Irish & Worcester were getting in rotation and thus couldn't take Europe seriously.

If they wanted to devalue the pool stages to have a better knockout stage, the solution here is pretty obvious is it not?

Why not make it straight knockout from day one and scrap the pool stages entirely? They've made the pool stages an utter pisstake and the games don't have any real consequences currently, so why not do away with them all together and make it a knockout competition like the FA Cup.

That speaks volumes about the set up. I feel for the fans that pay to go see this one.

He's made a tit of himself there tbh. He's defending Gloucester throwing this one.

Good article. He's been a good player for us. I hope he can be kept for another year.

Just had a chance to watch the Racing game. Leinster really motoring but Racing had one of those days where everything went wrong, 2 yellows, a handling error every few minutes, brainless penalties destroying any territorial momentum they built, etc. In the first half they did manage to destroy a couple of Leinster rucks and steal ball which is one of those things that Leinster have paid a big price for in the past. But overall Leinster look like a team that is playing with a lot of confidence and has quite a bit more in the tank. James Lowe is a fantastic winger but he'd also be a world class 6 or 7. Tough b*stard. They'll go a long way again this year. One peeve, lots of people have pointed out that Leinster had a perfect lineout record in this match, but Wade's try came directly from a quick throw resulting from a Leinster lineout win being pushed into touch. I wouldn't count that as a successful lineout!

Yes, BOD seems to have been the first person to do it!