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

You keep repeating this but it isnt really true and for Leinster and Ireland he primarily has to be fit and in form for knock out games/big 6 nations games and has he really missed many of them in recent times?

Is there anything to show he has become "very" injury prone?

Yep, he missed a chunk of last season! Another calf injury. He's only played a handful of games.

I watched the game without any social media/reading of online opinions so it's interesting to see the takes in some places.

Harry Byrne is incredibly frustrating. He made 3-4 basic errors, the most egregious of which were the kicks on the full. The second one was a real stinker. The two knock ons (that I can recall) were unfortunate. One howler of a pass from Foley and the other was a bouncing ball that Osborne had already failed to gather. In isolation, these moments happen but you can't have multiple moments that hand possession back to the opposition particularly when scores are proving difficult to come by.

On the flip side, you can still see his natural ability. He was taking the ball to the line and committing guys, his passing was largely very good in fairly miserable conditions and he pushed the team deep into their territory before an inevitable error from Leinster handed the ball back. He continues to need game time but unfortunately, games will be few and far between during the 6N. Leinster only have 6 matches left in the league. I'd give him both starts in SA if top spot is sorted as well as at least two of the other four.

Foley was similarly mixed. A few flashes of great open field running but his passing left a lot to be desired. It's not often that I think Nick McCarthy improves things but he clearly did. Himself and RB have tonnes of experience together going back to schools rugby and they had a big impact. McCarthy just cleared it from the ruck clearly without anything special. Blew a certain try though by popping to Milne when there were 2-3 guys out wide with an uncontested walk in facing them.

Ngatai is our best signing in a few years. Picking up some niggles but he seems to have a couple of big moments in every game he plays in that create a score or a momentum swing moment. Osborne had a bit of a mixed game also. One of two errors with the boot but put in a couple of great kicks too. He's a very good decision maker with ball in hand and gets over the gain line more often than not. Uncannily similar to a younger Henshaw in style.

Back three were really good. Shite conditions and they managed them well. Think Keenan knocked one or two on but generally was solid and took his try wonderfully. His identification of space to come back to the near side was great. JOB was the pick of the bunch. Just a very tidy game in terrible conditions.

Flankers were fairly quiet in terms of big moments if industrious. You could see the additional venom and more smartly picked moments from VDF the moment he came on to try and make shite of the Ospreys rucks. Conan obviously the pick of the bunch. He looked far more like his old self and was huge with ball in hand throughout. Even in the first half, he was barreling over the gain line. A couple of penalties but if you're going to win a couple of turnovers and make over 100m with ball in hand, feel free to conceded a penalty or two. MOTM comfortably from a Leinster perspective.

Front row had a rough night as a unit. Ala'alatoa struggled, not for the first time. He's improved significantly in that area but Ospreys are always a gnarled and grim team to face up front. They've always had a strong front five and scrum going back to lads like Duncan/Adam Jones, Paul James, Hibbard etc. Not much has changed. It was a good hit out to prepare for Gloucester who are playing a similar style these days with some of their big hitters back from injury.

Healy was fine. He's still a very solid scrummager and rarely gets done by anyone but part of a back pedalling pack. With a new/lightweight pairing behind them, it was always going to be a risk. Sheehan was generally good but again, a couple of errors. He has to take a big part of the blame for the Ospreys try. Completely switched off. When they made the break from the tap and go, he was the only blindside defender but fell asleep and jogged back around the ruck to the open side leaving a 5-6m blindside wide open to be attacked. Unsurprisingly, went and go the try to make up for it.

Deeny was good around the park. His back row background was in evidence. A lot of little tip on passes and I'd imagine Leinster are keen to develop him as an option because of such ability and his carrying. Molony was very quiet. Big change in urgency and intensity when Ryan came on in terms of linespeed and impact.

All in all a good win. Ospreys have been a lot better of late with three wins on the trot including a win in Montpellier and away to Cardiff who had been, up to that point, comfortably the best region.

With the current form of Leicester and Montpellier having to visit Swansea still, there's a real possibility of the Ospreys making the European knock outs at the moment.

Good analysis. I've watched it back and left the volume up. Lol

Conditions were poor, tbf and we were off the boil. The back 3 were very good. They performed and looked for work. They all are rucking well. It's noticeable how good Leinsters back 3, especially the wings contest rucks.

For me, Ruddock was poor. He took the ball into contact upright and didn't get over the gainline. He's usually solid doing this. Penny was ok. VDF did improve the back row. Seriously good cameo. Conan was great. Conan has a great burst of speed and power.

The front row were mangled. Enough about that. Deeny will learn from this. I think he played as well as can be expected. He's got potential and doesn't shy away from contact.

HB will probably bench over the next 2 weeks. So, not great in terms of minutes. I'd love to see him get a run.

The Ospreys Fullback has a cannon. Best kicker I've seen in a long time. Huge distance on those kicks. What a weapon.

Malherbe would be a nice pickup if Big Mike is not retained. I think Ala'Alatoa is out of contract.

Beyond Furlong and Mike, we are falling down the perverbial th hole. Clarkson and Vakh are not close to being good enough. But it could change. Given that Clarkson is so young and Vakh has had a mare with injury.

We would be more likely to see Osbourne at 12. Unless they decide to start JOB at 13, with Larmour and Lowe on the wings. Which I think is less likely.

I think Kelleher will get the nod this week. He's rated as a better scrum option than Sheehan.

Will Healy move over to tight head? Or would Vakh be trusted? If Healy is the back up tight head, that puts Milne into the squad as cover for Porter! What a great opportunity for the youngster.

For whatever reason I have a bad feeling about this game. I think Glaws are going to be very, very up for it after embarrassing themselves in the RDS.

They were absolutely embarrassed. They lost 57-0 in a competitive game of rugby, it even sparked a debate about the competition as a whole. It was a complete embarrassment to Gloucester as a club and shows they have no faith in their ability to win the competition.

That's still embarrassing, picking that team in itself was a joke. What's the point in sugarcoating it? If they had any intention on winning the competition they would have picked a proper team.

They had travelling fans who paid money to come over and watch the game, which was ruined for Leinster fans too. Don't defend that nonsense.

But it was quite literally an extreme, they lost 57-0. We can agree to disagree here, that's an embarrassment to the club for me. Noting that they also have 4 cancelled games this season which can be used as rest weeks.