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

On the topic of the packs, size, set piece etc....

Leinster do have issues with the maul and scrum but it's not the key issue to me. The scrum was clinging on at times at the end and there was a fear of penalty try territory on those final scrum sets (although La Rochelle took the ball out before it got that far and with good reason). La Rochelle also comfortably scored a maul try in that game without much difficulty. It's an area of concern undoubtedly. Our attacking maul is good and has been good for some time.

I'm not sure if the Irish pack delivering against France/SA in the set piece is hugely relevant given that the Irish pack largely plays together every week and has the advantage of that cohesion as opposed to France whose starting front five in Paris last season came from 4 different teams. Facing a pack like La Rochelle (which is bigger than the French pack overall) is a step up in terms of the maul/scrum.

But La Rochelle beat us because they controlled the breakdown. They weren't shy about it. They spoke afterwards about knowing Leinster will beat you if they get quick ball and strike for a couple of tries at a certain period of the game. It was about dominating the breakdown, flooding that area when needed and offering up three points in defence rather than seven to make sure they kept in touch as the game went into the final stages. The killed our breakdown, maul and attacking lines with linespeed/offside penalties. They hit double digit penalties just after half time but then owned possession thereafter.

On their own ball, they made sure the ruck was secured. The possession statistics are eye opening when you consider how many shots at goal we had (61% in favour of La Rochelle). No dramatic movements of the ball or people getting isolated. Just set the ruck up and blast Leinster back who weren't contesting a huge amount. Look to force an opportunity as Leinster make tackle after tackle under extreme pressure and physicality. It all worked out incredibly well for them, just about.

People are talking about the scrum and mau again now l but the main areas again where Racing gave Leinster trouble in general play (in both games) was the breakdown. In Le Havre, they flung bodies in and we didn't protect our ball well enough. We were profligate in the extreme in attack and lost possession multiple times in their territory after they drove over our ball. Despite the final score line, it was only 7-3 after 30 minutes until Racing went down to 14. Similarly, they turned us over repeatedly last weekend in the first 40 and it took patience and time to break them down. That's how to stop Leinster. The scrum and maul are ways of scoring against us but to beat Leinster, you need to stop them. The Bulls made **** of the breakdown too in the RDS last season very effectively, turning us over and yielding penalties

Luke Fitzgerald made a good point which correlates strongly with last year's final. The play we're seeing now from Leinster is the hardest thing to execute. The elaborate lines of running, decoys, passing/offloads etc. There are so many moving parts. In a final, it becomes a lot harder to execute those things because of the pressure you're under both mentally and the quality and intensity of the opposition. It's often teams who can comes up with a couple of moments of brilliance and execute simple rugby along with stopping the opposition end up with the winner's medals. Scrums and mauls are the bread and butter of a game and teams who are strong there can revert to it with ease which our rivals do when we're getting frustrated by the lack of space and pressure.

Leinster 100% need to improve on their set piece but if they can somehow keep their heads in the pressure cooker of the final and execute their plan at the breakdown (as well as having complete clarity with the referee in advance on what they expect the opposition to do), they should beat anyone in Dublin.

Agreed. The Sharks are great fun to watch but they concede too many points to be strong contenders to win trophies

I don't think there was any grand masterplan from LAR. They played the referee very well, took the chances that came their way and Leinster had a mental meltdown for about five minutes when everything we did turned to shyte.

If your game plan relies on Johnny Sexton and Ross Byrne missing kicks, then it's a rubbish gameplan.

Well, yeah, they had a game plan - but it wasn't "concede the penalties and hope leinster don't kick them over".

I've said it over and over, if JOB doesn't make a horse's ass of that kick that was going dead, we win that game. If 30,000 French fans (and the LAR players) knew the rules, we win that game. If Sexton doesn't run the ball from his own goalposts in the next phase, we win that game.

Couple of new faces here. Good to see Connors back.

Very exciting side, gutted to be missing it (stupid weddings).

Every game like this that comes around, it's remarkable the quality of backrow Leinster can put out.

PS: It's also mad that Michael Milne/Tom Clarkson have played almost as many games for Leinster as Will Connors.

I was just about to reference those moments. If JOB hadn't played it, it would have been a scrum to Leinster on halfway, and I remember saying at that time that LAR were looking tired. Instead it was the goal line dropout, Dulan takes a gammy drop goal attempt which has a wicked bounce that puts Sexton under pressure and he chooses to run it out. Queue energy giving 5m Scrum to LAR.

I still haven't re-watched the game (the pain is real), but I strongly believe those 3 or 4 minutes was the turning of the tide, and that series of events key. And that's before you consider all the other micro moments in the final quarter (Keenan stepping into touch from kick receipt around the 22, Ross Byrne fumbling Conan's poor pass, JGP's seatbelt tackle, Ala'alatoa not getting reward for a jackal etc.)

That's the weakest front 5 I've seen from Leinster in a long time.

Home advantage is a great leveller and I've every faith in the coaching set up that they'll have done enough work to have their players prepared. But on paper that Cardiff side is stronger.

Can't make the game tomorrow as I have a gig on so have a pair of tickets available if anyone wants them? Just drop me a PM.

Just noticed that Russell isn't playing? Is he injured? Good chance for O'Reilly.