Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

I get you're sore about this, but I never criticised the selection. Leinster where absolutely favourites for this match given Munster's casualties, they just didn't play that well on a day when the opposition brought the right tactics and intensity. Leinster won plenty of matches this season that they might have lost because younger and marginal players delivered big time. But, as is common with these Leinster teams, when the pressure comes on in knock out rugby at season's end there are uncharacteristic failures. You explain it by reference to luck and tight margins, but coaches and top players don't think like that. They look for reasons and things that can be changed so that tight losses turn into victories. And Leinster haven't won the league since it changed to include SA. It's a different league now. Things aren't going to get easier for Leinster, they're going to get quite a bit harder. SA teams will show up in Europe as they've done in the URC, and hopefully Munster can build next season on the progress they've made in the latter half of this one. At least we can assume the loss to Munster will galvanise the team and they'll go on to smash LAR.

That would be you dismissing Leinster's league record then. If Saturday doesn't matter then why point out that Leinster's's successes in the league shouldn't be ignored as you did earlier. Unless we wan to count the successes and explain away defeats. That's the style of some Leinster fans that Ive been commenting on, and it's resulted in an exaggerated opinion of the team, largely because of its success in a league that's not been very competitive until recently.

Perhaps Leinster should just pack up and leave!!! Lol.

Your fundamental error is that you think the defeat on Saturday means something bigger. It doesn't. We picked a team with one objective in mind, and that was resting guys for the more important match. Winning against Munster would have been a nice bonus and no more.

I don't know what province you support but you're coming at it from a different perspective to Leinster fans. Like, yesterday Dublin won the Leinster football championship, 13 in a row, and the face on their captain when he was lifting the trophy would tell you everything you need to know about what it means to Dublin, i.e. f**k all. Now imagine the Louth captain getting to lift that cup, it would be the absolute highlight of his career. Dublin, on the other hand, know that they'll be judged on the All Ireland and only the All Ireland.

Leinster topped the league table at a canter, again. If we'd really wanted to win yesterday, we would have picked a very different 23. But Leo saw the abuse he got after the European final, he knows that people like you have been sharpening the knives for 12 months now. He knows that if he wins against LAR, then no-one will give two sh1ts about the URC, and he knows that if he loses against LAR, then winning the URC would have done nothing to quiet the abusers - so why on earth would he damage his chances of a European win with absolutely no payback?

Your'e universalising from your own perspective. Leinster fans have one European cup in a decade, if you don't count the league that's like the Chiefs yet very few Leinster fans would regard Leinster as on the same level as the Chiefs. BECAUSE they are so dominant in the League. Yet the league, until the arrival of SA teams, was no great shakes so what is the elevated opinion based on? You don'y give a shite about the league yet you insist that the European losses are margin calls...but if they're not marginal losses, if they actually represent Leinster being outplayed and out thought consistently by sometimes lesser teams...then they're not as good as we thought they were, or maybe their coaches aren't as good.

I really can't imagine Cullen gives a thought to patter on boards.ie, at least I hope he doesn't and if he's picking teams based on that he should pack it in. Calling this abuse is ludicrous, grow up. I think we agree that the URC doesn't really matter to Leinster fans, (we'll ignore your earlier criticism of that reality) but there is no way on earth that the coach and players risk losing the URC because they are afraid of being criticised if they lose in Europe. Cullen wants to win in Europe because his record there is not very good and Leinster want to win the league every year, even if some fans don't rate it. The Dubs take the provincial championship for granted, they still win it. And they'll rightly get a bollicking if they don't.

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

If we could get past the English and French teams when it counted it would. 

In 2021, we beat Exeter, the reigning European and English champions, on their home turf.

In 2022, we beat Leicester on their home turf, a month before they became English champions. Then we hammered Toulouse, the reigning French and European champions.

In 2023, we beat Leicester and hammered Toulouse.

Did none of these "count"?

Broader point, and possibly for another thread, is that I'd say the URC is now the #2 league in Europe, in terms of difficulty.

Or in other words, we're now ahead of the Gallagher Premiership. Two broad points I use to support this:

Munster will have beaten Glasgow, Leinster and Stormers to capture the title this season; could the GP present three opponents of that calibre? Sarries and Exeter sure, but it's a bit of a drop after that.

The other point is even more of a vibe, but I just don't see an English side winning the Heino for a good while yet. I see the next 5+ years being dominated by Toulouse, Leinster, LaRochelle, and then one (or more of) Sharks, Racing and Munster, depending on how respective rebuilds and new coaches go.

If the league is more prestigious, then Leinster surely deserve kudos for topping the regular season table at an absolute canter both times.

No?

While Leinster chose to field a weakened tram last saturday, munster were after getting battered by Glasgow the week before and POM’s arm just about hung on for an hour, they were also without the following players due to injury:

Snyman,Knox, Nash, fekitoa, Patterson, Murray, Conway, Zebo

Leinster possibly had about 8-11 of next weeks starters in this weekends match day 23 man squad , COnan, VDF, Baird, Kelleher, Healy, Alatoa, JOB, Henshaw, Ngatai, McGrath, Jenkins.

so not exactly a 2nd team , but if a few of Furlong, porter, Ryan, Doris, other Byrne, Ringrose, Lowe, Keenan were included, it would have been a much closer contest, especially up front. Leinster looked a bit lost in attack and couldnt adapt to Munsters defence.

best of luck this weekend, hopefully its as exciting a match as last weekends effort, but with Leinster winning this time.

You know he used "URC" and "league" interchangeably there, right?

Like, he wasn't actually suggesting that with SA teams now in the URC, it's more prestigious to top the league table.

As in, the thing that has never been rewarded, ever, since the Celtic League started in 2001?

Given that Glasgow and several other URC teams are stacked with internationals you'd expect them to go far in the GP. The URC has almost all the players from 4 of the 6N teams, GP from one. 3 or 4 URC teams would/should be in the top six in England.