Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Sorry, what.

When has that ever been a thing?

Hang on

They did accept their medals. They just weren't placed over their heads which never happens for the losing side. You just made that up.

But no one is saying the players wouldn't be bitterly disappointed so I'm not sure what you're even arguing. Of course they would be gutted.

What people are saying is that they're failures and that's not acceptable to me. That is not support. It's the exact opposite.

Liam Molony, Aitzol King, COT, McElroy, Boyle, Brownlee? Culhane, Tector, Sam P. I think that the lot?

I'm not saying they are failures. Some of these players have multiple medals. I'm trying to say the ending result for Leinster is a failure. No matter how great we were previous to the last month, we were poor when it mattered.

I think Leinster learned from both La Rochelle defeats. The problem was that in the meantime, La Rochelle deconstructed our game plan as well. Leinster play excellent rugby, but it has been a settled style, outside of new strike plays, for a number of years now. It seems like La Rochelle have just worked out how we play.

In 2021 they murdered us at the ruck. Leinster simply couldn't gain momentum in attack.

In 2022 it's clear that Leinster had adapted and cleared the ruck with greater ferocity. But La Rochelle targeted Leinster's lineout and stole our attacking platform. They also gave away kickable penalties just outside the 22 and baited Leinster into taking the points rather than go for the line.

Last week, and all season really, Leinster's lineout has performed well and we've launched so many excellent set piece moves from it. We had a more solid lineout, actually went for the line and scored trys where last season we had none. All major improvements over 2022.

But La Rochelle then showed up Leinster's exit strategy. That has been a major strength this season, but was turned into a weakness. They put a lot of pressure on Lowe and JGP. When they started fluffing kicks it was the time for someone else to step in. But we had nobody. Yes, with a few cleaner kicks and actually taking a drop goal, we probably win the game. But La Rochelle again found a weakness and exploited it.

That's why the change in coaches is no bad thing. Will bring a fresh set of eyes into the fold to assess where we're weak and hopefully make Leinster's systems harder for opposition analysts to get a read on.

Sexton is obviously the major name on that list of departures, but Dave Kearney's exit is pretty significant for Leinster as well. He's a solid, experienced hand that you can rely upon to play well in the league and fill a gap in Europe if needed. We lost one of those in ROL last year and are doing it again.

It's a bit of a punt on the next generation of players and hopefully one that works out.

I don't doubt that lads like Russell and T.O.B can fill in very well. There's such good talent in the squad. You could even see Osborne on the wing or at fb if needed.

I reckon scrum half is lacking depth. I'm unsure if Foley will pan out. We will see.