Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Weird game. The conditions and the Rodney Parade weird energy or lack thereof did its usual job of bringing teams down to the level of the Dragons. I was still relatively pleased though when I watched it back. A lot of commitment and decent individual showings although cohesion wasn't great at times as shown by how many times the Dragons turned over the Leinster maul.

We were very poor for the opening quarter and then seemed to wake up. Our forwards started to physically dominate the collisions after that. Joe McCarthy was ragdolling lads and destroying them in contact. Culhane, Baird and Sheehan were also really making their presence felt around the park.

I was pleased for Clarkson who went well and had his best day in blue. Scrum was well on top (although a different day and a different ref may have called it differently). Took his try well and got around the park too. Connors looked good at times. A couple of turnovers and some great chop tackling in the first half way behind the gain line when we were struggling. He faded a bit though after the break.

Ngatai was good again. Just plays sensible rugby and is very effective. Rarely makes a bad decision. He could probably do with a break now next week if we have some guys back. I'd be happy to see Frawley at 12 (assuming Henshaw still isn't available) and Ringrose return at 13. Not many of the other backs stood out as they really got little enough ball but they generally did well when it did come their way. Horrible for TOB but that really looked like another significant injury; hopefully not the ACL again but I'd imagine today's update will simply be that he is gone for a scan.

Russell looked very tidy when he came on. His reverse to Ngatai was lovely and showed good awareness. Also got away from contact once or twice when he had no right. Will be annoyed he spilled an offload from Sheehan.

Halfbacks were fairly good. Murphy has a nice pass but those conditions couldn't really utilise that effectively. With that said, he still went well. Good tap and go to bring us down to their line ultimately resulting in the Clarkson try. RB was ok in the first half but came into it after the break. A couple of very nice involvements for the Ngatai and Frawley tries and kicked well in grim weather.

McCarthy deservedly got MOTM but I'm really intrigued to see how Culhane develops. He's got hands and power at 21 which is great to see. He stole one line out at the back in the first half and carried straight through Basham before being taken down by the next defender. Was still working his arse off in the final minutes when others were flagging. The URC site has Leinster down for 98 tackles and Culhane down for 17 of them. He's coming through just at the right time as Conan starts to get into his last few years. But Leinster will probably have to make a decision at some point on how to accommodate these guys and review which one of them can move to openside where there is a real need coming down the line.

That type of performance in the URC is exactly what you want to see from a young physically gifted guy who is trying to cement his place in the Irish set-up. He should be dominating folks and he was.

Held our own until Furlong came off.

Andrew Porter and Tadhg Furlong back training today with Leinster.

https://www.sportsfile.com/more-images/776063218/5000/

Half the pictures are of Fintan Gunne

Maybe he gets some game time with mcgrath and Foley out. Looked good prospect for the u20's

What did James Lowe do wrong ?

I wonder if it would be to his benefit for Max Deegan to tell the selectors he wants to do a Levani Botia and play 12 as well as in the backrow. He has the understanding of how to run lines to draw defenders before passing to preserve space for others - which isn't inherent in some players - and he's an excellent passer. Maybe he's a bit on the gangly side and shorter, squatter centres could get under him and drive him back in the tackle.

There's a lot of competition at 8 with Doris, Conan and Culhane, and I don't think he's best suited to blindside.

He only played 6 or 7 times for Leinster last season. Was poor (like a good few) in the final.

Only scored in 1 of the 5 champions cup matches he played.

Just get the feeling his form is on the wane and he might be on the down slope of his career.

Jimmy o'brien and Osborne are both on the up slope of theirs..