Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Great performance from Ulster today. They needed to build on recent form with an away win.

Burns, Cooney & Timoney were standouts.

Leinster's kicking from hand was ineffective. Defensive lineout was outstanding. Scrums were either steady or a mess, usually created by Leinster seeking a penalty advantage & sending the 'wrong picture' to the officials instead of seeking quick clean possession. Thought Prendergast went well, JGP less so (particularly with the boot) and a couple of high risk with low return choices.

Hard to criticise Henshaw or Turner in those conditions. Thought we should have brought Russell in for strike plays more often.

One weakness Harry B has is game management and kicking in a critical / high pressure situation. He can blow hot and cold and was the same in U20s. I've said it several times, I'd prefer we stuck with Frawley there and he was number 2 outhalf.

Bit problem for Leinster is no Leinster A. Meaning, the only way to give Sam P game time is to play URC. It's a bit of a mess because you now have four outhalfs who can't get regular gametime. Sexton was hot and cold until he had clocked up enough caps and had that famous end to 2009.

I am struggling to see the doom and gloom around Leinster.

The main coach who has been with the team for years left. This was a huge hole left in the coaching ticket and was always going to be a big change but then on top of that

The club captain and main voice around the team retires

The two main coachs are not available fo pre-season, the new replacement main coach only comes into the team a few weeks ago

The majority of the senior players are not available for preseason and come back into Leinster with a different teams calls/moves etc in their head

Some of those players struggling with post WC blues and know they won't make another World Cup

The main 10 who plays most games picks up an injury in first game and gone for a number of weeks

Combine all of this and for Leinster to be top of table, doing well in Europe is not to shabby. Have we had the same 9/10 for two games in a row?

With the Irish outhalf position up for grabs it looks like all the players are going out trying to be "special", both of Byrne's kicks were over ambitious when it wasnt really needed. Unlucky with the bounce on 1st one, but the last penalty dropping short was very poor. He just needed to get to the 22, safe lineout, few phases and a score would have come. He( and a few other potential 10's ) just need to play a bit calmer, do the basics and not go for the glory play.

I disagree with this. With Johnny no longer in the picture, they have to stick or twist with Ross and he's either our starting 10 or he's moved on (both for his sake and those behind him). He needs minutes in the big games to fine tune his game. I think he is a fine player who can get better but he will never iron out his perceived weaknesses without more exposure.

Our issue at the moment is that our reserve 10s are Prendergast (who needs time to develop), Harry (who is far too inconsistent and not a clutch performer) and Frawley (who now seems to be a full-back) so with Ross out, we're short. I think when Ross is back and as Prendergast gets more game-time, it'll start looking a lot better.

"For his try Timoney was doing calisthenics ,star jumps, making sandwiches right out on the touchline in front of the new stand for several minutes before he was spotted by Billy B ..."

Sometimes placing a very obvious player doing obvious things in that position is calculated to draw the defense's attention and stretches the backfield for the attacking side.

If we really want to be winning the URC and Champions Cup, we need a back-up out-half that is not prone to mistakes. Fair enough last night was a URC game that we'll get over but what if that was a knock-out game in the Champions Cup?

He doesn't have anything near the credit in the bank where that kind of error can be just part of his game because its not the first time he's had issues with his kicking at key moments. He either needs to iron them out now or Prendergast needs to be given the jersey. I want him to succeed but he's been sold for the last four years on what he's allegedly capable of doing rather than what he has done on the pitch and outside of the odd glimpse of promise, he's been distinctly average on balance. He's so far behind Ross and he needs to close that gap.

Don't have any major concerns about Leinster just yet. The opposition are exploiting the hard up defence, but Nienaber has only coached five matches so far. That's nowhere near enough time to bed in a defensive structure, especially when players are still only in the opening stages of their return to provincial rugby.

It'll take months longer to nail down what we're trying to achieve. Leinster's style of play hasn't really changed since 2019. Layers had been added to it over the years, but the core was the same. It'll take a while to change.

Can't compare the two. Timing of thomond is what killed munster more than anything else.

Leinster do need to redevelop rds and rds need the redevelopment for the horse show and other events they host as well....

Leinsters attacking is blunt. They've shown nothing. Who's that on?

What high-profile games has Harry had that have put him on par with Ross? He's a good player but he's not a great player - not yet anyway.

Ross Byrne has been in the URC Team of the Year the last two years for good reason, he's damn good (but of course he could be better too). The credit with the coaching ticket is all that matters and whilst I agree that he has had errors, he's largely been remarkably consistent in his game and has performed in clutch moments for both club and country.

There's little doubt that Harry will start the Champions Cup alright but that's simply because those behind him are too green or aren't seen as out and out 10s.

Anyone missing Stu? Anyone?

the weather has been absolutely shite, hard to judge much with that. JGP has been on a poor run of form since last season, in green and blue. Not helping things at all. Add to that our 2 best centres in Osbourne and Ngatai are out for who knows how long, it's a unfortunate confluence of timing. Wouldn't mind seeing Frawley at 12, with Ringrose going forward. Henshaw looks well off the pace.

I'm not sure Lowe, Furlong and Henshaw have played all that much rugby in the last few years when compared with both other Irish internationals and foreign counterparts.