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

Liam Turner is really having a cracking season.

Good man ref

Time was not up

And the Bulls turned up and played. Right to the end.

It’s the workrate from Leinster thats as impressive as anything else.

Ulster and Connacht ashamed themselves last week by not even bothering to work hard.

I'm really glad we sent a strong side out for this game. Not only for the win against one of our major URC rivals, but also because it builds momentum for the Leicester game.

We beat a side that prides themselves on having a dominant pack and set piece. Never let them settle in attack and kept the ball alive to tire out their forwards. That'll bode well for next week's game against a team that's similar in some respect to the Bulls.

Not to get ahead of myself either, but there are some similarities between Leicester and La Rochelle too. At least as far as the sturdy pack and set piece goes. Beat Leicester and we go into the QF with the outline of an established plan. All about momentum now.

Andy Dunne is a class contributor. Compared to the utter gobshitedness of the match commentators, he's like a guru. Quinlan is so bad you could forget for a moment how annoying Ryle is.

What an incredibly enjoyable game. JGP is so far ahead of any other 9 in the country. Best 9 we've ever had.

Thought Larmour and Russell were both very good today. I think Larmour will probably start on the right wing next weekend (assuming Keenan is fit), but I think Russell has played his way in to the 23 jersey now which I wouldn’t have expected at the start of the year. It was great to see Larmour playing with confidence again, feels like although he’s played better recently he lacked the explosiveness and X factor which was on show tonight.

Also a word on Harry Byrne - thought he was very good this evening as well. He does have a tendency to force it occasionally (like with the intercepted pass), but this is becoming increasingly less frequent the more big games he’s involved in. That’s La Rochelle, Leicester and now the Bulls who he’s played well against, which bodes well for his big game temperament.

McGrath won't be getting this printed and framed in a hurry!

If this tackle was against Leinster or another irish side we would be calling for a red for that.

A lot would, for sure. It was not the smartest tackle ever. Brave beyond any regard for either players safety. If Arendse had gone off concussed it might have been a red, there didn't seem to be any mitigation.

He's just a really classy player. His reading of the game is O'Driscollesque. His angles of running are really good; his timing is usually spot on; and his vision for putting others in space with a pass is excellent.

it’s 100% a red. We were very fortunate Evan’s didn’t agree.

Nah. Arendse choosing to try to bump him and it being questionable whether there was high force in the head contact* is enough mitigation.

*McGrath being dazed afterwards could be due to the whiplash effect of stopping suddenly more than the actual head contact

very very likely. Unlike last year the URC knockouts start after the champions cup is over

The initial point of contact was on KLAs shoulder. There was also the minor change in direction from KLA at the last second.

It was not direct head on head.