Leinster v La Rochelle match thread

It comes across as petty and will drag this thread down a particular route.

Mods: is it possible to have a thread dedicated to provincial point scoring and have posts automatically moved there so they don’t clog up decent threads?

Thank you.

Was he the lad they used to call the lighthouse?

Great performance from Leinster can’t wait for Croker.

There was nothing on the tele last night so I stuck on the LAR game again. I’ve seen comments on Jenkins being anonymous. Didn’t think that was the case yesterday and on 3rd viewing I’m fairly sure that was one of his best performances in a blue shirt. Some cracking tackles, absolutely melted guys at rucks a few times, was the main target in the line out while he was on and gave JGP some really good, clean ball.

But one of the things that really stood out on rewatch was his work rate. The number of rucks that he was pillar at was impressive. He may not have actually done anything, but when you see the likes of Skelton walking around the place all game and Jenkins is there again and again filling those spaces you start to appreciate it more. We moved them side to side a lot in that game, be it through skip passes or cross fields. It sucked all the energy from them. And Jenkins just kept going.

Sure he gave up a few pens, but one or two of those were harsh and/or against how Dickson had previously officiated similar incidents. The one where he turned it over but didn’t release in the tackle (correct call) was just minutes after Botia had won LAR a penalty for doing the exact same thing. When Doris questioned Dickson on it, Dickson said that Botia had to release to get his hands on the ball. That exact logic would have meant Jenkins was legal, but Dickson seemed to forget his own logic there only minutes later.

I rewatched it yesterday and Jenkins was really good. Watching live, the obvious moments were the silly penalty concessions but he absolutely emptied the tank around the park in his 50 minutes. Top tackler, was our go to line out jumper (think he took 4 including an important one while stretching on his own 5m line after a great Iribaren kick) and got his hands on the ball repeatedly. For context, McCarthy and Baird got their hands on the ball 15 and 13 times in 80 minutes whilst Jenkins managed to do so 11 times in his 50 minutes so he was every bit as busy as others.

I don't think he has played that well for Leinster before. Hopefully he maintains this level for the rest of the season.

Feel that is a bit of hindsight and somewhat ignoring the context.

McCarthy had only played 9 games all season last year for a total of 305 minutes (so less than 4 games total).

His lack of game time is even more pronounced when you look at the lead up to the final - in the four month before he only played a total 35 minutes, coming on as a sub in two games surrounded by Leinster's weakened URC side.

They could have still risked him and still had in the 23 for the final but McCarthy clearly wasn't training to the right level and/or hitting his fitness numbers. With Ryan going off and he was on the bench instead of Jenkins, he would have been asked to play 61 minutes against that LAR physicality which all evidence point to him not being ready for.

The timing of McCarthy's injury was just incredibly unfortunate and if he'd come back even a few week earlier I'd be confident he'd have been in the 23. Given how tight the final was, I don't see it being much of a miss not to have included him, given the risk vs reward difference of other option on the bench.

It wasn't a question of talent to play, it was fitness. It was Stephen's Day when he last played the minutes he would have needed to if he came on for Ryan in the final.

He was out with an ankle injury so it takes a while to get back in shape, especially a player of his size and requirements on the pitch.

For the RWC he had a full camp to get back to the required level.