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

Just seen a few clips of the game. Have to laugh at the TNT commentary.

Dallaglio and Healey were screaming for a Leinster side entry at the ruck, but the footage shows two Northampton players piling in at the side before Jenkins entry which I'm pretty sure was legal anyway.

Would anyone argue for Osborne to start ahead of Ringrose for ireland?

I like Osborne, but the idea that he should start ahead of Ringrose is based on fairness of play time rather than contribution to the game. Ringrose is the better player and should start when he's fit.

that’s rubbish he was player of the match against LaRoch so let’s not be so fickle given he has so tirelessly added to our European credentials

Osborne did nothing wrong but I fail to see how anyone thinks he should start ahead of either Henshaw or Ringrose. Henshaw is a bigger man and often gets across the gain line when being hit by two tacklers, Osborne is much slighter. He has a great left foot but Leinster have that already. His real point of difference for me is his line running, which is excellent, and his off loads which are also very good. He’s definitely next off the rank but I’d still back Henshaw at 12 and GR at 13.

I'd say people have long memories when it comes to Ringrose. He's an excellent player, particularly in defence, but hasn't been a game changer for a while now. He rarely makes mistakes but doesn't do anything amazing either. He seems to be the latest in the line of players in Ireland who seem to get elevated to undropable status yet I doubt other top teams would want him over their existing options or spend time looking to negate him ahead of playing against him.

Osborne has shown he can put others through gaps with passing on the line, runs excellent lines to find gaps himself and he looks to offload out of the tackle. Henshaw's power is a big asset, he challenges in the air unlike most centres and he and Osborne swapping positions adds variation in attack. As a partnership, they compliment each other and seem to bring the best out of each other.

We just got to the final, hardly a guarantee we aren't winning a trophy this year ffs.

The amount of kicking in the second half was infuriating. When your opponents only really attacking advantage is running from deep, why would you just keep punting it to them,?

Agree with above comment re hooking VDF early, seemed like a preplanned switch but ultimately it hurt us.

Conversely, Ross Byrne was left on too long. He wasn’t playing well and looked to be carrying an injury.

Hopefully that’s the dirty diesel burnt off and we can focus on the final now.

On the plus side, JGP is absolutely unplayable these days, Frawley is doing an excellent job at FB and Baird continues to get better and better.

Five finals in seven years, it’s an incredible stat.

But if we could get one of the injured trio back for the final, I’d pick Ryan every time. We need more leadership and grizzle.

Final word for the Northampton fans who were all absolutely top class yesterday

No, they were garbage. Yet in typical Leinster/Ireland fashion, Leinster nearly imploded against them and laboured to victory in what should have been a 40 point win.

Was sat beside 3 munster lads cheering on NH, that's quite an impressive level of spite

JGP gets a lot of plaudits but he was commander in chief of Leinster deciding to not play rugby for 25 minutes. Repeatedly box kicking from 1st phase, nearly cost us.

Haven't watched it back but in the stadium it seemed quite a low quality rugby match

Also the ref allowing a penalty to be taken whilst Frawley was in bits was outrageous, and they scored off it.