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

The attitude of some posters is that if Leinster don't win every single game, the season is a write off.

It's utterly bizarre.

Honestly the amount of comments about Harry

Multiple coach's including the international coaching ticket have picked him, maybe people might consider full time professional coach's might have a better opinion on a player than some randomer on the web who seems to bear a grudge against a young player.

TO me he done ok last night, that's it.

What a weird thing to say.

I said one thing so not sure how I've cut and pasted words from different posts and posters like a 1980s kidnapper.... but.... OK.

And honestly if you can't see the posts and posters who are going on as if the season is over or this season is a failure, or how this URC game or that URC game is the be-all and end-all of the season, well then I get I why you can't see my point.

I agree with you that Leinster are held to impossibly high standards. It's unrealistic to expect heavily rotated sides to continually win every game.

However, that sense of expectation is something that the province itself has fostered throughout the years and any blowback they get after a defeat is self inflicted. The last few years of Lancaster's tenure there was an especially hard push towards perfection and winning every game to get a high seeding in the URC and Champions Cup.

Now that we're losing games we previously wouldn't have, we're seeing some over the top criticism. But that push towards perfection led to us winning absolutely nothing, so I'm more than willing to see what our different approach under Nienaber brings.

Luke isn’t dead yet.

Just giving him a run before Saturday

I’m not ignoring McGraths form btw

Realistically would you pick Cormac Foley instead?

Leo won’t.
Foleys done ok. Recently.

He's already 24/25 but inexperienced.

6 starts ever?

0 mins in Europe

Maybe if it had transpired that way I would be able to easily agree with almost all of that.

Luke just turned 31 though. He’s not finished. Just not playing well.

Would equate his form to Connor Murray of 2019/20, 2020/21. He was similar age (30) and way, way off his best. And playing just plain bad.

Murray got his second wind in 2022. Still wasn’t the same player.
And yes McGrath was/is nowhere near Murray level.

I’m not trying to equate the calibre of the two players just the coaches faith they have in players with experience, trying to play them back into some form and also realising there isn’t an outstanding alternative.

If Foley was better (right now) he would have played more than he has. 100%

Fingers crossed for 70mims of JGP. At the very least.

You can't compare McGrath to Murray. Murray demonstrated a level miles above anything Luke ever did.

You'd hope for a change in pecking order from next season but it won't change by next Saturday

I am with you. Some uncharacteristic performances.

My point is, over the years the 2nd's were reliable and in some cases pushed the 1st's onto higher levels. It's not this way this season. Even v Ospreys, we gave up a lot of line breaks that are uncharacteristic. I'm probably beating an annoying drum here but, the trip to S.A was woeful. Very, very poor. The league has improved, I agree and at the same time, Leinster have not. In fact, we are a lesser side now. I probably expect way too much! Perhaps my sights are set too high.

I assume that I'm included among the naysayers. At the end of the day it's just a forum with multiple opinions. I'm guilty of expecting too much. Mea Culpa! Onwards and upwards!

JOB is a better player, simple as. Perhaps harsh on Larmour but getting the best players, in form, onto the pitch is what matters.

Leinster's greatest strength this season lies in the forwards. We've an excellent pack and impactful replacements.

We've had some great success with the 6-2 split this year, but we've also seen it's drawbacks in the Ireland/England game and even last night's game against Ulster when we lost two backs relatively early. Toulouse went 6/2 against us last season and it cost them when their.outaode centre went off after a few minutes. Dupont went to 10 and Ntamack to 12. Completely disrupted their game plan.

If we want to go for the most impact I think we have to go 6/2 with Connors and Jenkins starting. VDF and Ryan can be excellent subs after 50 minutes. But I don't know if it's worth the risk.

I presume they're missing Lancaster. There's bound to be a lull when losing such a great coach, even when transitioning to another great coach.

They did the same last year. The coaching team left SA and left Sean O Brien to manage. But you could expect the seconds to win games comfortably in the previous years.

I think leinster has probably given more game time to academy players than most teams. I just don't think they have as many really exciting prospects as previous years. The Ireland U20s hasn't been as stacked with leinster players as the senior side and the stars haven't usually been leinster players (Prendergast aside). Lots of decent academy players, but not many you think will be stars.

The Byrne brothers are similar. Decent, and too good to let them go, but not good enough for the top end of Europe. Ross is good, but nobody is excited to see what he does in the final next weekend. 10 has gone from a major strength for leinster, to a bit of a weakness.