September 2017 Doubleheader in South Africa

[simonokeeffe]

If anything I thought Marsh shouldve come on much earlier

[COYBIB]

Wow! That's some tirade, but a bit OTT.

I'd hardly call it a tirade, merely pointing out the glaring weaknesses in the squad. Whether acknowledged or not, they're there.

[curates_egg]

If anything I thought Marsh shouldve come on much earlier

+1
Byrne was woejaysus and seems to escape criticism on here whenever he is. Double standard central.
OK our tight five were a joke and we got nothing out of the set-piece, so it is not easy for half backs in that situation, but Byrne looked utterly clueless at times...and then he got cramp or something. If they won't even bring Marsh on then, what is the point in him being on the bench? Why is Carbery not being used at 10 at all by Leinster? When he came into the line as a receiver, he started making stuff happen.

I have yet to see anything from Tracy to justify the hype, apart from his impressive strut.
Those two second rows were worse than anonymous: they also dropped balls and gave away silly penalties. Again compounding the failure to bring Beirne back.
We've holes all over the squad and I think we are blind to them because we are attached to "our homegrown players".

However, the worrying thing, that has been mentioned above already, is our utter ineptitude against teams that play a high tempo passing game. It is now the third season where these teams are making us look like a bunch of amateurs. You would have hoped the problem (highlighted in the final against Connacht two seasons ago) would have been remedied last season with Bomber there. Scarlets then did exactly the same to us in the semi. And now this lot. FIX IT!

[simonokeeffe]

Carberry looked rusty af in his first game back last week so maybe fullback was to ease him in

Byrne is definitely more in the Andrew Merhterns sect than the Beauden Barrett one

Would have to rewatch the game, which nobody wants to do, to be sure but Byrne and JGP strike me as a bad combo for running/attacking/passing rugby

[LeRouxIsPHat]

To me it looks like Schmidt has lost the dressing room.

[Dave Cahill]

Byrne is definitely more in the Andrew Merhterns sect than the Beauden Barrett one

Lets hope so.

[riocard911]

If anything I thought Marsh shouldve come on much earlier

+1
Byrne was woejaysus and seems to escape criticism on here whenever he is. Double standard central.
OK our tight five were a joke and we got nothing out of the set-piece, so it is not easy for half backs in that situation, but Byrne looked utterly clueless at times...and then he got cramp or something. If they won't even bring Marsh on then, what is the point in him being on the bench? Why is Carbery not being used at 10 at all by Leinster? When he came into the line as a receiver, he started making stuff happen.

I have yet to see anything from Tracy to justify the hype, apart from his impressive strut.
Those two second rows were worse than anonymous: they also dropped balls and gave away silly penalties. Again compounding the failure to bring Beirne back.
We've holes all over the squad and I think we are blind to them because we are attached to "our homegrown players".

However, the worrying thing, that has been mentioned above already, is our utter ineptitude against teams that play a high tempo passing game. It is now the third season where these teams are making us look like a bunch of amateurs. You would have hoped the problem (highlighted in the final against Connacht two seasons ago) would have been remedied last season with Bomber there. Scarlets then did exactly the same to us in the semi. And now this lot. FIX IT!

It's not just the "high tempo passing game". Cheetahs were winning the collisions and getting over the gainline consistently, we were not. I had a sinking feeling from the moment that first Cheetahs peno went over. Leo has promised an "extensive review". http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/g ... 60162.html. It's absolutely necessary if we're to get anything out of this season and not be taken to the cleaners by Montpellier - or worse Munster in two weeks time. I know that sounds and possibly is alarmist, but it's down to the shock of our abject Scarlets defeat I still haven't fully gotten over!!!!!

[wixfjord]

JGP and Byrne are a bad combo for anything.

JGP should only be used against sides that we know we can dominate up front or for adding tempo in the last 20. His kicking game and brain aren't good enough for anything else. Leo said before the game that we wanted to control the ball, the first thing JGP does is fire a nothing kick long to their speedy back three, who proceed to run it back under little pressure.

Byrne just looks like a deer lost in the headlights at times, which is grand as he's young, but it's hampering us at the moment. The inside pass thing he does needs to be curbed. It either goes to ground or gets someone stuck with a tackle behind the gain line.

The criticism of Marsh is slightly ridiculous, no idea where that is coming from.

The biggest problem on Friday though was the pack. Completely outplayed bar JVDF, who was excellent.

[simonokeeffe]

To me it looks like Schmidt has lost the dressing room.

Byrne is definitely more in the Andrew Merhterns sect than the Beauden Barrett one

Lets hope so.

Knew I should have gone with the brown pair of Clarks shoes analogy

[Experimental]

Pretty disappointed after that. I thought the Cheetahs fully deserved their victory, and the center Venter had a fantastic game, reminded me of Jean De Villiers and gave us no end of trouble from start to finish. I agree on VdF and he can hold his head high in what was a poor performance from the forwards. Leadership was also a real issue after Nacewa went off. I have to blatently honest and say, I dont see why Molony is Vice captain, he makes far too many mistakes and looks uncomfortable every time he gets the ball, although his lineout play is improving. Maybe Cullen sees him as a second row in his own image, I dont know (or perhaps hes a fine leader and I dont know what Im talking about). Jordi Murphy has just come back so bound to be a bit rusty but wasnt too bad. I dont know what to make of Tracy, I dont think he can be faulted for effort, but its what hes doing with that effort thats the problem, he seem to try always to go in and smash someone instead of playing rugby. Would highly agree about JPG, no urgency, and he wasnt alone. Carbury played well. We are better than a bonus point loss to ANY team in the pro 14.

[deco]

If anything I thought Marsh shouldve come on much earlier

+1
Byrne was woejaysus and seems to escape criticism on here whenever he is. Double standard central.
OK our tight five were a joke and we got nothing out of the set-piece, so it is not easy for half backs in that situation, but Byrne looked utterly clueless at times...and then he got cramp or something. If they won't even bring Marsh on then, what is the point in him being on the bench? Why is Carbery not being used at 10 at all by Leinster? When he came into the line as a receiver, he started making stuff happen.

I have yet to see anything from Tracy to justify the hype, apart from his impressive strut.
Those two second rows were worse than anonymous: they also dropped balls and gave away silly penalties. Again compounding the failure to bring Beirne back.
We've holes all over the squad and I think we are blind to them because we are attached to "our homegrown players".

However, the worrying thing, that has been mentioned above already, is our utter ineptitude against teams that play a high tempo passing game. It is now the third season where these teams are making us look like a bunch of amateurs. You would have hoped the problem (highlighted in the final against Connacht two seasons ago) would have been remedied last season with Bomber there. Scarlets then did exactly the same to us in the semi. And now this lot. FIX IT!

It's not just the "high tempo passing game". Cheetahs were winning the collisions and getting over the gainline consistently, we were not. I had a sinking feeling from the moment that first Cheetahs peno went over. Leo has promised an "extensive review". http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/g ... 60162.html. It's absolutely necessary if we're to get anything out of this season and not be taken to the cleaners by Montpellier - or worse Munster in two weeks time. I know that sounds and possibly is alarmist, but it's down to the shock of our abject Scarlets defeat I still haven't fully gotten over!!!!!

The Montpellier match is infinitely more important than the Amalgamated Provinces plus South African match

[leinsterforever]

I'd say Barry Daly's 7s experience helped him greatly for his third try. Instead of panicking and pinning his ears back and running in a straight line until he got tackled he was able to assess the situation and manipulate the defenders with his own movements. Playing 7s is bound to make players more comfortable operating in space like that.

[riocard911]

The good news from this weekend is Montpellier got hockeyed away by Bordeaux 47-17; the bad news however is the impressive form of Dave Rennie's Glasgow vs Munster in Scotstoun, where we pitch up in four weeks time...

[curates_egg]

The good news from this weekend is Montpellier got hockeyed away by Bordeaux 47-17; the bad news however is the impressive form of Dave Rennie's Glasgow vs Munster in Scotstoun, where we pitch up in four weeks time...

Yeah but the good news again is that Munster were as limp a biscuit as us...and they pitch up to us in two.
Let's hope we rollin by den.

[riocard911]

The good news from this weekend is Montpellier got hockeyed away by Bordeaux 47-17; the bad news however is the impressive form of Dave Rennie's Glasgow vs Munster in Scotstoun, where we pitch up in four weeks time...

Yeah but the good news again is that Munster were as limp a biscuit as us...and they pitch up to us in two.
Let's hope we rollin by den.

Yo bro! I can get with that!!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEjyel1CKz0

[outcast eddie]

The good news from this weekend is Montpellier got hockeyed away by Bordeaux 47-17; the bad news however is the impressive form of Dave Rennie's Glasgow vs Munster in Scotstoun, where we pitch up in four weeks time...

Even more bad news is that Exeter just battered Wasps 31-17. We've got our work cut out for us this season.

[Ruckedtobits]

The good news from this weekend is Montpellier got hockeyed away by Bordeaux 47-17; the bad news however is the impressive form of Dave Rennie's Glasgow vs Munster in Scotstoun, where we pitch up in four weeks time...

Even more bad news is that Exeter just battered Wasps 31-17. We've got our work cut out for us this season.

Baxter, Rennie and Cotter (with N Hines added) are three coaches I do not fancy facing unless our engines are purring. Baxter and Cotter have also got hard-nosed packs that dominate set-pieces whereas Rennie plays high tempo off-loading, with strong basics in defence. No question we need to get our team and attitude sorted as we face arguably our hardest series of Pool fixtures for many years.

[neiliog93]

Our pool is comprised of the three form teams in Europe in their domestic leagues. At our current performance level we'd be lucky to win any of the 6 matches.

[blockhead]

Our pool is comprised of the three form teams in Europe in their domestic leagues. At our current performance level we'd be lucky to win any of the 6 matches.

Nonsense, we'll win every game!
Up the Dubs, err, I mean, up Leinster!

[molloyjh]

There's a lot of dead wood in the Leinster squad. I know you need some squad fillers for the week to week in the league, but you should limit how many of them are in any one team, or you'll have days like that. Michael Bent is a complete sh!t show at tight head and always has been.

I stopped reading there. Bent was the best of our starting front row and was actually pretty good on the day. Carried well, defended well and scrummaged well. I honestly have no idea what game you were watching to come to this conclusion, but if that's what you thought about Bents game then I don't actually want to read the rest as I can only imagine what its like. The sky isn't falling. We had a patched together squad with loads of different individual issues in it. Had Cheetahs played like they did in the first few weeks it probably wouldn't have been an issue. Instead they managed to get their act together, particularly defensively, and our issues were exposed. We've been a bit all over the place with players getting injured, returning from injury, coming back piecemeal, being forced to play out of position, being unavailable due to new arrivals etc. Poor performances in the opening weeks of the season is par for the course for Leinster. As guys integrate more and we get more consistency in our selection our performances naturally improve. We don't need the melodramatic reaction.