Toulouse vs Leinster

[neiliog93]

We badly missed Rob Kearney I thought. His calmness, his chasing of high balls, managing the back 3, covering kick through etc.

Under the high ball and in kick returning, yes. But in one-on-one tackle situations in space against Kolbe, Guitoune etc, I'd fear for him (even more than Larmour).

[yellabelly1961]

Well done to the travelling support, nice to hear that

[CiaranIrl]

We badly missed Rob Kearney I thought. His calmness, his chasing of high balls, managing the back 3, covering kick through etc.

Under the high ball and in kick returning, yes. But in one-on-one tackle situations in space against Kolbe, Guitoune etc, I'd fear for him (even more than Larmour).

The thing is, with him marshalling the back field, it wouldn't have happened as much. A lot of their penetration came from grubber kicks through. We didn't manage that very well.

[Leoslovechild]

Thought we made more mistakes today than we have in along time and yet could so easily still have won it.the Toulouse fans that we were sat among in the south stand were very quiet and almost resigned to losing when we went 27 to 21 ahead.then came the intercept and it all changed though I do believe we will beat them at home but first we have the bath double header to deal with

[desperado]

Hugely disappointing. The only thing I’d say is the loss dampens expectations.... people were saying ridiculous things like no one could beat us. It forces the lads to refocus and reassess where they are.

Pool is wide open now too. Unlikely to get a home semi

Your not guaranteed a home semi, even if we won all our matches with BPs. If seedings go as they should, then seeds 1 and 2 'should' win their respective QFs and get home semis. Anyway, key thing really is get the home QF i.e. finish top of group and in the top four seeds. Loads of time for that. On the match; only just seeing it now. We were very error prone, and at 27-21 up with 15 left we just didn't manage the game well. I FFWed to Luke's intercept. Is it just me or were there not 4 (at least) Toulaisan lads offside including the interceptor? Ringrose makes a few yards over the gainline and non of them retreated as far as I could see behind the hindmost. Unusual to see such and intercept when the defending team have just gone backwards in the immediately preceding play. Saying that it was really telegraphed.

[Logorrhea]

They were consistently good kicks. Really good kicks.

[Ruckedtobits]

Didn't get the sense that we "respected" our opponents enough today. A rugby season is not a continium. Every game has a beginning, middle and end. You have to earn your rights at the beginning by minding the ball and subdueing your opponents. That gives you the right to move the ball and offload - after you have disrupted their defensive pattern.

We tried too much 'frilly' rugby in the first 30 mins, as if we could just continue from where we finished against Wasps. When we finally exercised some pattern and control in the first 15 minutes of the second half, we got the expected scores but then assumed that was enough for victory. We didn't score after the 54th minute and the entire Squad will learn from watching why not.

No team has the right......you have to earn it anew in every game.

Very disappointing, as last Season, it appeared that we always respect the opponent, no matter what happened the previous week.

[Gearzbox2]

Get that sense like a few on here that we didn’t respect the opposition and/or what the company means to tolouse as much of as we should...

Started very shaky and looked a bit off both in attack and Defense and let them into the game from that
Story of the first half showed this really
James Lowe’s clumsy peno on Kolbe
Few lads spilled or reefed in contact
Cronin ran a nice line but then tried to offload to McGrath from the deck which was picked
A dubious forward pass
Then decided to get back to basics with scrum and lineout working well and some nice direct/angled runs led to scores

Second half you can split into 2 half’s
First 20 was really good, great score after maul build up from James Ryan and another top class score from cronin, ran a peach of a inside line and powered over
After that at 27-21 we should’ve played field position and for this it has to rest of JS
Thought he chose wrong options and got us into trouble which led to the demise

Didn’t think the bench offered anything bar Porter tbh and that intercept try gave them the injection they needed to see it out

Tough loss, loads to learn and move forward

[elephantman]

To be fair to Tomane (and I've mentioned him two or three times myself), there were loads of mistakes in that game, wasn't his fault we lost. If Luke didn't throw that intercept we probably wouldn't be talking about him all that much.

Tomane comes across as a really good fella who wanted to come to Leinster for all the right reasons but he is just not good enough.

He's a real weak link. Very strange signing.

McFadden is a far superior player.

[Ruckedtobits]

"Toulouse, Up with the Stars" headlines Midi Olympique whilst L'Equipe, over a front-page photo of Maxine Medard out-pacing Tomane for that winning try write "Just like Champions" and the daily Toulouse local paper merely proclaims in large font on their front page "MAGESTERIAL".

The French sports media are delighted for Toulouse and, in truth, our scribes would be equally pleased if Leinster (Or Munster or Connacht) had grabbed victory in the same circumstances.

One of the 'unknowns' behind this high-profile French victory is the former Coach of Bandon RFC and also the local school team, Regis Sonnes, who is now the Assistant Coach of Toulouse. He was hosting three Irish guests for the weekend and was delighted that some of the newest generation of 'Espoirs', in a Club recognised for giving youth a fling, had contributed to the victory.

One of those young guns was out-half sub Dupont (21) and he made such an impression that French Coach Jacques Brunel could be tempted to add his name to the French panel for his autumn internationals.

Loose-head Castets (21) and second-row Verhaeghe (21) are also highlighted for possible elevation and all three journals note that David Ainu'u who joined the battle in the 61st minute is only 18. But a lot of the adulation goes to young back-row / second-row substitute, Madaule, whose interception of Luke McGrath's pass in the 68th minute, was followed by an explosive break and a well-timed offload to the supporting Toulousiens.

Not too much critical analysis of the Leinster performance. But certainly some players figure more than others in the descriptions of the Toulouse scores. Luke McGrath is unlikely to be a collector of this morning's newspapers.

Leinster have been in tougher places in the past and have gained the most sought-after Q/F slot, sometimes even a home fixture. That will now be a clear target in the minds of the Champions, but for now, they will take the journey step-by-step.

[OTT]

The day after. We sit on six points and our toughest game in the group is out of the way, we are not in the worst position at all as some have already said.

My personal deflation comes because we let Toulouse off the hook. I get that Toulouse played with flair I am sure it was one of the games of the weekend for neutrals but lets be honest we let them do that. Everything we associate with Leinster intensity, intelligence, respect (of the ball) all looked off from the start.

The couple of times we decided that we would go through a few phrases both in the first half and then the second we made hay and then we would revert to playing a game that suited Toulouse. If we took the plaudits last season for being able to change our play to combat the opposition from game to game then yesterday was a good wake up call because we looked unwilling to play a game that could have killed Toulouse off consistently, at 27-21 we should have put them to bed, we are patronizing Toulouse to say they are back, they are not back they were rubbish against Bath last week and this week they beat a Leinster team at home by 1 point who looked miles off the team we have become accustomed to see. Sometimes that happens for whatever reason.

We would be remiss to say it was all because Toulouse were so good, they were not so good we kicked to their back three badly consistently and we did not look after our own possession, lets own our failings.

So the positives, we played the way we played and still only lost by 1 point and we should have had the nous to win it, most other teams would have lost by 20-30. I have massive expectations of this team because they deliver so often and they are a privilege to watch. Blips happen. Onwards and upwards.

[Leinster Lout]

It's not like we were particularly struggling to make ground throughout the game and had no choice either.

He did a lot of good things so don't mean to be too critical but James Ryan missed a lot of tackles, just really unusual for him. VDF might have plugged a lot of the holes that we left open.

I recall one tackle missed? "Lots"?!

Agree with most of the stuff on Tomane but it is still early days. He could probably do with losing some timber?

I was a bit disappointed with Ringrose in attack - he needs to offer more.

As an aside, the occasion looked fantastic and as a rugby fan was happy to see Toulouse come alive in Europe again. Their last try was vintage stuff even if we gifted it to them. Our pool is looking pretty interesting now. Wasps and Bath away could yet be tricky with injuries ahead.

[riocard911]

The day after. We sit on six points and our toughest game in the group is out of the way, we are not in the worst position at all as some have already said.

My personal deflation comes because we let Toulouse off the hook. I get that Toulouse played with flair I am sure it was one of the games of the weekend for neutrals but lets be honest we let them do that. Everything we associate with Leinster intensity, intelligence, respect (of the ball) all looked off from the start.

The couple of times we decided that we would go through a few phrases both in the first half and then the second we made hay and then we would revert to playing a game that suited Toulouse. If we took the plaudits last season for being able to change our play to combat the opposition from game to game then yesterday was a good wake up call because we looked unwilling to play a game that could have killed Toulouse off consistently, at 27-21 we should have put them to bed, we are patronizing Toulouse to say they are back, they are not back they were rubbish against Bath last week and this week they beat a Leinster team at home by 1 point who looked miles off the team we have become accustomed to see. Sometimes that happens for whatever reason.

We would be remiss to say it was all because Toulouse were so good, they were not so good we kicked to their back three badly consistently and we did not look after our own possession, lets own our failings.

So the positives, we played the way we played and still only lost by 1 point and we should have had the nous to win it, most other teams would have lost by 20-30. I have massive expectations of this team because they deliver so often and they are a privilege to watch. Blips happen. Onwards and upwards.

+1 Mentally we weren't at the races yesterday at all. For the first 15 minutes we were still on the bus. Then at the end with about two minutes to go Johnny kicks the ball back to Toulouse. Why didn't we just hold on to the damn thing and try and either score a try or a drop kick? Newcastle ground out their win vs Montpellier in the 89th minute, touching down under the posts after a gazillion phases. Why couldn't the reigning European and Pro 14 champions have at least tried that? Now our nimbus of invincibility is gone and our chances of home quarter and semi finals along with the huge amount of money they bring for the club are endangered. To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement.

[riocard911]

From the42:

“We’re very proud,” said Toulouse coach Régis Sonnes – who was director of rugby at Bandon RFC and Bandon Grammar as recently as last season – after the win against Leinster.

“We’re very proud for the team and the players because we have a very young team with big potential and today, with injuries and suspensions, we had a lot of players out.

“The young players showed the way, they took the opportunity and enjoyed the game I think. We won on confidence for the future, we know now we have big potential for the team.”

Far from being daunted by facing a team of Leinster’s stature, Toulouse seemed to relish the opportunity to cause an upset in front of their raucous crowd.

“The mentality was positive because beating Leinster could be a historic exploit for us,” said Sonnes, who welcomed a big band of supporters from Bandon for this game.

“We have all the committee of Bandon here today. Conor [Slattery, Bandon's director of rugby] is here. I received some messages from Bandon today. Munster are happy, Leinster lost!

[curates_egg]

Just rewatching the highlights and looking at the stats: what an uncharacteristically poor performance.
The looseness with possession was very obvious on first watch (16 conceded turnovers) - we made only 5 successful offloads (to 17 from Toulouse). Two of their tries came directly from turnovers (a Cronin offload and McGrath's intercept, which looks worse and worse every time you watch it).
But the defensive malfunction was also pretty horrendous on review.
We missed 25% of our tackles and some misses were very costly. O'Brien's flap for their second try was really bad, and he missed 3/9. Henshaw (missed tackles 4/12) and Tracy (missed tackles 3/7) also very obviously underperforming, but everyone was at it.

Positives confirmed were our scrum and maul, as well as our lineout (until Tracy came on).

[the spoofer]

Just rewatching the highlights and looking at the stats: what an uncharacteristically poor performance.
The looseness with possession was very obvious on first watch (16 conceded turnovers) - we made only 5 successful offloads (to 17 from Toulouse). Two of their tries came directly from turnovers (a Cronin offload and McGrath's intercept, which looks worse and worse every time you watch it).
But the defensive malfunction was also pretty horrendous on review.
We missed 25% of our tackles and some misses were very costly. O'Brien's flap for their second try was really bad, and he missed 3/9. Henshaw (missed tackles 4/12) and Tracy (missed tackles 3/7) also very obviously underperforming, but everyone was at it.

Positives confirmed were our scrum and maul, as well as our lineout (until Tracy came on).

I think we got a little carried away by our second half against Wasps when our first half was actually poor.

[Dave Cahill]

I think we have a tendency to get carried away by pretty much everything. After Wasps we weren't the '87 All Blacks, after Toulouse we aren't '87 Ireland - reality is somewhere in between. We're one of the three or four best teams in Europe, but at this level the difference between those three or four teams and the next three or four is bugger all. A 1 or 2% dip in performance levels can be the difference between winning and losing. Toulouse were excellent, the espoirs they brought off the bench had a real impact and we were maybe that 1 or 2% off our best. So we lost.

[Aussiedub]

The day after. We sit on six points and our toughest game in the group is out of the way, we are not in the worst position at all as some have already said.

My personal deflation comes because we let Toulouse off the hook. I get that Toulouse played with flair I am sure it was one of the games of the weekend for neutrals but lets be honest we let them do that. Everything we associate with Leinster intensity, intelligence, respect (of the ball) all looked off from the start.

The couple of times we decided that we would go through a few phrases both in the first half and then the second we made hay and then we would revert to playing a game that suited Toulouse. If we took the plaudits last season for being able to change our play to combat the opposition from game to game then yesterday was a good wake up call because we looked unwilling to play a game that could have killed Toulouse off consistently, at 27-21 we should have put them to bed, we are patronizing Toulouse to say they are back, they are not back they were rubbish against Bath last week and this week they beat a Leinster team at home by 1 point who looked miles off the team we have become accustomed to see. Sometimes that happens for whatever reason.

We would be remiss to say it was all because Toulouse were so good, they were not so good we kicked to their back three badly consistently and we did not look after our own possession, lets own our failings.

So the positives, we played the way we played and still only lost by 1 point and we should have had the nous to win it, most other teams would have lost by 20-30. I have massive expectations of this team because they deliver so often and they are a privilege to watch. Blips happen. Onwards and upwards.

+1 Mentally we weren't at the races yesterday at all. For the first 15 minutes we were still on the bus. Then at the end with about two minutes to go Johnny kicks the ball back to Toulouse. Why didn't we just hold on to the damn thing and try and either score a try or a drop kick? Newcastle ground out their win vs Montpellier in the 89th minute, touching down under the posts after a gazillion phases. Why couldn't the reigning European and Pro 14 champions have at least tried that? Now our nimbus of invincibility is gone and our chances of home quarter and semi finals along with the huge amount of money they bring for the club are endangered. To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement.

How are your chances of a home quarter and semi endangered? Did you really expect us to win every single game in the group stages this year?


We have Bath away and home, Toulouse at home and Wasps away. Should win at least 3 if not 4 of thee games.

[brenno]

In games like that you look for leadership from senior players and in that regard have to say Sexton was sadly lacking in leadership and game management that is supposed to be his strength - less said about the up and under 2 minutes from time the better but a bizarre decision to boot possession away like that.

[backrower8]

In games like that you look for leadership from senior players and in that regard have to say Sexton was sadly lacking in leadership and game management that is supposed to be his strength - less said about the up and under 2 minutes from time the better but a bizarre decision to boot possession away like that.

+1