Leinster V Bath Sat 15th Dec 17.30 BT Sport

[wixfjord]

Reid had a very industrious 13 tackles at the weekend and was generally quite good.

I also note he has only 1 pass in his time on the pitch so he was clearly there to carry.

Problem is we got no front foot ball off him. And of the rest of our fit backline, the only ones that will offer real front foot ball in tight channels is COB - who I don't think is at European level. Or Lowe - who I was surprised wasn't called to truck it up more.

With some tidier ball from the breakdown and a stricter offside line, hopefully we can make better inroads. But I wouldn't mind see Lowe pop up on Sextons shoulder from some good yards

In fairness to Reid, he made 20 metres off 6 carries in some heavy traffic.

I agree though we really benefit from having a heavy hitter at 12.

I think with hopefully more forward dominance this weekend it might suit him a bit better though.

[wixfjord]

[Oldschool]

Reid had a very industrious 13 tackles at the weekend and was generally quite good.

I also note he has only 1 pass in his time on the pitch so he was clearly there to carry.

Problem is we got no front foot ball off him. And of the rest of our fit backline, the only ones that will offer real front foot ball in tight channels is COB - who I don't think is at European level. Or Lowe - who I was surprised wasn't called to truck it up more.

With some tidier ball from the breakdown and a stricter offside line, hopefully we can make better inroads. But I wouldn't mind see Lowe pop up on Sextons shoulder from some good yards

In fairness to Reid, he made 20 metres off 6 carries in some heavy traffic.

I agree though we really benefit from having a heavy hitter at 12.

I think with hopefully more forward dominance this weekend it might suit him a bit better though.

Drier conditions might make it easier for Roberts to punch thru the middle too so Reid might find the going a bit tougher.
Ta for the injury update btw.

[mildlyinterested]

ROL at 12 please.

[carlow man]

Yeh rol is a better player than Reid. More to offer in attack and likelier to grab a try for himself.

[carlow man]

One out of Ruddock and leavy to be left on bench. Or both if fardy starts!!! I'd go with leavy, vdf and Conan but there's an argument for rhys and fardy to be involved. Don't envy leo deciding that one!

[mildlyinterested]

Leinster have not ruled Johnny Sexton out of the return fixture against Bath at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

He came off last weekend's win at the Rec with a calf injury, but the province say he'll be assessed further in the coming days before a final decision will be made on his fitness.

Scrum-half Nick McCarthy has been ruled out for 12 weeks, but Barry Daly has stepped up his training as the winger nears a return to action after a knee problem.

The province welcomed Jack Conan, Dan Leavy, Jordan Larmour and Rory O'Loughlin back last weekend and they all came through unscathed.

[mildlyinterested]

XV I'd select:

1. Healy
2. Cronin
3. Furlong
4. Toner
5. Ryan
6. Ruddock
7. Leavy
8. Conan
9. McGrath
10. Sexton/Byrne
11. Lowe
12. ROL
13. Ringrose
14. Larmour
15. Kearney

[Flash Gordon]

Reid had a very industrious 13 tackles at the weekend and was generally quite good.

I also note he has only 1 pass in his time on the pitch so he was clearly there to carry.

Problem is we got no front foot ball off him. And of the rest of our fit backline, the only ones that will offer real front foot ball in tight channels is COB - who I don't think is at European level. Or Lowe - who I was surprised wasn't called to truck it up more.

With some tidier ball from the breakdown and a stricter offside line, hopefully we can make better inroads. But I wouldn't mind see Lowe pop up on Sextons shoulder from some good yards

In fairness to Reid, he made 20 metres off 6 carries in some heavy traffic.

I agree though we really benefit from having a heavy hitter at 12.

I think with hopefully more forward dominance this weekend it might suit him a bit better though.

Reid did ok but the 20 meter gain was pretty average (lowest of our backs and behind Cronin and Ryan). He made 13 tackles but that was against a predictable center pairing with Roberts being pretty much a one trick pony - he missed 4 tackles too. The big issue for me was the distribution, Reid is a really good distributor of the ball but didn't. That may well have been team orders of course, I was really struck watching the game from the stands how incredibly narrow we were which made it very easy to defend against us for Bath - that stuff is bread and butter to a premiership team, that's what they're set up for. Going into contact and not protecting the ball was pretty much unforgivable - that might work when you spread the opposition but when you play narrow and don't commit to the breakdown at the appropriate level you get in trouble.

Ironically, the game plan was made for Fardy but lost on Lowe.

Lots of work ons for next week!

[bails]

Have to pick Fardy this weekend.
He previously nullified PRIME JACKALER Tadgh Beirne single handedly in both European semi final and pro 14 final last year.
Also think if he plays we may go after their scrum and line out. Their scrum wobbled consistently on Saturday, without ever quite been obliterated.

Also think we need James Lowe for tries on Saturday. We need 5 Points

So HO'S or PP on the bench at 9 and break them over 55 mins and then out run them wide.

I was on the terrace where players come out last Saturday and have to say at both half time and end of game, Bath looked absolutely out on their feet, I mean really gone, so maybe a faster pitch and some class and they might collapse

[arsebiscuits1]

Reid did ok but the 20 meter gain was pretty average (lowest of our backs and behind Cronin and Ryan). He made 13 tackles but that was against a predictable center pairing with Roberts being pretty much a one trick pony - he missed 4 tackles too. The big issue for me was the distribution, Reid is a really good distributor of the ball but didn't. That may well have been team orders of course, I was really struck watching the game from the stands how incredibly narrow we were which made it very easy to defend against us for Bath - that stuff is bread and butter to a premiership team, that's what they're set up for. Going into contact and not protecting the ball was pretty much unforgivable - that might work when you spread the opposition but when you play narrow and don't commit to the breakdown at the appropriate level you get in trouble.

Ironically, the game plan was made for Fardy but lost on Lowe.

Lots of work ons for next week!

Reid had 1 pass the entire game. Pretty much all his possessions were to carry. Must have been the game plan

[mildlyinterested]

Reid's one pass was a poor one too.

[bails]

Reid had a very industrious 13 tackles at the weekend and was generally quite good.

I also note he has only 1 pass in his time on the pitch so he was clearly there to carry.

Problem is we got no front foot ball off him. And of the rest of our fit backline, the only ones that will offer real front foot ball in tight channels is COB - who I don't think is at European level. Or Lowe - who I was surprised wasn't called to truck it up more.

With some tidier ball from the breakdown and a stricter offside line, hopefully we can make better inroads. But I wouldn't mind see Lowe pop up on Sextons shoulder from some good yards

In fairness to Reid, he made 20 metres off 6 carries in some heavy traffic.

I agree though we really benefit from having a heavy hitter at 12.

I think with hopefully more forward dominance this weekend it might suit him a bit better though.

Reid did ok but the 20 meter gain was pretty average (lowest of our backs and behind Cronin and Ryan). He made 13 tackles but that was against a predictable center pairing with Roberts being pretty much a one trick pony - he missed 4 tackles too. The big issue for me was the distribution, Reid is a really good distributor of the ball but didn't. That may well have been team orders of course, I was really struck watching the game from the stands how incredibly narrow we were which made it very easy to defend against us for Bath - that stuff is bread and butter to a premiership team, that's what they're set up for. Going into contact and not protecting the ball was pretty much unforgivable - that might work when you spread the opposition but when you play narrow and don't commit to the breakdown at the appropriate level you get in trouble.

Ironically, the game plan was made for Fardy but lost on Lowe.

Lots of work ons for next week!

Reid is reportedly the best passer at the Club, perhaps the wind had an influence on the tactics, and a decision was made not to throw longer passes - Look at Wilson's intercepted pass, that got held in the wind.

I also think the narrow pitch, it was really is small widthwise (I sit in South Terrace at RDS and was on Thatchers Terrace on Saturday and couldn't believe its dimensions) may have unconsciously led to us being narrow.

Big wide expanses of the Aviva to assist hopefully on Saturday.

I also agree that Fardy was made for the game last weekend.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

You can't expect Noel to use his passing skills in those conditions. We were right to be narrow but executed it terribly.

McCarthy's injury really changes things for the rest of the season IMO. Obviously I've been going on about wanting him to get games to stay sharp but can't see much point in that now. HOS should get a lot of time over the next 12 weeks and assuming he keeps going well then I wouldn't be itching to bring Nick back in. There's a good chance he won't be back (for Leinster at least) until the Edinburgh game on the 22/23 March and the QFs of the Champions Cup are the week after.

I'm not worried about Fardy being needed this week, the players from Saturday were more than capable of securing our ball and surely they won't under perform again. I'd bring Conan in but think I'd leave it at that. Still tempted to leave Rob out and start Adam but Saturday probably showed that our first choice side needs more time in the saddle so that we're ready for Toulouse. I'd be tempted to start ROL too but given that Noel was good I think I'd let him get sharp over Christmas and reassess for Toulouse.

[Flash Gordon]

You can't expect Noel to use his passing skills in those conditions. We were right to be narrow but executed it terribly.

McCarthy's injury really changes things for the rest of the season IMO. Obviously I've been going on about wanting him to get games to stay sharp but can't see much point in that now. HOS should get a lot of time over the next 12 weeks and assuming he keeps going well then I wouldn't be itching to bring Nick back in. There's a good chance he won't be back (for Leinster at least) until the Edinburgh game on the 22/23 March and the QFs of the Champions Cup are the week after.

I'm not worried about Fardy being needed this week, the players from Saturday were more than capable of securing our ball and surely they won't under perform again. I'd bring Conan in but think I'd leave it at that. Still tempted to leave Rob out and start Adam but Saturday probably showed that our first choice side needs more time in the saddle so that we're ready for Toulouse. I'd be tempted to start ROL too but given that Noel was good I think I'd let him get sharp over Christmas and reassess for Toulouse.

To be clear, not blaming the lad for not passing and if he wasn't it clearly was the game plan. I agree on your point on execution - we didn't protect the ball at the breakdown, our backrow carried badly and we really really suffered from not have a genuine 8. Conan has to start next week.

In the backs, the narrow plan might have worked but why would you play a lad like Reid in those circumstances vs ROL? And why didn't Lowe come in more for that purpose? He spent most of the game waving at people from the wing. Also Bath were constantly offside, that's a game management issue, the captain needs to be having a constant conversation with the officials on that point. In terms of how we played, passing in that wind was difficult of course but offloading is possible - over and over again we went into contact and nobody was on the tackled player's shoulder - and again, Lowe is a very very good offloader in contact, why didn't he come in?

On the plus side Ringrose was outstanding in tight spaces as were Ryan and Cronin. Ryan and Cronin really showed well and put our backrow to shame really!

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Maybe because ROL was just coming back from injury and was touch and go to make it whereas Noel has been fit and played well recently.

Totally agree on Lowe, I was going on about it in the match thread and that ties in with what I said about not executing the game plan properly.

[Flash Gordon]

XV I'd select:

1. Healy
2. Cronin
3. Furlong
4. Toner
5. Ryan
6. Ruddock
7. Leavy
8. Conan
9. McGrath
10. Sexton/Byrne
11. Lowe
12. ROL
13. Ringrose
14. Larmour
15. Kearney

Would have VD Flier in at 7, think he's been outstanding this year. Leavy is superb too of course so it's a very close call! He showed up badly last weekend but to be fair, he isn't an 8. I'd also start JGP, he has had a fantastic season and nudged ahead of Luke in my opinion because his distribution is so much quicker. Starting him last weekend against a defensive line that was close to/over the offside line would have helped us. For me the big call is Fardy vs Lowe. Fardy would have made a big difference last weekend, Lowe did not.

[wixfjord]

I think if it’s between the two of them Lowe is more likely to make a difference this weekend though.

[artaneboy]

Yeh rol is a better player than Reid. More to offer in attack and likelier to grab a try for himself.

I'm not sure that's the case on form. Reid has now had three very good matches in a row. At his best O'Loughlin may previously have performed to a higher standard, but not that high that I'd just drop a form player for him.

Reid is due his chance at 12 this week- and remember he reputed to be the best passer in the Leinster squad, so he offers a lot in linking play.

[Flash Gordon]

I think if it’s between the two of them Lowe is more likely to make a difference this weekend though.

Very true. One of the things that seems to be troubling Leo is how much Girv knows and how he sets up Bath to defend against us. With both Lowe and Larmour you just can't prepare in the same way as you can to defend against the rest of the team because they both play what's in front of them so well.