Leinster A v London Welsh next Saturday

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Think there may have been two knock ons but tbh I've no complaints. We couldn't cope with their maul and didn't punish them when they had players in the bin. Carberry played well but butchered a couple of great chances that he'd created and O'Shea messed up too after a great break, there were plenty of other incidents like that.

It's funny, for such a high scoring game I'm struggling to think of many standout players for us in attack. Daly and Kelleher were largely anonymous. Adam Byrne was pretty good although didnt see that much ball. He took two high balls really well although got stripped of one straight away.

The one guy who I thought had a great game was Tadgh Beirne. Not sure how it's possible for a second row to be the one to support the number 8 off a break from the scrum and score a try but he managed it. He was first in support for another break off the scrum later on too and he had a really impressive workrate throughout. He made a lot of tackles and was straight back up to make more. There were a couple of times where he found himself out wide and a bit exposed but was seriously atheletic in getting his man, he didn't look like a second row at all. There was another time where someone got outside him in midfield but he someone managed to dive and claw the guy down, we'd have been in big trouble if he didn't. Had one great steal and took one really difficult ball on our own throw in the 22 at one stage too. Ive just realised how long this paragraph is, didn't mean to go overboard but he had a brilliant game.

London Welsh were the best A side I've seen us play in a while. Even just in terms of fitness they were a cut above what's gone before. They were well organised and their left wing caused carnage, he looked like a really good player.

[Donny B.]

Sorry to lose but what a match! Was there ever more than 7 points between the teams all night?

[LeinsterLeader]

A really enjoyable game. Shame about the result but bags of line breaks and tries, result only decided with the last play of the game, what's not to like?

On a side note, as a club I think we need to invent the position of a full-time 'maul' coach. We were destroyed by them at the maul and honestly without this we probably would have won handily. In fairness they were greatly assisted by the referee who did seem to apply the concept of warning the scrum-half on a stopped maul (he was the same for us too ). Their maul superiority was so great that they tried to engineer mauls from other set-pieces and open play. I was thinking that we should try not engaging at a couple of line-out mauls (ala Glasgow and Ireland) just to vary it up a bit. As the senior team are struggling with mauls too I'd hope the coaching team will look at this as a matter of urgency.

[chappers2341]

As one of the London Welsh fans who travelled to the game. I would like to say a massive thank you to all the fans, staff and directors at Leinster for their fantastic hospitality. We had a great craic with the Leinster supporters on the terrace, whilst watching one of the most exciting games of rugby I have seen in a long time and the fun continued in the clubhouse long after the game.
A special thank you to Niall Rynne and his wife who wouldn't let us buy a drink all night and kept us royally entertained with his antics and singing.
Again we can't thank you guys enough for your part in making it probably one of the best away rugby trips we have been on, everyone to a man (and woman)were a total credit to your club.
Hopefully see you all again sometime
Thank you
Gareth

[wwed]

Great game and credit to LW who were a well-balanced and skillful side. Ironically, felt we were in trouble when ref gave us a penalty try (and them a yellow-card) for collapsing a maul. Unlike most refs now, he never seemed to call "use it" and allowed mauls to break and re-form - they're hard to stop anyway on astro pitch. With some bigger forwards, LW exploited this effectively for rest of game, while we failed to find a way to stop them - didn't think we reacted well on the pitch to solve the problem - e.g. by not competing and sacking the jumper. However they also scored some really good tries out wide, including one to win with the last play, which showed real quality.

For Leinster, Tadhg Beirne was great in loose, but feel that our main (as in biggest and most experienced) second row has to take some of the blame for poor performance in the maul. Adam Byrne did some good things, but also fell off several important tackles - including one in run-up to their final try. Thought Peader Timmins was very prominent with some big carries, while Carbery did well despite not making the most of a couple of line breaks.

[goreyguy]

How was dardis, mccarthy & aspil?

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Wwed, on the subject of the penalty try, thought we were very lucky not to concede one and a yellow ourselves when they mauled over for a try in the first half. I'd have been raging if I was them although didnt matter in the end.

[Oldschool]

Thanks for all the in depth comments.

[wwed]

How was dardis, mccarthy & aspil?

Didn't think any really stood out either way. McCarthy did basics fine, but no real spark or game-changing impact (compared to how McGrath for example always seems to make a few big plays). Dardis tried a few things but didn't really come off for him - replaced mid-way through second half. Aspil looks the part, good build and size for u20 and didn't look out of place at all, however apart from a couple of good carries I didn't notice him too much.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Thought Dardis was good and was unlucky that his flick was judged forward, looked like it went back and then drifted forward to me. He put in a couple of decent hits when he was the last man too which is an improvement from previous games. Did really well to recover a kick behind him under serious pressure in our 22 and had a couple of nice kicks, also popped up as a playmaker in midfield a few times. It was nothing special but he was much more involved than when I last saw him for Leinster A or UCD.

[goreyguy]

Thanks.

[Donny B.]

As one of the London Welsh fans who travelled to the game. I would like to say a massive thank you to all the fans, staff and directors at Leinster for their fantastic hospitality. We had a great craic with the Leinster supporters on the terrace, whilst watching one of the most exciting games of rugby I have seen in a long time and the fun continued in the clubhouse long after the game.
A special thank you to Niall Rynne and his wife who wouldn't let us buy a drink all night and kept us royally entertained with his antics and singing.
Again we can't thank you guys enough for your part in making it probably one of the best away rugby trips we have been on, everyone to a man (and woman)were a total credit to your club.
Hopefully see you all again sometime
Thank you
Gareth

Great noise from a travelling support that was bigger than we get for most Pro12 games.
Good to hear you had a good time and good luck for the rest of the tournament.

[riocard911]

Fair play. Even spelt craic correctly. Hope they go on to win the thing now. So much for Irish-Welsh enmity, which IMO has been massively overstated in recent years......

[chappers2341]

Many thanks we really enjoyed ourselves, maybe an all day session on the black stuff had something to do with our amplification.
We will do our best we have to face Cornish Pirates next weekend which will be round four of five against them this season and a win is something we have so far failed to manage against them, but we seam to have hit a vein of form.
Once again thanks