Connacht vs Leinster 26th March K/O @ 17:15

[leinsterforever]

on a more positive note Ryan was excellent again but dont know if that just puts him in the shop window more

Put in a few decent hits but knocked on from Kirchner in one of our few decent attacking moves. Also when in space on an overlap failed to even look for his two support runners and ran blindly into contact. Carried a lot but to little real effect. Decent squad man but that's about it. Probably best for him to move on.

He's never been a block busting carrier and never will be but his work rate was phenomenal (Ruddock was a bit disappointing)

I'd like him to stay for Leinster's sake but for his own sake he really should move, he's good enough to start in the premiership, too good to be a 6th choice backrower

I don't get this "sixth choice backrower" thing. It's not like all the backrow positions are exactly the same. Ryan is second choice blindside

[curates_egg]

Really don't get the Luke McGrath stuff.

He was poor. If you can't see that, then you are being blinded by some factor: maybe your desire to see him come good. I get that a lot of people see real potential in him and hope he is going to be a great player for us...I presume everyone wants us to finally develop a decent scrum half...but you can't ignore that he has had a lot of poor games this season. This was one. Now, maybe he was also being given bad tactics/instructions but his execution of those tactics was simply poor. To deny that is to do both him and yourself a disservice. We all pick the players we like, and defend them maybe when they don't deserve it. I have certainly been guilty of that.

Madigan was utter muck yesterday. Probably his worst performance ever. But McGrath was poor.

Would people really have preferred us to keep playing around our 22?

No. And that is the point. His role in our exits kept us pinned back in our 22 for large parts of the game. It was only through our continually excellent defence and Connacht's lack of incisive attack that we kept them to 7 points. The try was a down to 2 parts luck, 1 part lazy covering and some pretty impressive skill and commitment from Marmion.

[cwebber82]

I was behind the goals so it was hard to see clearly some of the decisions Owens made but we can't blame him when it was clear Leinster weren't at the races from the first minute.

I have to say it was one of the dumbest Leinster performance I've ever seen. A perfect example was McGrath box-kicking into a gale force wind that effectively returned the ball to where he kicked it. It didn't work the first five times, but hey maybe the sixth is the charm? Leinster were a dull minded team yesterday and credit to Connacht, who played brighter and smarter rugby and deserved their win.

Leinster have now managed no tries and just 15 points in their last 200 minutes of rugby.

Both the players and coaches need a kick in the arse this week cause that sh!t yesterday was unacceptable.

Have to agree.

Saracens played Exeter yesterday. Saracens played into a very strong wind in the first half and I can't recall them box kicking once. They played common sense rugby into the wind. They were leading 12-6 at half time.

We were all over the place playing into the wind yesterday. Madigan was just terrible. He should have given McGrath some direction but he just went into hiding.

Leo and the team would have questions too. To employ those tactics into the wind in the first half was baffling.

[domhnallj]

Leo in his pre-match chat on Sky mentioned keeping possession of the ball in the first half when we were playing uphill into the wind. I'm not sure where box kicking fitted into that plan.

[Raydollard]

Mostly what I saw were knock-ons, dropped passes, crazy box kicks and a non-functioning scrum. Also I saw a side full of well-paid top-notch test players that found it impossible to overcome a workmanlike side that played with great spirit. If the limit of our ambition is to do well in a Mickey Mouse Pro12 where four of the top five are Irish teams, then good luck with that but I'm out of here..

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Really don't get the Luke McGrath stuff.

He was poor. If you can't see that, then you are being blinded by some factor: maybe your desire to see him come good. I get that a lot of people see real potential in him and hope he is going to be a great player for us...I presume everyone wants us to finally develop a decent scrum half...but you can't ignore that he has had a lot of poor games this season. This was one. Now, maybe he was also being given bad tactics/instructions but his execution of those tactics was simply poor. To deny that is to do both him and yourself a disservice. We all pick the players we like, and defend them maybe when they don't deserve it. I have certainly been guilty of that.

Madigan was utter muck yesterday. Probably his worst performance ever. But McGrath was poor.

Would people really have preferred us to keep playing around our 22?

No. And that is the point. His role in our exits kept us pinned back in our 22 for large parts of the game. It was only through our continually excellent defence and Connacht's lack of incisive attack that we kept them to 7 points. The try was a down to 2 parts luck, 1 part lazy covering and some pretty impressive skill and commitment from Marmion.

Trust me there's no bias on my part. But I've always felt compelled to defend certain guys who get picked on because they had certain flaws in their game and then that feeling of them being poor players remains despite them having moved past them...same with Dev, Darce and a good few others in the past.

Anyway, I'll leave it after this but essentially you have a problem with our 9 box kicking poorly into an exceptionally strong wind when we needed to clear our lines. I find that just plain wrong. He had to try kicking...he did...and the wind scuppered us. It meant we backed our defence instead of our phase play in our own 22 and quite frankly it worked.

And as for the lazy covering comment, I explained that on a previous page. It was Ringrose who got sucked in towards Niyi when McGrath and Isa had him covered. Not McGrath's fault in the slightest. He tried his best to get back and the bounce went away from him. Watch the replay and you'll see that Ringrose pretty much had no impact on the play. Now he's an incredibly good defender but he messed up a bit there. Wouldn't have been an issue if the bounce hadnt gone Connacht's way but there's certainly no blame to be laid at McGrath's door.

[simonokeeffe]

He's never been a block busting carrier and never will be but his work rate was phenomenal (Ruddock was a bit disappointing)

I'd like him to stay for Leinster's sake but for his own sake he really should move, he's good enough to start in the premiership, too good to be a 6th choice backrower

I don't get this "sixth choice backrower" thing. It's not like all the backrow positions are exactly the same. Ryan is second choice blindside

ok it is fluid but if we've all our fit players available he still needs several injuries to make the 23

its just one way of putting hes aways down the pecking order

[sunshiner1]

Who's "we" and "us" in this? Leinster or Connacht?

Yeah I was drinking while writing so wasn't paying as close attention. Thanks for the constructive criticism.

Apparently Owens was down with the flu and wasn't sure if he'd be able to ref the whole game. Also the audio between the ref and touch judges wasn't working for the first half.

[Oldschool]

Surprised at how negative that is Donny/others. Madigan was a shining beacon of rubbish yesterday and there were a few annoying mistakes (Dippy dropping the ball, Zane's stupid kicks being big ones, Reddan kicking out on the full) but overall I didn't think it was that bad at all. It was a ferocious match in very tough conditions away to the best side in the league.

Really don't get the Luke McGrath stuff. Would people really have preferred us to keep playing around our 22? The kicks werent good but would it not have been suicide to hang them up for chasers when the wind was that strong? Madigan should have taken more responsibility too, he clearly wasn't at the races alright and I said before the game that I didn't think we were set up to take advantage of Connacht's weaknesses due to Madigan/the conditions but it was even worse than I'd imagined. But no matter who took the responsibility or what tactics we used in that first half it was going to be very difficult to get any kind of territory. Any time we did manage to launch it long it just came straight back at us.

Ah will you stop!! I know you're on a McGrath crusade to defend his honour but those kicks were ridiculous. Yes, Madigan was appalling and plenty of others were too, but repeatedly box-kicking into such a strong wind was completely daft. Faced into the same wind, Connacht mainly hung onto the ball and trusted their skills to go through phases. If you have to kick work space for a grubber to try to take the wind out of the equation.

The worrying thing is McGrath was box-kicking so often, it would indicate that he was following orders from the coaches and that's a real worry.

Have to say its pretty annoying when I outline in detail why it was difficult to do anything else and why the kicks were tough but then you resort to saying I'm on a crusade to defend his honour.

Had we not tried to clear our lines it would have been madness too. We tried, we failed, we stopped doing it. You cant just keep doing the same thing and the first option to reach for is definitely just clearing your lines through the boot. The idea that Connacht's tactics were so good is nonsense, remember Matt Healy throwing a hospital pass in their 22 for example?

It all comes back to not having a pick and go option. Repetitive I know but as they say FACT

[wprathead]

On a side note, it was my first time in Galway for a match. Arguably the biggest league match in Connachts history, possibly the first league match they've ever sold out, and I thought the pubs and atmosphere was very quiet pre and post match (especially considering it was a Saturday night too), virtually zero rugby bants to be had, maybe only saw one or two Connacht jerseys around the town, saw pockets of groups of Leinster fans in pubs...it was strange. That was kind of the part I was looking forward to the most. It's no Limerick city after a rugby match, that's for sure.

You just didn't know the good spots

[ChrisUppy]

If the limit of our ambition is to do well in a Mickey Mouse Pro12 where four of the top five are Irish teams, then good luck with that but I'm out of here..

On you go please and thank you. If you stick around I know what we can expect next year; an update every time Madigan kicks a pen and plenty of sh*te about "what we're missing".

[leinsterforever]

He's never been a block busting carrier and never will be but his work rate was phenomenal (Ruddock was a bit disappointing)

I'd like him to stay for Leinster's sake but for his own sake he really should move, he's good enough to start in the premiership, too good to be a 6th choice backrower

I don't get this "sixth choice backrower" thing. It's not like all the backrow positions are exactly the same. Ryan is second choice blindside

ok it is fluid but if we've all our fit players available he still needs several injuries to make the 23

its just one way of putting hes aways down the pecking order

I suppose he is in direct competition with Conan, Murphy and Leavy (I''m excluding JvdF because he'll be starting more often than not with SOB unavailable so much) for the no. 20 jersey. I don't know if regular gametime off the bench would be enough to make him want to stay

[Peg Leg]

Mostly what I saw were knock-ons, dropped passes, crazy box kicks and a non-functioning scrum. Also I saw a side full of well-paid top-notch test players that found it impossible to overcome a workmanlike side that played with great spirit. If the limit of our ambition is to do well in a Mickey Mouse Pro12 where four of the top five are Irish teams, then good luck with that but I'm out of here..

Ah Ray, we can do better. Don't go! Bordeaux's grand for a holiday but it's overrun with Chinese vinyard owners now.

[fourthirtythree]

Really don't get the Luke McGrath stuff.

He was poor. If you can't see that, then you are being blinded by some factor: maybe your desire to see him come good. I get that a lot of people see real potential in him and hope he is going to be a great player for us...I presume everyone wants us to finally develop a decent scrum half...but you can't ignore that he has had a lot of poor games this season. This was one. Now, maybe he was also being given bad tactics/instructions but his execution of those tactics was simply poor. To deny that is to do both him and yourself a disservice. We all pick the players we like, and defend them maybe when they don't deserve it. I have certainly been guilty of that.

Madigan was utter muck yesterday. Probably his worst performance ever. But McGrath was poor.

Would people really have preferred us to keep playing around our 22?

No. And that is the point. His role in our exits kept us pinned back in our 22 for large parts of the game. It was only through our continually excellent defence and Connacht's lack of incisive attack that we kept them to 7 points. The try was a down to 2 parts luck, 1 part lazy covering and some pretty impressive skill and commitment from Marmion.

Trust me there's no bias on my part. But I've always felt compelled to defend certain guys who get picked on because they had certain flaws in their game and then that feeling of them being poor players remains despite them having moved past them...same with Dev, Darce and a good few others in the past.

Anyway, I'll leave it after this but essentially you have a problem with our 9 box kicking poorly into an exceptionally strong wind when we needed to clear our lines. I find that just plain wrong. He had to try kicking...he did...and the wind scuppered us. It meant we backed our defence instead of our phase play in our own 22 and quite frankly it worked.

And as for the lazy covering comment, I explained that on a previous page. It was Ringrose who got sucked in towards Niyi when McGrath and Isa had him covered. Not McGrath's fault in the slightest. He tried his best to get back and the bounce went away from him. Watch the replay and you'll see that Ringrose pretty much had no impact on the play. Now he's an incredibly good defender but he messed up a bit there. Wouldn't have been an issue if the bounce hadnt gone Connacht's way but there's certainly no blame to be laid at McGrath's door.

I respect your opinion but McGrath had a mare box kicking repeatedly and unsuccessfully. The third I a row was a beaut as running it out was clearly on.

He also was late covering for the try. He didn't think the bounce was on and didn't follow it. Had he done so he should have competed for the ball with Marmion.

He was also bullied off the ball on our scrums. In the match in Dublin Reddan milked a couple of penalties out of Marmion being offside and playing his opposition number off the ball.

He had a really bad game, both our half backs did.

[nc6000]

Any updates on Luke Fitz?

Hopefully he's OK. It was great to see him back starting and worrying to see him go off injured.

[artaneboy]

Mostly what I saw were knock-ons, dropped passes, crazy box kicks and a non-functioning scrum. Also I saw a side full of well-paid top-notch test players that found it impossible to overcome a workmanlike side that played with great spirit. If the limit of our ambition is to do well in a Mickey Mouse Pro12 where four of the top five are Irish teams, then good luck with that but I'm out of here..

Ah Ray, we can do better. Don't go! Bordeaux's grand for a holiday but it's overrun with Chinese vinyard owners now.

Jaysus- will ye let him sulk off!?

[Raydollard]

We were really very narrow in our attacking set-up. Madigan tried to widen the line by throwing skip passes but we remained bunched and narrow.

[Oldschoolsocks]

We were really very narrow in our attacking set-up. Madigan tried to widen the line by throwing skip passes but we remained bunched and narrow.

and there was me thinking he was trying to widen our attacking line by blousing out of tackles and getting blocked down twice...

[artaneboy]

We were really very narrow in our attacking set-up. Madigan tried to widen the line by throwing skip passes but we remained bunched and narrow.

It took you two days to construct that rationalisation? Gallant Ian failed by those around him- Jeez!

Anyway- aren't you supposed to be packing for Bordeaux

[Donny B.]

Surprised at how negative that is Donny/others. Madigan was a shining beacon of rubbish yesterday and there were a few annoying mistakes (Dippy dropping the ball, Zane's stupid kicks being big ones, Reddan kicking out on the full) but overall I didn't think it was that bad at all. It was a ferocious match in very tough conditions away to the best side in the league.

Really don't get the Luke McGrath stuff. Would people really have preferred us to keep playing around our 22? The kicks werent good but would it not have been suicide to hang them up for chasers when the wind was that strong? Madigan should have taken more responsibility too, he clearly wasn't at the races alright and I said before the game that I didn't think we were set up to take advantage of Connacht's weaknesses due to Madigan/the conditions but it was even worse than I'd imagined. But no matter who took the responsibility or what tactics we used in that first half it was going to be very difficult to get any kind of territory. Any time we did manage to launch it long it just came straight back at us.

Ah will you stop!! I know you're on a McGrath crusade to defend his honour but those kicks were ridiculous. Yes, Madigan was appalling and plenty of others were too, but repeatedly box-kicking into such a strong wind was completely daft. Faced into the same wind, Connacht mainly hung onto the ball and trusted their skills to go through phases. If you have to kick work space for a grubber to try to take the wind out of the equation.

The worrying thing is McGrath was box-kicking so often, it would indicate that he was following orders from the coaches and that's a real worry.

Have to say its pretty annoying when I outline in detail why it was difficult to do anything else and why the kicks were tough but then you resort to saying I'm on a crusade to defend his honour.

Had we not tried to clear our lines it would have been madness too. We tried, we failed, we stopped doing it. You cant just keep doing the same thing and the first option to reach for is definitely just clearing your lines through the boot.

You just keep on digging. Are you seriously saying that when you're playing into a gale force wind it's only right and proper to try a half dozen box kicks just to see if it's too windy for them to work. And while I wouldn't blame McGrath for not covering back in time for Marmion's try, it was his shitty box kick that gave them the ball in the first place.