Leinster v Munster Saturday 5.30 Aviva

[simonokeeffe]

telling Ben how tough he'd look if he also had an RUC moustache?

WTF is an "RUC moustache"?

whatever the hell McGrath has

Wing Commander Heaslip's was the best Leinster moustache

[Oldschoolsocks]

telling Ben how tough he'd look if he also had an RUC moustache?

WTF is an "RUC moustache"?

it's exactly the same as an RUC Beard, except with on whiskers on the chin, cheek or neck -- do keep up artaneboy

[Blue not red blood]

telling Ben how tough he'd look if he also had an RUC moustache?

WTF is an "RUC moustache"?

Jim McCoy Loosehead Prop from the 80`s
What a stare he could give

[Dave Cahill]

Jimmy, Des and Phil used to share the moustache - caused havoc on interpro days

[artaneboy]

Jimmy, Des and Phil used to share the moustache - caused havoc on interpro days

Mnnn- sort of like yet avatar's then?

[jezzer]

Shiiiiiite... Just wrote a massive post on my thoughts and manged to delete the entire thing!

SO, cliff notes:

We're not that far away from our previous peaks. Pack were superb with one exception (see below). Depth looks very good and a lot of players are arrowing up, with the senior guys hitting form. I'm just not sure whether we can scale that last bit to take us into HEC contending level again. I see three specific things from that game which would have made the result a foregone conclusion and shown fans that we can be great again:

1) We have to stop committing too many forward to safe offensive rucks. It's a "to be sure, to be sure" approach at the moment. Even after the SH is bending down to distribute, were often still putting extra bodies in there. Over multi-phase, the tying up of extra forwards and backs is costing us metres. We just need to be a bit smarter and less cautious in those rucks where the ball is clearly already won.

2) Sean Cronin can't start for us in big games. My heart says he should start every game. But we probably left two or more scores out there due to a totally unacceptable lineout in the first 50 minutes. Either someone else throws in or he has to take a back seat, despite what he brings in the loose.

3) As others have said, we have to straighten the line and fix defenders before passing. The origin of this problem is Johnny. He's too deep and he not taking it to the line like the Johnny of old. His kicking was sublime but his running game was leisurely at best. He's passing way too early to Te'o. Ben isn't a natural union 12 and he doesn't fix and pass, so he exacerbates the issue. Te'o hits it up or dishes it out, but he needs to learn to make something out of the poor enough starting point Johnny is giving him and at least draw cover to him before passing. By the time Ringrose gets it, one of three things happens:
i) He sees there's no benefit in passing it further and takes it up into a very congested space. Occasionally he makes chicken salad from chicken sh!t. He's hanging onto the ball a lot now, even when the pass is maybe on.
ii) He's hit more or less as he gets the ball and our entire 3/4 line gets sucked into a rescue ruck.
iii) He passes into the tramlines where the back 3 player has no room. This leads to the annoying habit we have of grubbering the ball down the touchline, usually for no benefit.

We have to get more in attack from Johnny, simple as. He can still make a break, but he's the guy running the backline and what he's running at the moment isn't up to Leinster standard. At least if he gets it right, Te's distribution shortcomings (fixing and long passes) are reduced and our other backs have some space to work with. When you combine this "wide for wide's sake" attack and our propensity to put too many into rucks, it's not hard to see why we struggle to score tries. I don't blame our 3/4 line. I'm not as down on Kirchner as most, Isa is getting back to real form. We need another good wing maybe. But virtually no wing in the world can make use of the ball and space our inside backs are giving them.

Fix that and we look in pretty good shape. We need a scrummie and a winger to step up or get signed. Other than that, we have it within our squad to threaten at the top level again. I'm not as big a Henshaw fan as most (just think he's overhyped) but he will help a little. A lot of it comes back to the halfbacks and how they get us moving though.

[Oldschool]

Jimmy, Des and Phil used to share the moustache - caused havoc on interpro days

For them wot's too young.
Des Fitzgerald (Luke's dad)
Phil Orr

[riocard911]

I would have called Phil Orr's tache more walrus, than RUC, but there you go.....

[blockhead]

Just watched the end of the game and our guys were behind the line when killer took the tap-penalty from the wrong spot. Teo's match winning tackle was great since he acheived it without even using his arms.
#GOTEO