Leinster v Gloucester Sat 20th August

[goreyguy]

The way Marsh plays reminds me a lot of Sean Beirne. If he could play to the level of Sean Beirne I'd be happy. I thought he showed some nice glimpses at the early part of last season, but as someone said above, he's literally the polar opposite to Sexton's authoritative, general style of 10 play, which is a big negative.

he is miles off Shaun Beirne as a player though, and IMO will likely never reach that level given his progress to date.

[Dirk Stickler]

A lot of love flying around for Cathal I see.

Are any of the young back ups likely to meet the standard required? I thought Carbery was supposed to be the second coming?

[goreyguy]

A lot of love flying around for Cathal I see.

Are any of the young back ups likely to meet the standard required? I thought Carbery was supposed to be the second coming?

Carbery and Byrne have a chance to be good to very good professional outhalves all going well injury and development wise.

Ideally they both develop and leinster can get two distributors on the field. Either 10/12 or 10/15.

[goreyguy]

Which of them (Marsh, Byrne, Carbery) is the best goal-kicker?

Not seen enough of them to really make a call but Carbery seems the most naturally gifted of the lot from what's been said.

Hopefully Marsh can step up. It'd be a bit harsh to judge him on the Wasps game in Coventry, no one played well that day, but he looked a mile off the required back up to Sexton.

Looking forward to the game on Friday now. The standard of academy players coming through is a credit to the organisation. Could be (hopefully) a big year for Adam Byrne.

Standard of forwards is good.
Jury out on quite a few of the backs.

I'm still counting Garry Ringrose.

Hopefully, Adam Byrne fulfills the potential and same with whoever steps up at 10.

So 1 back in recent times.. hardly a credit to the academy.

[molloyjh]

Interesting reading some of the takes on the game. Overall I was pretty happy. Gloucester had a far stronger squad over with them and the first quarter they really showed it. While we struggled out wide a few times I think we handled it reasonably well defensively. Then in the second quarter we got ourselves 3 opportunities and 3 tries. In the third quarter we started to play our best stuff going forward. We were back to the offloading game we'd seen a good bit of against Ulster, but again there were a few errors. To be expected in the conditions. The O'Loughlin try was the best of the bunch. A superb pick up off the deck from Rock allowed him to put Carbery into a bit of space on the wing who offloaded inside to O'Loughlin to finish. The final quarter saw us with a fairly light back 5 and a pretty fractured back line. Gloucester came back into it then but in reality all they really had was a good line-out maul that they used well a few times. I wouldn't be at all worried about the fact that they dominated the end of the game.

In terms of the players I did think Marsh was poor. He simply wasn't challenging the Gloucester defence at all. For the vast majority he simply shipped the ball on to Daly who struggled as a result. Ringrose had a hard time getting much quality ball in hand then too, but defensively I thought Ringrose was really good. His reads were consistently very good. He knew when to press and when to drift. In terms of the other 2 10s we've seen over the 2 games I think we're just looking at very different players. Byrne is a more structured and controlled 10. He manages the game well, kicks well etc. Carbery is more of an attacking threat though. Gets a lot of pace on the ball and takes it to the line well. He's a lot more exciting but hasn't seemed too loose to me the last 2 games.

Our front row options are very, very healthy. While Afoa was poor when he was on Porter gave him nothing in the scrum and in the loose he seemed like he has it in him to carry his JRWC form over into senior rugby. Having him behind McGrath, Healy and Dooley shows serious depth. Byrne and Tracey were both very good. Loughman then when he came on seemed pretty solid too. Triggs got through a mountain of work, Molony continues to impress and I thought Josh Murphy looked handy enough. After a good showing last week I didn't think Zane did that well at all this time out but Morris looks like he'll be a very useful player for us, especially for a guy who was out for a year. Barry Daly looked decent too.

It wasn't perfect, but given everything I thought it was a pleasing 80 minutes.

[molloyjh]

So 1 back in recent times.. hardly a credit to the academy.

Jesus Christ, is there any chance at all that we can have 1 thread without this please? We get it, we all know, please stop polluting everywhere you post with this. You're adding nothing new here.

[goreyguy]

So 1 back in recent times.. hardly a credit to the academy.

Jesus Christ, is there any chance at all that we can have 1 thread without this please? We get it, we all know, please stop polluting everywhere you post with this. You're adding nothing new here.

just stating an opinion based on facts.. just because it's doesn't suit your narrative that everything is rosy at leinster doesn't mean i'll refrain from posting.

[molloyjh]

So 1 back in recent times.. hardly a credit to the academy.

Jesus Christ, is there any chance at all that we can have 1 thread without this please? We get it, we all know, please stop polluting everywhere you post with this. You're adding nothing new here.

just stating an opinion based on facts.. just because it's doesn't suit your narrative that everything is rosy at leinster doesn't mean i'll refrain from posting.

I'm not asking you to refrain from posting. I'm asking you to refrain from posting the same thing repeatedly. Over and over. On any and every thread you partake in. Ceaselessly. Endlessly. Incessantly. Interminably.

Hell,I'm not even arguing with you on it, I'm just sick of listening to you go on and on and on about it. I've never suggested everything was rosy with Leinster either so you can take that strawman and throw it in the bin while you're at it. Posting your opinion was, at one stage, contributing to the discussion. At this stage it's little more than soapboxing and borders on trolling because you've been banging on about it so much. If you've nothing new to add then maybe you could consider just not posting and letting the rest of us get on with it rather than dragging every conversation back to the same point.

[goreyguy]

Hell,I'm not even arguing with you on it, I'm just sick of listening to you go on and on and on about it. I've never suggested everything was rosy with Leinster either so you can take that strawman and throw it in the bin while you're at it. Posting your opinion was, at one stage, contributing to the discussion. At this stage it's little more than soapboxing and borders on trolling because you've been banging on about it so much. If you've nothing new to add then maybe you could consider just not posting and letting the rest of us get on with it rather than dragging every conversation back to the same point.

No one is forcing you to read it or reply to it. So i'll continue to post about what I like, thank you. It's a valid reply to what was posted by another poster.

[wixfjord]

I'm not asking you to refrain from posting. I'm asking you to refrain from posting the same thing repeatedly. Over and over. On any and every thread you partake in. Ceaselessly. Endlessly. Incessantly. Interminably.

Hell,I'm not even arguing with you on it, I'm just sick of listening to you go on and on and on about it. I've never suggested everything was rosy with Leinster either so you can take that strawman and throw it in the bin while you're at it. Posting your opinion was, at one stage, contributing to the discussion. At this stage it's little more than soapboxing and borders on trolling because you've been banging on about it so much. If you've nothing new to add then maybe you could consider just not posting and letting the rest of us get on with it rather than dragging every conversation back to the same point.

This.

I really hope we're not in for another season of this nonsense in every. single. thread.
I fear we are.

[goreyguy]

I'm not asking you to refrain from posting. I'm asking you to refrain from posting the same thing repeatedly. Over and over. On any and every thread you partake in. Ceaselessly. Endlessly. Incessantly. Interminably.

Hell,I'm not even arguing with you on it, I'm just sick of listening to you go on and on and on about it. I've never suggested everything was rosy with Leinster either so you can take that strawman and throw it in the bin while you're at it. Posting your opinion was, at one stage, contributing to the discussion. At this stage it's little more than soapboxing and borders on trolling because you've been banging on about it so much. If you've nothing new to add then maybe you could consider just not posting and letting the rest of us get on with it rather than dragging every conversation back to the same point.

This.

I really hope we're not in for another season of this nonsense in every. single. thread.
I fear we are.

Posting about the current state of leinster is not nonsense.
If the team plays upto standard, i'll say so. If they don't I wont be silenced from saying so either.
I simply replied to someone who thinks the academy has done a excellent job at producing backs. It hasn't.
It has done a very good job when it comes to forwards. If either of those things change, i won't be afraid to say it, just because it may be unpopular on this board.

[Grumpy Old Man]

There is a block button folks- it's easy to use.

[molloyjh]

There is a block button folks- it's easy to use.

Yeah I know, I'd just rather not have to go there if it can be helped. In some cases though it obviously can't be.

[wixfjord]

I'm not asking you to refrain from posting. I'm asking you to refrain from posting the same thing repeatedly. Over and over. On any and every thread you partake in. Ceaselessly. Endlessly. Incessantly. Interminably.

Hell,I'm not even arguing with you on it, I'm just sick of listening to you go on and on and on about it. I've never suggested everything was rosy with Leinster either so you can take that strawman and throw it in the bin while you're at it. Posting your opinion was, at one stage, contributing to the discussion. At this stage it's little more than soapboxing and borders on trolling because you've been banging on about it so much. If you've nothing new to add then maybe you could consider just not posting and letting the rest of us get on with it rather than dragging every conversation back to the same point.

This.

I really hope we're not in for another season of this nonsense in every. single. thread.
I fear we are.

Posting about the current state of leinster is not nonsense.
If the team plays upto standard, i'll say so. If they don't I wont be silenced from saying so either.
I simply replied to someone who thinks the academy has done a excellent job at producing backs. It hasn't.
It has done a very good job when it comes to forwards. If either of those things change, i won't be afraid to say it, just because it may be unpopular on this board.

What a crusader you are.

[goreyguy]

What a crusader you are.

It's an opinion, if you don't want to read it, dont. No one is forcing you to.

In other news, I hope Barry Daly gets a development deal.. even if his opportunities might be limited, he is worth the minimal investment required.

[wixfjord]

What a crusader you are.

It's an opinion, if you don't want to read it, dont. No one is forcing you to.

Not at all, like most others on here, I come on the board for entertainment (and to skive off work).
However, you've made your point over and over (and over and over) meaning it's difficult to ignore to be honest. There's no need to keep rehashing it.

[goreyguy]

What a crusader you are.

It's an opinion, if you don't want to read it, dont. No one is forcing you to.

Not at all, like most others on here, I come on the board for entertainment (and to skive off work).
However, you've made your point over and over (and over and over) meaning it's difficult to ignore to be honest. There's no need to keep rehashing it.

I wasn't rehashing it, just pointing out that while the academy deserves praise for their work with the forwards, they could be doing better with the backs.

Now i've had to spend several posts defending my right to post my opinion and to post that opinion on this forum.
I've yet to be warned by a moderator that my posting is disruptive or trolling and if I am I will take steps to address that.
So If you and whoever else was annoyed had just ignored the post and moved on, well that would have saved everyone some time.

[Spellster]

Leinster won the 2013 and 2014 B&I cups with young back lines, we have been producing players but most of their progress was blocked by Tuqiri, Fanning, McGrath and Gopperth being picked ahead of them by MO'C and they moved on.

Conway- gone to Munster.
Macken- gone to Wasps.
Coghlan-Murray- gone to Nottingham.
Hudson- gone to Bristol.
Carr- went to Connacht.
O'Shea - On trial with Munster
Farrell - Was with Munster, not sure now.
Coghlan- Went to Munster and switched to back row
Boyle - went to NZ and I don't know what happened after.

We lost a crop due to MO'C, the next crop looks good, Ringrose and Adam Byrne look likely to make it and others like Daly*2, O'Loughlin and Dardis have a chance

[goreyguy]

Leinster won the 2013 and 2014 B&I cups with young back lines, we have been producing players but most of their progress was blocked by Tuqiri, Fanning, McGrath and Gopperth being picked ahead of them by MO'C and they moved on.

Conway- gone to Munster.
Macken- gone to Wasps.
Coghlan-Murray- gone to Nottingham. - no longer playing pro rugby afaik
Hudson- gone to Bristol. - no longer playing pro rugby afaik
Carr- went to Connacht. - no longer playing pro rugby afaik
O'Shea - On trial with Munster
Farrell - Was with Munster, not sure now. - with Beford Blues now
Coghlan- Went to Munster and switched to back row. - with Notthingham in the backrow
Boyle - went to NZ and I don't know what happened after.. - no longer playing pro rugby afaik
Brewer - playing backrow in NZ
Crosbie - in NZ playing club rugby

We lost a crop due to MO'C, the next crop looks good, Ringrose and Adam Byrne look likely to make it and others like Daly*2, O'Loughlin and Dardis have a chance

As I said, i'm not going to rehash this argument again.

The next group are promising, but so was the last group of backs when they were in the academy, born 90 to 92.
We can only hope this graduating group, 93-95, will develop into better players for Leinster. There are positive signs with Ringrose, L McGrath and others. Hopefully it happens as the backline could do with an injection of young talent.

[Dave Cahill]

Leinster won the 2013 and 2014 B&I cups with young back lines, we have been producing players but most of their progress was blocked by Tuqiri, Fanning, McGrath and Gopperth being picked ahead of them by MO'C and they moved on.

Conway- gone to Munster.
Macken- gone to Wasps.
Coghlan-Murray- gone to Nottingham.
Hudson- gone to Bristol.
Carr- went to Connacht.
O'Shea - On trial with Munster
Farrell - Was with Munster, not sure now.
Coghlan- Went to Munster and switched to back row
Boyle - went to NZ and I don't know what happened after.

We lost a crop due to MO'C, the next crop looks good, Ringrose and Adam Byrne look likely to make it and others like Daly*2, O'Loughlin and Dardis have a chance

So what you're saying ist that MOC was right about them - not one of them, with the possible exception of Macken, was able to make it at the level that Leinster operate at, and most were unable to make it at lower levels like the championship or Munster.

Also, you're being a bit free and easy with timelines and positions