Leinster V Treviso 02/09/16 19:35

[Dirk Stickler]

It's far too early in the season to be as irritated as i am.

Thought Treviso looked a lot better organised than us. A terrible indictment.

The backline was a mess. Carbery stood out but really for individual moments. I like Noel Reid but he was anonymous. Luke McGrath had a night to forget.

JGP made a big difference when he came on (off loading?! Who'd have thought?).

I don't understand the logic at 13. Yes, Ringrose may play for Ireland on the wing but i don't really care about that when i'm at Leinster matches. He's our 13 and Kirchner is a full back/ utility. Stop messing about.

As a "product" it was extremely pro 12. Hugely frustrating.

[COYBIB]

First game of the season and we got a win. It's difficult to be too negative, but really it still looked like a case of a lot of highly talented individuals playing in a somewhat lackluster team. We had plenty of attacking threats in the backline, McFadden looked lively and physical, Ringrose was quiet enough by his now hyped expectancy, but I thought he was superb in defence. One bone crunchinh hit led to a turnover and Carberrys second try.

Speaking of Carberry, he was the one exceptional posisitive for Leinster. What he showed in that one game is that he is a naturally gifted player bursting with potential. He showed sparks of individual brillance, with a spectacular break, his kicking from hand was mixed, some excellent touch finders, some dodgy terretorial punts, but all in all a very exciting full debut. But it's worth keeping in mind that a Madigan 2.0 isn't much use to us, hopefully his whole game can develop under the tutelage of Sexton and he can become a top level player.

I thought Luke McGrath was poor. It's getting very frustraiting at this point. He can do so much right but then make some awful errors. I thought Gibson-Park looked the far more composed player when he came on and looked threatening with ball in hand, something Luke can do but didn't last night.

But there didn't seem to be a whole load of new ideas in the backline. I had hoped we'd put a few training pitch moves through their paces and rack up a score in a training match, a practice run and to put on a show for the fans and make a statement on the coming season. Rather than announcing our intent for the season, we've quietly limped into the race.

First game of the season, don't want to be too harsh, but disappointing to effectively drop 1 easy point.

Lastly, what a great pleasure it was to see Ian McKinley come on. A life changing injury and an end to his rugby career, the path he has taken since then is nothing short of incredible and inspiring. One of the great stories of character and determination, fair play to him, and I think it was a special moment for everyone to see him running out onto the RDS pitch.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

This seems to happen every season but I don't get the criticsm of Luke. Two ropey passes and a pointless box kick...what else? The rest of his game was very good.

Edit: JGP was good when he came on but also threw a shite pass to Ferg that nobody has mentioned and he was only on for 15 mins. Genuinely seems to me like people analyse Luke far more harshly than anyone else.

[alanair]

Two ropey passes from Luke ???... I would suggest a review of the footage... it would be far easier to count the number of decent passes, ie those landing between the waist and the shoulders of the receiver, than those that had to be picked off the bootlaces or plucked from the air. This is a big failing of Luke, and needs immediate attention.

[Gearzbox2]

This seems to happen every season but I don't get the criticsm of Luke. Two ropey passes and a pointless box kick...what else? The rest of his game was very good.

Edit: JGP was good when he came on but also threw a shite pass to Ferg that nobody has mentioned and he was only on for 15 mins. Genuinely seems to me like people analyse Luke far more harshly than anyone else.

Totally agree with you, bar 1 or 2 passes he was ok, needs to threaten more around ruck but like a few other players, seems to take a lot of flak whiles other seem immune from any criticism
JGP does look calmer and more collected and it's going to be an Interesting battle for the 9

[simonokeeffe]

Ringrose looked far more dangerous than any other player in the back 3, but unless ROL plays outside Henshaw that looks to be a luxury/a catch 22

Think that starting back 3 need to play more heads up but very vulnerable to being overtaken by returning/emerging players

Returning forwards/more go forward ball will help half backs no end. Molony's clear outs were great

[outcast eddie]

Treviso''s scrum, lineout and defence was either very well organised or we made it look very well organised. Either way they didn't come here to roll over so a win is a win is a...

Ferg's aggression in the tackle is un-diminished by the off season. I wish the rest of the back line would take note.

Great to see Rob K having a cut and even greater to see Cian Healy looking so mobile without his odd spatz thingeys.

[COYBIB]

Regarding Luke (and we can just say Luke now, because there is no longer scope for any confusion on who we're talking about ), I have been and still am one of his biggest fans. I've been defending him against this "can't pass" thing for almost as long as it's been going around, as 90% of his passes are crisp and accurate. However I thought he made some particularly howlers last night that really just aren't good enough at this level. First game and all that aside, it was a low pressure game for him at the breakdown and he should have done better imo. I don't recall him making any snipes either, which he's very good at, and that was a noticable difference when JGP came on, he really seemed to up the tempo with his time spent at the ruck (McGrath is more and more becoming a pick up the ball, run sideways, pass the ball scrum half, which has its time and place, but it needs to be intermixed with crisp, fast ball from the base of the ruck which he wasn't doing), and he really linked well with play on a number of occassions which was notable for its absence prior to his arrival on the pitch.

On the plus side of all of that though, JGP did look like he has some real quality in his cameo. I look forward to seeing him.

I praised McFadden because he did well and I've been sh!t talking him for a while, but this is probably the first time I fully acknowledge it, but Rob Kearney is now nothing more than a very, very average player at this level. It didn't happen over night and it's sad to see.

I was disappointed to see Adam Byrne wasn't involved, because we desperately, desperately need a group, at this point, of back three players to come through. We've just got very laboured, industrial options in our back three, some little bits of flair in Nacewa etc., but as a whole it's a very average area of our squad, despite half of our NIQ spots being used up there also. I think a bit of a clean up at the end of the season and we might (and have to) splurge on as big name a signing as we can get for that. Assuming the IRFU stick their nose in, it may have to be project player, but I say go balls to the wall and try and tempt the best young super rugby winger who isn't capped, try and get the next Nadolo... there are definitely some out there.

[erskinechilders]

Its such a pity that Kelleher and Nash fell through. Kelleher in particular was treated badly by Leinster and was never given a fair crack of the whip, look at him now starting full back for Connacht!

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Two ropey passes from Luke ???... I would suggest a review of the footage... it would be far easier to count the number of decent passes, ie those landing between the waist and the shoulders of the receiver, than those that had to be picked off the bootlaces or plucked from the air. This is a big failing of Luke, and needs immediate attention.

I have. If you read above you'll see I rewatched the game this morning having been at it last night. I stand by what I said, he was good. And so was Carbery, which would have been hard to do if his scrumhalf was poor.

[rookie]

Special thanks to Graham Henry. That result could have been worse, if it wasn't for his comprehensive review of Leinster rugby.

[ronk]

Hey look, a win on opening day.


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[Dirk Stickler]

We won a lot of games last season without being impressive. Last night was more of the same.

I do think Treviso deserve credit for how well organised they were but overall I thought we were poor.

Can't help but feel that a great deal of talent is being mismanaged.

Maybe I should be happier with the win but I'm not.

[Xanthippe]

Its such a pity that Kelleher and Nash fell through. Kelleher in particular was treated badly by Leinster and was never given a fair crack of the whip, look at him now starting full back for Connacht!

Found it interesting how many people commented today on Kelleher looking like he wasn't quite ready for Pro12 level. Maybe Leinster knew what they were doing after all when they offered him that development contract!

[Andrew097]

Though the half backs did really well. Plus I though the new lad looked very sharp, nice wristy quick passing from the ruck. All in all not a bad performance but the game is getting more like league every year

[footrush]

I know it was the opening game against Treviso, seemed to me to be a lot of empty seats ?.....

[LeRouxIsPHat]

It wasn't great but considering it was Treviso and electric picnic was also on I'd say it was alright.

[nc6000]

I know it was the opening game against Treviso, seemed to me to be a lot of empty seats ?.....

11,217 was the attendance according to the match report. Plenty of empty seats around us in the South Stand and the North Stand looked fairly empty also. First game back and a nice sunny evening so I would have expected a better crowd.

[simonokeeffe]

I know it was the opening game against Treviso, seemed to me to be a lot of empty seats ?.....

11,217 was the attendance according to the match report. Plenty of empty seats around us in the South Stand and the North Stand looked fairly empty also. First game back and a nice sunny evening so I would have expected a better crowd.

think that shows the level of season tickets bought

[FLIP]

Any highlights of this anywhere? Don't really have the time to watch the whole match, and the Pro12 youtube hasn't got anything up yet.