Glasgow v Leinster Saturday September 10th 3pm (Sky)

[kermischocolate]

You guys think you gifted us two soft tries in the second half, we think the same about your first two. I thought it was a very good game- both teams came to play which I always like. I think we looked more ruthless and hence took more chances. I don't think there was a huge amount between both teams- neither will win "big" games on today's performance.

Onwards and upwards.

Oh, and Carbery looks very exciting!

[Dexter]

How come offside from kick-off or restart is never penalised?

[neilinboston]

Be very interesting to see how carberry bounces back next week. I thought he was very good but would expect him to beat himself up over the intercept and restart. If he learns from that then he's shown what mads never could.
Going back to 10-12-13 options and bearing in mind best players on a pitch and all, could carberry work at 12? Seems defensively fairly solid (admittedly only watched each match once so it's more of an impression than a fact).

Whoever said young lads learn and work and improve from hurt like today is spot on. Thought Molina and leave were excellent.

[riocard911]

The first half was very good with positive play from our lads in the first half. The second was a disaster though. Things started going downhill when Luke McGrath threw that awful pass that landed at Carberry's toes, thereby coughing up possession to the Warriors. I would have subbed him immediately just for that. Only a short time later we've a scrum in our 22. The ball is at Jordi Murphy's feet and Luke McGrath doesn't give it out. Why? How much better is the situation gonna get, FF? We could have lost the reset scrum against the head or conceded a penalty. Anyhowz it was from that reset scrum that the intercept try came - very possibly in part a result of LMcG's faffin about when he should be just getting on with things. I was very disappointed with our bench. They seemed to bring very little impact to the game. What was the point of bringing on Marsh with four minutes to go? I thought was a stupid decision. As if off a standing start he's gonna create the try that gets us the two points? Gimme a break.

[Cianostays]

Frustrating as it was that we ended up with nothing from the game, I actually feel quite positive about the performance. It's been quite a while since we showed such variation in attack by showing a willingness to go wide and through the middle (VDF and Murphy excelled at taking inside lines off Carbery). The ability to do both will serve us well domestically and in Europe. The more aggressive defensive style was also good to see. We've got a lot of players to come back in the pack along with Sexton and Henshaw to improve that backline.

That performance with those group of players will win us most pro 12 games and the Internationals should give us a decent shot at playing well in Europe. A win in Edinburgh next week would represent a decent and encouraging start to the season for me.

[Cianostays]

You guys think you gifted us two soft tries in the second half, we think the same about your first two. I thought it was a very good game- both teams came to play which I always like. I think we looked more ruthless and hence took more chances. I don't think there was a huge amount between both teams- neither will win "big" games on today's performance.

Onwards and upwards.

Oh, and Carbery looks very exciting!

Really was a very good game for the neutral alright. Seymour in the form of his life atm. I'd say Townsend was tearing them a new one for VDF's try especially. How many first choice players were Glasgow missing yesterday, besides Strauss btw?

[dropkick]

At the stage of the season the performance is the main thing especially for Cullen and Leinster, who are changing the way they play.


I only got to see the highlights but they were much better than last week in attack. There could be a number of reasons for that but from the highlights it looked like they were challenging the mainline more. It resulted in an intercept but they'll learn from that.

[raith rover]

You guys think you gifted us two soft tries in the second half, we think the same about your first two. I thought it was a very good game- both teams came to play which I always like. I think we looked more ruthless and hence took more chances. I don't think there was a huge amount between both teams- neither will win "big" games on today's performance.

Onwards and upwards.

Oh, and Carbery looks very exciting!

Really was a very good game for the neutral alright. Seymour in the form of his life atm. I'd say Townsend was tearing them a new one for VDF's try especially. How many first choice players were Glasgow missing yesterday, besides Strauss btw?

Try Finn Russell !

[Aussiedub]

Very disappointing to get nothing from that performance. Like the Argies this morning our patterns and concentration dissipated on 50 mins and Glasgow have the skills and teamwork to capitalise.

More detailed analysis of why it happened requires a second look. Maybe Glasgow were that much better, and our defensive line requires top level fitness and concentration, and once one element weakens, the other disappears!

Maybe if we had been putting on McGrath, Cronin, Toner, Heaslip, Sexton, Henshaw etc in the 2nd half this would have worked....Instead we were missing about 8-10 first team players as well as a few bench players against a near full strength Glasgow team away from home

[goreyguy]

Leavy had a very good game, should be ahead of Dippy going forward.

[MrSensible]

Leavy had a very good game, should be ahead of Dippy going forward.

Yes. Was very impressed with Leavy

[molloyjh]

Very disappointing to get nothing from that performance. Like the Argies this morning our patterns and concentration dissipated on 50 mins and Glasgow have the skills and teamwork to capitalise.

More detailed analysis of why it happened requires a second look. Maybe Glasgow were that much better, and our defensive line requires top level fitness and concentration, and once one element weakens, the other disappears!

My take on that is that the new game plan simply isn't habit yet. When the lads get tired and come under pressure they react by doing what they know. The more we bed down the new game plan the less this will be an issue. Hopefully.

[Bogger]

You guys think you gifted us two soft tries in the second half, we think the same about your first two. I thought it was a very good game- both teams came to play which I always like. I think we looked more ruthless and hence took more chances. I don't think there was a huge amount between both teams- neither will win "big" games on today's performance.

Onwards and upwards.

Oh, and Carbery looks very exciting!

Really enjoyed the game the new surface is the biz also your fans have learned to stop booing and chanting "cheats" at every decision that doesnt go your way which makes for a more enjoyable watch. Seymour is on fire and is the real deal - but up to his intercept I don't think you played well - bit rusty I'd say. That Leinster 15 wont be the same 15 after mid October but they played well fro 50 mins. Looking forward to seeing Finn Russell back fro Glasgow and when the rusty period is gone Glasgow will be top 4 min this season.

[hugonaut]

It was taking exceptional work to keep them at bay I thought even in the first half. Longer it went on, the harder that was to sustain and their big bodies started moving forward. They are a couple of years ahead of that leinster 15. There is the small matter of 2 tries given up so easily, both 7 pointers, being hard to overcome too. But irrespective of those, the longer it went on the worse that was going to get.

Concise summary.

Obviously it was frustrating to a] come out of it with no league points; and b] be in a reasonably commanding position and turn over two soft tries in three minutes, but you'd have to be a determined miserablist not to see some of the obvious positives from that game.

Firstly, Glasgow absolutely plowed Connacht apart last week. On their home [artificial] turf, I was worried that they might be capable of doing something similar to us, especially given the respective selections. While Tommy Seymour ripped us apart, not too many others of the Glaswegians did.

Carberry's intercept was absolutely telegraphed, but he did a hell of a lot of things very, very well. I thought our starting backrow performed extremely well – some of Jordi's lines of running off Carberry were most impressive and were particularly eye-catching, as were his efforts on restarts. JVDF took his try very smartly and looks like he's already in mid-season form, and I thought Leavy was perhaps the most impressive of all of them. Ross Molony also had a very reasonable outing – he's not a physical freak like his age-grade nemesis Jonny Gray [who made his Pro12 debut as an 18 year old] but he's a second row who works hard, has a rounded game, competes hard and is going to continue to get better and better. Very, very similar to a young Leo Cullen.

We didn't have a strong bench, apart from Tadhg and Mick Kearney, who were both having their first run-out of the season – neither of them had participated in any of the three warm-up games or the first league match. Once that big two-tries-in-three-minutes turnaround happened, we were always going to struggle to pull it back.

[Fan with smartphone]

Very disappointing to get nothing from that performance. Like the Argies this morning our patterns and concentration dissipated on 50 mins and Glasgow have the skills and teamwork to capitalise.

More detailed analysis of why it happened requires a second look. Maybe Glasgow were that much better, and our defensive line requires top level fitness and concentration, and once one element weakens, the other disappears!

Maybe if we had been putting on McGrath, Cronin, Toner, Heaslip, Sexton, Henshaw etc in the 2nd half this would have worked....Instead we were missing about 8-10 first team players as well as a few bench players against a near full strength Glasgow team away from home

Etc being O'Brien, Strauss, Ruddock, Ross and McFaddden! I know people give out about not having the internationals for these games, but yesterday is why I like it. The benefit of that game will stand to Leinster. Don't want to be too soft on a team that lost from a good position, but both teams look promising. Glasgow will take quite a few teams apart with their groundwork and tempo. They must, must be finally targeting a run in Europe this time too.

[Fan with smartphone]

It was taking exceptional work to keep them at bay I thought even in the first half. Longer it went on, the harder that was to sustain and their big bodies started moving forward. They are a couple of years ahead of that leinster 15. There is the small matter of 2 tries given up so easily, both 7 pointers, being hard to overcome too. But irrespective of those, the longer it went on the worse that was going to get.

Concise summary.

Obviously it was frustrating to a] come out of it with no league points; and b] be in a reasonably commanding position and turn over two soft tries in three minutes, but you'd have to be a determined miserablist not to see some of the obvious positives from that game.

Firstly, Glasgow absolutely plowed Connacht apart last week. On their home [artificial] turf, I was worried that they might be capable of doing something similar to us, especially given the respective selections. While Tommy Seymour ripped us apart, not too many others of the Glaswegians did.

Carberry's intercept was absolutely telegraphed, but he did a hell of a lot of things very, very well. I thought our starting backrow performed extremely well – some of Jordi's lines of running off Carberry were most impressive and were particularly eye-catching, as were his efforts on restarts. JVDF took his try very smartly and looks like he's already in mid-season form, and I thought Leavy was perhaps the most impressive of all of them. Ross Molony also had a very reasonable outing – he's not a physical freak like his age-grade nemesis Jonny Gray [who made his Pro12 debut as an 18 year old] but he's a second row who works hard, has a rounded game, competes hard and is going to continue to get better and better. Very, very similar to a young Leo Cullen.

We didn't have a strong bench, apart from Tadhg and Mick Kearney, who were both having their first run-out of the season – neither of them had participated in any of the three warm-up games or the first league match. Once that big two-tries-in-three-minutes turnaround happened, we were always going to struggle to pull it back.

Yeah it's probably second row where I'm most thinking they are a couple of years ahead mostly. In 2 years time, (hopefully sooner) all going well, you are looking at an engine room group of Ryan, Toner, Molony and Kearney. A mix of good ages and experiences which arguably isn't quite case with the current group. Even without Nakawara they probably have the best second row partnership in the competition, but leinster could have 4 (plus whoever gets added or developed in the meantime) of a similar standard. JVDF had a superb first half and Leavy being an option at 6, those are big positives. We've also seen Porter and Tracy get front row gametime, defensively looked decent for the most part and joey Carberry as a replacement for Madigan/Gopperth and as someone to lessen the dependence on Sexton. It's a good position to build off.

[COYBIB]

Couldn't watch the game but caught some highlights, have to say Carbery looks very exciting, granted he made some errors, but that's ok, the raw materials are more than evident. Hopefully he can be developed, or moulded, into a better all round ten than Madigan became, who clearly has an amazing skillset similar to Carbery, but we could just never harvest enough of the trainables to turn him into a top class 10.

I like the suggestion someone made about exploring the option of Carberry at 12 when Sexton is around. But again, my fear would be Carbery going down the same path as Madigan, first with the versatility, then maybe when there's game time to be had at 10, he stays at 12 and Ross Byrne comes in at 10 etc. etc. It's tempting, but I really hope we just focus on the one position with him and try and make him as good as he can get.

Last week feels like a dropped point, so does this week, seeing as we should have been able to come away with something, but I suppose the most positive thing about all of this is even though results aren't going our way, we can genuinely say we are developing some top class talent. I don't really rate Dom Ryan unfortunately, I think he's a handy squad player, but I wouldn't like to see him getting game time ahead of any from Van Der Flier, Leavy, Murphy or Conan. I also think when Josh Murphy and Timmins start coming through, that might his cue to exit stage left.

How did Luke vs Jameson look?

[molloyjh]

Having just watched the game back it was one between 2 fairly evenly matched sides in many ways. We had a 5 minute spell where we took advantage of a Glasgow yellow to get 2 tries. They had a 5 minute spell where they took advantage of a couple of Leinster errors. We got bundled into touch on one opportunity, so did they. On 70 minutes it was a 1 point game so there was nothing in it at all. Two evenly matched teams.

That one moment of class for their last score showed the difference. They were well drilled and we got caught due to a bit of inexperience. And with a little less impact off the bench we couldn't get our way back into it. Lacey didn't help with some really frustrating calls in the last 10, but ultimately we all but measured up to a near full strength Glasgow side in Glasgow while missing around 10 players. I think we were a bit unlucky really not to get the LBP and even had a few opportunities in the second have to get the TBP but small things let us down. A pop from Leavy to Furlong was just a little too low to allow Furlong to move it on to an incoming runner (can't remember who it was now). Not getting another pass away to Rob in midfield and instead taking contact could well have been another missed opportunity. These are small things than can be fixed with a bit more game time playing this way. We've got direction though, which is something we seemed to be missing the last few years.

Also worth noting that McGrath was noticeably better than JGP, who I thought showed a fairly weak passing game in his 20 odd minutes out there. Hopefully he'll settle into it over the next few weeks, but as of right now McGrath is definitely our first choice 9.

[jezzer]

Like most of you, there was a lot of positive to the game for Leinster. There were signs of a very good (and fairly different) defensive system, which hopefully won't be too easily figured out during the season (space in behind our serious line speed in midfield). in attack, I thought we were excellent when we played flat and pretty average wen we played deep. We don't have the pace to be a good team attacking from depth, but we do have great footwork from 1 to 23 and we're better off using that with a flat , hard running gameplay. Would like to see the ball out in front of the receiver more (as Henry pointed out was a problem). But some great running lines and great distribution. Loving the support running of the back row, which was a joy to watch all game long, well mainly after Jordi came on. Leavy made himself look virtually undroppable and VDF had a huge game (though I think he's lost a bit of speed to the breakdown with the extra bulk).

Kudos to McGrath for his excellent defence and workrate. Liked our 10-12-13 axis a lot. Not the biggest, but they got over the gainline and distributed really well. I wouldn't change that combo until the senior guys put their hands up.

Healy aside, I thought our front 5 were outplayed and overall I think it cost us the game. We didn't clear out well on our ball in their 22 and we (plus Lacey) let them lie all over it. Think we struggled to match the power and athleticism of Gray and Swinson in the row. I think if we'd been able to boss the ruck a bit better we would have scored at least 2 more tries.

I don't think our early subs were what killed the game for us, but they came at a bad time, when everything that could go wrong did. Carbery's gift to Seymour, the restart, his head dropping for a bit afterward, McGrath going off the boil, us getting poached on the deck, breaches in our defence... we sort of switched off and the changes didn't help. Another day, the subs would have been exactly what was needed but we didn't have the bench to really lift things. Byrne I thought had a great cameo though.

Seymour's success against us just shows you what an extra dimension a speedster who is full of confidence can do for your attack. We're missing a player like that so badly and have done for a few seasons now. Find it hard to understand why we haven't fixed it. Kirchner was OK, a bit dodgy in defence, but he doesn't have the killer instinct needed. Dave K neither and the less said about Ferg as a top level winger the better (I know he didn't play yesterday btw). Maybe O'Loughlin will be the guy but I'm not sure he's a winger. I'm getting sick of the grubber kick in the tramlines because we can't beat anyone on the outside (except maybe Ringrose when he gets moving).

All in all, very unlucky not to be leaving with 2 points, which would have been easily deserved. You can see a blueprint there in attack and defence which is quite exciting, though when we play it behind dummy runners in attack, we need to be putting the ball in front and hitting the line a lot harder (as used to be the DNA of Leinster rugby).

[leinsterforever]

Like most of you, there was a lot of positive to the game for Leinster. There were signs of a very good (and fairly different) defensive system, which hopefully won't be too easily figured out during the season (space in behind our serious line speed in midfield). in attack, I thought we were excellent when we played flat and pretty average wen we played deep. We don't have the pace to be a good team attacking from depth, but we do have great footwork from 1 to 23 and we're better off using that with a flat , hard running gameplay. Would like to see the ball out in front of the receiver more (as Henry pointed out was a problem). But some great running lines and great distribution. Loving the support running of the back row, which was a joy to watch all game long, well mainly after Jordi came on. Leavy made himself look virtually undroppable and VDF had a huge game (though I think he's lost a bit of speed to the breakdown with the extra bulk).

Kudos to McGrath for his excellent defence and workrate. Liked our 10-12-13 axis a lot. Not the biggest, but they got over the gainline and distributed really well. I wouldn't change that combo until the senior guys put their hands up.

Healy aside, I thought our front 5 were outplayed and overall I think it cost us the game. We didn't clear out well on our ball in their 22 and we (plus Lacey) let them lie all over it. Think we struggled to match the power and athleticism of Gray and Swinson in the row. I think if we'd been able to boss the ruck a bit better we would have scored at least 2 more tries.

I don't think our early subs were what killed the game for us, but they came at a bad time, when everything that could go wrong did. Carbery's gift to Seymour, the restart, his head dropping for a bit afterward, McGrath going off the boil, us getting poached on the deck, breaches in our defence... we sort of switched off and the changes didn't help. Another day, the subs would have been exactly what was needed but we didn't have the bench to really lift things. Byrne I thought had a great cameo though.

Seymour's success against us just shows you what an extra dimension a speedster who is full of confidence can do for your attack. We're missing a player like that so badly and have done for a few seasons now. Find it hard to understand why we haven't fixed it. Kirchner was OK, a bit dodgy in defence, but he doesn't have the killer instinct needed. Dave K neither and the less said about Ferg as a top level winger the better (I know he didn't play yesterday btw). Maybe O'Loughlin will be the guy but I'm not sure he's a winger. I'm getting sick of the grubber kick in the tramlines because we can't beat anyone on the outside (except maybe Ringrose when he gets moving).

All in all, very unlucky not to be leaving with 2 points, which would have been easily deserved. You can see a blueprint there in attack and defence which is quite exciting, though when we play it behind dummy runners in attack, we need to be putting the ball in front and hitting the line a lot harder (as used to be the DNA of Leinster rugby).

I liked how they played. It was good to watch, and pretty effective. They need to stick at it. I wonder will Henry be staying in touch and highlighting what needs to be worked on?

The lack of a Hickie-like winger who can stand people up or just burn them with acceleration is a bit of a weakness. I think DK and McFadden are good workrate wingers, but it would be useful to have someone who brought more elusiveness. Are any of Byrne, Morris, Kirchner or O'Loughlin the answer?