Leinster v Connacht, Sat 29 Oct @ 17.15 in the RDS

[Oldschool]

Noel Reid for president.

That'd be one way of getting rid of him
But seriously it has to be said whatever Lancaster has been doing with him he has responded brilliantly.
His all round game has come on by leaps and bounds.
In fact it's fair to say that all the backs have responded very positively to Lancaster's influence.
Joe and Lancaster have a lot in common.

[paddyor]

I know the Nick Williams tackle seems like a bit of a watershed moment for Noel but yesterday he dragged ROL out of a ruck on the Connacht line so that we didn't give away a penalty for not rolling away. Absolutely brilliant play from him and something that I just can't imagine him doing before. He really does seem to have turned a corner.

He's actually been good defensively for most of the season(can think of one off game). There have been a couple of games where he's made good reads and shot up to to shutdown the attack. Initially I would think it's Ringrose but the hair indicates otherwise. None of the flappy arm soak tackles either.

Both the centres did well in defense yesterday but the attack not so much. There was a few times they seemed to hesitate with the pass (Carberry too) or seemed to take the wrong option. Hopefully 2 games together over the next month will change that.

[Gearzbox2]

Delighted with that performance last night...really stuck it to them after murrayfield disaster
Few outstanding performances
Leavy was outstanding...Byrne really stepped up and looks like he's far more confidence in his ability, Rory O Loughlin/Reid D combo was a joy to watch
Cronin and Conan ball carrying/offloading sublime( line out a bit iffy, don't know if he under thru one or good read by them)
Healy and Seanie Breakdown work was a key throughout the game
And New guys really showed up in a big derby game

We can still improve which is the pleasing thing but determination and will to win were what was on show last night

[wixfjord]

Gotta be delighted with that performance. Brilliant to see Ciano back breaking lads, and the likes of Leavy, ROL, Byrne, Daly etc really stood up.

JGP should be our #1 too. He's just better than Luke McG at the moment. Kicks off both feet too.

A particular word for Conan. First game back and he was seriously hungry. Could be a real plus to have him now when the internationals are away. A heavyweight carrier.

All in all, delighted to get one over on the noisy neighbours.

Must say I had a bit of schadenfreude when Kelleher stepped on the line that time.

That ROL tackle on Aki was sweet. Leavy got him with a nice one too.

[TerenureJim]

back-up outhalf? Nonsense. Like Madigan was and is in France, he is number 1. He has no problem replacing Jonny.

Well he does given that he's not playing in Ireland, he's not playing for Leinster and lads he's in competition with are playing in Ireland, some are playing for Leinster and a lot are playing better than him. Irish rugby has moved on and like it or not if you move abroad you're out of sight and out of mind and to be honest it's kinda fair as lads tagging out for Irish teams shoul get priority.

[Raydollard]

Thought Carberry was playing in Ireland? pay attention.

[Xanthippe]

I know the Nick Williams tackle seems like a bit of a watershed moment for Noel but yesterday he dragged ROL out of a ruck on the Connacht line so that we didn't give away a penalty for not rolling away. Absolutely brilliant play from him and something that I just can't imagine him doing before. He really does seem to have turned a corner.

Watching the game again and taking my notes for Blues Talk (yes we do actually prepare for it believe it nor not) and that moment is underlined, in bold and highlighted! Just super intelligent play

At one point last night (near the end of the game) I thought for certain Reid was channeling Peter Stringer - he pissed off Bundee Aki so much that Aki actually threw the ball straight into his face!!!!

Also Dave, can you see if you can find footage of Cian Healy (near start of game) taking a ball and spinning out of a tackle before getting his pass away. It seemed such a ridiculous thing for a prop to be able to do that I'm not sure if I saw it or imagined it - but if it happened I'd love to see it again.

[johng]

(yes we do actually prepare for it believe it nor not)

Oaf orf uxache! Why do I never get these memos?

[ronk]

Noel Reid for president.

That'd be one way of getting rid of him
But seriously it has to be said whatever Lancaster has been doing with him he has responded brilliantly.
His all round game has come on by leaps and bounds.
In fact it's fair to say that all the backs have responded very positively to Lancaster's influence.
Joe and Lancaster have a lot in common.

Reid's improvements in defence were there before Lancaster. I'm sure he's been positive, but probably not the only factor.

[Oldschool]

Noel Reid for president.

That'd be one way of getting rid of him
But seriously it has to be said whatever Lancaster has been doing with him he has responded brilliantly.
His all round game has come on by leaps and bounds.
In fact it's fair to say that all the backs have responded very positively to Lancaster's influence.
Joe and Lancaster have a lot in common.

Reid's improvements in defence were there before Lancaster. I'm sure he's been positive, but probably not the only factor.

That may be the case but there is no doubt that since Lancaster's arrival his defence has gone up a couple of notches on where it was.

[Raydollard]

Reid got shag all chances under the clown O'Connor and Leo did little enough for him. We wasted many of the talents we had and are lucky that Reid is still around and could come into his own now.

[Oldschool]

Reid got shag all chances under the clown O'Connor and Leo did little enough for him. We wasted many of the talents we had and are lucky that Reid is still around and could come into his own now.

You are being way too kind to MOC and perhaps a bit harsh on Leo.

[Ruckedtobits]

Reid got shag all chances under the clown O'Connor and Leo did little enough for him. We wasted many of the talents we had and are lucky that Reid is still around and could come into his own now.

You are being way too kind to MOC and perhaps a bit harsh on Leo.

+1

[El Diablo]

I'll admit to not buying into the Leavy hype but having experienced it first hand, wow, he some player

I am big fan of Dan Leavy but I thought he had a pretty dodgy 1st half. He was burned by Bundi Aki, he looked indecisive any time he was out in mid field defensive positions, he missed a tackle and he made a mess of the ruck that got SOB his yellow card. He is a great ball carrier and he gets the big turnovers but he needs to be consistent with the grunt work.
He improved in the 2nd half and showed how good he is but I didn't think it was an 80 minute Man of the Match performance.

[Raydollard]

Always knew I was way too kind to that clown O'Connor.

[molloyjh]

I'll admit to not buying into the Leavy hype but having experienced it first hand, wow, he some player

I am big fan of Dan Leavy but I thought he had a pretty dodgy 1st half. He was burned by Bundi Aki, he looked indecisive any time he was out in mid field defensive positions, he missed a tackle and he made a mess of the ruck that got SOB his yellow card. He is a great ball carrier and he gets the big turnovers but he needs to be consistent with the grunt work.
He improved in the 2nd half and showed how good he is but I didn't think it was an 80 minute Man of the Match performance.

Are you thinking of the time at the start of the second half that he got burned by Aki? Because if so he got burned because of the illegal block put on him by another Connacht player (didn't see who) who had run a line directly into Leavy who was looking to push up on Aki and was prevented from doing so.

[simonokeeffe]

I'll admit to not buying into the Leavy hype but having experienced it first hand, wow, he some player

I am big fan of Dan Leavy but I thought he had a pretty dodgy 1st half. He was burned by Bundi Aki, he looked indecisive any time he was out in mid field defensive positions, he missed a tackle and he made a mess of the ruck that got SOB his yellow card. He is a great ball carrier and he gets the big turnovers but he needs to be consistent with the grunt work.
He improved in the 2nd half and showed how good he is but I didn't think it was an 80 minute Man of the Match performance.

Are you thinking of the time at the start of the second half that he got burned by Aki? Because if so he got burned because of the illegal block put on him by another Connacht player (didn't see who) who had run a line directly into Leavy who was looking to push up on Aki and was prevented from doing so.

think it was SOB2 but it was horrendous and a horrendous miss by the officials

[hugonaut]

I'll admit to not buying into the Leavy hype but having experienced it first hand, wow, he some player

I am big fan of Dan Leavy but I thought he had a pretty dodgy 1st half. He was burned by Bundi Aki, he looked indecisive any time he was out in mid field defensive positions, he missed a tackle and he made a mess of the ruck that got SOB his yellow card. He is a great ball carrier and he gets the big turnovers but he needs to be consistent with the grunt work.
He improved in the 2nd half and showed how good he is but I didn't think it was an 80 minute Man of the Match performance.

Are you thinking of the time at the start of the second half that he got burned by Aki? Because if so he got burned because of the illegal block put on him by another Connacht player (didn't see who) who had run a line directly into Leavy who was looking to push up on Aki and was prevented from doing so.

It happened on more than one occasion in the last match and it has been a significant feature of Connacht's attack under Lam/Ellis/Bell – players ahead [and inside] of the ball interfering with potential defenders off the ball. Referees are generally following the ball so don't often see it and touch-judges are more interested in foul play than casual obstruction, but if a ref went out fore-warned or with a bee in their bonnet, Connacht could find themselves penalised 6-8 times in a game on this infringement alone.

"In general play a player is offside if the player is in front of a team-mate who is carrying the ball, or in front of a team-mate who last played the ball.
Offside means that a player is temporarily out of the game. Such players are liable to be penalised if they take part in the game.
In general play, a player can be put onside either by an action of a team-mate or by an action of an opponent. However, the offside player cannot be put onside if the offside player interferes with play; or moves forward, towards the ball, or fails to move 10 metres away from the place where the ball lands."

[source: http://laws.worldrugby.org/?law=11 ]

[molloyjh]

Yeah it's something that is becoming a big part of the game. 2 or 3 guys providing that screen who end up ahead of the ball carrier on the inside which is getting a lot more like the NFL type screens. I thought the SOB2 incident was particularly obvious case of obstruction though. Leavy was clearly looking to push up on Aki and was clearly prevented by doing so by SOB2 running directly into him. The screens generally just screen the ball, whereas SOB2 clearly prevented a tackle.

[El Diablo]

Yeah it's something that is becoming a big part of the game. 2 or 3 guys providing that screen who end up ahead of the ball carrier on the inside which is getting a lot more like the NFL type screens. I thought the SOB2 incident was particularly obvious case of obstruction though. Leavy was clearly looking to push up on Aki and was clearly prevented by doing so by SOB2 running directly into him. The screens generally just screen the ball, whereas SOB2 clearly prevented a tackle.

I will give him the benefit of the doubt on that one but I still thought he looked a bit indecisive defensively in the wider channels and overall didn't have a great 1st half. Whatever was said at halftime worked and he had a great 2nd half. As Tony Ward says in todays Indo, leinster have probably never had a quicker backrow than in the 2nd half (Conan, VDF & Leavy). The leinster backrow production line is really churning them out in recent years.