September 2017 Doubleheader in South Africa

[Xanthippe]

..... get revenge in the RDS in Feb or whatever gawdawful time of year we see them again.

Except we don't get to play them again. Tonight's game highlights the absolute unfairness of the Conference system. Not only do we have one less home game than Ulster but we also got drawn away to Cheetahs (and Glasgow) whereas Ulster got drawn at home against both

[Ruckedtobits]

@MunsterFans has almost 12 pages of abject abuse about their performance against the Warriors. But a lot of the sentiment is similar, absence of commitment, lack of tackling, no leadership, and poor coaching.

Irish fans have become very abrasive towards their players not performing and certainly have a high expectation every week, home or away.

A fortnight ago, Ulster needed a new Coaching team. Two games with real bottle - but not new players - changed the perspective (and the results) pretty quickly.

Leo, Girv and Bomber now have a challenge on their hands in deciding who and how integration takes place, as we face a tough month unless we get our act together. Munster, Montpelier and Glasgow could make a big hole in our season unless the three lads get it right.

[outcast eddie]

..... get revenge in the RDS in Feb or whatever gawdawful time of year we see them again.

Except we don't get to play them again. Tonight's game highlights the absolute unfairness of the Conference system. Not only do we have one less home game than Ulster but we also got drawn away to Cheetahs (and Glasgow) whereas Ulster got drawn at home against both

Yeah, realised that when I looked at the table after I'd posted.

Maybe we'll get the opportunity for revenge against the Cheetahs in the knockout stages...if we make it to the knockout stages.

I think a lot of folks suspected we had that kind of performance in us as soon as we came up against some speed and creativity.

[Peg Leg]

@MunsterFans has almost 12 pages of abject abuse about their performance against the Warriors. But a lot of the sentiment is similar, absence of commitment, lack of tackling, no leadership, and poor coaching.

Irish fans have become very abrasive towards their players not performing and certainly have a high expectation every week, home or away.

A fortnight ago, Ulster needed a new Coaching team. Two games with real bottle - but not new players - changed the perspective (and the results) pretty quickly.

Leo, Girv and Bomber now have a challenge on their hands in deciding who and how integration takes place, as we face a tough month unless we get our act together. Munster, Montpelier and Glasgow could make a big hole in our season unless the three lads get it right.

Its the sheer callow effort and inability to change tack when its needed and so blatantly required that sticks in the craw. Im sure the team have high expectations also.
Clearly as with the closing stages of the comp last year, we believed our own hype after putting dragons and cardiff to the knife.

[deco]

..... get revenge in the RDS in Feb or whatever gawdawful time of year we see them again.

Except we don't get to play them again. Tonight's game highlights the absolute unfairness of the Conference system. Not only do we have one less home game than Ulster but we also got drawn away to Cheetahs (and Glasgow) whereas Ulster got drawn at home against both

Yeah, realised that when I looked at the table after I'd posted.

Maybe we'll get the opportunity for revenge against the Cheetahs in the knockout stages...if we make it to the knockout stages.

I think a lot of folks suspected we had that kind of performance in us as soon as we came up against some speed and creativity.

That's because we always perform like that when we cone up against a team with sone speed and creativity

[CiaranIrl]

The good: The back three showed up well. Daly was very dangerous, and his change of direction for the Hattrick try was a thing of beauty. Carberry was very lively. Kearney was ok, and considering where he's coming from this last two years, he can be happy enough.
Nick McCarthy looked excellent when he came on. Very positive tour for him in the end, having been left out of the squad originally.

The ok:
Conan & VDF had flashes that will look great on a highlight reel. VDF had two massive interventions in the first quarter, Conan in the last quarter. That said, they were missing at vital times as well. VDF was outplayed by his opposite number at the breakdown. Ruddock and the sub front row added value when they came on.

The bad:
1. O'Loughlin & Reid were very poor at centre today. Very passive, naive, underpowered defensively. They've had great games together, but this was a bad day.
2. Our starting tight 5 as a unit, but especially the second row. There was no heft, no coherence. They just didn't front up.
3. Jordi Murphy made it clear that he's a 7. The game totally passed him by. For all the quality of our much vaunted eight backrowers, we have a gap at blindside when Rhys doesn't play. We have four excellent 7s, 3 excellent 8s, but just one 6. Not wanting that to be true doesn't change it.

The downright awful:
The starting half backs, especially JGP. There was no shape to our team at all. There were huge gaps in their setup, but we lacked the wherewithal to adapt. The pack had no direction from 9 whatsoever. 56,000 km flown for that performance? Shambolic.

[matt]

Only saw some of the game but Gibson Park once again was woeful and Nick Mc Carthy provided an urgency that was very promising.

Less said about our midfield & front five particularly Noel Reid & Mick Kearney the better. I thought Dooley was a big improvement on Healy & would not be surprised if he overtakes Healy as no 2 no 1 for Leinster & Ireland. Said this to somebody at Leinster in last few weeks and they did not disagree.

Last piece of jigsaw next season might be a hooker who can throw into the lineout.

Harsh on some for now hope I am wrong but future of Leinster is Conan, VDF, Carbury and a few others who went to South Africa & many better players who did not.

[domhnallj]

Not sure if this has been covered above but did anyone see what happened to Isa?

[CiaranIrl]

Not sure if this has been covered above but did anyone see what happened to Isa?

Calf strain apparently

[simonokeeffe]

Jordi Murphy has upped his jackal game this season
Him, JVDF, Carberry were great. McCarthy too when he came on

Wings were poor in defence
Front 5 couldnt hang with the pace

@Neilog if we want a new quality hooker (and to skirt NIQ hassle) Niall Annett at Worcester is a serious operator and is probably out of contract (signed undisclosed length 2016)

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I said I was expecting a big performance after some error ridden games so far this season and to get such a poor performance is very worrying.

The starting halfbacks really were very poor, showed barely any control. I don't see why JGP is ahead of McCarthy and hopefully last night will mean he's third choice now. Ross Byrne got a bit better as the game went on and did well to stop a certain try but at times I felt he went missing and when he did show up his execution was off, especially that shitty inside ball that went to deck just like it did two weeks ago. McCarthy really is a big positive though, he organises things really well, poses a threat, and his execution is mostly on the money.

I wouldn't go overboard about Healy, he's looked good this season. Also thought Molony was okay but that's comparing last night to some of his error strewn performances, we still need more from him. He kept offering himself as a carrier and had a good workrate in defence and at the breakdown. He really needs to cut out those crappy knock ons too, I can't understand how his handling has regressed so much from his first season.

Actually thought Jordi was alright too. VDF was great and looks super fit right now, hope he's not automatically dropped when SOB is back. Ruddock's missed tackle on the prop was dreadful but very unlike him. Thought Porter looked good in open play too, his speed off the mark is incredible for such a big man.

What worries me most is that we've been sloppy and lacking cohesion in every game so far, and now we're going to reintegrate the Lions too. Yes those players are too quality, but I don't see our issues coming to an end any time soon.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Jordi Murphy has upped his jackal game this season
Him, JVDF, Carberry were great. McCarthy too when he came on

Wings were poor in defence
Front 5 couldnt hang with the pace

@Neilog if we want a new quality hooker (and to skirt NIQ hassle) Niall Annett at Worcester is a serious operator and is probably out of contract (signed undisclosed length 2016)

I'd give McNulty a go. From very limited viewing I've been impressed.

[simonokeeffe]

Havent seen anything of him myself so no idea

Between Lions tour, Ireland tour, injury carry over, SA tour, Lowe's late arrival, and second row fertility we are having a hard time with early season reintegration/continuity.

That said the way the internationals are in and out every year am not sure how much of an excuse we can make of it

[Raydollard]

Chyte team, chyte selection, and chyte management. When will the supporters stop being exploited by the amateurish approach to a very expensive, supposedly professional, game. Too many heads in the overgenerous gravy trough.

[dropkick]

I didn't see last night's game but I did see the previous 3 games. What stood out in those games is leinster's tries mostly came from bullying teams physically. There's no real guile or cutting edge in attack but there's a lot of one out runners trying to get over the gainline.


The tries have come in the second half of games after wearing out the opposition but that kind of rugby won't win any trophies.


I wouldn't go overboard judging them on one game but the attack in general looks blunt. Carbery has his critics but surely he deserves a go at 10. He has hardly played there in 2017 and it's a position that needs experience to perfect.

[leinsterforever]

I didn't see last night's game but I did see the previous 3 games. What stood out in those games is leinster's tries mostly came from bullying teams physically. There's no real guile or cutting edge in attack but there's a lot of one out runners trying to get over the gainline.


The tries have come in the second half of games after wearing out the opposition but that kind of rugby won't win any trophies.


I wouldn't go overboard judging them on one game but the attack in general looks blunt. Carbery has his critics but surely he deserves a go at 10. He has hardly played there in 2017 and it's a position that needs experience to perfect.

I wouldn't entirely agree that it's a case of Leinster being limited to trying to outmuscle the opposition. I think in a general sense there's the right approach to trying to ask questions by moving the ball. There's just a real lack of precision, accuracy and detail in passing, running lines and the cleaning out at the breakdown. Leinster are a long way off the technical excellence of the Schmidt era when it comes to these three things.

The "comfortable in chaos" mantra that Lancaster espouses is great sometimes. It worked a treat for Barry Daly's third try. But do you get that many opportunities to show that kind of stuff in a game against a team such as the Scarlets? Maybe he spends too much time coaching broken play, and there's not enough attention on phase play detail?

[Dave Cahill]

Currently Zebre have scored three tries against Kings to lead 3-22 with less than half an hour gone.

[leinsterforever]

Currently Zebre have scored three tries against Kings to lead 3-22 with less than half an hour gone.

Zebre won 43-17 in the end, so Leinster did about as well as Zebre over the two matches. Although Zebre probably got a four try bonus point v the Cheetahs, so they got six points to Leinster's five

[COYBIB]

There's a lot of dead wood in the Leinster squad. I know you need some squad fillers for the week to week in the league, but you should limit how many of them are in any one team, or you'll have days like that. Michael Bent is a complete sh!t show at tight head and always has been. On his absolute best days he manages parity, but more often than not, he doesn't. The fact that he is our second choice tighthead shows the absolute urgency we need to get talent in there. Shame Marty Moore dicked us over. Porter should be persisted with over Bent. It will be a steep learning curve, but at least there's development potential.

Have yet to be impressed by Tracy. Cian Healy is not at the races and hasn't been for a while. I wonder what happened on the plane. Quite possibly an attitude thing, but ever since he had a few injuries and Jack McGrath broke through, he doesn't look interested. If you take name out of the equation, he's not even our second best loose head.

Front row got mullered.

Mick Kearney is useless. I'll refer you back to my posts on now Irish international Quinn Roux essentially being essentially swapped - brutal piece of business. Nagle is another waste of space and Molony, as much as he tries and works hard, I just don't think has the talent.

Gibson-Park another bad piece of business, isn't better than anything we can get from the academy and is taking up a vital NIQ spot. If his deal ends this season he should be cut and we should make another attempt at a NIQ 9 before that window shuts. Another fine piece of MOC legacy, wouldn't it be nice to have retained Cooney and not persisted with Boss into his mid 40's.

He's 4th choice, but Marsh is fairly poor. Noel Reid is a complete liability, although I like him as an attacking threat, he should be tried on the wing.

Surprisingly poor performance though. Really, really poor. We have been getting results (and bonus points) despite playing poorly so far this season, but we finally got found out. No papering over those cracks.

The cavalry can't come back quick enough.

[Ruckedtobits]

There's a lot of dead wood in the Leinster squad. I know you need some squad fillers for the week to week in the league, but you should limit how many of them are in any one team, or you'll have days like that. Michael Bent is a complete sh!t show at tight head and always has been. On his absolute best days he manages parity, but more often than not, he doesn't. The fact that he is our second choice tighthead shows the absolute urgency we need to get talent in there. Shame Marty Moore dicked us over. Porter should be persisted with over Bent. It will be a steep learning curve, but at least there's development potential.

Have yet to be impressed by Tracy. Cian Healy is not at the races and hasn't been for a while. I wonder what happened on the plane. Quite possibly an attitude thing, but ever since he had a few injuries and Jack McGrath broke through, he doesn't look interested. If you take name out of the equation, he's not even our second best loose head.

Front row got mullered.

Mick Kearney is useless. I'll refer you back to my posts on now Irish international Quinn Roux essentially being essentially swapped - brutal piece of business. Nagle is another waste of space and Molony, as much as he tries and works hard, I just don't think has the talent.

Gibson-Park another bad piece of business, isn't better than anything we can get from the academy and is taking up a vital NIQ spot. If his deal ends this season he should be cut and we should make another attempt at a NIQ 9 before that window shuts. Another fine piece of MOC legacy, wouldn't it be nice to have retained Cooney and not persisted with Boss into his mid 40's.

He's 4th choice, but Marsh is fairly poor. Noel Reid is a complete liability, although I like him as an attacking threat, he should be tried on the wing.

Surprisingly poor performance though. Really, really poor. We have been getting results (and bonus points) despite playing poorly so far this season, but we finally got found out. No papering over those cracks.

The cavalry can't come back quick enough.

Wow! That's some tirade, but a bit OTT.