Leinster vs Exeter Sat 16-12-17@3.15PM - BT Sport

[Hippo]

As good as last week was....

....this was definitely a game of two halves!

[TerenureJim]

Been bloody awful so far, ref giving them a lot of 50/50 at breakdown, healys yellow was soft but stupid too, still in touch here and fancy our bench to help us finish stronger but we need to get more clinical, more cynical and give them nothing.

Also lets have assistant refs actually ref the offside, what the f%~k else are they doing out there otherwise?

Delighted with that win it did not look likely in the first half and tbh Healy was a definite red. You cannot lead with your forearm to the face with that force it was the sort of thing Hartley would do.

Ringrose back in form and leavy did great for Luke's try.

Healy was very silly but watch it back slow I think he hits shoulder and it slips up, it wasn't even that heavy a hit prob deserved yellow for being stupid.

[RoboProp]

Been bloody awful so far, ref giving them a lot of 50/50 at breakdown, healys yellow was soft but stupid too, still in touch here and fancy our bench to help us finish stronger but we need to get more clinical, more cynical and give them nothing.

Also lets have assistant refs actually ref the offside, what the f%~k else are they doing out there otherwise?

Delighted with that win it did not look likely in the first half and tbh Healy was a definite red. You cannot lead with your forearm to the face with that force it was the sort of thing Hartley would do.

Ringrose back in form and leavy did great for Luke's try.

Healy was very silly but watch it back slow I think he hits shoulder and it slips up, it wasn't even that heavy a hit prob deserved yellow for being stupid.

I'm not saying Cowan Dickie deserved it because his name is daft; he deserved because his gruaig is.

In another news, ain't no party like a Fardy party cuz a Fardy party don't stop

[simonokeeffe]

2 dodgy things from 2 very different realms today for me, one maybe rules based and one stewarding/stadium

1. Byrne being allowed to return to play; if theres a suspicion of a head/concussive injury the player is meant to be kept off. No way you can say there wasnt one after that collision

2. Where I was sitting a group of drunk idiots who were too late/dumb to find their seats (again) for he second half were let stand in a wheelchair section behind me, which was all families with kids, and were throwing drinks over rows in front of them and using unparliamentary language shall we say

[Ruckedtobits]

As expected Baxter & Co did their homework by:

a) exposing the manner of Leinster's pillar defence at breakdowns by quick pases from SH to runner and return to SH, or just dummy from SH and going on inside break alongside the fallen bodies;

b) channeling our chasers of box kicks so they couldn't compete in the air;

c) moving the point of drive IMMEDIATELY catcher hits the ground in mauled line-out

d) getting over the ball carrier who is isolated as he goes to ground and preventing the support player getting into the breakdown.

On the other hand Leo seemed to have worked on attacking some of their line-outs with two vital steals during the first half particularly important in defensive positions.

In the second half one of the big differences from Leinster was their quicker support of the tackled ball carrier.

Another significant change was the number of times Leinster, forwards and backs, picked and went straight through the breakdown area.

All in all, a real contrast between halves, with Leo shading the coaching contest overall as Leinster survived a real examination.

[brotheroffrank]

Exeter had 17 points by 32 mins, (but didnt score again after that)....that first 32 mins included a ten minute spell when they had a one man advantage (scoring 10 points).....then Exeter played 14 men for the next ten minutes in which Leinster scored 6 points....
For a team free scoring in the AP that says a lot about their attack....also about the Leinster defence. ....

[Fireworks]

Exeter had 17 points by 32 mins, (but didnt score again after that)....that first 32 mins included a ten minute spell when they had a one man advantage (scoring 10 points).....then Exeter played 14 men for the next ten minutes in which Leinster scored 6 points....
For a team free scoring in the AP that says a lot about their attack....also about the Leinster defence. ....

A nice summary.

[blockhead]

From 3-17 down to win by 5 was a ballsy comeback. These lads are made of stern stuff for sure. Healy's yellow was not that bad having seen it again, stupid yes, could have been just a penalty but could have also seen red. Leavy's pass was flat too. Hopefully we get more points than Montpellier in the next games and win the group.

[olaf the fat]

Out of the two games 3 game halves to 1 (or quargers if you prefer)

We bossed the first game and last half of tbis one.

While its hard to condon healys lash out, it looked like he got the same treatment a couple of times. Ref let them away with offside murder as well.

Any ways, good back to back

[curates_egg]

FARDY

Jesus Christ! Get that man an Irish passport and a lifetime contract, stat.
Every freaking week he delivers a stunning performance.

Great final 5/8th. Sheer guts again. Ref never once pinged them for being offside, which they were on almost every phase. That allowed them to cause havoc at the ruck. Somehow we were able to adapt and take that factor out.

Questions about our back 3 and what happens if Sexton's not fit, but the attitude this year feels right: first time in years.
There's a hatchet job on SOB for some odd reason but he and a few players need a break after this.

Edit: when I say "questions about the back three", I am not questioning their performances: Kearney and McFadden gave 100% and had a major positive impact on the result again. You just get the feeling it is not very balanced and could cost us against another side.

[Oldschool]

As expected Baxter & Co did their homework by:

a) exposing the manner of Leinster's pillar defence at breakdowns by quick pases from SH to runner and return to SH, or just dummy from SH and going on inside break alongside the fallen bodies;

b) channeling our chasers of box kicks so they couldn't compete in the air;

c) moving the point of drive IMMEDIATELY catcher hits the ground in mauled line-out

d) getting over the ball carrier who is isolated as he goes to ground and preventing the support player getting into the breakdown.

On the other hand Leo seemed to have worked on attacking some of their line-outs with two vital steals during the first half particularly important in defensive positions.

In the second half one of the big differences from Leinster was their quicker support of the tackled ball carrier.

Another significant change was the number of times Leinster, forwards and backs, picked and went straight through the breakdown area.

All in all, a real contrast between halves, with Leo shading the coaching contest overall as Leinster survived a real examination.

The change in tactics to pick and go ultimately turned the game our way as you say.
We should have tried a few grubbers and chips in behind their offside backs, it might have helped to keep them honest.
A question, did Luke take too much on himself because Sexton went off, his box kicking was nearly always too long and this hurt us a lot in possession terms.

[OTT]

Considering we lost our 10 after a couple of minutes, then lost our replacement 10 to a HIA for a period, gave away a reckless yellow from Healy and lost Fardy to the bin who was sacrificing himself for the score they got anyway and all that happened in a short period that we were playing the best team in England currently by a country mile I though we did very well to keep the score down and work our way off the ropes from 3-17.

Anyone who has watched Exeter know that they don’t stop for the whole game. If you only watched their European journey this season you could see that from the Montpellier game and the Glasgow game. If you didn’t see those games and just saw the match last week you can see what type of team they are. Most pleasing for me was in the titanic battle over 160 mins we were the ones who had more juice at the end of it, not many teams outlast Exeter.

My man of the match strangely was Rob Kearney we needed a leader when Johnny went off and he stood up. He was as vocal as I have seen him in years and he was marshaling the 3 quarter line. He attacked at pace, he defended hard at contact (if not always pretty). When someone like him is gone for so long and you just here the negatives you can forget the important stuff they bring, Rob has been great for us the last two weekends hopefully he can get a few months injury free we need his composure and experience.

[blockhead]

Considering we lost our 10 after a couple of minutes, then lost our replacement 10 to a HIA for a period, gave away a reckless yellow from Healy and lost Fardy to the bin who was sacrificing himself for the score they got anyway and all that happened in a short period that we were playing the best team in England currently by a country mile I though we did very well to keep the score down and work our way off the ropes from 3-17.

Anyone who has watched Exeter know that they don’t stop for the whole game. If you only watched their European journey this season you could see that from the Montpellier game and the Glasgow game. If you didn’t see those games and just saw the match last week you can see what type of team they are. Most pleasing for me was in the titanic battle over 160 mins we were the ones who had more juice at the end of it, not many teams outlast Exeter.

My man of the match strangely was Rob Kearney we needed a leader when Johnny went off and he stood up. He was as vocal as I have seen him in years and he was marshaling the 3 quarter line. He attacked at pace, he defended hard at contact (if not always pretty). When someone like him is gone for so long and you just here the negatives you can forget the important stuff they bring, Rob has been great for us the last two weekends hopefully he can get a few months injury free we need his composure and experience.

+1 on RobK.
He harangued the ref at one point in the 2nd half to go to the TMO and he was proved right.

[bluemagic]

FARDY

Jesus Christ! Get that man an Irish passport and a lifetime contract, stat.
Every freaking week he delivers a stunning performance.

Great final 5/8th. Sheer guts again. Ref never once pinged them for being offside, which they were on almost every phase. That allowed them to cause havoc at the ruck. Somehow we were able to adapt and take that factor out.

Questions about our back 3 and what happens if Sexton's not fit, but the attitude this year feels right: first time in years.
There's a hatchet job on SOB for some odd reason but he and a few players need a break after this.

Edit: when I say "questions about the back three", I am not questioning their performances: Kearney and McFadden gave 100% and had a major positive impact on the result again. You just get the feeling it is not very balanced and could cost us against another side.

Fardy is the best second row we've ever signed. Offers more around the park for us then either Hines or Thorn. He's still just settling in too.

Only issue is the emergence of James Ryan. He and Fardy played together for the first time yesterday but it was due to us chasing a game and the need to have more carriers on the pitch. Would a Fardy Ryan combination work from the start? I don't think so currently

[simonokeeffe]

Rewatched it last night

RK was immense and made himself a visible leadership presence when it was needed. Ringrose deserves all the praise hes getting too.

The 40th min tackle on McGrath looked ok on tv/angle ref woukdve been at, from South Stand it looked horrendous

[artaneboy]

Considering we lost our 10 after a couple of minutes, then lost our replacement 10 to a HIA for a period, gave away a reckless yellow from Healy and lost Fardy to the bin who was sacrificing himself for the score they got anyway and all that happened in a short period that we were playing the best team in England currently by a country mile I though we did very well to keep the score down and work our way off the ropes from 3-17.

Anyone who has watched Exeter know that they don’t stop for the whole game. If you only watched their European journey this season you could see that from the Montpellier game and the Glasgow game. If you didn’t see those games and just saw the match last week you can see what type of team they are. Most pleasing for me was in the titanic battle over 160 mins we were the ones who had more juice at the end of it, not many teams outlast Exeter.

My man of the match strangely was Rob Kearney we needed a leader when Johnny went off and he stood up. He was as vocal as I have seen him in years and he was marshaling the 3 quarter line. He attacked at pace, he defended hard at contact (if not always pretty). When someone like him is gone for so long and you just here the negatives you can forget the important stuff they bring, Rob has been great for us the last two weekends hopefully he can get a few months injury free we need his composure and experience.

+1 on RobK.
He harangued the ref at one point in the 2nd half to go to the TMO and he was proved right.

On the fella’s back being in touch? Yeah, Jaysus- that assistant ref was very poor in everything, but that was ridiculous case.

Rob was very good over the two matches, but he Fardy (of course) and Henshaw helped pull us through that in terms of decision making. We need to build more of that if we are to win this thing.


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[Gearzbox2]

I thought Pascal Gauzere was appalling yesterday, I've seems few bad referee performances but that was right up there
Exeter were offside all day long, and like a few other people have mentioned his ARs were shocking at helping him keep this in check
I thought the high tackle on McGrath after Cronins break and pass to him was a defo yellow and it wasn't even checked
Healys was soft I thought, and he had the same shoulder charge on him earlier....
Anyway enough about Pascal!!!

I thought Exeter really did a job on us as we did to them last week, we were so slow to start and got punished
They moved the ball so slickly and had us in all sorts of trouble
The 2 penalties before HT really helped us stay in the hunt

Second hand was much better with the bench having huge impact which we will need to mount a challenge for this trophy
Big games from Furlong, Cronin, Fardy and JVDF in the pack...
Thought henshaw was his usual workhorse self and Ringer was very good in the second half but kicked so silly possession away in first half
RK and Ferg very good


Ferg and RK were good

[Hippo]

If Exeter had shown more wit and made the most of their overlaps and/or kicked their goals instead of going to the corner, we'd have been goosed

[LeRouxIsPHat]

If Exeter had shown more wit and made the most of their overlaps and/or kicked their goals instead of going to the corner, we'd have been goosed

Yeah I thought they were very misguided in turning down kicks at goal. Not just because of the scoreboard, but because it meant that we didn't have to chase the game as much as we might have done otherwise, and we were clearly struggling to break them down as it was.

[wixfjord]

Think someone above mentioned RK's leadership yesterday. Got to say I thought he was fantastic. Constantly pumping guys up and looked like he was not going to let that game slip. Must be good to have a guy at that age with such experience behind you.

Fardy was fantastic again. Absolute cracking signing.

JVDF has regained his form from earlier in the year. Can't wait to see him go up against Cloete on Stephen's Day.

Ringrose was mixed again, particularly defensively, albeit they're hard to defend against.

Thought the reffing, but particularly the touch judge was disgraceful. A lot of booing but a lot of it merited. The offside line was a joke all day.

All in all, that's the type of game that wins championships. Two huge titanic battles against a good team and two wins. Can't ask fairer than that.

Met a lot of Chiefs fans (and some players) around last night and while disappointed, they all to a man wanted Leinster to go the whole way this year.