Munster v Leinster St Stephen's Day 3.15 TG4 & Sky Sports

[Hippo]

In fairness, Toner and Daly could both have received yellow cards, but Nigel just gave penalties. There was also a tackle from Furlong that seemed to get a reaction from the crowd and Furlong looked like he thought he had done something wrong too, but Nigel just allowed play to continue.

Kilcoyne caught Lowe off the ball (indeed, off the field) with a late shoulder charge which would have been a comfortable yellow. Nigel was there and waved play on.

[ronk]

.

Similarly the blocking line ran before the Leavy try could've gone either way. I think Arnold ran into the Leinster player (ROL was it?) but we could have no complaints if it was called back.
.

Arnold was running away from the ball and could have been as easily called for tackling player without the ball.

ROL distracted him because he was lining him up but didnt obstruct him.It was just a terrible defensive read.

It was replayed and checked even though it was a while back before the try.

[neilinboston]

Thought Lowe's discipline was quite poor but I think we can beat that out of him. My only concern is that he wasn't great under the high ball, hesitated on a few of them and really didn't get off the ground very much. I don't remember seeing that tested in Super Rugby.

Speaking of discipline, having watched the game back Owens was absolutely dreadful. I know he lets things go but some of the stuff he ignored was unacceptable really, and that's for both sides.

I saw the poor discipline as being up for the game. We’ve had imports that didn’t show desire recently (Douglas).
I’ll have to rewatch the high ball.
I am wetting myself at Lowe, henshaw,ringrose,Byrne,larmour.
In about 2 years time. Have we had a higher potential? When added to an unladylike pack.

[Ruckedtobits]

.

Similarly the blocking line ran before the Leavy try could've gone either way. I think Arnold ran into the Leinster player (ROL was it?) but we could have no complaints if it was called back.
.

Arnold was running away from the ball and could have been as easily called for tackling player without the ball.

ROL distracted him because he was lining him up but didnt obstruct him.It was just a terrible defensive read.

It was replayed and checked even though it was a while back before the try.

RO'L was behind the passer when the pass was completed. Arnold was making an early tackle IMO and there was no obstruction.

[Ruckedtobits]

I think we partly saw yesterday why Lowe wasn't brought in for Exeter. Like against Treviso he's a bit headless at times and hasn't really gotten into our system yet. He's a fantastic player to watch and will be a superstar for us, but I'd like to see him get a good bit more gametime before Europe in January. Also, he's an aboslute bull with ball in hand. Bounced off a few guys yesterday and managed to stay in field when he had no right too. Someone on commentary said he's 16st? Doesn't look it but hits like it! A back three of him, RK and Isa would have some serious ballast to it!

One of the more recent skills / plays coming from the SH, is the short pass to a player running at an angle to the defensive line and taking the ball well behind his body from a flat, soft, pass or handover (ball never in the air). Lowe is expert at these but his timing with JGP. or Luke, needs refinement and lots of practice on timing, before it becomes a weapon.

Ross B is also using this technique occasionally with Robbie H and they also need practice with timing.

[wixfjord]

I think we partly saw yesterday why Lowe wasn't brought in for Exeter. Like against Treviso he's a bit headless at times and hasn't really gotten into our system yet. He's a fantastic player to watch and will be a superstar for us, but I'd like to see him get a good bit more gametime before Europe in January. Also, he's an aboslute bull with ball in hand. Bounced off a few guys yesterday and managed to stay in field when he had no right too. Someone on commentary said he's 16st? Doesn't look it but hits like it! A back three of him, RK and Isa would have some serious ballast to it!

One of the more recent skills / plays coming from the SH, is the short pass to a player running at an angle to the defensive line and taking the ball well behind his body from a flat, soft, pass or handover (ball never in the air). Lowe is expert at these but his timing with JGP. or Luke, needs refinement and lots of practice on timing, before it becomes a weapon.

Ross B is also using this technique occasionally with Robbie H and they also need practice with timing.

JGP uses it quite a lot too, and worked it well the other day, to guys like Conan and Ryan coming on a short angle. Very effective tactic if the timing is right, and particularly for him as he loves going blindside.

[Edna Kenny]

Thought Lowe's discipline was quite poor but I think we can beat that out of him. My only concern is that he wasn't great under the high ball, hesitated on a few of them and really didn't get off the ground very much. I don't remember seeing that tested in Super Rugby.

Speaking of discipline, having watched the game back Owens was absolutely dreadful. I know he lets things go but some of the stuff he ignored was unacceptable really, and that's for both sides.

I thought we should have had a penalty in the lead up to Keatley's try when Jordi got his hands on the ball and was on his feet. It was a big moment in the game.

[wixfjord]

.

Similarly the blocking line ran before the Leavy try could've gone either way. I think Arnold ran into the Leinster player (ROL was it?) but we could have no complaints if it was called back.
.

Arnold was running away from the ball and could have been as easily called for tackling player without the ball.

ROL distracted him because he was lining him up but didnt obstruct him.It was just a terrible defensive read.

It was replayed and checked even though it was a while back before the try.

RO'L was behind the passer when the pass was completed. Arnold was making an early tackle IMO and there was no obstruction.

He wasn't when the pass to Lowe was made anyway. That's when the contact happened.
I'm not saying it was, in fact I don't think it was, but I'm saying there certainly was a case to look at and it was 50/50. Larmour also makes a slight move into Wooton's path (it wasn't Arnold or ROL!) too.

[fourthirtythree]

It was a penalty against Wooton had Larmour not been able to continue.

He messed up with an early tackle and threw his hands in the air rather than fighting for his feet. I thought he had a good game, but that was a poor moment from Wooton. Larmour getting penalised for that would be as absurd as Lowe getting a talking to for being tackled in the air.

Oh wait.

[RoboProp]

It was a penalty against Wooton had Larmour not been able to continue.

He messed up with an early tackle and threw his hands in the air rather than fighting for his feet. I thought he had a good game, but that was a poor moment from Wooton. Larmour getting penalised for that would be as absurd as Lowe getting a talking to for being tackled in the air.

Oh wait.

You do wonder if Leo will have some of Nigel's more peculiar calls brought to his attention. I get the impression that Nige the all round good bloke and social meeja dahling probably thinks he's beyond reproach

[LeRouxIsPHat]

It was a penalty against Wooton had Larmour not been able to continue.

He messed up with an early tackle and threw his hands in the air rather than fighting for his feet. I thought he had a good game, but that was a poor moment from Wooton. Larmour getting penalised for that would be as absurd as Lowe getting a talking to for being tackled in the air.

Oh wait.

I might be alone in this but I didn't mind Lowe getting a warning there. Yes technically it was a tackle in the air but Lowe knew exactly what he was doing, he didn't need to jump and leading with the knee like that is dangerous. I know everyone lifts a knee when they're in the air but I think there's a big difference between protecting yourself when going for a high ball, and jumping unnecessarily at the last second to avoid being tackled/draw a tackle in the air. Conway should have anticipated that Lowe might jump so I'm not saying he's an innocent victim, but I thought it was dangerous from Lowe and it bugs me that the guy in the air usually has all the rights, thought a knock on and a talking to was fair enough.

[ronk]

He jumped to catch a high bounce. It was legitimate rather than just jumping into contact for the fun of it. There was an element of looking for it but he jumped away from Conway not towards him.

Conway was far more in the wrong and could have walked if Lowe had fallen awkwardly and caught the ball (there’s an unwritten law that it’s ok to tackle someone in the air if they knock the ball on).

[LeRouxIsPHat]

He jumped to catch a high bounce. It was legitimate rather than just jumping into contact for the fun of it. There was an element of looking for it but he jumped away from Conway not towards him.

Conway was far more in the wrong and could have walked if Lowe had fallen awkwardly and caught the ball (there’s an unwritten law that it’s ok to tackle someone in the air if they knock the ball on).

Sorry but I just think that's totally wrong. How can there be an element of looking for it but also jumping because he had to? Surely it's one or the other? Lowe's knee is facing down the pitch and goes straight into Conway's shoulder/chest and knocks him over, doesn't jump away from him at all and the fact that he jumped at the last second (with his hands not very high meaning he could have just kept running and stuck them out to catch it) meant contact was inevitable. By jumping and leading with the knee it looked to me like it was because he was pretty much looking for the contact and was bracing himself. Like I said, Conway should still have slowed down but I would say that was poor defence rather than anything dangerous, I think it's perfectly reasonable to not expect Lowe to jump.

[blockhead]

It was a penalty against Wooton had Larmour not been able to continue.

He messed up with an early tackle and threw his hands in the air rather than fighting for his feet. I thought he had a good game, but that was a poor moment from Wooton. Larmour getting penalised for that would be as absurd as Lowe getting a talking to for being tackled in the air.

Oh wait.

You do wonder if Leo will have some of Nigel's more peculiar calls brought to his attention. I get the impression that Nige the all round good bloke and social meeja dahling probably thinks he's beyond reproach

Nigel's heavy breathing was a feature throughout the game, the end to end stuff must have had him exhausted.

[simonokeeffe]

Thought Lowe's discipline was quite poor but I think we can beat that out of him. My only concern is that he wasn't great under the high ball, hesitated on a few of them and really didn't get off the ground very much. I don't remember seeing that tested in Super Rugby.

Speaking of discipline, having watched the game back Owens was absolutely dreadful. I know he lets things go but some of the stuff he ignored was unacceptable really, and that's for both sides.

I thought we should have had a penalty in the lead up to Keatley's try when Jordi got his hands on the ball and was on his feet. It was a big moment in the game.

Bigtime
I think Jordi even looked up to imply are you kidding me here. Killers push on Lowe was a definite penalty. Archer had one aggregious in the side in a maul too

Nigel was definitely laissez faire
Daly shouldve been carded. Probably Toner too. Same for tackle on Lowe in the air

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Daly stopping and putting his head in his hands just screamed guilt to me but I haven't seen a replay. He's stopped like that before actually, needs to cut it out.

[simonokeeffe]

Daly stopping and putting his head in his hands just screamed guilt to me but I haven't seen a replay. He's stopped like that before actually, needs to cut it out.

Leo perfect man to coach that

He slapped down a 3 on 1

[Ruckedtobits]

Daly stopping and putting his head in his hands just screamed guilt to me but I haven't seen a replay. He's stopped like that before actually, needs to cut it out.

Leo perfect man to coach that

He slapped down a 3 on 1

Maybe Daly was demonstrating his horror in not holding the intercept - he had two hands involved - and then running the length to score!

Jus' saying.......

[leinsterforever]

He jumped to catch a high bounce. It was legitimate rather than just jumping into contact for the fun of it. There was an element of looking for it but he jumped away from Conway not towards him.

Conway was far more in the wrong and could have walked if Lowe had fallen awkwardly and caught the ball (there’s an unwritten law that it’s ok to tackle someone in the air if they knock the ball on).

Sorry but I just think that's totally wrong. How can there be an element of looking for it but also jumping because he had to? Surely it's one or the other? Lowe's knee is facing down the pitch and goes straight into Conway's shoulder/chest and knocks him over, doesn't jump away from him at all and the fact that he jumped at the last second (with his hands not very high meaning he could have just kept running and stuck them out to catch it) meant contact was inevitable. By jumping and leading with the knee it looked to me like it was because he was pretty much looking for the contact and was bracing himself. Like I said, Conway should still have slowed down but I would say that was poor defence rather than anything dangerous, I think it's perfectly reasonable to not expect Lowe to jump.

If Lowe doesn't jump, Conway can just line him up and hit him hard. Why would Lowe put himself in that situation? Sure, there's an element of Lowe protecting himself with his knees and probably thinking to himself that it's the other guy's fault if he comes forward aggressively and gets injured, but it's a bit much to be criticising Lowe for doing this when, in his mind, the alternative is copping a big hit and being put on the back foot

[the spoofer]

I saw some comments here saying Toner possibly should have got a yellow. Is the game really going that way that a little dunt like that could get a yellow? Take Cian Healy and Fardy out of it and I reckon our lads are too "nice", we need a couple more hard b$&%@#ds in there although Leavy has the makings of one.