Leinster v Munster 2018 Pro14 S/F 19th May RDS

[wixfjord]

You obviously didn't.

Specifically, what were his 'atrocious' defensive issues?

[hugonaut]

A recurring theme of today’s game, was many players answering their critics. I was delighted to see how certain individuals performed, and proved a point about certain aspects of their game.

Jack McGrath was one of them, who put in a strong shift and displayed some deft hands to set put Lowe through the gal for Conan’s try.

Conan himself provided another very good performance, getting through a load of tackles and making huge metres on his carries. It was nice to see him at his rampaging best.

I also thought Ross Byrne looked like he has returned to some excellent form. His hands were very sharp and he looked more mobile than he usually does, which many people have berated in the past.

I also felt we had a plenty of encouraging performances off the bench. Tracy put his poor form behind him with a crucial turnover and some big carries. O’Loughlin also won an important turnover and made various tackles which required some pretty accurate technique, which both surprised and impressed me. Probably my favourite of them all though, was Porter’s scrummaging brilliance. To think he only took up this position about 1 year ago, and today he was winning penalties against an international loosehead in Kilcoyne. He won 2 penalties, in fact, capping off a remarkable positional transition.

Otherwise, it was good performance although, I thought some players looked tired ( Furlong, Murphy, Ryan and others). It was a great game to watch, although I could do with a slightly less dramatic finish, for the sake of the heart!

Agree with a lot of that, A16. I thought that O'Loughlin's performance off the bench was outstanding. He made a rake of forceful, technically excellent tackles on good runners in space and won a good turnover penalty too. He was really fired up and aggressive in his 40 minutes on the pitch, but didn't concede any penalties. Looked very much at home on a bigger stage that he has featured in before. His defensive performances this year had been pretty iffy, but this was first rate, international calibre stuff. Very impressive to see him make the step up.

[paddyor]

When Munster were awarded their try on 79 mins, the click wasn't restarted until Leinster kicked off after the conversion.
Surely the clock should have restarted once the try was awarded.
Can anyone explain why the clock wasn't restarted until the Leinster kick off?

Yep, I noticed that too. It didn't run until the kick off.

[Oldschool]

You obviously didn't.

Specifically, what were his 'atrocious' defensive issues?

Been down this road with you before and I'm not going to waste either yours or my time.
You won't convince me and I certainly won't convince you so I'm leaving it at that.

[Oldschool]

When Munster were awarded their try on 79 mins, the click wasn't restarted until Leinster kicked off after the conversion.
Surely the clock should have restarted once the try was awarded.
Can anyone explain why the clock wasn't restarted until the Leinster kick off?

Yep, I noticed that too. It didn't run until the kick off.

Yep, there was a minute to go on the clock and the siren didn't go off until that minute had elapsed.

[wixfjord]

You obviously didn't.

Specifically, what were his 'atrocious' defensive issues?

Been down this road with you before and I'm not going to waste either yours or my time.
You won't convince me and I certainly won't convince you so I'm leaving it at that.

No bother dude!

You haven't made much of a case for his 'atrocious' defence though...and Ronk asked you too which you ignored...

[paddyor]

When Munster were awarded their try on 79 mins, the click wasn't restarted until Leinster kicked off after the conversion.
Surely the clock should have restarted once the try was awarded.
Can anyone explain why the clock wasn't restarted until the Leinster kick off?

Yep, I noticed that too. It didn't run until the kick off.

Yep, there was a minute to go on the clock and the siren didn't go off until that minute had elapsed.

Just rewatching the game now. The TV match clock restarted, it was 79:33 when we kicked off, then for some reason it stops for a few seconds then restarts.

[Logorrhea]

I didnt see too many issues with his defense on first viewing.

[LeinsterLeader]

10 tackles put in by ROL (only 1 missed) in the second half. Same number as GR (who was excellent btw) put in in the whole game.

Way to stand up and be counted

23/1 from James Ryan was again top of the pile

[Logorrhea]

10 tackles put in by ROL (only 1 missed) in the second half.

He was absolutely huge once he came on. Massive impact.

[cormac]

Since Croke Park we've lost as many games to Connacht (6 from 19) as we have to Munster (6 from 21).

[blockhead]

I didnt see too many issues with his defense on first viewing.

You really have to want to see it.

[cormac]

Also, yesterday Devin Toner became the first Leinster player to reach 150 appearances in the league.

[hugonaut]

Also, yesterday Devin Toner became the first Leinster player to reach 150 appearances in the league.

Also first time that he has taped his ears up for the row.

[hugonaut]

Huge kudos to Scott Fardy too for his defensive impact on introduction, which was absolutely monstrous. He put in three enormous tackles – one on Stander, one on O'Mahony and the other on Gerbrant 'Bruce' Grobler – and was a real defensive bulwark to rally around.

On reflection, I can't recall many matches where our subs have made more of an impact. Cian, James Tracy, Porter, Fardy, Locko and Deegan all made really telling contributions - huge hits, key turnovers, big scrums etc. The selection worked out very well.

[ronk]

Specifically, what were his 'atrocious' defensive issues?

Been down this road with you before and I'm not going to waste either yours or my time.
You won't convince me and I certainly won't convince you so I'm leaving it at that.

No bother dude!

You haven't made much of a case for his 'atrocious' defence though...and Ronk asked you too which you ignored...

It was answer enough

[Ruckedtobits]

+1.

Consider our performance as a team against Scarlets and wonder how it was so effective. Kicking the ball (badly) to your opponent's major strength does not represent smart rugby. Not a good day at the office for No 9

Agreed, I have to say I think that's very unfair RTB. I've been consciously not talking about him all that much because I've defended him so much in the past but you always seem to single him out. Usually that's for his passing but that was excellent yesterday and yet no mention of it? No mention of the three times he covered brilliantly? No mention of the kicks that were good? No mention of the coaches and putting the long kicking solely on Luke? That doesn't add up for me. He had maybe three poor kicks (fairly subjective in fairness) and the charge down, but the rest of his performance was good, certainly not a bad day at the office or even close to it. I d think he's carrying an injury (the lack of breaks being the obvious sign) but he's still done pretty well in the big games he's made recently. I'd actually have no problem with JGP starting next weekend, think he's been really good for most of the last few months, but Luke definitely wasn't bad yesterday.

Perhaps I have become like the ancient, one-eyed Italian art critic, attending a Rodin Exhibition who remarked

"I can't understand why I'm losing my perspective.

[Dave Cahill]

The ball went back from Carbery though. That was my take on it too but even if you disagree with that, the ref did call it so it wasn't like they missed it.

The ball goes towards Leinster's deadball line when Carbery tries to regather, so it's not a knock-on. It has to travel towards the Munster deadball line to be a knock-on. The fact that Carbery goes further backwards than the ball and ends up between it and the deadball line is immaterial ... it looks weird, but it's not a problem in law. There's no knock on, and there's no offside in open play, so there's no penalty there. The referee's decision was correct, as far as I can tell. It just looks a bit weird.

Fair points lads, I did only see it once (in a pub), so I will take your views on it as being better than mine.

The ref got two for two wrong instead of three for three!

[Oldschool]

And yet the last few posts have been about various players making a massive defensive impact.
Funny but Lowe's name wasn't mentioned in that context.
Selectivity is just that!

[curates_egg]

The long kicking from McGrath was a baffling strategy. Put us under a lot of pressure. That and a load of other errors and turnovers.
We should have won a lot more easily. Officials were poor, but we made life difficult for ourselves.
But we won.

Lowe was by far the best attacking player on the pitch. But he also missed at least 2 tackles and is down for 3 turnovers. Made a couple of poor reads but they did target him.
So I think both sides of the argument here protest too much.
Our back three performed just as we expected in fact.

Delighted to win. That performance would see us lose against Scarlets though.