Leinster v Wasps Friday BT Sport 7.45

[Andrew097]

remember the Ospreys Final Ref. Rhys did

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Not that we weren't brilliant...but I thought we got very lucky with some of the calls in the first half. I still think we would have pulled away in the second half, but we got a big leg up, no doubt about it.

What a performance though. Wasps did collapse but that period where we ramped it up after half time and killed the game off was ridiculously good. There was power, variety, skills, support play...the lot.

Lowe was phenomenal. It's funny, he was very quiet with ball in hand early on but I was still really impressed with how hard he was working. Cleared guys away from rucks really well and was just always in the right place to help the team...and then decided to go bananas with the ball in hand. His kicking was great as well, I feel like that's under appreciated because the rest of his game is so good.

Thought Luke was great too. Had that stupid kick on the full early on (which was particularly annoying because he did it last week too) but apart from that his passing was really good, support play excellent, and defended really well as usual, loved his tackle on Taylor down the touchline. Nick was really good when he came on too. I know he never gets tested too much because he usually comes on when games have been won but he really is a very talented player, always impresses me and I'd love to see him get more time.

The teamwork of the centres and the second rows was great. They all worked so hard for each other and complemented each other really well.

All in all, we're very lucky that we get to watch this team.

[Oldschool]

So were the weather forecasts accurate that's all that's left to be clarified.
Who won the toss?
Who took the kick off? Sexton or their lad?
Didn't see the game unfortunately.

[nc6000]

Sh1t. What have I started!

This thread has Tomane puns if you ask me.

[tingman]

Sh1t. What have I started!

This thread has Tomane puns if you ask me.

get your coat son

[curates_egg]

Thought Luke was great too. Had that stupid kick on the full early on (which was particularly annoying because he did it last week too) but apart from that his passing was really good, support play excellent, and defended really well as usual, loved his tackle on Taylor down the touchline. Nick was really good when he came on too.

It's so funny that people see out of players what they want to see. I thought McGrath had a great game overall, but I thought his distribution in the first half wasn't great. My impression was that he was slow getting the ball away and he threw a couple of poor passes. I need to rewatch to see if my impression was wrong. I thought the rest of his game (kicking, defence, support play) was at a very high standard.

[curates_egg]

What a pleasure to get to watch a performance like that. I can't remember us going into a game in better shape (form and squad available), but you never know if it will work out on the night.
Very high bar of performance set for the season. An interesting challenge for the coaches.
I'm probably still scarred by being at the party performance in Northampton under MOC, but this is a very different set up. It will be interesting to see how we pitch ourselves for Toulouse.

[Oldschool]

The Bath v Toulouse game is on Channel 4 today.

[domhnallj]

The Bath v Toulouse game is on Channel 4 today.

They are also broadcasting a new champions cup rugby digest type show at half ten if anyone is up. I beilieve that Leinsters own Jamie Heaslip will be on.

It’ll be on catchup I imagine.

[curates_egg]

remember the Ospreys Final Ref. Rhys did

I was literally moaning about that last night. #NeverForget

[cormac]

16 tries in 18 appearances for James Lowe

[OTT]

All in all, we're very lucky that we get to watch this team.

Ain’t that the truth.

[OTT]

Thought Luke was great too. Had that stupid kick on the full early on (which was particularly annoying because he did it last week too) but apart from that his passing was really good, support play excellent, and defended really well as usual, loved his tackle on Taylor down the touchline. Nick was really good when he came on too.

It's so funny that people see out of players what they want to see. I thought McGrath had a great game overall, but I thought his distribution in the first half wasn't great. My impression was that he was slow getting the ball away and he threw a couple of poor passes. I need to rewatch to see if my impression was wrong. I thought the rest of his game (kicking, defence, support play) was at a very high standard.

I thought his distribution was really snappy last night, it looked like he was doing something different almost flicking the ball with his wrists particularly evident off our lineouts, I was in the terrace though and getting very happy and merry so I might be talking through my hoop

[curates_egg]

Thought Luke was great too. Had that stupid kick on the full early on (which was particularly annoying because he did it last week too) but apart from that his passing was really good, support play excellent, and defended really well as usual, loved his tackle on Taylor down the touchline. Nick was really good when he came on too.

It's so funny that people see out of players what they want to see. I thought McGrath had a great game overall, but I thought his distribution in the first half wasn't great. My impression was that he was slow getting the ball away and he threw a couple of poor passes. I need to rewatch to see if my impression was wrong. I thought the rest of his game (kicking, defence, support play) was at a very high standard.

I thought his distribution was really snappy last night, it looked like he was doing something different almost flicking the ball with his wrists particularly evident off our lineouts, I was in the terrace though and getting very happy and merry so I might be talking through my hoop

The lineout plays were very slick alright. I was more thinking of the rucks in the first half. I need to rewatch though.

[wixfjord]

What a night in the RDS.

This might be the best team we've ever had. Larmour, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe, Sexton are almost unplayable.

I think Rhys showed last night why he's our number 1 number 6 too. Some player.

I particularly love how we keep getting Larmour and Lowe into positions close to the line that suits them. You could see us throwing it wide to Lowe early to give him a one on one, and you could also see us hitting Larmour from a screen pass coming left to right. He's almost unstoppable when he's coming at speed against a guy who's flat footed.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Thought Luke was great too. Had that stupid kick on the full early on (which was particularly annoying because he did it last week too) but apart from that his passing was really good, support play excellent, and defended really well as usual, loved his tackle on Taylor down the touchline. Nick was really good when he came on too.

It's so funny that people see out of players what they want to see.

It is...but I don't do that.

My one other criticism would be that he could have tried to break more often. I was literally thinking it just before he got his first try. We do seem to set up a bit wider so maybe he'd get isolated but there was loads of space around the ruck last night and we crabbed across a little bit in the first half. He can do it, so don't know why it's gone out of his game so much.

[Dave Cahill]

In or around the 75th minute, with the game entirely in the bag, in the Wasps 22 Ringrose shot out of the line like a rocket and absolutely clobbered a Wasps back miles behind the gain line. The attitude was just incredible - the desire, the need, to give them absolutely nothing is incredible and it says so much about this group of players, many of whom won pretty much everything going last year, that the hunger is still there

[domhnallj]

Didn’t get to see that game, if anyone knows a link to the game would they mind posting it? Thanks.

[wixfjord]

Didn’t get to see that game, if anyone knows a link to the game would they mind posting it? Thanks.

20 mins highlights here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY4OdywIrvw

[wixfjord]

Watch JVDF'S movement for the first try. Not sure if it was a planned move or not, but if it was, he put in some very nice 'animation' of the type that Schmidt loves to take the eyes of a few Wasps defenders and create some space for Cronin!