Leinster v Ulster

[cormac]

Noel Reid's 100th appearance in the league.

[arsebiscuits1]

Great to see Daly back. That Ulster back three is tiny and inexperienced, could really exploit them there.

Leavy injured? Even if he is, amazing to think that Penny justifies his selection in an interpro like this. Happy to see Deegan back starting as well, hope he delivers.

Anyone who gives away a stupid penalty should be hooked straight away, and I'm only half joking.

Incredible that Penny was held back from Ireland U20 duty to play for the Leinster seniors. Has he even played AIL yet?

Given how many back rows we give to Ireland during the 6N, I wonder will Penny be released by Leinster to play for the Ireland u20s

[wixfjord]

Great to see Daly back. That Ulster back three is tiny and inexperienced, could really exploit them there.

Leavy injured? Even if he is, amazing to think that Penny justifies his selection in an interpro like this. Happy to see Deegan back starting as well, hope he delivers.

Anyone who gives away a stupid penalty should be hooked straight away, and I'm only half joking.

Incredible that Penny was held back from Ireland U20 duty to play for the Leinster seniors. Has he even played AIL yet?

Given how many back rows we give to Ireland during the 6N, I wonder will Penny be released by Leinster to play for the Ireland u20s

Definitely I'd say. Has happened before for a few guys.

[arsebiscuits1]

Great to see Daly back. That Ulster back three is tiny and inexperienced, could really exploit them there.

Leavy injured? Even if he is, amazing to think that Penny justifies his selection in an interpro like this. Happy to see Deegan back starting as well, hope he delivers.

Anyone who gives away a stupid penalty should be hooked straight away, and I'm only half joking.

Incredible that Penny was held back from Ireland U20 duty to play for the Leinster seniors. Has he even played AIL yet?

Given how many back rows we give to Ireland during the 6N, I wonder will Penny be released by Leinster to play for the Ireland u20s

Definitely I'd say. Has happened before for a few guys.

Has it? I remember possibly last year or the year before there was an Ulster player held back for one game for pro14 duty. But has it happened for a run of games? Because it's possibly that Penny will be our first choice 7 during the 6N except for that one game SOB uses to get back to match fitness

[Jonny tight lips]

Great to see Daly back. That Ulster back three is tiny and inexperienced, could really exploit them there.

Leavy injured? Even if he is, amazing to think that Penny justifies his selection in an interpro like this. Happy to see Deegan back starting as well, hope he delivers.

Anyone who gives away a stupid penalty should be hooked straight away, and I'm only half joking.

Incredible that Penny was held back from Ireland U20 duty to play for the Leinster seniors. Has he even played AIL yet?

Given how many back rows we give to Ireland during the 6N, I wonder will Penny be released by Leinster to play for the Ireland u20s

They will definitely release him, we will only provinding 2 backrow players to the match day 23 with probably another as 24th man. That still leaves 6 senior backrow players in the squad. Also wouldn’t hurt to slow down young Penny down before he gets van grabbed.

[Dave Cahill]

Pro14 ranks above the u20s 6N in the unions hierarchy. A number of players across all the provinces have been pulled from 6N duties for the Pro1x over the last few years

[cormac]

Has it? I remember possibly last year or the year before there was an Ulster player held back for one game for pro14 duty. But has it happened for a run of games? Because it's possibly that Penny will be our first choice 7 during the 6N except for that one game SOB uses to get back to match fitness

Don't think we've done it for a while but can remember Andrew Conway playing league games for us instead of U-20 6N.

[curates_egg]

Great to see Daly back. That Ulster back three is tiny and inexperienced, could really exploit them there.

A lot of pace. Then again, Daly hopefully still has that too.

[ronk]

Bigger changes than I expected. Exciting teams. Does feel weird to send the big names away for an out of conference game and then rotate for a home tie with the 2nd placed team.

Plenty of experience in parts though.

[Fred Funk]

There is a left wing spot up for grabs for Toulouse, Daly and DK have predominantly played there while Larmour and AB have played at 14. Will Larmour be switched across or is that a chance for Daly to bolt?

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[Leinsterlunatic]

There is a left wing spot up for grabs for Toulouse, Daly and DK have predominantly played there while Larmour and AB have played at 14. Will Larmour be switched across or is that a chance for Daly to bolt?

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I think if Daly gets through tomorrow then he's a guarantee ahead of D.Kearney for Toulouse, his pace is electric.

However Larmour could also play 11 and then RK back to 15.

[neill_m]

Leinster -23 with Paddy Power on the handicap bet.

[Ruckedtobits]

Pro14 ranks above the u20s 6N in the unions hierarchy. A number of players across all the provinces have been pulled from 6N duties for the Pro1x over the last few years

That's a big, unfinished, debate in the IRFU. Jackson was pulled from the JWC, years ago, by Ulster to have a full pre-season when it was still the Magners. That JWC was in S Africa and we beat the home favourites in the Pool game with Furlong, Henderson and Hanrahan playing starring roles. We didn't do ourselves justice in the knock-out games.

The arguments on each side are, the importance of an entire Age-Group Squad, against the individual player development at a higher level. I'm totally on the side of the importance of the team, and how unfair it is on an entire group to pull, one or more, star players out of their International Tournament, at a vital time in their development.

The benefit of a good Tournament to Irish rugby, for an entire "generation" of players must outweight the benefit to an individual player, or even a Province, of getting a few games at a level he will have many chances to play in for years to come.

Penny should be playing with Ireland U.20s where his skills could be the difference between Ireland having a good shot at the 6N Championship and then qualify for the knock-out top 4 stage of the JWC in Argentina.

[mildlyinterested]

hope at some stage Doris comes on at 6 with Deegan at 8.

[cormac]

Pro14 ranks above the u20s 6N in the unions hierarchy. A number of players across all the provinces have been pulled from 6N duties for the Pro1x over the last few years

That's a big, unfinished, debate in the IRFU. Jackson was pulled from the JWC, years ago, by Ulster to have a full pre-season when it was still the Magners. That JWC was in S Africa and we beat the home favourites in the Pool game with Furlong, Henderson and Hanrahan playing starring roles. We didn't do ourselves justice in the knock-out games.



Penny should be playing with Ireland U.20s where his skills could be the difference between Ireland having a good shot at the 6N Championship and then qualify for the knock-out top 4 stage of the JWC in Argentina.

Think you're getting your U-20 JWC's mixed up. In 2012 we did beat South Africa in the group stages but still finished behind them in the group thanks to us losing three days later in the mud to England. We went into the 5-8 playoffs where we beat both France and England to finish 5th. Alongside the players already mentioned that squad also included Niall Scannell, Alan O'Connor, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan, Kieran Marmion, Luke McGrath, Jack Carty, Barry Daly and Chris Farrell.

If Leinster need Scott Penny during the 6N then he should clearly be playing for Leinster. It's a higher standard and, quite frankly, the U-20 6N isn't worth a damn. I can't see any reason why he wouldn't go to the JWC though, he's clearly nowhere near the same level in terms of development that Jackson was before the 2012 JWC.

[limecat]

Match Preview

Well that wasn't much fun!

Leinster lost only their second league game of the season to Munster after a chaotic first half of crazy indiscipline. Some Leinster fans sought to blame referee Frank Murphy, but while you could argue he was quite forgiving of some of Munster's retaliation, it could and arguably should have been worse for Leinster. Scott Fardy, Rhys Ruddock and Jack Conan could also have been carded and Tadhg Furlong's yellow really should have been a red if we're honest. For a team with only one yellow card all season, it was a remarkable breakdown in discipline and the players need to put their hands up and take responsibility.

Read more...

[ronk]

The need is relevant. Jackson was a core Ulster player by then and the team was being built around him.

Going to the U20s would have caused hardship to them and that needed to be balanced. Hanrahan was good cover but it probably didnt do him any favours in terms of hype.

Leinster could well be relying heavily on Penny during international windows. If we need him badly enough we should be able to pull him.

If he was just sub-sub when we had other options it would be unfair on the U20s.

From the players POV missing out on competitive senior time is a big price and one that can make them worry about their career.

[arsebiscuits1]

They will definitely release him, we will only provinding 2 backrow players to the match day 23 with probably another as 24th man. That still leaves 6 senior backrow players in the squad. Also wouldn’t hurt to slow down young Penny down before he gets van grabbed.

Will we?

Leavy and VDF were both named to face the All Blacks initially.

SOB is always an unknown.

That's all our senior 7s. Fairly possible that we will be without all of them at the same time.

Of the 6 senior back rows in the squad, the only one to play 7 was Ruddock in 2014 as an 11th hour replacement. If any of them were viable options at 7 surely we would have seen them there this season? The fact that Penny is starting tomorrow suggests to me that he is ahead of all of the others at openside

[leinsterblueyellow]

Does anyone have a spare ticket for tomorrow? My son would love to go.

[IanD]

Commentry on RTE Radio 1.