Leinster v Connacht

First topic message reminder :

Might as well kick this off here. This is the team I'd like to see based on recent injury reports and who needs a rest.

McGrath - Cronin - Moore
Toner - Roux
Ruddock - O'Brien - Jennings
Reddan - Madigan
Fitzgerald - McFadden - Macken - Tiquri
Kirchener

Dundon - Healy - Bent - McCarthy - Ryan - Cooney - Gopperth - D.Kearney

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

ME-109 wrote:Do you know what's so great about watching Leinster play. Its the amazing backplay. The falling over each other, knock ons, cluelessness has been great to watch...the best Leinster player on the pitch was an Ulsterman

So true. We need Munster to teach us a thing or two.

you can't have JJ..

The stream to de Dam is 2 mins behind ye lot. Stopped watching the thread for a bit.

Out of sync as per.

We made hard work of that.

MOC needs to learn from this.

Martin Moore the difference

Michael Bent has been here for a whole year. I think enough time has past for us to officially label him sh1te.

Cant believe the chap has an Ireland cap.

Standulstermen wrote:Martin Moore the difference

Astute, as always Stand.

Hows de Pub mo chara? Must pay a visit.  

Golden wrote:Michael Bent has been here for a whole year. I think enough time has past for us to officially label him sh1te.

Cant believe the chap has an Ireland cap.

 

It was an embarrassing time in Irish rugby when he played for Ireland before Leinster.

Lovin Quinny here. Mans a rough roide.

But Shaggy is an intellectual roide.

Gutted for Connacht.

Bent's a decent 3rd choice TH. He held the scrum last week against Castre and had parity tonight. Without him we'd be down to someone like Royce Burke Flynn or something.

Hopefully we can start bringing Furlong through.

Connacht didn't deserve to win at all tbh. They just did not get their set piece to function well enough to get the platform they needed to get the ball down field.

When they did have a chance to relieve the pressure, they messed up a lineout or they gave a penalty or they otherwise turned the ball over.

Now Leinster, mentally, just didn't show up for that game and it was off the back of two good Heineken Cup wins and a wee bit of focus was lost. And when Connacht got on top they got rattled and it's hard to say they were massively deserving winners either.

But I think it's massively patronising to describe that as a good Connacht performance just because it had guts and it had heart. If it was one of our teams who played like that we would be going absolutely mental about the fact;

-They couldn't win their own scrum
-They couldn't win their own lineout
-They played the game in the wrong parts of the pitch
-They constantly gave away penalties when there was no need
-The error count was too high

They did not play well tonight and let's do them the respect of judging them by the same standards we would judge any other Irish province instead of this plucky Connacht cr*p...

Gibson wrote:

Standulstermen wrote:Martin Moore the difference

Astute,  as always Stand.

Hows de Pub mo chara? Must pay a visit.  

All good lad. Always welcome.  

Quinny & Shaggy to replace the pathetic Hook & Whatisface... the boring keewee?

Nice to hear from men who actually know what they are talking about.

ME-109 wrote:Do you know what's so great about watching Leinster play. Its the amazing backplay. The falling over each other, knock ons, cluelessness has been great to watch...the best Leinster player on the pitch was an Ulsterman

As tiresome as your attacks on Leinster and occasionally Ulster are....this is quite funny.

Notch wrote:Connacht didn't deserve to win at all tbh. They just did not get their set piece to function well enough to get the platform they needed to get the ball down field.

When they did have a chance to relieve the pressure, they messed up a lineout or they gave a penalty or they otherwise turned the ball over.

Now Leinster, mentally, just didn't show up for that game and it was off the back of two good Heineken Cup wins and a wee bit of focus was lost. And when Connacht got on top they got rattled and it's hard to say they were massively deserving winners either.

But I think it's massively patronising to describe that as a good Connacht performance just because it had guts and it had heart. If it was one of our teams who played like that we would be going absolutely mental about the fact;

-They couldn't win their own scrum
-They couldn't win their own lineout
-They played the game in the wrong parts of the pitch
-They constantly gave away penalties when there was no need
-The error count was too high

They did not play well tonight and let's do them the respect of judging them by the same standards we would judge any other Irish province instead of this plucky Connacht cr*p...

Woooooo! Get her.

That was shambolix by Leinster yet again - winning by a penalty try in the last minute against 13 men. Back line had all the creativity of Munster! Total lack of leadership (hello Jamie!). God, I should have stayed home and watched El Classico instead of that sh!te.

Artful_Dodger wrote:

ME-109 wrote:Do you know what's so great about watching Leinster play. Its the amazing backplay. The falling over each other, knock ons, cluelessness has been great to watch...the best Leinster player on the pitch was an Ulsterman

As tiresome as your attacks on Leinster and occasionally Ulster are....this is quite funny.

i was even going to suggest they look north, as am sure some of your academy would easily make the HC team.

brennomac wrote:That was shambolix by Leinster yet again - winning by a penalty try in the last minute against 13 men.  Back line had all the creativity of Munster! Total lack of leadership (hello Jamie!).  God, I should have stayed home and watched El Classico instead of that sh!te.

Id rather put sh!te in my hands and clap than watch any soccer match.

Putting Poopie in your hands and clapping is all you need to do to get onto the Leinster backline right now. Not like it is up North- oh no!

  

Cocky Norn-Irish tart. #DressedUpInOrange

We will put ye in yer rightful place. Oh ja.

Gibson wrote:
Cocky Norn-Irish tart. #DressedUpInOrange

We will put ye in yer rightful place.  Oh ja.

why is it if i say something like that i get accused of being possibly sectarian but if Gibson does it, its just having a larf...

Its cos Im cute roysh. And I wash.

Its the Leinster Way.

Gibson wrote:Its cos Im cute roysh. And I wash.

Its the Leinster Way.

You wash!!! Pretty good for a northsider...

What's the difference between batman and a northsider?

See O'Connor moaning that Connacht "didn't play any rugby". Maybe he could take a close look at Leinster who certainly didn't play much rugby either. As said earlier, that was a shockingly inept display by Leinster and a big improvement is needed before we play Northampton in the HC in December.

And in the case of the Rabo, remember if the 20-team format becomes a reality, it means that there are only seven places for Rabo teams. That means all the Irish provinces can not afford off days if they want to ensure a place in the HC Mk 2.

Oh, leinsterfan4life, just watched the highlights of El Classico and the beauty of Alexis's goal for Barca, unless Leinster improve you're going to be clapping sh!te between your hands for some time to come. Time to get a life.

ME-109 wrote:

Gibson wrote:
Cocky Norn-Irish tart. #DressedUpInOrange

We will put ye in yer rightful place.  Oh ja.

why is it if i say something like that i get accused of being possibly sectarian but if Gibson does it, its just having a larf...

Here, any more of that out of you and I'll be straight off to the mods. Straight off!  

O'Connor needs to start realising he's in a serious League and he needs serious attention to serious attacking 'plays'  if he's going to survive in it.
(aren't the guys supposed to have added 50 or 60 of those beautifully plotted art-work moves to their arsenal...ain't that the comments coming from people like Rob Kearney?  They're perfecting a mountain of newness from O'Connor?)  Well, maybe just concentrate on a handful of them; and instead of trying them out on a blackboard, attempt them in games??

He (O'Connor) strikes me as a coach who seemed to have done all his pre-arrival observations of Leinster through the Prism of HC.  And perhaps his problem is that he fell for the propaganda lingo across the water - thinking Leinster slept through their Pro12 exploits each year, not needing to rise out of canter pace to get to the play-off stages.

He's either quickly proving himself not the coach for Leinster or he's been doing a big dose of disrespecting the Pro12 up until now.

Let's not blame someone else for our shortcomings, O'Connor.  Pro12 rugby sides are smarter than the average AP side, who seem driven to just go out and prove themselves best (allegedly).  

Going on both the Leinster/Connacht game and the Munster/Glasgow one, it's a little naive to call either of those games 'bad' rugby, simply because Connacht and Munster didn't open themselves up to the more creative punishment Leinster and Glasgow might have inflicted on them had they done so.  Accusing Connacht of "not playing any rugby" is the same as suggesting they should have committed suicide simply to let Leinster win.

The season needs much more honesty from Leinster and O'Connor.  The players seem to have little ammo at their disposal in terms of designed plays to open up a tricky and sticky defence.

brennomac wrote:See O'Connor moaning that Connacht "didn't play any rugby". Maybe he could take a close look at Leinster who certainly didn't play much rugby either. As said earlier, that was a shockingly inept display by Leinster and a big improvement is needed before we play Northampton in the HC in December.  

And in the case of the Rabo, remember if the 20-team format becomes a reality, it means that there are only seven places for Rabo teams.  That means all the Irish provinces can not afford off days if they want to ensure a place in the HC Mk 2.

Oh, leinsterfan4life, just watched the highlights of El Classico and the beauty of Alexis's goal for Barca, unless Leinster improve you're going to be clapping sh!te between your hands for some time to come.  Time to get a life.

  thats hilarious that you got offended by that.

Actually fly I have a theory - dum dum dum ... ok I'll share it then....

I think when Leinster were looking at Schmidts successor that they felt that it would be the forwards who would be their Achilles heal in the coming seasons, so set out to bring in another pragmatic type no nonsense coach a la Cheika....

What they didn't factor is that Sexton would leave, Nacewa would resign, Conway would clear off, O'Malley would retire and that their attacking flair would go so badly up the left so quickly.

Now they have a relatively toothless looking backline and a coach who doesn't know his arse from his elbow regarding attacking rugby.

Get used to it lads - they'll be none of that Sexy ruggerby down in D4 for a while..... 

60 moves are going to teach all'a'ya a lesson Rodders!

60 moves - blackboard stage still but about to go to Stage Two:  Wind tunnel testing!
Expensive but some kinds of art just need a bigger canvas.

See you all in January - suckers!!!!  

Move 8B.628i is a dream....on paper.

rodders wrote:Actually fly I have a theory - dum dum dum ... ok I'll share it then....

I think when Leinster were looking at Schmidts successor that they felt that it would be the forwards who would be their Achilles heal in the coming seasons, so set out to bring in another pragmatic type no nonsense coach a la Cheika....

What they didn't factor is that Sexton would leave, Nacewa would resign, Conway would clear off, O'Malley would retire and that their attacking flair would go so badly up the left so quickly.

Now they have a relatively toothless looking backline and a coach who doesn't know his arse from his elbow regarding attacking rugby.

Get used to it lads - they'll be none of that Sexy ruggerby down in D4 for a while.....   

Leicester scored 56 tries in the prem last year, more than any other team. And O'Connor was backs coach.

It's not hard to score tries behind a dominant pack like Leicester's.

The focal point in the Tigers back line is Tuilagi and perhaps Ben Youngs - Leinster don't have comparable players of this type and style.

rodders wrote:It's not hard to score tries behind a dominant pack like Leicester's.

The focal point in the Tigers back line is Tuilagi and perhaps Ben Youngs - Leinster don't have  comparable players of this type and style.

Type and style? No.
Relative talent? Absolutely.

A bit early to say MOCs style of coaching was only able to produce good attacking backs play with one type of team.

It is a bit early Mick...... yes, he should have a bit more time to prove himself.  But not too long.  

Some people are dumping the idea of Leinster's lack of bite onto the notion that they've lost some pretty big players.

I don't fall for it.  I think O'Connor is struggling in a League he didn't expect to struggle in and felt he had all the tactical answers to excel in.  He over-rated AP and underrated Pro12.

So, he's had his grace period of 'geting to know you' - and now he's certainly had his wake-up game against Connacht (if Jennings' interview is anything to go by!!!).

He needs to start finding solutions to the lack of penetrating power or Leinster could have an embarrassing season to come.  One or two more weeks of struggling is all he really has and then players will become rattled by the chosen direction.