Ospreys v Leinster RP12 - Post Match debate

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OSPREYS (9) 19
Tries: Walker Cons: Morgan Pens: Morgan (3) Drop-goal: Morgan

LEINSTER (10) 10
Tries: Auva'a Cons: Madigan Pens: Madigan

Eli Walker's spectacular try gave Ospreys a hard-fought Pro12 win over European champions Leinster.
One point separated the sides at the break after three Matthew Morgan penalties followed a converted Leo Auva'a try and an Ian Madigan penalty.
Richard Fussell sliced through the Leinster defence from deep in his own half, timing his pass perfectly for lively wing Walker to score.

Morgan converted and added a drop-goal to deny Leinster a losing bonus point.
Ospreys were often on the back foot against a powerful Leinster pack, but showed tenacity in defence and a touch of flair to capitalise on a rare break.
It gave the Welsh side their sixth win from the last seven meetings with the Irish province and took them above the visitors to fifth place in the table.

Ospreys fly-half Matthew Morgan lands a late penalty to deny Leinster a losing bonus point
They rode their luck at times, and were fortunate to escape as early as the seventh minute when a try slipped through Fionn Carr's fingers when the Leinster winger failed to hold onto the ball while sliding towards the left corner.

But the visitors pounced from the resulting line-out after charging down the attempted clearance kick from Ospreys scrum-half Rhys Webb.

The ball spun towards the posts, evading the grasp of home centre Andrew Bishop, and Leinster number eight Auva'a gathered up with glee to score.
Video referee Nigel Whitehouse gave the try despite the suspicion of a knock-on, and Madigan converted.

Two Morgan penalties cut the deficit as Ospreys began to make inroads, but they needed Walker's intervention to deny Leinster a second try when Andrew Conway chased his own chip kick.
Another let-off soon followed when Madigan pulled a simple kick at goal wide, but Morgan's aim was true as he added a third penalty with the final kick of an even first half.

Webb was the next to save the home side early after the break, clinging on by his fingertips to Madigan's shirt with the try-line in the fly-half's sights.
Leinster were on top at this stage, benefiting from their numerical advantage following a yellow card to home prop Duncan Jones.

But a moment of magic from Fussell ripped open the Leinster defence for Walker's decisive try.

Full-back Fussell received a quickly taken line-out in his own 22 and sliced through the lethargic chasing defenders, finding a clear path into the opposition half.
Walker, the most dangerous player on show with ball in hand, was perfectly placed to receive Fussell's pass as he drew the final Leinster cover.

Morgan converted, putting Ospreys 16-10 ahead, and Jones's return from the sin bin was another boost as the game entered the final 20 minutes.
Leinster continued to enjoy forward dominance, but enterprising back play took Ospreys within drop-goal territory and Morgan made no mistake to take his side two scores clear with five minutes remaining.

TEAM DETAILS

Ospreys: Fussell; H. Dirksen, Isaacs, Bishop, Walker; Morgan, Webb; D. Jones, Dwyer, Rees, Peers, J. Thomas, Stowers, Lewis, Bearman.
Replacements: M. Thomas for Lewis (54), Fotuali'i for Webb (57), King for Peers (59), Lewis for M. Thomas (62), Allen for Bearman (77).
Not Used: Ellis, Suter, Spratt, R. Jones.
Sin Bin: D. Jones (51).
Leinster: D. Kearney; Conway, Macken, Goodman, Carr; Madigan, Boss; Van der Merwe, T. Sexton, Hagan, Browne, Toner, Ruddock, Jennings, L. Auva'a, Marshall.
Replacements: Marshall for Browne (26), Murphy for Marshall (65), Moore for Hagan (68), Tracy for Auva'a (77), J. McGrath for Van der Merwe (77)
Not Used: Cooney, Reid, Coghlan-Murray.
Att: 9,246
Referee: John Lacey (IRFU)
Assistant r eferees: Neil Nennessy, Wayne Davies (both WRU)
Citing c ommissioner: Dennis Jones (WRU)
TMO: Nigel Whitehouse (WRU)
Your comments
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LeinsterFan4life wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

viewtothegym wrote:Boss was good.
I wonder how the DYNASTY BOD predicted is going Leinster seriously struggle when they are met up front and the half backs are targeted.
No plan B.
Thank god Sexton didn't play thou, i seriously wasn't in the mood for him doing that stupid loop pass ALL the time!
He does it that much you can see it coming a mile off.

I dont understand this post at all. Can someone translate this for me please?

Sorry mate I can't help there...?

Damn. it looks like something AWOP would post, when he pretended he couldn't speak english

Very easy to translate.

Boss was good. = Isaac Boss the Leinster scrum half played well. Or else he's just back from a Springsteen concert.

I wonder how the DYNASTY BOD predicted is going = Brian O'Driscoll spoke about creating a dynasty at Leinster after their third H Cup win. This is an attempt to sneer at it, I think.

Leinster seriously struggle when they are met up front and the half backs are targeted = Ospreys really are better than them and Leinster are easily worked out.

No plan B = they don't have a plan B when they play the Ospreys.

Thank god Sexton didn't play thou, i seriously wasn't in the mood for him doing that stupid loop pass ALL the time! He does it that much you can see it coming a mile off = Luckily for Ospreys, Sexton didn't play because he might have won the game for Leinster playing the loop pass 2 or 3 times that seems to work even though everyone knows he does it.

Oh ok now it makes sense. Thanks Pot

Def the cliche' game of two halves. Leinster Bossed (literally) the first half and O's the second. Don't know how it come across on the telly about some of the refs decisions but from a one eyed view from the stands he misssed Leinster constantly off their feet, not straight line out throws, off the ball tackle on Walker. I hate to whine about refs but they seem pretty dire in the rabo. Gieven the dire weather, I thought both teams tried to play some good stuff..

He didn't miss the OTB tackle though, he called a knock on. Had he not seen a knock on he would have penalised the second infringement.

Thought he gave the Os a few let offs in the scrums (resets when they collapsed) but other than that he was ok. He at least tried to be consistent. TJ missed the foot in play for the quick line out that the Os scored from, thought it was marginal at the time but it was pretty blatant.

Mickado wrote:He didn't miss the OTB tackle though, he called a knock on. Had he not seen a knock on he would have penalised the second infringement.

Thought he gave the Os a few let offs in the scrums (resets when they collapsed) but other than that he was ok. He at least tried to be consistent. TJ missed the foot in play for the quick line out that the Os scored from, thought it was marginal at the time but it was pretty blatant.

The foot in touch was a bad call by the TJ, but, it wasn't the throw in the scored...! Morgan could have thrown with his feet in the right place and it would have made no difference. It was missed tackles and a speedy Fussell who made the try not Morgans foot being over the line.

I would like to see the game adhere to straight throws, straight feeds, feet in the right place when throwing in etc etc etc, but someone at the referees Coven decrees that the consistent acknowlegement of these things is unimportant, despite the regularity of them costing a team a game.

Maestegmafia, i agree it wouldn't have made any difference if his foot was in touch. Fussell targetted an injured forward (fair play to him) and sliced our defense to shreds, they were lining up outside of Walker to score.

You know, I don't know why the Ospreys bother playing against us these days, they bearly even won!

Mickado wrote:Maestegmafia, i agree it wouldn't have made any difference if his foot was in touch. Fussell targetted an injured forward (fair play to him) and sliced our defense to shreds, they were lining up outside of Walker to score.

You know, I don't know why the Ospreys bother playing against us these days, they bearly even won!

I was chatting to a mate who is a die hard Leinster man this morning, he was saying how we have become quite a hurdle for the Leinster boys...

Thats quite a compliment from such an outstanding team.

even though we were both weakened through the international call ups yesterday, they were good evenly matched teams and made a good game with some good intent. Despite the Welsh november weather.

Oh yes, I can assure you that there is no team we play regularly that we consider to be a bigger pain in the hole than the Ospreys. Edinburgh used to be a bogey team of ours, they'd beat us in Murrayfeild all the time, but we could at least take them at home, with Munster we never had that poor a record. Ospreys are our probably our biggest bete noir since the league started. That being said i think the head to head record slightly favours us, but i think your lads have 4 or 5 in a row now.

I don't think you can really draw any comparison between the Ospreys last couple of wins against Leinster and this one.

Leinster were on top in the set piece yesterday and really should have won. Both teams were very poor but in fairness so were the conditions.

Contrast the victories last season which were built on the Ospreys scrum dominance and aggressive blitz defence.

Given how weakened the teams were, especially Leinster its hard to take much from this. However if I was a Leinster fan I'd be a bit concerned at the lack of physical intensity compared to last year, especially in defence and the breakdown, and the fact that some of the youngers guys haven't stepped up to the plate in the absence of the big guns.

A few key guys are just creeping over the hill, and struggling with injury, and there seems to be a drop of in quality with the young guns that didn't seem as apparant last year when Leinster walked the league.

rodders wrote:I don't think you can really draw any comparison between the Ospreys last couple of wins against Leinster and this one.

Leinster were on top in the set piece yesterday and really should have won. Both teams were very poor but in fairness so were the conditions.

Contrast the victories last season which were built on the Ospreys scrum dominance and aggressive blitz defence.

Given how weakened the teams were, especially Leinster its hard to take much from this. However if I was a Leinster fan I'd be a bit concerned at the lack of physical intensity compared to last year, especially in defence and the breakdown, and the fact that some of the youngers guys haven't stepped up to the plate in the absence of the big guns.

A few key guys are just creeping over the hill, and struggling with injury, and there seems to be a drop of in quality with the young guns that didn't seem as apparant last year when Leinster walked the league.

Leinster are missing the middle ground, the bit between the Old pros like O'Driscol and the young guys like Madigan etc.. Your missing the SOB's Rob Kearney's etc... With those guys around Leinster would be a stronger force.

Did anyone else think Macken had a good game?
I thought he made some lovely breaks. He's looked a lot better the last few games he's played imo.

They are but I also think they are missing Thorn and SOB at the breakdown.

Leinsters gameplan is built around quick clean ball... BOD, Jennings, heaslip and D'arcy getting in clearing out and then SOB, Healy, Cullen and Thorn getting over the ball, giving Reddan and Boss an armchair ride behind the ruck and Sexton quick ball to run on to.

This year their posession is getting slowed down and disrupted and they are trying to play off scrappy ball too much and teams are taking them on in the contact area and getting joy from that.

Last year they built phase after phase of attack but now runners are getting isolated and turned over.

Defensively they aren't as solid and again they aren't getting the turnover and disrupting opposition ball as much without O'Brien and Thorn.

Leinster are all about doing the basics better than anyone else and right now they aren't.

Basically what I'm saying is that when SOB is back and Schmidt gets another second row in, as well as get Fitz, BOD, Kearney, Nacewa back they'll be much better!

We did take a few lineouts off you guys yesterday, which with such inexperienced guys as King and Peers was quite a surprise.

Hmm not really as Leinster were down to their 3rd choice Hooker.

The only thing that surprised me yesterday was that Leinster had the better scrum and dominated the first half. Thought Ospreys would have won comfortably.

rodders wrote:Hmm not really as Leinster were down to their 3rd choice Hooker.

The only thing that surprised me yesterday was that Leinster had the better scrum and dominated the first half. Thought Ospreys would have won comfortably.

We were also using a third choice hooker, props were Duncan 2nd choice and Rees third choice. Marc Thomas even entered the game in Duncan's Sin Binning absence, he must be our third choice loosehead.

Its not a competition maestag ...just pointing out that Leinsters lineout going awry isn't that surprising given the raft of changes... it was a weakened Ospreys side too of course but given home advantage I don't think many fancied this young Leinster side over there.

rodders wrote:Its not a competition maestag ...just pointing out that Leinsters lineout going awry isn't that surprising given the raft of changes... it was a weakened Ospreys side too of course but given home advantage I don't think many fancied this young Leinster side over there.

No competition, it just re-iterates your point re the scrum, the lineout gain was a surprise, maybe Peers and King have a decent future? they are a little too lightweight at the moment to realistically challenge the first team Locks.

I think us Ospreys fans were hesitant to hedge any bets in our favour as well.

Thought Morgan showed maturity in his style of game management, and skill in its execution and JT, Duncan, Bearman and Bishops experience straightened our backbone.

Not conceding a try during the sin binning was a massive bonus.

Yeah strange old game..very disappointing for the neutral...but I suppose its that time of year again....

Speaking as a neutral I was not dissapointed Rodders

rodders wrote:Yeah strange old game..very disappointing for the neutral...but I suppose its that time of year again....

Considering the ridiculously exciting games we have had in the past, one had to slip a bit, as you said though, time of year, lots of lads missing.

Looking forward to the trip to Dublin at the en of the season though.

RubyGuby wrote:Speaking as a neutral I was not dissapointed Rodders

Ja Ruby. Will ye lot ever feic off and stop getting in our way man?

Well done bud.

Rodders, Thorn only played 8 games for Leinster. Of course he was brilliant, but we've been a good team for a few years, missing Thorn is no excuse for playing poorly.

I do believe we need to sign a marquee player in the second row though.

Also, I'd like to give Jamie Hagan his dues, he really had a stormer in the tight, he won't be thanking Leo Auva'a for picking the ball up when he was walking over the line. He's had a tough old time for us so far, particularly against the Ospreys, so it was good to see him showing up well.

No not an excuse but you had Hines before that remember, and Thorn played in a big 8 games!

I'm just pointing out that Leinster are missing that physical presence at the breakdown that they've had in previous seasons... and Thorn and SOB were key to that...also Cullen is slowing up a bit more too. Healy has been injured on and off too as has BOD.

The guys coming in haven't brought that same physicality and commitment.

These small things make a big difference.

Our scrum was a big positive and it's great to see us really turning it into a weapon this season.We've been solid there the last few years but we're really starting to punish teams where previously we might have been happy just to hold our own.

On Auva'a picking from the base,it was obviously bad decision making and he should have milked the penalties but I have to say that there is something fundamentally wrong with the scrum if that's how the game should be played.A strong scrum should be great a base to launch attacks from not just a way to win penalties.

Hagan did very well, considering he was up against Duncan Jones, who may not be the worlds toughest Loosehead scrummager, he is old and wise enough to deal with most.

Hagan was very impressive. Great news for Leinster and Ireland.

Gibson wrote:

RubyGuby wrote:Speaking as a neutral I was not dissapointed Rodders

Ja Ruby. Will ye lot ever feic off and stop getting in our way man?

Well done bud.

I'm gonna milk every victory over 'em Irish provinces no matter who's in the fecking teams

I wouldn´t be too down for that loss. On any other day we would have got the 4pts and maybe a TBP. It was our execution and decision-making that let us down. We completely dominated the 1st half and should have put them away then. We didn´t and they grew in confidence.

I was incredibly frustrated watching that game. We butchered 3 very makeable tries.

We need O Malley back and match-fit, ASAP. He and McFadden shared 13 when BOD was missing last year and we barely lost a PRO12 game with them at 13. Won 5 and drew one in our HC Pool, all without BOD. Fitz, R. Kearney and SOB, back for Clermont, would be a huge boost.

Its time for a Changing of the Guard. I reckon BOD will retire from international rugby at the end of this season. Specially if he realises another Lions dream.

O Malley is The Man - for Leinster anyway.

That was very much a decaff performance from the cappucino cowboys

Gibbo, Leinster need a few rugby brains more than anything else.

Cant really disagree with that, on yesterdays performance anyway SIN. In fairness.

It also goes to show that Madigan has a way to go yet. He is still learning his craft. Boss was the only one who really tried to show the way.

Its been a fairly disjointed start for us this season, through injuries and the unavailability of players. But. It will come.

I still Believe.

I was disappointed by Jennings actually, never been impressed with him as a captain.

Mickado wrote:I was disappointed by Jennings actually, never been impressed with him as a captain.

Jenno is allowed one bad game to be fair. He has been carrying the team the whole season and it would of been a tough game for him.

He's had a good season so far but he's never impressed me as captain.

It was his 1st bad game of the season Mick, in fairness. He has been carrying the rest up to now. But yeah, his form dropped. Ruddock is just getting back but at least he got involved. Auvaá is an honest, hard-working player, but he's no Heaslip. We should be looking at Ruddock for 8 cover also, imo.

I would say today's training and video-sessions would have been a hard one for most of those youngfellas. Joe was not best pleased.
They wont learn from winning (which they did a lot of last year), lets hope they learn not to throw games like that one away again. It was criminal.

Gibson wrote:It was his 1st bad game of the season Mick, in fairness. He has been carrying the rest up to now. But yeah, his form dropped. Ruddock is just getting back but at least he got involved. Auvaá is an honest, hard-working player, but he's no Heaslip. We should be looking at Ruddock for 8 cover also, imo.

I would say today's training and video-sessions would have been a hard one for most of those youngfellas. Joe was not best pleased.
They wont learn from winning (which they did a lot of last year), lets hope they learn not to throw games like that one away again. It was criminal.

Cant see Ruddock as an 8. I think we need to give Conan a chance there after his fantastic WC performance.

Gibbo - Not impressed by Macken at 13 then? I thought he made some excellent breaks, but his inexperience is obvious at times. He has potential, possibly more than O'Malley.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Gibbo - Not impressed by Macken at 13 then? I thought he made some excellent breaks, but his inexperience is obvious at times. He has potential, possibly more than O'Malley.

Well Rory, they are both natural 13's so let them both fight it out.

I always expect Macken to make it. But, last year, when BOD was out, O Malley was incredible.

May the best man, and Leinster, win.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

Gibson wrote:It was his 1st bad game of the season Mick, in fairness. He has been carrying the rest up to now. But yeah, his form dropped. Ruddock is just getting back but at least he got involved. Auvaá is an honest, hard-working player, but he's no Heaslip. We should be looking at Ruddock for 8 cover also, imo.

I would say today's training and video-sessions would have been a hard one for most of those youngfellas. Joe was not best pleased.
They wont learn from winning (which they did a lot of last year), lets hope they learn not to throw games like that one away again. It was criminal.

Cant see Ruddock as an 8. I think we need to give Conan a chance there after his fantastic WC performance.

Why not indeed? Conan the D4 Barbarian.

But Ruddock, like Carr, is in the Last Chance Cafe for me this season. He needs to make himself useful at both 6 & 8 to earn his keep. He has the physique.

Gibson wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Gibbo - Not impressed by Macken at 13 then? I thought he made some excellent breaks, but his inexperience is obvious at times. He has potential, possibly more than O'Malley.

Well Rory, they are both natural 13's so let them both fight it out.

I always expect Macken to make it. But, last year, when BOD was out, O Malley was incredible.

May the best man, and Leinster, win.

Well said, I hope that they both get plenty of chances very soon.

Gibson wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

Gibson wrote:It was his 1st bad game of the season Mick, in fairness. He has been carrying the rest up to now. But yeah, his form dropped. Ruddock is just getting back but at least he got involved. Auvaá is an honest, hard-working player, but he's no Heaslip. We should be looking at Ruddock for 8 cover also, imo.

I would say today's training and video-sessions would have been a hard one for most of those youngfellas. Joe was not best pleased.
They wont learn from winning (which they did a lot of last year), lets hope they learn not to throw games like that one away again. It was criminal.

Cant see Ruddock as an 8. I think we need to give Conan a chance there after his fantastic WC performance.

Why not indeed? Conan the D4 Barbarian.

But Ruddock, like Carr, is in the Last Chance Cafe for me this season. He needs to make himself useful at both 6 & 8 to earn his keep. He has the physique.

He doesn't use that physic well at all. He needs to drop the shoulder more, so he can make ground more easily.
Wasnt impressed with him at all yesterday. He's already behind Murphy imo.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

Gibson wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

Gibson wrote:It was his 1st bad game of the season Mick, in fairness. He has been carrying the rest up to now. But yeah, his form dropped. Ruddock is just getting back but at least he got involved. Auvaá is an honest, hard-working player, but he's no Heaslip. We should be looking at Ruddock for 8 cover also, imo.

I would say today's training and video-sessions would have been a hard one for most of those youngfellas. Joe was not best pleased.
They wont learn from winning (which they did a lot of last year), lets hope they learn not to throw games like that one away again. It was criminal.

Cant see Ruddock as an 8. I think we need to give Conan a chance there after his fantastic WC performance.

Why not indeed? Conan the D4 Barbarian.

But Ruddock, like Carr, is in the Last Chance Cafe for me this season. He needs to make himself useful at both 6 & 8 to earn his keep. He has the physique.

He doesn't use that physic well at all. He needs to drop the shoulder more, so he can make ground more easily.
Wasnt impressed with him at all yesterday. He's already behind Murphy imo.

Ah for his 2nd game I thought he did more than the other 2 - Jenno & Auva'a. Put himself about more. Give him time. He's only 21 yet.
Ironically, he is a designated Leader. Always has been. But I didn't see it last night.
BTW He played 8 for the Wolfhounds.
We have an awful habit of writing people off far too easily, do us Paddies. And hyping-up, yet untried pretenders. Got it wrong with Darcy chaps. Still the best 12 in the country. Deccie is not that much of a gobeen.

I'd love to see my boy Jonny, be the next Captain of Ireland. Oh man.

Now he's a born Leader. Very clever lad too. He will make a great Captain.

DOD and SIN will go ballistic if it happens!

Im not writing Ruddock off at all. Well Im writing him off as an 8. I like him at 6 though. Maybe when he develops his game more, he could be an 8. I dont want him to leave Leinster at all. As you said, he is a natural born leader and is only 21. We would be stupid to let him go.

Ruddock and Toner are destined to be nearly men. Good back up players for Leinster IMO and little else - Harsh but just my opinion; there is little dog and aggression in both of them and they punch well below their weight.

Can I intrude on this Irish love in, your first penalty should not have been allowed the scrum half knoked the ball on into Showers back, your try the first 2 times Auva touched the ball the ball moved forward, how the Welsh TMO gave it is mystifying. The take out of Walker that was not given, so called for a knock on hit his knee, it was nowhere near his hand, just finished watching it back.
Have to say the conditions were terrible and atmosphere was tremendous with many Leinster fans there, with so many 2nd, 3rd choices and academy players on that field it was highly enjoyable.
Leinster did have ascendancy in the scrums, but you lost that game in the back row, anything that moved was chopped down by Lewis and Stowers who had his best game as an Osprey and when Bearman had the ball in hand you really couldn't control him, with the height advantage you had in the lineout you were quite poor in that department.

RubyGuby wrote:Ruddock and Toner are destined to be nearly men. Good back up players for Leinster IMO and little else - Harsh but just my opinion; there is little dog and aggression in both of them and they punch well below their weight.

Ruddock is 21 years old...Is that the age we judge players on now?

wayne wrote:Can I intrude on this Irish love in, your first penalty should not have been allowed the scrum half knoked the ball on into Showers back, your try the first 2 times Auva touched the ball the ball moved forward, how the Welsh TMO gave it is mystifying. The take out of Walker that was not given, so called for a knock on hit his knee, it was nowhere near his hand, just finished watching it back.
Have to say the conditions were terrible and atmosphere was tremendous with many Leinster fans there, with so many 2nd, 3rd choices and academy players on that field it was highly enjoyable.
Leinster did have ascendancy in the scrums, but you lost that game in the back row, anything that moved was chopped down by Lewis and Stowers who had his best game as an Osprey and when Bearman had the ball in hand you really couldn't control him, with the height advantage you had in the lineout you were quite poor in that department.

8 clean breaks and 21 defenders beaten* would suggest that isn't really accurate,we butchered several chances and wasted our dominance in the scrums.I don't want to take too much credit away from the O's but in this game I feel we lost it as much as they won.

*stats from here http://www.espnscrum.com/rabodirect-pro12-2012-13/rugby/match/167027.html the website isn't always perfectly accurate but would be in or around the right numbers.

RubyGuby wrote:Ruddock and Toner are destined to be nearly men. Good back up players for Leinster IMO and little else - Harsh but just my opinion; there is little dog and aggression in both of them and they punch well below their weight.

The Shrink, he's not wrong you know. Both have the perfect physicality to dominate at their positions, but they need whipping, chaining down & fed raw meat for a bit. No dog.

Toner has some chance. Untouchable at the lineout. With a decent thrower that is. But Ruddock is surrounded by international-class back-rowers. Murphy looks the business too. Wally-esque. And there are 3 more coming through from the U20's.

We could slave-trade back-rowers us.

wayne wrote:Can I intrude on this Irish love in, your first penalty should not have been allowed the scrum half knoked the ball on into Showers back, your try the first 2 times Auva touched the ball the ball moved forward, how the Welsh TMO gave it is mystifying. The take out of Walker that was not given, so called for a knock on hit his knee, it was nowhere near his hand, just finished watching it back.
Have to say the conditions were terrible and atmosphere was tremendous with many Leinster fans there, with so many 2nd, 3rd choices and academy players on that field it was highly enjoyable.
Leinster did have ascendancy in the scrums, but you lost that game in the back row, anything that moved was chopped down by Lewis and Stowers who had his best game as an Osprey and when Bearman had the ball in hand you really couldn't control him, with the height advantage you had in the lineout you were quite poor in that department.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

wayne wrote:Can I intrude on this Irish love in, your first penalty should not have been allowed the scrum half knoked the ball on into Showers back, your try the first 2 times Auva touched the ball the ball moved forward, how the Welsh TMO gave it is mystifying. The take out of Walker that was not given, so called for a knock on hit his knee, it was nowhere near his hand, just finished watching it back.
Have to say the conditions were terrible and atmosphere was tremendous with many Leinster fans there, with so many 2nd, 3rd choices and academy players on that field it was highly enjoyable.
Leinster did have ascendancy in the scrums, but you lost that game in the back row, anything that moved was chopped down by Lewis and Stowers who had his best game as an Osprey and when Bearman had the ball in hand you really couldn't control him, with the height advantage you had in the lineout you were quite poor in that department.

8 clean breaks and 21 defenders beaten* would suggest that isn't really accurate,we butchered several chances and wasted our dominance in the scrums.I don't want to take too much credit away from the O's but in this game I feel we lost it as much as they won.

*stats from here http://www.espnscrum.com/rabodirect-pro12-2012-13/rugby/match/167027.html the website isn't always perfectly accurate but would be in or around the right numbers.

Oh phhok yeah. Everyone knows that. Even Viewtothegymslip knows that.