r/leinsterrugby

And breath…

Leinster Rugby v Bordeaux-Begles KICK OFF: 14:45 Referee Karl Dickson (Eng) Assistant referee 1 Christophe Ridley (Eng) Assistant referee 2 Hollie Davidson (Sco) TMO Marius van der Westhuizen (SA)

Really happy with that one

- Blitz defence. Absolutely on point. Threw them on their asses from the 5 metre line to outside the 22 on multiple occasions. Cannot wait to see this against Bordeaux.

Largely second team against the team third in the table before the weekend, we were 4th BTW

- Mangan, incredible attributes. What a ball carrier he is. Gotten even bigger since his injury. Out of Deeny, Culhane and COT, Mangan looks to have the ability, he physically walks with the same look as Doris and you can see the sheer ballast he has. Give him his game time.

- Penny = great run of form, really comfortable in his role with the team

- Prendergast = very worrying game, falling off tackles, even questionable attack. He needs to come back next season with a whole new vibe to him.

- huge shoutout to Jimmy O Brien, targeted to absolute bits. Lions were probably reading this reddit page. Solid under high ball and really no questions over his reliability.

Jordan Larmour and Tommy O’Brien have returned to full training and are available for selection this weekend, while Tadhg Furlong and James Lowe continue to integrate into training with a final decision on their availability to be made later in the week.Brian Deeny is due to be further assessed after sustaining an injury in Saturday’s win over the Fidelity SecureDrive Lions while Joshua Kenny is due to be further assessed after withdrawing from Saturday’s matchday squad.

Jack Conan, Paddy McCarthy and Alex Usanov are integrating back into training this week with a decision on their availability to be made later in the week, while Josh van der Flier and Robbie Henshaw continue to follow graduated return to play protocols.Will Connors sustained an injury during the Lions game and will be unavailable for the rest of the season.There are no further updates on Ryan Baird, Jack Boyle, RG Snyman and Charlie Tector.

Any decent pubs/Irish pubs in London that will be showing the Leinster vs Bordeaux?

I don’t often nod along when Luke Fitzgerald is talking but thought he made a very good point on the Left Wing yesterday

For some reason I didn’t think of it this way although it seems obvious - that spell when Leinster were down to 13 players. For the next 30 mins or so they were excellent. Like perfect knock out rugby especially in the circumstances, some of the best stuff I’ve ever seen them play

But that 10 mins down to 13 isn’t free, that comes back to bite. Understandable that legs were a bit fried at that point and they’d put in a huge shift to be 3 scores up

Doesn’t mean that’s okay, the last 10 were still poor, but it is very very understandable when you put it like that

Also all the talk pre match was how much lighter Leinsters bench is with the injuries while Toulon have a very good bench, so we would need to ensure we were up by a few scores when the benches were empty. We did exactly that but I haven’t heard anyone go back and mention this after the fact

The one thing that does look odd especially retrospectively is Frawley not on the bench. But even then Henshaw going off so early means Osbourne is on early at 12, which then means Sam has to cover fullback. To be fair in the group stage Sam had some good performances there against big French teams so you can see the logic. Notice how he never puts Harry out of position. In that way it feels like Sam has regressed since the 6Ns which is probably a bit of a mental thing. I do think though now Frawley has to be there for the final

And not the drag it back to the Leo interview but while I’m making some points - the media are incredibly harsh on Leinster, not always deserved. Last week I was listening to the independent podcast and Ruaidhri O’Connor said he thought Toulon would win the game. You’re entitled to your opinion but I remember saying ffs out loud

Anyway I could talk all day about the vibe around Leinster this year being so negative but I leave it there as I’m trying to take more of a positive stance with this post. Once again Bordeaux are having as shaky a season as Leinster in the league, both teams have won all their games in Europe, but only one team gets the hate

Frawley must be selected over Prendergast in the 23 for the big games and finals coming up. Sam feel off 2 tackles it's a liability

15. Hugo Keenan (80)

16. Tommy O’Brien (59)

17. Garry Ringrose (146)

18. Robbie Henshaw (118)

19. Rieko Ioane (12)

20. Harry Byrne (88)

21. Jamison Gibson-Park (168)

22. Andrew Porter (145)

23. Dan Sheehan (84)

24. Thomas Clarkson (74)

25. Joe McCarthy (60)

26. James Ryan (106)

27. Jack Conan (175)

28. Josh van der Flier (170)

29. Caelan Doris (103) CAPTAIN

Replacements:

16. Rónan Kelleher (90)

17. Jerry Cahir (13)

18. Rabah Slimani (33)

19. Alex Soroka (27)

20. Scott Penny (103)

21. Luke McGrath (252)

22. Sam Prendergast (47)

23. Jamie Osborne (19)

How do Leinster play to their best to win? How do we stop Bordeaux? Fascinated to hear some ideas.

For me personally, I think Bath actually had a good game plan. Their tactical kicking was fantastic and identified that turning Bordeaux around is a good plan. No “don’t kick to this back 3” BS and realised if you do kick and chase well, they (Bordeaux) can’t do much, and Bordeaux are liable to a bit of hair brained madness too when back there. I dunno, that was my reading of the game. Open to being totally wrong on that.

Thoughts?

I was pretty shocked to hear Ringrose say in his post-match OTB interview that he hadn't practiced goal kicking under the 60-second time limit. This means he either hasn't practiced kicking in a few years, or doesn't practice kicking under the conditions you'd face in a match.

I know you can't prep for every yellow/red/injury scenario that could unfold in a match, but it's shocking Leinster took to the pitch for a knockout match with the second choice kicker (in the starting 15, not 23) unprepared to take a kick.

This inattention to detail seems endemic in the Leinster setup. Another example is the team not being clear on whether to set up for a drop goal or a try in the final play of the 2023 final v La Rochelle when 1 point down.  

Cullen likes to point out that each of Leinster's European losses have been down to fine margins, but is it any wonder that the team that fails to prepare for these scenarios gets caught out every year?

Had Toulon scored a converted try in the last few mins on Saturday, the loss would have been directly attributable to Leinster failing to make an easy conversion for Ringrose's try, but we all know that the loss would have been dismissed as another case of coming out on the wrong side of 'fine margins'. In my view, this is a major ongoing coaching failure, yet nothing seems to be done to fix it. 

At least this has provided the lads another 'learning'. I just hope they take it before the final.

Just saw a stat that genuinely shocked me. Our 10s simply haven't played enough rugby. Here's the comparison.

Professional games played:

- Fin Smith (23 years old) 127

- Harry Byrne (27 years old) 107

- Sam Prendergast (23 years old) 63

We're acting shocked that our tens have weaknesses in their games when they've played significantly less rugby than a 23 year old English fly half who is finding his way himself.

It's genuinely insane how little rugby Irish players actually play.