Pro12: Munster vs Leinster, Sat 31 March 7:30pm, Live on RTÉ2

davegrohl48

Great to see Madigan perform well in a match with a lot of media coverage.
- He tackled well and got stuck into some grunt work
- Passed very well and moved the backline at pace few times he had it in posession
- took a lovely drop goal. A really nice strike.
- Weighted a perfect kick over for Nacewa to take in the air
Now suddenly the general media concensus will discover him. He's been coming up with this kinda play all season.
At his age and amount of games played he is coming right into the start of his best years. Get him in with Ireland.

ambid

Dylan Hartley

Deleted User wrote: »

He plays in a team that has two scrum halves
Two loose head props, three tight head props and more than enough back three players available to cover any gaps.

He also plays in a team with a coach who rewards and rotates excellently.

If Sexton is first choice Irish OH, he'll also be first choice Leinster OH for at least 1/4 of every season.

That's it exactly. Add to that two test quality hookers and more top class back row forwards than I can count.

Rugby is not a 15 man game anymore.

Madigan will get plenty of gametime, and work every day with the best coach in Ireland. Why would he move?

irishbucsfan

Dylan Hartley

thomond2006 wrote: »

Deleted User wrote: »

Ha. Whos been smoking what?

It would make sense if he moved (not necessarily to Munster), he won't be first choice at Leinster.

Who says he won't though?

He will be given a chance to compete at Leinster. He's 21, fresh out of the academy. He has played in a Heineken cup final, started a Heineken cup game, came on tonight with 3 points in it and played the most crucial part of the game. All this despite being behind a young guy with years ahead of him who has been in great form.

At Munster Ian Keatley has moved in. He has seasons of starting experience and he has been given 17 minutes of Heineken cup game time and wasn't trusted tonight even though Munster are looking forward to a more important game next week. All this despite bring behind an ancient incumbent in so-so form

Madigan would be nuts to move. He'll stay with every intention of winning Sextons place. Leinster have more depth at 10 now than Ireland had for years under Eddie/Kidney, and they have a coach who is an expert at getting the most out of it.

gally74

Madigan was very impressive, could Schmidt start him next weekend,

Pity to see Fiona Carr and katlt out in the cold as a conn man, but to be honest they would nt make the conn team now,

irishbucsfan

Dylan Hartley

Madigan is 23 now actually. I should say, birthday was last week.

irishbucsfan

Dylan Hartley

gally74 wrote: »

Madigan was very impressive, could Schmidt start him next weekend,

Pity to see Fiona Carr and katlt out in the cold as a conn man, but to be honest they would nt make the conn team now,

They absolutely would.

Neil3030

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Who says he won't though?

He will be given a chance to compete at Leinster. He's 21, fresh out of the academy. He has played in a Heineken cup final, started a Heineken cup game, came on tonight with 3 points in it and played the most crucial part of the game. All this despite being behind a young guy with years ahead of him who has been in great form.

At Munster Ian Keatley has moved in. He has seasons of starting experience and he has been given 17 minutes of Heineken cup game time and wasn't trusted tonight even though Munster are looking forward to a more important game next week. All this despite bring behind an ancient incumbent in so-so form

Madigan would be nuts to move. He'll stay with every intention of winning Sextons place. Leinster have more depth at 10 now than Ireland had for years under Eddie/Kidney, and they have a coach who is an expert at getting the most out of it.

Add to this the standard of play and players around him; I can't think of anywhere else where he will get as much rugby as he does currently (at least straight off the bat), with the same standard of team-mates, playing rugby in Leinster's style and at Leinster's standard.

Cpt_Blackbeard

Dylan Hartley

Any ideas where/when ill be able to watch a replay of the match? I'd rather not wait the few days for it to be made available on RtePlayer.

Tim Robbins

Deleted User wrote: »

He plays in a team that has two scrum halves
Two loose head props, three tight head props and more than enough back three players available to cover any gaps.

He also plays in a team with a coach who rewards and rotates excellently.

If Sexton is first choice Irish OH, he'll also be first choice Leinster OH for at least 1/4 of every season.

Sexton could move to 12 and Madigan could play 10 :)

CIARAN_BOYLE

Dylan Hartley

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Any ideas where/when ill be able to watch a replay of the match? I'd rather not wait the few days for it to be made available on RtePlayer.

a quarter to one in the morning on setanta (or just record it and watch at your leisure)

porterbelly

irishbucsfan wrote: »

They absolutely would.

Not if Vainikolo played like he did last night more consistently, which I think he can

Will Carr get a new contract at Leinster?

ironingbored

Dylan Hartley

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Sexton could move to 12 and Madigan could play 10 :)

Or the other way round?

ongarite

Dylan Hartley

porterbelly wrote: »

Will Carr get a new contract at Leinster?

With Horgan retiring I think its pretty certain he will get a new contract if he wants it.
He is probably the 4th choice winger after Isa, Luke & D.Kearney

CIARAN_BOYLE

Dylan Hartley

porterbelly wrote: »

Not if Vainikolo played like he did last night more consistently, which I think he can

Will Carr get a new contract at Leinster?

If Fitz leaves Carr might get an offer but if Fitz stays Carr is less likely to get an offer.

I wouldn't be comfortable going down three wings from this years squad (Horgan, Fitz, Carr). Sure Horgan wasn't around due to injury but someone is always going to get injured. Nacewa, Kearneyx2, McFadden, Conway, & Hudson isn't enough in terms of options for me in the back three. Especially since McFadden is likely to be needed in the center.

Brewster

Another game dominated and perhaps spoilt by the scrum. Owens went too long before doing anything about it, you could argue he did nothing about it by binning both players. It was a terrible decision to bin Ross. Although helps keep Ross energised for next week. Munster will need to up it big style for next week.

Digifriendly

Sindri wrote: »

Madigan and Zebo were both very good.

From what I saw Zebo hardly touched the ball.

.ak

On the way back to Dublin from the match. Unreal atmosphere. Both teams were awful in the first, but Leinster's bench won it I feel. Masterstroke by schmidt. Thought Mick OD was excellent, but so was cullen. Was mostly impressed by madigan tho. To come on on such a knife edge he really kept the show running and that dg was the highlight of the match.

Delighted with the win. Would've taken someone's hand off for a one point win!

Clegg

Dylan Hartley

Digifriendly wrote: »

From what I saw Zebo hardly touched the ball.

He was ok but comfortably outplayed by the 2 Leinster wings.

Zebo wasn't helped by his packs inability to get clean ball.

matthew8

Dylan Hartley

Delighted win the win and denying Munster the LBP.

Tox56

Dylan Hartley

Clegg wrote: »

Digifriendly wrote: »

From what I saw Zebo hardly touched the ball.

He was ok but comfortably outplayed by the 2 Leinster wings.

Zebo wasn't helped by his packs inability to get clean ball.

Nacewa was MOTM, and certainly had more impact. I think Fitz was on a par with Zebo, but neither were great.

EDIT: Just reread that, thought you said he outplayed them not the other way round.

Clegg

Dylan Hartley

Tox56 wrote: »

Nacewa was MOTM, and certainly had more impact. I think Fitz was on a par with Zebo, but neither were great.

I think Fitz had a good game. He was able to step out of tackles and make a few yards each time. His defence was solid too.

It's a shame he doesn't have top end speed. We should seriously look at him as a potential successor to BOD/Darcy. Fitz would make a good centre imo.

GerM

Tox56 wrote: »

Nacewa was MOTM, and certainly had more impact. I think Fitz was on a par with Zebo, but neither were great.

Thought Fitz was lively but forced it once or twice. Looked for work and was creative, linking well. When those little mistakes are ironed out, he'll be a great weapon. Zebo showed where he's at overall. Some great stuff such as his clearing kicks and showed good pace but again his all round game was a bit wanting. Caught drifting infield once or twice which contributed to Nacewa getting space on the wing and he flung a pass well into touch. Would love to see him work with someone of Schmidt's quality.

danthefan

Happy with that. With the way Owens was reffing I feared a repeat of Biggie Smalls deciding the game like last season but Leinster were easily better in the end.

Sindri

Dylan Hartley

Digifriendly wrote: »

From what I saw Zebo hardly touched the ball.

From what I saw most of what he did or was involved in was very good.

Benny Cake

Leinster

Just in the door now from Limerick. Very quiet car on the road home, not allot to be happy about from a Munster point of view... Without a functioning scrum or lineout you simply can't be competitive. The Leinster subs won it for them in the end, decent atmosphere though and had a good bit of banter with the Leinster lads near us.

Lots of work to do before next weekend....

Borders no.2

Munster usually don't do too well in league games before big HC games but tonight was worrying for them, leaving the scrum aside which will be strong with Du Preez and Botha, a very disjointed effort, Munster were very limited on the night, couldn't build phases or get their backs into the game at all, lineout malfunctioned again, ok O'Connell wasn't there but MOD has strong experience at making calls in that area, Varley has his qualities but really struggles at lineout time and really show no signs of improving, Sherry might have to be looked at, did well off the bench, Flannery's loss in this area is difficult to overestimate. ROG was in a difficult situation this evening but there are some worrying signs there. Then again O'Leary would make anyone look poor.

Constant Garryowens in 1st half suited Leinster down to the ground, while its been effective for Munster before in getting a knock on or big hit and getting on the front foot and crowd into the game and is a good option in first few mins, they weren't going to get any change out of the Leinster back 3 in that area.

While Munster didn't concede a try there were worrying signs in defence. Munster dealt well with the run of the mill stuff but once Leinster varied it a bit they had Munster in trouble. Some quick hands on a couple of occasions and a couple of chips over the top and things opened up for Leinster, Munster scrambled well but they shouldn't ignore the warning signs.

Ironically I think it might be a bad result for Ulster, I'm sure they were hoping Munster would dog out a win tonight and cover up their deficiencies, making them clear favourites for next week and leave them like Harlequins last year in a perfect position to ambush them. I think Munster will drag themselves to victory next week but it'll require a much improved effort on tonight.

Good nights work from Leinster, bar a 5-10 minute spell shortly after ht Leinster were well on top, they won't be happy with many aspects of their play but they kept the scoreboard ticking and while they didn't score a try, they created some good chances in a scrappy game while never really presenting any try opportunities to Munster. Thought they were superb at the breakdown, Jennings had a good game and Heaslip did a lot of donkey work.

A concern would be back up at tight head, I presume White was out injured tonight after going off last week? but Hagan was annhialated in one of the scrums he was on for the 10 mins of Ross sin-bin. In general looking ahead to potential semi-final or final I'd be slightly concerned about the Leinster scrum.

Cronin didn't really do enough either to justify a start next weekend. While some players have done well with their provinces despite being poor with Ireland Darcy showed little sign of any form this evening, McFadden to start next week maybe?

Leinster should know what Cardiff are going to throw at them and the Ospreys defeat last week might be seen as a good wake up call as it should remove any hint of complacency for next week.

After losing last week I'm sure they are delighted to get the top spot pretty much done and dusted ahead of the European games.

Munster are in a scrap now though with no easy game on the run in but at least they have two games at home.

RoundBox11

Dylan Hartley

That game really reminded me of how much i dislike Marcus Horan.

He should have gotten a yellow 20 minutes sooner. It was clear as day that he wasn't taking the hit on the engage. The fact that Ross was sin binned aswell is a prime example of the ref not having the stones to make a controversial decision.

Id go as far as saying he was the main reason the first half was so depressing to watch. If he could scrummage we wouldnt have had to watch them reset over and over and over.

ormond lad

Leinster

RoundBox11 wrote: »

That game really reminded me of how much i dislike Marcus Horan.

He should have gotten a yellow 20 minutes sooner. It was clear as day that he wasn't taking the hit on the engage. The fact that Ross was sin binned aswell is a prime example of the ref not having the stones to make a controversial decision.

Id go as far as saying he was the main reason the first half was so depressing to watch. If he could scrummage we wouldnt have had to watch them reset over and over and over.

From where i was on east terrace thought both should have went as they were both as bad as the other in the scrums. Nige was poor overall and contributed in a big way to the poor game

jacothelad

thomond2006 wrote: »

Easy to tell how much Munster miss POC, they look bereft of leadership.

What? With MOD, a frequent Munster captain, DOC a Lions captain, ROG 'I'm playing above international standard' as captain and POM, the greatest leader since sliced bread and there was no leadership? That just can't be true - I mean 'By the Grace of God' there must have been a bit of faith out there tonight. Munster played with ferocity but lacked any sort of constructiveness at 9 and 10 which is strange given how well ROG tells us he is playing. Maybe he needs to relax and have a day off at the races.

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Delighted Kidney has had to sit through this. Surely now he can't blindly favour Keatley over Madigan in June like he did in January.

Of course he can. Marcus for the tour? Archer for tight head?

Cpt_Blackbeard

Dylan Hartley

jacothelad wrote: »

What? With MOD, a frequent Munster captain, DOC a Lions captain, ROG 'I'm playing above international standard' as captain and POM, the greatest leader since sliced bread and there was no leadership? That just can't be true - I mean 'By the Grace of God' there must have been a bit of faith out there tonight. Munster played with ferocity but lacked any sort of constructiveness at 9 and 10 which is strange given how well ROG tells us he is playing. Maybe he needs to relax and have a day off at the races.

Do I detect a hint of jealousy of your more successful cousins?

Don't worry. Ulster will get their time in the sun. It may even happen next week. If not, I'm sure the IRFU will continue to assist Ulster in their goal of competing with the big boys.