Match Thread: Leinster Rugby vs Glasgow Warriors, Saturday 11th May 19:35,BBCAlba/TG4

Grimebox

its_phil wrote: »

Did I mention anything about kids? No. I said the people who come for the occasion and not the game were missing which can create a better atmosphere. Quite hard to cheer for any team when the people beside you are talking about work. I know myself, never bringing two of my mates to a Connacht game again after how embarrassed I felt during the Ospreys game this year

Just so I know for future reference, which topics are allowed for conversation? Jesus Christ. Learn to live and let live.

CatFromHue

Grimebox wrote: »

Just so I know for future reference, which topics are allowed for conversation? Jesus Christ. Learn to live and let live.

The latest Dubes, the hottie working the Nespresso counter in BT, how Nama is screwing you etc etc

.ak

Anyone else think Conway was quite poor? Thought he might kick on from last week, but he was all over the place at times. He really conceded space and let the ball bounce whenever it came towards him. Considering that's how he got two of his tries last week you'd think he'd know the importance of fielding the ball or atleast settling it.

Bogota

.ak wrote: »

Anyone else think Conway was quite poor? Thought he might kick on from last week, but he was all over the place at times. He really conceded space and let the ball bounce whenever it came towards him. Considering that's how he got two of his tries last week you'd think he'd know the importance of fielding the ball or atleast settling it.

Took a lovely try. (The pass was not forward)

Swan Curry

.ak wrote: »

Anyone else think Conway was quite poor? Thought he might kick on from last week, but he was all over the place at times. He really conceded space and let the ball bounce whenever it came towards him. Considering that's how he got two of his tries last week you'd think he'd know the importance of fielding the ball or atleast settling it.

It probably didn't help that in the first half,the sun was quite strong and was directly in Conway's eyes.

Buer

.ak wrote: »

Anyone else think Conway was quite poor? Thought he might kick on from last week, but he was all over the place at times. He really conceded space and let the ball bounce whenever it came towards him. Considering that's how he got two of his tries last week you'd think he'd know the importance of fielding the ball or atleast settling it.

I didn't think it was a coincidence at all that Glasgow went to attack our right wing every time in the second half. They made great yards up his side and he was chasing shadows at times. I'm not sure if I'd say he was poor but definitely had an uncomfortable game. Someone like Fitz would have mopped it up and shut it down.

Shame the ball drifted forward for the disallowed try as I reckon he would have burned any defence whether the whistle went or not.

Bogota

Buer wrote: »

I didn't think it was a coincidence at all that Glasgow went to attack our right wing every time in the second half. They made great yards up his side and he was chasing shadows at times. I'm not sure if I'd say he was poor but definitely had an uncomfortable game. Someone like Fitz would have mopped it up and shut it down.

Shame the ball drifted forward for the disallowed try as I reckon he would have burned any defence whether the whistle went or not.

Convinced it wasn't forward with momentum.

awec

Bogota wrote: »

Took a lovely try. (The pass was not forward)

Hogg heard the whistle and stopped and IMO would have got him.

trouttrout

awec wrote: »

Hogg heard the whistle and stopped and IMO would have got him.

I don't think Hogg would have got near him tbh.

Podge_irl

Bogota wrote: »

Convinced it wasn't forward with momentum.

Its one of those passes that might not have been called forward if Boss hadn't stopped/been tackled immediately as he was passing.

Buer

trouttrout wrote: »

I don't think Hogg would have got near him tbh.

I tend to agree. Hogg is quick but there was just too much space between them and Hogg was static. I don't think he'd have been able to adjust in time. As it stands, he didn't stop entirely and got nowhere near him.

trouttrout

And Hogg is a poor defender too

Kanrith

Leinster seem to play quite worse without BOD

awec

Kanrith wrote: »

Leinster seem to play quite worse without BOD

I think that'd be taking credit away from Glasgow.

They are a very good side as their league position showed. Unless I am mistaken all their games against Leinster this season were relatively close in the end.

boschmaster

I only got to see the highlights of the match but how did the boys play overall? Is BOD's injury serious?

Tox56

awec wrote: »

I think that'd be taking credit away from Glasgow.

They are a very good side as their league position showed. Unless I am mistaken all their games against Leinster this season were relatively close in the end.

Our defensive organisation was very poor at times and frequently has been when O'Driscoll isn't there, it's the biggest concern for me post-BOD. EOM can organise a defence well but he's hardly ever fit and the less said about Macken's defence the better.

shuffol

Thought Boss's pass was definately forward, seeing as he was running laterally momentum shouldn't really come into it, only got to see the 2nd half but thought Boss was poor, slow to get the ball away from rucks and passes took an age to reach Sexton, with the result that numerous times when Sexton received the ball the Leinster midfield had overshot him.

irishbucsfan

In fairness at that standard it is very very hard for a 9 to play for that period of time at that intensity. If we had Reddan he would've been on at 50-55 minutes and Boss would've been able to play the first 50 with a bit more confidence.

Tox56

shuffol wrote: »

Thought Boss's pass was definately forward, seeing as he was running laterally momentum shouldn't really come into it, only got to see the 2nd half but thought Boss was poor, slow to get the ball away from rucks and passes took an age to reach Sexton, with the result that numerous times when Sexton received the ball the Leinster midfield had overshot him.

O'Connor will be used to Youngs type service so hopefully McGrath and Cooney will get plenty of exposure next season. Boss has worked his arse off since Reddan's injury so fair play to him, but really he is there because there are no realistic alternatives. Making the transition from Boss/Reddan to McGrath/Cooney as smooth as possible will be a big test for MOC

ConFurioso

awec wrote: »

I think that'd be taking credit away from Glasgow.

They are a very good side as their league position showed. Unless I am mistaken all their games against Leinster this season were relatively close in the end.

All one score affairs iirc. They're a decent team, and certainly earned their playoff spot. Would not have fancied playing them away. I hope they kick on upwards from here, especially in the HEC.

Ruck Inspector

Swan Curry

Ruck Inspector wrote: »

Glad to see they've sorted out the highlights.

errlloyd

Swan Curry wrote: »

Glad to see they've sorted out the highlights.

Jerky highlights are only for Europe. So don't get your hopes up.

19543261

Tox56 wrote: »

Our defensive organisation was very poor at times and frequently has been when O'Driscoll isn't there, it's the biggest concern for me post-BOD. EOM can organise a defence well but he's hardly ever fit and the less said about Macken's defence the better.

Was it? Thats not the impression I got at all. I agree in recent matches we've looked all over the place but if we played that ploor against Glasgow playing as well as they did we would have lost. I thought coped very will with their frantic attack. If an entire team is comptetant at offloading you're going to have gaps appear eventually.

Tox56

19543261 wrote: »

Was it? Thats not the impression I got at all. I agree in recent matches we've looked all over the place but if we played that ploor against Glasgow playing as well as they did we would have lost. I thought coped very will with their frantic attack. If an entire team is comptetant at offloading you're going to have gaps appear eventually.

It's not the first time this season we hve been standing off and letting teams run at us. When the opposition have a player like Matawalu that is a shown up. I think they recognise this is a problem, when BOD came back from his 3 week suspension against Munster he was way more aggressive shooting out of the line, almost too aggressive at times. Obviously Glasgow's offloading was excellent and I actually thought our scrambling was pretty good, but we were far too passive at times.

.ak

Frantic is a great way of describing Glasgows attacking. I was watching the game whilst trying to figure out how they manage their attack, as it seems very cohesive, and from a team that's not usually known for it. It really peaked my interest after they put ulster to the sword.

Watching the game head on from the north stand gave me an idea of what they're doing. It's best described as organised chaos. They keep a few runners tight to the ruck, and then once the ball is out a large group of mixed runners will flood the open side of the field. Most of these runners will never be used, but it instantly causes a numerical advantage, which causes the defence to panic and drift, and sometimes turn. The tricky part for the defence is deciding who and when to tackle, cus the attacking player will just lob the ball backward and those non-runners come into it.

It's clever because they don't actually need a good passing game, but rather a willingness to run laterally to flood either side of the ruck, at that point they just need to keep the ball alive and the percentages pay off.

Killser

Gotta give Glasgow serious respect for their attitude and performance - I thought they had immense positivity and massive faith in themselves and their gameplan, easily could have won the game. Were we great, not really, but we scrambled well and kept them at bay (mostly).
Given the woefull display by Scarlets (George North??? really, are you actually not bothered at all?) against Ulster it was great to watch a highly competitive fixture, it's the reason why many of us love rugby.
Long may Glasgow continue playing this way !!

By the by, I thought Ulster just stomped on them and didnt let them play - also very impressive. Roll on the final

molloyjh

A few thoughts on the game....

Glasgow played a top class brand of rugby. They looked, at times, like us last season. Always keen to get the hands free for the offload, almost always had runners on the shoulder. They are such a hard team to defend against. They are also incredibly cynical/clever both in open play and around the fringes. Watching the game back it really struck me how many players were shaping up as support runners but were actually obstructing Leinster defenders or who were hanging around the ruck areas preventing Leinster defenders from joining the ruck. In fact Glasgows second try came directly from that, one of their lads preventing Sean Cronin getting stuck in and therefore providing them quicker ball. Sure it's a common thing, but it seemed very common on Saturday.

That said the talent in the side and the rugby Townsend has them playing is a joy to watch. Matawalu was superb. His little chip back in the first half when the ball bobbled out of a ruck was sublime. It was right in front of us and the oohs-and-aahs were very audible. Townsends attitude in the post-match interview as well was very constructive, if that's the right word for it. They'll be a force next year.

As for Leinster, well I was very frustrated again by the way in which our opposition made territory so easily up to about 10m out from our line. But once they got that far I was delighted with how we soaked up the pressure and turned them over at crucial times. It was like watching 2 different sides though, and that annoyed me a little. We can't afford to cough up territory the way we did against quality sides like Glasgow. For as good as our last ditch defense was they still outscored us on the try front, which could have been a massive issue had it gone into extra-time. We were fairly inaccurate at times too which I'm sure Joe will be very annoyed about.

The injuries were a major concern as well. Part of me just really wants to see the back of this season now because the injuries just haven't stopped all season long. It's been a really crazy year on that front. It sounds like Drico and SOB will be available on Friday, but I'd say Darce won't be back.

And can anyone explain to me what the hell was going through Conways head early in the first half when he received the ball from a kick, had no support, 3 Glasgow players in front of him and then went and ran at them!? The whole terrace was screaming at him to kick it. It was one mistake, but it was a pretty massive mistake to make. He's lucky he bagged 3 tries last week because he's cost us 2 in 2 games now. It was fundamental stuff.

Overall I feel for Glasgow, but the idea that Leinster were lucky isn't fair. I was saying it myself immediately after but on reflection our defense was excellent inside our 22. That such a quality Glasgow side had so much possession and territory and had such a hard time scoring wasn't luck. And Leinster had their fair share of bad luck, plus they were playing against the wind and into the sun in the first half. In the second the sun had gone down and the wind had died down.

Where Leinster need to improve is their defense outside of their 22 and in their attacking play (accuracy, accuracy, accuracy). Also, had we gone for a drop goal in our last attacking position we could have sealed the game. It's all well and good trying to play attractive rugby (and you do want to see that more often than not) but in the last 10 mins of a semi-final being 7 points clear the drop goal is surely the way to go?

jamiedav2011

molloyjh wrote: »

A few thoughts on the game....

Glasgow played a top class brand of rugby. They looked, at times, like us last season. Always keen to get the hands free for the offload, almost always had runners on the shoulder. They are such a hard team to defend against. They are also incredibly cynical/clever both in open play and around the fringes. Watching the game back it really struck me how many players were shaping up as support runners but were actually obstructing Leinster defenders or who were hanging around the ruck areas preventing Leinster defenders from joining the ruck. In fact Glasgows second try came directly from that, one of their lads preventing Sean Cronin getting stuck in and therefore providing them quicker ball. Sure it's a common thing, but it seemed very common on Saturday.

That said the talent in the side and the rugby Townsend has them playing is a joy to watch. Matawalu was superb. His little chip back in the first half when the ball bobbled out of a ruck was sublime. It was right in front of us and the oohs-and-aahs were very audible. Townsends attitude in the post-match interview as well was very constructive, if that's the right word for it. They'll be a force next year.

As for Leinster, well I was very frustrated again by the way in which our opposition made territory so easily up to about 10m out from our line. But once they got that far I was delighted with how we soaked up the pressure and turned them over at crucial times. It was like watching 2 different sides though, and that annoyed me a little. We can't afford to cough up territory the way we did against quality sides like Glasgow. For as good as our last ditch defense was they still outscored us on the try front, which could have been a massive issue had it gone into extra-time. We were fairly inaccurate at times too which I'm sure Joe will be very annoyed about.

The injuries were a major concern as well. Part of me just really wants to see the back of this season now because the injuries just haven't stopped all season long. It's been a really crazy year on that front. It sounds like Drico and SOB will be available on Friday, but I'd say Darce won't be back.

And can anyone explain to me what the hell was going through Conways head early in the first half when he received the ball from a kick, had no support, 3 Glasgow players in front of him and then went and ran at them!? The whole terrace was screaming at him to kick it. It was one mistake, but it was a pretty massive mistake to make. He's lucky he bagged 3 tries last week because he's cost us 2 in 2 games now. It was fundamental stuff.

Overall I feel for Glasgow, but the idea that Leinster were lucky isn't fair. I was saying it myself immediately after but on reflection our defense was excellent inside our 22. That such a quality Glasgow side had so much possession and territory and had such a hard time scoring wasn't luck. And Leinster had their fair share of bad luck, plus they were playing against the wind and into the sun in the first half. In the second the sun had gone down and the wind had died down.

Where Leinster need to improve is their defense outside of their 22 and in their attacking play (accuracy, accuracy, accuracy). Also, had we gone for a drop goal in our last attacking position we could have sealed the game. It's all well and good trying to play attractive rugby (and you do want to see that more often than not) but in the last 10 mins of a semi-final being 7 points clear the drop goal is surely the way to go?

Some great points there.

Firstly, for me, I'm not too displeased at Conway's leaving. He's very very green and doesn't seem to have the brain of a Fitz, MCF or even a D. Kearney. Certainly has pace to burn but I just don't see him ever making it to Gilroy or Zebo's level in the senior game.

Other than that, I can see what you mean with re us coughing up territory and it certainly was alarming. However, Glasgow deserve a huge amount of credit, some of their offloading was Harlem Globetrotters stuff at times, and we were so frightened of Matawalu and Hogg we stood off a lot.

Add that to the fact that Drico, and for a while Darce, meant our midfield was out of sorts, and I could forgive it.

Was quite displeased with the display of Johnny though. We needed a lot more from him, territory wise particularly, and didn't really get it.
We could have made it a lot easier by playing a more forward oriented game and keeping it tighter in the second half, but didn't seem to really do that much.

Thoroughly enjoyable game though, Glasgow are fast becoming my second favourite team. Remind me quite a bit of Ospreys too.

Heroditas

jamiedav2011 wrote: »

Remind me quite a bit of Ospreys too.

But without the spray tans, tattoos and unlikable attitude!