Match Thread: Leinster A V Edinburgh 19:35 TG4/BBC Alba, 15/04/16

thomond2006

We'll know if tonight's team selection paid off at the end of the season. A few key players will be going to Ulster undercooked. Edinburgh were pretty hopeless, Hidalgo-Clyne at 9 in the first half was near Bergamasco level awful. He targeted the ground with his passes as much as his teammates. The first half was poor for Leinster, Madigan in particular had a mare with some horrific passes into touch. The second half was a positive turnaround, but they were handed a huge boost with that intercept try from that comedy of errors.

Oh...and...

Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke

Billysays no

dont be saying luke. he could be taking keith earls spot :-)

MOD: Banned. Poster was warned not to post in thread again, twice.

CMOTDibbler

thomond2006 wrote: »

We'll know if tonight's team selection paid off at the end of the season. A few key players will be going to Ulster undercooked. Edinburgh were pretty hopeless, Hidalgo-Clyne at 9 in the first half was near Bergamasco level awful. He targeted the ground with his passes as much as his teammates. The first half was poor for Leinster, Madigan in particular had a mare with some horrific passes into touch. The second half was a positive turnaround, but they were handed a huge boost with that intercept try from that comedy of errors.

Oh...and...

Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke

I saw Madigan make one pass to touch that should have found Luke (who was mightily pissed off) but I didn't see much of the first half, so I presume he made more of those? It's the risk with those long passes o his. They're great when they work though.

Interested Observer

CMOTDibbler wrote: »

I saw Madigan make one pass to touch that should have found Luke (who was mightily pissed off) but I didn't see much of the first half, so I presume he made more of those? It's the risk with those long passes o his. They're great when they work though.

He didn't do anything spectacular in the first half but a couple of times did pretty well in traffic. Had a very good game imo.

Edit - I misread the post, I thought Madigan was not good. I was talking about Fitz in the sentence above.

chippers

Interested Observer wrote: »

He didn't do anything spectacular in the first half but a couple of times did pretty well in traffic. Had a very good game imo.

He kicked well in the first half into the wind, but you'd have to question his awareness throwing two intercepts. Average game at best.

errlloyd

Ferg tackle was kinda similar to the guirado tackle.

I don't really get why there is so much animosity on this thread right now. I thought that was an exciting second half. The only player I thought was objectively bad was the one who's going to bordeaux. There was a lot to be very happy about. Vdf, moloney, M Kearney, Reid and McGrath had brilliant games.

Rob Kearney and Fitzgerald also had great games and played all eighty. Funny thing about Kearney is he's getting a lot of love for beating tacklers, but he also made a beautiful pass for one of the tries!

CMOTDibbler

errlloyd wrote: »

Ferg tackle was kinda similar to the guirado tackle.

I don't really get why there is so much animosity on this thread right now. I thought that was an exciting second half. The only player I thought was objectively bad was the one who's going to bordeaux. There was a lot to be very happy about. Vdf, moloney, M Kearney, Reid and McGrath had brilliant games.

Rob Kearney and Fitzgerald also had great games and played all eighty. Funny thing about Kearney is he's getting a lot of love for beating tacklers, but he also made a beautiful pass for one of the tries!

He would have made another one if he'd not tried to pop the ball to Reid near the end. That's not a criticism, he got into a position to make a score and just had his arm grabbed as he was trying to pop the ball. I like the intention to offload, so not going to blame him for trying. It was a very good game for him and Luke. Between the two of them there were 5 clean breaks and 11 defenders beaten. 124 metres for 15 carries. Against Edinburgh it has to be said.

Interested Observer

chippers wrote: »

He kicked well in the first half into the wind, but you'd have to question his awareness throwing two intercepts. Average game at best.

Hang on wait I thought that post I replied to was about Fitz.

I thought Madigan was really poor.

connemara man

Not a great game overall first half was dire second was better but most scores came from opposition mistakes rather than enterprise. 2 intercepts kick to touch that doesn't make it ran back for a try etc.. Luke fitz was the difference between the two teams. Played really well. Madigan was poor.

I never thought Leinster were going to lose but they made hard work of it over the 80. I'm still not impressed with the team selection vindicated as in they won but not in performance.

McFadden should have got a yellow at least. I don't think he's making an attempt to wrap. He was always rising into the hit so unless he timed his "wrap" perfectly on impact which he didn't it's dangerous. He hits an inch lower it's still a penalty but penalty only. It was careless and proof of that is he KOd himself.

LostArt

I wouldn't say Madigan was poor, more of the usual mixed bag from him really. Some good and some terrible moments.

molloyjh

For me there is a hell of a lot to talk about from that game. I'm not going near the Ferg tackle or the selection (which was in no way vindicated based on the fact that I was worried about what it would mean next week and beyond, not last night). But it was a game with a lot of positives and a lot of negatives from a Leinster perspective. And I'm not sure when I last saw a game from us like that. I'll start with the positives...

The TBP win pretty much guarantees us a home SF so that's fantastic. It also puts us in prime position for top spot. A LBP from the game against Ulster and we should be laughing. That's fantastic from a season with so much disruption and with Leo and co in their first season.

A few players out there shone last night. I thought Healy looked decent, which is hugely encouraging. Strauss was in great form. Carried well, threw well and was a nuisance at the breakdown. Some of his hits were great too. Moloney was excellent at line-out time in particular but Mick Kearney was fantastic throughout. He really impressed me yesterday. VDF was good, but needs to develop his breakdown work and fell off a few tackles that he shouldn't have. Still he's young and at the start of his career. He'll only get better and he was very good overall. Rhys was excellent until he picked up that knock too.

I thought McGrath had a good game overall and Rob looked strong in his first game back. Reid was far better than I expected and ran a great blocking line for the first try. Luke is back on form and has proved again something that I've been saying for a while. He has one of the best rugby brains in the squad and makes a huge difference to our attacking game when he is there. One of the busiest wingers I've seen in a long time. He was my MOTM. But special mention has to go to Ben Te'o. It would be so easy, and in some ways understandable, for him to phone it in knowing he is off in a few weeks. But the guy looks like he was born, bred and will die in blue. His commitment level is superb. We saw it against Munster and again yesterday. I've developed a whole new level of respect for the guy over the last few weeks.

Our set piece was very solid our ball retention was hugely improved over the Munster game. Even our maul seems to be improving. Although the foundations there for the last season and a half have been pretty low. Defensively we were actually pretty good despite conceding 3 tries. Individual errors rather than system errors were the cause of all 3 though really and that can be rectified.

It seems fairly clear to me that our first string 23 right now should be:

McGrath Strauss Ross
Toner Kearney
Ruddock Heaslip VDF

McGrath Sexton
Te'o Ringrose
Fitz Kearney Nacewa

Cronin, Healy, Furlong, Molony, Ryan, Reddan, Marsh, D Kearney

With SOB and Moore to return from injury that sets us up nicely in terms of personnel. But I do think Reid has made a case for himself. If only he could sort out his tackling. Could Ringrose play, or even step into, 12 I wonder? His distribution is better than Bens and getting Ben into a bit more space would see him get on the front foot that bit more. With Luke coming off his wing looking for the offload then we could do some more damage up the middle.

molloyjh

Having watched the game from the terrace and again on TV my opinion of the first half hasn't changed. We were really poor for the first 40. It did look better on the TV but that was only because I had a limited view there. You simply couldn't tell just how lateral and robotic we were. We'd make a decision to go one way and keep going that way on next phase regardless of what was happening in front of us. We often ignored the fact that Edinburgh were numbers up the direction we were going but there was space to be had if we changed direction. You had guys folding around rucks to areas where there was no space rather than stopping and looking to take advantage of the space on the side of the ruck they started on. It was prescriptive and predictable and we were so easy to defend against as a result. It just looked like nobody was scanning what was in front of them and taking control. And we simply weren't able to engineer a score when we had so much territory and possession.

We also ignored some good lines from people because we weren't open to doing much more than taking, and trying to dominate, the contact. At one stage in the first half Ferg took a poor clearing kick in space and ran it back. But what you didn't see on TV was the line Rob Kearney took in support. We were all screaming for Ferg to give it to Rob but instead he ran away from the support, head down and into contact. It summed up our problems with the first half. When players were running good lines they often didn't get the ball. But then at times when players were looking to offload there were no support runners there. And all because we had made up our minds what we were doing and weren't getting our heads up and weren't for changing.

In the second half VDF made a great half break and got his hands free and body positioned perfectly for an offload out of the tackle but there was nobody anywhere near him. These kinds of things were happening quite a lot and you couldn't see most of it on the TV.

We nearly gifted Edinburgh 3 intercept tries before the one they finally got. That's a new level of brain dead and it was Mads every time. If you've been let off the hook 3 times but still haven't learned then that's a serious problem. Ferg coming out of the line looking for an intercept himself cost us 1 and almost a second. And that penalty in the second half where Mads should have easily found touch 5ms out but didn't, what was that!? Some of Madigans passing hurt us badly too. We had a nice move set up with Reid, Luke and Ruddock against 2 defenders (Te'o ran a great dummy line) but because Mads fired the pass at Reid too hard Reid could not collect and the move died. Another thing we've seen from Mads a lot, the unsympathetic pass.

It almost looked like Leo told the lads to go out there and show what they could do to make the first string side and some of them were trying too hard. Mads confidence looked shot at times too. Toner when he came on was pretty poor, missing tackles and making a terrible read in defence for the last Edinburgh try. For all the positives we saw there were as many negatives. I know we were playing into the wind in the first half but that doesn't excuse some of the poor stuff we were seeing.

Either way it was a step up from the Munster game so hopefully we continue that upward curve. A win in Belfast would sow it up for us but as I've said I am worried that we'll be playing a squad who haven't played together in 4 weeks and hadn't played together in over 2 months before that. Only as the next month goes on will we see whether Leos selection has in fact been vindicated. And for the record I'd rather be wrong and see Leinster do well so here's hoping.....

.ak

Did anyone notice T'eo claiming he was gouged? He seemed fairly pissed.

Dave_The_Sheep

He was not a happy camper. From the replay there was contact on the face but nothing conclusive. Did anything come of it terms of the commissioner, etc?

.ak

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

He was not a happy camper. From the replay there was contact on the face but nothing conclusive. Did anything come of it terms of the commissioner, etc?

Surprised the ref didn't look at it as he appealed directly to the ref. maybe lost in translation.

hogandrew

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

He was not a happy camper. From the replay there was contact on the face but nothing conclusive. Did anything come of it terms of the commissioner, etc?

I looked back at it once or twice after the game and taught it was a certain red. There's a replay around the 16 minute mark and Burleigh really has a good rip at the eye area

thomond2006

McFadden and Burleigh cited.

Buer

thomond2006 wrote:

McFadden and Burleigh cited.

McFadden citing really raises questions.

Ref thinks it's only a penalty after watching multiple replays but a citing commissioner reckons it's a potential red card on the same evidence?

Bazzo

Buer wrote: »

McFadden citing really raises questions.

Ref thinks it's only a penalty after watching multiple replays but a citing commissioner reckons it's a potential red card on the same evidence?

Hardly the first time it's happened though, it's exactly one of the reasons the citing commisioner is in place.

irishbucsfan

I think Mitrea will certainly be hearing about it from the league. A bizarre decision.

Buer

Bazzo wrote:

Hardly the first time it's happened though, it's exactly one of the reasons the citing commisioner is in place.

True but going from no card after lengthy review to full citing is unusual.

It really does highlight the disparity in decision making between different individuals.

Bazzo

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I think Mitrea will certainly be hearing about it from the league. A bizarre decision.

I like Mitrea as a ref but as somebody mentioned somewhere earlier in the thread I think he does have a tendency to shy away from big calls. I don't seem to remember him giving out many cards but I could be completely wrong on that.

irishbucsfan

Bazzo wrote: »

I like Mitrea as a ref but as somebody mentioned somewhere earlier in the thread I think he does have a tendency to shy away from big calls. I don't seem to remember him giving out many cards but I could be completely wrong on that.

He's definitely a good ref. He weighs in at about 6.5 awec units. Certainly wouldn't go judging him based on a few decisions, I'd consider him one of the best in the league.

wp_rathead

Mitrea and Whitehouse are the two best refs in the league imo (aside from Nigel ofcourse)

Zzippy

wp_rathead wrote: »

Mitrea and Whitehouse are the two best refs in the league imo (aside from Nigel ofcourse)

Ha, just reminded me of a drunken (and hilarious) conversation with a fellow Connacht fan in O'Connells last night on the subject of referees. Every time we mentioned a name he would explode into a very funny rant, backed up with well-illustrated reminiscences, eyes and veins bulging with the emotion Lacey was a particular favourite. If he'd been a foot taller and had a Nordie accent I'd have been sure it was awec!

former total

Finally got around to watching the game back. Not perfect but lots to be happy with.

Mick Kearney is looking like a fantastic signing. Molony looks the real deal too. Rob K and Luke coming through unscathed and playing so well is massive.

Plenty for McQuilkin to work on but much improved in attack. Three very well worked tries.

I think McFadden's season is over. Most angles are pretty ambiguous but the one from behind the goal seems to show him nailing Hoyland on the chin. I can see where Mitrea is coming from thinking it was the impact on his chest that rocked his head back but I think he caught him on the jaw. It's a shame because he played well (apart from a couple of inexplicable defensive wanderings).

CMOTDibbler

former total wrote: »

Finally got around to watching the game back. Not perfect but lots to be happy with.

Mick Kearney is looking like a fantastic signing. Molony looks the real deal too. Rob K and Luke coming through unscathed and playing so well is massive.

Plenty for McQuilkin to work on but much improved in attack. Three very well worked tries.

I think McFadden's season is over. Most angles are pretty ambiguous but the one from behind the goal seems to show him nailing Hoyland on the chin. I can see where Mitrea is coming from thinking it was the impact on his chest that rocked his head back but I think he caught him on the jaw. It's a shame because he played well (apart from a couple of inexplicable defensive wanderings).

They have a clip of that angle on The 42 if anyone wants to see it. Definitely looks the worst from that angle. In McFadden's defence, he was already committed to the tackle and couldn't see Hoyland had dipped so much from putting the brakes on. I still think the initial impact was fine buit because he drove up and Howland was bracing down, he rode up in the tackle. The fact that Hoyland bounced back up would indicate that he took the main impact lower doen than his chin otherwise he'd be able to go 12 rounds with Anthony Joshua .

swiwi_

swiwi_ wrote: »

Hmmm. Didn't watch the game but looking at that "tackle" from McFadden he might find himself cited. Was the good ol' style league shoulder charge tackle (think league has banned that now).

No surprises to see .ak defending it, a boards poster more willing to give the benefit of the doubt is not to be found!

And I see he's been cited...No surprises there.

What is up with McFadden? He's gone from all-round nice-guy to "thug" this season. Not the first bit of dodgy stuff from Fergus.

Moflojo

My two cents on the McFadden "tackle" is that it was high and there was no wrapping of the arms (forget about "intent to wrap"). I really thought he was going to be lucky if he only received a yellow at the time. If Hoyland had stayed down for any period of time McFadden would have been off (to the bin at least). The perceived lack of injury to Hoyland, and the fact that McFadden injured himself quite badly, probably influenced the referee's decision more than his viewings of the replays. I wouldn't be too harsh on Mitrea for this, it shows he's human and sympathetic to the 'feel' of the game.

I haven't heard many people talking about the potential for a penalty try being awarded: McFadden was the last defender and Hoyland had already left R Kearney and Reddan for dust. As McFadden had committed an offence you have to disregard any influence he had on Hoyland's progress. Hoyland had a clear run to the line (minus McFadden) and a penalty try should have been considered in my opinion. We saw Ben Whitehouse give a penalty try against Munster (I think) in similar circumstances earlier this year. Anyone else think a penalty try was warranted?

awec

It would have been worth looking at.

Leinster were very fortunate there, they could have had a pen try against them but at the very least should have been defending the Edinburgh attacks at the end with a man less.