Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread VIII: May the Fourth Star Be With You!

molloyjh

dubal wrote: »

Lancaster being linked with the Leicester job, are we to go through this every time a job comes up now?

In short, yes.

Rigor Mortis

On the Scarlets, red card aside, they are a decent team. We squeaked a home win last season and have now lost there on our last three outings. On a good day we have a chance of a TBP, but posters saying that its a certainty or a disgrace if we don't get one are not paying attention to their improvement. Scarlets are genuine top 4 contenders this year.

Zzippy

Rigor Mortis wrote: »

On the Scarlets, red card aside, they are a decent team. We squeaked a home win last season and have now lost there on our last three outings. On a good day we have a chance of a TBP, but posters saying that its a certainty or a disgrace if we don't get one are not paying attention to their improvement. Scarlets are genuine top 4 contenders this year.

They were for most of last season too. Not a game I'd take for granted, anyway.

leakyboots

There was a stat about Scarlets bandied about over the last week about their home win-rate, can't for the life of me remember it but it was impressive

Neil3030

Rigor Mortis wrote: »

On the Scarlets, red card aside, they are a decent team. We squeaked a home win last season and have now lost there on our last three outings. On a good day we have a chance of a TBP, but posters saying that its a certainty or a disgrace if we don't get one are not paying attention to their improvement. Scarlets are genuine top 4 contenders this year.

But did anyone actually say that it's a disgrace if we don't beat them? My reading on this discussion is that someone suggested we should be looking for wins out of our next five games. Someone then posted that this is to ignore context (which I agree with) and, further, that such expectations are pre-emptive knife-sharpening so that we can lambaste the team in the event that they fall short. This latter appraisal is just as alarmist and overreactionary as its very charge, imo.

CMOTDibbler

leakyboots wrote: »

There was a stat about Scarlets bandied about over the last week about their home win-rate, can't for the life of me remember it but it was impressive

Won five out of six. They lost their first home game against Munster 13-23.

stephen_n

RichieRich89 wrote: »

It'll have to go down as failure if Leinster don't get five bonus-point wins in those games

Neil3030 wrote: »

But did anyone actually say that it's a disgrace if we don't beat them? My reading on this discussion is that someone suggested we should be looking for wins out of our next five games. Someone then posted that this is to ignore context (which I agree with) and, further, that such expectations are pre-emptive knife-sharpening so that we can lambaste the team in the event that they fall short. This latter appraisal is just as alarmist and overreactionary as its very charge, imo.

Think that's the comment being referred to there.

Rigor Mortis

Neil3030 wrote: »

But did anyone actually say that it's a disgrace if we don't beat them? My reading on this discussion is that someone suggested we should be looking for wins out of our next five games. Someone then posted that this is to ignore context (which I agree with) and, further, that such expectations are pre-emptive knife-sharpening so that we can lambaste the team in the event that they fall short. This latter appraisal is just as alarmist and overreactionary as its very charge, imo.

Apologies, I was imprecise. Failure, not disgrace. The tone is, I think, similar enough.
I wasn't attributing any motive about knife sharpening but I do think our view (collectively) about what our second string can achieve, is sometimes unrealistic. Being realistic there are only 3 or 4 games (embra, Italians, dragons)that are very likely TBP games at home and only 2 or 3 away. You could add Cardiff to the home list but no one else is a banker anymore.

Neil3030

Rigor Mortis wrote: »

Apologies, I was imprecise. Failure, not disgrace. The tone is, I think, similar enough.
I wasn't attributing any motive about knife sharpening but I do think our view (collectively) about what our second string can achieve, is sometimes unrealistic. Being realistic there are only 3 or 4 games (embra, Italians, dragons)that are very likely TBP games at home and only 2 or 3 away. You could add Cardiff to the home list but no one else is a banker anymore.

No no, right you are, I had misread that quote Stephen just provided that it'd be a failure not to get a TBP in all those games. I thought they original point was that we should be targeting five wins outright.

pickarooney

Surely every loss is a failure?

errlloyd

I love when you're browsing the stats and something random catches your eye.

Ross Byrne has the second highest amount of assists in the pro12 this season. He's only started four games. I'm guessing this is because of his propensity to crossfield kick.

errlloyd

errlloyd wrote: »

I love when you're browsing the stats and something random catches your eye.

Ross Byrne has the second highest amount of assists in the pro12 this season. He's only started four games. I'm guessing this is because of his propensity to crossfield kick.

We'll we've obliterated Northampton twice and Castres once. We've a funny group in that one team had been terrible and Castres don't play away from home.

Will all be for nothing if we don't put Montpellier away next week.

Ross Byrne and O'Loughlan seem to be nicely on the same wavelength all the same which is nice!

errlloyd

Deleted User wrote: »

We'll we've obliterated Northampton twice and Castres once. We've a funny group in that one team had been terrible and Castres don't play away from home.

Will all be for nothing if we don't put Montpellier away next week.

Ross Byrne and O'Loughlan seem to be nicely on the same wavelength all the same which is nice!

See initially I thought it was a product of us destroying Northampton, but these are his pro12 stats only!

errlloyd

errlloyd wrote: »

See initially I thought it was a product of us destroying Northampton, but these are his pro12 stats only!

I'm not meant to be back in work this week, but I'm in today trying to fix several problems and am now likely in tomorrow as well.

I offer this not for your interest, but as an excuse for only half reading your post...!

leakyboots

pickarooney wrote: »

Surely every loss is a failure?

No, you can have smart losses like the 0-5 against Munster :pac:

Neil3030

leakyboots wrote: »

No, you can have smart losses like the 0-5 against Munster :pac:

The experienced gained in that match will be invaluable to the team when they have to face the hardships of puberty and studying for the Junior Cert.

Neil3030

On Byrne, who else has had a good look at him live? Saw him in the Aviva against Northampton, and he seems to have a nice nack for turning up when the killer play is on and selecting the right line and pass. However, another way to interpret this, is that he rides the armchair set by the forward pods until he's confident he can get the ball without any pressure... I can't recall too many instances where he took on the ball at first receiver before the 3rd or 4th phase. I'm sure it's his instruction, but I'd love to see him get on the ball more, early on, and mix up the attack a bit.

Neil3030

Neil3030 wrote: »

On Byrne, who else has had a good look at him live? Saw him in the Aviva against Northampton, and he seems to have a nice nack for turning up when the killer play is on and selecting the right line and pass. However, another way to interpret this, is that he rides the armchair set by the forward pods until he's confident he can get the ball without any pressure... I can't recall too many instances where he took on the ball at first receiver before the 3rd or 4th phase. I'm sure it's his instruction, but I'd love to see him get on the ball more, early on, and mix up the attack a bit.

Yeah I'd agree, but at the same time I'm glad he's playing more conservatively whilst he's the only fit and available senior 10...

Neil3030

So how do we get Lancaster to commit to Leinster on a long term basis? He seems a committed family man, and said family seem committed to the Leeds area, so how do we convince them to move to Dublin? We already have a Wetherspoons in Blackrock, so they should be well serviced for flat, room temperature, hoppy dogpiss they drink up there. What else can we do? Does anyone have a contact in Donnybrook fair, can you convince them to stock Yorkshire Tea? I'll also cofund a Greggs franchise somewhere, if anyone wants to go in on that.

Stheno

Neil3030 wrote: »

So how do we get Lancaster to commit to Leinster on a long term basis? He seems a committed family man, and said family seem committed to the Leeds area, so how do we convince them to move to Dublin? We already have a Wetherspoons in Blackrock, so they should be well serviced for flat, room temperature, hoppy dogpiss they drink up there. What else can we do? Does anyone have a contact in Donnybrook fair, can you convince them to stock Yorkshire Tea? I'll also cofund a Greggs franchise somewhere, if anyone wants to go in on that.

They have Greggs in applegreen in Belfast :pac:

molloyjh

Stheno wrote: »

Neil3030 wrote: »

So how do we get Lancaster to commit to Leinster on a long term basis? He seems a committed family man, and said family seem committed to the Leeds area, so how do we convince them to move to Dublin? We already have a Wetherspoons in Blackrock, so they should be well serviced for flat, room temperature, hoppy dogpiss they drink up there. What else can we do? Does anyone have a contact in Donnybrook fair, can you convince them to stock Yorkshire Tea? I'll also cofund a Greggs franchise somewhere, if anyone wants to go in on that.

They have Greggs in applegreen in Belfast :pac:

Don't be giving awec ideas!

Stheno

molloyjh wrote: »

Don't be giving awec ideas!

Mwahahaaaaaa :pac:

Neil3030

Stheno wrote: »

They have Greggs in applegreen in Belfast :pac:

I suppose we could send an armed convoy up each morning to bring Lancaster a chicken bake and a few sausage rolls!

Stheno

Neil3030 wrote: »

I suppose we could send an armed convoy up each morning to bring Lancaster a chicken bake and a few sausage rolls!

Im there so much i could do it for free

The Rape of Lucretia

pickarooney wrote: »

Surely every loss is a failure?

Leinster's loss to Munster wasnt failure - it was successful fixture fulfilment.

Bazzo

You'd need to open up about 20,000 Greggs in Dublin to get close to emulating the feeling from Leeds. They're worse than Starbucks, I **** you not I've seen 2 Greggs' no more than 10 steps apart.

DGRulz

We don't want to attract lots of people from Leeds, just one family. One Gregs is more than enough!!

irishbucsfan

https://twitter.com/leinsterrugby/status/816655714508795904

Bit of an odd way to categorise the next 3 weeks (or even really put them into a category!). Of course the Champions Cup games are going to be big, but we cant forget that we kick things off against Zebre, the Real Madrid of Italian rugby.

errlloyd

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Of course the Champions Cup games are going to be big, but we cant forget that we kick things off against Zebre, the Real Madrid of Italian rugby.

The real, Real.

awec

It's just PR and marketing. Ulster do this a lot too.

In fact if there was a trophy for stupid PR work I'm pretty sure Ulster would win it every year.

awec

awec wrote: »

It's just PR and marketing. Ulster do this a lot too.

In fact if there was a trophy for stupid PR work I'm pretty sure Ulster would win it every year.

b.gud

awec wrote: »

It's just PR and marketing. Ulster do this a lot too.

In fact if there was a trophy for stupid PR work I'm pretty sure Ulster would win it every year.

That would look well beside their trophy for best rugby themed cook book

Neil3030

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Of course the Champions Cup games are going to be big, but we cant forget that we kick things off against Zebre, the Real Madrid of Italian rugby.

I think I see what you're saying here... and now that I think of it, Parma wouldn't be too far from Predappio, birthplace of a certain Duce....

awec

b.gud wrote: »

That would look well beside their trophy for best rugby themed cook book

Exactly.

crisco10

Leinster Rugby Twitter wrote:

Leinster Rugby at the #RDSArena in 2016:

Played - 13
Won - 13
Tries - 46
Points - 377
Supporters - 173,634

Pretty solid year at home! Averaging 3.5 tries per game or so.

Felexicon

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah I'd agree, but at the same time I'm glad he's playing more conservatively whilst he's the only fit and available senior 10...

Yeah I'd imagine he's being kept out of the firing line while he's the only fit OH we have. I've been fairly impressed with him so far but you feel he will need to move away for a few seasons to get game time when Sexton and Carbery are fit.

Felexicon

Felexicon wrote: »

Yeah I'd imagine he's being kept out of the firing line while he's the only fit OH we have. I've been fairly impressed with him so far but you feel he will need to move away for a few seasons to get game time when Sexton and Carbery are fit.

Between the bolded piece and international duty I think he'll end up getting a lot of game time.

He looks a bit of confidence away from having some pretty good performances.

molloyjh

Sextons back!

Gfer0

15. Zane Kirchner (77)
14. Adam Byrne (11)
13. Garry Ringrose (32)
12. Robbie Henshaw (6)
11. Rory O’Loughlin (11)
10. Johnny Sexton CAPTAIN (130)
9. Luke McGrath (62)
1. Cian Healy (164)
2. James Tracy (30)
3. Michael Bent (74)
4. Devin Toner (190)
5. Hayden Triggs (21)
6. Dan Leavy (26)
7. Sean O’Brien (108)
8. Jack Conan (39)

16. Sean Cronin (124)
17. Jack McGrath (104)
18. Tadhg Furlong (59)
19. Rhys Ruddock (122)
20. Jamie Heaslip (226)
21. Jamison Gibson-Park (15)
22. Ross Byrne (11)
23. Noel Reid (73)

molloyjh

Rigor Mortis

Wow. You just arent used to seeing a side that strong selected v Zebre. This could be a deeply unpleasant last trip to Dublin for the Italians.

Squidgy Black

Talk about making sure of the TBP :P

molloyjh

We should absolutely murder Zebre with that team.

DGRulz

Poor Zebre ...

Rigor Mortis

Someone ring DSPCA.

crisco10

just shows you how good Isa is when they have to pick that strong a team the one week he is rested to make up for his loss!!!

Last trip to Dublin for Zebre?? Did I miss something?

awec

Surely, surely Leinster could have fielded some of those blokes against Munster and rested them this week instead?

Going under strength to Thomond and taking a tank to a paintball fight tomorrow. It makes little sense.

Buer

I think it'll be a walk in the park but not the utter slaughter some imagine simply because we'll be in second gear and those lads are going to be thinking about the following week. I imagine we'll have a BP wrapped up by 50 minutes at most and then go through the motions and empty the bench.

I reckon around 33-6.

Buer

awec wrote: »

Surely, surely Leinster could have fielded some of those blokes against Munster and rested them this week instead?

Going under strength to Thomond and taking a tank to a paintball fight tomorrow. It makes little sense.

Would certainly agree to an extent but looks like the main focus is Europe. They obviously wanted the first team to get a run together the week before their biggest game of the pool.

irishbucsfan

awec wrote: »

Surely, surely Leinster could have fielded some of those blokes against Munster and rested them this week instead?

Going under strength to Thomond and taking a tank to a paintball fight tomorrow. It makes little sense.

But then you lose your momentum week on week by breaking things up before Europe.