Leinster v Connu.. Connou... Connaubh... Cannaught Build up thread

awec

stephen_n wrote: »

Had to leave with 15mins to go, to head to work. Thought we were dead and buried:eek: damn it

Shame on you! Ye of little faith.

Support your team!

Former Former

Former Former wrote: »

Edit: stats are above; 66% possession for Leinster, that's huge.

Edit again, Leinster had 71% territory. You're not going to win games playing so much rugby in your own half

The only stat that matters tonight is that a scuffle broke out and persisted well off the ball WHILST PLAY CONTINUED!

The Hate is REAL!

Elvisjuice

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Butler, Robinson McCoy, Aki, Godwin, Fa'ainga, Horwitz, McCartney, as far as I can remember they were all imports too no?

The irony of a Connacht fan trying to give out about imported players is just another level.

ain't no connacht fan

thomond2006

That was fantastic.

Kevski

Oh my word! What a win by Leinster’s kids!

nice_guy80

Connacht's kicking skills let them down
Going for long kicks straight to Leinster backs instead of looking to get the ball out of touch
They also couldn't recycle the ball for a few minutes to take the sting out of the game

Elvisjuice

Kevski wrote: »

Oh my word! What a win by Leinster’s kids!

kids , lord :rolleyes: am sure they love being called kids on monday

salmocab

Just on the way home here with a couple on board.
Connacht defense was great and Leinster’s was poor for a good bit of the game.
Leinster to me always looked a bit better going forward and showed real class on pulling the 2 tries back quickly. Once they started the last set of phases I was reasonably confident they were getting the try, their dander was up and it felt inevitable to me.
Great game though savage finish.

molloyjh

What a game. Still can’t believe we nicked it in the end. Connacht played some fantastic stuff, and at times so did Leinster. We got caught badly defensively a few times in that first half. There’ll be some stern words had with a few guys on Monday.

At the end it would have been hard to deny either team though. Leinster deserves it for the fight back, but if Connacht has held on they’d have deserved it for being the better team over the 80. Great way to end the game really.

Anyone complaining about the officiating in the last few mins need to realise that Clancy did nothing then that he hadn’t done all game. Some of his decisions were just bad. Penalising Leinster for playing the scrumhalf on a legal counterruck being the most obvious. Both sides benefited at times and lost out others.

Delighted that we were able to give a good few guys game time and a huge learning experience while also getting maximum points as well. I thought Mick Kearney played well and I’ve been really happy with how both himself and Molony have gone this season. Adam Byrne is hitting some form again too which is great to see. JGP must be really pushing his case to be first choice at this point too. Porter, Deegan and Frawley all made a big impact when they came on too. Guys like COB and Doris will learn a lot from the game too. It was a level or two above anything they’ve played so far.

It bears repeating though. Some of Connachts stuff today was superb. Some of those tries were just glorious. I’m sure it’s a right kick in the nuts to have lost it, but the nature of the performance for the vast majority of the game has to be a huge positive. If they can use that as a benchmark to push on from then they’ll be doing very well.

Faugheen

Elvisjuice wrote: »

ain't no connacht fan

You clearly hate Leinster more than you support your own province, because you always whinge when they win.

CatFromHue

great game, really enjoyed it. some great scores too.

yerrahbah

Drico getting bad on Instagram😀

Kevski

Elvisjuice wrote: »

kids , lord :rolleyes: am sure they love being called kids on monday

Am sure they don’t give a shíte after that!

Diabhal Beag

That was a rough journey home. 3/5 of us in the car were at the All Blacks loss in 2013, the Scotland defeat in 2017 and the match tonight and we all agreed this was the most deflating rugby match we ever went too.

For all the generous praise Leinster fans on here (and the sound ones after the match on the dart) are heaping on Connacht, we had to close that out. If we don't win the two home interpros I don't think we'll see Heineken Cuo next year at SG.

simongurnick

Nothing worse in life than a moral victory

stephen_n

awec wrote: »

Shame on you! Ye of little faith.

Support your team!

I couldn’t take your abuse of Lacey and Clancy anymore

Dave_The_Sheep

Back from the game ... and many many pints later. Will have to download and watch it again to give it a proper go over, but that was some game. Connacht were superb in attack with what felt like minimal possession, Leinster repeatedly got into the Connacht 22 only to be turned over by silly knock ons or great steals by the defence. The chip over try was brilliant, and so much of the first half by Connact was in terms of efficiency, some lovely lines leading to tries. Keenan ... well, the less said the better.

Second half Leinster started with a purpose, then to give away one of the most stupid tries I've ever seen. Middling middle to that half, last 15, Connacht shat themselves as Leinster upped the tempo. Fardy excelled as a player and leader in that second half. A few cooler heads from Connacht and it was theirs and that dump-clearout penalty took serious wind out of Leinster. Very satisfying end to the game though from a Leinster perspective, it looked inevitable, but still you felt we'd **** it up with a knock-on or sealing off penalty (or going off their feet, something we did all game without repurcussion). Adam Byrne may not be the mae west defensively, but he was huge in that period with some serious running and offloading.

Elvisjuice wrote: »

not really dont give a **** was on connie +14 :pac:

Sure thing.

simongurnick

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Back from the game ... and many many pints later. Will have to download and watch it again to give it a proper go over, but that was some game. Connacht were superb in attack with what felt like minimal possession, Leinster repeatedly got into the Connacht 22 only to be turned over by silly knock ons or great steals by the defence. The chip over try was brilliant, and so much of the first half by Connact was in terms of efficiency, some lovely lines leading to tries. Keenan ... well, the less said the better.

Second half Leinster started with a purpose, then to give away one of the most stupid tries I've ever seen. Middling middle to that half, last 15, Connacht shat themselves as Leinster upped the tempo. Fardy excelled as a player and leader in that second half. A few cooler heads from Connacht and it was theirs and that dump-clearout penalty took serious wind out of Leinster. Very satisfying end to the game though from a Leinster perspective, it looked inevitable, but still you felt we'd **** it up with a knock-on or sealing off penalty (or going off their feet, something we did all game without repurcussion). Adam Byrne may not be the mae west defensively, but he was huge in that period with some serious running and offloading.



Sure thing.

Mae west? You Cockneymate or just the pale?

Dave_The_Sheep

simongurnick wrote: »

Mae west? You Cockneymate or just the pale?

The Pale. But to be honest, it was just a turn of phrase. Sorry, "t'was".

simongurnick

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

The Pale. But to be honest, it was just a turn of phrase. Sorry, t'was.

Only joking man. No offence intended. Connact fan here. .can't believe they didn't just go munster at the end and stick u0 their jumpers bit that's not connacht I suppose. Hope you enjoyed the pints mate...enjoy the Christmas

Burkie1203

Seeing plenty of this on twitter/Facebook. Bizarre stuff

https://twitter.com/jafahy/status/1076594657428193280?s=19

crisco10

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Seeing plenty of this on twitter/Facebook. Bizarre stuff

https://twitter.com/jafahy/status/1076594657428193280?s=19

Strange. Would same people question cartys grounding? Looked a little dodge, but was also given. (To which I don't really have any objections)

Former Former

Clancy was in exactly the right spot. No tv camera could have given him a better angle on the grounding.

Burkie1203

Leinster missed 20 tackles. Connacht missed 29

Penalty count was 8-4 in connachts favour



Adam Byrne
18 runs 149m
5 defenders beaten
6 offloads

Frawley
10 runs 89m
He only played half the game but thise numbers for Frawley were only bettered by Adam Byrne including both teams

Burkie1203

crisco10 wrote: »

Eh. Daylight robbery. Connacht were on top for 70 mins

Game lasts 80+. So robbery it aint

Think for some Connacht players we saw potentially why they could get into the international extended squads and also probably why they wouldnt.

Game management is a skill in itself. Connacht had the right idea (kick) but they needed to kill the game. Instead they gave Leinster momentum by kicking to Frawley constantly. When your team need a breather you kick the ball into the stands.

crisco10

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Game lasts 80+. So robbery it aint

Think for some Connacht players we saw potentially why they could get into the international extended squads and also probably why they wouldnt.

Game management is a skill in itself. Connacht had the right idea (kick) but they needed to kill the game. Instead they gave Leinster momentum by kicking to Frawley constantly. When your team need a breather you kick the ball into the stands.

Yeah but in the 10mins leinster were on top they got three tries (leavys from their own half, cronin from a very straightforward line out maul).

Agreed connacht lost their head a smidgen but on another day, the last 10 would have ebbed away without much happening.

Smash and grab if you ask me.

thomond2006

That was phenomenal to watch. One of the best games I've seen in the RDS.

Burkie1203

crisco10 wrote: »

Yeah but in the 10mins leinster were on top they got three tries (leavys from their own half, cronin from a very straightforward line out maul).

Agreed connacht lost their head a smidgen but on another day, the last 10 would have ebbed away without much happening.

Smash and grab if you ask me.

But to make "without much happening" in the last 10 all Connacht had to do was kill the game. Kick to touch. Slow the game down. Take the tempo out of the game and play the game off first phase. Organise defence etc.

Instead they kicked long but the kick chase was all over the shop because they had made 2.5 times as many tackles as Leinster and were out on their feet.

Two choices
1. Defend first phase on your own 10m line
Or
2. Defend broken field with a defence line all over the shop.

Which one is likely to hold out?

Stout Warrior

I'm a Leinster supporter and I thought Connacht were the better team over the 80 but a lack of belief prevented them from winning the game. Leinster stuck at it and ground out the win but you'd have to question the leadership in the Connacht team and their defensive frailty under pressure.

Leinster just looked like they weren't going to accept defeat and drilled away at them until openings occurred. I don't think there were any key moments of Connacht losing the head in the last 10 more like Leinster belief just chipped away Connachts confidence.

Work ons for Connacht are a Joe Schmidt style close to each training session where the team have to keep the ball for more than 10 mins or the team have to defend for 10 mins against an onslaught. Prepare for the worst and it won't happen again I just think the amount of players on Leinster who coached under Joe told at the end.

Sad to see such a lead thrown away but such is life

Serbian

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Frawley
10 runs 89m
He only played half the game but thise numbers for Frawley were only bettered by Adam Byrne including both teams

I thought Frawley shored up the full back position somewhat but his stats are largely as a result of continuous deep back field kicking by Connacht when they were trying to close the game out. The vast majority of those meters are just him running 15 meters back towards the oncoming Connacht defence.