Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XI (The Finals Countdown)

arsebiscuits1

Richie_Rich89 wrote: »

It'd be good to see Leinster take an approach a bit like State of Origin or this North Island v South Island game for the Munster clash and only select players who first played professionally for Leinster.

Team could look something like:

1. Cian Healy
2. Ronan Kelleher
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Ryan Baird
5. Devin Toner
6. Josh Murphy
7. Will Connors
8. Caelan Doris
9. Luke McGrath
10. Jonathan Sexton
11. Jordan Larmour
12. Conor O'Brien
13. Garry Ringrose
14. David Kearney
15. Hugo Keenan

16. James Tracy
17. Peter Dooley
18. Andrew Porter
19. Ross Molony
20. Max Deegan
21. Rowan Osborne
22. Ross Byrne
23. Rory O'Loughlin

Would be inclined to include James Ryan, Rhys Ruddock, Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier and hopefully Dan Leavy if he's fit

Scottmactom

Richie_Rich89 wrote: »

It'd be good to see Leinster take an approach a bit like State of Origin or this North Island v South Island game for the Munster clash and only select players who first played professionally for Leinster.

Team could look something like:

1. Cian Healy
2. Ronan Kelleher
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Ryan Baird
5. Devin Toner
6. Josh Murphy
7. Will Connors
8. Caelan Doris
9. Luke McGrath
10. Jonathan Sexton
11. Jordan Larmour
12. Conor O'Brien
13. Garry Ringrose
14. David Kearney
15. Hugo Keenan

16. James Tracy
17. Peter Dooley
18. Andrew Porter
19. Ross Molony
20. Max Deegan
21. Rowan Osborne
22. Ross Byrne
23. Rory O'Loughlin

bizarre

Richie_Rich89

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

Would be inclined to include James Ryan, Rhys Ruddock, Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier and hopefully Dan Leavy if he's fit

Yeah, Ryan if the rumours about his injury aren't true.

Murphy was outperforming Ruddock imo before teh rugby stopped. Didn't Ruddock play for Swansea in the Welsh Premiership before joining Leinster anyway? Is that professional? Maybe semi-pro.

I think the onus should be Conan having to take the jersey back from Doris. Doris was performing well and got selected at 8 for Ireland.

Connors is a more effective tackler than van der Flier, so I'd have him in against a power side like Munster to stop them getting momentum. Some of the tackles he put in in Thomond at Christmas time were sensational.

Leavy's status is a bit up in the air because of injury. Think I'd put Connors in for this one and maybe wheel Leavy out the following weekend against Ulster.

rayd3

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

James Ryan

Ineligible in State of Origin?

armchaircoach

Richie_Rich89 wrote: »

It'd be good to see Leinster take an approach a bit like State of Origin or this North Island v South Island game for the Munster clash and only select players who first played professionally for Leinster.

I suppose we could also ask that Munster do the same!

Richie_Rich89

Dislocated shoulder for Ryan, apparently. That's probably three or four months out, so back for December, hopefully. That's not too bad, I suppose. The big test will be trying to overcome Saracens without him. I suppose that's Toner and Fardy starting, with Baird on the bench then. Or will Baird be able to supercede Fardy? Interesting times.

molloyjh

I think Leinster will be a bit too concerned about managing game time while trying to balance getting guys up to speed ahead of a big run of KO games. I'm not sure we're going to be able to do the double this season. Ourselves and Ulster are the only ones with skin in both games. Its a massive ask the way its working out.

Former Former

molloyjh wrote: »

I think Leinster will be a bit too concerned about managing game time while trying to balance getting guys up to speed ahead of a big run of KO games. I'm not sure we're going to be able to do the double this season. Ourselves and Ulster are the only ones with skin in both games. Its a massive ask the way its working out.

Definitely.

The Munster and Ulster games should be about getting as many guys on the pitch as possible ahead of Saracens. We can lose both games by 50 points and it won't make any difference. F**k it, I'd nearly treat the Pro14 semi-final the same way.

Sarries have a three-week break before the QF, I don't know if that's an advantage for them or not.

Scottmactom

no Ryan will be a huge loss.

no fans will be a huge blow too.

adv Sarries.

Quin_Dub

Richie_Rich89 wrote: »

Dislocated shoulder for Ryan, apparently. That's probably three or four months out, so back for December, hopefully. That's not too bad, I suppose. The big test will be trying to overcome Saracens without him. I suppose that's Toner and Fardy starting, with Baird on the bench then. Or will Baird be able to supercede Fardy? Interesting times.

I'm not seeing anything online anywhere about this injury , where have you seen the info?

Clegg

Leinster would have won the match back when it wa suppose to go ahead. The team was on a high having won every game so far that season. Saracens were playing some dire stuff and under the cloud of automatic relegation.

I still think we'll win, but I'm no longer as certain. Ryan is our best player. Losing him is a huge blow. Saracens have lost some players but also had the chance to regroup and come together for one more push. It will be very tight.

salmocab

Clegg wrote: »

Leinster would have won the match back when if was going ahead. The team was in a high having won every game so far that season. Saracens were playing some dire stuff and under the cloud of automatic relegation.

I still think we'll win, but I'm no longer as certain. Ryan is our best player. Losing him is a huge blow. Saracens have lost some players but also had the chance to regroup and come together for one more push. It will be very tight.

Although second row is also the place we are most stacked for options.

Scottmactom

salmocab wrote: »

Although second row is also the place we are most stacked for options.

Ryan is irreplaceable

salmocab

Scottmactom wrote: »

Ryan is irreplaceable

Well if he’s out he’s getting replaced by either Toner or Fardy so whilst I’d prefer Ryan to be there I’m not too worried that it will change things much for Leinster, I’d be more worried if Ringrose was out.

Clegg

I'd be tempted to throw Baird in. We need someone with the engine to keep going for the big carries and big hits. Toner is a fantastic player, but not as high impact. That's what you need against Saracens. Wouldn't have as strong a lineout however.

Scottmactom

There is a huge drop from Ryan to Toner in terms of carrying and physicality.

Former Former

Quin_Dub wrote: »

I'm not seeing anything online anywhere about this injury , where have you seen the info?

Someone posted on babbling brook that he'd dislocated his shoulder in training. I haven't seen anything from any reputable sources.

Should also be noted that John Ryan has a (confirmed) shoulder injury at the moment.

thomond2006

Leinster will win comfortably.

Scottmactom

Former Former wrote: »

Someone posted on babbling brook that he'd dislocated his shoulder in training. I haven't seen anything from any reputable sources.

Should also be noted that John Ryan has a (confirmed) shoulder injury at the moment.

theres been rumours going around he has injured his shoulder from early last week.

Dave_The_Sheep

thomond2006 wrote: »

Leinster will win comfortably.

Back when the game was due to be played, I'd have said so. Comfortably. We were in great form, Saracens were not.

Now, I'm really not so sure. The Covid break really f*cked us in that regard. Leveller.

Clegg

The time off has allowed our injured players to regain fitness. There's a lot of impact that can be brought off the bench now. Start Doris and bring Conan on at 60 minutes or vice versa. Deegan's played very well this season too. Lots of options at number 8 and blindside.

Has anyone heard how Leavy is doing. I think I read he's back contact training. Probably too soon to be throwing him into knockout games.

Yeah_Right

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

Would be inclined to include James Ryan, Rhys Ruddock, Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier and hopefully Dan Leavy if he's fit

Didn't Ryan play for Munster before he played for Leinster?

Scottmactom

Yeah_Right wrote: »

Didn't Ryan play for Munster before he played for Leinster?

Nope.. He played for Ireland before he played for Leinster.

Provincially he has only ever played for one province, Leinster.

Quin_Dub

Yeah_Right wrote: »

Didn't Ryan play for Munster before he played for Leinster?

Scottmactom wrote: »

Nope.. He played for Ireland before he played for Leinster.

Provincially he has only ever played for one province, Leinster.

He did actually - He turned out for a Munster A selection against Ireland U20's to get game time ahead of the US tour where he got his 1st cap.

Given that not everyone that plays at Provincial A level are contracted not sure if it counts as his first professional game , but he definitely played for Munster before making his Leinster senior debut.

Scottmactom

Quin_Dub wrote: »

He did actually - He turned out for a Munster A selection against Ireland U20's to get game time ahead of the US tour where he got his 1st cap.

Given that not everyone that plays at Provincial A level are contracted not sure if it counts as his first professional game , but he definitely played for Munster before making his Leinster senior debut.

He has played for Leinster A before he played for that Munster Development side against Ireland u20 in a JWC warm up game.

He never played a senior game for Munster, he didn't even play for Munster A.

so saying he played for Munster before he played for Leinster is simply wrong.

Quin_Dub

Quin_Dub wrote: »

He did actually - He turned out for a Munster A selection against Ireland U20's to get game time ahead of the US tour where he got his 1st cap.

Given that not everyone that plays at Provincial A level are contracted not sure if it counts as his first professional game , but he definitely played for Munster before making his Leinster senior debut.

He had to do that to fulfil the prophecy though.

thomond2006

James Ryan is who he is because of the pashun from that Munster jersey. Just accept it and move on.

salmocab

James Ryan is who he is because they showed him where he’d end up if he wasn’t brilliant.

thomond2006

salmocab wrote: »

James Ryan is who he is because they showed him where he’d end up if he wasn’t brilliant.

Shut up Buer.

Dunney848

I don’t think the way Sexton defends suits Saracens. It gives them go forward ball. He tries to hold players up and that simply puts you marching backwards against Saracens with Itoje and the Vunipolas blasting up the 10 channel. The only problem is who do we have to replace him? Byrne defends the exact same way.

I’d be wary of starting Baird in such a game but it might be exactly what we need. Bit of go forward and pace up front. For me he starts from the bench with Toner and Fardy our 2 starting locks. He might come on and change the game or he might get swallowed up. My feeling is that it will be the former if he gets a chance.

Then there’s Leavy. I thought we missed him in the final of the Heineken cup against Saracens but I think it is far too soon for him to throw him into such a big game. It will take him a season to get back to where he was before injury and he needs to be played in as many Pro14 matches as he is available for.