Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XII (The Byrne Supremacy)

arsebiscuits1

sebdavis wrote: »

If you had Conan/Doris/Leavy it would be a different Leinster.

Agreed - but we didn't sadly.

I still firmly believe we'd beat LAR more than 50% of the time with identical teams who played at the weekend.

It was small things that needed to go the other way.

That's how knockout rugby goes sadly

Clegg

I really like the look of 10/12/13. Have Byrne and Frawley swap roles at times and pass to Ringrose in space.

Doris and Harry Byrne are so unlucky with injuries. They were pencilled in for the Munster game a few weeks back but pulled out. Not been seen since.

thomond2006

Former Former Former wrote: »

I dunno, maybe the provinces are under orders to take this tournament seriously and pick teams accordingly?

I would really have liked to see more young guys out there. No one gives a f**k about the result.

You don't care. We get it.

Leinster have a rest week in two weeks' time. I'm not sure why they would put out a team of backups. There's plenty young players included too.

hirondelle

Regardless of competitions, when was the last time Leinster lost three games in a row?

Squidgy Black

thomond2006 wrote: »

You don't care. We get it.

Leinster have a rest week in two weeks' time. I'm not sure why they would put out a team of backups. There's plenty young players included too.

There's also the fact we've used 59 players this season, with a heap of sub-academy players getting game time never mind only academy players.

It's not as if we've been playing full strength teams all season

KaneToad

sebdavis wrote: »

After the Lions tour McGrath form took a massive nose dive. Not many noticed because Healy came flying out of the blocks after the summer off, reclaiming his spot at Leinster & Ireland.

I remember he was on radio before Christmas 2017, he had come back with an injury and was going to get an operation over the period to be back for the 6 nations. He got back but only started one game in that 6 nations v Italy. His form continued to go from then on.

His CV might have been good but it was sitting on the bench when the year before he was clearly the number 1 for Ireland & Leinster. Even his spot on bench was questionable for Ireland due to his form.

I know a lot of people who would say the same and the Lions was the cause of his issues.

Jack has also spoken about difficulties he faced with his health, over the years since 2010, following a family tragedy. He is an inspirational figure for being so honest in this regard. I would struggle with aspects of my job if I had to deal with a fraction of what he has had to deal with.

AdamD

thomond2006 wrote: »

You don't care. We get it.

Leinster have a rest week in two weeks' time. I'm not sure why they would put out a team of backups. There's plenty young players included too.

Also using the argument that people don't care so we should pick an under-strength team just makes it all self-fulfilling..

Clegg

The only issue I have with the selection is Baird on the bench. We know how impactful he is as a substitute, but he needs to be starting games as a second row. He actually hasn't played that many minutes this year either.

sebdavis

Clegg wrote: »

The only issue I have with the selection is Baird on the bench. We know how impactful he is as a substitute, but he needs to be starting games as a second row. He actually hasn't played that many minutes this year either.

The lad is 21....he is a second row also. It really is his first season in the first team and if Leinster have proven anything they know how to bring young players into the team.

Dubinusa

I'm disappointed with the team selection. I was hoping for more academy players to get into the 23. This was a chance to bed some of these lads. Why play Fardy? Why is Baird on the bench? It makes no sense to me. Baird is a young international player that needs to start. Particularly after last week. Why not sit Conan and play Penny at 8 and bring SOB in to the bench. I think a great opportunity is falling by the wayside.
I'm delighted to see Frawley back. But Ringrose could have benched and Turner could have got the start.

Dubinusa

sebdavis wrote: »

The lad is 21....he is a second row also. It really is his first season in the first team and if Leinster have proven anything they know how to bring young players into the team.

I get what you're saying, but there's no point for starting Fardy! Baird needs the experience imo. I would have played Baird for all of these remaining fixtures.

Buer

thomond2006 wrote: »

You don't care. We get it.

Leinster have a rest week in two weeks' time. I'm not sure why they would put out a team of backups. There's plenty young players included too.

You're a Munster fan. You just don't understand.

FrannoFan

Dubinusa wrote: »

I'm disappointed with the team selection. I was hoping for more academy players to get into the 23. This was a chance to bed some of these lads. Why play Fardy? Why is Baird on the bench? It makes no sense to me. Baird is a young international player that needs to start. Particularly after last week. Why not sit Conan and play Penny at 8 and bring SOB in to the bench. I think a great opportunity is falling by the wayside.
I'm delighted to see Frawley back. But Ringrose could have benched and Turner could have got the start.

It's a tricky one. Do we absolutely not care about the competition? Probably not a lot.

What serves young players better? Losing together or winning with a mix? I think that's what they are trying to achieve.
Play turner with henshaw next week
Pair baird with toner next week
Play sob with vdf
Etc etc
Of course there are young players you could pick but what's the end goal. Minutes in the shirt or minutes playing alongside lions winning as part of the first team.

Treating it as a B&I cup probably makes it particularly meaningless.

sebdavis

Dubinusa wrote: »

I'm disappointed with the team selection. I was hoping for more academy players to get into the 23. This was a chance to bed some of these lads. Why play Fardy? Why is Baird on the bench? It makes no sense to me. Baird is a young international player that needs to start. Particularly after last week. Why not sit Conan and play Penny at 8 and bring SOB in to the bench. I think a great opportunity is falling by the wayside.
I'm delighted to see Frawley back. But Ringrose could have benched and Turner could have got the start.

Come on now, Leinster are the one club who pushs young players into the team.

No point playing a full team of kids and then getting hammered. That can ruin young players confidence, integrating a few at a time with seasoned internationals has shown to build these guys up.

Leinster are on the back of two bads defeats, I would expect they want to get a win under the belt as well.

The only player I think you might question is Fardy, but he has been a great servant to Leinster and I expect with Baird on the bench they wanted to give Ryan/Toner a rest so it makes sense to start him

Bazzo

sebdavis wrote: »

The lad is 21....he is a second row also. It really is his first season in the first team and if Leinster have proven anything they know how to bring young players into the team.

Surely nobody would be starting a 21 year old second row in a match like this?!

sebdavis

Bazzo wrote: »

Surely nobody would be starting a 21 year old second row in a match like this?!

Yes nobody would.....

theVersatile

Not sure if this was mentioned a while ago - but there's a rumour going around on Reddit that Cian Kelleher is moving to a Championship side at the end of the season.

Squidgy Black

theVersatile wrote: »

Not sure if this was mentioned a while ago - but there's a rumour going around on Reddit that Cian Kelleher is moving to a Championship side at the end of the season.

Yeah was discussed a few weeks ago that he's off to Ealing. Not entirely surprising given he was always going to struggle to make it into the starting 23 when everyone's fit, especially with Dave having a stellar couple of years.

Still think he shouldn't have left Connacht in the first place, but he obviously backed himself to take the chance, hopefully the money is decent from trailfinders but there's a strong chance they could be in the two leg playoff for promotion this season which are scheduled for mid June, so Sarries might even be missing some of their Lions players

Tommysocks11

Maybe and its a pity but i dont think ringrose is as good as we think and certainly no BOD, might even come under pressure in the irish and leinster team

Jump_In_Jack

Tommysocks11 wrote: »

Maybe and its a pity but i dont think ringrose is as good as we think and certainly no BOD, might even come under pressure in the irish and leinster team

If Addison could not get red carded and stay fit I’d have him ahead of Ringrose tbh.

Clegg

Tommysocks11 wrote: »

Maybe and its a pity but i dont think ringrose is as good as we think and certainly no BOD, might even come under pressure in the irish and leinster team

Ringrose was voted Irish Player of the Year for 2020. Don't let one poor season put you off the fact that he's an excellent player.

TRC10

Tommysocks11 wrote: »

Maybe and its a pity but i dont think ringrose is as good as we think and certainly no BOD, might even come under pressure in the irish and leinster team

This is just reactionary and ridiculous.

A player has a bad season by his standards and people say "actually he was never as good as we thought"

Ringrose is a proven class player who has had an average season. At his best he's still one of the best 13s around.

Dubinusa

Lol! Ringrose is the best 13 we have. He is absolutely class.

sebdavis

Tommysocks11 wrote: »

Maybe and its a pity but i dont think ringrose is as good as we think and certainly no BOD, might even come under pressure in the irish and leinster team

Of course he is not BOD. BOD is the best Irish player to ever grace the rugby pitch and one of the best in the World. In recent ranking he came 3rd I think of all time?

I doubt anyone alive today will see a player with BOD talent again

Ringrose is an exceptional player and has a bad run of injuries this season and his form has struggled. Similar to Henshaw when he had a bad run. Doesn't make him a bad players

aloooof

sebdavis wrote: »

I doubt anyone alive today will see a player with BOD talent again

Anyone alive?? He's an all-time great, but I'd say the math is against you there.

Burkie1203

Luke was not offside there

Clegg

McGrath wasn't offside and the subsequent Connacht lineout was crooked.

Clegg

That's disastrous stuff from Leinster.

Their heads have completely gone.

Clegg

McGrath is compounding has awful performance against La Rochelle with this.

Clegg

And now Ross Byrne kicks out on the full.

Someone in the 15 needs to get the players together and tell them to calm down