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

Clegg

Bit sick of seeing people call for coaches to be sacked after a loss.

Massive spoiled brat energy.

Dubinusa

I think it was a dreadful couple of weeks. Nothing accomplished bar viewing more pack set piece screw ups. If nothing, McBryde was shown for his efforts. No need to provide "evidence".

Foley is a lesser 9 than Murphy. Yet, Murphy is out the door. Foley will not amount to anything except being at Hugh O'Sullivan level. For effort all around.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122071535#Comment_122071535

If they were planning on sending some players home after the first match anyway I think they could and should have gone stronger against the Lions.

SaoPaulo41

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122071660#Comment_122071660

If we go without a trophy again this year , then yes he should go, especially with the players and resources he has available. It would be a massive under achievement

FrannoFan

People who were going on about Leinster's central contracts this is the reality. You don't really control your players.

I know they could choose to bring them down but they would lose them for some other key games.

Still second and Glasgow have to travel to SA now and could well drop points.

If we had to travel for a final it wouldn't be the end of the world (and Munster could be the one who ends up top)

We are in a good position having given key players a two week rest before potentially 5 knock out games to come

Rugbyf565

Some of the eejits on Leinsterfans actually thought they had a 50/50 chance of winning today with that team

Rugbyf565

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122071366#Comment_122071366

I think the new direction Leinster is taking is becoming more clear. They’ve cut the academy intake in half. They’ve also a smaller player pool for the first team and it’s easier to predict the starters. They’ve brought in two world class international players in Snyman and Barrett. Leo is building a formidable, resilient first team that’s capable of beating any team in Europe.

durthacht

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072063#Comment_122072063

Isn't every club reducing their squad size? As far as I recall the URC teams decided a couple of years ago to reduce the number of games played in international windows so they could reduce their squads and therefore reduce their costs.

They’ve cut the academy intake in half.

Leinster signed 8 new players into the academy last year, which I think does not equal cutting their intake in half. I don't ever recall Leinster signing 16 first year apprentices into the academy, but I could be wrong.

SheepSeeker

Poor two weeks, bit of an insult to those fans who travelled. Feel a bit gutted for them.

ersatz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072226#Comment_122072226

Leinster fans who saw back to back losses can tell their grandkids about it.😂

Former Former Former

what did people expect from this game?

From the day the fixtures were announced, this tour was going to be a write off if we were still in Europe. And here we are.

Leinster will be judged by winning or losing Europe and nothing else. I’m 100% in agreement with throwing these games if it increases our chances in Europe even marginally.

Akrasia

Bulls threw their HCup semi final to focus on Munster the week later, it didn't work, Leinster threw their URC semi final to focus on the HCup final last year. That didn't work either.

Winning is important. Trying to win is important. Sending weaker teams out knowing that they're going to be beaten badly is bad for morale and an insult to the fans.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122071674#Comment_122071674

Is “no need to provide evidence” just you admitting that you have none? 😂😂

Was McNryde even still in SA or did he fly home with the other coach’s?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072341#Comment_122072341

Leinster didn’t “threw their URC semi final”, they put a team which could have won the game and lost to a last minute drop goal, had a player injured in first few minutes so the impact player form bench was on within 5 mins

Call it excuses or whatever but they didn’t throw the game, that Leinster team or similar had beaten Munster many times before, it didn’t work on the day and that’s rugby

Leinster decision was not to risk front line player picking up an injury and focus on Europe, Leo and Co got no praise when they won the league back to back for season so of course they will focus on Europe

FrannoFan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072341#Comment_122072341

Sending weakened teams out in knock out rugby is a bad idea

Rotating heavily used players to keep them fresh for knock out rugby is a good idea

The SA tour is a development exercise for Leinster. Young coaches brought along, academy guys get a taste of real pro rugby and a terrific chance to see SA.

We are in the semi final of Europe, we are in a strong position in the URC.

johnh6767

100% couldn’t agree more, it’s challenging when you’re going to have to deal with the business end of 2 competitions simultaneously

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072063#Comment_122072063

You can have roughly 20 max in the academy paid for by irfu and leinster have always been close to that. They haven't been cutting there.

i think all provinces are going to cut squads a bit because they don't play games during international breaks.

Former Former Former

And since any knock-out matches won't be at home anyway, why would we be killing ourselves to get a home draw?

pickarooney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072421#Comment_122072421

How's that? Aren't all knockout games at the home of the higher seeded team?

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072669#Comment_122072669

I'mp pretty sure home games go to higher seeds. They're gambling they can hold on to top spot or at least second place so they can have home matches. Glasgow are away to Bulls and Lions next, so there's a good chance they will drop points.

It's a gamble. It might pay off, it might not. I appreciate that's they're prioritising the Champions Cup. And it might cost them a home final in the URC.

If they finish second and Glasgow get knocked out, they would still get the final at home. So there are lots of ways for everything to work out in the ideal case scenario.

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072421#Comment_122072421

sorry, that wasn’t clear at all

The RDS isn’t available nor is the Aviva so it would be Nowlan Park or else cede home advantage completely

Clontarf_Jazz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072702#Comment_122072702

I was stupidly going to suggest Semple Stadium in Thurles as it has a 49k capacity but that's in Munster of course

Exclamation Marc

I wonder if they would move the final date to facilitate a preferable stadium.

As no tickets/countries have been chosen yet, it might be unlikely but not impossible.

Exclamation Marc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072341#Comment_122072341

Leinster didn't "throw" the semi final game. We put out a strong team and were beaten. And we weren't far off winning it.

If you think the below line-up is from a club "throwing" a game, you're deluded.

15. Jimmy O’Brien (69)
14. Tommy O’Brien (23)
13. Robbie Henshaw (76)
12. Charlie Ngatai (14)
11. Dave Kearney (185)
10. Harry Byrne (50)
9. Luke McGrath (194) 
1. Michael Milne (31)
2. Rónan Kelleher (45)
3. Michael Ala’alatoa (46)
4. Ryan Baird (52)
5. Jason Jenkins (16)
6. Max Deegan (97)
7. Will Connors (35)
8. Jack Conan (131)

16. John McKee (19)
17. Cian Healy (263)
18. Thomas Clarkson (26)
19. Joe McCarthy (18)
20. Josh van der Flier (126)
21. Nick McCarthy (61)
22. Ciarán Frawley (66)
23. Liam Turner (19)

Clegg

That wasn't Leinster's strongest side, but we had sent similar sides to Thomond in previously and came out with the win.

Cullen and Lancaster were in the bad position of having to rest and rotate for the Champions Cup final the week after. Just didn't work out on the day.

Exclamation Marc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072818#Comment_122072818

Of course, I'm not suggesting it was the strongest team but it was a team that was good enough to win with only a handful of the front-line missing (who probably needed the rest). The suggestion it was thrown though is just ludicrous.

Clegg

I agree with you on that. It's a side that easily could have won and almost did. A few trys disallowed and a drop goal conceded in the final minutes.

Calling it an insult to the fans for sending out weakened sides doesn't wash either. It's all done to give Leinster the best chance of ultimately winning on both fronts. Everyone knows the score.

Sangre

what did people expect from this game?

From the day the fixtures were announced, this tour was going to be a write off if we were still in Europe. And here we are.

Leinster will be judged by winning or losing Europe and nothing else. I’m 100% in agreement with throwing these games if it increases our chances in Europe even marginally

I agree with your conclusion. But we keep trying the same thing (ie completely rest frontlines) and it hasnt worked to date. Europe is the priority but throwing the rest of the squad under the bus clearly hasn’t helped chances in Europe to date. So we do we keep doing it?

I don’t care about these games. Leinster has earned right to not prioritise these games but I question affect on wider squad

Maybe Leo had no choice because of rest periods though.

degsie

This duel competition approach needs a serious overview as it's killing the game of rugby. Lousy games due to sacrificial match-ups is not a sustainable model as it pi**es off the fans who are after-all the lifeblood of any club.

Rugbyf565

““We certainly played with a different level of intensity on the day. Obviously Brian [O'Driscoll] was there but Rocky [Elsom] was like a man amongst boys, bowling people up. He was someone who was in the right place at the right time for the right team.

“But if you look back at the team, the names we had, Shane Horgan, Brian O’Driscoll, Leo Cullen, they’re all leaders. Shane Jennings, Chris Whitaker, you can go through the whole list of players. It was a team that was full of really experienced and real quality players.”

https://www.the42.ie/simon-keogh-leinster-munster-croke-park-6365298-Apr2024/

Sometimes I feel like today’s Leinster team is missing a lot of leaders, feels like there’s a massive leadership absence whenever James Ryan doesn’t play. Hopefully this will change as more leadership figures step up in the coming years. We‘ve already shown we can beat LAR without Ryan this year.

hold my beer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072226#Comment_122072226

Id agree somewhat, but Leinster have shown in the past that they send depleted squads down to SA. People travelling knew this and travelled anyway