Connacht vs Leinster Sportsground Saturday December 2nd 7.35 live on Rte

dublinman1990

I'm still in disbelief over the result of that match. It was a close one. I thought Leinster were going to lose it altogether when they were trying to go against Connacht within the first 15 minutes.

From that point on; if Leinster were seen to be losing their grip in the match; it was going to be the main driving force for their overall downfall against Connacht. However I was wrong.

As soon as Frawley went over with the BP try to win it against Connacht. That feeling sort of lead to having a confused outcome in my head in the end. Leinster did not feel like they had any confidence to win this match from the very start.

They were very sloppy in defence at crucial points of the match.

Connacht had a lot of issues with keeping their defence in check as well against Leinster.

When Connacht had scored those 3 amazing tries to keep it to a 3 point gap. It felt like they had a lot of luck in their team from the get-go.

But a cruel twist of fate resulted in Connacht losing their grip in the whole match to let the opposing side win it in the end. It was heart in the mouth stuff. Although it wasn't a perfect game to make it go that way. It was a haphazard outcome which lead to some bizarre outcomes for both sides as the final whistle blew for FT.

What an insane game of rugby.

StormForce13

That's two weeks in a row that we've been refereed by Buzzer and two weeks in a row that he has made a complete Horlicks of the scrums.

Both weekends, Leinster were the team that lost out to his interpretations. Where was Brace this evening anyway?

bingobango12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121447121#Comment_121447121

Top of the table, usual starters have played two games, bonus point victory with nobody that will start next week bar Henshaw, more players at the World Cup than any other club. I think it’s going fine.

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121447304#Comment_121447304

Could it be that refs are copping on to Leinster's dark arts at scrum time.

Certainly last week, I felt Porter got away with driving in at an angle on a few scrums.

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121447339#Comment_121447339

I thought they got away with a clear wheel last week and that got called this week. So, this could be true.

Dubinusa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121447053#Comment_121447053

In my opinion, he's a Dragons level coach. Horrendous. Goodman is not much better. Stu! Come back! Please!

clsmooth

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121447339#Comment_121447339

I thought Archer in particular got away with a few barn door penalties last week.

clsmooth

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121447332#Comment_121447332

The results have gone their way but performances have been poor. The last 2 weeks especially have been littered with inaccuracy that you normally wouldn’t associate with Leinster over the last few years no matter who they put out on the pitch.

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121447444#Comment_121447444

He probably did but so did Porter which is the point I was making.

kita99

I want to know that why refree was changed Brace→Batsby (He was not good). Was it lenster's request? I don't believe such a thing.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121447494#Comment_121447494

Archer got away with some belly flops that sumo wrestlers would have been proud of.

Busby had an idea in his head of how Porter scrummed, and totally forgot he was up against an opponent who scrums as well.

Porter needs to learn that when he has his opponent beaten, he's needs to reassess, twist his hips, and push back against the curve. He's a powerful scrummager but had never given a tight head their wings, because once he turns in, he continues.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121447846#Comment_121447846

It wasn't leinsters request. No team would ever be allowed do that

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121447851#Comment_121447851

Porter was driving in at an angle and Busby didn't penalise him even though he spoke to him about it, which again, is the point I was making.

Hippo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121448086#Comment_121448086

Injured I believe. LO is correct, no referee would be changed at a team's request, it's an absurd suggestion.

Another ropey performance from Leinster, that excellent final move for the winning try failed to cover up the lack of accuracy both in set piece and broken play. So much work to be done to get to the level required.

Ribs1234

Why do all the scrums wheel clockwise now a days? Never the other way. Suggests all teams are driving diagonally into the opposition tighthead and the same side as the referee (to look like a penalty. Loosehead (Porter) is going to look like he is driving diagonally if the opposition front row take a step to the left as they set. This is how LaRochelle got their penalty try against Leinster (that changed the match) in the final last year, and how NZ negated our scrum advantage.

pickarooney

Very possible. This is the kind of thing McBride or whoever needs to be on top of. No reason Leinster can't adapt to the way the game is reffed. It's exasperating watching the props look baffled time after time when decisions go against them when the opposition always seems to have figured it out.

RichieRich_89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121449141#Comment_121449141

The scrum has always been more likely to wheel that way. Imagine you have a bird's eye view. Both looseheads have less opposing them than the tightheads, so they're more likely to move forward.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121449141#Comment_121449141

It's not so much these days but all time. And it isn't that teams are not scrummaging straight or diagonally into tight head.

StormForce13

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121447339#Comment_121447339

It could be.

It could also be that Buzzer hasn't got much of a clue (as comment #190 - also by you - might suggest!).

Lord Palmerston

To me - for the second week in a row Leinster were poor, and ground out the win, but I did feel the talk of Connacht being unlucky was a bit overblown too.

The three tries they scored (similar to Munster's sole try the week before) came from line breaks in their own half of the field, where the aggression and disjointed nature of Leinster's defensive line caused a big hole, and it was then brilliantly executed.

But what teams haven't done to Leinster in recent weeks at all is be able to break them down and really apply pressure to their defence in extended sequences. Connacht had only 43% possession and 34% territory on Saturday night, and similar to when Munster got into Leinster's half the previous week, at those points Leinster's defence looked particularly stifling.

I'd be confident that they'll tighten up the shooters and gaps in the defence to prevent giving us those big line breaks, but hopefully without losing the aggression in line speed they've shown so far.

Bigger concern for Leinster so far is the lack of cohesion in attack and the problems with the set piece.

Shelflife

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121448086#Comment_121448086

Brace was injured.

Simple as that.