Leinster v La Rochelle match thread

Dubinusa

Was on a double shift, so I missed it.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122017719#Comment_122017719

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122017823#Comment_122017823

Toner nailed him once and sent him flying back…..Toner was only young then

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122018560#Comment_122018560

Still can't quite get my head around the fact he wasn't in the 23 for the final last year.

Ben Bailey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122018090#Comment_122018090

Chapeau

Rootsblower

Great performance from Leinster can’t wait for Croker.

Ben Bailey

Magnanimous in defeat, post game comments from O'Gara

“Très dur,” were the first words uttered by Ronan O’Gara at his post-match press conference. “Très, très dur.” Very, very hard, he emphasised. But although evidently downbeat after his side’s two-year reign in the Champions Cup came to a crushingly decisive end, he was suitably magnanimous.

“It’s easier to move on,” said O’Gara, whatever about accepting it. “If it’s a close one, you always have a lot more regrets but if you have a small bit of cop on, you could see that the dominant team was in blue.

“They were shaper to everything and they made it difficult for us and their rush defence worked well and in the first 70, I don’t think we won a breakdown penalty bar the kick-off that we took.”

O’Gara highlighted Ryan Baird’s try within four minutes of the restart to cancel out La Rochelle’s maul try in first-half overtime as the key turning point.

“We were quite happy going in just 10 points down at half-time considering the way the game unfolded. But to give them a soft score, obviously they executed well, but it was quite soft for them to go out to 17 again. It killed our momentum and we were chasing the game from that.

“And then the last 30, we were inaccurate in a lot of our basics. There is no place for that in quarter-finals, so we must get better.”

molloyjh

There was nothing on the tele last night so I stuck on the LAR game again. I’ve seen comments on Jenkins being anonymous. Didn’t think that was the case yesterday and on 3rd viewing I’m fairly sure that was one of his best performances in a blue shirt. Some cracking tackles, absolutely melted guys at rucks a few times, was the main target in the line out while he was on and gave JGP some really good, clean ball.

But one of the things that really stood out on rewatch was his work rate. The number of rucks that he was pillar at was impressive. He may not have actually done anything, but when you see the likes of Skelton walking around the place all game and Jenkins is there again and again filling those spaces you start to appreciate it more. We moved them side to side a lot in that game, be it through skip passes or cross fields. It sucked all the energy from them. And Jenkins just kept going.

Sure he gave up a few pens, but one or two of those were harsh and/or against how Dickson had previously officiated similar incidents. The one where he turned it over but didn’t release in the tackle (correct call) was just minutes after Botia had won LAR a penalty for doing the exact same thing. When Doris questioned Dickson on it, Dickson said that Botia had to release to get his hands on the ball. That exact logic would have meant Jenkins was legal, but Dickson seemed to forget his own logic there only minutes later.

Former Former Former

Yeah Jenkins was quality.

Watching it live, my MOTM would have been Larmour and rewatching it last night confirmed that, I don't know if he's ever had a more complete game. Yeah, he didn't burn as many defenders as you'd expect but he was rock solid and worked his ass off. And Teddy Thomas was a non-entity against him.

I think there's a fair argument that JGP is the best scrum-half-who's-not-Dupont in the world right now, he's absolutely unplayable.

Frawley was excellent too, especially for a man dropped in at the last minute into his third-best position.

My only note of caution is about Ross Byrne - yes, he was excellent, but his ability to play front-foot rugby behind a dominant pack has never been in question. It's when we're going backwards that the gap to Sexton always became more apparent.

It's also a lovely feeling to use the phrase "dominant pack" in a good way after a Leinster-LAR game.

I thought Dickson managed the game pretty well, thought he missed a few niggly bits (mainly from Botia) but nothing major and got the big calls right, for the most part the game flowed well.

As for LAR, I think they may need to rethink their policy of packing the forwards with as many giant lads as they can. That was probably the biggest pack Leinster have ever picked, and LAR still had 60kg on us. But when the power game is negated, where do you go?

pickarooney

Larmour was excellent going forward and in defence. It was a much more mature performance than we often see from him in terms of pragmatic decision making. The La Rochelle half-backs did manage to catch him out of position a number of times with some extremely accurate line kicking so there's still a work-on there.

I wouldn't say Milne really repaid the faith the coaches had in picking him over Healy but hopefully this kind of tough test will bring him on a bit at scrum time.

CMcsporty

The most enjoyable performances from Irish teams always need the fly hack and chase

Glorious left-footed hoof

https://twitter.com/i/status/1779811009638592693

ironingbored

According to ESPN (🤔), Jenkins was our 2nd best tackler with 12/1 (as did Doris 12/2). Top was Kelleher with 14/1 which is astonishing seeing as he came on in the 58' minute!

Interestingly, our front row had 8 passes vs their zero.

Interested Observer

Kelleher was incredible when he came on. Pure aggression.

Buer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122021777#Comment_122021777

I rewatched it yesterday and Jenkins was really good. Watching live, the obvious moments were the silly penalty concessions but he absolutely emptied the tank around the park in his 50 minutes. Top tackler, was our go to line out jumper (think he took 4 including an important one while stretching on his own 5m line after a great Iribaren kick) and got his hands on the ball repeatedly. For context, McCarthy and Baird got their hands on the ball 15 and 13 times in 80 minutes whilst Jenkins managed to do so 11 times in his 50 minutes so he was every bit as busy as others.

I don't think he has played that well for Leinster before. Hopefully he maintains this level for the rest of the season.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122018560#Comment_122018560

Baird is another huge difference. At the end of last season he was a young extremely athletic lock/backrow hybrid who was firmly a substitute and not close to challenging for a starting spot when all were fit.

This year he has shown he has shown he is an international quality six and has forced a starting Lion, who is in great form himself, to sit on the bench with very little questioning or surprise from anyone. Take out experience and leadership qualities and he is in my opinion head and shoulders Ireland's best option at six now. From what I heard he even ran the lineout from six at the weekend that functioned very well.

Both him and McCarthy made a big difference and given their age and experience they're only scratching the surface of their potential. One other difference was Osbourne's clearances in the second half - something Leinster struggled with in both finals, especially last year, but the 22 year old handled fantastically, with the rest of his game also being good.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122020005#Comment_122020005

Feel that is a bit of hindsight and somewhat ignoring the context.

McCarthy had only played 9 games all season last year for a total of 305 minutes (so less than 4 games total).

His lack of game time is even more pronounced when you look at the lead up to the final - in the four month before he only played a total 35 minutes, coming on as a sub in two games surrounded by Leinster's weakened URC side.

They could have still risked him and still had in the 23 for the final but McCarthy clearly wasn't training to the right level and/or hitting his fitness numbers. With Ryan going off and he was on the bench instead of Jenkins, he would have been asked to play 61 minutes against that LAR physicality which all evidence point to him not being ready for.

The timing of McCarthy's injury was just incredibly unfortunate and if he'd come back even a few week earlier I'd be confident he'd have been in the 23. Given how tight the final was, I don't see it being much of a miss not to have included him, given the risk vs reward difference of other option on the bench.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122022632#Comment_122022632

Oh it's absolutely hindsight, I just find it a bit mad. He was on the bench for the RWC QF not long after! If I had a time machine I'd be selecting him over Moloney rather than Jenkins, but it's 100% a hindsight call.

crisco10

I feel there was misdirection in the Leicester game, every left footed exit was taken by Lowe, even when Leicester were ruthlessly charging the angle for his clearance which lead to a few poor exits with underwhelming distance.

Fast forward a week, and suddenly the left footed exits are all being taken by Osbourne who is relatively unmarked.

Just felt like it was a little surprise held back by the Leinster management/team.

BoardsMember

We were excellent in the game on Saturday. But we got some luck too. Osborne was blocked down in the middle of the pitch in the first half, another day that could be run in for a try. LAR were pinged when our scrum was under pressure in the corner in first half - for a push on JGP - looked pretty harsh, could easily have been a turnover and try.

We thoroughly deserved the win, and it wasn't even close in the end, I'm just conscious that it could have been tighter/more nerve wracking. I know there's a view that you make your own luck, but we had our fair share of it the other day, whereas in the last 2 finals it felt like we had zero luck.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122022642#Comment_122022642

It wasn't a question of talent to play, it was fitness. It was Stephen's Day when he last played the minutes he would have needed to if he came on for Ryan in the final.

He was out with an ankle injury so it takes a while to get back in shape, especially a player of his size and requirements on the pitch.

For the RWC he had a full camp to get back to the required level.

AdamD

Lowe's kick dead being called back for scrum advantage seemed pretty mental at the time, big swing in our favour. On rewatch, the ref was giving long scrum advantages all game.

crisco10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122022701#Comment_122022701

Think we were insanely lucky twice in that passage. As you say, to call back advantage, when so often you see it being called as soon as the ball leaves his boot (not under pressure either), then the call for "Pushing" JGP from resulting scrum was generous.

Former Former Former

Referee got the dead ball call right IMO, I remember the same thing happening in an Ulster game with Nigel Owens a few years ago.

The "pushing" call was bizarre though.

This is it

I thought the dead ball call was lucky, especially when you look at calls later where he called advantage over when the ball was kicked, not when the ball landed

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122022779#Comment_122022779

When the ball is kicked the ref usually has a very good sense of where the ball is going and whether it will be an advantage to the team kicking before it lands.

This is it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122022813#Comment_122022813

So it was kicked and he didn't call it advantage over, because it might go dead?

When they call advantage over as it leaves the boot, they don't know if the kicking team or the opposition will catch it, how is that different?

I'm not saying it was right or wrong I suppose, it's just not something I've seen before for knock on advantage.

rudiger2.0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122022697#Comment_122022697

Think that had as much to do with La Rochelle's tactics. They didn't go near Lowe's wing. Every single kick-off was to Leinster's right wing thus negating Lowe's exit option.

I said it to my french friend during the game and he was like 'of course they wouldn't kick to Lowe.' He highly regarded in France anyway.

RichieRich_89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122022737#Comment_122022737

In the last 16 game the La Rochelle scrumhalf was all over the Stormers scrumhalf for that final series of scrums, jostling and pushing him before he fed the ball. Maybe Leinster had brought this to the attention of the ref pre-game. There was a clear nudge with the leg from Kerr-Barlow on JGP anyway.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122022832#Comment_122022832

I'd presume the ref knew the wind and saw when it left his foot that it could go dead so held off saying it was over. Just like a player that goes for a dink over the top and it gos straight to an opponent 10 yards ahead of the kicker in a dangerous position or a player slices the ball and it goes straight into touch.

I've definitely seen refs say advantage is over, as they had the opportunity to kick, but it isn't the first time I've seen them wait to see if the result is an obvious disadvantage for the kicking team, like it going dead, before calling advantage over.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122022832#Comment_122022832

he called advantage over AFTER the kick, not before. There was no advantage from the kick, therefore there was no tactical or positional advantage accruing from the kick. He was right to go back for the leinster scrum.