URC Week 5

Ben Bailey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937061#Comment_123937061

Agreed, but since Snyman is a known quantity & will offload where others can't, we need to more aware. Often, his offloads go between 2 supporting players who are concentrating on spacing and scanning and not where the ball is.

mr_edge_to_you

Great job by a side with a lot of young and inexperienced players.

Podge_irl

Not super sure why Harry got MOTM. Would have given it to Soroka myself.

Clegg

Decent performance considering all of the players unavailable through test call ups and injury.

First half was a bit frustrating. A lot of good attacking play ruined by leaky defence. But we tightened up a lot in the second half and pressured Zebre to death.

Some good performances from Soroka, Harry Byrne and Scott Penny. Thought Slimani and Cahir held up the scrum very well and it's so encouraging that we can be down 8 front rows yet still have a dominant set piece.

Very happy with the contribution of JJ Kenny and Hugo McLoughlin. They're both quick and linked up well in attack. Former looked solid in his positioning at 15 and the latter took his trys well.

Ben Bailey

Bookies spread looking good now

ersatz

Nice crop of debutantes for Leinster and a lovely pass from Gabriel in the lead to Connors try.

fitz

I know it was a very young side , but we still conceded 26 points and a TBP to Zebre. Remind me what Neinaber is doing again?

Clegg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937166#Comment_123937166

The media needs a narrative. Being serious, Ian Madigan has always been a supporter of Byrne's and was touting him as the eventual Sexton replacement since about 2021.

Byrne has played well since returning, but there's no way he deserved motm against Sharks a few weeks ago. Our pack demolished theirs and it should have went to a forward. Harry was one of the better players today too, but I would have went with Soroka.

KaneToad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937216#Comment_123937216

Harry had a strong game but I agree that Soroka would have been a more deserving MOTM.

With a special mention for Cahir.

RichieRich_89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937200#Comment_123937200

I don't think he'd be responsible for the maul defence.

bingobango12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937200#Comment_123937200

Last week I agree with you. This week was almost all maul tries which he has nothing to do with. Also a bunch of kids out there as you mentioned. Would wonder how much exposure the likes of C Mangan, Cahair, B Sheehan even have with the squad.

fitz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937264#Comment_123937264

Maul defense is not part of the defense coach's remit?

bingobango12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937362#Comment_123937362

I actually don’t know truth be told. Would have thought it more McBrydes area. Could be completely wrong though.

fitz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937216#Comment_123937216

Breaking News: Former number 10 gives MOTM to a 10 who had a good game. More at 11.

fitz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937375#Comment_123937375

Its also part of a trend though…just checked, and we have conceded now 128 points in 5 games. And we're still seeing some of the defensive problems from last season.

fitz

Connacht going well. Lancaster was such a great appointment for them.

bingobango12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937410#Comment_123937410

No I absolutely agree with you. Massive issues are there defensively. Just think today is a slight outlier with all the kids and how some of the tries went in. In general though, yes, big problems is both attack and defense.

bilston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937425#Comment_123937425

They're 1 from 4 though, so they'll need to start turning performances into results soon. That said they've played and lost narrowly to some good teams so far in the Bulls and Munster.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937200#Comment_123937200

Zebre have never scored more than 8 points against us in Dublin before, and that's our smallest win margin over them since 2015.

Yes obviously the callow nature of the side should be considered, and we did score 50 points, but we've often put out well teams against them and beaten them by cricket scores.

bilston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123938672#Comment_123938672

Zebre are a much better team now than what they were

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123939094#Comment_123939094

Agreed

fitz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123938206#Comment_123938206

I think they've already shown an additional focus and toughness...once things bed in a bit more, I can see results going their way. As you point out, they haven't had that easy a start, and that cancelled game definitely affected them.

Tigerandahalf

3 of the Welsh sides prop up the bottom of the table. All the poor decisions or lack of decisive action when Wales were going well are coming home to bite.

Zebre will continue to improve. They have a good supply from the Italy u20s who have had very competitive teams from the last few years. The trick will be to hang on to the players when they put in a very good season or two.

I fancy the Bulls to top the table. They have a strong scrum and with Pollard and Le Roux they have experienced top class players to pull them through tighter gamee. Their no. 8 Hannekom is out injured and once he comes back that pack will be a lot more dynamic.

If they have the home draw all the way they will be hard to stop.

I wonder will Cheslin Kolbe be brought back into the SA club set up at some stage. There has been a trend lately of some of the top players coming back to the clubs.

CatFromHue

I was looking at the table yesterday and Ospreys, Scarlets, and Dragons have only 1 win between the 3 of them so far this season. With Ospreys playing the Dragons I reckoned that would change. The Ospreys and Dragons drew!

The Scarlets are on 0 points, they haven't even got a bonus point. Granted 1 of their games was cancelled so they've only played 4 but that's still terrible reading.

bilston

The form of the Welsh is terrible, offset a little bit by Cardiff who have been really good which is great for the league. It's maybe an indication of why they need to drop to 3 sides. The remaining 3 would surely strengthen and be more competitive.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123934627#Comment_123934627

If you want to review something you have to try and click back a tiny bit and hope for the best. It wouldn't kill them to have +10sec, -10sec, +30sec, -30sec buttons.

Other sports like MotoGP had online streaming perfected over ten years ago, there is no excuse for being this crap.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940816#Comment_123940816

Oh they had this last year. It worked perfectly. You could go back 30 sec easy on the live broadcast then go back to live just to recheck something.

They have utterly broken it with this new platform.