In his debut? Nah he came off the bench against maybe NZ but was only called up cause the U20s were physically nearby.
Great to see. He's a talent!
I though HB tried to force things a bit. He wasn't bad, by any means, he didn't look calm to me.
I thought Harry Byrne was pretty good today. I thought he looked good on defense especially.
Minor knock a few phases previously he was walking it off/stretching but handed the tee over.
3rd world cup warm up against Samoa in Bayonne August 26th
https://www.instagram.com/p/CsOFWlrBgC9/?hl=en
Yayy, let's break a few players just before the world cup!
You need a 3rd game and you wont and shouldnt just play other 6 nations sides in the warm ups
And at least they're playing an actual team who are in the World Cup and therefore don't want injuries of their own, rather than .... *checks wikipedia* Bayonne?!?
The fact that we're playing one fewer warm up matches than usual and scheduling a warm up match in France two weeks before the tournament against Samoa (prep for the Tonga game perhaps?) gives me hope that we're actually putting some thought into our preparation for the world cup and are trying to do things differently.
What could possibly go wrong!?
If I’m Farrell, i want to talk to Ringrose, Byrne and JGP and ask why the penalty wasn’t kicked? And then what was the plan off the lineout? And finally why didn’t they kick the drop goal when they had the ball dead centre on the 22?
I would not want to see those kinds of decisions in a big ireland game. Its probably a combo of all three players but i’d really want to know what was the process that went into that.
It was a very hard penalty and Byrne had already missed a couple of kicks (albeit touchline conversions).
At the time I felt it was the right call to go to the corner, although in hindsight there were still 3, maybe 4 mins left on the clock, so worst case scenario is a missed kick and get possession back on the halfway line with 2 mins left, so maybe they should have had a shot, but I wouldn't criticise the decision either as I thought it was sound enough at the time.
The bigger issue is Aalatoa's clearout technique which is irrelevant to Ireland.
The time factor is why they should definitely have gone for it. Worst case you retain possession in roughly the same part of the field.
I thought that one was marginal. Its a difficult kick but you get the ball back. I get passing that up although i don’t think its the right decision.
Off the lineout though, they work it midfield and they have the ball dead centre on the 22. That’s drop goal territory. Tighten up and set up a platform for a kick, but then suddenly the ball starts going wide. That’s the one that I’d really want to know about.
Before the lineout, did no one say that they want a drop goal from that general area? Did byrne not shout for the ball? Did JGP just ignore him?
I don't think Leinster's loss should really impact what goes on with Ireland too much. We've seen that Farrell has very much his own ideas about how Ireland should play and isn't afraid to base his selection policies around that even if it does annoy some people.
FWIW I don't think Ireland would be as passive at contesting for turnovers as Leinster were. I feel like Beirne and Doris are given a lot of leeway to hunt for those steals, whereas Leinster prefer to keep as many players in the line as possible.
I think Byrne could be our starting ten so knowing why he passed up two shots to win it is something i really need to know. Likewise, JGP… did it cross his mind that that was a good area for a drop goal?
if sexton is there this is moot, but he might not be.
Leinster appeared terrified to contest a lineout until it was too late today. Don't think Ireland would have given up so much free ball today.
This is true. In the most recent Six Nations, James Ryan stole more lineout ball than any other player. I think it was 6?
Not sure Leinster even jumped to contest the La Rochelle lineout after he went off.
Yes, I would agree on the DG (or non DG), in fact during that pattern of play Byrne took the ball into contact himself twice I think, but both occasions were out wide, maybe he just wanted a better position.
Going back to last week, Crowley went for it early, it was almost like he didn't want to dwell on it, sometimes the longer you leave the harder it becomes. Maybe he just had a better position?
Generally I agree with Clegg that today shouldn't impact Ireland all that much. La Rochelle have beaten Leinster 3 years in a row and it hasn't affected Ireland, in fact Ireland have got better in that time.
The mental toll is more a worry, some of the Leinster players were distraught at the end. But that might just increase the hunger. Hopefully they all just go away on holiday for 2 or 3 weeks (obviosuly the Munster lads still have a huge game to go) and just forget about Rugby for a while and then are ready to go again whenever camp starts.
Camp Farrell seems like a good place to be, so I think it will be all good.
They had the ball dead centre on the 22. They could have made the platform there.
I’d say Crowley took it early because if you miss you get it back.
The composure they showed in that situation was commendable and encouraging as they could be our 9/10 post world cup at some point.
I went back and had a look at this as I thought the same, but as far as I could make out, he carried it once and hit 2 rucks. It’s not what you want your 10 doing in that situation.
(If I missed one, and there were 2 carries, it’s worth mentioning he had 3 for the entire game).
And I’m almost sure there were at least 2-3 rucks that were in a very similar position to where Crowley got his from.
Byrne should have been Ireland and Leinster's undisputed #1 for a number of years now.
When you're second fiddle these situations will catch up with you.
Over Sexton? I dunno about that .
Can't understand the reasoning for it either. You have some excellent defensive lineout jumpers in that squad, Ryan arguably the best in the business currently. Even a single lift around Skelton would've been something.
Byrne and JGP both had poor games and made poor decisions in a high pressure game and it cost Leinster the tournament
That should absolutely feed back to Farrell and his selection decisions for the RWC
The fact that Sexton is still penciled in the starting 10 position is risky enough without relying on a flaky Ross Byrne as his replacement.
The lack of leadership after Ryan went off is definitely concerning. Someone needed to calm the heads, and no seemed to step up. Perhaps Bryne should've stepped in to take the clearing kicks, given Lowe and JGP were struggling.
There are plenty of leaders available to Andy Farrell. Leinster seem to be lacking a bit of that, they can't handle the pressure when the game is tight. Byrne had a chance to show leadership in those closing minutes and he shirked that 100%
Contrast that with Jack Crowley's performance last week
We'll see on Saturday, if Munster can beat Stormers away to win the URC.
Could be interesting conversations, but Munster need to overcome the Stormers first
Byrne isn't going to be dropped based on one game when he had been good all year. And I say that as a munster fan.
Obviously the Irish team is mostly leinster, but the players from other provinces that make the Irish team (beirne, o mahony, Henderson, hansen, aki) are all leaders. And that's clearly something leinster missed yesterday after Ryan went off.
Its the big difference between leinster and Ireland, the amount of leaders on the pitch at any time.
And o mahony playing six for ireland allows Doris to play 8 which seems to be his best position.
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