Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Took a knock to his shoulder. Should hopefully be fine.

I'm choosing to be positive for next week. In last year's final Leinster cut La Rochelle apart with some excellent set piece strike moves. They did the exact same to Leicester this evening so it looks like we have that area of the game humming nicely.

In December we did an excellent job of stopping their big carriers and stalling their forward momentum. Stormers don't have a defensive line as aggressively fast as ours, but still forced the La Rochelle carriers into numerous errors.

Ah sure I'll be cheering Northampton tomorrow. It's a rivalry.

I didn't give a sh#te that Munster won the URC last year. I was more peed off at the arrogance of Leo not picking the A team in the semi when there was a trophy to win. Once Leinster were out though I didn't care who won...but in fairness to the Munster team, they were terrific winning it the hard way...away, away, away.

Main reason I'll cheer Northampton is for the type of clowns that 'support' ROG. Really they are an anyone but Leinster sect, which is a compliment.

One thing our southern cousins do well is bitterness, and I fully expect them to have to swallow a lot of it tomorrow before hitching their wagons to a French team in the Aviva as their own team will be gone.

Plus ca change...

I thought taking Porter off early worked well today. Not sure he was doing anything wrong but ref's sure like to ping him a lot. Healy did well so I hope that was just precautionary.

Bordeaux look scarier than LaR.

Great post

Personally think I’d start McCarthy and Jenkins in the second row together for LAR game. Molony didn’t do enough for me today and we’ll need the extra height and muscle in the pack. I think Conan’s also put his hand up for a start.

It's a bit like a replay of the rivalry between the two provinces between about 2006 and 2010. Munster aren't good enough to challenge Leinster themselves nowadays, so some Munster fans get behind La Rochelle, seeing them as a sort of substitute for Munster in their heyday, with them playing a similar sort of style to what Munster favoured back then - big emphasis on the maul and breakdown. And of course with O'Gara at the helm.

I didn't see Jackman's analys, but that would be my impression too. There was one case in the win over La Rochelle in Dec where I think he could have got an intercept if he stayed wider as he came up.

Coming up and in is just his instinct. Look at what he does for the Maitland try just before half time in the Final against Saracens in 2019 (3:47 in this video):

Get Andy Farrell into the dressing room on Thursday to tell the lads the match will be a piece of piss.

We'll win by 30.

Why? Do Liverpool fans cheers for Man United in the champions league? Rival fans won't support their rival teams. The weird part is Leinster fans feeling offended that Munster fans won't row in behind Leinster. Self entitled nonsense that exists in no other sport that everyone will row in behind their rivals for the sake of Ireland. As a munster fan I hope Leinster get stuffed next week and booted out of Europe.

I don't see any logic in starting Connors. If anything, you want him coming off the bench and let him tackle his little heart out for the last 25 minutes. LAR are generally slow starters but build into a game. You want someone like Connors coming on to help deal with the inevitable onslaught.

The other side of that is that Conan's carrying is likely to be less effective if he comes on in the second half. I'd have Conan starting and utilise his carrying strength as much as possible in the first half. Try to do maximum damage early on, then be prepared to batten down the hatches with Connors for the final third.

By the same logic, I'd start with Harry and bring him Ross (assuming he's fit) to close out the game. LAR are happy to let you build a lead early and they back themselves to wear you down. They really come at you in the second half and you have to be ready to withstand that.

Leinster live rent free in the heads of many Munster fans. I don't give a sh1t if they shout for another team vs Leinster but turning up at matches 100s of Kms from home in Toulouse & LAR jerseys is taking it to pathological levels