Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

yes McGrath has not been at peak for quite a while but Foley had a pretty poor showing in SA which explains the choice. JGP is on fire and will likely play 65/70 minutes v Toulouse. Next year Murphy has moves on and I feel will do well in Connaught as Devine whilst exciting doesn’t come across as a natural 9. Foley will get more chances to prove his talent and Gunne is a year older with a clearer path to the top job over years ahead.

I thought McGrath was decent enough yesterday, his passing has always been ropey but overall he was fine and certainly won’t be dropped.

JOB had a stormer, he’s very like Mack Hansen in his ability to find the ball which is probably why AF is such a fan.

Larmour continues to impress and great to see TOB back looking sharp.

The difference between the fluidity of leinsters attack when Gibson Park is playing vs Mcgrath is night ad day. Not sure Mcgrath starts for any of the other provinces and probably doenst make the bench for any of them either on current form. We really need to start finding ways to give Gunne and Prendergast more minutes with better starting XV's then just throwing them into the fire down in SA. Think every single poor game ive seen from leinster this season its been Mcgrath at 9

Thought Leinster were missing a trick not getting marmion. Only leaving Connacht as just a one year deal on the table. Could have offered a 2 year deal and we would be in a better position now with an IQ option

Disagree. He's just so readable.

Watching the game back was just so disheartening to watch how much Luke is struggling with his passing.

I started analysing his passing from a Good, Average or Bad grading which is/ was used by analysts but the URC player doesn't allow 10s scrubbing on desktop. Can only skip a minute at a time so I stopped after 20 minutes or so.

Suffice to say it wasn't good viewing. I counted maybe 20 passes and it was about 8 good, 8 average and 2 bad.

His average passes are maddening viewing because he will rarely have one in a play. They tend to compound and the move just breaks down.

I'd even be looking at the passes that Ross received before making a judgement on his game. Ospreys pressed hard and Ross was frequently having to check his run due to the quality of pass he received.

Simply put - you cannot play a successful ball in hand game against a rush D with a poor ball out of the ruck. When roughly half the balls you are getting from your 9 are sub par - it's not going to go well.

I feel for Ross here because you can see him trying to move it and make things happen. He was standing wider at times to entice the defenders on to him but the passes from Luke die on their arse at about 10m so he got caught.

Yes it was probably overplaying in this instance but when Leinster knocked on after the restart and Ospreys scored off the try. McGrath gave a terrible pass to Ross. It was a basic right to left pass with Ross standing deep wanting to ship the ball to a forward pod for some yards and a good position to exit. However, Luke takes a step, inviting the press D up outside Ross and still hits his inside shoulder so Ross has to check for the tip on to Kelleher who overplays here and probably should have taken the messy ball to deck. But it looks like Leinster had ID'd this as a tactic as Tipuric shoots up extremely quickly and leaves the hole. In this case he is successful but if Kellehers pass goes to hand Baird is through the half gap and we know he can take those. Maddening lack of basics from Luke here.

I appreciate I don't know as much as a professional coach. And there have been numerous revered coaches who back Luke due to metrics that we as fans just don't see.

But at this point I cannot see why we don't back a player with a consistently quick and accurate pass

But at this point I cannot see why we don't back a player with a consistently quick and accurate pass

Who?

Like, I don't know how many schoolboy/academy SHs have been talked about in the 12 or so years that McGrath has been a senior player, but it's a big number and not one of them has gone on to become a better player than him.

At this point in time McGrath has the slowest and least accurate pass of any squad member of Leinster.

Gunne and Foley both have flaws in their game (that this posters opinion is largely down to lack of game time) but both have noticeably zippier and more accurate passes than McGrath. As does Murphy but obviously he is going to Connacht. 9 as a specialist position requires game time game time and more game time.

Goodness do I hope Gunne makes a proper push next season. I had high hopes for Foley this year as 2 seasons ago his performances were promising. But this season has been a write off.

We haven't exactly been blessed with top class 9s in Leinster over the years but given we've produced internationals in literally every one of the other 14 positions since McGrath made his debut, there probably is coaching deficiencies at age grade that need looking at.

Paddy Patterson is a prime example of a player excelling in Munster and what might have been. Poor kid has had back to back ACL injuries and may never be the player he was. But when he had a run of games (8 starts in the URC last season, 14 appearances total including 2 in Europe) he was unquestionably playing better than McGrath

The decision making around 9's is confusing.

Patterson looks good and was promising under age but was let go

Cooney has shown to be a good quality player

Luke is the only 9 we have produced and kept in the pro era!

considering the production in all other positions its hard to understand