Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Yet so many fans taking joy out of Leinster losing without any foresight as to the impact that has on Irish rugby.

Lads as poor as he was, Jordie Barrett not starting is a bigger joke than whether Sam should have or not.

All this talk of Ross or Frawley starting or whatever impact they would when we chose to start one of the best players in the world on the bench, when he was brought in to play these very games. I’m not saying he should have played 10. He was our best player for 31 minutes today and it’s utter incompetence that he didn’t start.

I don’t think there is anyone other than the coaching ticket that could look at that and say it was the right call.

In 10 years time, when we have hopefully gotten over this hoodoo of bottling it and manage to win a couple of more Champions Cups, I’ll still be saying ‘they left Jordie f*cking Barrett on the bench’

"Leinster is so far ahead"

Are they though given what we've seen once again today?

A lot of fans have given up, and for good reason.

The Irish team is in decline, the Leinster team also and the new imports don’t get them over the line.

Take midfield for example. It’s obvious now in 2025 that Ringrose /Aki and henshaw are not going to be good enough to compete at RWC 2027, but we know bar injury that nobody else is getting a chance between now and then.

I know well what it means but it implies that the other choice, Ross, would have done a better job knowing how SP played.

Ross is 30 years old and I can't remember a time he has ever shown he can take over a game when most players are not playing well.

Ross has missed plenty of kicks over the years - missed two conversions in the Dublin final - and given his lack of athleticism I don't think he even makes the key tackles Sam missed.

We've also seen how teams defend against Ross and it would have made the attack blunter - it was dumb passing and handling errors that hurt today.

Even in hindsight, there is nothing that makes me feel Ross was the better option to start.

You absolutely can blame selection.

When you have signed one of the best players in the world in an attempt to win the Champions Cup, and you leave him on the bench for the semi final - that is utterly shocking.

The management made that decision. There wasn't a player on the park today that is on Barrett's level. And our management left him on the bench.

That is not on the players. That is on the management.

What an utter waste of time signing Jordie Barrett was. And that is on the management for not playing him in the games he was signed to play in.

Genuinely don't know how you can defend that decision.

Funny how you mention Aki and Ringrose when Munster have done f*ck all about it producing a centre for the last 30 years.

All the other provinces need to get their own houses in order instead of wanting Leinster to be dragged down to the sh*tshows they find themselves in.

Imagine whinging about the plight of Irish rugby while wishing ill on the only province trying to keep it alive. It's like turkey's voting for Christmas and I'll never understand it.

This Leinster side head to head with NH was far better on paper, they just didn't play up to their level while NH did - fair play to them.

The people who have been blowing the most smoke about the greatness of this Leinster side are those who seem to spend more time moaning about Leinster's perceived advantages than supporting their own team.

Such an illogical decision on every level. Why the **** did they bother bringing him in in the first place? I mean they didn't even put him on at h/t when Leinster were in trouble.

What a waste. I won't hold my breath on Leo Cullen or anyone else being held to account for their decisions here. With the resources at their disposal this season someone's head has to roll.

This is rubbish.

It’s not “blowing smoke” to suggest this Leinster side have underachieved in the last number of seasons, regardless of what province you support.

I daresay the vast majority of Leinster fans feel the same way.

Interesting to see a fair amount of anger at Leo on social media. Its necessary to separate the schadenfruede noise from signal but he's got away with leading underperforming teams for a long time, partly by having a rotating cast of coaches coming and going under him. But it will be hard to skate on this one as they've recruited both players and ninebar specifically to overcome the kind of thing that happened this weekend and the constant is Leo. I agree that leaving Barrett on the bench at kickoff was really dumb, when you've got a guy like that available it's insane not to use him in a knockout game. Any coach on earth would bite your hand off to coach Leinster.

Coaches and players should both be held accountable. Leinsters much heralded defence has been picked apart 2 weeks in a row. Different players but playing the same system.