Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

got ticket in north end for 33 that’s decent value for a semi.
however I’m over the aviva it’s been 2 long seasons of it.
the match a couple of years ago against LAR that sold out was I think under leinsters pricing and they nailed it. We got family tickets for 59 euro I think. 4 of us brought our 4 sons front row of the south upper for 30 quid adult and child.

"fairly abysmal experience of watching Leinster these days".

I've wondered if it's just me getting old, or what the reason is but I agree with that sentiment.

I'm hopeful moving back to the RDS will help but I would be lying to say I enjoy going to Leinster matches these days. I wonder have Leinster (and Irish rugby) have lost their identity.

The new stadium announcer grates, the Mike McCarthy pre match "Leinster clap" and now the mid match call/response thing that they do in South Africa. Then the Irish rugby and their Sweet Caroline nonsense.

I would have never claimed Leinster's atmosphere was ever amazing, but at least it wasn't attempted manufactured cringe.

Its only in Leinster ( aka D4 ) that an analogy using avocado toast would be common parlance …..

There are many many reasons as to why it’s not a sell out and for sure different people identify with their own thoughts on it ….cost……ennui…dislike of coaching (Nienaber especially) style…. unlikeable nature of Aviva…..Bank Holiday …..over exposure of Rugby ( seems endless following on from The Lions Tour) …… arrival of Summer , etc

It’s not a very difficult choice . Go or don’t go , watch it or don’t watch it …..there is more to life.

Cost is definitely an issue for this game.

I think 33 quid for a basic ticket is great value tbh, especially when you look at UK ticket prices for games usually.

But for anyone outside of Dublin, it's 33 plus travel, plus food and drinks at a minimum. That's after a couple of non-ST games where the costs were the same, and right after ST renewal. Over the course of March-now, rugby costs have been higher than normal, so cumulatively, cost can be an issue.

Personally, I haven't missed a game because of it, but I absolutely hate the Aviva and have not enjoyed the last two seasons there, so I can also understand people not buying tickets because they're also sick of it.

Am liking the squad for tomorrow.

Am feeling like a big game at 11 is coming for Reiko.

Happy with that.

that’s the XV I would have picked and Porter’s return is huge, provided he’s actually fit. The bench isn’t stocked with forwards but given the injuries and Deegan suspension it is what it is.

Great to see Prendergast back in the 23. I think Osborne is fortunate and both JOB and Frawley can be disappointed to lose out to him.

Where are people at with Osborne currently? He filled in ok at 15, but the general consensus is he doesn’t have the pace to be elite in that position. And yet his performances in the centre have been pretty poor. Tector has shown a lot more promise at 12 this season.

Osborne had a great Six Nations playing fullback. Looked a test standard player for sure. Not been as good since coming back in at 12, which you could potentially put down to him being shoved around different positions. Still doesn't excuse some of the individual mistakes he's making.

He's far better player than either Cooney or Tector, let's be real here. I'd continue with him at centre above anyone else tbh. Just needs to find form again.

Osborne has 4 appearances at 12 so far this season. The first of which only came after the 6 nations.

I think it's fair to say he needs to bed into it and I'm sure he will.

With Osborne the expectations are naturally high. He's a regular international and European level player.

With Tector the expectations are naturally lower. Anything performance above average (which he has consistently delivered in fairness) is par the course as he doesn't have the same body of work

He's played there 4 times since the 6 Nations; ironically his first perfomance, against the Scarlets, was probably his best game at 12, I thought he was decent in that game. The three subsequent performances have been poor.

I'm happy Henshaw got the deserved call to start this weekend, but wouldn't be writing off Osborne at all. He's still just 24 years old; people sometimes forget that because of just how experienced he is. There's plenty of scope for him to keep improving.

I think there will be in and around 40k there which would be comparable to last season where the attendance was 42k.