Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Leinster Fixtures — 2026/27 URC

Round 1 — Saturday, September 26

 Lions v Leinster 

Ellis Park, Johannesburg — KO 12.30 IRE & UK

Round 2 — Saturday, October 3

 Hollywoodbets Sharks v Leinster

 Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban — KO 17.30 IRE & UK

Round 3 — Saturday, October 10

 Leinster v Cardiff

 Laya Arena, Dublin — KO 19.45 IRE & UK

Round 4 — Saturday, October 24 

Leinster v Munster

 Dublin — KO 18.00 IRE & UK

Round 5 — Friday, October 30 C

onnacht v Leinster

 Dexcom Stadium, Galway — KO 19.45 IRE & UK

Round 6 — Friday, December 4 

Ospreys v Leinster

 St. Helen’s, Swansea — KO 19.45 IRE & UK

Round 7 — Saturday, December 19 

Leinster v Glasgow Warrior

s Laya Arena, Dublin — KO 17.30 IRE & UK

Round 8 — Sunday, December 27 

Munster v Leinster 

Thomond Park, Limerick — KO 19.45 IRE & UK

Round 9 — Saturday, January 2 

Leinster v Ulster

 Laya Arena, Dublin — KO 19.45 IRE & UK

Round 10 — Saturday, January 23 

Leinster v Dragons

 Laya Arena, Dublin — KO 17.30 IRE & UK

Round 11 — Saturday, January 30 

Leinster v Vodacom Bull

s Laya Arena, Dublin — KO 17.30 IRE & UK

Round 12 — Saturday, February 27 

Edinburgh v Leinster

 Hive Stadium, Edinburgh — KO 19.45 IRE & UK

Round 13 — Saturday, March 20

 Leinster v Benetton 

Laya Arena, Dublin — KO 19.45 IRE & UK

Round 14 — Friday, March 26 

Scarlets v Leinster

 Parc Y Scarlets, Llanelli — KO 19.45 IRE & UK

Round 15 — Saturday, April 17 

Leinster v Connacht 

Laya Arena, Dublin — KO 17.45 IRE & UK

Round 16 — Friday, April 23 

Ulster v Leinster 

Affidea Stadium, Belfast — KO 19.45 IRE & UK

Round 17 — Saturday, May 8 

Leinster v DHL Stormers 

Laya Arena, Dublin — KO 19.45 IRE & UK

Round 18 — Saturday, May 15 

Zebre Parma v Leinster

 Stadio Lanfranchi, Parma — KO 17.30 IRE & UK

Probably better time to play Sharks. The rugby championship would be only finishing around this time, you'd imagine their main guys won't be back so soon

hmmm interesting dynamic coming into this weekend from a (more) neutral perspective perhaps. Bordeaux are quite strongly fancied to win, but Leinster have played very well the past few weeks & look to be peaking at just the right juncture….. hard to call tbh, but you'd feel Leinster's pack will have to get the better of the Bordeaux pack to win, as the Bordeaux backline are sensational . On paper this looks likely so I think it's gonna be bloody close …… Bordeaux are still the likely winners but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Leinster turn them over & break their duck.

It's gonna be a cracking game by the looks of things….

I don't think we need to deviate too much from what we've done well.

Hammer up and disrupt rucks.

If we can manufacture slow ruck ball and keep an organised line for a few phases then they don't get to kick on their terms.

I do hope Keenan, TOB (if fit) and Reiko bring their A game aerially. We need to be commanding there. Easiest way to create the unstructure that UBB love is an unclaimed contestable kick.

I did notice Leinster the last few games don't have the last man back claiming the contestable kicks. Rather the wing tracking back is the one to try claim. Initially I thought it was because we were treating Sam with kid gloves against Toulon but we've used it more times since.

It's clever. It means the winger tracking back no longer has to give "access" to the attacking chaser as they're the ones contesting. It also means that in the event the ball get's batted back there is another body sweeping to clean up.

I listened to a couple of podcasts today and all the so called experts had Furlong starting for what he offers around the field.

Am I missing something others are seeing? I would have Clarkson for definite starting and would probably even have Slimani on the bench. Furlong has been poor all season and I wouldn’t trust him to even get through the game without having to come off with his calf.

I think there is hope in Leinster's last couple of performances, and Bordeaux have not looked perfect.

Bielle-Biarrey is fine and they're optimistic about Adam Coleman, so looks like they'll be close to full strength. And presumably UBB fans will massively outnumber Leinster.

But I'm relatively optimistic.

It's all about cutting out the silly errors on Saturday. So many of Bordeaux's tries come off either knock-ons, fumbles etc or off the resulting set pieces from those errors.

I ho early think of we can do that and keep it relatively tight up front, we have a bloody good chance.

Then Jimmy O'Brien misses out.

he finished the Lions game on the right wing anyway.

I don’t think he has the aerial game or kicking game of Osborne. I think he’s very similar to Keenan in many ways in the fact he’s a great footballer and elusive runner and always used to think he should be able to fit in at 15 for both Leinster and Ireland there but not sure he’s ever really impressed there like Osborne has. I think it’s because he’s not as good as the other two under the ball.

The European cup knockout game pricing structure is out of Leinster's hands to be fair, but it really shouldn't be.

If there was a revenue split, and Leinster were left in charge of filling the stadium, shifting enough tickets to sell out should always have been the priority for QFs/SFs to give the games real atmosphere. But that would likely require enough lead time (a few weeks) and also quite a few promotional tickets.

But something like 10euro tickets with a valid student card would do wonders for selling tickets, getting people to games who usually won't go because of the price, and improving the atmosphere for everyone.

That and giving out X number of free tickets to the clubs to give to minis and their parents, or to schools to give to schools players.

And a few thousand 20euro promotional tickets for the general public to round it out.