Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Lancaster has won far far more than Nienaber has with Leinster. It's not even close, either.

We may have stagnated towards the end of his time as coach, that's a fair argument, but we haven't come out of said stagnation with Nienaber. And in many departments, we've gotten worse.

I'm not suggesting we should have kept Lancaster. But I am saying that - at the time and now - Nienaber was and is not the solution. As backed up by results, or lack thereof.

Who is, I don't know. You'll need a better rugby brain than mine to figure that one out.

The Champions Cup final we won under Lancaster was a tryless penalty fest.

It’s forgotten now but Racing lost Dan Carter an hour before the game and Pat Lambie five minutes after the kickoff, and were still a narrow DG away from forcing extra time.

It was a great day but we had all the luck which seemed to desert us in later years and not much in the way of free-flowing rugby.

No I didn't ignore. I simply was making the point that Lesinter had some solid success overall under Lancaster and played very attractive rugby in doing so.

You in fact are the one doing the ignoring. To quote yourself:

"We were losers in the final Lancaster years and failed to convert dominant regular seasons into any trophies. Glory days they weren't. We at least won something again under Nienaber" thus you there ignoring the trophies Leinster did win under Lancaster.  

No question what you saw there is very fair. The point I have been making is simply one that under Lancaster we did have some solid success which is certainly attested to by 5 trophies in 7 years and we played some very attractive rugby in doing so. Never claimed that those days were some golden era. In contrast in the time Nienaber has been at Leinster the entertainment factor in watching Leinster has IMHO significantly fallen away and as for winning trophies I have seen nothing to suggest there will be an uptick. Hopefully Lesinter will manage to pull off back to back league titles which would be great but time will tell. My own personal view point is if you offered me a choice between Lancaster and Nienaber I would take Lancaster.

Clarkson has been better and more reliable than Furlong all year.

I thought it was funny Donnacha O'Callaghan was having a go at Cullen for not starting Furlong in the final

No, I haven't. The initial point was Lancaster's final years at Leinster were a failure. I haven't once talked about the time beforehand because they were actual successes. What I have a problem with is people laying blame at Nienaber's feet for our defeats in recent years.

Our squad is not as strong as it was under Lancaster, yet he lives a charmed life where very little criticism come his way for our successive losses in league and Champions Cup knock out games.

I have not laid all the blame for our defeats the last few years specifically at Nienabers feet although obviously he has to take a share. What I have been saying in that regard is that the entertainment value of the rugby under Nienaber has significantly fallen away compared to Lancaster with no sign of an uptick in success.

As I said above in the last post if you actually wanted to be specific you could have talked about 2022 and 2023, Lancaster's final 2 years but you haven't and again ignore Lancaster's success' at Leinster which outside those final 2 seasons were very solid while also playing a brand of rugby that was enjoyable to watch.

Again and again, I've stated that I've been specifically talking about Lancaster's final seasons at Leinster, yet you continually ignore that point. And I don't give a damn that the rugby was entertaining, as I've also stated previously. It was losing rugby and we were shown up for it through our results.

If you wanted to be specific you would have talked about 2022 and 2023 but again and again you don't and again and again you ignore the success that Lancaster did have at Leinster. We played really enjoyable rugby under Lancaster and achieved a very solid level of success. Under Nienaber the rugby we play has fallen away significantly from an entertainment standpoint IMHO and there is no sign of an uptick in our success levels.

I was absolutely specific about the period I was discussing. You continue to ignore that and also ignore that I've been very complimentary towards the style of rugby we played under Lancaster and that he helped usher in a great generation of Leinster and Ireland players.

What I'm critical of is the fact he was the overseer of multiple failures in knockout rugby with the strongest squad we've ever had.

I've been thinking the same thing for a while now. The link between province and the fan base has been broken. I think the real damage was done after last season defeat to Northampton. We had no trouble selling out the Aviva and then 60,000+ tickets at Croker on short notice.

The nature of that no show performance and probably the awful defeat last weekend will damage the province so much going forward.

No you have not been specific about the period you were discussing. If you said 2022 and 2023 his last 2 seasons that would have been specific and valid to point at but you didn't say that and ignored the very solid success Lancaster enjoyed with Leinster which included winning the league in 2021. I didn't say you were or were not complimentary about Lancaster in regards to the style of rugby Leinster played under him nor the amount of terrific players who came through under him so no idea why you bring that up.

Its perfectly valid to point out that he was the main man when we lost the 2022 and 2023 Champions Cup Finals no disagreement there from me. My main point has always simply been we played rugby under Lancaster that was very enjoyable to watch and overall we had solid success during his 7 years at Leinster winning 5 trophies. I am not a fan of Nienaber as I see no sign of an uptick in success under him and the entertainment value of the rugby under Nienaber has significantly declined IMHO. I hope I am wrong going forward in terms of Leinster being more successful under Nienaber but I don't see it.

Ni was very specific, that I was stalking about Lancaster's final years at Leinster. You're wilfully ignoring that to try and score points. On ignore you go.

At the Aviva now.

Attendance is pathetic.