MATCH THREAD: Connacht vs Leinster, 19th Sept 2014 19:35, The Sportgroud, TG4

OK, having worked through the five stages of grief, I've finally arrived at acceptance and am ready to talk about it.

I'm attributing the Leinster defeat to a well-executed game plan by Connacht in the second half, coupled with an absolute collapse in on-field decision-making by Leinster which played right into Connacht hands.

Did Leinster deserve to win? No. Were they the better team over 80 minutes? Very possibly. Their dominance in the first half was almost total and the control and precision they exerted was almost exactly what critics of the MOC regime have been bemoaning as absent. Two TMO decisions, both correct by the looks of it, went against us but six inches the other direction on each and we could have turned around 20 points up at half-time instead of 6 and the game was over, but we failed to score when Muldoon was off the park and when Connacht won the scrum after Toner's TMO call, it gave Connacht great heart. Never give a sucker an even break - well Leinster gave Connacht plenty.

molloyjh has questioned what the Leinster coaches said at half time - I can't imagine it was anything more than "keep doing what you're doing", and if Leinster had done so, they'd have gone on to win. But Connacht came out with their tails up in a big way, they absolutely tore into Leinster, shooting up hard and fast every time and Leinster kept persisting with the little pop passes and inside balls that Connacht just devoured. We were getting nowhere fast but kept banging our heads against the wall.

Connacht got over their initial weakness in the set piece, it looked like being a very long night for their scrum but they righted the ship and that was massive. As Connacht gained cohesiveness, Leinster lost theirs; twice in the second half they got a rolling maul going within a couple of metres of the try line and twice they fluffed it. The second one was particularly bad, after doing the hard work they just inexplicably dropped the ball and Naoupu pounced. Twice in the second half, Kearney failed to find touch with hard-won penalties - once might be excusable if kicking into the wind, twice is not. The basic errors were just baffling.

I had said before the match that I didn't like Madigan at 12; normally I love being proved right but not last night, it was depressing to watch him and Gopperth taking turns at making the wrong call. D'Arcy is back; hopefully the 12 jersey is his with Reid providing the competition.

As for Connacht; well they defended like lions but lacked creativity going forward. But for a moment of magic from Marmion, they didn't look like scoring. Matt Healy looks like a real prospect but they need a bit more drive and sparkle in the backs; maybe Aki and Muiliana will bring it. That's not to take anything away from their victory but it's an honest analysis of their night.

So well done Connacht, a famous win, disappointing from Leinster but it was closer to a decent performance than a lot of fans on boards would have you think. A backlash against the Blues and a win against Munster will set things right; I think we'll see them.

Issue? What issue?

Last year we won a consecutive Pro 12 and our 'A' team won the B&I cup. We made it to the Heineken Cup QF and lost to the eventual winners Toulon.

It's the third week into the Pro 12. Leinster haven't got an issue. Are we going to win the Heineken Cup (or as it's now known the Rugby Champions Cup)? I very much doubt it, but that doesn't come down to a coaching issue. That comes down to simply not having the squad calibre that we had a couple of seasons ago.

Leinster rugby is still in a very healthy state, and that will show through when the season reaches its end. And then Sexton will come back and we'll all feel gay about Leinster rugby again.