Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XI (The Finals Countdown)

Looking at that replay Jimmy is definetly gone, eyes immediatly shot up once hit.

Clegg wrote: »

How are we sorted for the Christmas Derby matches? Looking back on previous years there's going to be lots of squad rotation involved. But we seem to have found ourselves in the midst of an injury crisis especially in the backs. On top of the confirmed long term injuries JOB is probably out for a few weeks now and I wouldn't be surprised if Ringrose is unavailable for at least the Munster game.

The coaches have done a brilliant job integrating younger players into the side. They slot in seamlessly, perform well and we see no dip in squad performance. The competition for places has raised the level of a lot of players actually. But even with that we might be scraping the bottom of the barrel for backs now. Just too many injuries.

I suspect the two home games will take priority as prep for Europe.

Win those and a LBP in TP would be seen as a good return.

Didn't scrutinise this game as closely as previous weeks as it just wasn't as entertaining a spectacle as we've been spoiled with this season.

I have to start the write up by giving Northampton full credit. They were absolutely up for this. They played like a team pissed off at how much they had lost and how written off they had been for this game. The stubbornness of their defence and the utter desire to make a mess of our attacking structure must be commended.

The score line is not indicative of the gulf in class between the teams, but it is a very accurate showing of how the day went I feel.

Let's get the excuses out of the way nice and early :pac:

In fairness I think there is significant mitigation that compounded our performance on Saturday. Losing 2 of our starting 15 the day of the game is obviously not ideal. Needing to go from a 6-2 split to a 5-3 will obviously be disruptive to the preparations.

On top of losing 2 of the spine of the team pre match, losing an additional member of that spine in Jimmy was another issue. This was also a game he would have thrived in. Plenty of chance to play off him and the conditions would have played into his tactical kicking nous.

And that brings me on to the conditions. They were deceptively bad. I was in the area on Saturday and the wind was both strong and erratic. Really would have had a big effect on our kicking game and also on our launch plays. Throwing to the tail wasn't really an option.

On the topic of our lineouts, Kelleher had a decent display that he can use to build his confidence. Throws were largely uncontested to the front/ middle but mostly went to hand. Blot on the copy was the 5m defensive lineout that Northampton disrupted and got a 5m scrum from. This was a poorly executed 4 man lineout from Leinster. They tried enticing Saints to the middle but they stayed at the front and got in front of them. Throw looked fine in truth.

Tracy then had one really disappointing overthrow on their 5m line. Looking back the execution was all over the place. Jumper wasn't in the air in time and even if they were, the ball sailed over. No way of an outsider knowing if Tracy got yippy and threw too early of if there was a total breakdown in the line.

I think Leinster and Robin McBryde can absolutely feel aggrieved with the officiating at scrum time. Referee penalising for early push was borderline at best. Saints twigged this early and didn't take the strain on bind. Refs at European level should be wiser to this. Porter also made mince meat of their loosehead on 46 minutes when Healy was pinged for his driving angle. One of those 50/50s.

Side note: we can add Ryan Baird chatting **** to their 9 on the last scrum of the day while he was bound to the reasons why I think he's class ha.

Individually it's hard to look past Baird as the player of the match. 18 carries is 8 more than the nearest forward in Murphy and 2 more than Robbie who had a very emphatic 16 and was a close second in the best players on the pitch. Bairds handling did let him down at times which was disappointing as we were in very positive positions.

Josh was busy as ever with 14 tackles but major blot on his copy book for 2 of their tries. He got his spacing completely wrong on the first one and was too tight to Robbie and much too far from Rhys and had no one in front of him. There was no real vulnerability out wide so it was a bad decision from him.

Second try he was put in a less tenable position due to Saints getting the shove on the scrum (incidentally the same linesman that pinged Healy for his driving angle was happy to let the Saints TH pull Healy in and drive straight across, frustrating non call) either way Josh is much too slow out of the scrum having been stuck in with Northamptons shove. He can only get a passive tackle on the 9 who took his try extremely well.

There's a case that JGP should have been more decisive here and read that Josh was still in the scrum. JGP is an excellent defender and more than capable of making a big hit on their 9, especially as he ran sideways initially, but Saints had 2 runners off 9 in a good position. Gotta place the blame on Josh here, a meandering 9 off setpiece is absolute bread and butter for an openside, should be nailing him.

Overall there was a lot of doom and gloom by some quarters - to be expected on here frankly. But overall I'm none too worried. On to the interpros!

EDIT: I should add, the shoulder to the head has been discussed to death so I wont further it too much. I will say that I was disappointed with the ex pros either being at pain to condone it or actively avoid doing it. It was a shoulder to the head. Shoulders to the head should be sanctioned. That is all

Doris and Sexton both on a week off too. I imagine we'll have a fairly weakened side in that case. Not that we'd have selected a full strength team regardless. James Lowe remains on the no update list which is a little concerning.

I would hope we get to see something along the lines of Dooley, Kelleher, Porter, Toner, Ryan, Murphy, Leavy, Conan, McGrath, Byrne, Kearney, Frawley, Henshaw, Kelleher, Keenan.

I think we'll potentially go a little weaker than that though. Could see ROL back in the team after a few weeks in the cold with Henshaw having a break. Ryan and Porter are also guys who are as likely to be out of the team as in it.

pickarooney wrote: »

What's the news on Larmour?

Is Scott Penney fit? If so can I put a tenner on him to score?

Larmour is out for another ~4 weeks i think. It was given as 12 weeks and that was mid October

Best guess would be:

Dooley Tracey Bent
Toner Fardy
Murphy Conan Leavy

McGrath RByrne
Frawley ROL
Kearney Silvester Kelleher

Sheehan, Byrne, Clarkson, Connors, Penny, Osbourne, Hawkshaw, Baird

Well we might be a bit screwed in the back 3 so...

thomond2006 wrote: »

Silvester, Silvester, Silvester, Silvester, Silvester, Silvester, Silvester, Silvester, Silvester, Silvester, Silvester, Silvester, Silvester and Silvester are injured.

I'm off to search some bins outside the UCD training ground to find out if AN Other is injured.

Can you also please show the proper respect to AN Other by using a Capital O.

AN Other with a capital O is AN others cousin.... He's also injured