Oldschool wrote:Wasn't too disappointment with the result tbh. SOB was very rusty for example.
I thought if we a got a bonus point we could be happy enough.
Our performance just about deserved the bp and Munster definitely deserved their win without a bp.
Poite unnerved both teams. His handling of the Kearney incident was poor on a few counts.
He should have let the play run it's course and then gone to the TMO. I didn't think it was a Leinster knock on in realtime and it wasn't.
The touch judge was very poor for this one.
But we can't blame the ref because Munster were the better team.
We seem to have lost our pomp and I reckon it's just simply a matter of the new coach taking time to bed in.
Also the Lions tours are bad for Ireland because IMHO we are always treated like second class citizen.
After the last lions tour we were brutal in group stages, scraped into the QF and heroically won the QF.
Then we got lucky, Felipe got injured and Johnny announced his arrival on the HEC stage.
Didn't Felipe get injured and Johnny announce his arrival on the HEC stage before the lions tour 2009 or am I drunker than I think
You need to learn to recognise poetic license when you see it.
As in why spoil a good story with the truth.
You are right tho and we then bombed in 2009/2010, the season following the lions tour.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall who's the greatest player of them all? It is Drico your majesty.
Very disappointing to lose- but Munster were the better more focused team.
Having said that, we could have snatched it there.
After a half where he hardly touched the ball- except to drop it; Lote thundered into the match and could have scored a breakaway try. Rob too- after his embarrassing flap at Earls for the try, played really well in attack. That won't save him from some here though.
Definitely missed BOD, Leo and Jenno. With two out if three of them there, we'd have won.
Also, how did Paulie escape the bin for offside and killing the ball before Madigan's last penno?? Poite bottled that. It was essentially the same as Madser's crime for his yellow.
Finally- enjoyed the atmosphere in the East Terrace at TP- but they are definitely beyond parody as the most one eyed fans in Ireland. Can't wait for the return fixture.
"Oh, I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused!"
Oldschool wrote:Wasn't too disappointment with the result tbh. SOB was very rusty for example.
I thought if we a got a bonus point we could be happy enough.
Our performance just about deserved the bp and Munster definitely deserved their win without a bp.
Poite unnerved both teams. His handling of the Kearney incident was poor on a few counts.
He should have let the play run it's course and then gone to the TMO. I didn't think it was a Leinster knock on in realtime and it wasn't.
The touch judge was very poor for this one.
But we can't blame the ref because Munster were the better team.
We seem to have lost our pomp and I reckon it's just simply a matter of the new coach taking time to bed in.
Also the Lions tours are bad for Ireland because IMHO we are always treated like second class citizen.
After the last lions tour we were brutal in group stages, scraped into the QF and heroically won the QF.
Then we got lucky, Felipe got injured and Johnny announced his arrival on the HEC stage.
Didn't Felipe get injured and Johnny announce his arrival on the HEC stage before the lions tour 2009 or am I drunker than I think
Yep, we had the Heineken Cup won with Johnny starting at 10 before the Lions tour.
Frankly guys the criticism of Kearney for Earl's try is a joke.
Have a look at the video - Kearney was no where near enough to effect any kind of a tackle.
Earls had so much time he stopped, faced the ball and caught it in his bread basket and then turned and scored the try.
We were a man short in the backs with Madigan off and Keatley simply exploited this.
The odds were stacked in Earl's favour and the real criticism would have been had he failed to score.
For what it's worth, yes Kearney is a poor tackler but let's not do him for failing to do the nigh on impossible.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall who's the greatest player of them all? It is Drico your majesty.
artaneboy wrote:
Also, how did Paulie escape the bin for offside and killing the ball before Madigan's last penno?? Poite bottled that. It was essentially the same as Madser's crime for his yellow.
There were about three borderline cardable offenses in a row there. I actually thought Paulie was going to lose it and the game as he started roaring at Poite with an angry head on him. Poite just waved him away. The thing is, if they'd been getting beaten up that would have been the start of another beautiful relationship, but they were winning so he didn't have to lose it.
They were also lucky to avoid a yellow when they infringed cynically 3 times just outside the five metres in the first half. But they were all short of the blatancy required.
Peg Leg wrote:Looked like 15 lads all trying to do their best without a single play in the book.
Exactly, wtf was the game plan tonight?? It mainly seemed to comprise of keeping the ball away from Tuiqiri!
So it wasn't just me who thought thisI think? Glad it wasn't just the booze made me think this
The constant avoidance of Tuiqiri was weird. Even the line break he ran on looked like he intercepted an intended skip pass. I thought Madigan had a pretty poor game but the game was really lost up front. You cannot go to TP and think it's ok to go to the breakdown with 2 or 3 players, you'll be bullied out of it. The first two or three rucks we got completely done, beaten on numbers, didn't seem to use pillars and didn't match Munster for aggression - same thing happened against Glasgow.
was disappointed by our approach...think O'Connor doesnt have a full grip yet of what he wants to do with this team...thought IanMad, Kearney Junior, Reddan/Boss, Toner/McCarthy and front row all played well - disappointed by our backrow we lost the battle there, SOB rusty should be better next week - midfield looked weak also...Os will be hurting after losing at home to Uladh...reckon we'll have to up our game a few notches to get a result and start the campaign off on right foot.
it was a disappointing game overall. thought munster deserved the win. their jubilation at the end showed how much it meant to them. and well done them.
as an aside..I'm not too keen on the league rules change a few years back..where the top four compete for title. it takes the edge off games like this and I think it showed last night - munster were desperate for a morale-boosting win...which they got and I thought we, particularly through oconners subs decisions, just weren't in the same mood. that's not to knock munsters win...they fully deserved it...just saying that the way the league winds up..it's okay to leave out key players...hope for a win but take the loss and make up for it later.
btw..i think it's a bit harsh to blame kearney for earls try..madigan was on a yellow and he was covering a lot of space left behind by that. thought kearneys counter attacking breaks were good...a bit unlucky at the end when, just before he took off down the wing, it was deemed to be a blue knock on.
Well I suppose we had to lose sometime to Munster. If we'ed won, the winning steak would have stretched into a 3rd year. Not good for a healthy rivalry, as witnessed by the empty seats. Maybe a few of the good time charlies will come back to Thomond now. Fair play to the Munster guys, they were worth the win, showed more urgency and I thought Keatley had a fine game apart from the first kick. Showed some steel to recover from that. Any news on POM? He looked totally dazed after he got up.
You know I'm going to lose,
And gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby, I don't want to live FOREVER!
Well done to Munster, deserved their win. I said before the game that I'd be happy to come away with a bonus point, but I never thought I'd be so frustrated to come away with one. Poite and the TJs had very poor games IMO, but I don't think as others have said that he was particularly pro Munster except in one incident where he took about 10 seconds to decide which side to give the scrum to which was poor show by him. He clearly didn't have a clue who was at fault and you could hear the thomand crowd silence in anticipation of his decision because they themselves didn't have a clue which way it would go. Darcy and Rob Kearney had very poor games, bad bad decision making by both. Both players have not played a lot of rugby and its really showing. Reddan has been poor for a few games now, I think the forwards got us enough ball, but the backs were terrible with what they got. Strauss,Cullen and bod were very much missed. Tuquiri looked dangerous when he finally got the ball, but honestly were they trying to avoid him in the first half, no wonder he pulled a hamstring when he finally got the opportunity to do something, he hadn't even warmed up yet?!?
I dont know how many people watch the SA vs NZ game but by god Ireland have a long way to go to even think about getting up to their level on the evidence of this game. If I was Joe Schmidt I'd be seriously worried about what I saw out there, the standard was very very poor. I think there were more linebreaks in the first two minutes of the SH clash than in that whole derby game. O'Connor has much work to do indeed...
Surprised at quite a lot of the comment on this string which is usually so savvy.
IMO the disappointments were from some of our big players and the general lack of precision with the ball in the Green (attacking) Zone for the 2nd or 3rd time this year. In nearly all our big games last year we played with a minority of the ball (ave about 40% possession), but we were clinical, on attack, about taking points on almost every visit to the Green Zone. Passes were in front of players, runners were only given the ball if they had support, runners ran lines to make support easier for team-mates and, above all, Jono orchestrated the shape of our attack, without trying to score from every possession
With that in mind, biggest disappointment from Leinster was performance of Mads, who misplaced kicks throughout the night, restarts, kicks for chasers, kicks received in deep defence. In addition he did not seem to exert the type of pattern control which has become our hall mark in Green Zone. On at least three occasions forwards had taken the ball through 3/4 phases, but it was clear there were no more forwards for support to next ball carrier, yet Mads did not demand the ball to control the next phase, or send the next runner towards where our support was. These are the sort of decisions that have been made by Felipe and Jono for the past 5 seasons and are now taken for granted.
Another disappointment was Mike Ross. Yes, the younger generation of props are coming to the fore, but Rossy could not exert any pressure on Kilcoyne or Cronin last evening and Leinster never got a scrum with tight-head side up.
Jamie did not exert his usual influence with his physicality and one tackle by Duncan Williams, just before he was called ashore, knocked Jamie back 5 metres when he took a ball around the side of a ruck in the Munster 22.
Much of the criticism about RK is misplaced. He makes his tackles when he uses his feet to get to the ball-carrier. He gets flatfooted sometimes when he comes up too fast (Cuthbert last week and Earls last night). He needs to spent 15 minutes tackling moving targets on both shoulders every day, for a week, and he would begin to make all the tackles he needs to. His counter-attacking is also recovering and now MO'C needs to begin to factor in precision to our counter-attacks on kicks to our back-three i.e. where DK, Luke or Ferg should be running and supporting and how they should off-load early enough to stay in support. Opponents are giving us a lot of lick ball, if we could out-flank the chase on one or two occasions, we could become a real threat again from such kicking.
Also consider that much of the criticism of Reddan is misplaced. Forwards are not getting to breakdown to clear out opponents off the ball and around the edges. Last night Coughlan, Ronan & Williams were allowed come in from the side of slow rucks to attack Reddan (or once RK) because we have too many players waiting for a pass in mid-field. We must go back to creating fast ball from breakdowns by getting more players, with more momentum, to rucks.
Toner was a big plus throughout the game and IMO shaded both Ryan and O'Connell, not just in the line-out, but also in his general play.
Glad to see Luke back and looking hungry for action anywhere. He needs game time but his work on upper body has been well worthwhile and he looks stronger than ever.
Based on last night and previous injury announcements, we must now have selection problems for Ospreys at:
Centre: who to pair with Darce if BO'D is out; Ferg went off with apparent rib injury last night; Macken wasn't trusted to play in Thomond; Reid at 12 with Darce at 13?; Darce at 12 with Luke at 13; Goppart at 10 with Mads at 12 and Darce at 13?
Hooker: Strauss has not been seen since Glasgow game; Cronin looked like he did a calf muscle last night, although his darts were the best in a big game for a long while; Dundon to start against a Lions front-row with possibly Tracy on the bench? Risk Strauss with Dundon on the bench?
Half-back: Go with Boss and Mads away from home?; Go with Boss and Goppart with Mads at 12?; Start with Reddan and Mads and attack them, with Boss and Goppart off the bench to close out the game?
Front-row: Playing against a Lions front-five we must have a 2nd row sub. Having watched closely Ospreys, Glasgow, Cardiff and Munster:- would now be very tempted to let McGrath and Ross go at their scrum for 50 mins and replace them with Healy and Moore and Strauss, who all scrummage lower than most front-rows and carry the ball with real menace; an alternative may be McGrath and Moore to start and ask them to work their opponents as hard as they can for 50 mins and then bring Cian and Ross off the bench to explode for the final 30 minutes, Cian in the loose and Ross in the tight.
Finally, the label of Pool 1 in the ERC being the toughest of all groups?
Just plain forgot the option of Kirchner for middle of the field. His chances of playing or featuring from the bench must have improved dramatically after last evening!
I would have to completely disagree with you on Rob Kearney, apart from one run he was poor, granted compared to the high standards we've come to expect. I've seen him smash Sonny Bill Williams out of the way he certainly hasn't been doing that the last few games, as I said he hasnt played a lot of rugby lately, but I'd say he'd be the first to admit he hasn't been playing well. Agree that Cronins darts were good and Toner played well. O'Brien was not used enough to punch holes and we kicked poorly. Agree on Ross aswell, has he lost his mojo? I think I was more dissapointed tho from an Ireland perspective than a Leinster perspective..
Donny B. wrote:Munster were the better team and deserved the win.
Romain Poite on the other hand should be taken out to the woods and LEFT there......
Now I'm not condoning murder for hire, but if there have to be murder for hire, Poite would be an excellent candidate
We were eating al fresco in Limerick City centre, when who comes along but the same Roman- with his sidekick George Clancy and a couple of other reffy looking dudes. From my ear-wigging on their discussions, some of the party were looking for a eatery that served Guinness!
I'm not saying that HE was going to drink Guinness- or alcohol or any sort, but I did wonder at various stages during the evening....
"Oh, I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused!"
Oldschool wrote:Wasn't too disappointment with the result tbh. SOB was very rusty for example.
I thought if we a got a bonus point we could be happy enough.
Our performance just about deserved the bp and Munster definitely deserved their win without a bp.
Poite unnerved both teams. His handling of the Kearney incident was poor on a few counts.
He should have let the play run it's course and then gone to the TMO. I didn't think it was a Leinster knock on in realtime and it wasn't.
The touch judge was very poor for this one.
But we can't blame the ref because Munster were the better team.
We seem to have lost our pomp and I reckon it's just simply a matter of the new coach taking time to bed in.
Also the Lions tours are bad for Ireland because IMHO we are always treated like second class citizen.
After the last lions tour we were brutal in group stages, scraped into the QF and heroically won the QF.
Then we got lucky, Felipe got injured and Johnny announced his arrival on the HEC stage.
Didn't Felipe get injured and Johnny announce his arrival on the HEC stage before the lions tour 2009 or am I drunker than I think
You need to learn to recognise poetic license when you see it.
As in why spoil a good story with the truth.
You are right tho and we then bombed in 2009/2010, the season following the lions tour.
Didn't we reach the semi final of the HEC in 2009/10? Lost to Toulouse in France after a Brock James meltdown in the RDS QF.
Topped the league that season too. Ospreys beat us in the final in the RDS. Didn't win anything but hardly bombed.
Donny B. wrote:Munster were the better team and deserved the win.
Romain Poite on the other hand should be taken out to the woods and LEFT there......
Now I'm not condoning murder for hire, but if there have to be murder for hire, Poite would be an excellent candidate
We were eating al fresco in Limerick City centre, when who comes along but the same Roman- with his sidekick George Clancy and a couple of other reffy looking dudes. From my ear-wigging on their discussions, some of the party were looking for a eatery that served Guinness!
I'm not saying that HE was going to drink Guinness- or alcohol or any sort, but I did wonder at various stages during the evening....
It's for just such occasions that I always carry a ricin cigarette
Donny B. wrote:Munster were the better team and deserved the win.
Romain Poite on the other hand should be taken out to the woods and LEFT there......
Now I'm not condoning murder for hire, but if there have to be murder for hire, Poite would be an excellent candidate
We were eating al fresco in Limerick City centre, when who comes along but the same Roman- with his sidekick George Clancy and a couple of other reffy looking dudes. From my ear-wigging on their discussions, some of the party were looking for a eatery that served Guinness!
I'm not saying that HE was going to drink Guinness- or alcohol or any sort, but I did wonder at various stages during the evening....
It's for just such occasions that I always carry a ricin cigarette
Yeah, couldn't find that on the menu anywhere! Limerick- a gastronomic hub, huh?
"Oh, I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused!"
cwebber82 wrote:
Didn't we reach the semi final of the HEC in 2009/10? Lost to Toulouse in France after a Brock James meltdown in the RDS QF.
Topped the league that season too. Ospreys beat us in the final in the RDS. Didn't win anything but hardly bombed.
You're right, we did. We didn't quite bomb, but we really struggled for lots of the season. I think we'd the second lowest try count in the league that year. It was Cheika's last season and things got a bit stodgy and predictable in attack. We raised things a bit in the H-Cup but we were lucky to get through our group because London Irish got six match points against us but somehow contrived to lose home and away to the Scarlets. But we ground out a lot of results and won three times against Munster, which was gxreat, but the chickens came home to rrost in that final against the 'Spreys.
