Time to go MOC

[desperado]

Our pack generally performs reasonably well and we seem to be able to grind out hard fought, pack driven victories a la English Premiership (thanks MOC!!) but when we come up against a fast defensive line like Connacht or Glasgow we seem utterly incapable of taking different lines of attack from depth with pace that might make a breakthrough, a la Joe Schmidt. The 'big' performances last season, Northhampton excepted, were solid, ground out wins, such as Ospreys and Castre away (we got a few lucky breaks in France too). Don't see MOC going until after this season and with our lack of penetration in the backs there is every chance we might end up with nothing this year. Glasgow or Ulster to win League, Toulon (again!!) for the Heino (gonna keep calling it that!). We should try to keep it at home. Jacko, Leo & Girv sounds a good team to me. Nothing wrong with our As.

That's a fairly drastic re-writing of history! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDzj-DgM6BQ

Also the idea that we were able to "make breakthroughs" against Glasgow in Joes time is fairly inaccurate also. In fact in Joes last 2 seasons our games against Glasgow, both home and away, were slogfests. There is an element of truth though to the fast defensive line bit. We've struggled with that for a few years now, with both Joe and MOC at the helm. That's why the Glasgow games have been such arm wrestles. They practically lived offside on our ball and got in our faces quickly. I don't understand why we don't utilise the little chip in behind a bit more. And I was saying that 2/3 years ago too. If the defensive line is up quickly there is inevitably space in behind that line. Take advantage of the once or twice and the line speed will reduce.

For fast defensive lines read living offside. Offside line/hindmost foot not policed by Lacey at all last week. Doesn't make it any easier.

[Kinger83]

I don't understand why we don't utilise the little chip in behind a bit more. And I was saying that 2/3 years ago too. If the defensive line is up quickly there is inevitably space in behind that line. Take advantage of the once or twice and the line speed will reduce.

We utilised that to good effect against the Ospreys at home in Joe's final season. Conway got a hat-trick that game if I recall correctly. Took us until the second half before we started to use that tactic though!

From memory we used long grubbers to expose the Ospreys wingers, no? I'm more talking about little chip kicks in behind an upcoming defensive line. The purpose being to make that defensive line think twice about coming up so quickly which would give us more time and space.

It was chips over the top that led to three of the tries. Though one was from Conway in the first half so yeah, my memory is a bit hazy! The chip from Sexton that led to the final try by Healy was particularly nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr0LF8ooz6c

[molloyjh]

It was chips over the top that led to three of the tries. Though one was from Conway in the first half so yeah, my memory is a bit hazy! The chip from Sexton that led to the final try by Healy was particularly nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr0LF8ooz6c

Yeah the first 2 there were grubbers. The last one for Healys try was a chip in behind though. Still it's something I feel we could do more of. To AdamKs point re the risk, it's not much different to a garryowen is it? As long as the kick itself is properly chased you may not get possession back but you should gain territory. Also a well executed kick like that will land just in behind the defensive line and should be well in front of the covering full-back which should reduce the possibility of counter attacks.

I wouldn't advocate it as a go-to move for getting scores on the board, just to get defenses to think twice about shooting up. We've seen how effective we can be when we have time and space and how limited we can be without. We should be looking at every opportunity to give ourselves the space that we need. If a defensive line is coming up hard put one or two in to make them think twice. If they slow their line speed then there's no need for it again until their line speed goes back up.

[neiliog93]

It's a risk but if defences are allowed to live offside as well as rushing up, we need to do it more often. We just get knocked backwards/lose the ball otherwise. Doing it to regather "on the full" rather than letting it bounce is preferable to minimise risk. Or put a good, challengable-for Garryowen up in the air and send forth Mr Kearney. Very Argentina in '07 but it might have to be done.

[bails]

Firstly let's acknowledge a bonus point win versus Cardiff at home this evening

However it was loose, sloppy, unprofessional and not a performance of any quality. I'd love to hear how anyone can defend today

Has Jimmy Goppeth's had 4 games as vas as that in a row before
Tonight he was poor in the extreme , he kicks the fall away poorly too much

Don't bother waking m,,

[simonokeeffe]

Gopperths selection let alone status as an 80 minute player is growing baffling, am starting to wonder if its some form of asserting his authority

taking our best forward (Ruddock) off before getting a bonus point was madness

[Morf]

[Donny B.]

Gopperths selection let alone status as an 80 minute player is growing baffling, am starting to wonder if its some form of asserting his authority

taking our best forward (Ruddock) off before getting a bonus point was madness

I said it last week, MOC seems to have a selective amnesia when it comes to Jimmy's performances. His error-rate keeps killing any momentum we generate. The problem is Madigan's form is fairly lousy too and he doesn't seem to rate Marsh at all, despite his excellent performances for the A team. I'd still probably go for a Madigan-D'Arcy-Macken midfield next week, if only to show Gopperth he can't keep playing shite and still start every week. Won't hold my breath though.

[ceemec]

Pretty accurate, Donny. JG was a bag of sh*te last night but Madigan was as bad if not worse. They both went to first receiver a number of times.

The only thing is that JG managed to create two tries with his few flashes of usefulness and Madigan made one. I'd probably be happy enough for Madigan to start next week just to re-jig the midfield. D'Arcy was not seeing enough ball at all in the first half with Madigan at 12 who was looking to kick in behind or run it too often.

I'd like to see D'Arcy back to 12 to give some solidity and he's also a much better reader of the game defensively at this stage. Madigan was caught shooting up in the first half again out wide before managing to make it back and bundle the last man into touch. That's happened a few times this season now. Let him learn the position in other games but not next week.

With Madigan kicking well (although his first few kicks last night were not clean strikes and no surprise he ended up missing the third), he needs to stay in the side now.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Yeah that sums up my feelings too Donny.

[simonokeeffe]

Madigan had a good first half and I dont think he really got over the bang to his head.
To me Ruddocks line made his try

Madigan wouldnt be perfect (controlling influence) at 10 but he is performing more functions well than Gopperth who is also doing a lot of his basics badly

[molloyjh]

On second viewing I don't think Gopperth was as bad as he seemed live. The thing that killed us over and above anything else was our truly appalling kicking game (which to me includes our line speed after the kick). The 2 tries they got came primarily from really poor kicks from Mads and Gopperth respectively. Mads cross-field that could only have been caught by Toner led to the quick line-out that ultimately led to the try. Then Gopperth restarted and then received the kick back only to fire the ball straight at the Cardiff winger (I think) when our line was all over the place. If we had a good kicking game they would not have gotten those scores, simple as. But other kicks besides those just put us under pressure when there was no need for it, or let Cardiff off the hook when we could have been putting the pressure on them.

We showed in the second half that when we have the support runners trailing shoulders and don't just fire the ball wide at every opportunity we actually can be dangerous. If we could add an effective kicking game to the mix things might start to take shape better. It's too easy for opposition sides at the moment because any kicking game we have isn't a challenge so it's not something they need to worry about too much. Cardiff created the sum total of sweet FA until their last try, but their kicking was a masterclass by comparison.

[goreyguy]

Can he be gone by Monday?

[cwebber82]

Some "environment" MOC creates. Leinster always turned up in big games under Joe. We rarely turn up under MOC.

The players have gone backwards under MOC. No doubt about it.

Granted, we have a horrible injury list but this rubbish is unacceptable.

MOC may be a decent fella but he's out of his depth. Come season's end, MOC has to go.

[bails]

The game is not over but please MOC DO THE DECENT THING AND f%~k OFF HOME. WHAT WAS PUR GAME PLAN TONITE

HOW CAN I BE EATEN UP FROMT BY UR LOCAL RIVALS

U R NOT GOOD ENOUGH, leave now please

[PCASEY]

... and based on the league table as it stands we wouldn't even qualify for europe next year.

regression towards the mean..
we will have increasingly rare high's this season that will deflect from where we really are, but tonight shows where we really are. Under previous coaches we had occasional bad nights, but on average the performance trajectory was upwards. under this coach the trajectory is downwards. In any other walk of life he gets called in by his boss, torn a new one for repeatedly failing to deliver and quite bluntly asking him what he is going to do about it.

blah, blah , injuries, blah blah, players leaving / moving on..
step 1/ tell jimmy not to kick the @@@* ball away when the opposition has 2 men in the bin! THIS IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE

[TerenureJim]

Wow if bails is calling for it can we say MOC has lost the dressing room? Leo & Swirve to close out the season?

[PCASEY]

what he's doing with the team now is not working.

He has to take responsibility for reacting to this and fixing it, some thing must change; the 1- 15 on the pitch, the game plan (plan A set up a rolling maul, draw in their defenders and create an over lap out wide, if that doesn't work go to plan B give it to jimmy who will give it to them....) the preparation, the analysis SOMETHING must change, it is the very definition of insanity to expect to get a different outcome by repeating the same actions

[Tricky Dicky]

We've just scored through Fanning. We need two tries. Munster are down to 13 for the next 5 mins. Gopperth receives the ball in his 22. What does he do? That's right, he kicks away possession. Soon after he receives the ball again on his 22, and kicks it away again. Nice play Jimmy. Nice coaching Matt.

Time to get Robbie Deans on the blower and see if he's interested in taking over for next season methinks

[PCASEY]

We've just scored through Fanning. We need two tries. Munster are down to 13 for the next 5 mins. Gopperth receives the ball in his 22. What does he do? That's right, he kicks away possession. Soon after he receives the ball again on his 22, and kicks it away again. Nice play Jimmy. Nice coaching Matt.

Time to get Robbie Deans on the blower and see if he's interested in taking over for next season methinks

interesting point, but do you really think he's a better out half than Gopps at the moment?