Leinster v Ulster: AVIVA, Heino QF

[blockhead]

The most interesting (I am tempted to use a more impactive adjective) vignette of the match:
Went over to commiserate with the nearest Ulster supporter afterwards: a young one waving an Ulster flag. It turned out she was a Munster lady: ‘anyone but Leinster’ and all that.

Just think how much last year hurt the ABL's. And smile.

[Oldschool]

Was sitting among a group of Ulster fans.
They were great craic.
Hat's off to them at the end, very disappointed but wished us well.
Particularly liked their rendition of "We all dream of a team of Rory Bests" to the air of "We all live in a Yellow Submarine".
I'd heard something similar before but it added to the day.
Well done Ulster for making it such a tense affair and to their fans who added so much to the atmosphere.

[deco]

God I wish Jordi hadn't left.

I'd say Jordi wishes the same. He's no closer to the Ireland squad than this time last year.

Doubt it, he seems to be really enjoying his time up here.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

He seems to have settled in well alright and I think has become a bit of a fan favourite. He's an asset to any team that's why we wish he was still with us. I'm just surprised that he hasn't moved up the Ireland pecking order - which was presumably the reason he made the move.

[cormac]

Was a great game to watch. Hats off to Ross Byrne for playing through injury to secure it for us. Stockdale and many of the Ulster players played really well. cooney must be pushing marmion & murray all the way now, henderson had a good showing and marshall looked very dangerous when he came on (possible bolter for the wc? hes always played well for Ireland). For us, lineout was again unacceptable and is an area we need to really improve if we want to win the competition. Our kicking out of hand from our back three was not up to scratch at times and put us under unnecessary pressure. O'Brien and ruddock need to carry more together and Healy needs to stop giving away stupid penalties. Devastated for Leavy, he played a huge role in wining the game for us when he came on

Thought Ruddock was great, an almost faultless blindside performance. Jack Conan turned on the power in a big match in a big way. Could be timing his run to perfection, because CJ Stander looked very very ordinary against Edinburgh ... full of heart, but just not the player he used to be. Conan was getting a lot of gainline, and then he was able to see the gap, make the break and get the pass away for the try. James Ryan was a phenomenon of course, as he so often is. An outstanding effort from a man who is so often our best player.

Cian's first half was poor. Missed his first two tackles and gave away a really soft penalty. In fairness to him, he scrummaged well against a serious operator in Marty Moore. Tadhg was better, Cronin better again. Cro is what he is as a hooker, just like O'Mahony is what he is as a blindside: not a prototype, some holes in his game that shouldn't be there, but outstanding at what he does well. There's no cult of personality around Cronin though.

Mick Kearney did really, really well when he came on. Fresh legs as a carrier, good option as a lineout jumper and physically put himself about. He had a real dud of a season last year [370 mins in total] and it looked as though he was on his way out, but he has done much better this term and is carrying water whenever needed.

Seanie looked like Stander: in decline. It is what it is. Injury has taken a huge toll on him. He put in the effort, but he's just not able to do the things he used to be able to do. Leavy is a dreadful loss. Been quite a while since I felt so disappointed for a player.

Agree 100% on Mick Kearney. He put in a superb shift when he came on.

[leinster23]

I wonder might we see Penny dropped in at some stage...

Is Penny in the squad?

I was thinking more for the Pro14 run in and semi, but that's a good point, he's not iirc.

Obviously it's a long shot either way but does anyone know what the rules on adding players to the squad are at this stage.

[neill_m]

Is Penny in the squad?

I was thinking more for the Pro14 run in and semi, but that's a good point, he's not iirc.

Obviously it's a long shot either way but does anyone know what the rules on adding players to the squad are at this stage.

I think the shop is closed now. Clubs could add 3 players prior to the QF.

[ronk]

He seems to have settled in well alright and I think has become a bit of a fan favourite. He's an asset to any team that's why we wish he was still with us. I'm just surprised that he hasn't moved up the Ireland pecking order - which was presumably the reason he made the move.

He was getting picked for Ireland, he wanted a base of always playing the big club games to help. He got that, but Ireland was pretty locked down for more opportunities this year.

I don't think it would have mattered where in Ireland he played.

[wixfjord]

Anyone know what the story with ROL is? Was he injured going off? Haven't heard much about it since the game.

I thought the 10/12 didn't really work in the first half for us.

[mildlyinterested]

Anyone know what the story with ROL is? Was he injured going off? Haven't heard much about it since the game.

I thought the 10/12 didn't really work in the first half for us.

injured.

[the spoofer]

Anyone know what the story with ROL is? Was he injured going off? Haven't heard much about it since the game.

I thought the 10/12 didn't really work in the first half for us.

injured.

Hammer.

[Leinster Lout]

Leavy is a dreadful loss. Been quite a while since I felt so disappointed for a player.

Completely this. Not since Drico in 2005 I think.

[backrower8]

28 players from Leinster playing in this game today.

There are more ex-Blackrock pupils playing for Ulster than Leinster.

All we need now is Backrower8 for the Michaels update and we’re sorted

Very sorry I am late to this, I am sure the well versed here already know that the number of Swordsmen playing on Saturday was 6, equivalent to 1 in 4 of the 23.

Havig seen some tweets to the effect that there was bad karma and a bit worse between fans in the Aviva, I have to say we had good banter with the plentiful Ulster fans around us in Block 108 (East Lower Dead Ball Corner)...the Leinster Branch continuing to p1$$ off their most loyal customers

[Flash Gordon]

Anyone know what the story with ROL is? Was he injured going off? Haven't heard much about it since the game.

I thought the 10/12 didn't really work in the first half for us.

I agree. Byrne was pretty nervy at the start and I thought his distribution wasn't great - I know Ringrose's charged down kick was poor but look at the pass he gets from Byrne. Through much of the game he was distributing deeper than Sexton and the 12 channel was crowded as a consequence. Balls of steel to put the kick over though!

[wixfjord]

Anyone know what the story with ROL is? Was he injured going off? Haven't heard much about it since the game.

I thought the 10/12 didn't really work in the first half for us.

I agree. Byrne was pretty nervy at the start and I thought his distribution wasn't great - I know Ringrose's charged down kick was poor but look at the pass he gets from Byrne. Through much of the game he was distributing deeper than Sexton and the 12 channel was crowded as a consequence. Balls of steel to put the kick over though!

In fairness part of it was Ulster's brilliant line speed too.

They really shut us down. Cave did a good job on Ringrose and we struggled to release our back line.

Could've done with Henshaw to give a bit more oomph or with one or two of our forwards using out the back passes to hold their defense a bit. I heard Andy Dunne was fairly critical of Byrne on OTB yesterday too for not turning them with kicks, but not sure I'd agree with that.

[OTT]

I thought Cave had his best defensive performance of his career (that I have seen), I also thought he did this by taking the lack of officiating of the offside line to another level. If he was wearing a Leinster jersey you would have thought he was in our backline on most plays.

As always both teams were offside most of the plays so I am not being precious we got away with it to but Cave was literally a few metres off most of the time, again he got away with it so fair play to him he killed our attack a lot. I wish refs would referee it better it would create a lot more space for both sides.

[Flash Gordon]

Anyone know what the story with ROL is? Was he injured going off? Haven't heard much about it since the game.

I thought the 10/12 didn't really work in the first half for us.

I agree. Byrne was pretty nervy at the start and I thought his distribution wasn't great - I know Ringrose's charged down kick was poor but look at the pass he gets from Byrne. Through much of the game he was distributing deeper than Sexton and the 12 channel was crowded as a consequence. Balls of steel to put the kick over though!

In fairness part of it was Ulster's brilliant line speed too.

They really shut us down. Cave did a good job on Ringrose and we struggled to release our back line.

Could've done with Henshaw to give a bit more oomph or with one or two of our forwards using out the back passes to hold their defense a bit. I heard Andy Dunne was fairly critical of Byrne on OTB yesterday too for not turning them with kicks, but not sure I'd agree with that.

Would agree with Dunne but it looked like our game plan was retain and carry. The issue with that is that you need to be perfect, which we were last year. However, we were a bit sloppy in our execution on Saturday so we were turning over on executional errors.

Sexton and Byrne are different in that J10 hits the line and releases, Byrne distributes earlier. That's why J10 is world class and Ross isn't. Carbery is better in thiis area in my view (as was Madigan). We do have to remember that the lad is only 23 though!

Generally, Ulster were excellent in defence, 4 of their players made more than 20 tackles!!

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I thought Ross started pretty well but that you could see he got progressively more static and just shipped the ball on as the injury took hold.

It probably didn't help that Ringrose had one of his worst games for us. Two kicks that were blocked down and then another straight to touch which we were pretty lucky to have called back despite the advantage only being for a knock on. I don't think he made any major mistakes other than those ones, but he was just very quiet by his standards.

Not just saying this because I wanted him before the game but I think COB would have been really useful on Saturday, we lacked a big carrier to set targets. I thought that that USP was more important than Rob's reliability.

[Flash Gordon]

I thought Ross started pretty well but that you could see he got progressively more static and just shipped the ball on as the injury took hold.

It probably didn't help that Ringrose had one of his worst games for us. Two kicks that were blocked down and then another straight to touch which we were pretty lucky to have called back despite the advantage only being for a knock on. I don't think he made any major mistakes other than those ones, but he was just very quiet by his standards.

Not just saying this because I wanted him before the game but I think COB would have been really useful on Saturday, we lacked a big carrier to set targets. I thought that that USP was more important than Rob's reliability.

Yes, Ringer seemed to have been possessed by the spirit of Eddie Hekenui

[roarlad]

I thought our kicking game was absolutely dire at the weekend, both in tactics and execution.

Why did we insist in box kicking to Stockdale all day, it was akin to the English box kicking to North/Liam Williams all day... completely senseless, I think Adam won perhaps one of the 10 aerial duals with him.

Also JGP's only box kick was far higher and better depth than any of Luke's.

As others have said, we rarely if ever kicked for the corners and made Ulster chase..
This was an Ulster team with great line speed playing on the edge of offside all day, we needed to keep them honest with an odd chip kick over the top or an inside pass to the blindside winger on a diagonal as they were flying up into our centre's faces.

The game changed when Leavy came on, that period from 52-60m when we upped the pace, our cleanouts, and ball security ground ulster down, and you could see them labour, if Leavy and JGP stay on the pitch there was a good chance we would have run away with things in the final quarter.

Final point, most of the backs had awful games, (Dave was the notable exception, he was brilliant, though rarely involved), Adam Byrne again showed why he'll probably be first to be dropped when everyone is fit. He is a complete liability in the tackle for someone so athletic, gets lost in his positioning, and turned the ball over too many times. Very frustrating, if this was Joe Tomane doing these things people would be screaming for him to be dropped.

[hugonaut]

Anyone know what the story with ROL is? Was he injured going off? Haven't heard much about it since the game.

I thought the 10/12 didn't really work in the first half for us.

I agree. Byrne was pretty nervy at the start and I thought his distribution wasn't great - I know Ringrose's charged down kick was poor but look at the pass he gets from Byrne. Through much of the game he was distributing deeper than Sexton and the 12 channel was crowded as a consequence. Balls of steel to put the kick over though!

In fairness part of it was Ulster's brilliant line speed too.

They really shut us down. Cave did a good job on Ringrose and we struggled to release our back line.

Could've done with Henshaw to give a bit more oomph or with one or two of our forwards using out the back passes to hold their defense a bit. I heard Andy Dunne was fairly critical of Byrne on OTB yesterday too for not turning them with kicks, but not sure I'd agree with that.

We shouldn't have been trying to release our backline with what Ulster were showing us. Locko isn't a great passer and an irregular No12 [i.e. he doesn't have much experience playing there] and Ross isn't quick off the mark or a big breaking threat. They knew that we were trying to get the ball to Ringer and could rush up on him.

It's one of the reasons why Henshaw is such a good player for us. He can win the physical contest and get over the gainline, he can throw the passes required, he can read the game and he's got a decent enough kicking game. We needed a player at No12 with the experience to recognise what Ulster were trying to do, and the self confidence to abort a call when it wasn't on and play what they were offering us. Reider tried a couple of things that didn't pan out [the grubber through that was blocked, the slip pass that went forward], but they were good ideas to try and added variety to our attack.

Lowe is big and really strong and loves coming off his wing into the middle of the pitch, whereas Adam tends to stay out there in big games. We could have done with a blindside winger offering himself on the inside a lot more often ... fair enough, he's going to get tackled side-on a good bit, but it keeps the ball closer to our pack and closer to the gainline.

Fair play to Darren Cave though - I thought Ringer would have him on toast. Cave put in the best defensive performance I've seen in his entire career. Really aggressive linespeed, good reads and accurate tackling.