Leinster v Toulouse Sunday April 21st 3.15

[Oldschool]

ECPR and their constituents need to cop on.
Both semifinals should have been full houses.
Neither game was and that's a disgrace.
Added to that the final is being played in a non rugby stadium which is a blatant policy of begrugery against the national Rugby association.
This is done despite the fact that the fans who support the clubs also support the national teams.
Time for a reality check.
The Pro14 rugby associations need to stand up to the English and French clubs and in Heineken, the main sponsor, they might have a willing ally

[artaneboy]

Great result- a bit easier than I expected. Sexton, Henshaw, Dev and Ryan very good on their returns. Ringrose, Fardy, Conan and McGrath were excellent. Thought Seanie was back in form too.

But Lowe was just great. We have to play him in the big games.


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[blockhead]

Yes! great performance. Fardy, Lowe, Jonny all on the money.
Well done to plumber and co for getting them ready for this game.

[tingman]

What a game - awesome result. Defensively we were terrific.

To keep these guys at bay (try wise) is some achievement and a testament to our defensive regime.

I was nervous all game but in the end it seemed easy....and that sums up the magnitude of this performance.

Lowe, Fardy, Ryan, Ringer, Robbie, stand out performers for me.....and special mention to Conan....who should now
be first choice 8 for Ireland.

[Barry]

In the US so was watching on the laptop and very breaky reception but thought our line speed and aggression was back up there with last season. I will hold hand up and say I was thinking the best of SOB was behind us but today I thought he was back to his near best. Conan for me is now miles ahead of stander, he again was brilliant today. Whole pack stood up

conan was the best player on the pitch - yet again.

[ronk]

Lowe took one well but on a lucky day that could have been 4. What a joy to watch.

[Ruckedtobits]

16th April:

But, without doubt Toulouse travel with doubt in their mind. The Leinster they know is one they fear for their formidable defence and an attack which can hold possesion for multiple phases, before scoring points with efficency and regularity.

To those closer to the RDS, we fear that Leinster have not been in harness at full throttle, possibly since they played Toulouse. So the question in our hearts is, can Leo, Stuart and Felipe bring the troops together and to their highest pitch, despite the injuries and long absences on international duty. Nobody doubts the desire or commitment to the cause, just the mechanics of bringing it all together.

Leinster to win a bruising contest because of their capacity to play a more intense game for longer, but nothing much in it on the scoreboard.

Sunday 21st:
French teams, and certainly including Toulouse, now seem to fear the Irish as we feared them throughout the early noughties. Leinster won this game probably easier than they expected as they prevented Toulouse from firing the shots which come easily to them in the Top 14.

Certainly Leinster were hugely efficient in defence and very hungry in attack, but they didn't need to produce anything extraordinary to comprehensive beat the French Championship leaders. Leo, Stuart, Fogs and Felipe deserve great credit but in truth Toulouse made far too many basic mistakes to put pressure on Leinster.

A tough final in prospect. Sarries certainly looked as if they had read and intercepted the Munster game plan yesterday in their semi-final. In three weeks time Mark McCall will have the opportunity to intercept the Blue Bus. He'll have to have his team at the top of their game to stop the Champions retaining their crown.

[Ruckedtobits]

[quote="Ruckedtobits"] 16th April DOUBLE POST

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Told you we might be undercooked

We were clearly very well prepped and the guys coming back in made a big difference. Johnny isn't the threat that he used to be but (aside from the kick on the full) he was brilliant and from what he said about injuries in his post match interview I'm hopeful that his 6N form was severely impacted by them and that we'll see the best of him over the next few weeks. I'm sure the Fardy/JGP/Lowe debate will start up again before the final but I really think Lowe has to start, he just transforms our game IMO. I know he was up against Kolbe and not Huget but still thought it was interesting that we didn't really use his boot. Tactically we were pretty spot on. Toulouse scored 47 points against Clermont last week and looked unstoppable at times against Racing, and yet they were tryless today, immense.

We learned from the RDS game and didn't allow Toulouse to line us up so easily with our close in carriers. We showed really good variety off the halfbacks and held their defenders in much better leading to space out wide.

I thought Robbie was outstanding. The energy he has makes such a big difference to us, as illustrated by his kick (and that pass wasn't even meant for him but he made sure to catch it because he knew the kick was on and that he could execute it), block down, and dive that led to our scrum. Saw him sprinting back into position on our 22 at one stage and had no time to stand still before sprinting off the line and knocking someone backwards. His workrate is frightening at times.

Ringrose was similar, what an unbelievable effort to stop the Medard try and everything he did was just quality.

The pack was excellent to a man and the combo of the two second rows and Fardy really worked a treat, but I have to single SOB out for praise. I've been super critical of him and honestly thought he was done before last weekend. There were green shoots in that game but I thought he raised his game several notches again and not only that but he did it for the full 80, on what was a boiling hot day.

Before today I had Saracens as the hot favourites for the final, but we really raised our game today and now I'm far more bullish. It'll be tough but bring it on!

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Can anyone else confirm that I wasn't seeing things and that Leavy was there celebrating at the end and looking pretty good??? Myself and my friends thought it was him but we were a fair bit away. It was honestly the highlight of the whole game so if anyone could confirm that would be great please! I was 99% sure at the time but the fact that nobody mentioned it on here or Twitter has me doubting myself.

[Dexter]

Can anyone else confirm that I wasn't seeing things and that Leavy was there celebrating at the end and looking pretty good??? Myself and my friends thought it was him but we were a fair bit away. It was honestly the highlight of the whole game so if anyone could confirm that would be great please! I was 99% sure at the time but the fact that nobody mentioned it on here or Twitter has me doubting myself.

Yeah he was sitting with the team below us in the west stand and we were surprised (pleasantly) how mobile he seemed when he was moving about.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Brilliant, thanks for that!

I was honestly so taken aback by how well he looked that I had convinced myself that I was crazy for thinking that I'd seen him and was trying to think of an obvious doppelganger.

[blockhead]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yH6d8WHick
I think this is him at 2:05s of this vid.

[Ruckedtobits]

Delighted to hear that Dan the Man was there to enjoy that performance and would echo all @ LRPH compliments about the team.

Felt gutted for Rhys that he missed out and hope that he'll get a shot over the coming weeks to deliver his brand, which would equally have suited today's game.

Watched the warm-up very carefully and noticed SO'B getting particular attention from the Masseur on his left hamstring on a couple of occassions and then doing specific stretches on it. To produce that performance, particularly in the second-half, was phenomenal. I live in hope that he can build from today right back to his explosuve best.

Hard to be certain, but offhand I can't recall a day when Leinster players made so few mistakes in a big game, either in execution or tactically. The quality of the coaching is without a doubt superb, but it is closely matched by the quality of the execution and the teamwork which grows from such unity.

Well done lads. It was wonderful to watch and we look forward to more to come.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yH6d8WHick
I think this is him at 2:05s of this vid.

Great to see, thanks!

[leinster23]

That was great. Everyone really stood up. I probably would have picked JGP but Lowe just makes such a difference.

Henshaw was immense. A lot of people have forgotten how good he is in the last few years with how little he's played but the idea that Aki is near him in the conversation for the Irish 12 shirt is ridiculous. On the same topic Conan is leaving Stander behind, although you could squeeze both of them in if you wanted. But today isn't about Ireland and it won't be for the next few weeks.

SOB was brilliant. I thought he was mostly finished but he really proved me wrong. Fardy was brilliant as well, we seem to play better with him on the pitch.

Cronin is vital to our chances in Newcastle, we need him. Hopefully he'll be fit. Wouldn't change anything about the team for that game to be honest except bringing Ruddock back in at 6, really close between him and Fardy but I'd go with him for his physicality which will be key against Saracens.

[nc6000]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yH6d8WHick
I think this is him at 2:05s of this vid.

Great to see, thanks!

It sure is!

[Blueberry]

Our best game of the season so far and a joy to watch. Can't find any serious fault or flaw with any of the team and for me the big thing that separated these two teams today was off the ball work rate, closely watched it throughout and the endless energy working back into space, round corners, being availble for carries, filling space in the defensive line was truly exceptional from the entire Leinster team. Endless energy, fitness and commitment from all. Toulouse didn't offer anything close to the work- rate and gaps appeared regularly. What a defensive performance from Leinster, Toulouse were scratching heads by the end, out of puff and ideas.

[hugonaut]

I thought the selection of Bent over Porter on the bench was strange. However, when Bent came on he was like a man possessed. He had some great carries.

Cronin on crutches at the end is worrying.

Bent had a great outing against Glasgow and is playing really well at the moment, some of the best rugby of his career. As a number of people on the board have said over the last two seasons, he's such a reliable and experienced player to have as a third choice tighthead.

He doesn't provide the same turnover threat that Porter gives us [Porter has made 12 turnovers on the deck this season, Benty only 2], but that balances out against their penalty count: Porter has conceded 13 pens this season, Benty only 3. I think they're neck-and-neck at the moment.

Very impressed with James Tracy's performance as well, I thought he looked at home in a high intensity game. Lots of carries and some really good tackles.

[bluemagic]

Porter picked up an injury on training on Tuesday. He was going to bench otherwise