Leinster vs Cardiff, Nov 22nd, 5.15pm

[Jonny tight lips]

So with all the fixtures cancelled last year the only two teams we haven’t beaten in our unbeaten run are Cardiff and Scarletts so would be nice to get the last two wins of this block.

[Theleinsterlad]

Has anyone else noticed that HOS has seemed to lose a lot of bulk this year from last. I think that’s a good thing as it seems to have sped him up. Think he deserves a crack at starting, only thing is they like senior players in certain roles and halfbacks is one of those

[Jonny tight lips]

You’d miss the team news on a Friday, yet another “new normal” I’m struggling with

[mildlyinterested]

Has anyone else noticed that HOS has seemed to lose a lot of bulk this year from last. I think that’s a good thing as it seems to have sped him up. Think he deserves a crack at starting, only thing is they like senior players in certain roles and halfbacks is one of those

Looks slimmer alright.

[Chengleng1]

TH is a real worry now - going to have to drag a body in from somewhere.

Unless I am missing something we are down to Bent and Clarkson ?

Anyone got Clint Newland's Number ?

Bent is rapidly becoming the most important player in our squad.

Whatever became of Craig Rhyland? hookie

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[mildlyinterested]

Leinster Rugby (caps in brackets):

15. Jimmy O’Brien (23)
14. Cian Kelleher (18)
13. Liam Turner (3)
12. Ciarán Frawley (29)
11. Dave Kearney (153)
10. Harry Byrne (15)
9. Luke McGrath (133)
1. Peter Dooley (80)
2. James Tracy (115)
3. Michael Bent (146)
4. Ross Molony (101)
5. Ryan Baird (13)
6. Josh Murphy (37)
7. Dan Leavy (67)
8. Rhys Ruddock (179) CAPTAIN

16. Dan Sheehan (4)
17. Michael Milne (13)
18. Tom Clarkson (3)
19. Devin Toner (253)
20. Jack Dunne (9)
21. Rowan Osborne (5)
22. Michael Silvester (1)
23. Scott Penny (18)

[Pilotman123]

Harry Byrne and Luke McGrath starting yet again

[wixfjord]

I get the sense we're trying to build consistency of performance with a settled team to ensure we have guys ready to go for Europe, but I would've expected a bit more rotation to be honest.

One of Sheehan, Milne or a scrumhalf who isn't Luke McGrath could surely have started this?

[Pilotman123]

I get the sense we're trying to build consistency of performance with a settled team to ensure we have guys ready to go for Europe, but I would've expected a bit more rotation to be honest.

One of Sheehan, Milne or a scrumhalf who isn't Luke McGrath could surely have started this?

Hard to understand the fairness and logic of the Leinster coaches sometimes, other guys deserve a chance. No point starting the same team every week, it’s hard to improve and prove yourself if you’re only a sub getting a few minutes

[limecat]

Match Preview

The only good thing about Monday night rugby is that it gives you a new appreciation for Sunday rugby as in "well, at least it's not Monday".

The abandonment of the Friday night slot still grates though and you genuinely wonder about the mental acuity of the TV companies driving this change. Plenty of Pro rugby fans look forward to a game on TV on Friday evening as they relax into their weekend. Even if their team isn't playing, they can still watch one of their rival teams.

Read more...

[munster#1]

Genuine question, and not a sneaky dig at Leinster, but why is Bent being named to start his 7 game this season?

Leinster are 6 from 6 and have added 6 BPs. Would this not be an opportune time to start blooding one of the young guns?

[OTT]

Genuine question, and not a sneaky dig at Leinster, but why is Bent being named to start his 7 game this season?

Leinster are 6 from 6 and have added 6 BPs. Would this not be an opportune time to start blooding one of the young guns?

Because our first choice Furlong is injured
Our second choice Porter is with Ireland
Our 4th choice Abdeladze is injured
Our 5th choice Salanoa is with Munster
Our 6th choice Aungier is with Connacht
Our 7th choice Parker is injured
And our 8th choice Clarkson is a 20 year old getting game time off the bench because he’s been thrown in at the deep end.


(change around your ranking as you see fit)

Wouldn’t mind seeing Clarkson getting a start personally but him getting 20-30mins off the bench every other week is still good going at his age.

[munster#1]

Genuine question, and not a sneaky dig at Leinster, but why is Bent being named to start his 7 game this season?

Leinster are 6 from 6 and have added 6 BPs. Would this not be an opportune time to start blooding one of the young guns?

Because our first choice Furlong is injured
Our second choice Porter is with Ireland
Our 4th choice Abdeladze is injured
Our 5th choice Salanoa is with Munster
Our 6th choice Aungier is with Connacht
Our 7th choice Parker is injured
And our 8th choice Clarkson is a 20 year old getting game time off the bench because he’s been thrown in at the deep end.


(change around your ranking as you see fit)

Wouldn’t mind seeing Clarkson getting a start personally but him getting 20-30mins off the bench every other week is still good going at his age.

Fair enough, I was just thinking that Leinster have enough if a cushion at this stage to start experimenting a bit.

Given that 2 of those are no longer on the books, and Parker is a short term signing. it would probably be a good idea to try accelerate someone’s development, or look at a more permanent replacement for the 2 lads that have left?

Bent hasn’t too many seasons left, and Furlong and Porter are likely to be on the missing list for much of the next 8-number of seasons.

[Pilotman123]

Genuine question, and not a sneaky dig at Leinster, but why is Bent being named to start his 7 game this season?

Leinster are 6 from 6 and have added 6 BPs. Would this not be an opportune time to start blooding one of the young guns?

You could say the same with Luke McGrath and Harry Byrne starting again. Feel sorry for the likes of HOS or Osborne who never get a start, same with Hawkshaw. They all deserve a start you can’t improve or prove yourself by just getting a few minutes off the bench every week

[OTT]

Genuine question, and not a sneaky dig at Leinster, but why is Bent being named to start his 7 game this season?

Leinster are 6 from 6 and have added 6 BPs. Would this not be an opportune time to start blooding one of the young guns?

Because our first choice Furlong is injured
Our second choice Porter is with Ireland
Our 4th choice Abdeladze is injured
Our 5th choice Salanoa is with Munster
Our 6th choice Aungier is with Connacht
Our 7th choice Parker is injured
And our 8th choice Clarkson is a 20 year old getting game time off the bench because he’s been thrown in at the deep end.


(change around your ranking as you see fit)

Wouldn’t mind seeing Clarkson getting a start personally but him getting 20-30mins off the bench every other week is still good going at his age.

Fair enough, I was just thinking that Leinster have enough if a cushion at this stage to start experimenting a bit.

Given that 2 of those are no longer on the books, and Parker is a short term signing. it would probably be a good idea to try accelerate someone’s development, or look at a more permanent replacement for the 2 lads that have left?

Bent hasn’t too many seasons left, and Furlong and Porter are likely to be on the missing list for much of the next 8-number of seasons.

To be fair I think they were planning having at least one more of those players on the list so they didn’t have that much time to find a replacement Doubt there’s much in the kitty either. Parker has looked decent in what I’ve seen so far.

As I said I would probably give Clarkson a start but I’m not that worried either. Bent is our 3rd choice who does a fantastic job for us, our two first choices our international quality and younger Porter 24 Furlong 28. We can afford to try and not force a progression on Clarkson (well actually we are one injury away in reality at the minute) because Bent is so reliable, if Bent was our first choice and we didn’t have Porter and Furlong I could see why we might need to try and push through Clarkson but At the minute I’d say he’s ahead of where most 20 year old tight heads are in terms of senior rugby.

[ronk]

Leinster Rugby (caps in brackets):

15. Jimmy O’Brien (23)
14. Cian Kelleher (18)
13. Liam Turner (3)
12. Ciarán Frawley (29)
11. Dave Kearney (153)
10. Harry Byrne (15)
9. Luke McGrath (133)
1. Peter Dooley (80)
2. James Tracy (115)
3. Michael Bent (146)
4. Ross Molony (101)
5. Ryan Baird (13)
6. Josh Murphy (37)
7. Dan Leavy (67)
8. Rhys Ruddock (179) CAPTAIN

16. Dan Sheehan (4)
17. Michael Milne (13)
18. Tom Clarkson (3)
19. Devin Toner (253)
20. Jack Dunne (9)
21. Rowan Osborne (5)
22. Michael Silvester (1)
23. Scott Penny (18)

Another twist on the 6-2 split. We go for the standard outside back at 22 when you have Frawley at 12 but then we put 2 locks on the bench. Presumably the plan is to move Baird to blindside.

Finally Leavy wearing 7.

A little bit of rotation but this is really more about building blocks of games. Almost all the players picked needed a run of games. Bent, Tracey and McGrath not so much but they are important experience in their units and there are big gaps back to the next players.

[ronk]

Genuine question, and not a sneaky dig at Leinster, but why is Bent being named to start his 7 game this season?

Leinster are 6 from 6 and have added 6 BPs. Would this not be an opportune time to start blooding one of the young guns?

Because our first choice Furlong is injured
Our second choice Porter is with Ireland
Our 4th choice Abdeladze is injured
Our 5th choice Salanoa is with Munster
Our 6th choice Aungier is with Connacht
Our 7th choice Parker is injured
And our 8th choice Clarkson is a 20 year old getting game time off the bench because he’s been thrown in at the deep end.


(change around your ranking as you see fit)

Wouldn’t mind seeing Clarkson getting a start personally but him getting 20-30mins off the bench every other week is still good going at his age.

Next phase in Clarkson's development is to get off the bench earlier.

[Ruckedtobits]

This is professional sport. There's no such thing as fair. The objective is to win first and, if you can, develop players along the way to continue winning. Coaches see all of the players all of the time. When they judge that a player has performed well enough at training to contribute to the team winning, he gets included.

Occasionally, injuries force the hand of the Coach in selection but the ideal is that you don't include a player just as an experiment. You include a player in selection when you are confident he will contribute to the team winning.

That policy contributes to the confidence of the entire Squad and every player. Nobody gets included just because they're in the Squad. That also ensures that every player trains with the intensity needed to get selected and play. That's the virtual circle in a successful Squad.

Ask Kilkenny, the ABs or Liverpool

[Pilotman123]

This is professional sport. There's no such thing as fair. The objective is to win first and, if you can, develop players along the way to continue winning. Coaches see all of the players all of the time. When they judge that a player has performed well enough at training to contribute to the team winning, he gets included.

Occasionally, injuries force the hand of the Coach in selection but the ideal is that you don't include a player just as an experiment. You include a player in selection when you are confident he will contribute to the team winning.

That policy contributes to the confidence of the entire Squad and every player. Nobody gets included just because they're in the Squad. That also ensures that every player trains with the intensity needed to get selected and play. That's the virtual circle in a successful Squad.

Ask Kilkenny, the ABs or Liverpool

[Pilotman123]

This is professional sport. There's no such thing as fair. The objective is to win first and, if you can, develop players along the way to continue winning. Coaches see all of the players all of the time. When they judge that a player has performed well enough at training to contribute to the team winning, he gets included.

Occasionally, injuries force the hand of the Coach in selection but the ideal is that you don't include a player just as an experiment. You include a player in selection when you are confident he will contribute to the team winning.
That policy contributes to the confidence of the entire Squad and every player. Nobody gets included just because they're in the Squad. That also ensures that every player trains with the intensity needed to get selected and play. That's the virtual circle in a successful Squad.

Ask Kilkenny, the ABs or Liverpool

If you played rugby at a high level you’d know there’s only so much you can do in training, you need to start a game to prove yourself, starting one inexperienced player with loads of experience around him will help, you really think someone like HOS is that bad that you think if he started a game with experienced players around him he’d make Leinster lose? Give me a break, coming on as a sub for a few minutes isn’t gonna improve players they need game time starting