Away to Scarlets, 30/01, Saturday @ 7.35pm

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I know it wasn’t the toughest game in the world but Clarkson always looks so comfortable. If he put in that kind of performance in a more experienced team then he’d be getting a lot of attention.

A lot to like about that performance. Our lineout seems to have improved a bit which is a big plus.

[wixfjord]

Dunne just always seems to disappoint me when he plays. Looks a serious unit but seems to run around like a headless horseman on the pitch with his hair bopping around as he goes

Looks to me like a guy who has put on too much weight too quickly and is waiting for his body to catch up. His agility looks to have regressed quite a bit.

He has lots of potential though.

[wixfjord]

Good performance overall.

Scarlets were awful, but part of that was down to us overpowering them.

Molony, Tracy, Conan, Byrne pick of the bunch for me.

Leavy looks to be inching back to top form too.

Bard was quiet first half and much more impactful in last 30.

MOR (besides the try!) was a bit all over the place. Thought Osborne and Hawkshaw looked good though.

Hawkshaw could end up being a valuable 'Noel Reid' type of utility player for us.

[blockhead]

Excellent stuff. The team seems to play more freely when the Internationals are away but maybe that's just the opposition. Harry Byrne made very few if any mistakes out there tonight.

[Theleinsterlad]

Dunne just always seems to disappoint me when he plays. Looks a serious unit but seems to run around like a headless horseman on the pitch with his hair bopping around as he goes

Looks to me like a guy who has put on too much weight too quickly and is waiting for his body to catch up. His agility looks to have regressed quite a bit.

He has lots of potential though.

That’s what I mean wix about him disappointing me, he has the ability but when you see lads come in each year and put the ability into performances he just really feels like a flat tyre. Just feel he doesn’t know how to position himself on the pitch, as I said he runs around looking headless and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do a power tackle

[wixfjord]

Dunne just always seems to disappoint me when he plays. Looks a serious unit but seems to run around like a headless horseman on the pitch with his hair bopping around as he goes

Looks to me like a guy who has put on too much weight too quickly and is waiting for his body to catch up. His agility looks to have regressed quite a bit.

He has lots of potential though.

That’s what I mean wix about him disappointing me, he has the ability but when you see lads come in each year and put the ability into performances he just really feels like a flat tyre. Just feel he doesn’t know how to position himself on the pitch, as I said he runs around looking headless and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do a power tackle

Yep fair enough.

He is a 22 year old second row though and has clearly been working on putting on bulk, so has plenty of time.

[cormac]

Well done to Jamie Osborne. Didn't look out of place at all and had some really good moments too. We might be seeing more of him in a few weeks if we can't get any centres fit.

[Dave Cahill]

thought Luke McGrath was man of the match myself - Jack played well as did Josh Murphy, but I thought that Luke was the most influential player on the pitch

[Theleinsterlad]

thought Luke McGrath was man of the match myself - Jack played well as did Josh Murphy, but I thought that Luke was the most influential player on the pitch

Agree thought jack was the easy pick but like and josh were fantastic tonight

[alanair]

Maybe I'm being harsh, but not sure Max O'R is ready for this level yet, particularly at 15.

Looks a bit unsure of himself and leaving a few holes. Physically a bit immature too.

I'm not even going to delete this.

Fair play.. we’ve all hit send too quickly at times... but you are right , OReilly looks very lightweight for Pro game...

[Ruckedtobits]

It certainly looked as if the coaching mantra was "an intercept is a mortal sin and a sackable offence".

Excellent performances from the half-backs but always controlled the tempo and the discipline. Although Scarlets played like we did against Connacht, they have plenty of talented pLayers coming through and they attack well. Aside from their maul which conceded 3 tries, they don't defend well but they can attack from anywhere.

Very pleased with how we played. Disciplined aggression gave us a very good win.

[cormac]

Maybe I'm being harsh, but not sure Max O'R is ready for this level yet, particularly at 15.

Looks a bit unsure of himself and leaving a few holes. Physically a bit immature too.

Have to admit I was cursing him shortly before his try too.

[cormac]

It certainly looked as if the coaching mantra was "an intercept is a mortal sin and a sackable offence".

A big improvement in this area on the Connacht and Ulster A matches. Byrne read their defence very well and didn't try to force the pass.

[riocard911]

it has to be said that this is a pretty poor Scarlets team. Still it is nice to see a relatively error-free performance from Leinster. Can you imagine the hype if Healy played as well as Harry has tonight?

They'd say he's the next Harry Byrne

Quip of the thread! Take a bow!!!

[Ruckedtobits]

Really enjoyed that display. The coaches had clearly emphasised the need to mind the ball, after the displays against Connacht & Ulster A.

The starting front five were very effective with Tracy as busy, and effective, as he has been all season. Molony had a very effective evening and his pack leadership was again to the fore. As always, I enjoyed Dooley's performance of the loose-head basics and Tagdh did what was required, although I'd like to see him carry & maul with a lower body shape. Baird did a lot more hard graph than usual and has clearly worked on his defensive duties.

Well done the donkeys. You created that result.

[Blueberry]

Great Leinstertainment!!

Conan, Baird and Leavy all looked great. Molony very solid too and great to see Tadhg back. Lineout looking comfortable again.

Harry Byrne clear motm for me, didn't make a mistake, kicked beautifully, passed beautifully, slotted his goals and the height on his restarts is freaky good. This guy is a huge talent and has to be in the running as the new J10 on every level.

Luke had another excellent game too.

Scarlets have a couple of young players coming through but that pack got a bit of a schooling.

[Peg Leg]

The front row that started that match were seriously impressive. I don't know why we don't opt for scrums at penalties more. As per DC, Luke and Josh both had great games. Murphy is teak tough and really causes trouble for opposition any time he is near a ruck or the ball. Scarlets were poor and their kicking game just kept the pressure on their own team, one kicked dead, 2 or 3 out on the full. There was a bout of kick tennis at around 25 mins between McNicholl and HB where each of them dropped about 2cms shy of the 22 then Costello receives the penultimate kick and drops 5m into our 22 and again, lineout in their half. That sh!t kills a team, it's also the reason "Scarlets can strike from anywhere"! Its because they have to strike from anywhere, they are unable to build a score and sustain a tactical gameplan. Costello put boot to ball at one stage near the halfway line, just to get rid of it, right down the middle with 3 Leinster players covering the backfield- completely giving up on any chance to create anything. They were terrible.

Frawley is a very exciting player, I have been a fan of his since he came on the scene. But now something seems to have clicked for him, he oozes confidence.

[curates_egg]

Thought Frawley always looked class and confident, but one of his problems was overconfidence: trying passes and breaks that weren’t on.

Surprised not to see more people mention Dooley, who I thought was very good.

Lots to like but it is really a shocking competition this season. Beyond the interpros, we’ve got a 50 burger in almost every game.

[erskinechilders]

It was an excellent performance. Glad to see management/ players learning from the Connacht game especially, where we kept on trying to play wide wide when our backs were very young & inexperienced. They got outmuscled against Connacht. Clear change of tack meant that by half time our forwards were in complete control last night.

Everything in rugby is based off a pack going forward and I found it deeply frustrating against Connacht that Luke kept on throwing the ball out to Jimmy O'Brien at 10. It was like we were throwing our back line to the wolves. Clearly he has learned from that mistake and has let his forwards do the donkey work. Our rucking was really good last night and we kept it tight, and reeped the rewards from it. By half time our forwards had this game won and we were then able to start getting the young backs involved in the second half, getting great reward for O'Reilly's and Hawkshaws tries.

Looking at the statistics, not one of O'Reilly, Kelleher, Turner or Kearney had more than 5 carries. We're going to need to show this dominace agains the bigger teams too.

Stats : https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/match-stat ... d=20SL2759

[D4surfer]

Highlights here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QJCubsVUGec