Leinster v Northampton 19/12 1PM

[Jcahill1]

Keep hearing how great the Ireland second row will be when it comprises James Ryan and Ryan Baird but on recent evidence they can't even provide a reliable line out for Leinster.

I agree, add that to the performance of essentially the Ireland front and second row at scrumtime...

The scrum which was actually very good? Referee was making some bonkers calls on penalties.

I agree with you to a point on the referee, but there were too many 50/50 looking scrums. Very good would be driving forward most of the time against a pretty unheralded Northampton front row.

[Blueberry]

Red card all day, garbage from Drico and Hartley in commentary.

So if the only part of the body you can clear out is the head it's okay to go milling in and contact the head ?? Hello ??

Anyway sloppy performance but conditions not great and wind had an impact. Job done. Important to rack up the points in light of the mess in progress with cancellations.....

We didn't rack up the points though. Got the TBP, but the top seeding will likely come down to points difference. Another try or two there could've been massive come end of Jan.

Yup a sloppy day not ideal but we can't be 50 plus points all the time, Northampton very physical bar the first 3 mins and did well. Conditions not great and we had too many poor passes etc and lineout still causing issues. Seeding is a total lottery now due to the Covid mess, top seed could end up with Exeter etc in a qtr final scrapping into 4th so little or no logic to anything anymore.

Move on, hope we don't catch Covid.....just good to have a game to watch....not exactly getting too excited as if we have another weekend like this with multiple cancellations anything could happen, could be playing anyone in the qtrs....

And plenty of lineout work for Leo over Xmas !!

[Ruckedtobits]

A game which proved the value of our coaching week by week. The disruption in our backline clearly showed in the absence of cohesion in our passing. Our pack were pedestrian and far too loosely spread out - slow to support at tackles, too lateral in defence.

Forget about extra tries. We got 5 points with five replacement between 2 hrs before kick-off and 10 minutes into the game.

Right now our sub front-row are looking our strongest scrum unit. Our old men are looking our best second row. Our best back-row is undecided.

As for the line-out, it was impossible to judge as we threw at least 6 balls to No 2 in a very strong squally wind. Baird is a fine forward, but not sure yet just where he fits in. Too many knock-ons, missed tackles and not enough clear-outs for a donkey.

Delighted with the BP win in the circumstances.

[Theleinsterlad]

I think we can’t be too harsh on Leinster today. Not their best but still score 4 tries against a prem team. I still think wasps won’t have it all their own way when they go to Montpellier even with a sexondary team - they will get bonus point but can’t see altrad being happy with someone coming into his home an beating them by a cricket score.

We are top going into Xmas that’s where we wanted to be job done squad looking good more options in positions - happy Christmas

[OTT]

On Virgin, Quinlan was being his usual ridiculous self about the Wood incident by saying Wood had to do it because he was coming in late so he only had a head to hit at that stage and that maybe the ref should make JVDF leave it sooner so Wood doesn’t have to make that choice. Reddan replies maybe Wood should be earlier not late and if he is late maybe he should choose not to make the illegal clearout.

[wixfjord]

Lads this is the same sort of rhetoric we heard before the Sarries game imo.

Sure, plenty of mitigating circumstances today.

But if you look at what happened on the pitch, we coughed up tries due to errors, we failed to play the conditions very well, our lineout malfunctioned, we butchered a few try chances.

Yes the TBP is great, but we should've had more.

And I think the reaction of Leo and Baird afterwards was telling.

[ronk]

“There is no foul play”. What the fûck?

I'll be very surprised if he isn't cited for that.

It’s the definition of a cheap shot. Static player looking away, taking a blind hit. Lined up from distance and didn’t move at all.

No real wrap and hit vDF straight in the face with force. It wasn’t necessary, there’s no mitigation whatsoever. It’s as clean a red card as you’re going to see under the current laws.

[Jcahill1]

On a more positive note, I thought Ryan was looking more like his old self in the loose that game. A couple of very dominant tackles and big charges on the ball. Baird outshone him with his athleticism but I thought the pair of them contrasted well.

[Theleinsterlad]

Lads this is the same sort of rhetoric we heard before the Sarries game imo.

Sure, plenty of mitigating circumstances today.

But if you look at what happened on the pitch, we coughed up tries due to errors, we failed to play the conditions very well, our lineout malfunctioned, we butchered a few try chances.

Yes the TBP is great, but we should've had more.

And I think the reaction of Leo and Baird afterwards was telling.

To think that Leinster could have a poor game every 15-20 times they play for shame. I’m sorry but how’s refs ref, weather and injuries will always affect a game. Today it affected us and also added spice to a Northampton team with free shot to have a go and they did. I’d say for the neutrals this was a good game to watch. Yes we have things to improve and I dare say there are players that won’t be so sure of their first team places after this - but the response it we won. I hated losing to sarries but that was a sh!t performance On a one off day and if we played them a week later I think it could be a different score. It’s past we play the present, we have things to fix but we are winning

[wixfjord]

To think that Leinster could have a poor game every 15-20 times they play for shame. I’m sorry but how’s refs ref, weather and injuries will always affect a game. Today it affected us and also added spice to a Northampton team with free shot to have a go and they did. I’d say for the neutrals this was a good game to watch. Yes we have things to improve and I dare say there are players that won’t be so sure of their first team places after this - but the response it we won. I hated losing to sarries but that was a sh!t performance On a one off day and if we played them a week later I think it could be a different score. It’s past we play the present, we have things to fix but we are winning

See I totally, totally disagree with that I must say!

The signs of what was going to happen against Sarries were there, just many didn't want to see them.

Having a poor game is to be expected, but there are elements of today's performance that have been repeating for quite a while, and will come back to haunt us against the top 3-4 sides.

[Dave Cahill]

To think that Leinster could have a poor game every 15-20 times they play for shame. I’m sorry but how’s refs ref, weather and injuries will always affect a game. Today it affected us and also added spice to a Northampton team with free shot to have a go and they did. I’d say for the neutrals this was a good game to watch. Yes we have things to improve and I dare say there are players that won’t be so sure of their first team places after this - but the response it we won. I hated losing to sarries but that was a sh!t performance On a one off day and if we played them a week later I think it could be a different score. It’s past we play the present, we have things to fix but we are winning

See I totally, totally disagree with that I must say!

The signs of what was going to happen against Sarries were there, just many didn't want to see them.

Having a poor game is to be expected, but there are elements of today's performance that have been repeating for quite a while, and will come back to haunt us against the top 3-4 sides.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. We are no where near where we need to be to win this competition

[cormac]

A team of players who were unavailable or didn't feature today.

15 Jordan Larmour; 14 Adam Byrne, 13 Rory O'Loughlin, 12 Tommy O'Brien, 11 James Lowe; 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Hugh O'Sullivan; 1 Ed Byrne, 2 Sean Cronin, 3 Tadhg Furlong; 4 Devin Toner, 5 Scott Fardy; 6 Jack Conan, 7 Will Connors, 8 Caelan Doris.

We were sloppy today and I'd wonder if the team were quite as focused as they should have been after the talk of Northampton "sending the kids" over. The number of changes before and early in the match probably didn't help either. Lineout needs to be sorted, that much is clear. On the positive side we've a new generation of players starting to get experience at this level and we've 10 points from two matches.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Said this before but I’m very much on board with us making mistakes when we push ourselves to play some really good stuff. That’s going to lead to mistakes but it’s definitely the right way to go and we had been too conservative in the build up the Sarries game. It’s the way we (and Ireland) need to play to be successful and we’re still picking up points and putting in some brilliant performances while we’re developing it/the young players.

Which is why the lineout frustrated me today. We played it really really safe and it’s not the first time. The conditions were very tough and Kelleher has had a tough time recently so I get that, but we didn’t seem to push ourselves. Couldn’t believe that Northampton didn’t go for us more at the front. They challenged further back but previous games show that we can mess that up on our own and recent games illustrated that we’d play it safe at two. They really didn’t put much pressure on Kelleher, big opportunity missed. Might be missing something about what we’re trying to do but it really worries me going forward.

[backrower8]

Keep hearing how great the Ireland second row will be when it comprises James Ryan and Ryan Baird but on recent evidence they can't even provide a reliable line out for Leinster.

I agree, add that to the performance of essentially the Ireland front and second row at scrumtime...

THIS. It is really worrying.

Ja Ryan is a shadow of his former self.

[MylesNaGapoleen]

just what the doctor ordered. Thank you northampton saints.
fair enough, job done, 5 points in the bag, so to speak, but they exposed quite a few weaknesses in us...stuff we can fix. fair enough, some sloppiness and handling skills were keeping saints in the game but I am pleased with that. work to do, but, we know where to do it.

[Dexter]

just what the doctor ordered. Thank you northampton saints.
fair enough, job done, 5 points in the bag, so to speak, but they exposed quite a few weaknesses in us...stuff we can fix. fair enough, some sloppiness and handling skills were keeping saints in the game but I am pleased with that. work to do, but, we know where to do it.

No, no, no, you're just not getting it. It's an absolute disgrace that we only got a double scores BP win in Euro game we played with multiple disruptions, high winds and rain, where we played relatively poorly.
It's all doom and gloom I'm afraid.

[Serb]

No, no, no, you're just not getting it. It's an absolute disgrace that we only got a double scores BP win in Euro game we played with multiple disruptions, high winds and rain, where we played relatively poorly.
It's all doom and gloom I'm afraid.

It’s a given that there are positives after a bonus point win, but you have to admit that it was a poor enough performance against a team who haven’t won a game this season. This is the easiest game we’ll have in Europe and we fluffed our lines for long stretches of the game.

It’s especially worrying when the problems are the same things we’ve struggled with for months now. Scrum was ok, line out was as safe as you get. I think we called two balls past first receiver out of 13 and didn’t even get a man in the air for one of them. That’s awful.

We face Munster next, and if our line out doesn’t improve they will absolutely dismantle us at the set piece.

[wixfjord]

just what the doctor ordered. Thank you northampton saints.
fair enough, job done, 5 points in the bag, so to speak, but they exposed quite a few weaknesses in us...stuff we can fix. fair enough, some sloppiness and handling skills were keeping saints in the game but I am pleased with that. work to do, but, we know where to do it.

No, no, no, you're just not getting it. It's an absolute disgrace that we only got a double scores BP win in Euro game we played with multiple disruptions, high winds and rain, where we played relatively poorly.
It's all doom and gloom I'm afraid.

That's a pure strawman.

Like there's a middle ground between that performance being incredible and a 'pure disgrace'.

Literally nobody said the latter.

As you said, we played poorly and got a TBP. That's great.

But beating poor teams with mixed performances and ignoring the issues means you get 'shocked' against the best sides and knocked out. That is exactly what happened last year.

[MylesNaGapoleen]

just what the doctor ordered. Thank you northampton saints.
fair enough, job done, 5 points in the bag, so to speak, but they exposed quite a few weaknesses in us...stuff we can fix. fair enough, some sloppiness and handling skills were keeping saints in the game but I am pleased with that. work to do, but, we know where to do it.

No, no, no, you're just not getting it. It's an absolute disgrace that we only got a double scores BP win in Euro game we played with multiple disruptions, high winds and rain, where we played relatively poorly.
It's all doom and gloom I'm afraid.

you're joking right?
one of the softest teams we'll meet in europe, a team with 12 losses on the trot, cut holes in us with ease. job done. points in the bag but questions raised. what's wrong with a bit of objectivity?

[Dexter]

Yes of course, you're right. We might as well write off the season. We're rubbish.