Rainbow Cup Rd 1: Saturday, 24 April: Leinster v Munster – KO 7.35pm, RDS Arena

[Laighin Break]

I missed the first few minutes, what kind of injury did Harry ship? Was it bad?

He tackled Murray as he was going over for Munster's try, who landed on top of him. Went off after that

[Keith]

Really thought we weren't going to get a slug fest given the nice weather. I guess the injuries haven't helped in that regard though.

[Dave Cahill]

Considering the team we have out and how poorly many of them have played, 3-10 at half time is not too bad

[wixfjord]

Hopefully we at least sort the ruck out at HT. Could probably do with a bit of Scott Fardy 'nous'.

Not sure we can win this with that halfback partnership, but would be nice to at least see a little continuity.

Too many errors.

[Lock9541]

Considering the team we have out and how poorly many of them have played, 3-10 at half time is not too bad

Pretty decent considering it’s Munster’s strongest possible team

[Fan with smartphone]

God I wouldn’t fancy refereeing this.

[Gerard Jones]

Hawkshaw needs to hand that tee over to Garry Ringrose if we want to win this game

[Gerard Jones]

Hawkshaw needs to hand that tee over to Garry Ringrose if we want to win this game


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[wixfjord]

God I wouldn’t fancy refereeing this.

I'd fancy you to do a better job than Chris has done so far though!

Absolute free for all at times.

[neiliog93]

Only viable strategy from a Leinster perspective is kicking a lot. The lack of forward dominance, rucks being a mess, Munster being offside and especially the makeshift half-backs make carrying out an effective running game impossible.

[riocard911]

Considering the team we have out and how poorly many of them have played, 3-10 at half time is not too bad

+1

[wixfjord]

I do feel sorry for HOS.

He has made quite a few errors but clearly Munster are targeting the breakdown to make his life very difficult too.

We look very dithery at 9/10 which is causing our 12-15 to have no space at all.

Need the pack to control things a bit more, but again with 2/3 of our backrow playing out of position it's a tough ask.

[alanair]

God I wouldn’t fancy refereeing this.

I'd fancy you to do a better job than Chris has done so far though!

Absolute free for all at times.

I agree... the amount of handling on the ground in the breakdown ( by both sides but particularly them) is a complete joke

[wixfjord]

Dan Sheahan has been good. Solid in tackle, made a few nice runs and lineout is going well bar one.

[cormac]

Ryan calling Archer a fat c**t was probably our highlight of the first half.

[Theleinsterlad]

I do feel sorry for HOS.

He has made quite a few errors but clearly Munster are targeting the breakdown to make his life very difficult too.

We look very dithery at 9/10 which is causing our 12-15 to have no space at all.

Need the pack to control things a bit more, but again with 2/3 of our backrow playing out of position it's a tough ask.

Scott will be coming on I would say sooner than later to try and sort that out for us to give HOS a bit of a better platfrom, but he also needs to pass the baller quicker stopping taking 2-3 steps before he does, that’s desert for backrow players

[cormac]

Also, Ringer needs to be fined every time he tries to kick the ball in open play.

[alanair]

Ryan calling Archer a fat c**t was probably our highlight of the first half.

And so accurate too

[CiaranIrl]

This is the kind of game where you need a Fardy on. They're putting serious pressure on the ruck, and it's not making O'Sullivan's life easier. He needs protecting.

[Ruckedtobits]

We've turned off the most biased commentary I've ever heard between two Irish Provinces. Munster are playing like a pre-1995 South African Province with a "home referee" supported by a "home" TMO. The illegality of several Munster players is extraordinary and the game is being referred by 1980 laws.

Leinster has a search team out, I.e. they have not played together before and I've no doubt we will improve marketed as the game progresses. The main thing is not to lose anybody to a Red Card, despite the outrageous provocation.

Munster are totally limited and are trying to "bully" their way to a win. That won't work, even against this Leinster shadow team.