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

[blockhead]

Couldn’t help but have a smile at Leo as he spoke about the game there. Saying the guys got a lesson and they will have to learn the next time they get their chance. Sounds like this game has just made his selection chats with certain players easier for the next few weeks during europe

Bang on, its a monkey of Munsters back for sure, but and opportunity that Plumber wont miss.

[Ruckedtobits]

As far as I'm concerned, the only matters of relevance in that game were:
1. Nobody got sent off and (hopefully) nobody, from Leinster, will be cited;
2. None of our probable Squad for next week got injured;
3. Ringrose, Ryan and Kearney got game time into their bodies and brains.

Congratulations to Munster on scoring more points than Leinster.

[wixfjord]

It's funny how so many are writing a 27-3 home loss off as 'meaningless'.

And yet if we had won it would've been 'that's the rivalry dead'.

Losing by 24 points at home to our main rival can never be meaningless. And I'd hope the lads who didn't show up tonight will feel that, or else they're not going to be the players we think they will be.

[OTT]

Until we meet again Chris Busby.

Nobody beats Leinster 4 times in a row!

[Dave Cahill]

It's funny how so many are writing a 27-3 home loss off as 'meaningless'.

And yet if we had won it would've been 'that's the rivalry dead'.

Losing by 24 points at home to our main rival can never be meaningless. And I'd hope the lads who didn't show up tonight will feel that, or else they're not going to be the players we think they will be.

Zigactly

[blockhead]

Y'Know if Munster had scored a converted try there at the end it would have been the biggest margin of victory in the history of the fixture? Eclipsing our 30-0 demolition in late 2009.
Phew!
Still got the bragging rights on that one at least.

[blaker]

It's funny how so many are writing a 27-3 home loss off as 'meaningless'.

And yet if we had won it would've been 'that's the rivalry dead'.

Losing by 24 points at home to our main rival can never be meaningless. And I'd hope the lads who didn't show up tonight will feel that, or else they're not going to be the players we think they will be.

Yeah 27-3 was an ugly tail. A 10 point diff would have felt right

[blockhead]

Until we meet again Chris Busby.

Nobody beats Leinster 4 times in a row!

Yeah that is an odd one isn't it, and all in the RDS.

[Theleinsterlad]

It's funny how so many are writing a 27-3 home loss off as 'meaningless'.

And yet if we had won it would've been 'that's the rivalry dead'.

Losing by 24 points at home to our main rival can never be meaningless. And I'd hope the lads who didn't show up tonight will feel that, or else they're not going to be the players we think they will be.

Wix I ain’t, I’m sitting on my couch fuming at the moment. I really hate when we lose that some say oh well this was meaningless. I hate losing to these whingers and this game means as much to me as the final did. I sat through years of us being on the other side getting regularly beaten by them that I never want us to take our foot off their throats. This game will give them more belief next time we play even with our 1st 15.

[hugonaut]

Hard to argue that matters when we took off our best players with the game in the balance.

Just imagine trying to pump everyone up and get back into it and then seeing Ringrose and Ryan being taken off. It was meaningless.

We were still shite though. We looked okay when the pack took over and tried to pick and go, and when other players stepped in at 9 to keep the ball moving. Other than that, very poor.

Hawkshaw is very quick and has a nice pass but that’s pointless if you just stand still and throw it long. He needs to stick to 12 and have a 10 that he can play off.

It was a great fixture for Ryaner and Ringrose after their five week lay-offs. Very full-blooded and fiercely contested, hotter than you would get in any training session. Disappointing to hear about Doris and Frawley in the build-up, I was looking forward to seeing both play.

Tough news for Huey Lewis, he had a very difficult night and his good moments were few and far between. Hawkshaw wasn't even supposed to be on the bench, never mind play 75 minutes ... he's got a lot of work to do, but he gets a pass on this one because of the unusual circumstances.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Until we meet again Chris Busby.

Nobody beats Leinster 4 times in a row!

I didn’t think he was bad tbh. A few errors of course but it was a real sh!t fight and he kept it flowing very well, wasn’t his fault that there were so many dropped balls etc.

I’m a fan of his, think he’ll be a top class ref very soon.

That said, Archer should have been sent off. If you try and ruck someone’s genitals off then I think that deserves more than a ten minute rest. However I can see why he wasn’t because the camera angles weren’t great.

[Theleinsterlad]

It's funny how so many are writing a 27-3 home loss off as 'meaningless'.

And yet if we had won it would've been 'that's the rivalry dead'.

Losing by 24 points at home to our main rival can never be meaningless. And I'd hope the lads who didn't show up tonight will feel that, or else they're not going to be the players we think they will be.

Yeah 27-3 was an ugly tail. A 10 point diff would have felt right

For who?? We should have lost by more only for that dipshite archer being our 16th man. I was screaming at the tv for us to kick the ball out cause there was only one team that was going to score again

[Theleinsterlad]

Until we meet again Chris Busby.

Nobody beats Leinster 4 times in a row!

I didn’t think he was bad tbh. A few errors of course but it was a real sh!t fight and he kept it flowing very well, wasn’t his fault that there were so many dropped balls etc.

I’m a fan of his, think he’ll be a top class ref very soon.

That said, Archer should have been sent off. If you try and ruck someone’s genitals off then I think that deserves more than a ten minute rest. However I can see why he wasn’t because the camera angles weren’t great.

Well I think he allowed a lot of messing in the ruck area and didn’t ref it enough. At one stage Beirne was on the floor in front of him picked the ball up and put it on Munster side and he didn’t bat an eyelid. But then again we have played with him now enough to know his MO

[blockhead]

Until we meet again Chris Busby.

Nobody beats Leinster 4 times in a row!

I didn’t think he was bad tbh. A few errors of course but it was a real sh!t fight and he kept it flowing very well, wasn’t his fault that there were so many dropped balls etc.

I’m a fan of his, think he’ll be a top class ref very soon.

That said, Archer should have been sent off. If you try and ruck someone’s genitals off then I think that deserves more than a ten minute rest. However I can see why he wasn’t because the camera angles weren’t great.

OTT wasn't bitchin about the ref just the oddity of the stat.
No real complaints about the reffing tbh.

[blaker]

It's funny how so many are writing a 27-3 home loss off as 'meaningless'.

And yet if we had won it would've been 'that's the rivalry dead'.

Losing by 24 points at home to our main rival can never be meaningless. And I'd hope the lads who didn't show up tonight will feel that, or else they're not going to be the players we think they will be.

Yeah 27-3 was an ugly tail. A 10 point diff would have felt right

For who?? We should have lost by more only for that dipshite archer being our 16th man. I was screaming at the tv for us to kick the ball out cause there was only one team that was going to score again

Sorry - I don’t mean 10 points would have been reflective of the game played. More so that I would have “accepted” a 10 point loss at the start given the contwxt

[Fan with smartphone]

Before halftime, when Busby was giving O’Mahony a dresssing down, he said - I know how important this game is, but you need to calm down . He was dead right except that he should have been saying I know how important this game is to Munster. It was, and they played like that, maybe a bit too much. The penalties from Beirne, Archer, Farrell were really unnecessary and could’ve cost them. But they got the win they wanted and needed so mission accomplished.

For Leinster, Schmidt used to engineer lulls in the season. You can’t be 100 every night, you just can’t. You don’t want to be making a habit of it, but it was hard to see how that was going to be anything other than a lull tonight. That said, it’s a great video to analyse for Leinster, so I reckon they’ll get benefit in the long run.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Until we meet again Chris Busby.

Nobody beats Leinster 4 times in a row!

I didn’t think he was bad tbh. A few errors of course but it was a real sh!t fight and he kept it flowing very well, wasn’t his fault that there were so many dropped balls etc.

I’m a fan of his, think he’ll be a top class ref very soon.

That said, Archer should have been sent off. If you try and ruck someone’s genitals off then I think that deserves more than a ten minute rest. However I can see why he wasn’t because the camera angles weren’t great.

Well I think he allowed a lot of messing in the ruck area and didn’t ref it enough. At one stage Beirne was on the floor in front of him picked the ball up and put it on Munster side and he didn’t bat an eyelid. But then again we have played with him now enough to know his MO

In general I thought it was just a really strong contest at the breakdown. Thought it was as much about counter rucking than people not rolling away etc.

I think he got the Beirne one wrong because he didn't see that he'd lost it after the initial win, which is obviously still a mistake but it's understandable if he saw the first rip and then looked for offside etc. The DDA one was obvious too because his arms were clearly on the ground. That happens though, you can't get everything right.

[munster#1]

Great to get the monkey off of our backs.

I am far from overjoyed with that victory. IMO Munster left a fair few points on the field tonight, and given how poor Leinster were, Munster could well have put 50 on them, but their lack of clinical edge let them down.

For Leinster to be kept to 3 is a good achievement for Munster, for the Munster defensive system, but they need to improve in offence.

Mad to play against the likes of Porter, Byrne, Ryan, Baird, Ringrose, Kearney and Larmour and not see them step up to the mark.
This was a weakened Leinster team, but it was not a weak Leinster team.

[fourthirtythree]

Great to get the monkey off of our backs.

I am far from overjoyed with that victory. IMO Munster left a fair few points on the field tonight, and given how poor Leinster were, Munster could well have put 50 on them, but their lack of clinical edge let them down.

For Leinster to be kept to 3 is a good achievement for Munster, for the Munster defensive system, but they need to improve in offence.

Mad to play against the likes of Porter, Byrne, Ryan, Baird, Ringrose, Kearney and Larmour and not see them step up to the mark.
This was a weakened Leinster team, but it was not a weak Leinster team.

All fair points, but Munster's defence has actually been that good against us last few times out. We've felt we have left three tries out there probably last three games. Couldn't and didn't score.

[Keith]

Yeah we were rucked so many balls, they were mad for it. Luke would have struggled out there tonight.
Hopefully it sharpens minds for next week when we have something to actually play for.
Munster were good tbh, they can play y'know.

Hold up, Munster fans can't be happy with that performance can they? That was one of the worst game of rugby I've seen in a long time in terms of quality. The amount of handling errors from both teams given the weather was comical.