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

[ronk]

We took a gamble at 9, normally ourmost conservative position for selection. Not only did it not pay off, but there was massive disruption to the main positions that support scrumhalf: 8 & 10.

In the pro era we've put a big premium on experience at 9, the aggressively developed in other position. Today was a reminder why we do that. Tough on HOS, Munster knew that breaking him was the key to having a chance at beating us.

[Dexter]

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.

Yeah, shocking game, really low quality. Surprisingly poor given the good conditions. Last night's interpro was so much better.

[injoewetrust]

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.

Leaving out Healy, Kelleher, Furlong, Toner, Ruddock, VDF, Conan, McGrath, Byrne, Henshaw, Keenan and then missing Tracey, Doris, Leavy, Connors, Deegan, JGP, Sexton, Frawley, through injury makes it a weak team

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[Theleinsterlad]

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.

You can have what you like on a pitch but from 11-15 today we could have had the best players in the world playing and it wouldn’t have mattered. If you don’t have a 9-10 working axis you ain’t going to do anything when playing games like that. I take exception to you saying the above didn’t stand up. I never saw them give up but they were outplayed today and any pack that finds themselves constantly going behind the game line to win at breakdowns is going to find it very hard. We lost the collision and our inexperience at half back level meant by how much. Plus several of the pack were either playing in new roles or returning from injury.

[backrower8]

The Munster men won well. Turned the screws. That referee was bad for the game. 39 penalties in the game. 1 every 2 minutes. No flow. Leinster have now had him for 3 matches ever. Lost all 3. All this season. Some coincidence. Breakdown area was a free for all. Only ourselves to blame, notwithstanding the significant disruption.

Penny, Murphy, Ryan and Ringer haven’t played in a while, although the latter two acquitted themselves well.

Very, very worried if JGP is out for next week. Our hopes hinge mainly on Luke.

[Barry]

Both teams looked like their main focus was the EPRC semis next weekend

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[Lock9541]

Sexton is hardly injured is he? He’s available for next week right?

[riocard911]

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.

Eh, Johnny Sexton was officially "stood down" during the week due to the concussion he picked up in the Exeter match. That makes an appearance by him vs La Rochelle highly improbable next weekend, IMO. In light of that, I don't agree with the assertion "2. None of our probable Squad for next week got injured;", as I am assuming Harry would have been on the bench in France. From the TV pictures it appeared, as if he suffered a hamstring injury. Should that be the case, we could have lost him for our next fixture. Throw in the fact, that we don't know what JGP's match availability is, and it's looking like we could be in big trouble if anything happens to Ross or Luke between now and the final whistle vs La Rochelle (Beware of Captain's Runs!!!)....

[Xanthippe]

Sure where would Carbery be off to now with a year left on his contract? He’s probably just cashing in on the ridiculous housing market. It seems like he paid €220k for it in 2018, 3x your cash in 3 years isn’t bad.

He’s probably buying a two bed in Limerick after all he’s always been a Munster man in his heart and it was just those posh boys in Dublin who made him lose the run of himself and buy a mansion!

[Experimental]

Was actually a pretty poor game from both sides. Our forwards were completely outplayed by Munster which really surprised me (we are a lot better than that). The outside backs had very little room considering the rookie halfbacks but Lowe and Larmour had poor games apart from Lowes boot, our shape was just a shambles by the end. Really dissapointing, but some good experience for the younger lads against a full strength Munster i suppose. Ref had a decent game I thought. Coombes and Casey looked good for Munster when they came on. The vid analysis session wont be nice viewing on Monday I'd imagine...

[Morf]

Munster better team deserved win for them.
Game quality in general not great.
Porter and TOB stood out for me as looking interested in getting stuck in for the time they were on the pitch.

Reffing was odd in the way a lot of Mun-Lein games are. Convinced there is an edict sent down to ignore most of the excess physicality and let them hop off each other for 80 mins to harden both up.

[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.

Leaving out Healy, Kelleher, Furlong, Toner, Ruddock, VDF, Conan, McGrath, Byrne, Henshaw, Keenan and then missing Tracey, Doris, Leavy, Connors, Deegan, JGP, Sexton, Frawley, through injury makes it a weak team

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I think those type of comments are very disrespectful to the players who played for Leinster yesterday.
Your front 5 was very strong IMO, with 2 lads that many wouldn’t be overly surprised to see travel with the lions.
The backrow whilst young, are highly rated players with Penny and Baird being seen as being very close to international standard.

Your outside backs were far from weak IMO. Again littered with internationals.

I do agree that this was not a full strength Leinster team, and I would have been really disappointed if Munster had lost, but your claim that it was a weak team is not correct IMO.

[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.

You can have what you like on a pitch but from 11-15 today we could have had the best players in the world playing and it wouldn’t have mattered. If you don’t have a 9-10 working axis you ain’t going to do anything when playing games like that. I take exception to you saying the above didn’t stand up. I never saw them give up but they were outplayed today and any pack that finds themselves constantly going behind the game line to win at breakdowns is going to find it very hard. We lost the collision and our inexperience at half back level meant by how much. Plus several of the pack were either playing in new roles or returning from injury.

I do feel for your young scrum half, he was given a really poor platform, and your pack left him exposed continuously.
I think we are largely in agreement. This game was lost in the collisions. Munster continuously drove your pack back, meaning that when you had ball it was scrappy, and on the back foot.

IMO the players that I listed should have stepped up to the mark, unusually it looked like leinster were lacking leadership and control, despite having plenty of experience on the field.

Additionally, I think that Leo handled the bench poorly, IMO he should have had Cronin and Fardy on a lot earlier. By the time they were on it was too late.

[Peg Leg]

Spanked and a bit clueless tbh. Disappointing to see the heads drop and the theatrics come into play from our lads when things were going against us. But Munster were up for it and were not getting back on that bus without putting up a hell of a fight.

Was I seeing things or did POM through a couple of upper cuts in the first melee, just after Murray pulled Ryan out of it?

[wixfjord]

I think last night was a good example of why Nick McCarthy is a shrewd re-signing.

Not that he would’ve made much difference, but his experience and speed would’ve made our job a little easier.

It’s also an example of why having a big 12 available (like COB or Tomane) is useful at league level. Our backline struggled physically last night.

[ronk]

When you are focused on not getting hurt before the biggest game of the season, losing 2 guys in the captain's run is going to affect you, a lot.

Anyways congrats to Maloney and Foley on their debuts.

[hugonaut]

I think last night was a good example of why Nick McCarthy is a shrewd re-signing.

Not that he would’ve made much difference, but his experience and speed would’ve made our job a little easier.

It’s also an example of why having a big 12 available (like COB or Tomane) is useful at league level. Our backline struggled physically last night.

He would have made some difference though – Hughie had the proverbial nightmare! It reminded me very strongly of when John Cooney made his debut way back against the Ospreys in the first game of the season during the 2011 World Cup. Just looked that game up there, it actually finished the same score: https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/report/osp ... 3-leinster

He had a bit of a coalface in front of him a couple of times and at times he looked panicky and ultimately discouraged. I've sympathy for him because he doesn't get to play enough rugby [with no Celtic Cup or B&I Cup or AIL], but you have to be pragmatic about these sort of situations. He was put into a sink or swim situation, and to be polite, he didn't swim.

Lots of value in that game for us. It will remind everybody in the squad at a crucial time just how sh*t it feels to lose, and it will reinforce how you've got to be really physical but be able to get calm quickly. You've got to be able to recognise how a referee is going about things and adapt to his interpretations – a tough job last night. It was a very useful run-out for Ryan and Ringer - Ringer started quite slowly but got up and running before being subbed off. Much better that that happened here rather than in La Rochelle.

[blockhead]

Stander was not giving up that ball was he, there at the end. It was last seen under his arm as he walked back into the dressing room.
Holding onto it like it was a trophy. Hard to begrudge the lad, at last somethig to show for all those years in red.

[Lock9541]

Most Metres made- Larmour 52
Most carries- Larmour 15
Most tackles- Hawkshaw and Porter 12

[Dave Cahill]

A full back making the most meters is like water being wet in fairness