backrower8 wrote: ↑May 4th, 2021, 4:12 pm
RoboProp wrote: ↑May 4th, 2021, 11:44 am
Hoofhearted wrote: ↑May 4th, 2021, 11:09 am
Buying in muscle is a short term fix and would be a stick id use to beat Munster and French/English teams.
We have to be realistic, we cant win the European Cup every year. We need to develop our own players and compete that way. Lets develop Baird and Dunne etc. Yes it will take time and they will make mistakes, but
its only a game at the end of the day.
Look at the players we were missing on Sunday, we did very well considering. A team with a fully fit and firing
Leavy, Sexton, Deegan, Cronin, Connors etc and not just back from injury Ryan and Ringrose would have won that game. I think a lack of top class bench was the downfall, not a lack of power per say and that was down to bad luck with injuries not a lack of a quality squad.
Good first post. Level headed. You'll do well around these parts
1. We don't win it every year. We do lose to the same formula for the last 3 consecutive years though.
2. It is not
just a game, it is a business that needs to be successful to live, survive and thrive and is 90% resourced to do so. We are talking about the various ways to bridge the last 10%.
3. You referenced Leavy, Sexton, Deegan, Cronin, Connors as big solutions to our squad issues on the day. Only 2 of the five are relevant as Cronin is not even first or second choice Hooker and we would only have had one of the 3 backrowers, that you mention, involved based on form. Same applies if you add Doris to the mix. We didn't lose the game at back row. We lost for a range of reasons:
A. With front 5 power the main one
B. Half backs the second, and
C. Lack of precision on the day also a telling factor (big moments with Baird and McGrath try chances).
The Lowe yellow was very surprising.
I see your point on all you have said.
I think its a big simplified to say we lost to the same formula. I've never played at this level in Rugby so what I'm saying here might be absolute tripe, so go easy on what i say next - its just my observation!
At elite level in any sport the margins are tiny. To us cretins in the stands (or behind the couch looking through our fingers) it might look the same old mistakes but in reality each game was markedly different. Power isn't everything and even if we had two big lumps at second row we could still have lost all of those recent big games. Why? Well the teams we played would have analyzed Leinster to death and come at us a different way. We could have had our big lumps totally bypassed and run off the park. Leinster can win lots of different ways and so can the other top 5 or 6 teams in Europe. We could have been tearing our hair out saying "we need a snappy NZ scrumhalf NOW" or "We need bigger centres!"
What we actually need is to develop the outstanding young players we have. Leinster are the envy of Europe when it comes to producing young players. So lets develop a team with the guys we have. Would you really want to let Baird or Dunne sit on a bench looking on for 3 years and never learn from the bad and good days? A rising tide raises all boats, this team is really special. Let's see how they develop. I have great faith in the way Leo and SL run the team.
On success of the team.... we won the league while providing the vast majority of the Irish team and got the semi of the EC, all while playing the Leinster way and knocking out last years champs. Yes we lost a Semi final against a really well drilled and attractive team. No shame in that, but look at what was achieved all while developing serious young players!
The injured players i mentioned are not just (in my humble opinion) needed for the day of the game, there is more to consider. They would have been applying pressure all week before the game to the starters, upping everyone's game in training, in prep and just the level of confidence to the squad. Its tiny % that win these games. I think Jack Conan being replaced by a fit Doris at 60min would have made a huge difference. Connors for VDF, chopping and orgainsing that defence after 55-60 min - fresh and hungry. Squads feed on energy and confidence. Seeing any of Leavy, Doris etc coming on would give any team a lift. I could go on but I'm sure you get my drift.