Leinster v Harlequins, Sept. 10th, 7pm.

[alanair]

Hawkshaw disappointing ……again

[wixfjord]

Great game in first half, quickly petered out in the second.

Sexton looked very sharp.
COB/Osborne partnership looked really good. Interested to see that again.
Thought Alaalatoa looked good too.

Liam Turner is a guy who impresses me every time I see him. Great all action style and lots of pace. He'll never be a test level player but could be a handy guy for the league.

[Lock9541]

Hawkshaw disappointing ……again

What happened?

[alanair]

Hawkshaw disappointing ……again

What happened?

Nothing … thats just it … I keep waiting for the sparks … but never seems to happen

[Keith]

Hawkshaw disappointing ……again

What happened?

Nothing … thats just it … I keep waiting for the sparks … but never seems to happen

It's the first pre season game and he came off the bench in a scrappy second half. Relax

[wixfjord]

Think it's very harsh to call out Hakwshaw. The whole thing crumbled in the final 30 minutes which is when he was on. Didn't notice him do much either positive or negative.

Also he had some pretty tasty 'sparks' away to Scarlets last season right?

He's a nice player, more a 12 than a 10 who has played very little senior rugby.

[Ruckedtobits]

Some really good elements to that Leinster display. Welcome back to Max Deegan, Conor O'Brian, Martin Maloney and Vak. Welcome to serious level to Deeny, Russell & Cosgrave. And that was only in the starters or immediate Replacements. Welcome also to Michael Alaloatoa, a very worthy addition.

Big performers? Dan Sheehan was all action and very effective as carrier, tackler and mauler. He looks a serious contender for our match-day Squad. Baird scored a Baird special from 30m but more importantly he worked harder than anybody in the second half when Cian Healy and Max Deegan were the only other front-line forwards. The work of our pack during the second-half in scrum and maul was hard-nosed and inspired real hope for the future. Vak, Ross M, Deeny, Maloney were good contributors.

Overall and although we only saw him for 40 mins, J10 was the class act in skills, orchestration and execution. He was involved in tackling & carrying, sprinting, supporting and scoring. A really good display.

Three big left footers (Lowe, CO'B & Osborne) who gained superb ground with long defensive kicks, including our first 50:22 which gained us an offensive line-out in the opposition 22, proved an innovative tactic and all three also looked comfortable with ball in hand.

The first half was a contest and Cosgrave looked capable and elusive at full-back whilst Russell looked comfortable and confident in attack and defence. The pack more than held their own against the Premiership champions whose body language and pre-match warm-up suggested they were more than hopeful of a win. Their reaction under their posts when we secured our 4th try after 30 mins confirmed this viewpoint.

It wasn't perfect and there are many players yet to return. But it was wonderful to be back watching them. The counter-attacks for our two initial tries were beautiful and Sexton's influence & presence was a real boost to this spectator's expectations for the season ahead.

[FLIP]

Overall and although we only saw him for 40 mins, J10 was the class act in skills, orchestration and execution. He was involved in tackling & carrying, sprinting, supporting and scoring. A really good display.

A very clear 2 fingers up at Gatland from Sexton. He played exceptionally well today.

[wixfjord]

Osborne really does look like he could be a serious player. He looked like a stalwart amongst young guys at times tonight. One of his kicks in the second half was brilliant.

Interesting to see where he ends up positionally. Still think he could be a great 15 personally.

[wixfjord]

Overall and although we only saw him for 40 mins, J10 was the class act in skills, orchestration and execution. He was involved in tackling & carrying, sprinting, supporting and scoring. A really good display.

A very clear 2 fingers up at Gatland from Sexton. He played exceptionally well today.

Ya I'd say Gatland is serious red faced after Johnny had a half in a pre-season game against Quins alright!

Can it not just be a good performance by Johnny, rather than a 'two fingers' to anyone?!

[FLIP]

Overall and although we only saw him for 40 mins, J10 was the class act in skills, orchestration and execution. He was involved in tackling & carrying, sprinting, supporting and scoring. A really good display.

A very clear 2 fingers up at Gatland from Sexton. He played exceptionally well today.

Ya I'd say Gatland is serious red faced after Johnny had a half in a pre-season game against Quins alright!

Can it not just be a good performance by Johnny, rather than a 'two fingers' to anyone?!

I'm pretty sure he's pretty red in the face anyway from his shortcomings the last few years.

And it was clear Sexton had a point to prove tonight.

[wixfjord]

Rob Russell had a good game too. Interesting to see if he can step up a level. Good burst of acceleration.

[Lock9541]

Hawkshaw disappointing ……again

What happened?

Nothing … thats just it … I keep waiting for the sparks … but never seems to happen

Your opinion on him is very harsh, he came on in the second half, made his tackles, didn’t make any mistakes. He’s had plenty of ‘sparks’ last season in the pro14 if you watched him play.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Very mixed performance as you’d expect from a first hit out but I was disappointed it got so ragged in the last quarter.

You could really see how the 50:22 changes things, the Quins back three in particular bolted straight back to cover it whenever we turned the ball over near halfway. I hate it, thought it would create a mess and still think so.

COB looked really sharp, didn’t expect that at all but it was great to see. Osbourne just has everything. Brilliant pass by Sexton to set up his try but the way he kept running hard on that line even with the delay in the pass was amazing anticipation and understanding of what needed to be done. He has great pace, a great presence in the backfield, and a cannon of a left boot.

He didn’t get much ball but I was really impressed by Russell. He has the directness that I’d love to see Larmour show more often.

Dreadful hit on Cosgrave, no place for that in any game never mind a friendly. He has great feet and is obviously skilful but his defence is non existent and he needs to be more confident going for high balls. I’m a fan of Turner and love how eager he is, as evidenced by his try, but he overdid it in defence and got caught horribly a few times by trying to rush up.

Penny wasn’t flawless but I thought he had a really strong game. He’s a real all rounder apart from being a lineout option and I really hope we see him in more big games this season. Ditto for Sheehan who has to be in the first choice 23 for me and I want to see him starting big games. That’s no reflection on Kelleher but as I’ve said before I think they could end up rotating like Smit and BDP used to do.

We got isolated and turned over a lot. That needs a lot of work next week, think some of it was down to miscommunication.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

What happened?

Nothing … thats just it … I keep waiting for the sparks … but never seems to happen

Your opinion on him is very harsh, he came on in the second half, made his tackles, didn’t make any mistakes. He’s had plenty of ‘sparks’ last season in the pro14 if you watched him play.

He makes the same mistake over and over in terms of not releasing the ball and trying to do it all himself. He could have given the ball to Cronin who was free on the wing but tried to have a go himself and ended up forcing an offload to make up for it and then there was a knock on. Defence can be very poor too.

There’s a lot of mistakes that I don’t care about from a game like tonight, Deegan’s knock ons after his lay off and the fact that we know he’s got great hands being one example, but it’s different when you see the same mistakes happening time and time again.

[Laighin Break]

Great to see Frawley and Porter take a full part in the warm up. Both mustn't be that far off.

Enjoyable first half, poor enough second half which Leinster would have lost of it wasn't for that bizarre last try. Really looking forward to seeing more of Osbourne this season. He looked so comfortable on the ball, never rushed, and had a few great kicks.
Rhys looked like he didn't want to go off so hopefully it was just a precaution.

[hugonaut]

Really enjoyed being back at a Leinster game. It was good crack despite the social distancing. An excellent first half from our lads as well – our counter-attacking in particular was really sharp, which was great to see. Also some outstanding left-footed tactical kicking from COB, James Lowe and Osborne.

Sexton and Sheehan were the pick of the backs and forwards [respectively] for me, but there were good performers scattered across the team. I thought that Conor O'Brien, James Lowe, Dev, Luke, Rob Russell and Jamie Osborne all played well, and it was particularly good to see COB looking so sharp and confident.

We didn't look as sharp in the second half with all the backline changes and the resulting diminution in firepower [and size], but we were short a rake of players aside from the internationals - the likes of Jimmy O'Brien, Adam Byrne, Rory O'Loughlin, Ciaran Frawley, Tommy O'Brien, Harry Byrne and Nick McCarthy.

[hugonaut]

Also very good, well organised and energetic maul defense from us - it is an area that we needed to improve on from last season and to see us have made such a big improvement so early in the season is very encouraging. It looks like the coaching staff have been inputting some new ideas and techniques. Maybe Robin McBride's stint with the Lions?

[Dave Cahill]

Also very good, well organised and energetic maul defense from us - it is an area that we needed to improve on from last season and to see us have made such a big improvement so early in the season is very encouraging. It looks like the coaching staff have been inputting some new ideas and techniques. Maybe Robin McBride's stint with the Lions?

It was noticeable before one of the mauls we stopped in the south east corner that most of our players adopted a three point stance as the ball was thrown in to the lineout before launching into the maul

[Oldschoolsocks]

I guess at this stage you can't really do much to hurt his game on the LH side. I wouldn't see him reinventing himself as a TH but even if he ends up being a really valuable 24th man for a season or two in the league then that's great for everyone I'd say. I could be wrong but think that Gethin Jenkins ended up doing something similar at the end of his career.

We have a lot of opensides but maybe it's time to give BOD a go there, then SOB at hooker and Madigan to scrumhalf.

Madzer always should have been a scrumhalf