Leinster v Scarlets Sat 16th October 2021 17:15 TG4

[mildlyinterested]

[D4surfer]

15. Hugo Keenan (32)
14. Jordan Larmour (63)
13. Garry Ringrose (88)
12. Ciarán Frawley (38)
11. James Lowe (53)
10. Johnny Sexton (175) CAPTAIN
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (103)
1. Andrew Porter (79)
2. Rónan Kelleher (26)
3. Tadhg Furlong (114)
4. Ross Molony (119)
5. James Ryan (52)
6. Caelan Doris (41)
7. Josh van der Flier (100)
8. Jack Conan (105)

16. Dan Sheehan (15)
17. Cian Healy (234)
18. Michael Ala’alatoa (3)
19. Ryan Baird (30)
20. Rhys Ruddock (191)
21. Luke McGrath (153)
22. Ross Byrne (106)
23. Jimmy O’Brien (36)

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU, 5th league game)

[LeinsterLeader]

Scarlets team v Leinster (RDS Arena; 17:15; S4C/Premier Sports)

15 Ioan Nicholas; 14 Johnny McNicholl, 13 Jonathan Davies (capt), 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer; 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Gareth Davies; 1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ken Owens, 3 WillGriff John, 4 Lloyd Ashley, 5 Sam Lousi, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 Tomas Lezana, 8 Blade Thomson

Reps: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Rob Evans, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Morgan Jones, 20 Shaun Evans, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Dan Jones, 23 Tom Rogers.

[wixfjord]

Jaysus that looks pretty much full strength from our side!

First test for the new front row and impact subs too, which is very exciting.

Only qualm I'd have is Doris at 6, but it's an incredibly strong 23.

JOB at 23 is an interesting one also, I wonder is he seen as part of that first choice group now, or would that be Frawley's jersey if Robbie was available.

[LeinsterLeader]

I think this game should give us a good indication of exactly where we're at this season. Fingers crossed!

[Oldschoolsocks]

Healy back covering Loosehead

[D4surfer]

Bookies have Leinster at 1/14 to win. The handicap is 21 points. That's not how I see the match, which I think will be quite tight.

[ronk]

Nice selection. It's international friendly generally, which makes the Molony ahead of Baird interesting.

Faz probably wants Healy to have played loosehead this season, especially if he doesn't get the nod for Ireland at tighthead.

[JB1973]

Scarlets team v Leinster (RDS Arena; 17:15; S4C/Premier Sports)

15 Ioan Nicholas; 14 Johnny McNicholl, 13 Jonathan Davies (capt), 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer; 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Gareth Davies; 1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ken Owens, 3 WillGriff John, 4 Lloyd Ashley, 5 Sam Lousi, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 Tomas Lezana, 8 Blade Thomson

Reps: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Rob Evans, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Morgan Jones, 20 Shaun Evans, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Dan Jones, 23 Tom Rogers.

The scarlets ten is a good player with ball in hand but is very small and can be a weak link in defence, not sure if Nicholas has ever played 15 at senior level so could be another 1 to target. The scarlets will miss their big Tongan at 8 he is their main carrier, their back row are all internationals and should be handy enough shingler is their main line out man . The front row is strong as are the front row replacements, second row is a bit lightweight though. The centres are likely to be the welsh partnership come the Autumn and will be interesting to see how they get on

You should win this comfortably enough but there is still a lot of quality in that turk outfit

[mildlyinterested]

Tommy O'Brien involved with captains run.

[wixfjord]

Shingler v Doris, McNicholl v Lowe and the front row battle will be fascinating to watch.

As mentioned above, it's a pretty clear indication that Molony is our first choice now. Hope he continues on upward curve.

[hugonaut]

Interesting that Molony now seems to be a starter. Could be a big year for him.

Biggest call in the selection, from my point of view.

I thought that both Dev and Ryan Baird played quite well against Zebre, so they neither of them ruled themselves out of contention for this one with a real dud performance. All three of them have had a run since the season started and the selectors have decided to go with Ross in what is self-evidently a first choice team.

I think it's a good call. Ross is a bright guy and a hard worker, and he knows that he has to play at 100% to keep himself ahead of those guys - Dev is so much bigger than him and Baird is so much more explosive than him. There's essentially a talent deficit that he has to make up with work-rate, effectiveness and attitude.

I reckon that we will get a really big performance out of Ross. He'll recognise that this is a big match for him in the context of the second stage of his senior career [25-29 bracket – he's 27]. This is the European Cup team, and he hasn't started a European Cup game since the 2016-17 season.

Nobody in the rugby media will be fighting his corner, in the way that they may be perceived to do for Baird [the massively talented youngster] or Dev [the well-liked old stager]. So he'll have to win people around to his side by how he performs. And the other lads will be thinking that they deserve a shot ahead of him, while accepting that he's playing well, and that he's now more of a selection threat to them. So I think it could work well for the whole unit, because it will make the sense of competition more vital.

[limecat]

Match Preview

Well it was great to be back at the RDS!

Admittedly it was a low key return in terms of numbers even with the reduced capacity still due to Covid. Just over 10,000 fans were there to watch a fairly standard Leinster win over Zebre. The 1pm kick-off time and the opposition probably depressed the crowd a little bit but hopefully tomorrow's evening kick off time will see a fuller house.

Read more...

[riocard911]

Ross Moloney's "work-rate, effectiveness and attitude" - (c) Hugonaut - have been pronounced in all his three performances i.e. vs Quins, Bulls and Dragons this season. Fair play to him and long may it continue!!!!

[blockhead]

Ross Moloney's "work-rate, effectiveness and attitude" - (c) Hugonaut - have been pronounced in all his three performances i.e. vs Quins, Bulls and Dragons this season. Fair play to him and long may it continue!!!!

Yeah its been a long time coming.
Thats some team for an October league game.

[Laighin Break]

If a ball goes to ground within 5m of Molony, you know he'll be the first to dive on it.

[elephantman]

Tommy O'Brien involved with captains run.

Can’t be far off so. Hope he can stay injury free and get a good run of games under his belt.

Terrific player.

[Blue not red blood]

It was great to be back last week but it had a very sedentary feel to it. Obviously the 1pm start and opposition had a major bearing on it.
Hopefully this evening the crowd will be more involved. 530 kick off and a dangerous good quality team should generate a positive vibe.
Supporters are also now conscious that Ulsterrrrrrrr are 6 points ahead of us in the league.

[LeinsterLeader]

It was great to be back last week but it had a very sedentary feel to it. Obviously the 1pm start and opposition had a major bearing on it.
Hopefully this evening the crowd will be more involved. 530 kick off and a dangerous good quality team should generate a positive vibe.
Supporters are also now conscious that Ulsterrrrrrrr are 6 points ahead of us in the league.

Jaysus, don't show up at 5:30! You'll be late

[ronk]

Interesting that Molony now seems to be a starter. Could be a big year for him.

Biggest call in the selection, from my point of view.

I thought that both Dev and Ryan Baird played quite well against Zebre, so they neither of them ruled themselves out of contention for this one with a real dud performance. All three of them have had a run since the season started and the selectors have decided to go with Ross in what is self-evidently a first choice team.

I think it's a good call. Ross is a bright guy and a hard worker, and he knows that he has to play at 100% to keep himself ahead of those guys - Dev is so much bigger than him and Baird is so much more explosive than him. There's essentially a talent deficit that he has to make up with work-rate, effectiveness and attitude.

I reckon that we will get a really big performance out of Ross. He'll recognise that this is a big match for him in the context of the second stage of his senior career [25-29 bracket – he's 27]. This is the European Cup team, and he hasn't started a European Cup game since the 2016-17 season.

Nobody in the rugby media will be fighting his corner, in the way that they may be perceived to do for Baird [the massively talented youngster] or Dev [the well-liked old stager]. So he'll have to win people around to his side by how he performs. And the other lads will be thinking that they deserve a shot ahead of him, while accepting that he's playing well, and that he's now more of a selection threat to them. So I think it could work well for the whole unit, because it will make the sense of competition more vital.

I liked your comparison with O'Callaghan, there's a lot different in that DOC was international much earlier and was a Lion's starter at the equivalent stage of his career. But he got there by forming a lock partnership, something that was vogue 10 years ago but has now fallen off the map. He was a good player in his own right but he helped POC be the best player he could be.

I think it's something that will resonate with Leo and if Molony continues to step up at the same rate he could suddenly come into the mix as captain. Early days yet though. We've been focused on Ryan as captain but maybe it's a bit more like Cullen-O'Kelly, he'll get chances to do the job with internationals away and prove himself.