Leinster v Bath Sat 11th December 3.15 Aviva

[the spoofer]

I obviously watched a different game cause I thought Ross Byrne was really good today.

[Blue Man]

That was turgid. Another error strewn performance. We’re way off playing to our potential or the standard required to win this competition. There was a complete lack of leadership, focus and control. Im home and watching Ulster and they’re streets ahead of what we showed today.
Interesting theme in this thread is whether Frawley is the true heir to Johnny; he’s certainly playing better than the brothers grim(m)!
I’d like to see Furlong and Ringer assume much more of a leadership role. Johnny is so important to this side, he wouldn’t have tolerated the cr@p we saw today.
No doubt, the usual deluded suspects will criticise my post but the stats (penalties and errors) will show it was another inaccurate performance.
The reality is that Friday night in Montpellier will tell a lot and I sincerely hope we can cut out the errors and step up the overall performance

[blaker]

We’re not as good as we think we are. We’re very good but we’re not top table. Dare I say that we are akin to Munster in the mid 2010s - always going to make quarters and semis but short at the very top.
We’ve a handful of world class players - Sexton, Tadhg, Porter, Henshaw - and several very good international level players - JGP Ringer Doris Conan hookers Keenan Lowe. But we also have a lot of players who are adequate provincial players only (Rhys, Moloney, Byrne) or are in bad form (Luke Larmour) or are over the hill (Healy, Toner). Jury very much out on Aletoa for me too.
We’ve a glaring weakness at second row for me

How good do we think we are?

Furlong and Cullen immediately spoke about the need for improvement. We're a rusty team getting fully up to speed with a new format season.

We're missing key players and had a lot of late withdrawals.

You'd still expect us to win and we did. Big win but not a record scoreline. We took off players early for the 6 day turnaround, a drop in intensity is expected.

I think it’s fair that the stated aim is to win Europe and that should be an entirely realistic goal allowing for vagaries like draws, injuries, refs etc.

I don’t think we are good enough consistently to win Europe this year.

I wouldn’t base my view on today at all. Game like that can often go like that. Over in 20 mins, flat as a pancake - not good to drop off that badly but not a mortal sin.

I think our second row issues are long dated and long discussed. I’ve said before that our incredible depth in some spots (back row) hides very little depth in others (halfback, 13, wing).

EDIT - just to add to / illustrate this - I’d take Munsters entire second row (Beirne RGS Ahern) over our first choice one and their back up halfbacks over ours

[Blue Man]

We’re not as good as we think we are. We’re very good but we’re not top table. Dare I say that we are akin to Munster in the mid 2010s - always going to make quarters and semis but short at the very top.
We’ve a handful of world class players - Sexton, Tadhg, Porter, Henshaw - and several very good international level players - JGP Ringer Doris Conan hookers Keenan Lowe. But we also have a lot of players who are adequate provincial players only (Rhys, Moloney, Byrne) or are in bad form (Luke Larmour) or are over the hill (Healy, Toner). Jury very much out on Aletoa for me too.
We’ve a glaring weakness at second row for me

Hard to disagree with any of that. I would add that for me, there is still enough talent to be contenders but the team looks badly coached

[Serb]

Hard to disagree with any of that. I would add that for me, there is still enough talent to be contenders but the team look old badly coached

Are you saying the team is old and badly coached?

[Blue Man]

Hard to disagree with any of that. I would add that for me, there is still enough talent to be contenders but the team look old badly coached

Are you saying the team is old and badly coached?

Don’t think it’s an old team. What’s the average age?

[Oldschool]

A satisfactory result but an unsatisfactory performance.

[ronk]

We’re not as good as we think we are. We’re very good but we’re not top table. Dare I say that we are akin to Munster in the mid 2010s - always going to make quarters and semis but short at the very top.
We’ve a handful of world class players - Sexton, Tadhg, Porter, Henshaw - and several very good international level players - JGP Ringer Doris Conan hookers Keenan Lowe. But we also have a lot of players who are adequate provincial players only (Rhys, Moloney, Byrne) or are in bad form (Luke Larmour) or are over the hill (Healy, Toner). Jury very much out on Aletoa for me too.
We’ve a glaring weakness at second row for me

How good do we think we are?

Furlong and Cullen immediately spoke about the need for improvement. We're a rusty team getting fully up to speed with a new format season.

We're missing key players and had a lot of late withdrawals.

You'd still expect us to win and we did. Big win but not a record scoreline. We took off players early for the 6 day turnaround, a drop in intensity is expected.

I think it’s fair that the stated aim is to win Europe and that should be an entirely realistic goal allowing for vagaries like draws, injuries, refs etc.

I don’t think we are good enough consistently to win Europe this year.

I wouldn’t base my view on today at all. Game like that can often go like that. Over in 20 mins, flat as a pancake - not good to drop off that badly but not a mortal sin.

I think our second row issues are long dated and long discussed. I’ve said before that our incredible depth in some spots (back row) hides very little depth in others (halfback, 13, wing).

EDIT - just to add to / illustrate this - I’d take Munsters entire second row (Beirne RGS Ahern) over our first choice one and their back up halfbacks over ours

Strange to make that comment immediately after a game in the match thread and not be talking about the game.

I don't think anyone is saying it's our year. We're one of the top teams, no one is saying we're in front. I think we can improve and will improve.

Snyman has 54 minutes in 2 seasons, Jenkins hasn't played yet. Ahern has half the gametime this season as Kleyn. Beirne is a better 6 probably.

The Munster 2nd row has been Wycherly and Kleyn mostly. Lock maybe isn't our strongest position, but Ryan, Molony and Baird holds up pretty well.

Reserve halfbacks don't win championships generally, but I don't have an issue with McGrath and either Byrne as a reason to worry about our chances this year. I'm not at all convinced that Munster have better players there.

[Serb]

Hard to disagree with any of that. I would add that for me, there is still enough talent to be contenders but the team look old badly coached

Are you saying the team is old and badly coached?

Don’t think it’s an old team. What’s the average age?

Ah must be a weird typo, you had said:

there is still enough talent to be contenders but the team look old badly coached

But I’m guessing the old bit is an autocorrect.

[CiaranIrl]

Not so fun fact: Toulouse beat Cardiff in Cardiff today by a bigger points difference than Leinster beat Bath in Dublin: 7-39 = 32, while 45-20 = 25.

Cardiff don't have the depth to field a second string team that would be competitive in the AIL, and this was a third string team. 32 players were unavailable after a South African debacle worse than Munster's lot.

[blockhead]

Jeez the moanin on here, yid swear we'ed lost.
We beat the All Blacks, we'll be fine.

[ronk]

Jeez the moanin on here, yid swear we'ed lost.
We beat the All Blacks, we'll be fine.

Last month

[Oldschoolsocks]

Are you saying the team is old and badly coached?

Don’t think it’s an old team. What’s the average age?

Ah must be a weird typo, you had said:

there is still enough talent to be contenders but the team look old badly coached

But I’m guessing the old bit is an autocorrect.

Did you mean the bold bit's an autocorrect ?









I’ll get my coat…

[Twist]

Well I for one like that European jersey. I strongly dislike the iron on crest, but that aside Its pretty good. Proper shade of blue instead of that sickly one, and a nice bit of gold too. The white shorts really offset the whole ensemble. Its a look that says “I’m here to win the European Cup and nothing’s gonna stop me”.

[CiaranIrl]

Jeez the moanin on here, yid swear we'ed lost.
We beat the All Blacks, we'll be fine.

Last month

I blame the old coaching.

[the spoofer]

Please can we avoid the ref who’s doing the Exeter Mount game. He is truly awful

[curates_egg]

Well I for one like that European jersey. I strongly dislike the iron on crest, but that aside Its pretty good. Proper shade of blue instead of that sickly one, and a nice bit of gold too. The white shorts really offset the whole ensemble. Its a look that says “I’m here to win the European Cup and nothing’s gonna stop me”.

My thoughts on seeing it were that it’s a lovely jersey but not a Leinster one.

[Serb]

Have to say I really liked the look of the kit today too. I refuse to buy the Adidas stuff because it’s overpriced low quality tat, but the design is very nice on this one.

[curates_egg]

Very good first 50.
At least one of the three penalties against us was horseshit and that lineout try concession was a good lesson to learn.
Disappointing final score: should have been a 50 burger and a single score against.

I would agree that our second row is a major Achilles. Molony is having an exceptional season but is not top level standard. Ryan is very often injured and has yet to regain top form. Dev may have fallen off a cliff. And Baird is a curate’s egg.

Munster have signed four or five second rows since Kleyn. We were already a bit threadbare before Fardy retired and have regressed. Is that because of Leinster or the IRFU?
It was so clear last season we need an abrasive cnut in the engine room if we’re going to win.

[desperado]

Jeez the moanin on here, yid swear we'ed lost.
We beat the All Blacks, we'll be fine.

So true. Just home from the game and read a few of the posts above; plenty of bs frankly.