Leinster vs Emirates Lions, Friday 25.02.22 19:35 @ The RDS

[Dave Cahill]

Someone phone the agent of their scrum half and see if he is interested in coming North. He was excellent.

Best player on view tonight. Find him an Irish ancestor!

[Serb]

Understandable because the Tackle is covered in Law 14.

Nice one, actually read the laws to double check, but only looked at section 14.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I thought McCarthy had been given a shot because we were short on second rows recently and some are heading off in the summer, but I think he’s got it because he’s ready and they wanted him involved ASAP. He has that bit of niggle when he clears people out and leaves a shoulder in on the ground, or tackles the scrumhalf a split second after he passes, but he’s clever with it, nothing too obvious or dirty. He carries like Baird without the step too.

Thought Dunne did well when he came on too, really struggling to see why we didn’t play him more.

Scrum is a big worry but wouldn’t pin in it on anyone in particular, seemed to be in trouble in all sorts of ways. Lions definitely wheeled a couple and got away with it as well.

Tommy McFadden needed a big game and he got it, a well deserved MOTM. I thought Harry was excellent as well. Carried hard, really physical in defence, and his passing was top class. There probably won’t be much need for him to play 12 over the next few months but I think he’s made himself a good option there now.

[Ruckedtobits]

Maybe if the opposition were called the Transvaal Lions we would have given them greater credibility. IMO, that is one of the most competitive opponents we've had in the RDS for a couple of years. They ran hard, tackled harder and didn't give up throughout the 80 minutes. Their scrum-half was the best I've seen in the URC and their starting tight-head the most ferocious operator in the scrum.

O'Brien deserved MOTM, McCarthy was magnificent in the second row and Scott Penny, Peter Dooley & Luke McGrath were excellent substitutes.

Leinster will have a lot of sore bodies in the morning and if the Lions are truly the weakest of the SA franchises, this league will produce surprises before we finish.

[ronk]

He's still got a way to go for development, but I liked Max O'Reilly.

[ronk]

Watching the replay the ref was even worse. 2 shockers against Josh Murphy in the first half.

We could have been smarter though.

[deco]

Tommy O’Brien has form for super-duper try saving tackles https://twitter.com/i/status/835238936725372929

[the spoofer]

He's still got a way to go for development, but I liked Max O'Reilly.

I thought he was really good, I kept on thinking that Jo’B was at fullback

[Ruckedtobits]

As mentioned by others, the refereeing display was a distance below par. Many of decisions were questionable and some were downright wrong. His continual verbal interventions before scrums were annoying and useless.

I hope his assessors and the URC Referee Manager gives him a very direct and objective de-brief.

[Peg Leg]

There was zero point trying to win that BP from our 22 all the time. Completely disrespected the oppo last night. We kept them in the game and they were not good, we just Harry Byrne'd ourselves out of a BP.

[Theleinsterlad]

Someone phone the agent of their scrum half and see if he is interested in coming North. He was excellent.

Yes and sadly ours were terrible. Just when I thought N McCarthy was showing some form m, he has an absolute stinker

Yeah he looks like another FlaF in the making. Sure he won’t be with lions for long before he is snapped up

[Theleinsterlad]

I thought McCarthy had been given a shot because we were short on second rows recently and some are heading off in the summer, but I think he’s got it because he’s ready and they wanted him involved ASAP. He has that bit of niggle when he clears people out and leaves a shoulder in on the ground, or tackles the scrumhalf a split second after he passes, but he’s clever with it, nothing too obvious or dirty. He carries like Baird without the step too.

Thought Dunne did well when he came on too, really struggling to see why we didn’t play him more.

Scrum is a big worry but wouldn’t pin in it on anyone in particular, seemed to be in trouble in all sorts of ways. Lions definitely wheeled a couple and got away with it as well.

Tommy McFadden needed a big game and he got it, a well deserved MOTM. I thought Harry was excellent as well. Carried hard, really physical in defence, and his passing was top class. There probably won’t be much need for him to play 12 over the next few months but I think he’s made himself a good option there now.

Completely agree with what you said about McCarthy and at 20 the way he plays and his skills are already top notch and as he builds out he is going to be one hell of a unit. I think I am one of a very few that being honest does not rate Dunne at all and while the guy has size and build I think he lacks how to use it. Especially when you have him playing alongside McCarthy last night and seeing what he can do with metres after contact compared to dunne is big. Sorry to see dunne go and as I’ve said before in other posts I hope he proves me wrong in Exeter but last night did nothing to change my opinion of him

[wixfjord]

He carries like Baird without the step too.

Thought the exact same looking at him last night. He actually carries like a mix of Baird & Doris, very upright and also looking to carry from the base and go past a 'gate' defender. Looks to offload too. Obviously not as explosive as either but still, very promising.

According to ESPN stats he passed 9 times and carried 10 times for 46 metres with 2 defenders beaten and one offload. By far the highest of the pack. Also made 12 tackles and 0 missed.

Very exciting performance from a 20 year old.

Then again we had something similar from Dunne a few years back and never kicked on.

[riocard911]

He's still got a way to go for development, but I liked Max O'Reilly.

I thought he was really good, I kept on thinking that Jo’B was at fullback

You weren't the only one!

[wixfjord]

MOR plays in a very similar way to both JOB & Keenan. Good lines, nice acceleration, always looking for offload. He's a bit loose and has a bit to go skills wise, but very promising.

Osborne was good last night too. Showed more of his attacking skills and linked well with Harry.

Good to have young options in the backline getting experience at this level against a SH team.

[riocard911]

Lovely shout out by Leo in the post-match presser to the Ruddock family on the occasion of Rhys' 200th cap, in which he made a point to mention that father Mike was the first Leinster professional coach. Nice touch. Classy even.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I think I am one of a very few that being honest does not rate Dunne at all and while the guy has size and build I think he lacks how to use it. Especially when you have him playing alongside McCarthy last night and seeing what he can do with metres after contact compared to dunne is big. Sorry to see dunne go and as I’ve said before in other posts I hope he proves me wrong in Exeter but last night did nothing to change my opinion of him

No I agree with you to a large extent. When people would suggest that he was the answer to our lack of physicality in the second row I didn’t get it, but he is a very big man and has a very big work rate. He’s just a very solid player and when we had ageing/injured players in the second row and started well at a young age then it’s strange that he didn’t get more chances IMO. I thought our scrum improved when he came on last week although again it’s hard to pin that on any one player.

He may not make the most of his size and make the impact that he could, but I’d back him to make 20+ tackles and provide a solid set piece at home to Zebre, or away to La Rochelle in a big knockout game.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Agree on all the praise for MOR. He needs to work on his timing and decision making around passing out wide, but IIRC he had similar issues when he first came into the team and then improved on them, I’d say he was just rusty last night.

His acceleration, step, and eye for a gap are all top notch, and even if you get to him he still looks to get the ball away, must be a nightmare to defend.

[hugonaut]

Agree on all the praise for MOR. He needs to work on his timing and decision making around passing out wide, but IIRC he had similar issues when he first came into the team and then improved on them, I’d say he was just rusty last night.

His acceleration, step, and eye for a gap are all top notch, and even if you get to him he still looks to get the ball away, must be a nightmare to defend.

I thought he did great last night! He looked pretty fatigued by the end of the match because he was doing a lot of running off the ball, but for a guy who hadn't played a minute of pro rugby this season I thought he excelled himself. I think he has somehow managed to make significant strides over the last period of time despite not playing much. Very impressed by him, and I wasn't that convinced last season.

[LeinsterLeader]

I thought that was the sort of game we've been crying out for to be honest. Really physical game and the Lions brought a lot of what we hoped the SA teams were going to bring. They weren't brilliant technically (especially with the ball) but they tackled everything and were hugely strong. A firm lesson that a second rate scrum performance won't get us buy when the frontline troops are away, anymore. So plenty of good lessons learnt.

On the flip side Harry looked in trouble going off so I'd be surprised if he back for next week anyway. The lads also looked out on their feet by the end so I'd be worried going to Treviso, where we find it difficult at the best of times with such a tired team. Follow that straight up a week later with a game against what will probably be an almost fully locked and loaded Ulster and well, to quote that great scrum-half Nat King Cole............. "there may be trouble ahead!"