Leinster v Bulls Friday RDS 19:35 TG4

[Theleinsterlad]

Sometimes teams have the number on other teams. Interesting to see that once again while we seem to be able to beat Toulouse (who have a power game) quite handily over the past number of years, LAR can’t seem to ever beat them, yet in the same way LAR seem to be able to get us everytime.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

LL I don’t think that’s true tbh, even when we annihilate teams there’s still lots of criticism.

Just one thought I’m going to throw out there that could potentially improve things and have nothing to do with power. Should we be looking at bringing in a new coach with particular expertise on the maul/lineout? No disrespect to Leo but I think a new set of eyes would be good and given that Leo keeps signing one year deals it might be prudent to have someone else there helping in that area anyway for when he eventually leaves.

One more thing, a captain who’s there week in week out a la Isa and is used to making decisions or can speak up to someone like Sexton or Ryan in big games might be good. There’s no obvious candidate though tbf.

Molony Shirley? He won’t be making many Irish teams, even if he makes the squads imo.

I’d be looking to have Ryan, McCarthy, and Baird ahead of him for big games.

I think he’s a fine player but in those very toughest games I think his position is an obvious one to try and upgrade.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Sometimes teams have the number on other teams. Interesting to see that once again while we seem to be able to beat Toulouse (who have a power game) quite handily over the past number of years, LAR can’t seem to ever beat them, yet in the same way LAR seem to be able to get us everytime.

I was thinking about this too. Toulouse run sideways a lot and rely on individual talent picking lines and running from deep. We were able to snuff that out with ease but La Rochelle just couldn’t cope. Hard to get off the line and smother the opposition when they’re popping the ball around well behind the gain line.

[paddyor]

LL I don’t think that’s true tbh, even when we annihilate teams there’s still lots of criticism.

Just one thought I’m going to throw out there that could potentially improve things and have nothing to do with power. Should we be looking at bringing in a new coach with particular expertise on the maul/lineout? No disrespect to Leo but I think a new set of eyes would be good and given that Leo keeps signing one year deals it might be prudent to have someone else there helping in that area anyway for when he eventually leaves.

One more thing, a captain who’s there week in week out a la Isa and is used to making decisions or can speak up to someone like Sexton or Ryan in big games might be good. There’s no obvious candidate though tbf.

Molony Shirley? He won’t be making many Irish teams, even if he makes the squads imo.

I’d be looking to have Ryan, McCarthy, and Baird ahead of him for big games.

I think he’s a fine player but in those very toughest games I think his position is an obvious one to try and upgrade.

If you want a captain who’s there week in week out Ross is you’re guy. The others will likely be away with Ireland. Maybe a downgrade on MacArthy or Baird in some aspects but you get continuity of leadership in its place.

[neiliog93]

I'm trying to work out what Leinster can do when their speed and quality of possession is being disrupted at one or more of the line-out, scrum and ruck. This will only happen against very strong teams, with excellent defensive line-outs and physicality around the park (especially at the breakdown).

Obviously, the flowing attacking game-plan, whether multi-phase or involving offloads, is largely dependent either on good quality possession from the set-pieces or fast ball from the breakdown. If this possession is being consistently disrupted by strong opposition with fast defensive line-speed (or living offside), what can Leinster do?

I would suggest that unfortunately the only option is probably to kick more, especially from inside our own half. If the opposition are consistently making life difficult for us when we have the ball, we probably have to kick it back to them and let them have a go, while also securing good territory for ourselves. This of course requires that our kicking, chasing, fielding and defence be on point, but I don't see much of an alternative.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Molony Shirley? He won’t be making many Irish teams, even if he makes the squads imo.

I’d be looking to have Ryan, McCarthy, and Baird ahead of him for big games.

I think he’s a fine player but in those very toughest games I think his position is an obvious one to try and upgrade.

If you want a captain who’s there week in week out Ross is you’re guy. The others will likely be away with Ireland. Maybe a downgrade on MacArthy or Baird in some aspects but you get continuity of leadership in its place.

But that’s pointless for my idea if I then wouldn’t pick him for the biggest games. Not sure what’s complicated about what I’m saying. Isa was perfect, Rhys was a great option too but is declining and seemingly out of favour. For me there’s no obvious candidate right now.

[ronk]

Jenkins complicates matters because you could name Molony and he'd possibly lose his place anyway.

I'm not in any rush to take the captaincy away from Sexton. Also, the plan next year is to not have so many matches clashing on international weekends.

Molony is a good candidate though and so is Ruddock.

[LeinsterLeader]

Been thinking about this for a while but Friday really brought it to the fore. It's a bit of a whine but the seasons over now so I thought, "well fup it, I might as well put it out there"

The general trend or talk in World Rugby is to try to speed up the game in order to look to reduce the size of players and buy extension the level of force in collisions. If they are serious about this then I really think they need to look at assisting the side trying to speed it up. Now obviously the other night we didn't help ourselves in this regard by continuously knocking the ball on and allowing the game to be slowed down but there are 2 issues I think need to be looked at:

1) This "Meeting on the mound" and team huddle before each lineout should be knocked on the head. We do it too when it suits us but I thought the Bulls were taking the Pi$$ the other night. It's an easy fix too I would think. First time you get a warning, second time you give a free. That should put an end to it. If not keep going warning/free until it does stop.

2)The next one is not so straight forward to fix, but the amount of guys going down which led to a water break was ridiculous. I'd be pretty sure a least some of the time the Bulls players went down there was nothing much wrong with them. I'm not sure what the ref can do about this but it's very frustrating for me.

If I'm honest, in terms of the Bulls dictating the speed of the game (and they certainly did) we were the biggest culprits in allowing them to do it, but I think the two area highlighted above didn't help.

[RoboProp]

Watching the South African teams and the whole players coming in from the gate and on their feet seems to be an optional call for refs these days?
I was losing track of the amount times players from both sides would come in from wherever and they just hit the deck.

[backrower8]

Been thinking about this for a while but Friday really brought it to the fore. It's a bit of a whine but the seasons over now so I thought, "well fup it, I might as well put it out there"

The general trend or talk in World Rugby is to try to speed up the game in order to look to reduce the size of players and buy extension the level of force in collisions. If they are serious about this then I really think they need to look at assisting the side trying to speed it up. Now obviously the other night we didn't help ourselves in this regard by continuously knocking the ball on and allowing the game to be slowed down but there are 2 issues I think need to be looked at:

1) This "Meeting on the mound" and team huddle before each lineout should be knocked on the head. We do it too when it suits us but I thought the Bulls were taking the Pi$$ the other night. It's an easy fix too I would think. First time you get a warning, second time you give a free. That should put an end to it. If not keep going warning/free until it does stop.

2)The next one is not so straight forward to fix, but the amount of guys going down which led to a water break was ridiculous. I'd be pretty sure a least some of the time the Bulls players went down there was nothing much wrong with them. I'm not sure what the ref can do about this but it's very frustrating for me.

If I'm honest, in terms of the Bulls dictating the speed of the game (and they certainly did) we were the biggest culprits in allowing them to do it, but I think the two area highlighted above didn't help.

100%

Thank you. You just saved me a few minutes. I was about to make these exact points.

[ronk]

I'm not sure if the meeting in the mound is that much slower or that big a problem most of the time. Refs are perfectly capable of calling a free kick for excessive delay off a lineout. They just need to be stronger on speeding up the game.

There are a million ways to slow down the game if the ref lets you. And he was always going to let them. It's safer to p1$$ off Leinster than the important new guys with a debatable decision.

That and they had to travel far.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I think a lot of that is just part of the game and can't say it bothers me. La Rochelle being able to take 90 seconds for the conversion in the final does bother me though, surely it can't be right that a team can score with so long left but it's game over? At the very least I'd make a change that there's always a restart if the try is scored more than 60 seconds before the 80 minutes are up.

Toulouse were standing over kicks for ages the other night too. The match was played in 30 degree heat so I get it but it can't be right to just waste time like that.

[Experimental]

90 seconds is far too long for a penalty. 60 seconds should easily be enough, and if your kicker is receiving attention then another player takes the kick. Id like to see a sevens style drop goal personally to help speed things up even more.

[fourthirtythree]

Meh, Johnno's notorious among opposition fans for taking the full 90. He does it all the time as frequently he's taken a late hit on the way to the try and his process is his process.

As for last Friday we have a functioning lineout, or we catch balls and we win that. Fair play to the Bulls doing a number on our lineout like that. The handling under no pressure was self-inflicted.

I disagree with most other hot takes on how we are or our future but I think Jackman's point that we don't trust our bench was important. In some cases you can see why we are reluctant to replace the half backs perhaps but it is in pack replacements we are falling behind others. Compare us to Toulouse the other day, we left on Porter and Sheehan till nearly the end. I know that injury had something to do with that but still.

[riocard911]

Meh, Johnno's notorious among opposition fans for taking the full 90. He does it all the time as frequently he's taken a late hit on the way to the try and his process is his process.

As for last Friday we have a functioning lineout, or we catch balls and we win that. Fair play to the Bulls doing a number on our lineout like that. The handling under no pressure was self-inflicted.

I disagree with most other hot takes on how we are or our future but I think Jackman's point that we don't trust our bench was important. In some cases you can see why we are reluctant to replace the half backs perhaps but it is in pack replacements we are falling behind others. Compare us to Toulouse the other day, we left on Porter and Sheehan till nearly the end. I know that injury had something to do with that but still.

I agree with Birch's point re the bench too. In retrospect McKee might have been better as back up to Sheehan.

[Dexter]

Been thinking about this for a while but Friday really brought it to the fore. It's a bit of a whine but the seasons over now so I thought, "well fup it, I might as well put it out there"

The general trend or talk in World Rugby is to try to speed up the game in order to look to reduce the size of players and buy extension the level of force in collisions. If they are serious about this then I really think they need to look at assisting the side trying to speed it up. Now obviously the other night we didn't help ourselves in this regard by continuously knocking the ball on and allowing the game to be slowed down but there are 2 issues I think need to be looked at:

1) This "Meeting on the mound" and team huddle before each lineout should be knocked on the head. We do it too when it suits us but I thought the Bulls were taking the Pi$$ the other night. It's an easy fix too I would think. First time you get a warning, second time you give a free. That should put an end to it. If not keep going warning/free until it does stop.

2)The next one is not so straight forward to fix, but the amount of guys going down which led to a water break was ridiculous. I'd be pretty sure a least some of the time the Bulls players went down there was nothing much wrong with them. I'm not sure what the ref can do about this but it's very frustrating for me.

If I'm honest, in terms of the Bulls dictating the speed of the game (and they certainly did) we were the biggest culprits in allowing them to do it, but I think the two area highlighted above didn't help.

Totally agree. The game is being officiated as if the powers that be want a slower game with lots more kicking and defense rewarded more than attack.

[neiliog93]

A few years ago they increased the time allowable for a kick from 60 seconds to 90 seconds. It should be reduced down to 60 again.

Re preventing teams from slowing down play, I think you could limit water breaks to one per team per half (except in very hot weather). Then, you could say that if a team have a player going down with injury/cramp more than once in a half, play continues without them. If they can come back on when there's a break in play, so be it, if they can't come back on, they're subbed.

Mini-conference before line-outs could be punished with a free-kick (as is supposed to be the case for teams leaving the ball at the base of a ruck for too long before box-kicking).

[artaneboy]

Meh, Johnno's notorious among opposition fans for taking the full 90. He does it all the time as frequently he's taken a late hit on the way to the try and his process is his process.

As for last Friday we have a functioning lineout, or we catch balls and we win that. Fair play to the Bulls doing a number on our lineout like that. The handling under no pressure was self-inflicted.

I disagree with most other hot takes on how we are or our future but I think Jackman's point that we don't trust our bench was important. In some cases you can see why we are reluctant to replace the half backs perhaps but it is in pack replacements we are falling behind others. Compare us to Toulouse the other day, we left on Porter and Sheehan till nearly the end. I know that injury had something to do with that but still.

On replacing the halfbacks and “not trusting our bench”, that might make some sense when it’s the likes of Sexton being left on as long as possible, to wring as much of his higher class out of him on the match, but why the delay in getting him on last Friday? We needed him at half time, and he definitely made a difference when he eventually came on. Is it a “process” thing: no change until 55- 60 minutes? Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.


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[Dave Cahill]

A few years ago they increased the time allowable for a kick from 60 seconds to 90 seconds. It should be reduced down to 60 again.

60 seconds for a pen, 90 for a conversion (increased 10 years ago from 60 because players like BOD kept throwing the ball away when they touched down)

[Oldschoolsocks]

A few years ago they increased the time allowable for a kick from 60 seconds to 90 seconds. It should be reduced down to 60 again.

60 seconds for a pen, 90 for a conversion (increased 10 years ago from 60 because players like BOD kept throwing the ball away when they touched down)

Correction, there is no other player like BOD…