Leinster v Glasgow Sat 26th Nov 3:15pm RTE/Premier Sports

[curates_egg]

Fear for Clarkson up against Kebble.

Struggling alright

Watching Salanoa get schooled by Buckley now. Ref hasn’t a clue though.

[Laighin Break]

Ref put in an impressive shift although I did think RK's yellow was quite harsh

We were on a warning. It was a team yellow card so fair enough.

And the warning came after a previous Kelleher infringement too

[alanair]

For all the worry warts - J-Lo out doing warm ups with the team

Hey , I spoke with JLo in Dunned Cornelscourt on Thursday (as you do ) and he promised he’d be back gor the Ulster game .. apparently he’s been too busy swatting up on his geography of Dublin rivers textbook

[curates_egg]

I thought Molony was quietly excellent again. He plays such an important role in our attack too: taking it to the line, committing defenders and distributing.

His no-look pull back pass for the (last) Russell try was a thing of beauty. He has really perfected that skill. There aren’t many backs, let alone forwards, that can do it as well.

McGrath and Deegan also had very good games.
Ngatai is a super signing, enabling those young backs around him to shine.

[hugonaut]

When you leave a game, having won 40-5 and scoring six tries to one, thinking that it was a pretty routine win, after a while the thought emerges that if we as fans have become quite complacent about results like this, the coaching staff and team certainly haven't.

The lads out there worked hard and made that seem like an inevitability. Our pack didn't take a break. We were 14-0 up after 11 mins and 21-0 up after 24 mins ... it's easy to feel that the game is going your way and that it's an opportunity to push forward your own personal performance and make a name for yourself. Instead they stuck to the task at hand, which was knocking down Glasgow forwards, making it a long day for them, taking their momentum away and ultimately grinding them down into broken individuals. They flew home a battered team with nothing to show for their efforts but lumps, bruises and the realisation that they spent the last couple of weeks preparing for a contest and they couldn't land a meaningful punch.

Ed Byrne: 10 tackles [50 mins]
Ro Kelleher: 17 tackles [55 mins]
Tom Clarkson: 10 tackles [50 mins]
Ross Molony: 10 tackles
Joe McCarthy: 8 tackles [50 mins]
Rhys Ruddock: 16 tackles [50 mins]
Scott Penny: 15 tackles
Max Deegan: 18 tackles

We weren't able to field a backline with an awful lot of individual threats, but our wingers scored four tries between them. That is a real testament to how well the team are coached and how well they combined to threaten the Glasgow centre and create space wider out.

It was good to see Ro Kelleher, Harry Byrne, Ryan Baird and Jamie Osborne back out on the pitch after their recent injuries. Kelleher hasn't missed a beat. He looked pretty formidable from the off. Also really pleasing to see and hear the applause that Ross Byrne received when he was subbed off – tat has been well earned and not just over the last week.

[the spoofer]

Rob Russell was fantastic in attack. 3 tries and had a number of other important interventions but we can’t ignore the fact that he missed a number of poor tackles.

Our line speed seemed to disappear once CN went off and we became quite passive. CN looks to have injured his shoulder.

Joe McCarthy gave away 3 pens in the first 30 minutes.

Positives:

Load of injured players back
Beat Glasgow by 6 good tries to 1
Our defence was excellent for first 40
Deegan looks back to his best

[the spoofer]

Btw, anyone know which of our lads was shouting “kill the f%~ker Mikie” at scrum time. That’s proper encouragement for the front row.

[Ruckedtobits]

Joe McC is going to have to improve his discipline if he wants to progress beyond interpro level, or even maintain his place at this level. His tackling is too high and sloppy I.e. his higher hits don't even knock players backwards. He is very strong but his technique ( in tackle & breakdowns including maul), doesn't allow him to apply that strength.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Joe McC is going to have to improve his discipline if he wants to progress beyond interpro level, or even maintain his place at this level. His tackling is too high and sloppy I.e. his higher hits don't even knock players backwards. He is very strong but his technique ( in tackle & breakdowns including maul), doesn't allow him to apply that strength.

I don’t disagree in general but seemed to me like he was unlucky yesterday. The first tackle looked fine and the third one seemed to be mistaken identity and it was actually Ed Byrne who’d gone high. Maybe someone with a better view than me can say otherwise.

He’s such a nuisance at the breakdown, Glasgow needed three players to deal with him at times.

Whether I’m right or wrong about not agreeing with those decisions it’s crazy that the ref didn’t bin him after the third one. I’m not sure Glasgow cared enough to be angry about it but they should have been fuming.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Thought Clarkson was excellent around the park yesterday. Scrum was a bit of a mess but to me it looked like Ed, who didn’t have his best game, was the one struggling early on and then the ref gave out to Kelleher. Clarkson certainly struggled in a couple of scrums but it definitely wasn’t all him.

Ngatai has been brilliant recently, that offload was absolutely world class. Himself and Turner have a nice little combo going. Loved the way Turner was straight in to secure the ball when Luke went the wrong way and got stuffed. A second row went to get over it but Turner’s speed to get in and then his technique meant that he secured it absolutely perfectly when he really had no right to.

Luke had a really strong game. JGP hit the ground running against SA but was poor against Fiji and Australia so I think I’d have Luke ahead of him just for the moment until JGP is back to being fully sharp.

Didn’t think Rhys had his best game but Baird had a couple of errors too when he came on. Baird is so frustrating, he lost the ball so easily in contact at one stage but then had that amazing pick up, if he could just cut out the silly errors he’d be first choice. Deegan is in really good form and I’d have him ahead of Conan right now. Penny did well too, I think he’s kicked on a bit after a relatively quiet season.

Osborne’s boot is such a weapon for us and I thought he made some great last ditch tackles. Whether it’s at fullback or centre I just want to see him get his hands on the ball more often. Edit: I keep forgetting how young he is, only turned 21 on the 16th!

[the spoofer]

Thought Clarkson was excellent around the park yesterday. Scrum was a bit of a mess but to me it looked like Ed, who didn’t have his best game, was the one struggling early on and then the ref gave out to Kelleher. Clarkson certainly struggled in a couple of scrums but it definitely wasn’t all him.

Ngatai has been brilliant recently, that offload was absolutely world class. Himself and Turner have a nice little combo going. Loved the way Turner was straight in to secure the ball when Luke went the wrong way and got stuffed. A second row went to get over it but Turner’s speed to get in and then his technique meant that he secured it absolutely perfectly when he really had no right to.

Luke had a really strong game. JGP hit the ground running against SA but was poor against Fiji and Australia so I think I’d have Luke ahead of him just for the moment until JGP is back to being fully sharp.

Didn’t think Rhys had his best game but Baird had a couple of errors too when he came on. Baird is so frustrating, he lost the ball so easily in contact at one stage but then had that amazing pick up, if he could just cut out the silly errors he’d be first choice. Deegan is in really good form and I’d have him ahead of Conan right now. Penny did well too, I think he’s kicked on a bit after a relatively quiet season.

Osborne’s boot is such a weapon for us and I thought he made some great last ditch tackles. Whether it’s at fullback or centre I just want to see him get his hands on the ball more often. Edit: I keep forgetting how young he is, only turned 21 on the 16th!

I couldn’t disagree with you more re Ruddock. He was absolutely excellent. The best player on the park for the first 40.

[enby]

Osborne just keeps getting better. His decision making and positioning are great for one so young.
I agree with Spoofer, RR was really good last night. How lucky are we to have had him for his career. If we had a Leinster Hall of Fame, he would be one of my first nominations.

[curates_egg]

Thought Clarkson was excellent around the park yesterday. Scrum was a bit of a mess but to me it looked like Ed, who didn’t have his best game, was the one struggling early on and then the ref gave out to Kelleher. Clarkson certainly struggled in a couple of scrums but it definitely wasn’t all him.

Ngatai has been brilliant recently, that offload was absolutely world class. Himself and Turner have a nice little combo going. Loved the way Turner was straight in to secure the ball when Luke went the wrong way and got stuffed. A second row went to get over it but Turner’s speed to get in and then his technique meant that he secured it absolutely perfectly when he really had no right to.

Luke had a really strong game. JGP hit the ground running against SA but was poor against Fiji and Australia so I think I’d have Luke ahead of him just for the moment until JGP is back to being fully sharp.

Didn’t think Rhys had his best game but Baird had a couple of errors too when he came on. Baird is so frustrating, he lost the ball so easily in contact at one stage but then had that amazing pick up, if he could just cut out the silly errors he’d be first choice. Deegan is in really good form and I’d have him ahead of Conan right now. Penny did well too, I think he’s kicked on a bit after a relatively quiet season.

Osborne’s boot is such a weapon for us and I thought he made some great last ditch tackles. Whether it’s at fullback or centre I just want to see him get his hands on the ball more often. Edit: I keep forgetting how young he is, only turned 21 on the 16th!

Osborne has a big boot but it was very wayward yesterday I thought.

Thought Ruddock put in a huge shift: tackling, rucking, carrying. Marred by two knock ons.

I praised Luke (above) but find your narrative tiresome. We should judge JGP on his games (and training) for Leinster. It will be interesting to see how he’s reintegrated.
I think it’s fairly clear why his performance against Australia was so affected: he was clearly under a lot of pressure from (a) an under-resourced ruck and (b) doing everything himself so Crowley was protected. It reflected badly on him, but he did what was asked of him. To try and make an inference from that about his selection for Leinster is silly.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Thought Clarkson was excellent around the park yesterday. Scrum was a bit of a mess but to me it looked like Ed, who didn’t have his best game, was the one struggling early on and then the ref gave out to Kelleher. Clarkson certainly struggled in a couple of scrums but it definitely wasn’t all him.

Ngatai has been brilliant recently, that offload was absolutely world class. Himself and Turner have a nice little combo going. Loved the way Turner was straight in to secure the ball when Luke went the wrong way and got stuffed. A second row went to get over it but Turner’s speed to get in and then his technique meant that he secured it absolutely perfectly when he really had no right to.

Luke had a really strong game. JGP hit the ground running against SA but was poor against Fiji and Australia so I think I’d have Luke ahead of him just for the moment until JGP is back to being fully sharp.

Didn’t think Rhys had his best game but Baird had a couple of errors too when he came on. Baird is so frustrating, he lost the ball so easily in contact at one stage but then had that amazing pick up, if he could just cut out the silly errors he’d be first choice. Deegan is in really good form and I’d have him ahead of Conan right now. Penny did well too, I think he’s kicked on a bit after a relatively quiet season.

Osborne’s boot is such a weapon for us and I thought he made some great last ditch tackles. Whether it’s at fullback or centre I just want to see him get his hands on the ball more often. Edit: I keep forgetting how young he is, only turned 21 on the 16th!

Osborne has a big boot but it was very wayward yesterday I thought.

Thought Ruddock put in a huge shift: tackling, rucking, carrying. Marred by two knock ons.

I praised Luke (above) but find your narrative tiresome. We should judge JGP on his games (and training) for Leinster. It will be interesting to see how he’s reintegrated.
I think it’s fairly clear why his performance against Australia was so affected: he was clearly under a lot of pressure from (a) an under-resourced ruck and (b) doing everything himself so Crowley was protected. It reflected badly on him, but he did what was asked of him. To try and make an inference from that about his selection for Leinster is silly.

Silly to judge selection on form? Okay…

And what narrative would this be? The one where I think JGP is our best scrumhalf and want him to be starting all the big games at the business end of the season? I’m merely saying I’d start Luke in Europe right now purely until JGP gets more game time. But my comments are tiresome then just don’t read them.

[curates_egg]

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but you’ve been the staunchest Luke defender/JGP critic on here. Why, in a thread about our Glasgow game, would you have a pop at him for his performance for Ireland?

Luke has had a few great games. It really is fantastic to see him back to his best.

As for selection for Europe, my point is that JGP’s performance against Australia has no bearing on it.
Presumably it will depend on how he is reintegrated back over the coming weeks and how we want to play.
If both are on form, it gives us the option to select horses for courses, like we used to do with Boss and Reddan.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but you’ve been the staunchest Luke defender/JGP critic on here. Why, in a thread about our Glasgow game, would you have a pop at him for his performance for Ireland?

Luke has had a few great games. It really is fantastic to see him back to his best.

As for selection for Europe, my point is that JGP’s performance against Australia has no bearing on it.
Presumably it will depend on how he is reintegrated back over the coming weeks and how we want to play.
If both are on form, it gives us the option to select horses for courses, like we used to do with Boss and Reddan.

Did you miss the bits in that post where I said Luke got stuffed after going the wrong way and that JGP played well against SA?

What’s tiresome is commenting on performances and being told you’ve got an agenda. I mentioned future selections and past performances because it’s a rugby forum and I wanted to.

[OTT]

Thought Liam Turner had a really good game, he’s a workhorse and very strong defender which belies his size, also has a nice break in him. If he keeps going the way he is and stays injury free the loss of ROL to our squad might be less significant.

Was delighted for Russell, he’s had a few iffy games but you could see his confidence growing through the game, he looked a different player from his first few games for us.

All in all job done by 20mins, 5 points but still lots to work and improve on. Deadly stuff.

Also loved the Ross Byrne moment when he got subbed as hugo mentioned above, biggest cheer of the day (sorry Joe at al) he deserved it.

[Blue Man]

In many ways it was a typical first match back (after a long break). The attack lacked cohesion and we struggled to get any continuity. I thought the defence was really impressive and that’s a great barometer for attitude; total commitment from the lads.
Lots of comments in the thread regarding individual players. I think most lads had good games, it was just the cohesion that we struggled with.
I thought Clarkson was good around the pitch but scrum is a big problem, he’s young so has time but his scrummaging has to improve.
I thought Kelleher was really good, seriously impressive after nearly three months out.
Joe Mc is a serious athlete but still very raw, needs to cut out the penalties and silly turn overs. Baird is similar.
Luke played well, not the quickest in getting the ball away but is a really intelligent footballer and committed defender.
I thought Foley brought zip at the base and Harry took the ball flatter than Ross when he moved to 10, although it was quite late in the game and Glasgow were mentally in the showers.
Big match next week and then it’s Europe but it’s fantastic to have such squad depth as it keeps the internationals sharp and provides strong replacements where needed.

[wixfjord]

Thought Liam Turner had a really good game, he’s a workhorse and very strong defender which belies his size, also has a nice break in him. If he keeps going the way he is and stays injury free the loss of ROL to our squad might be less significant.

He’s a cracking player. Clearly size is going to hamper him getting to Euro level, but he’s obviously well thought of given he captained against Chile and he gets through loads of work while also being threatening going forward.

Could see him being a guy who comes in for league games when test players are away.

[naraic]

Have we come to a conclusion about Osbourne's long term position yet?

I was thinking 13 myself but given that Turner was there yesterday he could be looking at a different home.