enby wrote: ↑November 28th, 2022, 1:18 pm
Conan showed signs of return to his best in his appearance off the bench v Oz. It is clear that Doris is best at 8. Neither Conan nor Deegan are great at 6 so effectively the pair of them are battling for the role of Doris's backup for the crunch games. It's an incredible wealth of resources in the 8 position especially with Ruddock still playing some good rugby too.
Going back to the days of Denis Hickie senior, Willie Duggan and Mike Gibson II Leinster have invariably had really top class 8s. Long may that continue
Yeah he did well against Oz. Since his form dipped he really hasn't been playing badly, but just nowhere near the levels he was at a year ago.
It's probably a moot point because we're unlikely to rest players but I wouldn't mind seeing a back row of Baird, Deegan (at 7), and Conan. That's no slight on Penny but I'd just like to see all three involved and that's probably the best way to do it.
Whatever about the rest of the team I'm doubling down on my belief that Ringrose should sit this one out after that injury report, he's just too important for Europe now to risk him here. I know there's a trade off with getting combinations ready but on balance I'd take that risk.
Edit: Good test of our defensive maul this week. I'm guessing Ryan, Jenkins, and Doris will all play and they're good at disrupting them. The Irish defensive maul was great so it'll be interesting to see what we've taken from there. Not sure who'll be at 6 for us but harder to compete in the lineout without POM and if Jenkins is there so big decision for Ryan in terms of being aggressive or not. Big Joe and Baird very good at breaking up mauls too but don't see either of them being involved, at least not from the start.