Leinster v Racing 21 Jan

[LeinsterLeader]

Well that was just ridiculous from ringer

[wixfjord]

Baird and Conan have really stepped into up the gears from 50 onwards. Before that our backrow were very quiet.

[jimbobjoe]

Completely irrelevant now but Wade should've been carded for the flying headbutt to Ringrose at the end. A danger to himself and others.

[Blueberry]

Hats off to Racing, huge defensive effort. Carley deffo a bit of a stickler and lots of penalties and we made a few mistakes but in the end blew them away.

Sheehan, Baird and Conan had a pretty impressive last 15 minutes or so, serious carries.

Ringers showing once again world class quality.

This game and the Ospreys game we haven't had it all our own way but needed to figure out a way and it will stand to us in a tight knock out game later in the year.

[Blueberry]

Completely irrelevant now but Wade should've been carded for the flying headbutt to Ringrose at the end. A danger to himself and others.

Maybe cited for it, it actually looked very dangerous.....straight into Ringers kidneys....

[Experimental]

Honestly , if he doesnt get cited for that clear as day flying headbutt theres something very wrong. I think he thinks he's still playing American football

[pangurban1]

Watched in the pub and will look again tomorrow, but I did think Big Joe gave away a couple of penalties when Racing maul was stopped.

[curates_egg]

Backrow was excellent. Porter and Ryan the pick of the tight five. Back line looked very sharp.

Bench also had a big impact. Sheehan always steals the show but I thought Molony had a huge influence. Healy was also very good again.

We were outplayed from about 20-50 minutes, which was frustrating.

But we also are now showing lots of weaknesses.
Stopping us getting quick ball and bullying us has always been a way to beat us, but our lineout defence is now really a concern, particularly once a maul is formed.
Scrum is an issue to be managed at best.

Again, this might all be fixable if we have Furlong and Jenkins. But our “perfect record” should leave nobody under any illusions.

[hugonaut]

Hats off to Racing, huge defensive effort. Carley deffo a bit of a stickler and lots of penalties and we made a few mistakes but in the end blew them away.

Sheehan, Baird and Conan had a pretty impressive last 15 minutes or so, serious carries.

Ringers showing once again world class quality.

This game and the Ospreys game we haven't had it all our own way but needed to figure out a way and it will stand to us in a tight knock out game later in the year.

Really good performances from our outside backs today. That was one of Jimmy's best ever games – he didn't put a foot out of place and he made so many positive inputs. He was really outstanding.

Ringer was brilliant again, very O'Driscoll-esque. So many big moments. Keenan was great; we're so used to him playing great that he sometimes misses out on the compliments, but he was exceptionally good. And Larmour just looks so buzzy and volatile, always keen to get involved and more than a handful to deal with.

Like you, I thought that Cian, Sheehan, Molony and Baird all did really well when they came on and added a lot of pop. Our subs made a big impact and definitely outplayed their bench ... we really took over in the last twenty.

That was a tough game, a really tough hour. It was a good test. Racing tackled excellently, as they did in the first game. Very destructive. I thought Carley was one-eyed, not just in what he gave, but in what he didn't give. I was getting very p*ssy when their slap-downs were scrums and ours were penalties [and yellows].

[Theleinsterlad]

Great to see nearly 44,000 tickets sold for the game as well

[alanair]

Great to see nearly 44,000 tickets sold for the game as well

Lets not kid ourselves here , there was nowhere near 44K crowd there today … I would reckon a long way short of 40K

[CiaranIrl]

That old adage of forwards win games, but backs decide by how much wasn't true today for once. The backs won that game, which is unusual.

[Keith]

Great to see nearly 44,000 tickets sold for the game as well

Lets not kid ourselves here , there was nowhere near 44K crowd there today … I would reckon a long way short of 40K

Looked like more than 40k to me.

[RoboProp]

Ross Molony has the makings of a quality scrumhalf

Also Finn Russell is an odious scote

[cormac]

That cross-field kick from Ross. A complete miss-hit or did he just not see one of the Racing players?

[enby]

That cross-field kick from Ross. A complete miss-hit or did he just not see one of the Racing players?

I was wondering if he thought he had advantage. All very peculiar

[blockhead]

Excellent last 20, before that though was not great. Racing didn't do much, we just kept making mistakes. We were overeager IMHO. Backrow was quiet for the first hour. Bench made an impact no doubt.
Big crowd today, as its been all season, averaging nearly 23K/game over the 8 home games this season.

[munster#1]

Congratulations lads and ladies.
Leinster are a formidable force this season, and topping the table in the manner that they have is something that should be massively celebrated.

Right now it looks like the HC is Leinster’s to lose.

[Dexter]

Congratulations lads and ladies.
Leinster are a formidable force this season, and topping the table in the manner that they have is something that should be massively celebrated.

Right now it looks like the HC is Leinster’s to lose.

Poor effort.

[curates_egg]

Poor effort.

PSA: quoting trolls undermines the mute/foe function.
You’re not wrong though.