Leinster V Cardiff, Sat 28th Jan 17:05

[Theleinsterlad]

I was very impressed by brownlee and turner at center. Thought I noticed a couple of ringrose-esk runs from him and he wasn’t afraid to put the tackle in. Turner is a carbon copy of nugget when he runs but plays at centre and he seems to be a very solid player when asked to play. I really enjoyed the match and the attendance goes to show the interest Leinster fans have now when our new players are getting a chance to play. There is this bubbling excitement that we are about to watch to unfurling of another Osbourne etc

[LeinsterLeader]

Most enjoyable part of the match for me was the defensive set from about 62 to 65th minute. Cardiff hadn't scored at that time and were battering the line but everyone was getting stuck in for Leinster. At one stage we drove them back about 20 meter's. It was great stuff.

[hugonaut]

Milne could be a real high level LH option if he continues to scrummage like that and keeps up the other parts of his game which are excellent.

Milne did really well yesterday. He showed off his quick feet, making a lot of carries in traffic and got a good bit of go-forward. That was his point of difference as an age-grade player, and it is good to see that he has still got it. 56 minutes is a long stint for him, but he looked lively for the whole time he was on the pitch.

John McKee plays like an experienced pro already. I tend to forget that he is still in the academy. He's tough, he doesn't make mistakes, he's got good workrate and he reads the game well. He should end up playing a lot of rugby for us. He's got two exceptional players ahead of him, but he's still going to end up playing a lot of minutes. The mentality is really good.

On the other hand, very disappointed with Clarkson. Obviously it was his first game back, but he's still running around with his chin in the air, playing too high and his scrummaging was really poor. He has a lot of work-ons, which is not what I'd expect from a guy who comes with such a successful age-grade pedigree. His tackle height needs to come way down, he needs to time his runs better and above all he needs to be able to keep his side of the scrum viable.

[Flash Gordon]

I was very impressed by brownlee and turner at center. Thought I noticed a couple of ringrose-esk runs from him and he wasn’t afraid to put the tackle in. Turner is a carbon copy of nugget when he runs but plays at centre and he seems to be a very solid player when asked to play. I really enjoyed the match and the attendance goes to show the interest Leinster fans have now when our new players are getting a chance to play. There is this bubbling excitement that we are about to watch to unfurling of another Osbourne etc

Turner lacks a bit in height but he's quick and strong, thought he was really excellent. The starting from row did well too. All in all a good performance in fairly horrible conditions that being said, Cardiff were really poor. That lad who came on with the tights and scrum cap in the backs might have been the worst player I've seen in the URC. Generally they didn't look particularly interested which is bizarre given that we have 20 players in the Ireland squad, you'd think they would be thinking this was a chance to knock a big team over.

[Morf]

I was very impressed by brownlee and turner at center. Thought I noticed a couple of ringrose-esk runs from him and he wasn’t afraid to put the tackle in. Turner is a carbon copy of nugget when he runs but plays at centre and he seems to be a very solid player when asked to play. I really enjoyed the match and the attendance goes to show the interest Leinster fans have now when our new players are getting a chance to play. There is this bubbling excitement that we are about to watch to unfurling of another Osbourne etc

Turner lacks a bit in height but he's quick and strong, thought he was really excellent. The starting from row did well too. All in all a good performance in fairly horrible conditions that being said, Cardiff were really poor. That lad who came on with the tights and scrum cap in the backs might have been the worst player I've seen in the URC. Generally they didn't look particularly interested which is bizarre given that we have 20 players in the Ireland squad, you'd think they would be thinking this was a chance to knock a big team over.

Matthew Morgan was Michael Lowry mark 1.

[Flash Gordon]

I was very impressed by brownlee and turner at center. Thought I noticed a couple of ringrose-esk runs from him and he wasn’t afraid to put the tackle in. Turner is a carbon copy of nugget when he runs but plays at centre and he seems to be a very solid player when asked to play. I really enjoyed the match and the attendance goes to show the interest Leinster fans have now when our new players are getting a chance to play. There is this bubbling excitement that we are about to watch to unfurling of another Osbourne etc

Turner lacks a bit in height but he's quick and strong, thought he was really excellent. The starting from row did well too. All in all a good performance in fairly horrible conditions that being said, Cardiff were really poor. That lad who came on with the tights and scrum cap in the backs might have been the worst player I've seen in the URC. Generally they didn't look particularly interested which is bizarre given that we have 20 players in the Ireland squad, you'd think they would be thinking this was a chance to knock a big team over.

Matthew Morgan was Michael Lowry mark 1.

Is that who it was?? Didn't he play for Wales a while back? He had a shocker this weekend compounded by how utterly ridiculous he looked in tights and scrum cap.

[wixfjord]

Yeah poor Morgan didn't really fancy it.

Playing away in the pissing rain with high balls raining down on him is not his game.

Hard to believe he's 30, always see him as a young up and comer!

[joooooe]

Yeah poor Morgan didn't really fancy it.

Playing away in the pissing rain with high balls raining down on him is not his game.

Hard to believe he's 30, always see him as a young up and comer!

He and the sub winger who came on were wearing tights and short sleeve jerseys. They looked a bit silly. Clearly what Cardiff need is an Irish mammy to tell them how to wrap up warm on a chilly evening.

[hugonaut]

I was very impressed by brownlee and turner at center. Thought I noticed a couple of ringrose-esk runs from him and he wasn’t afraid to put the tackle in. Turner is a carbon copy of nugget when he runs but plays at centre and he seems to be a very solid player when asked to play. I really enjoyed the match and the attendance goes to show the interest Leinster fans have now when our new players are getting a chance to play. There is this bubbling excitement that we are about to watch to unfurling of another Osbourne etc

Turner lacks a bit in height but he's quick and strong, thought he was really excellent. The starting from row did well too. All in all a good performance in fairly horrible conditions that being said, Cardiff were really poor. That lad who came on with the tights and scrum cap in the backs might have been the worst player I've seen in the URC. Generally they didn't look particularly interested which is bizarre given that we have 20 players in the Ireland squad, you'd think they would be thinking this was a chance to knock a big team over.

The Cardiff team should be embarrassed, as should their coaching staff. On paper, they had a team more than capable of putting the team we sent out under real pressure. They had 11 capped players in their starting XV versus six in ours [Ala'alatoa, Ruddock, Deegan, McGrath, Byrne, Kearney] and were way more experienced, with an average age of 29+ compared to our average age of 25.

LH: Thyer [29/-]
H: Myhill [30/1 cap]
TH: Assirati [25/-]
L: Timani [32/13 caps - Australia]
L: S Davies [26/17 caps]
BS: Turnbull [34/13 caps]
OS: Botham [24/9 caps]
No8: Ratti [25/-]

SH: L. Williams [33/32 caps]
OH: Evans [26/8 caps]
LW: Harries [33/-]
IC: Thomas [24/2 caps]
OC: Lee-Lo [36/26 caps - Samoa]
RW: Lane [25/5 caps]
FB: Priestland [36/56 caps]

Obviously there are issues in Welsh rugby at practically every level, be it governance, structure, financial etc., but as players you can't control those things. You can control what you do on the pitch; it's the only thing you can control. Turning in performances where you don't really try, where you don't compete, isn't doing yourself or your career any favours. It's no skin off Leinster's nose ... we're happy to give you a drubbing with a bunch of kids.

[Blue not red blood]

I thought he was one of the kids who stayed on after half time minis

Yeah poor Morgan didn't really fancy it.

Playing away in the pissing rain with high balls raining down on him is not his game.

Hard to believe he's 30, always see him as a young up and comer!

[ronk]

Obviously there are issues in Welsh rugby at practically every level, be it governance, structure, financial etc., but as players you can't control those things. You can control what you do on the pitch; it's the only thing you can control. Turning in performances where you don't really try, where you don't compete, isn't doing yourself or your career any favours. It's no skin off Leinster's nose ... we're happy to give you a drubbing with a bunch of kids.

There was a bump in Wales with internationals who wanted to impress Gatland. But this game is the guys who didn't get picked and motivation can drop fast.

The other thing with games against young teams is that you want to frustrate them, knock their confidence and dominate them in some area. But that doesn't work if they keep the ball away from you, score early and then pull away.

Cardiff came back a bit after the subs but it was a but late and they weren't able to get Leinster to collapse in any area.