Leinster v Dragons Sat 18th Feb 7.35 RTE

[kendo90]

Luke McGrath tracked in behind the line very effectively against Exeter a few years back too


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[Theleinsterlad]

I think the wind had a big impact on our ability to get the backline into play. JOB barely touched the ball for the first half, neither did Osborne.

Overall there were actually a few good performances which is strange considering the overall showing was mixed.

Penny was MOTM for me.
McKee is turning into a real find. Great darts and lively around the pitch.
Milne scrummaged well against a tricky customer.

Boyle & Jenkins had two really good cameos. The difference Jenkins makes to our scrum is ridiculous.

Rhys & McGrath their usual selves. McGrath almost set up a try in first half due to an awful pass that fractured their defence. Maybe that's something he should look at doing more!

JOB and Larmour showed glimpses of why they're well above this level, the former in particular.

Turner to me looks a real find. Love his style of play and energy.

I reckon DK is on his last legs. He hasn't played much and is rusty, but looked at sea at times last night imo.

I think McGrath has been watching a lot of tapes on dupoint, that steak he did for his try is right out of watching the lines dupoint takes - FairPlay to Luke for continuing to improve his game.

Think that’s a bit harsh on Kearney thought he had a good enough game but stand to be corrected.

I think Dupont has been watching Luke McGrath tapes! McGrath has used that 3 times now that I can remember. First time against Connacht last year in the Sportsground and did it against Racing also.

dupoint wears luke McGrath pjs to bed

[ronk]

McGrath runs that line a lot. Mostly to blow up loop moves, but intercepts are good too.

[Oldschoolsocks]

For me McGrath’s pass is ropey, the rest of his play is really top notch.

Once he gave up flapping his arms he really improved as a player

[enby]

For me McGrath’s pass is ropey, the rest of his play is really top notch.

Once he gave up flapping his arms he really improved as a player

Totally agree with all of that. He reads the game so well and is a proper team leader. Unfortunately it is not unusual to see the first receiver stretching or stooping or stopping his run to take the pass from Luke. I really wish he could iron out the glitches in his passing

[hugonaut]

Thought Nick McCarthy had a very poor showing off the bench. These are the type of games he needs to show he can be a viable option.

Both he and Foley have failed to kick on this year.

Yeah, Nick didn't bring much to the table in this game. Really obvious step down from Luke.

Brian Deeny lost a hell of a lot of contacts and made bad decisions – his QB sneak effort was ill-advised, his decision to dummy to JOB was poor, his decision to block down the scrum-half's kick from an offside position was poor. His effort is good in terms of movement and getting around the corner in defensive duties, but he has to work on hitting people harder, both in defense and as a supporting rucker. There's not much value in getting to everything and doing nothing.

Clarkson – I don't really understand what the story is. He is picking up bad habits that nobody else in the squad has. His tackling technique is too high, he tries to make contacts with his chest rather than his shoulder, he runs leading with his chin ... I don't understand what he's trying to do, and how he hasn't had the corners knocked off him. None of those traits are positive. He's not an enormous hulk and he hasn't got quick feet; that is what it is. All the more reason to do things technically well. He tends to concede a high number of penalties and free-kicks at scrum time. Given his position and his lack of outstanding qualities in open play, scrummaging has to become a strength. And it's nowhere near that at the moment.

These lads, Clarkson and Deeny, have a lot of room to improve. I hope that McBride and O'Brien have the same view as I do and have a plan for them to do so.

It was a very patchy performance, probably our worst home performance of the season. In fairness to the Dragons, they were game and committed. The wind also had a big impact on the game. You couldn't feel it in the stands, but you could see the posts swinging back and forth and some of the kicks noticeably held up or were swung sideways.

[Theleinsterlad]

Thought Nick McCarthy had a very poor showing off the bench. These are the type of games he needs to show he can be a viable option.

Both he and Foley have failed to kick on this year.

Yeah, Nick didn't bring much to the table in this game. Really obvious step down from Luke.

Brian Deeny lost a hell of a lot of contacts and made bad decisions – his QB sneak effort was ill-advised, his decision to dummy to JOB was poor, his decision to block down the scrum-half's kick from an offside position was poor. His effort is good in terms of movement and getting around the corner in defensive duties, but he has to work on hitting people harder, both in defense and as a supporting rucker. There's not much value in getting to everything and doing nothing.

Clarkson – I don't really understand what the story is. He is picking up bad habits that nobody else in the squad has. His tackling technique is too high, he tries to make contacts with his chest rather than his shoulder, he runs leading with his chin ... I don't understand what he's trying to do, and how he hasn't had the corners knocked off him. None of those traits are positive. He's not an enormous hulk and he hasn't got quick feet; that is what it is. All the more reason to do things technically well. He tends to concede a high number of penalties and free-kicks at scrum time. Given his position and his lack of outstanding qualities in open play, scrummaging has to become a strength. And it's nowhere near that at the moment.

These lads, Clarkson and Deeny, have a lot of room to improve. I hope that McBride and O'Brien have the same view as I do and have a plan for them to do so.

It was a very patchy performance, probably our worst home performance of the season. In fairness to the Dragons, they were game and committed. The wind also had a big impact on the game. You couldn't feel it in the stands, but you could see the posts swinging back and forth and some of the kicks noticeably held up or were swung sideways.

Clarkson reminds me of my feeling I had when I first saw Tony Buckley take the field and thinking Jesus we have a beast on our hands for Ireland only for him to play and see he had no idea or understanding of how to use his bulk or strength on a rugby pitch. Deflating!

[mildlyinterested]

Thought Nick McCarthy had a very poor showing off the bench. These are the type of games he needs to show he can be a viable option.

Both he and Foley have failed to kick on this year.

Yeah, Nick didn't bring much to the table in this game. Really obvious step down from Luke.

Brian Deeny lost a hell of a lot of contacts and made bad decisions – his QB sneak effort was ill-advised, his decision to dummy to JOB was poor, his decision to block down the scrum-half's kick from an offside position was poor. His effort is good in terms of movement and getting around the corner in defensive duties, but he has to work on hitting people harder, both in defense and as a supporting rucker. There's not much value in getting to everything and doing nothing.

Clarkson – I don't really understand what the story is. He is picking up bad habits that nobody else in the squad has. His tackling technique is too high, he tries to make contacts with his chest rather than his shoulder, he runs leading with his chin ... I don't understand what he's trying to do, and how he hasn't had the corners knocked off him. None of those traits are positive. He's not an enormous hulk and he hasn't got quick feet; that is what it is. All the more reason to do things technically well. He tends to concede a high number of penalties and free-kicks at scrum time. Given his position and his lack of outstanding qualities in open play, scrummaging has to become a strength. And it's nowhere near that at the moment.

These lads, Clarkson and Deeny, have a lot of room to improve. I hope that McBride and O'Brien have the same view as I do and have a plan for them to do so.

It was a very patchy performance, probably our worst home performance of the season. In fairness to the Dragons, they were game and committed. The wind also had a big impact on the game. You couldn't feel it in the stands, but you could see the posts swinging back and forth and some of the kicks noticeably held up or were swung sideways.

Clarkson reminds me of my feeling I had when I first saw Tony Buckley take the field and thinking Jesus we have a beast on our hands for Ireland only for him to play and see he had no idea or understanding of how to use his bulk or strength on a rugby pitch. Deflating!

Clarkson is nowhere near as big or powerful as Buckley.

[FLIP]

Yeah, Nick didn't bring much to the table in this game. Really obvious step down from Luke.

Brian Deeny lost a hell of a lot of contacts and made bad decisions – his QB sneak effort was ill-advised, his decision to dummy to JOB was poor, his decision to block down the scrum-half's kick from an offside position was poor. His effort is good in terms of movement and getting around the corner in defensive duties, but he has to work on hitting people harder, both in defense and as a supporting rucker. There's not much value in getting to everything and doing nothing.

Clarkson – I don't really understand what the story is. He is picking up bad habits that nobody else in the squad has. His tackling technique is too high, he tries to make contacts with his chest rather than his shoulder, he runs leading with his chin ... I don't understand what he's trying to do, and how he hasn't had the corners knocked off him. None of those traits are positive. He's not an enormous hulk and he hasn't got quick feet; that is what it is. All the more reason to do things technically well. He tends to concede a high number of penalties and free-kicks at scrum time. Given his position and his lack of outstanding qualities in open play, scrummaging has to become a strength. And it's nowhere near that at the moment.

These lads, Clarkson and Deeny, have a lot of room to improve. I hope that McBride and O'Brien have the same view as I do and have a plan for them to do so.

It was a very patchy performance, probably our worst home performance of the season. In fairness to the Dragons, they were game and committed. The wind also had a big impact on the game. You couldn't feel it in the stands, but you could see the posts swinging back and forth and some of the kicks noticeably held up or were swung sideways.

Clarkson reminds me of my feeling I had when I first saw Tony Buckley take the field and thinking Jesus we have a beast on our hands for Ireland only for him to play and see he had no idea or understanding of how to use his bulk or strength on a rugby pitch. Deflating!

Clarkson is nowhere near as big or powerful as Buckley.

Plus he's actually better at scrums

[mildlyinterested]

7

Clarkson reminds me of my feeling I had when I first saw Tony Buckley take the field and thinking Jesus we have a beast on our hands for Ireland only for him to play and see he had no idea or understanding of how to use his bulk or strength on a rugby pitch. Deflating!

Clarkson is nowhere near as big or powerful as Buckley.

Plus he's actually better at scrums

Is he? He has even struggling there for quite some time.

[FLIP]

Clarkson is nowhere near as big or powerful as Buckley.

Plus he's actually better at scrums

Is he? He has even struggling there for quite some time.

Buckley was utterly terrible at TH. Clarkson is at least showing some skill there, and a few of the penalties against him right now aren't due to his technique but referees perceptions (because few top level referees actually understand the scrum)

[neiliog93]

Buckley would have made an excellent Vunipola-style number 8. At 6'5" he was very tall for a prop, but was a super lifter and ball carrier, and actually had fairly good hands. Scrum technique let him down badly and essentially broke his body as well.

[riocard911]

Plus he's actually better at scrums

Is he? He has even struggling there for quite some time.

Buckley was utterly terrible at TH. Clarkson is at least showing some skill there, and a few of the penalties against him right now aren't due to his technique but referees perceptions (because few top level referees actually understand the scrum)

Certainly I thought the first scrum peno awarded against our "finishers" after they came on was the totally wrong decision. To my eyes the Dragons loosehead was boring into Clarkson at an angle with Adamson on that side of the scrum looking at the pair of them. Incroyable!!!

[Theleinsterlad]

Sorry I’m not meaning that Clarkson is a like for like size as Buckley I just mean for the size of guy he is and what potential I thought Clarkson could be has given me the same feeling watching him play as I saw with Buckley. I’m yet to see him perform well in the scrum as well

[ronk]

Is he? He has even struggling there for quite some time.

Buckley was utterly terrible at TH. Clarkson is at least showing some skill there, and a few of the penalties against him right now aren't due to his technique but referees perceptions (because few top level referees actually understand the scrum)

Certainly I thought the first scrum peno awarded against our "finishers" after they came on was the totally wrong decision. To my eyes the Dragons loosehead was boring into Clarkson at an angle with Adamson on that side of the scrum looking at the pair of them. Incroyable!!!

I thought they were driving the Dragons back and it was the Dragons going up.

[FLIP]

Buckley was utterly terrible at TH. Clarkson is at least showing some skill there, and a few of the penalties against him right now aren't due to his technique but referees perceptions (because few top level referees actually understand the scrum)

Certainly I thought the first scrum peno awarded against our "finishers" after they came on was the totally wrong decision. To my eyes the Dragons loosehead was boring into Clarkson at an angle with Adamson on that side of the scrum looking at the pair of them. Incroyable!!!

I thought they were driving the Dragons back and it was the Dragons going up.

My thoughts on it exactly. A LH will either drive a tighthead up when dominating a TH (and hence they'll be going forward) or going up because they're being beat and want to stop going backwards.

A tighthead will seak to drive a LH down, following the same rationale.

[alanair]

Certainly I thought the first scrum peno awarded against our "finishers" after they came on was the totally wrong decision. To my eyes the Dragons loosehead was boring into Clarkson at an angle with Adamson on that side of the scrum looking at the pair of them. Incroyable!!!

I thought they were driving the Dragons back and it was the Dragons going up.

My thoughts on it exactly. A LH will either drive a tighthead up when dominating a TH (and hence they'll be going forward) or going up because they're being beat and want to stop going backwards.

A tighthead will seak to drive a LH down, following the same rationale.

Unfortunately, Until we get former front row players to become referees, we will have contested decisions. Im afraid that there are no such referees in the system right now.

[ronk]

The American Football solution would be to have multiple officials at the right place for the scrum and have a remote team of officials with a head referee checking all scrums live across all games.

It's not practical for rugby but there is a case for something along those lines. Hire a scrum coach ex-pro or two to work as part of the refereeing team.

It's really hard because TV viewers and fans in the stadium get a very different picture from what the referee sees. But part of the problem is more fundamental, from a practical perspective it's next to impossible to lose a scrum without giving up a penalty, except when the ball comes out fast. Getting pushed backwards is effectively a penalty offense in rugby.

[riocard911]

The American Football solution would be to have multiple officials at the right place for the scrum and have a remote team of officials with a head referee checking all scrums live across all games.

It's not practical for rugby but there is a case for something along those lines. Hire a scrum coach ex-pro or two to work as part of the refereeing team.

It's really hard because TV viewers and fans in the stadium get a very different picture from what the referee sees. But part of the problem is more fundamental, from a practical perspective it's next to impossible to lose a scrum without giving up a penalty, except when the ball comes out fast. Getting pushed backwards is effectively a penalty offense in rugby.

Channel 1's your only man!!!