Edinburgh v Leinster Sat 4th 17.05 TG4

[hugonaut]

The one missed touch aside (cost us a try), I thought that was Harrys best game for us in a long long time.

defensively sound, played flat, kicked pretty well from both hand and tee. He did really well.

To knit pick, he missed touch with the clearing peno after that big goal line stand and also had a big forward cut out pass. But I’d agree, it’s almost like having a run of games helped him find his mojo. Not too worried about the mistakes.

Yeah, I thought that Harry played very nicely. He made some very good tackles as well. He has never been a weak defender, but there's no doubt that it is an aspect of his game that needed improvement and that has improved. That doesn't happen by accident. He has obviously worked hard at it.

With that said, the missed touch was very frustrating. We defend brilliantly for six minutes, earn a penalty to relieve the pressure and then he misses touch, gives the ball right back to them, and they score. He sailed one into touch-and-goal against the Dragons as well in his last match. Two missed penalty touch-finders in two games is way too many.

[jezzer]

The one missed touch aside (cost us a try), I thought that was Harrys best game for us in a long long time.

defensively sound, played flat, kicked pretty well from both hand and tee. He did really well.

To knit pick, he missed touch with the clearing peno after that big goal line stand and also had a big forward cut out pass. But I’d agree, it’s almost like having a run of games helped him find his mojo. Not too worried about the mistakes.

Yeah, I thought that Harry played very nicely. He made some very good tackles as well. He has never been a weak defender, but there's no doubt that it is an aspect of his game that needed improvement and that has improved. That doesn't happen by accident. He has obviously worked hard at it.

With that said, the missed touch was very frustrating. We defend brilliantly for six minutes, earn a penalty to relieve the pressure and then he misses touch, gives the ball right back to them, and they score. He sailed one into touch-and-goal against the Dragons as well in his last match. Two missed penalty touch-finders in two games is way too many.

I can't think of a better game he's played. He's got that stubborn streak he licked off the Finn Russell stone. Too aggressive and doesn't mind if it hurts the team. But he did well, which is not something you can always say about his outings. Very well, to be fair.

[Blueberry]

Enjoyed that !! Osborne, Harry and Milne had great games and Scott Penny was an absolute animal tonite, he got through a truly monstrous amount of work, on the ball, off the ball, in contact, carrying, ruck you name it. Hope his knock isn't bad.

Larmour was a handful and Dave had a great game on the other wing. Some good carries from McKee and Luke had close to a perfect game, really polished performance. Poor Edinburgh fans around us quite clearly got a bit nervous when they were 8 points up....poked the bear and we switched on and it was one way traffic then for the next 40 mins.

Impressive stuff lads.

[mildlyinterested]

Deegan having a very good game so far. His hands are brilliant.

My thoughts too.

Osborne is some class player. He makes it all look so easy.

Never said it on here before but I'm not a Big Mike fan. With how few NIQs we're allowed, i don't think he's up to the standard. Controversial, probably.

Tend to agree.

[wixfjord]

The move for DK's try just after HT was class.

Mistake by Embra picked up by Luke who throws a back handed offload to Larmour.
Larmour speeds into the 22, we get quick ball which goes eventually to Osborne who strokes a kick into the far corner.

Really clinical stuff.

I hope Larmour gets another chance with Ireland before RWC because his form really deserves it. He has clearly worked very hard on his support play and on keeping the ball alive. He's far less selfish than before.

Doesn't have the all round game of Hansen/Lowe but he deserves a spot in the RWC squad and should start for us in knockout games too imo.

[wixfjord]

Also after saying I thought DK looked past it last time out, he looked the opposite here. Still plenty of life left in the old dog. Hopefully he gets another year or two.

[wixfjord]

Also the second Penny try is one of our best of the season so far.

Straight from kick off we go to Milne who throws a lovely soft pass out the back to Harry. He goes to Deegan who does likewise to Frawley. Turner then puts Larmour on his bike. Ball eventually comes to Milne who barrels over for a half break and quick ball gets to Turner who takes out 3 Embra defenders with a pass to Penny who skates in.

Lovely stuff in three phases from a kick off.

Liam Turner's passing and handling is excellent. Clearly a benefit of his 7s stint. He ripped two 20m passes to DK yesterday.

[cormac]

42.ie reporting that Scott Penny and Jordan Larmour took knocks to the shoulder and that Harry Byrne rolled his ankle. Also reporting that none of the injuries “look too serious”.

[wixfjord]

There are a couple of places down the depth chart that we need to start making a few decisions on imo. Not immediately apparent because others are fit/playing well, but third choice TH and third choice 9 are big weaknesses in the squad for me.

If Furlong/Mike goes down we'll have to bring in either Vakh or Clarkson. Neither look remotely ready for that level so we'll play Cian there and hope he can stand up.

Clarkson has been really disappointing given the time invested in him. Needs to start showing more.

Third choice 9 is a concern too. Again if JGP/McGrath go down we'll have to bring in Foley/McCarthy. Recently every time McCarthy comes on he plays poorly and makes stupid errors. He's now 27 and has shown no sign of improvement since he came back from Munster imo. Foley to me looks a better bet but was poor when given time earlier in the year was well off too.

Thank god Luke is having a belter of a season.

[Theleinsterlad]

Really enjoyed the game and the first 40 minutes was the best URC rugby since the Leinster sharks game. Milne and McKee were brilliant which is great to see. Penny was tremendous and seems to really have benefited from being brought into the irish camp. McGrath was very good and Harry had a very good performance. Turner is really taking over the O’Loughlin squad position and is coming on really nicely. DK mr solid and great to see frawley back. Great match and fantastic win for the group

[riocard911]

There are a couple of places down the depth chart that we need to start making a few decisions on imo. Not immediately apparent because others are fit/playing well, but third choice TH and third choice 9 are big weaknesses in the squad for me.

If Furlong/Mike goes down we'll have to bring in either Vakh or Clarkson. Neither look remotely ready for that level so we'll play Cian there and hope he can stand up.

Clarkson has been really disappointing given the time invested in him. Needs to start showing more.

Third choice 9 is a concern too. Again if JGP/McGrath go down we'll have to bring in Foley/McCarthy. Recently every time McCarthy comes on he plays poorly and makes stupid errors. He's now 27 and has shown no sign of improvement since he came back from Munster imo. Foley to me looks a better bet but was poor when given time earlier in the year was well off too.

Thank god Luke is having a belter of a season.

Maybe time to start giving Ben Murphy match minutes - e.g. on the upcoming two match tour to RSA, where he did well with Emerging Ireland last autumn - ahead of Nick McCarthy?

[wixfjord]

Win last night means we win the BKT URC Irish shield for the season.

The one they all wanted.

[elephantman]

I'm not sure that the bench is that weak, relatively speaking. Inexperienced in places certainly. I really like Deeny though, Boyle is an exceptional prospect as is Tector.

Weird to see that Clarkson and Connors are so close in terms of caps - just shows how injuries have decimated the last few seasons for the latter

I wonder why Will isn't getting a start in this game. He benched v Dragons as well. Penny is playing well (as he always does), but I would have thought Connors would be getting more game time. Personally I think he's better, and I'd have him behind VDF. Not getting gametime isn't doing his Ireland chances much good.

I think Penny has overtaken Connors now.

[jezzer]

There are a couple of places down the depth chart that we need to start making a few decisions on imo. Not immediately apparent because others are fit/playing well, but third choice TH and third choice 9 are big weaknesses in the squad for me.

If Furlong/Mike goes down we'll have to bring in either Vakh or Clarkson. Neither look remotely ready for that level so we'll play Cian there and hope he can stand up.

Clarkson has been really disappointing given the time invested in him. Needs to start showing more.

Third choice 9 is a concern too. Again if JGP/McGrath go down we'll have to bring in Foley/McCarthy. Recently every time McCarthy comes on he plays poorly and makes stupid errors. He's now 27 and has shown no sign of improvement since he came back from Munster imo. Foley to me looks a better bet but was poor when given time earlier in the year was well off too.

Thank god Luke is having a belter of a season.

Foley had a couple of exit kicks charged down but I don't remember him being particularly poor in any other respect. I always rated the guy

[mildlyinterested]

Scrumhalves won't improve if they don't play regularly. Leinster need to identify a young 9 and back him to play as much as possible.

[enby]

Scrumhalves won't improve if they don't play regularly. Leinster need to identify a young 9 and back him to play as much as possible.

Couldn't agree more. It is the only minor complaint that I have about how this season is being managed by Leocaster. It would be great to see a young SH come through and challenge Luke and JGP but there is no appearance of that happening. I know it has been talked about before on here on many occasions but it is weird how Leinster have consistently failed in developing top class 9s over the years and particularly since professionalism.

[mildlyinterested]

McGrath has 11 starts and 670 minutes.
JGP has 5 starts and 344 minutes.
Foley who is injured currently has 2 starts and 190 minutes.
McCarthy has 1 start and 250 minutes.

Maybe if Foley wasnt injured they'd be investing more in him.

[Degz]

Its a difficult one because scrum halves need a bit of time to get into the groove, if you're not playing regularly its damn hard to look good. I would say that especially about Lukey, and you want him 'in the groove' for when the big games come round. Massive catch 22 that, moreso than most positions.

[Theleinsterlad]

I'm not sure that the bench is that weak, relatively speaking. Inexperienced in places certainly. I really like Deeny though, Boyle is an exceptional prospect as is Tector.

Weird to see that Clarkson and Connors are so close in terms of caps - just shows how injuries have decimated the last few seasons for the latter

I wonder why Will isn't getting a start in this game. He benched v Dragons as well. Penny is playing well (as he always does), but I would have thought Connors would be getting more game time. Personally I think he's better, and I'd have him behind VDF. Not getting gametime isn't doing his Ireland chances much good.

I think Penny has overtaken Connors now.

I think they are taking a much more safe approach with connors than last time and only giving him shorter periods off the bench to ease him in. Penny has a great engine and he is able to play the extra minutes. Also I’ve noted that connors is being more mature in his aggressiveness when he comes on as opposed to his previous return where he was like a bull in a China shop and got pretty much injured straight away. We will need him so happy to see this progress slowly

[paddyor]

There are a couple of places down the depth chart that we need to start making a few decisions on imo. Not immediately apparent because others are fit/playing well, but third choice TH and third choice 9 are big weaknesses in the squad for me.

If Furlong/Mike goes down we'll have to bring in either Vakh or Clarkson. Neither look remotely ready for that level so we'll play Cian there and hope he can stand up.

Clarkson has been really disappointing given the time invested in him. Needs to start showing more.

Third choice 9 is a concern too. Again if JGP/McGrath go down we'll have to bring in Foley/McCarthy. Recently every time McCarthy comes on he plays poorly and makes stupid errors. He's now 27 and has shown no sign of improvement since he came back from Munster imo. Foley to me looks a better bet but was poor when given time earlier in the year was well off too.

Thank god Luke is having a belter of a season.

Foley had a couple of exit kicks charged down but I don't remember him being particularly poor in any other respect. I always rated the guy

He got out of jail a few times. Really laboured kicking motion.