MNR: Edinburgh in the RDS, 16/11, 8.15pm

[dropkick]

Like, great and all, and not ragging on anybody on the pitch, but this league is goosed.

Not really.


There are more games in the international window this year because if covid. That means weaker opposition.

The South Africans will improve things.

The IRFU will also be looking at this and thinking to themselves do they need to fund the provinces as much.

[Ruckedtobits]

Still impressed by the hunger and the skills, opposition maybe poor but our second half was very good. Think a lot of top teams in other leagues missing their internationals would have struggled against us tonight, plenty of big performances. Well done, Leinster.

+1.
That's definitely the right perspective. As stated above in the thread, our players are well coached, playing with appetite and tempo and making opponents look very ordinary. Don't knock those elements. Remember what Pivac did for two seasons @ Scarlets and be thankful that our entire squad are having a ball playing up towards the top of their potential.

Well done Leinster.

[Blue Man]

Edinburgh were terrible but you can only play what’s in front of you.
I really like having three footballers in the backline (Harry, Frawley and JOB). All three have a full range of passing and kicking skills.
Luke McG was good, he got the ball away fast and sniped well.
Our pack is too strong and experienced for any other in the League which affords the backs space and front foot ball. However, in general and in far from perfect conditions, our passing was really good tonight.
Great to see Baird come back and look as dangerous as ever. An Irish cap beckons vs Georgia.
But the undoubted highlight was Dan’s first start in a year and a half. He looked really good. I thought it would take a lot longer for him to reach that level but his footwork, physicality and smarts at the breakdown were excellent.

[Cianostays]

Fabulous result........again. Having more games during the Internationals has skewed things but only a little. We went unbeaten in the season up until March before Covid derailed things. Glasgow and Scarlets fading away from where they were previously is a disaster for the league. As another poster put it, we're 1/3 of the way through the season and we know the SF's will be Munster vs Ulster and ourselves vs tbc. That's not good.

Back on topic, J'OB and Kelleher's performances mean that, all of a sudden, we actually have a bit of depth in the Back 3. Champions Cup line up of 11. Lowe, 14 D. Kearney, 15 O'Brien, 23. Keenan with Larmour, Kelleher and TO'B competing hard also is a great place to be.

Sent from my SM-G531F using Tapatalk

[hugonaut]

Edinburgh were terrible but you can only play what’s in front of you.
I really like having three footballers in the backline (Harry, Frawley and JOB). All three have a full range of passing and kicking skills.
Luke McG was good, he got the ball away fast and sniped well.
Our pack is too strong and experienced for any other in the League which affords the backs space and front foot ball. However, in general and in far from perfect conditions, our passing was really good tonight.
Great to see Baird come back and look as dangerous as ever. An Irish cap beckons vs Georgia.
But the undoubted highlight was Dan’s first start in a year and a half. He looked really good. I thought it would take a lot longer for him to reach that level but his footwork, physicality and smarts at the breakdown were excellent.

Agree with your comments on Harry [21], Frawley [22] and Jimmy [23]. It's a really skilled cluster of players to put together at this level, and I think Lancaster [especially] and Felipe are really enjoying coaching it and excited about how they go on the pitch. I'd love to see how far they can go with it. I'd pick this unit as often as possible in the league this season.

Jimmy's attacking kicking in wide channels is so accurate, well-judged and effective ... it's not as though it's never been done before, but we've never had a guy who could do it so well or so frequently. His willingness and ability to give and take the risky offloads when a try-scoring chance presents itself is another feature of his play that I'm really enthusiastic about. This is a bit of a run-of-the-mill interview with Murray Kinsella [link: https://www.the42.ie/jimmy-obrien-leins ... 8-Nov2019/ ], but I suppose its value lies in hearing how JOB puts a lot of his improvements down to adapting his game with the Sevens.

The other thing of course is that he makes so few errors ... you sort of take that for granted when it's not happening, but you have to have it in the back of your mind.

[backrower8]

Edinburgh were terrible but you can only play what’s in front of you.
I really like having three footballers in the backline (Harry, Frawley and JOB). All three have a full range of passing and kicking skills.
Luke McG was good, he got the ball away fast and sniped well.
Our pack is too strong and experienced for any other in the League which affords the backs space and front foot ball. However, in general and in far from perfect conditions, our passing was really good tonight.
Great to see Baird come back and look as dangerous as ever. An Irish cap beckons vs Georgia.
But the undoubted highlight was Dan’s first start in a year and a half. He looked really good. I thought it would take a lot longer for him to reach that level but his footwork, physicality and smarts at the breakdown were excellent.

Agree with your comments on Harry [21], Frawley [22] and Jimmy [23]. It's a really skilled cluster of players to put together at this level, and I think Lancaster [especially] and Felipe are really enjoying coaching it and excited about how they go on the pitch. I'd love to see how far they can go with it. I'd pick this unit as often as possible in the league this season.

Jimmy's attacking kicking in wide channels is so accurate, well-judged and effective ... it's not as though it's never been done before, but we've never had a guy who could do it so well or so frequently. His willingness and ability to give and take the risky offloads when a try-scoring chance presents itself is another feature of his play that I'm really enthusiastic about. This is a bit of a run-of-the-mill interview with Murray Kinsella [link: https://www.the42.ie/jimmy-obrien-leins ... 8-Nov2019/ ], but I suppose its value lies in hearing how JOB puts a lot of his improvements down to adapting his game with the Sevens.

The other thing of course is that he makes so few errors ... you sort of take that for granted when it's not happening, but you have to have it in the back of your mind.

+1 x 2 (both posts)

Scott Penny also consistently excellent and still only 20 for another month

[mildlyinterested]

Edinburgh were terrible but you can only play what’s in front of you.
I really like having three footballers in the backline (Harry, Frawley and JOB). All three have a full range of passing and kicking skills.
Luke McG was good, he got the ball away fast and sniped well.
Our pack is too strong and experienced for any other in the League which affords the backs space and front foot ball. However, in general and in far from perfect conditions, our passing was really good tonight.
Great to see Baird come back and look as dangerous as ever. An Irish cap beckons vs Georgia.
But the undoubted highlight was Dan’s first start in a year and a half. He looked really good. I thought it would take a lot longer for him to reach that level but his footwork, physicality and smarts at the breakdown were excellent.

Agree with your comments on Harry [21], Frawley [22] and Jimmy [23]. It's a really skilled cluster of players to put together at this level, and I think Lancaster [especially] and Felipe are really enjoying coaching it and excited about how they go on the pitch. I'd love to see how far they can go with it. I'd pick this unit as often as possible in the league this season.

Jimmy's attacking kicking in wide channels is so accurate, well-judged and effective ... it's not as though it's never been done before, but we've never had a guy who could do it so well or so frequently. His willingness and ability to give and take the risky offloads when a try-scoring chance presents itself is another feature of his play that I'm really enthusiastic about. This is a bit of a run-of-the-mill interview with Murray Kinsella [link: https://www.the42.ie/jimmy-obrien-leins ... 8-Nov2019/ ], but I suppose its value lies in hearing how JOB puts a lot of his improvements down to adapting his game with the Sevens.

The other thing of course is that he makes so few errors ... you sort of take that for granted when it's not happening, but you have to have it in the back of your mind.

+1 x 2 (both posts)

Scott Penny also consistently excellent and still only 20 for another month

again that's not correct, he is 21.

[Leinster Lout]

That last Kelleher try was serious All Blacks stuff - lightning fast, super support lines, offloads.

[mildlyinterested]

Jimmy O'Brien really adds a lot at 15.

[Twist]

I think we're seeing that Leinster are far better than other clubs at coping without their internationals. We lost around 17 players to Ireland and I don't think any other clubs was so severely impacted, so I'm delighted we're still posting big wins.

Away on the plastic pitch to a strengthened Glasgow these lads got a serious test and still won comfortably. I have no complaints about supporting such a good team with such good depth.

[cormac]

By my reckoning we were missing 25 players from the senior squad due to internationals/injury.

International Squad: Healy, Ed Byrne, Ronan Kelleher, Porter, Ryan, Connors, vd Flier, Doris, Gibson-Park, Ross Byrne, Keenan, Lowe
International Squad/Injured: Sexton, Henshaw
Leinster Injured: Cronin, Furlong, Abdaladze, Conan, Deegan, Tommy O'Brien, Conor O'Brien, Adam Byrne, O'Loughlin, Ringrose, Larmour

[Peg Leg]

This age thing feels like a bit.

[riocard911]

I think we're seeing that Leinster are far better than other clubs at coping without their internationals. We lost around 17 players to Ireland and I don't think any other clubs was so severely impacted, so I'm delighted we're still posting big wins.

Away on the plastic pitch to a strengthened Glasgow these lads got a serious test and still won comfortably. I have no complaints about supporting such a good team with such good depth.

+1!!!

[ronk]

We played a really strong pack and a backline with 3 highly creative ballers and 2 finishers out wide.

On a good day with an open game we'd rip teams to shreds with quick ball. The pack got that, and even dominated scrum and lineout. Then Edinburgh made some early mistakes that let us get up a head of steam. On a different day that's a closer game.

[Flash Gordon]

I think we're seeing that Leinster are far better than other clubs at coping without their internationals. We lost around 17 players to Ireland and I don't think any other clubs was so severely impacted, so I'm delighted we're still posting big wins.

Away on the plastic pitch to a strengthened Glasgow these lads got a serious test and still won comfortably. I have no complaints about supporting such a good team with such good depth.

+1!!!

Well yes but we got knocked out in the quarter finals of the Champions Cup by a team that (again) did us on physicality and mental resilience.

The comments on the league are fair. The economic model is still attendance based. If you're a fan in Wales, Scotland or Italy it's not much fun to watch your team getting killed each week particularly if you have the option of watching Celtic/Rangers or Swansea/Cardiff City as an alternative.

The league has to be competitive, the South African heavy weights will help for sure but a league that has become a development plan for the Irish teams isn't a sustainable option.

[The Doc]

If you're a fan in Wales, Scotland or Italy it's not much fun to watch your team getting killed each week particularly if you have the option of watching Celtic/Rangers or Swansea/Cardiff City as an alternative.

And how do you feel when the SA clubs arrive?

[backrower8]

Scott Penny also consistently excellent and still only 20 for another month

again that's not correct, he is 21.

Again, that's pedantic of you.

His age was not my substantive point. His form was. I am wrong, by 3 months, on his age courtesy of Ultimate Rugby.

The strength in depth in midfield is remarkable considering we have 5 centres (Garry, Robbie, ROL, CO'B, TO'B) and 2 outside backs (Jordan & Adam) injured at the moment.

[Blueberry]

I think we're seeing that Leinster are far better than other clubs at coping without their internationals. We lost around 17 players to Ireland and I don't think any other clubs was so severely impacted, so I'm delighted we're still posting big wins.

Away on the plastic pitch to a strengthened Glasgow these lads got a serious test and still won comfortably. I have no complaints about supporting such a good team with such good depth.

+1!!!

Well yes but we got knocked out in the quarter finals of the Champions Cup by a team that (again) did us on physicality and mental resilience.

The comments on the league are fair. The economic model is still attendance based. If you're a fan in Wales, Scotland or Italy it's not much fun to watch your team getting killed each week particularly if you have the option of watching Celtic/Rangers or Swansea/Cardiff City as an alternative.

The league has to be competitive, the South African heavy weights will help for sure but a league that has become a development plan for the Irish teams isn't a sustainable option.

+1 Flash - I think you have hit the nail on the head here.....50 point hammerings will result in ever reducing fan numbers that might make the Covid crowds look massive Some level of higher competition or promotion or relegation is required to keep games relevant.

[limecat]