Ruckedtobits wrote: ↑March 6th, 2021, 11:48 am
The Leinster team from 1-10 is comparable to any other Pro14 team with a healthy supply of international players. However it is in the roles that Leinster's Game Plan assigns to our players 11-15 and 16-23 that the Leinster 'system' will get it's sternest analysis.
If Leinster do come through this evening, it will be the loudest shout to the other Irish Provinces just how much harder they must try. Really looking forward to see how Leocaster sets up our 11-15.
I was fairly confident that from 1-10 we'd be all right. But from 11-15 tonight they were great, especially Max O'Reilly and Jimmy O'Brien.
The Ulster pack are technically good but underpowered in the front five. When they match-up against a good technical pack with power & experience, they have no answers. Once it was clear that Coeteze was carrying a leg, they were unable to win any man-on-man contest. Marty at LHP even conceded a penalty to Clarkson. Our pack were hungry and ruthless. Even with 8 they rarely matched us and were unable to defend our pick and drive at any point.
Luke & Ross were superb in every aspect and controlled the tempo and tactics really well. MO'R, JO'B, RO'L with Dave & Cian defended really well and chose lots of good options.
That was the most enjoyable game of the season and the refereeing / TMO decisions didn't spoil it for this watcher, although I'd have preferred 30 players on the pitch throughout. The sad reality is we'll have that less often until all playeers recognise that contact above the chest has lethal risks for all concerned.