Edinburgh vs Leinster Pro12

[cormac]

We had a promising attack on the 5 metre line in the first half that ended when the ref awarded a penalty against us. Does anyone know what the penalty was awarded for? I watched on BBC Alba and the commentators were more interested in telling us about the weather and fantastic grass.

In the side of the ruck. Hagan then mouthed off at Fitzgibbon and he marched us back another 10m.

[meinster]

Should McFadden's place-kicking not be tried again? Not a slight on Isa, but I remember McF's ratio being very high (Madigan-high), and he hasn't been used for that since.

[Peg Leg]

That was grim.

Its going to be a long, long season.

Last season's cracker of a first game v scarlets should provide a good indication of how much stock you can put in these matches as a predictor for the season

[Dave Cahill]

That was grim.

Its going to be a long, long season.

Last season's cracker of a first game v scarlets should provide a good indication of how much stock you can put in these matches as a predictor for the season

Glasgow?

[Raydollard]

Yes it was the first game and yes we must cut some slack for the team, being only game 1. But we must hope for big improvement 'cos that was really dire.

[COYBIB]

Not a whole lot to be said about the game really. Awful conditions, sloppy affair, Fitzgimpon...

On a side note, Fitzgimpon, he's obviously an awful ref and to be fair 90%+ of referees in Pro12 are at best infuriating with inconsistency and pedanticness, but maybe it's because he's from Munster, but I hold a genuine belief that intentionally or otherwise, the man being a diehard Munster man, just can't separate that from his on field judgement, I'd love to see penalty breakdown of him for decisions against Leinster vs opposition, he always seems to do everything he can to give the opposition every chance to beat us. He not only made some terrible calls against us, but failed to make calls for us for some blatant stuff, from clear knock ons in play to penalty decisions. That might be harsh, but he's certainly the worst ref in the league from a Leinster point of view.

To be honest I don't know about this and I'd like to think you're wrong on here. However, I will say this this, even putting Leinster matches to one side, I can't recall ever enjoying a game of rugby he has reffed. He just seems to suck the life out of games for some reason.

Yeah I get where you're coming from, and I would always be reluctant to bring an officials integrity into question (beyond their lack of ability, which unfortunately has become a problem for the sport as a whole, the various interpretations of the laws and inconsistencies make the referee far too important a factor in games and this has been the case for years now, pretty much since they started reforming rules around 2008/09) but a good example of what I'm talking about is the stage in the game where Edinburgh got over the line whilst knocking it on, he checked and double checked with his linesman that he could just give it ("are you sure") etc., after I think possibly originally giving it until the linesman intervened, then upon it being a Leinster scrum, he chooses this moment, the only moment in the game, to penalise a crooked put in, giving the ball back to Edinburgh and the score that eventually won them the game....

Needless to say this law is barely ever enforced and at about 90% of feeds it could be enacted, but that was the moment he chose to enact it, when Leinster had gotten out of jail and Edinburgh had lost a lead cementing moment.... it's just things like that I always notice with him. There was also a dropped ball that bounced and was regathered when Edinburgh were on the break that he clearly saw (he was 5 yards away) and did nothing about.. it didn't end up in a score, but I find it hard to believe he missed it.

[Peg Leg]

That was grim.

Its going to be a long, long season.

Last season's cracker of a first game v scarlets should provide a good indication of how much stock you can put in these matches as a predictor for the season

Glasgow?

2nd then? I refuse to research anything I publish.

[suisse]

2nd then? I refuse to research anything I publish.

How's that going with the Indo?

[Oldschool]

I refuse to research anything I publish.

I use a slightly different approach
I refuse to publish anything I research.

[Oldschool]

Post Match review.
Mental discipline was the main problem.
A crooked feed into a scrum and a crooked throw into the opposition side of the lineout lead to tries.
Then on other occasions having established field position we gave it up too cheaply.
The almost automatic cross field slinging of the ball from a field kick badly needs to be reviewed.
In a lot of situations it leads to massive loss of territory.
We still shovelled the ball across field too much.
We badly need a backs coach.
Our kicking was too long with no chance of winning the ball back.
The attempted kick at goal from half way was worth it.
Later on tho' we should have kicked to touch because we simply weren't breaking them down so we blew our only likely chance of winning the game at that stage.
The main +ve is that most of the likely main contenders lost as well.
The Scarlets and Ulster are the threats.
Another +ve was the badly needed experience gained.
We also got a bp. Not to be sneezed at.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Struck down with man flu so watched it again out of boredom.

First half really was grand overall. Not sure what the possession stats were but we seemed to struggle to get the ball. Leavy was everywhere but in fairness we must have just decided not to compete at the breakdown because of Fitzgibon, it was a total lottery with him there. Conan worked really hard too. Some poor handling really costing us the chance to gain momentum. Disappointed with Marsh. Really enjoyed watching his passing for the A team but he just didn't look as slick as usual, passes not going in front of players and he started getting deeper and more lateral after what was a promising start. Ross Byrne looked prett comfortable out there though. Noel Reid really disappointing too, three missed tackles in the first 25 minutes and aside from one brilliant offload off a turnover he did nothing to make up for it. Denton got through a lot of good work and Te'o impressed when he was involved but unfortunately that wasn't often enough.

If you take Reid's missed tackles out of it for a second, the defence was generally really good. Well organised, good line speed, and we did well to identify when to shoot up on the first man and really swallow him up and move them backwards. Not an easy thing to do in the first game of the season when you're constantly defending.

I always watch Luke McAgrath closely because of the criticism he gets. Thought he was really good for the most part. Passing was a little slow at times in the first half but generally on the money and he threw some really nice ones. Made a couple of nice breaks and defensively he was outstanding, there were two huge hits where he worked really hard to get across or we'd have been in trouble, and stopped Manu dead on his own off a scrum on our line that had turned and put our back row out of the game.

I've seen Leavy criticised in a few places but not sure why. I've said before that I was disappointed at times when I saw him for UCD and the A team because he spent a lot of time out wide waiting for the ball. This was more like the school's/20's version though, he was all over the pitch trying to get involved and got through a mountain of work. Not quite the impact he had then in terms of turnovers and carries but in the circumstances I thought ht did really well and it was hugely encouraging. One pass through the legs showed the kind of talent he has, hopefully he'll be fit next week and can build on it.

It was the kind of game that would have been made for Kev a few years ago but thought it passed him by a bit.

The yellow card for Dippy really was ridiculous. Even aside from the mix up by Fitzgibbon, he made his way through the middle and tackled the ball carrier, brilliant play.

Still disappointed we didn't go for a scrum or the corner when we were 11-6 down. For next week I'd just like to see us have more possession and bring the outside backs into it more, Isa and Ferg in particular only seemed to get the ball when they kicked to us.

[simonokeeffe]

Not to be wailing on Reid too much but this world cup window is make or break for him, 25 years old with 29 starts, he needs to deliver while the internationals away and hes one of the more experienced guys

Madigan will be 12 in the full strength team and Reid is a bit lucky we're a lot heavier with 13s (Teo, Luke, Ringrose) than 12s, but McFadden could do a solid but unspectacular job at 12 and maybe people whove seen him more can answer this but could Ringrose play 12 either?

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Yeah I said last week that I'd back Reid to step up now but he really didn't on Friday.

[simonokeeffe]

Yeah I said last week that I'd back Reid to step up now but he really didn't on Friday.

we really need to coordinate our posts better

[LeRouxIsPHat]

[All Blacks nil]

Watching Reid and Mccloskey, you would have to think that Joe's knowledge of and understandable bias towards Leinster players has done the Ulster player and the development of a bona fide potentially international class centre a disservice by ignoring him for the extended RWC squad

[simonokeeffe]

Watching Reid and Mccloskey, you would have to think that Joe's knowledge of and understandable bias towards Leinster players has done the Ulster player and the development of a bona fide potentially international class centre a disservice by ignoring him for the extended RWC squad

He wants someone with distribution skills at 12, McCloskey went on Georgia tour so he was considered/looked at and the 2 Ulster centres who start ahead of him week in week out were picked

McCloskey wants to play for Ireland (which he will undoubtedly do) he needs to get into the Ulster team first

[All Blacks nil]

Watching Reid and Mccloskey, you would have to think that Joe's knowledge of and understandable bias towards Leinster players has done the Ulster player and the development of a bona fide potentially international class centre a disservice by ignoring him for the extended RWC squad

He wants someone with distribution skills at 12, McCloskey went on Georgia tour so he was considered/looked at and the 2 Ulster centres who start ahead of him week in week out were picked

McCloskey wants to play for Ireland (which he will undoubtedly do) he needs to get into the Ulster team first

Like Reid or DK, Ferg, Boss. Murphy, McGrath, Boss, Strauss and Furlong are in the Leinster first team. Or is that different?

[fourthirtythree]

McCloskey is still some way behind Cave at Ulster for 12 isn't he? I guess he's leapfrogged Marshall now and who knows if Olding will be back? He had some discipline issues which may have gone against him.

Personally I'd like some way of having Henshaw at 13 - the obvious one is having Cave at 12 - but there is no chance that is the plan. I imagine if it was a live concern at any point Payne would have been tried at 15 for Ireland. Which he hasn't unfortunately.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Not sure what Ulster are planning but McCloskey was brilliant on Friday, personally I'd ink him in for a starting place ahead of everyone else. Post World Cup I'd hope that Payne is free to move back to fullback, at least more often than he did last season. With the centres coming through it looks like we should be able to, doubt it will actually happen this season though.

Thought Cave was really good when he came on against England. Gave away one stupid penalty but apart from that he was very good. I've never seen him cope so well physically at international level as he has done in the last few weeks.