Leinster v Munster 2018 Pro14 S/F 19th May RDS

[Oldschool]

Once again the decisions re peno options was very poor.
Neither Byrne or Carberry have demonstrated any ability to make successful long kicks at the posts.
All it does is undermine their confidence.
Asking them to attempt to do so was simply wishful thinking.
Kicking into the 22 would have been a much better option and would have meant we retained possession.

[Oldschool]

Luke McGrath is more than likely playing with a injury. But some of his kicking absolutely stank today. One bad kick lead to a Munster try.

Don't know why but he's kicking too long and not getting enough air time on it.
Their kick chase was generally better than ours.

[leinsterforever]

I think we really could have used RPG coming on with 30 to go to slicken up the service from scrumhalf

[artaneboy]

A recurring theme of today’s game, was many players answering their critics. I was delighted to see how certain individuals performed, and proved a point about certain aspects of their game.

Jack McGrath was one of them, who put in a strong shift and displayed some deft hands to set put Lowe through the gal for Conan’s try.

Conan himself provided another very good performance, getting through a load of tackles and making huge metres on his carries. It was nice to see him at his rampaging best.

I also thought Ross Byrne looked like he has returned to some excellent form. His hands were very sharp and he looked more mobile than he usually does, which many people have berated in the past.

I also felt we had a plenty of encouraging performances off the bench. Tracy put his poor form behind him with a crucial turnover and some big carries. O’Loughlin also won an important turnover and made various tackles which required some pretty accurate technique, which both surprised and impressed me. Probably my favourite of them all though, was Porter’s scrummaging brilliance. To think he only took up this position about 1 year ago, and today he was winning penalties against an international loosehead in Kilcoyne. He won 2 penalties, in fact, capping off a remarkable positional transition.

Otherwise, it was good performance although, I thought some players looked tired ( Furlong, Murphy, Ryan and others). It was a great game to watch, although I could do with a slightly less dramatic finish, for the sake of the heart!

Furlong looked tired alright- but Ryan was on fire and Murphy played very well.

Lowe was a trifle dodgy in defence, but more than compensated by his attacking brilliance.

Luke- once again was a curate’s egg: passing much improved in accuracy- if still too slow (stop that incessant appealing for penalties) but kicking poor.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[blockhead]

Once again the decisions re peno options was very poor.
Neither Byrne or Carberry have demonstrated any ability to make successful long kicks at the posts.
All it does is undermine their confidence.
Asking them to attempt to do so was simply wishful thinking.
Kicking into the 22 would have been a much better option and would have meant we retained possession.

The one that Joey missed in particular. Too far out.
I'll forgive Byrne for his miss, he's usually solid.
Our replacement front row probably won the game for us, winning 3 scrums pens.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Jimmy Jimmy..... Lowe! Great Undertones song!

[carlow man]

Old school: Lowe wasn't signed to be a good defender. He was signed because he's different to what we already have. He can offload in situations where most players can't or wouldn't risk it, he can kick and relieve pressure gaining vital territory, he beats his man one on one, he scores or sets up tries and gets bums off seats when he's in possession. That's what he was signed for. He's the most exciting winger we have on our roster and while he will make mistakes, he gets bums off seats and the opposition know he will be a nightmare to contain in open play. He's a class act who's only going to get better.

[blockhead]

And he sounds like a lovely lad too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYwOfizKzEI
Gives the journos value for money.

[Oldschool]

Old school: Lowe wasn't signed to be a good defender. He was signed because he's different to what we already have. He can offload in situations where most players can't or wouldn't risk it, he can kick and relieve pressure gaining vital territory, he beats his man one on one, he scores or sets up tries and gets bums off seats when he's in possession. That's what he was signed for. He's the most exciting winger we have on our roster and while he will make mistakes, he gets bums off seats and the opposition know he will be a nightmare to contain in open play. He's a class act who's only going to get better.

So that's what it says on his contract does it - frankly I don't accept a word of it.
You simply want to give him a free pass on his defense and that just isn't acceptable at any level.
His defense was absolutely atrocious.

[tingman]

And he sounds like a lovely lad too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYwOfizKzEI
Gives the journos value for money.

Gives good Mic

[leinsterforever]

Some very positive signs from Ross Byrne in that game. Think I'd prefer him over Carbery on the bench next time out

[neilinboston]

Am I remembering right that kilcoyne got the better of porter with his signature swing the arse out and drive across last time they met?

Great to see the arse go out and him have nowhere to go but down!

Hope they have a really good two day recovery. That was a very professional performance. Didn’t have the legs to be flash but made good decisions and controlled most of the game.

[TerenureJim]

Real semi final performance coupled with the dogged nature that an interpro can bring even where you expect to be better by a few scores on paper, they had a couple of weeks to prepare and focus, we were coming off our biggest game of the season, biggest game for several seasons in fact can't fault lads being slightly off following that physical and emotional toll. It's like finishing your leaving and then being told actually you've one more exam left, you're drained and because it's a semi you can't go all guns blazing because some part of you wants to save something for a final.

You get the result, you move on.

[Raydollard]

I thought we were the better team overall and played well generally. First half we were poor enough on set pieces and Lowe’s try by Conan kept us ahead. We improved a lot in the second half and were comfortable. The final penalty should have finished it but we got tight again at the end. Alls looking well for next week.

[Cianostays]

Am I remembering right that kilcoyne got the better of porter with his signature swing the arse out and drive across last time they met?

Great to see the arse go out and him have nowhere to go but down!

Hope they have a really good two day recovery. That was a very professional performance. Didn’t have the legs to be flash but made good decisions and controlled most of the game.

I was very worried about Porter going up against Kilcoyne. He was superb and, arguably, won us the match. Massive contributions from RO'L and Treacy also. Really satisfying to have the reserves seal the deal for us.

Sent from my SM-G531F using Tapatalk

[wixfjord]

So that's what it says on his contract does it - frankly I don't accept a word of it.
You simply want to give him a free pass on his defense and that just isn't acceptable at any level.
His defense was absolutely atrocious.

It really wasn't at all.

Munster targeted his wing relentlessly in the first half, getting Conway 1 on 1 with him a few times and making him make decisions. While he's still a little bit tentative, he is much improved.

Meanwhile, he created our try, should've had another and took at least three high balls under pressure in the second half from Murray box kicks (that Carberry certainly wasn't claiming).
Also had a lovely kick into the corner past Zebo and made 3 clean breaks.

I would've had Ringrose MOTM, but Lowe a close second because of his big plays.

To say he was the worst of the back three is just not living in reality.

[Keith]

So that's what it says on his contract does it - frankly I don't accept a word of it.
You simply want to give him a free pass on his defense and that just isn't acceptable at any level.
His defense was absolutely atrocious.

It really wasn't at all.

Munster targeted his wing relentlessly in the first half, getting Conway 1 on 1 with him a few times and making him make decisions. While he's still a little bit tentative, he is much improved.

Meanwhile, he created our try, should've had another and took at least three high balls under pressure in the second half from Murray box kicks (that Carberry certainly wasn't claiming).
Also had a lovely kick into the corner past Zebo and made 3 clean breaks.

I would've had Ringrose MOTM, but Lowe a close second because of his big plays.

To say he was the worst of the back three is just not living in reality.

It just goes to show that people have made up their minds on certain players and no matter how good they play, they will always just focus on the things they may have got wrong during the game. Lowe has been brilliant for us this year and has proven himself in all the big games he's played in.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Delighted with that. Obviously we were far from perfect but both teams brought an incredible intensity to the game and kept it up for over 80 minutes, great to watch and a great atmosphere.

The breakdown really was brutal. Munster competed in a way that they haven't managed in any of their recent games, same with the maul. I was surprised at how we struggled with certain elements but given the mitigating factors I'd expect us to be better next week, although I'd also expect the Scarlets to improve on their semi final performance even if Barclay is out. I didn't think Ruddock was off the pace myself, thought he grew into the game pretty well, although I'm not saying he was at his best and hopefully that run out has him primed for next week. Furlong does look tired though, I'd almost be tempted to start Porter next week. I was a bit disappointed with our lineout because I felt we made some poor calls. I noticed Munster left some space for our jumpers at times but we threw to where they had marked us and put ourselves under pressure.

Similar to the Racing game, we got isolated a few times when there was no need.

Ringrose is deservedly getting lots of praise but I thought James Ryan was on another level. His power and athleticism is honestly not something I've seen in a second row before. The way he can smash into a tackle and then leap off the ground to make another diving tackle straight away shouldn't really be possible but he does it routinely, and the same goes for him jumping up to counter ruck. I keep saying this but it doesn't matter what challenge is in front of him, he instinctively knows how to engage the contact and win it on his terms...and he can do all of this for 80 minutes.

Ringrose certainly saved us out wide and in general he had an excellent game. Considering that we didn't look tired collectively I'm not sure why we were so sluggish about coming forward to shut Munster down and they seemed to find space out wide quite easily. It felt very much like they were just throwing it wide and not actually creating the space though, and their backs and forwards didn't link all that much. Their execution out wide was often poor but I think that was as much the result of not being well drilled enough as it was just poor skills under pressure. I mainly mean in attack but one defensive example summed it up for me. When Lowe was tackled by Arnold in the corner we had just opened them up really well and Arnold did brilliantly individually. Later when Zebo got outside Ringrose and passed to Earls on the touchline I felt like Ringrose and the others around Zebo and Earls actually marshalled them as a group.

I'm assuming that Luke's long kicks were a tactic but it was a poor one and some of his kicks needed to be better even if they were intentional.

Thought ROL was excellent when he came on. I don't think anyone here had him marked as a potential 12 but he did a great job and the coaches must have prepped him superbly. He's a live option at 12 now IMO. Ringrose showed how important he was in defending the outside channel so I wouldn't move him from there if possible.

I watched it back this morning and the officials were appalling. The TMO hinting that there was nothing to worry about with the Kleyn incident was extraordinary. I thought it was obvious live and upon the first replay, but he also had plenty of time to look at it before play actually stopped...and that was the conclusion he reached initially? It was a red all day long for me. Ross doesn't move back suddenly or anything like that, there's no mitigating factor. Kleyn is leading with his head and has no realistic chance of wrapping an arm, and also no need to even clear Ross out given where he was. It was dirty play and he deserves a ban.

[wixfjord]

It just goes to show that people have made up their minds on certain players and no matter how good they play, they will always just focus on the things they may have got wrong during the game. Lowe has been brilliant for us this year and has proven himself in all the big games he's played in.

I think we all do that in fairness to some degree, but Lowe deserves more credit for his improvements over the year. Still not the finished article defensively, but he adds so much more.

I did notice that Oldschool didn't mention Carbery's tentativeness in coming for high balls and his poor showing for Earls' try though.

[wixfjord]

Both Ringrose's defence and his tackling is fantastic.

The tackle on Zebo in the corner was so well executed, and even when a guy is almost past him he manages to wrap their legs and hold on.

And as you say LRIP his calmness in defending that Zebo/Earls break in the first half was great. Sure he gave away yards, but crucially gave us time to recalibrate and waited for Zebo to eat up the space on the outside.

How does a guy so young like that just know the right thing to do? He really is to the manor born.

I think ROL will be much better next season if we can get a heavy hitter in the centre beside him (Tomane?). I think he suffers from playing so much with Reid and having to cover for him too.