Leinster v Salarysins

[Up Wexford]

I wouldnt go so far as to say leaks, I think its just journos camping outside Clonskeagh and checking who looks happy or dejected on game week!

Also to be clear I have little to no idea what im talking about, a friend is involved with Marys and there are a lot of St Marys people in the general team set up is all, I dont think its betraying any confidence to say that! Unless the rumours turn out to be true in which case call me the Oracle

[Flash Gordon]

is this saturdays game a era-defining one for this current leinster side and coaching setup?

Not really, it will be if we win the tournament. In many ways, if we win, what comes next is a tougher challenge. ASM or Racing on paper is probably a tougher game.

I think if we lose this season will be looked as a big disappointment overall. And this current side will always be looked at as 2nd best to the sarries side it competed against.

Not sure, in 5 years you look back at the silverware. We won the league, that's in the bank. If we lose to Sarries and they lose in the semi-final to ASM nobody will remember them. 5 years ago I was at the game in Marseilles when we lost to Toulon narrowly, Sarries lost to ASM, I didn't remember that and honestly had to look it up to see who was playing.

Obviously this year is a bit different, I think beyond Leinster every right thinking rugby fan wants Sarries to lose given their conduct (including Exeter). I'm still somewhat bemused by their continued presence in the tournament to be honest and am hoping we beat them not just for our benefit but for the benefit of rugby.

[mildlyinterested]

Not really, it will be if we win the tournament. In many ways, if we win, what comes next is a tougher challenge. ASM or Racing on paper is probably a tougher game.

I think if we lose this season will be looked as a big disappointment overall. And this current side will always be looked at as 2nd best to the sarries side it competed against.

Not sure, in 5 years you look back at the silverware. We won the league, that's in the bank. If we lose to Sarries and they lose in the semi-final to ASM nobody will remember them. 5 years ago I was at the game in Marseilles when we lost to Toulon narrowly, Sarries lost to ASM, I didn't remember that and honestly had to look it up to see who was playing.

Obviously this year is a bit different, I think beyond Leinster every right thinking rugby fan wants Sarries to lose given their conduct (including Exeter). I'm still somewhat bemused by their continued presence in the tournament to be honest and am hoping we beat them not just for our benefit but for the benefit of rugby.

winning the league and failing to win europe won't mean much in 10 years.. just like last season.

sarries have won three of the last 4 euro cups.. with a loss to us in the 1 year they didnt do it.. leinster need to win it this year to say they are a side of comparable quality or better.. which is the goal right? to be the best?

[Dexter]

Not sure, in 5 years you look back at the silverware. We won the league, that's in the bank. If we lose to Sarries and they lose in the semi-final to ASM nobody will remember them. 5 years ago I was at the game in Marseilles when we lost to Toulon narrowly, Sarries lost to ASM, I didn't remember that and honestly had to look it up to see who was playing.

Obviously this year is a bit different, I think beyond Leinster every right thinking rugby fan wants Sarries to lose given their conduct (including Exeter). I'm still somewhat bemused by their continued presence in the tournament to be honest and am hoping we beat them not just for our benefit but for the benefit of rugby.

Don't forget they fielded an ineligible player in round 6 and escaped any points deduction...

[Gearzbox2]

Tough one on Kelleher, he’s been very tidy since the return, was especially impressed with his Defence in our 22 against ulster but I’m not surprised to see Cronin back in....huge amount of experience and he’s been lively since the return albeit with less minutes, and I’d imagine him and Toner have built up a chemistry over the years
Plus the game they started against ulster they went 14/14 in the line out

At the end of the day our bench will win this game I predict anyway so to have Kelleher, Baird, Ed B, JGP, Baird etc to come off the bench and add impact
I don’t rate sarries replacements as anywhere near as good as ours

[hugonaut]

The goal for any good side is to win the trophies for which you're competing.

We only get into a semi-final if we beat Saracens, we don't get a pot. We're in this tournament to try and win the thing, not just to beat Saracens. They're a good team who are in the way; we'll have to beat them if we're to go any further. Then we'll have to play another quality team.

All of the 'Leinster are the goodies, Saracens are the baddies' line of argument leaves me cold, to be honest. I think it's all quite overwrought. That's just one man's opinion, obviously; each to their own.

[CiaranIrl]

Backrower8 turns up again just after a post from Wanderers FC...colour me shocked!

Just a reminder to everyone that both posters are pilotman and various others, not even subtle about it

Anyone that feels the need to create multiple anonymous profiles to debate with themselves and random strangers in a small corner of the internet needs to have a long look at their life.

[backrower8]

Backrower8 turns up again just after a post from Wanderers FC...colour me shocked!

Just a reminder to everyone that both posters are pilotman and various others, not even subtle about it

I only post under this profile as I have no other account. LRIP seems unlikely to relinquish his/her view as it seems to be a source of pride to have rumbled this alleged arrangement.

On the one hand it is irritating, as it is false. On the other it doesn’t have any effect on me.

I am genuinely not aware of a Wanderers FC account and won’t bother scrolling up to see what they said.

As for Pilotman, we have actually corresponded by private message…and no, I wasn’t typing all the messages . (Cue hilarious comments no doubt)

Can the Moderator check our true identities or IP addresses to put this matter to right or is there some GDPR stuff that prevents same?

On second thoughts, let LRIP continue to get off on their sleuthing abilities. I think that is what matters most here. Bless.

[mildlyinterested]

backrower8 is certainly a unique poster.

pilotman/wanderers who knows...

[Angelsea Angst]

A strong characteristic of Saracens is that if they get an early lead they are very hard to catch due to their suffocating defense. Therefore no matter how strong our bench is, we may not be able to win if our starting 15 can not match their starting 15.

[Wanderers FC]

Selection of Cronin would enhance ball carrying and threat of our attacking maul. It would deminish our defensive line and our scrum. There's not a large body of evidence that our line-out would be enhanced but Cronin has learned about the importance of throwing in a hard school.

The grwatest support that fans can give the Coaching staff at this point is their trust. Certainly, Leo & Stuart have my absolute trust

Disagreed on ball carrying and attacking maul. At this stage last season Kelleher was on his way to scoring 5 tries in his first 5 games off lineout mauls. Cronin is a pro at it too but let’s just call it a draw.

In ball carrying Kelleher doesn’t break the gainline as much but he takes the ball hard and flat into defences which saps energy from defenders. He is well built and packs a punch in his carries. Cronin tends not to have that string to his bow but is speedy and spots a gap when it appears. Their try scoring ratio per game is not a million miles apart.

Where Kelleher has shown flaws in his game is the lineout. His darts are not consistent. He seems to fall down in this respect in big games. I’d back Leo on this for this game but there isn’t much between them and with such a crunch game here I have no problem if he’s not selected.

As to trust, I’m sure we trust the coaches it’s whether they can trust some of their players and the supporter base behind certain ones. Leaking the team by gossiping to mates is a big no no and we have seen where it’s coming from.

[mildlyinterested]

Selection of Cronin would enhance ball carrying and threat of our attacking maul. It would deminish our defensive line and our scrum. There's not a large body of evidence that our line-out would be enhanced but Cronin has learned about the importance of throwing in a hard school.

The grwatest support that fans can give the Coaching staff at this point is their trust. Certainly, Leo & Stuart have my absolute trust

Disagreed on ball carrying and attacking maul. At this stage last season Kelleher was on his way to scoring 5 tries in his first 5 games off lineout mauls. Cronin is a pro at it too but let’s just call it a draw.

In ball carrying Kelleher doesn’t break the gainline as much but he takes the ball hard and flat into defences which saps energy from defenders. He is well built and packs a punch in his carries. Cronin tends not to have that string to his bow but is speedy and spots a gap when it appears. Their try scoring ratio per game is not a million miles apart.

Where Kelleher has shown flaws in his game is the lineout. His darts are not consistent. He seems to fall down in this respect in big games. I’d back Leo on this for this game but there isn’t much between them and with such a crunch game here I have no problem if he’s not selected.

As to trust, I’m sure we trust the coaches it’s whether they can trust some of their players and the supporter base behind certain ones. Leaking the team by gossiping to mates is a big no no and we have seen where it’s coming from.

clueless

[Jcahill1]

Has anyone watched the Analyst Eye with Murray Kinsella on youtube? I have been really enjoying it the last couple of weeks and think the analysis is excellent. But more specifically this week they focussed on the lineout for Leinster. Basically they showed a number of major lifting errors in the first half led to lost lineouts. Also highlighted some poor throwing from Kelleher, but the worst cases in the first half all seemed to be issues with the lifters.

[Jonny tight lips]

Backrower8 turns up again just after a post from Wanderers FC...colour me shocked!

Just a reminder to everyone that both posters are pilotman and various others, not even subtle about it

I only post under this profile as I have no other account. LRIP seems unlikely to relinquish his/her view as it seems to be a source of pride to have rumbled this alleged arrangement.

On the one hand it is irritating, as it is false. On the other it doesn’t have any effect on me.

I am genuinely not aware of a Wanderers FC account and won’t bother scrolling up to see what they said.

As for Pilotman, we have actually corresponded by private message…and no, I wasn’t typing all the messages . (Cue hilarious comments no doubt)

Can the Moderator check our true identities or IP addresses to put this matter to right or is there some GDPR stuff that prevents same?

On second thoughts, let LRIP continue to get off on their sleuthing abilities. I think that is what matters most here. Bless.

I always thought you were an auld lad and pilotman was a young fella.

[wixfjord]

In fairness to Mildly it wasn't him that was leaking the team, he was just doing his usual thing of taking info from somewhere else, posting it here and not attributing it.

[XyzFoo]

Has anyone watched the Analyst Eye with Murray Kinsella on youtube? I have been really enjoying it the last couple of weeks and think the analysis is excellent. But more specifically this week they focussed on the lineout for Leinster. Basically they showed a number of major lifting errors in the first half led to lost lineouts. Also highlighted some poor throwing from Kelleher, but the worst cases in the first half all seemed to be issues with the lifters.

Haven't seen it but ThreeRedKings came to a similar conclusion this week - blame to go around but not really Kelleher at the fore. I haven't got the foggiest what is going on in a lineout but thought it was an interesting perspective.

[Oldschool]

A couple of conundrums for the selectors.
1. Youth or experience, getting the balance right, not just the starting 15 but the bench too obviously.
2. The lineout. Normally I'd be inclined to place the bulk of the blame on the hooker but it waa fairly obvious against Ulster that there is a system problem.
Experience, in a big game, is a huge advantage.
So too much youth would be a mistake.
That means a trade off in selection.
Kelleher, Baird and Connors might be a step too far for one of them.
Cronin to start, Connors to start. Fardy to bench and no matter how close to being ready Furlong is, Bent is the right call on the bench.

[backrower8]

Backrower8 turns up again just after a post from Wanderers FC...colour me shocked!

Just a reminder to everyone that both posters are pilotman and various others, not even subtle about it

I only post under this profile as I have no other account. LRIP seems unlikely to relinquish his/her view as it seems to be a source of pride to have rumbled this alleged arrangement.

On the one hand it is irritating, as it is false. On the other it doesn’t have any effect on me.

I am genuinely not aware of a Wanderers FC account and won’t bother scrolling up to see what they said.

As for Pilotman, we have actually corresponded by private message…and no, I wasn’t typing all the messages . (Cue hilarious comments no doubt)

Can the Moderator check our true identities or IP addresses to put this matter to right or is there some GDPR stuff that prevents same?

On second thoughts, let LRIP continue to get off on their sleuthing abilities. I think that is what matters most here. Bless.

I always thought you were an auld lad and pilotman was a young fella.

We nearly agree on everything, but I am only 54.

[johng]

Sometimes teams are leaked from inside but mostly...

it's fairly easy to go to the Leinster/Ireland training base and see who is training on the team with the most first choice players

[paddyor]

The goal for any good side is to win the trophies for which you're competing.

We only get into a semi-final if we beat Saracens, we don't get a pot. We're in this tournament to try and win the thing, not just to beat Saracens. They're a good team who are in the way; we'll have to beat them if we're to go any further. Then we'll have to play another quality team.

All of the 'Leinster are the goodies, Saracens are the baddies' line of argument leaves me cold, to be honest. I think it's all quite overwrought. That's just one man's opinion, obviously; each to their own.

Agree on the last point. They’ve always been more than just a “chequebook” side and their academy output proves it. If they’d trusted it a bit more I think they’d still be a damn good team(though PRL transfers are way more common than p14).