Leinster v Salarysins

[hugonaut]

Obviously disappointing to lose, but an especially disappointing first half.

I thought we looked very nervous and unsure of ourselves from before kick-off, whereas Saracens had a simple gameplan which they carried out really well. It's a gameplan which they've played before and they saw that Munster had some success with it in the semi-final, so they were comfortable with it and confident about it. Kick-tackle-jackal.

To be frank, we gave them more help than they needed. We made a lot of mistakes – the one that stands out in my head at the moment was Luke McGrath's terrible, loopy pass being made even worse by Larmour's hospital pass to Henshaw – and made some poor decisions, both in play and when the ball was dead.

You need to take kicks at goal in a knock-out game when they're in kickable positions. This is not some advanced line of thinking [although there is mathematical evidence behind it, as we discussed on recent the DM podcast], it is just pragmatism. If you are leaking scores like we were - penalties at 9', 11', 25', 28' bringing it to 15-3 – it stops their momentum, gives us time to re-organise and asks them to kick the ball back to us at the restart. And it puts us a little bit closer on the scoreboard.

Outside of that, I didn't foresee the scrum being such a point of weakness for us. We were taken apart there. It could easily have lost us the game on its own, without any other f*ck-ups. Koch is really an impressive operator, and Mako Vunipola did extremely well for a guy playing his first match in ages. Jamie George reinforced his reputation with some destructive scrummaging and outstanding lineout throwing. Obviously we have Tadgh Furlong to come back in, so maybe we are not in as bad a position as this afternoon made it look.

Our maul also got a going over, both by fair means and the occasional foul. To try it so often when we weren't getting any change from it was poor decision-making. It's not an area that you would logically look to target Saracens in: they are really, really strong up front. While I think I understand the reasoning behind it – tie up their pack in one place rather than letting them spread across the field – it didn't work out for us at all in the game, and we should have been smart enough to move on from it.

The final thing that I will say is that there has been a massive change in referee interpretation in the key area of the game – the breakdown – halfway through the season. The attacking side can no longer retain the ball as easily, primarily because the jackal doesn't have to 'survive the clear-out'. Once a jackal gets his hands on the ball, you've a high chance of conceding a penalty. This has massively affected our gameplan, because ball keeping the ball and stretching the opposition defense out of shape [like a physical tiki-taka] has been a huge feature of our success in recent years.

Some commentators have put our numerous penalty concessions at the breakdown down to sloppy breakdown work from us, but we're doing similar things now that we were before [in my opinion]; it's that the laws have changed around us. It has ended up happening in-season [rather than during the offseason] because the Covid-19 postponements have stretched the 2019-20 season over the typical off-season.

[paddyor]

What was the point of replacing Cronin and Toner after two minutes of the second half - why not replace them at half-time?

This isn't very helpful to you, but someone once told me the reason for doing this, and it made sense, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was

+1

[nc6000]

What was the point of replacing Cronin and Toner after two minutes of the second half - why not replace them at half-time?

This isn't very helpful to you, but someone once told me the reason for doing this, and it made sense, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was

+1

Is that a +1 for my question or have you also forgot the reason behind it?

[Backplay]

Well beaten in the pack and not as good as we think we are - that's the truth of it...

[Dave Cahill]

The final thing that I will say is that there has been a massive change in referee interpretation in the key area of the game – the breakdown – halfway through the season. The attacking side can no longer retain the ball as easily, primarily because the jackal doesn't have to 'survive the clear-out'. Once a jackal gets his hands on the ball, you've a high chance of conceding a penalty. This has massively affected our gameplan, because ball keeping the ball and stretching the opposition defense out of shape [like a physical tiki-taka] has been a huge feature of our success in recent years.

Some commentators have put our numerous penalty concessions at the breakdown down to sloppy breakdown work from us, but we're doing similar things now that we were before [in my opinion]; it's that the laws have changed around us. It has ended up happening in-season [rather than during the offseason] because the Covid-19 postponements have stretched the 2019-20 season over the typical off-season.

Agree witn this 100%, great call.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

We might still make the semi if Poite gives everyone Covid here, a really worrying cough from him all through the game.

[Oldschoolsocks]

I blame ulster and munster lads, for not giving us a decent warm up contest in the pro 14 games

+1 Pathetic really, but what do you expect

Joke of a club?

[Backplay]

Gerry Thornley spot on in the IT: . "But at that moment they lost Johnny Sexton and kept being penalised by the lamentable and fastidious Pascal Gauzère, whose penalty count of 15-10 went a long way toward deciding the outcome."

[Oldschool]

We might still make the semi if Poite gives everyone Covid here, a really worrying cough from him all through the game.

Afraid not, Clerment would the beneficiaries of such largesse surely.

[Blueberry]

We might still make the semi if Poite gives everyone Covid here, a really worrying cough from him all through the game.

Poite is hacking away, Sarries will be getting a bye into the final...just wait for the Covid swabs...

[OTT]

Was Itoje onside for the intercept?

Thought he was offside but I was always going to! Didn’t see a good replay, Luke likes to paw the ball for an age before he passes so maybe he was on. Anyone know for sure? Huge moment.

[ronk]

Every time Leinster and Ireland have met Saracens and England respectively since the 2019 Six Nations our lads end up getting bossed up front. Faz mór, Leo, Fogs and Robin McBryde have to get this problem sorted out. p.s. Better luck to Ulster tomorrow.

Sort out what? We can’t play them again for 2 seasons.

We’ll both be different teams playing a different game next time we meet.

[riocard911]

We might still make the semi if Poite gives everyone Covid here, a really worrying cough from him all through the game.

Afraid not, Clerment would the beneficiaries of such largesse surely.

Actually no, they're 15-30 down with the game nearly over after being 8-24 down at HT.

[riocard911]

Every time Leinster and Ireland have met Saracens and England respectively since the 2019 Six Nations our lads end up getting bossed up front. Faz mór, Leo, Fogs and Robin McBryde have to get this problem sorted out. p.s. Better luck to Ulster tomorrow.

Sort out what? We can’t play them again for 2 seasons.

We’ll both be different teams playing a different game next time we meet.

Eh, Ireland, with large Leinster representation face England, themselves with large Sarries representation, in a few weeks in the Eight Nations tournament. I would hope the pack in green doesn't get a first half boshing and give away as many scrum penos as we did today. That's my point....

[Backplay]

Based on today's evidence they probably will...

[cormac]

Vunipola was particularly clever in targetting Porter's relative inexperience. Whenever Gauzere went to the other side of the scrum Vunipola would angle in at almost 45 degrees on Porter and destroy him. There was one on their 5m line in the first-half that was particularly egregious. Not sure if he even needed to do it because they were on top in the scrum when they scrummed straight too.

[Cianostays]

Obviously, that was very dissappointing. Just got smashed in the first 40 and completely panicked. Very unlike us. They actually did start to tire towards the end but we made some poor decisons that cost us. Thought Kelleher and Baird showed up well off the bench.

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[Peg Leg]

Wixfjord is obsessed with a semantic point based on a personal definition of a word which he idiosyncratically conflates entirely with betting odds.

Jaysus, it's pretty ridiculous that we're getting this far down this hole.

So you define 'underdog' to me and let me know in what way Sarries weren't for this game please?

Whatever about here and in the press the 15 that took the field were bleeding shook before kick off. So i don't think it was a case of believing their own hype.

[hugonaut]

Obviously, that was very dissappointing. Just got smashed in the first 40 and completely panicked. Very unlike us. They actually did start to tire towards the end but we made some poor decisons that cost us. Thought Kelleher and Baird showed up well off the bench.

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They were excellent, Baird especially gave us an awful lot. Our bench gave us a lot of pop, but as a team we had waaaaay too much ground to make up on the scoreboard.

[ChrisUppy]

What was the point of replacing Cronin and Toner after two minutes of the second half - why not replace them at half-time?

This isn't very helpful to you, but someone once told me the reason for doing this, and it made sense, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was

Could be to allow replacements listen to the HT talk then have a couple minutes to warm up while the players to be replaced empty themselves after a rest