Pro 14 final vs Ulster, Sept 12th. Live on TG4 & EirSport

[ronk]

Great performance from Ross Byrne. They tried to shoot out into his passing lanes and he did a really good job of reading it and not forcing it.

He carried well and made good decisions. Absolutely super line for Lowe’s try.

[Twist]

Jaysus - in 160 mins of knockout rugby against us Ulster and Munster only managed 8 points between them

[FLIP]

Although the talking heads on the TV are talking up the Leinster Invincibles (and how nice it is to get the plaudits from those who are so miserly with them) it's very telling that no Leinster player or staff member are mentioning that at all.

While they've enjoyed tonight's win, they know they still have more to win. No time for back slapping, back to the toil and trouble to try and win another competition. If we win that, then it'll be forgivable for our team to maybe mention that phrase.

[Blueberry]

Jaysus - in 160 mins of knockout rugby against us Ulster and Munster only managed 8 points between them

+1 A truly remarkable stat.....

While we have areas to work on that defensive effort, especially considering the huge break, is staggering......

Hard to explain how comfortable we were out there tonight....we barely got into third gear v Munster and it wasn't even close tonight....Time to stretch the legs a bit more next weekend and perhaps a touch of line out practice.....how a side can lose pretty much all their numerous lineouts in a half and still go in 10-5 up is remarkable.....

Yes Europe is a different kettle of fish but in the Pro 14 Leinster's toughest opponents are on a Tuesday afternoon when the probables play the possibles.....

Leinster right now look like Ali playing rope a dope with Foreman in 1974, sit back defend away, drain the energy and then slip in a few leading rights and game over......

[leinsterforever]

This Doris guy is some player. Intelligent, skilful, physical, can put in heavy tackles, good in the lineout and at the breakdown. He has it all really.

[enby]

Porter was absolutely fantastic tonight. Incredible strength and stamina and some great reads, not least for that huge penalty turnover.

Wtf was going on in the lineout in the First half???

[Ruckedtobits]

That's the first Leinster final I haven't attended in person but I was on the edge on my seat just as much as if I was present in the Stadium - at least until Robbie Henshaw's try.

Leinster's defensive teamwork was extraordinary. They all seem comfortable tackling on both shoulders. They double team, in any combination, all over the place and have excellent judgement when a big hit is needed and how to execute well.

On a number of occasions, a Leinster player in defence, stayed 'in the slipstream' of the attacker he was marking, and tackled him as he got the ball from behind. This ensured that Ulster linebreaks or half-breaks didn't become breakaways. This takes huge fitness, concentration and real commitment. Big kudos to Stuart and Hugh Hogan for the attention to detail in our defence which really has become the cornerstone of our teamwork.

The line-out really was a conundrum. We didn't execute at least six, notably in the first half. Strangely, it looked like we didn't know the calls. And the calls themselves were fairly strange. Dev had James Ryan, himself, Doris, Jack and Josh available as jumpers we have used successfully before. I cannot find one throw to James Ryan in that first half ( I will check again) and I think that he only called on himself once. TBF, Ulster used the classic lineout defence of their entire line moving into the gap as a unit, thereby creating mayhem on the ground. More study required.

The other aspect of our game which will require further work was our attacking maul. Despite controlling a couple of lineouts well close-in to the Ulster line, we were not able to drive the subsequent maul "around the cormer" and although we retained possession, we were split by the Ulster pack and had to restart our attack elsewhere.

Finally, Ulster were able to ensure that our opportunities to target Lowry & Little with kicks from No 10 or mid-field, were strictly limited and difficult to execute. Really good organisation by McFarland and his fellow coaches. A further aspect of this organisation was the absence of opportunities for grubber kicks - from either team - in the battle of the compressed defences.

Perhaps a game for the connoisseur rather than the casual fan. But unless some team can really put Leinster under pressure on the scoreboard, neither Leo nor the field Captain are going to play a higher risk game than necessary just to entertain the TV fans. From recent experience from the SH, there are some players and many coaches who believe that the absence of real fans and full stadiums does allow players to play as they train and not react to the 'atmosphere' created by the contest and supporters present.

Still to be proven but an interesting theory.

[curates_egg]

Beyond the conundrum of selecting the back row, where VDF and Doris were near perfect, I hope they manage the scrum half selection well. JGP had another very good game, and has been better than McGrath this season. People have pointed out how improved his box kicking is but I thought he was excellent in defence yesterday, whether as one of the first defenders off set piece or whether wider in the line on phase play.

I expect McGrath to get the nod for Sarries because our halfbacks seem to be set in stone. If he does, I hope JGP gets a good explanation.

[Ruckedtobits]

Those First-Half Lineouts - the facts

"The facts ma'am, I only need the facts"

There were 16 lineouts in the first half. Ulster won 4/4, 3 thrown to No 2 & one to No.4.
We won 7/12. 4 were thrown to Dev, three of them won, the other lost (23mins) with no lift or jump. 4 thrown to Doris, 3 lost (16.6mins Bad lift), (27m overthrow), (30m knock-on). 3 thrown to Conan, all won. The 12th throw was to nobody on 22min 50secs - no lift, no jump, throw hit a waving arm.

No throw to Ryan in first half. JvDF @ scrum-half for four with 3 great passes from him from left to right to our mid-field.

Lots of good variation in calls, but clearly the 'crowd-noise' disturbed the Leinster execution. At least 6 of our lineouts were from penalties and Ross Byrne's line kicking deserves the highest commendation.

[Theleinsterlad]

Hard to see porter being dropped if furlong gets back during these knockout games. He plays like an extra blindside and is a bloody nuisance in the rucks against the opposition. Truly great performance and his engine seems to be immense. JGP was brilliant tonight and I really hope he is played at starting 9 against sarries.

Josh has done all he can to say pick me next week but while he is immense at getting out of the line the ability for Connors to do the same and then chop tackle a player makes him the ideal 7 for next week. Can’t see Doris not being given the 6 jersey after the last two games.

Special mention to Hugo, who again fought for everything and took his opportunity to make the wingers spot his own for the present

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Well done everyone

Thought we looked really comfortable once we settled down shortly after their try. We were all over the place defensively when the game started, there seemed to be confusion around when the first defenders were rushing up and it led to loads of dog legs and created more confusion out wide then.

Once we sorted that our defence was incredible. Ringrose and Josh particularly stood out. There were so many times when a player would rush up and make a really good tackle but get straight back up and have another couple of big involvements in the following phases.

Don’t quite get the praise for JGP, thought he started very poorly but then did play well after that and his pass to Lowe was a beaut. He’s ridiculously good at that but Ulster’s defence was shocking, it was obvious we were going to try it and nobody reacted to Mathewson telling them to cover it. Thought Ross was very good, he just never gets flustered or puts in a less than 7/10 performance but thought he was slightly better than that last night with his carrying threat and aggressive defence.

Lineout was obviously poor but Dev had a great game outside of that. His engine is amazing and seeing him play like this again highlights how he should have gone to Japan last year even though he was slow to get his form after injury.

Our physicality is off the charts and I’m looking forward to seeing it stopping Saracens next week. Hard to keep that up every week though even with the squad we’ve got so I hope we see a bit more out wide in attack. Lowe did get loads of ball but he was very much a battering ram.

Henshaw looks in great shape, could easily have been MOTM and it’s great to see. Hopefully he doesn’t break any time soon and can keep it going. The kick he had when he decided not to overplay things reminded me of his start against SA a few years ago when he did something similar. Not a big moment in itself but he just looks really confident and able to play heads up rugby and use his skills instead of just keeping his head down and doing the dirty work for others.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Really delighted for the entire group. They deserve it for the efforts throughout an extraordinary season, even the 0-3 versus Zebra.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Just one more thing about the lineout. I couldn’t believe Ulster didn’t compete more in the second half. We could only throw to the front and yet they didn’t have someone jumping there all the time. Really poor from them.

[wixfjord]

Byrne's attacking play has come on leaps and bounds. Had some lovely touches last night. His touches and line for Lowe's try were lovely.

Murray K and Sean Holley had some great analysis of our defence on the Pro14 YouTube channel. We have 15 players on their feet in defence something like 15% of the time and 14 players on their feet over 50% of the time. Guys working really, really hard to not get caught in a ruck and to join the line.

Also had a lovely bit of video on Ringrose and his defence. Relentless energy.

The period around mins 48-52 was excellent from us.
Two attacking scrums, twice Lowe got the ball as first receiver.

The first time he barrels through Burns and offloads, the second he feints to do the same but pulls it back to Byrne.

Hopefully more of that attacking style coming next week.

[Cianostays]

The lineout issues will need some sorting out. Pleased to see people recognise that this is not just a throwing issue. Too many times the lift wasn't right or the Jumper didn't get up properly.

Defence was fantastic. I agree with the praise for Porter. Rock solid scrummaging and very reliable in the loose. We haven't missed Furlong at all which is amazing.

I think it's the best we've looked with the ball also. The handling and timing of passes seems to be improving which is great to see.

Some really big calls to make for Sat.

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[Cianostays]

Oh I almost forgot..........Woooooooo 3-in-a-row! Wooooooooo.

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[Oldschool]

Oh I almost forgot..........Woooooooo 3-in-a-row! Wooooooooo.

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Yeah you kind of forget this was a final with everyone talking about individual performances and some of our issues.
:blue clap: :blue clap: :blue clap:
We need a BLUE one of these

[Gearzbox2]

First of all
Congratulations to every single one of the squad, some very unlucky guys not even to be in the extended squad last night
Real squad effort to have secured that unbeaten run

On the game
Line out was shocking in the first half, I’m sorry but Kelleher has had 2 blow ups in 3 games and it will eventually catch up on us, I’m not sure the hookers in the squad would be afforded the chances he’s got
Porter was immense, ridiculous engine and imo the gap is very very close to him and furlong
Dev and JR combined well
Back row was very good, nice mix of abilities there and I can see it starting next week (unlucky on Connors)

Very impressed with RB10, controlled and aggressive and took the line on which was great to see
Best performance from our center axis combined in a long time
Ringrose tackling was text book
Back 3 solid but lose again too loose with the ball but had some barnstorming carries

Interesting sekection conundrums next week
I’d go
Healy Cronin/Kelleher Porter Dev JR Doris JVDF Conan
JGP JS10 Lowe Henshaw Ringrose Keenan JL

Kelleher/Cronin Bryne Furlong Fardy Connors LMcG RB

[ronk]

Oh I almost forgot..........Woooooooo 3-in-a-row! Wooooooooo.

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Yeah you kind of forget this was a final with everyone talking about individual performances and some of our issues.
:blue clap: :blue clap: :blue clap:
We need a BLUE one of these

You don’t win anything in September...

[Logorrhea]

The lineout issues will need some sorting out. Pleased to see people recognise that this is not just a throwing issue. Too many times the lift wasn't right or the Jumper didn't get up properly.

I get that the line-out is all about the unit and there were system errors I imagine, but when your hooker is consistently throwing the ball in and there is no one in the air, you'd have to say its his timing that is most at fault. Add to that the odd overthrow and the focus has to be on the hooker. Fix his issues and it all starts to come together.

Hes still such a brilliant player in both loose and tight that we'd be daft to make a change, but I think his issue with the line-out is primarily with Kelleher at the moment.

He wont be the first hooker that has issues with his darts, he wont be the last. We just need to try to minimise the errors.