Big Mal

blindside · Post by **blindside** » March 25th, 2007, 11:44 am

Mal had a poor game against Connacht. He really looked like a man who hasn't played a game in 3 months. He missed a lot of tackles and especially the one that allowed Warwick in for his try. At one stage in the second half he gave away a penalty by driving into the Connacht lineout before the jumper had landed. Shane Horgan directed a roar of dissapproval at Mal from the other end of he pitch. He was not having a good day.

Hopefully the run will do him good. Word is he's as fit as ever. We need Mal to have a big game for us against Wasps....

Beer Baron · Post by **Beer Baron** » March 25th, 2007, 11:46 am

Yes, not a good day for Mal, but he has just come back from a long term knee injury. Here's hoping he's got it out of his system and wants to make ammends by destroying Wasps next week.

Darce · Post by **Darce** » March 25th, 2007, 12:36 pm

Beer Baron wrote:Yes, not a good day for Mal, but he has just come back from a long term knee injury. Here's hoping he's got it out of his system and wants to make ammends by destroying Wasps next week.

He started off well, made one robust tackle and then gradually faded. Im not overly worried about big mal's form. He's a big game player and i've every confidence he'll do the biz against Wycombe RFC

Leinster Zulu · Post by **Leinster Zulu** » March 25th, 2007, 2:18 pm

I think Mal is turning into Reggie, every month that passes, he has to be subbed of 5 minutes earlier, looks like he can't manage a good solid hour of work anymore!

Leinsterman · Post by **Leinsterman** » March 25th, 2007, 2:23 pm

Leinster Zulu wrote:I think Mal is turning into Reggie, every month that passes, he has to be subbed of 5 minutes earlier, looks like he can't manage a good solid hour of work anymore!

He lasted nearly 60 minutes yesterday - not bad after being out for nearly 3 months. He was tiring but also, so was the Connacht pack. As a result, the decision to bring on Finegan was a good call. the Leinster pack then proceeded to mnster Connacht.
I'd expect Mal to be in far better shape next weekend.

Danthefan · Post by **Danthefan** » March 25th, 2007, 2:34 pm

Leinster Zulu wrote:I think Mal is turning into Reggie, every month that passes, he has to be subbed of 5 minutes earlier, looks like he can't manage a good solid hour of work anymore!

He wasn't match fit, don't be so alarmist.

tackle-bag · Post by **tackle-bag** » March 25th, 2007, 3:03 pm

To be honest, I don't think big mal is up to the high standards we should expect anymore. I personally wasn't too bothered that he missed out on the 6 nations. He was only ever going to be barely fit if he made it back in, in which case he would be picked on name, not form. His physicality around the park over the past 12 months or so has left a huge amount to be desired, hence he has been completely eclipsed by POC & DOC in that regard. Also, as mentioned above, he has been struggling to maintain even this lesser level of intensity for his 60 minutes.

What do people think about the years ahead? With Cullen coming back we will definitely have a solid starting pair but what do we have beyond that? Any thoughts on Devin Toner, Richie Leyden or that McInerney guy from the 20s?

thecoolfreak · Post by **thecoolfreak** » March 25th, 2007, 3:49 pm

While Mal may not have been great i thought Finegan did very well when he came on

El Diablo · Post by **El Diablo** » March 25th, 2007, 5:03 pm

tackle-bag wrote:To be honest, I don't think big mal is up to the high standards we should expect anymore. I personally wasn't too bothered that he missed out on the 6 nations. He was only ever going to be barely fit if he made it back in, in which case he would be picked on name, not form. His physicality around the park over the past 12 months or so has left a huge amount to be desired, hence he has been completely eclipsed by POC & DOC in that regard. Also, as mentioned above, he has been struggling to maintain even this lesser level of intensity for his 60 minutes.

What do people think about the years ahead? With Cullen coming back we will definitely have a solid starting pair but what do we have beyond that? Any thoughts on Devin Toner, Richie Leyden or that McInerney guy from the 20s?

I disagree. Before the injury he was playing great stuff, he was our main lineout option and his tackling was solid. Hopefully he can get back to speed for Saturday. None of the options are up to it at the minute.

tackle-bag · Post by **tackle-bag** » March 25th, 2007, 5:31 pm

No-one disputes that he is still excellent in the line-out but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a lot more beyond that from a top 2nd row in the modern game. His tackling has been average at best, with some significant howlers in the mix (take ROG's hand-off in the HCup semi last year for example). I think Mal has managed to keep his spot in Ireland squads etc. by being the smartest of the locks - he doesn't give away nearly as many stupid penalties as someone like POC - but is no longer able to compete with the best of them.

If none of the younger guys are fit for the task as of yet, there would be a lot to be said for bringing someone in over the coming months. I'm a fan of Damien Browne who has been omnipresent for Northampton over the past couple of seasons, he's arguably the most physical lock in the GP at present & we could do with some added grunt coming off the bench.

Danthefan · Post by **Danthefan** » March 25th, 2007, 7:47 pm

I swear to focking god. HE MISSED ONE TACKLE and he's washed up all of a sudden. Nobody seems to care he was actually top of the tackle stats for that day up to that point.

Sundy · Post by **Sundy** » March 25th, 2007, 7:59 pm

Danthefan wrote:I swear to focking god. HE MISSED ONE TACKLE and he's washed up all of a sudden. Nobody seems to care he was actually top of the tackle stats for that day up to that point.

Denis hickie was left grabbing air a few times as well, hes washed up now too.

To be honest i think Mal just isnt really fit and im confident he will show up a bit better in Wasps.

Danthefan · Post by **Danthefan** » March 25th, 2007, 8:05 pm

Sundy wrote:
Danthefan wrote:I swear to focking god. HE MISSED ONE TACKLE and he's washed up all of a sudden. Nobody seems to care he was actually top of the tackle stats for that day up to that point.
Denis hickie was left grabbing air a few times as well, hes washed up now too.

To be honest i think Mal just isnt really fit and im confident he will show up a bit better in Wasps.

I think that's exactly what it is. When was the last time he played? For a 32 year old (I think that's his age) he's not going to return after 2 months off and be up to the pace straight away. He got a good run out and he'll be in better shape for next week.

Ryan_89 · Post by **Ryan_89** » March 25th, 2007, 9:21 pm

I cant believe some of the stuff i am reading here. Mal missed ONE tackle and had one (very) poor moment of ill-discipline and people are saying he had a dreadful game

Mal was brilliant, considering he hasnt played in 8 weeks.

jezzer · Post by **jezzer** » March 25th, 2007, 11:11 pm

Mal has had a great season so far. Made POC and DOC and plenty of other opponents look like chumps for a lot of it. Every player makes mistakes in every game, but the fact is we'd have to look pretty hard and pay a lot of dough for a player who could do his job in the HEC latter stages like Mal can. We should be thankful!

quietly confident · Post by **quietly confident** » March 25th, 2007, 11:39 pm

C'mon guys, give the lad a break. After all hes done for leinster one average game, after a 2month lay-off, and you're saying he's done. thats not what supporters do. He made a few excellent takes off the restarts. We will need him all around the park next week.

chillers · Post by **chillers** » March 26th, 2007, 9:24 am

Mal did have a poor game. I'm sure he missed at least two tackles: the one that both he and Shaggy missed, another where he looked to have the player and just slid down his legs and maybe another earlier.

His penalty for barging in the lineout was a ridiculous thing to do; he looked like he knew that, even without Shaggy screaming at him from the other end of the pitch and Felipe chewing his face off. For much of the match he actually seemed quite subdued and sullen.

But it's out of order to write him off based on a poor displayin his first game back.

He's been written off before after lacklustre performances with both Leinster and Ireland. And he has invariably responded with tremendous subsequent games! I'm sure he'll be brilliant on Saturday.

Flash Gordon · Post by **Flash Gordon** » March 26th, 2007, 9:50 am

Can't believe some of the stuff on this thread......Mal has been excellent over the last couple of years and we desperately need him for the weekend against a big physical Wasps pack. To those who say he wasn't missed in the 6 Nations. Two words. Mick O'Driscoll.

Donny B. · Post by **Donny B.** » March 26th, 2007, 10:06 am

Ryan_89 wrote:I cant believe some of the stuff i am reading here. Mal missed ONE tackle and had one (very) poor moment of ill-discipline and people are saying he had a dreadful game Mal was brilliant, considering he hasnt played in 8 weeks.

Well he actually missed three tackles, two in the move that led to Warwick's try. But he'd been out for three months and you don't get that match fitness back stright away so I'd give him a break. I thought his work in the lineout was very good (that silly penalty aside) and that's why he'll be so important for us this Saturday. I think the 60 minutes he put in will do him the world of good and hopefully he'll be more up to speed against Wasps.