arsebiscuits1 wrote:My take on the game.
I am disappointed to lose, but proud of the effort. Tbh it makes it a lot easier to take knowing we were very much second best.
There is an element of borderline relief that Garces played no real part. There was so much bigged up about him prior but by and large I thought he was calm and made most decisions correctly and was categorically in no way at fault for our loss. Even the most blue eyed fan can agree on that.
There was a tale of 2 players and their RWC chances that I saw today.
Luke McGrath was poor I thought and this was his window to cement himself as second choice this October. There was a stat that Sarries had something like 40 dominant tackles. An incredible stat. But Luke was directly responsible for many of these. The first receiver had to check their run too much and resulted in lost yards. He never seemed to get fully in sync with his pack.
I don't think it is a case that the offside line wasn't policed, Lukes passing was far too laboured and scrum halves like him who take a step before passing are always going to murder their outside players against a rush D.
I don't want to slate him too much as I think he's a tremendous player. But yesterday was a day to forget. Truth be told I think that was the exact type of game JGP would have thrived at.
On the topic of his box kick however... Using the football as a quick example. Alexander-Arnold took a quick corner against Barca when literally no one was looking. Not even the player who scored it. If he doesn't react, that ball goes nowhere and Barca clear. In this case he is a muppet for squandering a clear cut attacking corner with a totally pointless play. But he gets lucky and they score.
If we get a chaser there to beat Billy in the air, as all of our back 3 would be capable of, then we've the ball in their 22 having just had several minutes of dominance. That's a real chance to twist the knife.
These are the decisions that games of this nature swing on... remember Sextons drop in Paris? What if that didn't go over?
And onto the other player in my tale... Jack Conan.
No one will ever fill Jamies shoes, but my god is he trying. What an incredible season he has had so far. His carrying and defensive work is something we can really shape our game around.
A minor blip on the copybook was not pummeling Williams off the ball for his incredible turnover. I thought overall he was outstanding yesterday and indeed this season has been peerless.
I think the Leinster Munster rivalry clouds a lot of peoples judgement on who wears that green number 8 shirt and I try to look at it as objectively as possible. I really can't see how CJ keeps that shirt after Conans performances in the knock outs of this competition this season. I think he has to be starting 8 come October.
I am a sad man we didn't get that fifth star, but that effort cannot be faulted and Sarries performance must be lauded. How good a player is Owen Farrell btw?
+1.
Very little disagreement with that excellent summary.
I cannot yet bring myself to watch and analyse it yet. However, my overall sence of the game in real time now summarised as follow:
A. Sarries defensive line-speed, and power in the tackle, was awesome;
B. Sarries seemed to attack in waves with excellent, out front passing & at pace;
C. Leinster got minimal line breaks & never chipped / grubbered for the space behind:
D. Sarries were very confident in their set-pieces & maul; Leinster less so in the maul.
A really tough contest, but not really close in the final conclusion. Leinster (and Ireland) were magnificent in 2018 in the "Championship Minutes". Sarries (and England) stole our crown this year.
We'll be back, but it will be a slightly different model!