1 January 2023; Ryan Baird of Leinster on his way to scoring his side’s sixth try during the United Rugby Championship between Leinster and Connacht at RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Gavin Hegarty Boring. It’s tiresome how even after they get ahead we don’t fear the result. Yes I know it’s a good position to be in but we’ve suffered as a result before, Saracens, la Rochelle etc. We need to be challenged more.
Chris McDonnell Another shocking day at the lineout. Its been a while since we had one if them but that was not acceptable. Kelleher will not get his starting jersey back from sheahan until he learns how to throw the ball
TWITTER
Well that's that Leinster 41 Connacht 12 Never expected to come up & get a win especially with the disruption with illness during the week Some elements were good lineout the star both side of the ball Looked to be attacking better but the ruck protection is off#LEIvCON#URC
Hard to know how to feel after that. Connacht played better than the score line would suggest. Was always going to be tough to live with Leinsters depth and pressure.
Scrum, line out and maul were great and attack looked sharper. Just beaten by a far better team. #LEIvCON
rhubarbsticks Ryan Baird in full flight is a sight to behold. A scrappy enough performance but plenty of positives to go forward with.
RugbyKino A tale of 3 parts to that match. A tight, well-matched fast-paced game gave way to more of a broken-up tussle in midfield in the second half. But come the final quarter Leinster flexed their handling muscle and put Connacht to the sword.
A shame Connacht don’t come away with something as the scoreline doesn’t do them justice.
However, Johnny coming off with a big dent in his face is a worry, possibly for the next 2-6 weeks.
RichardMifsud Really entertaining match at the RDS Connacht competitive deep into it but a couple of late tries put a gloss on the score line Good performance from the much changed side with a fair crop of youngsters Lineout issues need to be resolved but that apart a good enough performance Top of the pile in January 2023 let’s see how it pans out 🤷🏻♂️ Good performances from JL and Ryan B Deeny looked good and the Foley cameo was exciting
james @gortoshay putting 40 pts on Connacht while still having plenty of work ons is a nice place to be. Leinster being made to work for their victories this season. I’m hoping it stands to them at the business end. Sexton definitely a worry.
Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone
WRAP OF A WRAP
Hard to believe this week’s wrap pod is the 19th under the new format, and it was good to have Ciarán Duffy back on along of course with Mark Jackson to talk about St Stephen’s Night’s victory down in Thomond Park.
If you missed it, check it out here or on most major platforms.
HARPIN’ OFF…
With the week that’s in it I’m leaving out a few of the website’s regular features, including YouTube & TikTok clips from the wrap pod. Back to “normal” next week all going well.
PENNY FOR MY THOUGHTS ON POTM
I hope it’s obvious that when I disagree with a Player of the Match selection it doesn’t mean I have anything against the winner of the award. Scott Penny got the gong from the TG4 commentary team at Thomond Park while I felt it should have gone to Dan Sheehan. It’s a simple point and since I write this column every week I might as well bring it up but I certainly don’t do it to put anyone down.
I CAN’T COUNT
Maybe one of the reasons I don’t want to produce too much extra content from the wrap pod is that I made a major howler in the recording that I’d rather forget! Although I will offer full disclosure here as it involves an issue I’m interested in…
As I watched the game live, let’s just say, I had been enjoying “the Christmas spirit” a bit too much which, let’s also just say, “clouded my judgement” a tad. One thing I misjudged was the amount of tries Leinster had scored, and in that final sequence as we were attacking the Munster line I was really hoping we’d go for it because I thought it would give us a fourth try and a BP.
Then my thoughts went on to the BP system itself, and how we’ve been saying on the pod this season that the “4 try” method used in URC, Prem, 6N & RWC isn’t as fair as the “3 tries more” one used in Super Rugby & the 🔝🐱🐴. This led me to form the “harpin’ point” that if we had gotten the try it would actually prove the 4-try way needs to be scrapped as it wouldn’t have been right that this particular match could possibly end in a 5-0 split of match points to the visitors.
Now that’s all well & good when I had a few beers on me (ok, maybe more than a few) but somehow my brain held on to the harpin’ point for 24 hours and I brought it up on the pod only for Mark to rightly explain that we had in fact only scored the two tries so the point was as moot as moot could be.
So as you can imagine that clip didn’t survive the editing process, however I still think the bonus point system needs to switch to the “3-tries” method.
ASSHOLES ARE ASSHOLES
I am so, so, sick of this sequence and would love for it to be broken. Sadly it usually comes to my attention most whenever Leinster play Munster
Thing happens in rugby match
A few people claiming to be “fans” of one team get abusive on social media towards fans of the other
A few of those fans on the receiving end then expose the abuse, making it look like this is what fans of that team are like
A long exchange ensues which many blame entirely on “rugby twitter”
To be absolutely clear, the 2nd stage of the sequence is the worst by far. Obviously. All forms of insults, abuse and bullying are wrong wherever they are found and need to be called out.
But someone also needs to push back on stages 3 and 4.
No, this is NOT what fans of that team are like in general.
No, this is NOT what fans of rugby are like in general.
And no, this is NOT even what Twitter itself is like in general.
IMO people who are capable of this behaviour don’t need to follow any particular team, follow any particular sport, or even use one or another particular platform.
When it comes to these exchanges, we need to make sure 100% of the negative attention goes on these instigators, yet when we respond by tying them to decent people who follow the same team, or same sport, or use the same platform, I reckon we siphon off some of that negativity for ourselves.
Call out the assholes as assholes by all means. But we must also be sure to separate them from the decent people who just want to have a conversation. And most of all, mute/block them. It may be a vicious cycle the way things are now, but I believe it is one we have the power to stop.
It might be a worn out cliché by this stage, but “haters gonna hate” is as true as it is concise.
JOE MARLER
Speaking of assholes, Joe Marler.
And actually he seems to be getting positive attention on social media because he apologised for what he is reported to have said to Jake Heenan on the rugby pitch.
Eh, no. He’s got form. He’s certainly no hero for apologising, that is the bare minimum of what he should have done. Maybe, just maybe if he can go a whole calendar year without it happening again we can celebrate that, but in my book he has ruled himself out of any praise until then at the very very least.
RULE CHANGES
This week’s column has already gone longer than I intended, with this point being the only one I originally intended to harp on.
Obviously I want to see rugby take measures to speed things up, yet I still feel somebody needs to push back a little against this introduction of rule changes, because I definitely have concerns.
First of all, while I know the rugby calendar is different all over the world, to make significant changes right smack in the middle of the European season goes against pretty much everything I believe is fair for a sporting competition. I shouldn’t have to spell out reasons for why a tournament shouldn’t change its rules halfway through.
Plus there’s the added factor that we’re making changes just before a World Cup. Maybe, just maybe I have too much “skin in the game” on this point being a Leinster & Ireland fan because Johnny Sexton does have a reputation for taking time on his placekicks, but since he’s such a high profile player, to bring the change halfway through a club season as well as three-quarters of the way through a RWC cycle would seem to affect him more than others.
But my biggest reason for pushing back on these changes has to do with player safety.
Yes, we want to avoid time wasting in the game where possible and this will definitely help keep the “casual fans” interested, but I have to ask, just how much of a problem is this REALLY? Is it possible we might be over-reacting a bit when it comes to stoppages?
The actual playing time of a rugby match is one hour and 20 minutes. Factor in fifteen for halftime and you’d really hope the final whistle will blow well short of the two-hour mark after kickoff time. And that’s what we should be aiming for.
For example, Leinster’s recent Heineken Champions Cup match against Gloucester at the RDS kicked off at the later than usual time of 8pm of a Friday night. That meant I was always going to be anxious getting my bus home as it can often take a while leaving the ground given the press box is right at the back of the Grandstand so I have to wait until the bulk of the supporters leave before I can.
Yet I not only made it to my bus stop to catch it at 10:15, I actually waited seven minutes before it came. Maybe the one-sided nature of the scoreline helped but I still didn’t stand up to leave until the final whistle blew. And for me personally, that’s fine. I really don’t know how many tweaks and changes to the Laws we’d have to make that would actually be worthwhile getting me out of there any sooner.
On the subject of water breaks, they don’t bug me as much as they do most other viewers although one concern I would have about them is that I fear they are being brought in to facilitate matches being played in places like Dubai & Qatar in future, and there have been rumblings in the press recently that this does look like happening.
Which brings me back to player safety. For me, this is a much bigger issue we need to address, and there are areas when it comes into direct conflict with the time-saving. Whether we like to admit it or not, tackle technique is still a major grey area in our beautiful sport and it’s one we have to keep working at.
And unfortunately some of this “work” involves teams of officials making sure they get their calls right especially in the high profile matches as their exposure will hopefully trickle down to all levels through the sport.
So as I have said before on these pages and I won’t tire saying it again in the future, when it comes to TMO calls the last thing the officials need is added pressure from the viewing public simply because we’re worried about a few extra seconds being somehow taken from us.
Like I say, if matches start lasting two hours or more then we know things are going wrong, but we should also appreciate that efforts need to be made to help ensure that actual careers last as long as they possibly can.
INJURY REPORT
Good news, there were no new names added to the list and it’s great to see Messrs Furlong & Connors close to being available.
The final group still contains many concerns however. I don’t like suggesting some injuries are worse than others but Henshaw is a name Leinster & Ireland would want to see moving up the list sooner rather than later and for the province it doesn’t look good to see Jenkins there either.
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Tadhg Furlong: will again step up his rehabilitation this week from an ankle injury and will be assessed as the week goes on
Will Connors: will look to step up his rehabilitation programme further this week as he nears a return from a bicep injury
There are no further updates on:
Thomas Clarkson (arm), Ed Byrne (knee), Jason Jenkins (hamstring), Robbie Henshaw (wrist), Martin Moloney (knee), Ciarán Frawley (knee), Charlie Ryan (knee) and Tommy O’Brien (knee)
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
The 22 portion of the 22/23 is done for Leinster and we kick off the 23 at the RDS with Connacht the visitors. We’ll have the preview on Friday and the wrap will record on Monday. In the meantime, have a happy and safe New Year and be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
26 December 2022; Leinster players celebrate with teammate Dan Sheehan, hidden, after he scored their side’s second try during the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
Conor Cronin On the road, taking a win home with us without a lot of players who might have wanted the opportunity to play and might sometimes be considered higher up the pecking order, and having missed out on the chance to get a BP, there’s a lot to be positive about here.
Yes there were some things that we’ll use the video for to tidy up, and yes the referee was not at the top of his game, but you play the ref, you play what’s in front of you, and you take your chances.
I’m happy with that, munster threw their best available team at us, it wasn’t enough tonight
Andrew Potts A collection of random penalties until 50, then a game broke out
Martin Loughrey Scrappy to say the least. Great to get the win and our response to Deegan’s yellow was incredible, but the game didn’t really kick into gear until the 2nd half. I felt Munster had a slight edge on us for long periods but couldn’t capitalise. And of course Busby was poor. It seemed like he heeded the crowd’s reaction after Deegan flipped POM over, and made some strange calls after that. Very quick to ping Leinster after that, and of course there was his own obstruction of Leinster at the ruck that lead to a penalty for Munster. Still though, a win in Thomond is always great to get, so happy to take it!
TWITTER
That’s how you close out a game, keep the ball and don’t give the opposition a sniff of getting it back. That’s a top second half for me away at what Thomond should be, a bloody hard away game that should be tough to get a win from and gutting if you loose #MUNvLEI
Really top class game. Score fair for me. Leinster just upped it when they needed to. Munster will feel they should have done better in the first half when they bossed the game. #URCBestLeague
A win away at Thomond with a rotated side and not playing particularly well is not to be sniffed at. Great runouts from Dan (again) and Big Joe Mac. Luke McG and Ross M made a big impact from the bench. Happy with that and isn’t it brilliant to see a return of the St Stephen’s Day fixture? #MUNvLEI
Bernard McKeever @dregin
#MUNvLEI Would not want to be on the receiving end of Graham Rowntree’s anger after conceding those tries with us a man down.
Leinster : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose > CAPTAIN 12. Jamie Osborne 11. James Lowe 10. Ross Byrne 9. Nick McCarthy
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Cian Healy 4. Ryan Baird 5. Joe McCarthy 6. Rhys Ruddock 7. Scott Penny 8. Max Deegan
16. John McKee 17. Michael Milne 18. Vakhtang Abdaladze 19. Ross Molony 20. Jack Conan 21. Luke McGrath 22. Harry Byrne 23. Liam Turner.
Munster: 15 S Daly 14 C Nash 13 A Frisch 12 J Crowley 11 K Earls 10 J Carbery 9 C Murray 1 D Kilcoyne 2 N Scannell 3 J Ryan 4 J Kleyn 5 T Beirne 6 J O’Donoghue 7 P O’Mahony (C) 8 G Coombes 16 D Barron 17 J Wycherley 18 R Salanoa 19 K McDonald 20 A Kendellen 21 C Casey 22 R Scannell 23 P Campbell.
BKT United Rugby Championship 22/23 Round 10 Mon Dec 26 KO 7:35pm Thomond Park
Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU) AR 1: Joy Neville (IRFU) AR 2: Peter Martin (IRFU) TMO: Brian MacNeice (IRFU)
Live on: TG4, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Discovery + & URC.tv
Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.
WRAP OF A WRAP
Some might say there’s not a whole lot to talk about after a 57-0 drubbing. I am not among that “some”, and thankfully neither were Tom Coleman & Nathan Johns who found plenty to harp on for this week’s wrap pod. After all, we are Leinster fans and we love talking about a rake of tries when we score them, but we also found a load of other angles as well. If you missed it, check it out here or on most major platforms.
HARPIN’ ON…THE HCC FORMAT
In last week’s 80+ column I offered a quasi-defence of the HCC format, suggesting that while maybe this current one has flaws, it should be pointed out that the old one was far from ideal in itself. As you can see I let my guests offer their own takes on the situation in this week’s You Tube clip.
Only thing I will add is that I suggested last week that I would do things differently altogether so I may as well give a taste of it here…remember, I KNOW this will never happen but my ideal scenario would be to scrap the current set of competitions altogether in favour of one pan-European/SA pyramid structure with something like a pair of 16-team top divisions playing round-robin.
“A” would be the elite offering 6 or 7 qualifiers for the championship quarterfinals but I’d also have a “B” level where not only would there be promotion but also the top 1 or 2 would get a shot at the knockout rugby as well, meaning 32 clubs would begin every season in contention for the title.
Below that would obvs get tricky, but regional divisions feeding into the top 32 is definitely do-able and the important thing would be to keep the door open for clubs from any nation logistically able to join.
Again, I’m not suggesting this is ever likely to come into being, but what’s the point in complaining if you’re not going to offer an alternative? Anyway…here’s what the lads had to say…
If you’re playing the clip above maybe pop over and subscribe to the channel too? That’s where we post our Preview Show as well as other content throughout the week.
RAGIN’ HILL
This is of course a site for Leinster & Ireland fans to offer their opinions not only on what happens on the pitch but also off it. Obviously it goes without saying that if the reigning European champions were due to play at the RDS only for me to find out first that the match had been switched to a two-hour drive up the road, but also to then find out that fans aren’t allowed to travel as well, let’s just say I wouldn’t be happy.
Next while the match is going on, as my team is getting off to another poor start into the bargain, I find out that there are actually travelling French fans/”delegates” cheering their side in the stadium anyway???
As it turned out the only thing close to a saving grace for Ulster supporters was their performance in the second half, digging out two bonus points which keeps their hopes of getting to the knockout stages alive. Still, I really think an independent investigation outside of EPCR & Ulster Rugby needs to be done on the whole affair in the hope that it can be avoided in the future.
Of course I know pitches do freeze over, but maybe we need to be better prepared for alternative venues especially at this time of year?
PUT THE 🐐 TO PASTURE
I’m not one of those rugby fans who tries to pretend the round ball game doesn’t exist and I’ll freely admit I was watching the World Cup Final and congratulations to Argentina for their victory.
Since then the Twitter account for the Guinness Six Nations posted a standard enough question…
…but to be clear, I don’t bring it up to have the debate on this pages. Instead I’d like to harp on that symbol.
You don’t need me to tell you that it is a “goat” to represent the acronym “greatest of all time”. And obviously in sports we love having these discussions and I for one have taken part in many of them over the years.
However I feel we still need to be mindful of what this kind of absolutism can do to our opinion forming, especially in the social media age when we feel we want to comment on something amazing we have just seen and assume it won’t get noticed unless we point out that it has to be the very, very best of all time ever in the history of everything.
This annoys me quite a bit and while I’m at it I might as well add my dislike of the response “one hundred percent” when having a debate about something. For one thing, generally when I hear that it tends to be followed by a counter point but my overall problem is that there’s no need to go all in on what anyone else is saying. If we’re all “100%” with each other there’s no point in debating at all and where’s the fun in that?
Maybe we could adapt it and ban the use of 100 and instead encourage people to come up with a more realistic number before offering a reply. Or, instead, maybe just ditch the numbers altogether…
Sorry, it’s just a bugbear of mine, and where better a place to put it in writing?
LEINSTER RUGBY HELP RAISE FUNDS FOR ED SLATER
Posted this already on Monday with the wrap pod but definitely worth posting again.
16 December 2022; Leinster captain Garry Ringrose and Gloucester captain Ben Meehan, pictured with referee Luc Ramos, donate jerseys for a raffle in aid of the Ed Slater foundation before the Heineken Champions Cup Pool A Round 2 match between Leinster and Gloucester at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Earlier this year, Gloucester Rugby lock, Ed Slater, announced his retirement from the game with immediate effect after his diagnosis with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
To help support Ed and his family, Gloucester Rugby opened a JustGiving page and to date over £220,000 has been raised to help support Ed, his wife Jo and their three children.
With Gloucester Rugby playing Leinster Rugby last weekend in the Heineken Champions Cup, both clubs wanted to mark the occasion and also use the opportunity to highlight Ed’s illness and to try and raise even more funds for him and his family.
As a result, two unique Leinster Rugby and Gloucester Rugby jerseys were signed by the match day squads, with both jerseys bearing his name and the number four.
Captains Garry Ringrose and Ben Meehan presented the jerseys to each other before the game and the jerseys will now be used as a raffle item on the Leinster Rugby Instagram account.
To enter, you only need to reply to the post on Instagram and then donate a minimum of £20/€20 to the JustGiving page set up for the Slater family.
The winners will need to show proof of donation before their prize will be allocated to them.
Report came about 24 hours later than usual, just before I’m ready to publish this article in fact, so you’re getting my initial reactions and it’s good to see Will Connors moving up the list although it’s a bit worrying that Tadhg Furlong hasn’t moved at all.
And as for Ed Byrne, that’s a horrible outcome, hopefully he’ll be back in time for the business end of the campaign, in the meantime we’ll be giving the likes of Michael Milne a chance for more game time.
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Johnny Sexton: came through the game at the weekend against Gloucester Rugby with no issues after his return from a calf injury
Jordan Larmour: came through the game at the weekend against Gloucester Rugby with no issues after his return from a foot injury
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Tadhg Furlong: has again increased his training load further towards the end of last week and will be further assessed this week for an ankle injury ahead of a final decision later in the week
Will Connors: will look to step up his rehabilitation programme this week as he nears a return from a bicep injury
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Thomas Clarkson: picked up an arm injury playing with DUFC and will be unavailable for up to eight weeks
Ed Byrne: picked up a knee injury in the game against Gloucester Rugby and will have a procedure this week which will rule him out of action for up to 12 weeks
There are no further updates on:
Jason Jenkins (hamstring), Robbie Henshaw (wrist), Martin Moloney (knee), Ciarán Frawley (knee), James Tracy (neck), Charlie Ryan (knee) and Tommy O’Brien (knee)
After the previous week’s postponement it was good to see the Women’s AIL final take place on Saturday with the full TV coverage on TG4 and it was to be Rock’s year as they avenged last year’s champions Railway Union to lift the trophy after a strong second half showing led to a 27-7 victory. Next up for women’s rugby is the interpros in January, also with TV coverage, providing a great platform for selectors ahead of the Six Nations, except for the absence of the sevens players, of course.
Meanwhile on the men’s side, Lansdowne and Shannon got mixed up in the Ravenhill debacle when they got shoved on to the Aviva back pitch but between them the two matches produced a total of 137pts as Shannon made their trip worthwhile thanks to a 41-31 BP victory.
I harped last week on the fascinating 5-way battle developing for the 4 semifinal slots at the top, but there’s also a scrap at the other end as this victory moves Shannon out of the bottom 2 yet there’s still only 5pts separating UCD in 9th and Hinch in 6th. And guess what – those two clubs meet each other in a rearranged fixture in the new year. Funny how that works out!
Women’s AIL
League final
Blackrock College 27-7 Railway Union
Men’s AIL
Round 9
Sat Dec 17
Lansdowne 31-41 Shannon
Sat Jan 7
Ballynahinch v UCD
Dublin University v Cork Con
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Christmas week is upon us, although we’re not done harpin’ yet before the big day as the Leinster team to play in Thomond Park will be named at Friday lunchtime so I’ll be recording the preview show with Keego shortly after that, with our wrap pod moving to Tuesday from the usual Sunday, when I reckon I might be busy doing other things.
In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your festive rugby wherever you are. JLP
16 December 2022; Caelan Doris of Leinster makes a break in the build-up to his side’s first try during the Heineken Champions Cup Pool A Round 2 match between Leinster and Gloucester at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Earlier this year, Gloucester Rugby lock, Ed Slater, announced his retirement from the game with immediate effect after his diagnosis with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
To help support Ed and his family, Gloucester Rugby opened a JustGiving page and to date over £220,000 has been raised to help support Ed, his wife Jo and their three children.
With Gloucester Rugby playing Leinster Rugby last weekend in the Heineken Champions Cup, both clubs wanted to mark the occasion and also use the opportunity to highlight Ed’s illness and to try and raise even more funds for him and his family.
As a result, two unique Leinster Rugby and Gloucester Rugby jerseys were signed by the match day squads, with both jerseys bearing his name and the number four.
Captains Garry Ringrose and Ben Meehan presented the jerseys to each other before the game and the jerseys will now be used as a raffle item on the Leinster Rugby Instagram account.
To enter, you only need to reply to the post on Instagram and then donate a minimum of £20/€20 to the JustGiving page set up for the Slater family.
The winners will need to show proof of donation before their prize will be allocated to them.
Conor Cronin There are a lot of things to be said about playing the team in front of you, and let’s be honest, the team in front of us were less than brilliant.
But! Let’s acknowledge that they were good for the last 20 mins in a way that they weren’t for the first 60 and kept us relatively quiet. Lots of fans expected 70+ points over the 80 mins and a second string Gloucester kept us very far from that, and that stems from a lack of cohesion, and a few players misfiring at a couple of moments. 50 22 kicks that missed, territorial kicks going dead, passes going loose… There are some things that could be worked on. And there’s no harm in that. Let’s work on simple passes, on making sure that that first receiver’s takes the ball cleanly, that the first receiver is ready for the pass… Let’s make sure that the simple stuff goes right so that against stronger opposition we aren’t losing territory or points
Chris McDonnell Mcgrath is so slow and his pass is awful, he rarely moves the ball to the backs either. It was like watching matt o’connor rugby. How we let patterson go and kept mcgrath baffles me
Kevin Joyce There’s been a lot of talk about what the Gloucester team selection means for the competition. First of all, I’d like to say that I agree that the current format is bad, but it’s absolutely not to blame for what we witnessed tonight. The idea behind the change was to eliminate dead rubbers, but what hope have we of doing that when a team that had a perfect start to the tournament decides to raise the white flag in their second game? As long as the English and French clubs continue to be arrogant enough to believe their domestic leagues are more important than a European competition, no amount of format changes can prevent Gloucester from doing what they did tonight. The only way to completely eliminate dead rubbers would be to add 8 teams and turn the tournament into a straight knockout, but even then, if Gloucester were drawn against Leinster in the first round, they would absolutely surrender and pick a B team like they did tonight, because that’s exactly the kind of club they are and the loser mentality they have. So good luck in the premiership Gloucester, but you’ve about as much chance of winning it as you have of winning the Heineken.
TWITTER
9 Doris darting, 8 Larmour leaping, 7 Lowe a laughing 6 McGrath marauding, 5 Kelleher conquering , 4 Ryan reaching, 3 Kelleher crossing, 2 van der Flier flying, 1 Lowe a leading, and a Pa-artridge in a pear tree!! 🎄😄 #LEIvGLOhttps://t.co/igiHqH6ywA
I loved that Leinster didn’t kick the ball out when they were 50 points up at the 82min. They showed they were hungry for the game, despite Gloucester fielding that team#LeinsterRugby#LEIvGLO
Absolute humperdinking as expected, but positives: Polledri looks big and strong and gets 80 mins on the clock Gotostev steadied the scrum and looked really powerful carrying. Billy, Atkinson and Clement all had great games. It was all a bit men against boys though#LEIvGLO 🍒⚪️
Brian Nisbet 57-0 at the RDS. Gloucester disrespected the competition and their opposition with their team selection and paid the price. Not going to complain about a BP win for Leinster, but I do feel sorry for the slaughtered lambs
RichardMifsud Venerunt vidimus vicimus. The 57 was obviously pleasing, the 0 infinitely more so. Gloucester brought an under strength team and got what they deserved (not having a go). You have to feel for their players TBH. We weren’t at our best yet that was more than enough to beat Gloucester. Greater tests await For now Merry Xmas
