26 December 2023; Ryan Baird of Leinster wins a lineout during the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Leinster did what they needed to do and were deserving winners. On a side note I lost a lot of respect for O’Callaghan after his rant about Snyman coming to Leinster. His point about holding Irish players back might have carried more weight if he saad the same thing when he signed for Munster. I’m sorry but he sounded petty and bitter and I would expect more from him. He’s usually one of the best pundits to be fair but he did himself no favours this evening. I’m still going to enjoy celebrating another Leinster win in Thomond mind you.
Dave Murray
Ugly win with the conditions but a good win all the same. A kind of game a certain Jacques Nienabar might like with a forward dominated game with the conditions but great effort by the players. Joe McCarthy deserved POTM
Kevin Kelehan
Terrible conditions, very strong Munster defence but Leinster just made fewer mistakes.
Eamon Saunders
Not pretty to watch but a win nonetheless,move on to the next 👏👏
Chris McDonnell
We need to stop this harry byrne sillyness. Oh and mcgrath was just awful too. Thankfully We just dominated their pack
Far from a classic but the right team won and the right player got PotM. Best leave it at that for now! #MUNvLEI
16 December 2023; Cian Healy of Leinster dives over to score his side’s fifth try despite the tackle of Ethan Caine of Sale Sharks during the Investec Champions Cup Pool 4 Round 2 match between Leinster and Sale Sharks at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
My biggest annoyance from this match (and I’m seriously fucking pissed off) was our complacency. Much as I was elated with our attitude last week, today was the complete opposite. That said I believe our expectations as supporters are not taking account of the huge vacuum created by the departures of Johnny and Stu. It will take time for the new coaching set up and 10 to settle and thrive
Alan Murphy Awful game. A game dominated by pedantic adjudication. Every phase seemed to end with a blow of the whistle. Stop, start. Happy with 5 points but dreadful to watch.
Kevin Kelehan Sloppy start and lax finish but a lot of grit for the middle half of the game either side of half time. Biggest news from the pool was La Rochelle losing again yesterday
SeanieH ·Terrible for Charlie. He’s had some lovely touches lately. Looking classy
No doubt Sale deserved those late scores but Leinster came out strong after the break and took control of both match & pool. Josh clearly has been working on his awesomeness. Charlie a big loss at the end and some work ons for sure but overall a good start to comp. #LEIvSAL
10 December 2023; Ciarán Frawley of Leinster kicks a penalty during the Investec Champions Cup match between La Rochelle and Leinster at Stade Marcel Deflandre in La Rochelle, France. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Away in France to the reigning champs and we finally get it right! I couldn’t be happier to see the team finally figure out how to get the better of them. Delighted to see the only try scored is Larmour, he’s had a tough couple of years.
No trick plays, no bounce off the ball stuff, and no situation where the ref was clearly biased towards us. We beat them fair and square.
The future is bright at 10, the squad will take a lot from this and fingers crossed no major injury concerns as we prepare for Saturday
Chris McDonnell
Fantastic result, can’t fault anything on the pitch. Onwards and upwards.
Greg Kelly
Really well fought win. I seem to remember LAR struggling in similar conditions last year against Ulster. Byrne was pretty solid in what he did and Frawley fronted up well on a difficult night. Certainly a big weekend in the post Johnny period in blue and green.
Bert McLoughlin
What was best about today’s performance was the hunger to make dominant tackles and be physical in poor conditions. That hunger will make us strong contenders this season. No signs of a wc hangover
Gavin Hegarty
To me Byrne stood up when asked and frawley did the same. We’re good @10 for a few years!
Hats off to connors, he delivered and then some. Epic performance.
We had some unleinster mistakes but we’ll learn as the game evolves. Porter was constantly talking to the ref, this I like.
I did not like the ref telling ringer he won’t talk to Ryan but fear this is a result of ‘co’ captains. We need to sort thst.
William Andrew
Appalling display by the Ref, looked like he was been coached by LR. Said it twice to them but still did nothing to shut them up.
Honestly Refs need to realise a big scrum can actually bring a scrum down and play the odds like they play the red zone odds.
Jamie Donohoe
Very proud of that very courageous performance in those conditions. And i thought the Ref handled the game well too
Not ready for analysis yet except for THAT. WAS. AWESOME!!!!#LARvLEI
2 December 2023; Harry Byrne of Leinster kicks a conversion during the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and Leinster at the Sportsground in Galway. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Andrew Byrne A last minute try can’t paper over those cracks. We were far below where we should be. Is our squad just too big, all this rotation seems to be causing a lack of cohesion in our playing combinations. I only hope we have a better performance in the bank for next week.
Chris McDonnell Seriously not good enough. This rotating the whole team had to stop. Too many players just not good enough to play for Leinster.
Darran Kearney Kinda liking that we are playing so poorly early season, instead of beating everyone out the door and learning nothing. Coaches have 6 months to work with the team for the business end of the season. Hoping we can end this season better than we have in the more recent seasons
Christy O’Connor Way too much rotation, players playing out of position. Lots of schoolboy errors. Have we not learned anything from the last 2 seasons. We rested players that only played 1 or 2 games. This is now getting ridiculous. Stop giving lads time just for the sake of it. We need to give the core players more time and the others should possibly look to move abroad.
Conor O’Shea Poor performance, but a wins a win. No major injuries for next week from tonight
Eamon Saunders A lot of mistakes from both sides but good to get the win 👏👏
Went from deserving to be behind to deserving to be ahead to deserving to lose….to a BP win!!! Way to many unforced errors by both sides, just needed that composure at the end. Talk about getting out of jail. Tough on Connacht. Draw would be better result tbf #CONvLEI
In the latest from our Opposition View series I spoke to Connacht fan Stephen Murphy from the excellent Master of None pod to offer a western perspective ahead of Leinster’s trip to the Sportsground on Saturday.