21 December 2024; RG Snyman of Leinster makes a break past Josh Murphy of Connacht during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Connacht at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Changes and early injuries proved very disruptive. Came out the right side of a dogfight two weeks running. Better than cakewalks and nothing to show at the end of the season
Eamon Saunders
Not a great game but as I always say a win is a win. Great to see 2 Wexford men on the field Charlie Tector and Brian Deeny
Andrew Bailey
On paper a very strong Connacht team nullified. Just find a Lineout and we could be comfortable
19 October 2024; Max Deegan of Leinster scores his side’s fourth try, despite the tackle of Connacht’s Shayne Bolton, during the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and Leinster at Dexcom Stadium in Galway. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Happy enough with the Leinster performance. I was nervous when Frawley went off so early but thought Ross did a good job, especially in the conditions. Hope Frawley’s injury isn’t too bad.
Gavin Hegarty
Not much more else you can ask for. Top points from each outing. Yes we kinda let them back in it but we were never not dominant.
Clarkson for me had been coming into his own this season, he’ll be capped soon enough.
So utterly unlucky for frawley, this was his chance for the autumn series.
Craig Grehan
I think the match although winning shows some poorer choices of play by jpg at times.
Shows frawley is like the munster era snyman …and snyman is becoming a fan favourite.
Connacht as always put up a good fight and on another day would get more bang for their buck.
Cormac Mannion
I think we were switched on for a lot longer than last week. Hopefully Frawley’s injury isn’t too bad. Rotten luck for him
31 May 2024; Jimmy O’Brien of Leinster scores his side’s fifth try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Connacht at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
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🏉 Early scores 🏉 Sam composure 🏉 TYVM RR,RM,EB,RDS 🏉 BP eventually 🏉 Tricky path ahead
Connacht seemed way off the pace, it was clear early on so much was going wrong for them.
Ruddock was immense he put everything into that game it was brilliant. Maloney and Byrne were also brilliant and gave excellent performances for their last games. I thought Ala’alatoa was unlucky for his card, yes he was high and he did hit Blades head, I’m not sure he hit it as hard as Blades reaction but that’s my bias(probably?). You could see though he wanted to out in a good shift.
Anyone doubting Leinster’s strength in depth can see in this game why it’s often quoted as being brilliant, no other club could make 14 changes and have a performance as strong as that. Keeping so many players involved and happy at the club is mind blowingly difficult, yet Leo does it year after year.
There was lots of things to like about that game even though 4 of the stalwarts are moving on & one of our backline was pretty jittery it was a pretty excellent performance from the other 19.
Chris McDonnell
Great performance from lots of the lads. Showed how awful last week’s selection was. Jenkins ahead of Molony, no Jimmy o brien , frawley just a lovely attacking player.foley I’d just miles better than mcgrath. Anyways hopefully ruddock and Molony gets to play again for us.
Cuan Mulligan
Felt Sam P had a great game, offered more options than other 10s in the squad. Was integral to a few of the tries; tried things, mixed it up. Should be where we invest and give him as much game time as possible. Might need some extra protein over the summer to bulk up
William Andrew
It was a good indicator of how valuable players like Ross, Max Ed and Ruddock are to Leinster. They provide the steel through a season.
Form was also on display, in some of the younger players
Leinster 33 Connacht 7
Overpowered & outplayed for long stretches Too many compound errors again Individual sparks in there but really not good enough The 2nd half showed improvement but lacked any kind of killer edge, any attack lost shape & defence was guts & fight#LEIvCON
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.
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
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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.
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 