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.
25 November 2023; Dan Sheehan of Leinster dives over to score his side’s second try despite the efforts of Gavin Coombes and Jack Crowley of Munster during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Munster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Leinster were not at their best tonight, and indeed far from it. A few players that might be considered world class might need a break ad they haven’t been at their best for a while and (a la Richie McCaw) might benefit from the rest
On the plus side, far from our best we ground out a win, Jordan Larmour back scoring tries, and Frawley proving he’s the real deal at 10 are my personal biggest positives for tonight, I only hope these are consistent positives, not one off.
The scrappy start probably suited us to need to fight back, the errors and lack of clinical finishing did not suit us and weren’t the Leinstertainment we would expect, give me more in the red zone please!
Gavin Hegarty
Leinster were far from their best but still ground out a win. Some very uncharacteristic errors from seasoned internationals.
A few bad missed tackles from Ringer, dropped balls from Jimmy, Doris is left wanting and Furlong just ambling along.
Nice for Frawley to get proper time at ten and show what he can do.
Take a bow Jack Conan, great game.
Ronan McManus
It was a bit scrappy (maybe partially Ireland hangover) but a decent win against a team whose only other loss was Ulster away.
6. Jack Conan should be delighted with his performance. The option of keeping him and Doris on the pitch together more often gives a bit more depth (Nienaber influence, presumably)
Jimmy OBrien looked sharp, but missed a few opportunities to weave gold from shit, that the great wingers would have seized.
Very disappointing for Ross Byrne, who looked good. This could have been an important one as far as Ireland is concerned.
Great finish by Larmour for his try. Hopefully the sign of things to come.
Christy O’Connor
Hard to take positives from that display except for Frawley stepping up. School boy errors the whole game.
Couldve, possibly shouldve, nicked a BP at the end but not sure we deserved it but definitely earned the win from top notch D some relentless series of double hits when it counted, Conan worthy PotM but D as a unit outstanding. Some interesting 10 calls for next wk #LEIvMUN
18 November 2023; Sam Prendergast of Leinster scores his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Scarlets at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
A good win but still a little disappointing. A good place to be when we’re disappointed to concede 5 to the Scarlets.
Prendergast did well but he’s too light in defence, he’d need more back row cover going forward.
Well done to Ross Byrne on his 150th cap.
Joe Mc was unreal again, he’s a fine future in front of him
(reply to Gavin) Peter Tracey
I’m glad they weren’t great. Loads to work on for next week and Jack will be in place.
Agree about Prendergast but that will come so not too worried.
Could Ross be top points scorer in the future? The only thing is if he’s in Ireland squads.
Joe is going to have a big season. I liked Gunne’s passing when he came on. Looked good for Ireland u20s.
We need to start bringing through a few 9s and props which we are.
Brian Corr
I enjoyed the game, I think it’s funny though that I have to remind myself as do many others that a 54-5 win is an excellent result.
It’s great to see Osbourne in particular doing so well, and the more Prendergast and Gunne get opportunities, the better Leinster will do.
The international contingent had a mixed bag, overall good and funnily enough Furlong looked very sharp.
Delighted for Keenan to get POTM, brilliant as usual.
Kevin Kelehan
Dominant and top of the table
Warren Doyle
God almighty we won👏👏👏👏
Jamie Donohoe
Jimmy O Brien had a superb game
Scoreline doesnt tell the story of the match, only because Scarlets couldve had a lot more than their 5 only for the Blue Wall. Result never really in doubt, good outing by Sam, great one by Hugo, still some workons but top of the league going into big one next week. #LEIvSCA
Following on from our tribute to Andrew Conway on our wrap pod and 80+ column, and also looking ahead to Saturday night’s visit to the RDS of the Scarlets, this week’s Throwback Thursday features our Harpin writeup from 2010 when the Llanelli region came to D4, a night which included the Conway’s first Leinster cap.
How many times does a player have to prove he can handle pressure?
Jonny Sexton did it coming on for Felipe at Croker. He did it again at Murrayfield. He did it at the RDS in his first Ireland start. He even did it whilst beating the 2009 Team of the Year.
And in many ways, with the taste of the first competitive defeat of the Kidney era still fresh on the palates of Irish fans, Saturday night’s Magners League contest against the Scarlets represented the 24-year-old’s biggest pressure outing of all.
With Ronan O’Gara shooting himself in both feet by whinging about a journalist, the stage was set to show he was worthy of stepping in at Twickenham next weekend.
So let’s see…how did he handle it?
22 of his side’s 27 points, including a try and 2 kicks from the touchline. Several crunching tackles. Tremendous versatility with the ball in hand. What the hell more do we want?
Let’s face it – we all know that O’Gara is a quality international out-half, but that’s just the point. WE ALL KNOW IT. And so do the other five nations. There’s a playbook on how to go up against him, and there’s no other country in this competition more likely to go by a playbook than Martin Johnson’s England.
So as well as another four Magners League points, Leinster fans were celebrating a display from their super Number 10 that surely has earned him the starting jumper.
We’ll see.
As for the rest of the team, well, to be honest they played like a unit that hasn’t been together in a long time, and guess what, that’s exactly what they were. Had it not been for McCusker’s blooper moment (see YouTube clip below) the outcome could have been very different, but I’m satisfied we did just enough over the 80 minutes to come out on top.
Despite putting in a strong performance himself on the night, it looks as though Girvan Dempsey’s hopes of making the 22 for the weekend are non-existent with the call up of Geordan Murphy to the squad. It looks like it’s between the Leicester Tiger and Keith Earls for the vacant 15 jersey.
And spare a thought for poor Sean O’Brien. He probably wouldn’t have started against England, but what an impact sub to have off the bench. It has been a great season for the Carlow man and it would be a shame if it were over for him already with so many big matches in the coming weeks.
Last, and certainly not least, even though it was only for a couple of minutes, what a debut from young Rock boy Andrew Conway. I blogged about a feature on him in Rugby World magazine last May and with a try-producing offload at one end and a try-saving tackle at the other in his brief appearance, he is surely one to watch.
Overall it was an entertaining Saturday evening at the RDS, even if it was kind of like Something Happens coming on to play one song halfway through a U2 gig.
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 