With both Leinster & Ireland playing in the Scottish capital the next two weekends, our perfect guest to offer an opposition view was Sandy “@theburghwatch” Smith.
18 February 2023; Rhys Ruddock of Leinster celebrates with teammate Dave Kearney after scoring his side’s third try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Dragons at RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Not a great performance. Probably the worst or amongst the worst of the season. Quite disjointed and not as controlled as Leinster teams usually are.
Performance aside its yet another routine win that was never really in doubt. The URC is great for blooding players but week by week it becomes worse for challenging them.
Andrew Bailey
First up you have to play a referee who’s agenda from the start is to favour the home team. But you can’t do that with poor lineouts , Ruck protection snd an awful kicking game. A big win but worst performance of the season. Why not trust the outside backs more ??
TWITTER
#LEIvDRA what a conveyor belt of talent & Irish caps. Another Welsh team torched (i'd love to see their situation resolved as so many good players). Such a strong & large squad. @JjHanrahan had a nice impact. Very under rated & used.
Sometimes a bit scrappy as you'd expect from such a patchwork/inexperienced side but ultimately never in doubt. Big moments from some very young players. Two wins away now from a guaranteed top spot. #LEIvDRA
Mike Adamson has missed some amazingly forward passes tonight. It's made absolutely no difference to the result cos the Dragons have been absolutely dire. But still #LEIvDRApic.twitter.com/G9SRArcMwb
RichardMifsud Had a bit of everything that one. Always love watching the young kids getting a run out. Second 40 saw a dip in intensity that let Dragons back into the game and gave the boys good practice on D. A bit of a flourish at the end with two well worked tries. Invaluable experience for the kids and Rhys a worthy POTM although Lukey pushed for that too Liam Turner had a good outing and it was great to see Jason J and Will on the pitch
INSTAGRAM
John Shine I’m jumping aboard the Jack Boyle hype train!!! In all seriousness it was a nice little 20 mins for him. Held up his end of the scrum. Couple of good carries and a great jackal turnover. Bigger tests await but he’s an exciting prospect.
28 January 2023; A general view of a scrum during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Cardiff at RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
We beat a Cardiff team with our thirds. We had the bp quick enough and took the foot off the gas in the second half to allow them two tries back.
Delight to have chopper Connors back and to see him doing what he does best.
Great to see the debutants, Leinster are going to be a force for years to come.
Brian Corr
Feel Cardiff came thinking they were going to have an easy game with so many Leinster players on Ireland duty, they realised their mistake too late.
It’s great to see Deegan playing so well and even better to see Connors back.
It’s a great testament to Cullen and his coaches that they have the back up squad so tuned in and able to step up when needed, even if Cardiff were not really at the races.
Tector getting his first points, Turner with another great try.
Great outcome for Leinster, especially racking up the points for home games in the knockouts.
Karen Brennan
Well done to new young players getting their first cap,a great occasion for them,especially Balbriggan rugby clubs Aitzol King👍🏻
TWITTER
Old adage of Leinster not being tested, for once I'll begrudgingly agree. Cardiff have been awful. #LEIvCAR
Very pleasant piece of humble pie being consumed about now #LEIvCAR
— Rhys Ruddock All Stars Fan (@GifsRugbyNStuff) January 28, 2023
Over in Ireland to see my girlfriend for the first time in a month, lasted about 7 seconds during sex and still wasn't the worst performing Welshman in Ireland tonight #LEIvCAR
RichardMifsud I always love watching @leinsterrugby play but I particularly love it when the young guns get a run out. TBH I was expecting a tougher game but Cardiff disappointed Deegs very worthy POTM Good outings from Milne Brownlee Turner as well as our starting back row and halfbacks Disappointing 10 minutes in the final quarter but that’s great learning for the kids
Andrew Byrne Harry Byrne’s kicking out of hand was very good, amazing the difference a bit of game time makes. We got a bit sloppy in the final quarter but to be expected with so many changes. Cardiff’s coaches must be pulling their hair out, their team was outclassed by an inexperienced Leinster team.
Leinster: 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose > CAPTAIN 12. Jamie Osborne 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Ross Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan 6. Caelan Doris 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Jack Conan
16. Dan Sheehan 17. Michael Milne 18. Cian Healy 19. Ross Molony 20. Ryan Baird 21. Luke McGrath 22. Harry Byrne 23. Scott Penny
Racing 92: 15 W Gelant 14 C Wade 13 O Klemenczak 12 G Fickou (c) 11 L Dupichot 10 F Russell 9 N Le Garrec 1 E Ben Arous 2 J Tarrit 3.T Nyakane 4 B Chouzenoux 5 B Palu 6 W Lauret 7 M Coulibaly 8 K Kamikamica
16 P Narisia 17 G Gogichashvili 18 G Kharaishvili 19 A Hemery 20 M Baudonne 21 A Gibert 22 F Saili 23 M Spring
14 January 2023; Michael Ala’alatoa of Leinster makes a break during the Heineken Champions Cup Pool A Round 3 match between Gloucester and Leinster at Kingsholm Stadium in Gloucester, England. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
🏉 MUN, ULS & CON
🏉 Jamie Osborne
🏉 Clinical finishing
🏉 Cian Healy’s career
🏉 Leinster’s scrum
Harpin’ On Rugby match wraps are brought to you by The Irish Rugby Store
Our guests…
MARK JACKSON
https://twitter.com/hoomanbear
CONOR CRONIN
https://twitter.com/ccbooms
FRONT FIVE ARTICLES
RFU intervenes to let Borthwick pick Farrell in England Six Nations squad | Owen Farrell | The Guardian [Gerard Meagher]
Women’s interprovincials: Munster claim bonus-point win over Leinster to move closer to title – The Irish Times
Fourteen-man Munster hold off Northampton in Champions Cup thriller | Rugby365
‘Heartbroken’ Dan McFarland bemoans decision not to award Ulster penalty try in late La Rochelle defeat – BelfastTelegraph.co.uk [Jonathan Bradley]
Clinical Connacht put 61 points on Brive to progress to Challenge Cup knockouts (the42.ie) [Daragh Small]
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Andrew Potts The scrum is a concern, probably just needs a little collective focus. Nice to see them using short penalty moves in the red zone, it’s a good variation then going to a line out, plus suits Leinster tempo. Some of the Leinster play was excellent and Ross has developed into quite the facilitator
Richard Collumb Says it all about current European competition when URC is providing more challenges. Great to see Osborne step up & some game time to replacements.
Chris McDonnell Too good just too good.
TWITTER
Pretty fun. Lots of positives. Scrum in bit of bother, 2 PTs also not ideal. Still way more good than bad. Enjoyed it a lot! #GLOvLEI
Brian Nisbet @natural20 14-49 A match with a couple of lessons for Leinster (discipline, line-outs), but ultimately another emphatic victory in Europe and the match goes on.
Colin Mehigan @colinmehigan@mas.to @vnvobit @HarpinOnRugby @rugby Lots of impressive performances in Kingsholm today – Jamie Osborne really standing out
Adam Ashby (Gloucester fan) @adamashby@mas.to Well. That was worse than I expected.
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.
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