Very impressive 🇫🇷 team, worthy champions, some amazing scores tonight.
We can leave the analysis for later IMO this Irish squad have been through so much and played so well thru the 5 matches that we can only applaud them, bright futures ahead.
The true impact of James Ryan on this team is now fully understood. Better team over 80 minutes won, without Ryan we had no answer to Skelton, ref had a good game. This was the 2011 final won for a second star by a team dead and buried after the first quarter. Jack Conan was again superb.
Hugely disappointing. 17 points up and we stoped playing. Signs of panic Kicked so much ball away. Hard to see how this team progresses .Winning by 40 points each week is no preparation
Sometimes teams need to win ugly and grind a result, Leinster need to learn how to do this. No point taking a big lead and not knowing how to defend it
Hard luck Leinster folks. That was some start but LaR ground their way back in and then strangled Leinster with their power. I think they were helped in that by James Ryan’s absence (physicality and leadership), kicks out on the full, a blocked attempted clearance, some needless penalties / cards, and some wayward long kicking back to them. The slowdown in tempo from Q2 onwards helped LaR but hindered Leinster. Can’t understand why there wasn’t a drop goal attempt at the end; a try wasn’t needed at that stage.
In the stand, if you believe the boos, comments here, comments all over the Internet etc we can only blame one person but I blame the urc. How did they put that referee in the position that he can be blamed? It’s outrageous that he be put in that position. Any other ref could be chosen so that the “he played” nonsense wouldn’t be am issue.
Regardless, you play the decisions, and adapt.
Well done munster, good luck on the 27th.
Craig Grehan
As an out & out leinster fan. We disrespected munster in cup rugby by not selecting our best team.
A team that does that, does it at their peril. We took the gamble and lost to the MUCH better team on the day.
Andrew Potts
A disappointing day for Leinster fond the demands of a month of weekly knock out rugby a step to far today.
Could have won it but Munster could had a few tries.
Frank Murphy did nothing today but enhance his reputation as a very flawed Ref and biased against Leinster.
In the first minute a player leaves the field unconscious. The result of a high tackle.
I thought three questions had to be answered by the Ref
Was there contact with the head?
Was force applied?
Any mitigation ?
It’s a card but only what colour.
The sanctions must have changed.
The length of time Leinster were defending under advantage was ridiculous, certainly he was a factor.
John Hyland
Munster were the better side today. For right or for wrong, Leo has prioritised the fifth star. This was always going to be a tight game. Let’s hope Munster can do the biz in SA.
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Munster deserve it. Leinster played badly. Frank Murphy should not ref these games. All of this is true, go on and win now Munster. #leivmun
Seeing a lot of this. Unsure it's anything like a big loss. I get that teams who haven't touched a trophy in seasons don't like other teams with more W, but every dog has its day. A gambled kick through on 72 mins turned out to be a pivotal error, a missed conversion likewise. 👍 https://t.co/e95VfHl4O1
6 May 2023; Michael Milne of Leinster celebrates after scoring his side’s second try during the United Rugby Championship Quarter-Final between Leinster and Cell C Sharks at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Another very comfortable game, a slight scare at the start when Sharks got their try, but in the end it was too easy.
Don’t see Munster causing any trouble after watching their game against 14 man Glasgow. Still need to show Munster respect though. Don’t want to put out all the academy players again thinking we will walk it.
Andrew Byrne
Time to rethink the quarterfinals stage? That wasn’t a proper match, Sharks seemed to turn up with a one dimensional game plan, only wishing to front up at the scrum and then return home as quickly as possible. No fight in them to have a shot at Leinster with a proper game plan. Knockout rugby gives you a chance to take down the top teams, Sharks just didn’t look interested in anything other than taking scrums.
Hubert Gallagher
(Munster semifinal will be) a derby – passions will be high, physicality intense, we cannot afford to be as generous as Glasgow yesterday and spurn the chances they did. Otherwise Munster will grow into the game and it will become a dogfight and the outcome less certain!
— Marcas Mac Siacais 🇪🇺🇮🇪☘️ (@hoomanbear) May 6, 2023
Good solid performance by the boys against a stifled Sharks. The main thing a good win and few injury concerns Caelan a very worthy POTM On to the SF @leinsterrugby#COYBIB#LEIvSHA
— Richard Mifsud ( richardmifsud@mastodon.ie ) (@Once_in_the_job) May 6, 2023
Mixed bag for Milne. Tough day at scrum time. Sharks strong there but only line breaking from broken play & garryowens though. Porter & penalties then when he came on. Last one against him seemed harsh though. Doris is some man. Ngatai too. Larmour & high balls. 🤷 #LEIvSHA
Koochulainn I thought (the Sharks) would be more dangerous, particularly against an unorthodox centre partnership (which I thought didn’t gel early on) I thought McGrath was and has been fantastic over the last while
Great performance undoubtedly helped by Toulouse indiscipline. Extraordinary tactical failure to have the best scrum half in world along with Ntamack playing out of position for 60 minutes
Craig Grehan
A good win. Flattered by 2 yellow cards.
But, 2nd yellow proves without the “weight” toulouse didn’t seem that strong. (Except dupont)
Gavin Hegarty
Ok so just watched it back and have had time to digest it.
4 tries while they were at 14, but the first two were forward tried and it was Ramos in the bin. Can’t help but feel they kinda imploded and suffered by their lack of back subs but we dominated and beat them at their own game.
I was worried about ngatai, just hadn’t seen enough of him, but he was fantastic.
My 6 year old has watched Conan’s second try on repeat this morning, a dummy of sheer cheeky beauty, it’ll be done many times in the garden today.
Does jack willis’ header to Sheehan count as a try assist?
Byrne was class today, faultless from the tee, this run of high pressure games and form bodes extremely well for the RWC.
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What a performance. What a team. What a team to play against. And what a game to watch, titanic.
A Champions Cup final with Leinster on the card, a personal dream of mine.
Massive performance, especially dealing with their monster locks. Fortunate with the impact of Toulouse's injuries. We were surgically clinical in power play time. Lucky with a few calls too but semi finals should be closer than that
Higgs thought it was going to be tighter before the match then how it ended up. Ngatai made a huge impact in the first half. Plenty of tired legs at the end of the match
JOC IMO, the really soul-crushing moment came when Ryan yoinked the lineout steal. Absolute confidence-shattering stuff. “yay, I stole a critical Leinster lineout” “Nope” <yoink> <Heavyweight pack shoved backwards over own line>
22 April 2023; Leinster players huddle during the United Rugby Championship match between Vodacom Bulls and Leinster at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Gerald Williamson The Bulls getting the 5pts is immaterial in the last league match. What was important for Leinster was to be able to blood new young players and get the experience of playing against a fully loaded Bulls team. This will stand to the Leinster boys.
Andrew Potts My goodness it was still a masterclass of support play and off loading by Bulls. Hopefully Leinster learn from it, because sometimes you learn more from you failures than your victories
Christy O’Connor Wasn’t expecting us to win but also wasn’t expecting such a spanking. I thought Clarkson and Soroka put in a good shift. We definitely learned more in this game than the bulls did. Roll on Toulouse.
Greg Kelly Hardly good for the competition or if you are Connacht or Munster to see the Bulls get 5 points against Leinsters 4ths and leapfrog you in the playoffs when you had to play against the 1sts. I understand giving the young guns a run but there has to be integrity in both the competition and the jersey and that was lacking today.
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The good news for the Leinster kids is that you can’t start passionately disliking the Blue Bulls at too young an age. #BULvLEI
Look, I know we could "afford" this and you can rationalise it away with squad picked etc. But it's still Leinster getting pumped. It's a L. I don't care about "unbeaten" but those lads deserve better caps than meat grinder material. A tough watch hopefully never repeated.
Greg Kelly From the first scrum the Lions looked uneasy. They looked like they expected the young guns to have a crack but to fall away. However they didn’t. Lions lived off Leinster errors and a lack of cohesion.
Up the ladders and age grades Leinster lose very few games and sometimes that shows. Players that are not used to losing generally don’t fall away.
Christy O’Connor Lot of pressure on Prendergast, I originally thought it was a mistake to start him but after a bit of a shaky first half he got more into the game and made the difference in the end.
Big statement to come from behind when down to 13 men and we were nowhere near full strength
Andrew Potts Any win in SA is to be respected, fantastic result for young players and praise also for Ruddock and Deegan for keeping the lads focused when it could have gone South
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#LIOvLEI…simply epic…one of my fav games by Leinster.. EVER…the kids were immense…Prendergast…Cosgrave…Murphy when he came on..the scrum solid as a rock…take a bow lads that was simply sensational
— Marcas Mac Siacais 🇪🇺🇮🇪☘️ (@hoomanbear) April 15, 2023
Andrew Potts Leicester had a very limited game plan and the missed time pass often undid them .They also looked flat footed at times with so many runners going at defenders.
Nice to put 50 on them but some serious teams ahead.
Kevin Kelehan Ruthless demolition job from the point they were down to 14. Watch out Toulouse!
From Leicester Tigers page…
Gaz Coley Great effort. Irish Rugby has ticked all the boxes and are seeing the rewards. We gave a brave spiritated effort but the floors are deeper than today’s result. English Rugby have got it so very wrong
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55-24 / 7 tries That's a thumping if ever there was one.
Reminder that Leicester are 3rd in the Premiership.#LEIvLEI
Paul Smith A game for the forwards and the Leinster pack delivered in spades. It was never going to be a day for free flowing rugby and their dominance in both attack and defence was the winning of the match this evening. Ryan, Baird, and Conan were outstanding and also a mention for Ross Byrne who played some smart rugby and took his points well. Have to be happy to take the win in a game that always had the potential to be a banana skin.
Andrew Potts A wet game but not inspiring. They were good enough for Ulster but it was very low key result.
South Wales Ulster Rugby Supporters Club Leinster deserved the win on the day, but Ulster Rugby didn’t make it easy. Without doubt, Stockdale’s huge kick, chase, collect to Burns & cross field kick for Hume’s try, was the best passage of play, in the whole game 🏉
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Job done in tricky conditions against tricky opponents #LEIvULS
Leinster did us again. Best pack of forwards we’ve faced in a long time. Always under pressure but no disgrace tonight. Best of luck next weekend @LeinsterRoyalty@HarpinOnRugby@RugbyKino