Champions Cup - Pool 2, Round 1 (Castres, Harlequins, Leinster, Wasps)

[goodNumber10]

Launchbury always looks close to years.

 

[big ginger 8]

Good win but somewhat annoying not getting the bonus point.

 

[Peat]

Launchbury always looks close to years.

If man is descended from primates, then Launch was clearly descended from this one...

 

[lynam1104]

Good win but somewhat annoying not getting the bonus point.

Definitely, should have shifted 2 pool points there with another try. Really annoying not finishing those chances.

Overall happy enough, few stand out today were Heaslip deserved MoTM, Fanning did well with his tried and straightened with ball in hand very well, impressed with Ryan and Ruddock. Off the bench Douglas was very handy, really physical in the closing stages.

 

[goodNumber10]

Wasps will content with the point, but will disappointed to not turn Leinster over, they had the ascendancy for a lot of the game but Heaslip was immense and dragged Leinster kicking and screaming with him.

 

[munstermuffin]

Well I think Leinster will be glad of the win but the game next Sunday in France will behuge game for Leinster.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Good win, not a great win! We really should have won it 4-0 or 5-0 though. I'll eat my words on Fanning, a fantastic, hard working game. Heaslip was at his best and Reddan, Bent and Gopperth stepped up. Douglas is a ridiculous specimen and Toner is one of our most important players at the moment. The only disappointments were Kirchner and Reid but injuries can do that. Win next week and we're looking very good.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Good win, not a great win! We really should have won it 4-0 or 5-0 though.

Really?
I think Leinster fans should be thanking their lucky stars someone poisoned Haskell's breakfast yesterday, I reckon Wasps would have won with him out there.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Really?
I think Leinster fans should be thanking their lucky stars someone poisoned Haskell's breakfast yesterday, I reckon Wasps would have won with him out there.

In terms of how the game went, the intercept, inability to finish opportunities in the last 20 etc... we really shouldn't have let them get a point. I also don't think Leinster fans have lucky stars currently, see Kearney, Kearney, Healy, O'Brien, McFadden, Ross, Moore, Fitzgerald (Kinda) etc...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

In terms of how the game went, the intercept, inability to finish opportunities in the last 20 etc... we really shouldn't have let them get a point. I also don't think Leinster fans have lucky stars currently, see Kearney, Kearney, Healy, O'Brien, McFadden, Ross, Moore, Fitzgerald (Kinda) etc...

Wasps have injuries too, I'm talking match day 23s - Wasps lost their captain, and arguably their best/most influential player, hours before kickoff.

 

[goodNumber10]

In terms of how the game went, the intercept, inability to finish opportunities in the last 20 etc... we really shouldn't have let them get a point. I also don't think Leinster fans have lucky stars currently, see Kearney, Kearney, Healy, O'Brien, McFadden, Ross, Moore, Fitzgerald (Kinda) etc...

**Puts on high picthed voice*** You're deluded!

Seriously, Wasps were on top of you for about 60 minutes and scored two cracking tries, they only really lost control of the game when Goode got clattered, you should be thankful he got smashed otherwise chances are you'd have lost the game as he and Simpson were far outplaying Gopperth & Reddin.

Besides everyone has got guys out, so what? loads of teams have, that's the point of these competitions they put stress on a playing squad to see who comes out on top and you also had home advantage.

 

[big ginger 8]

Good win, not a great win! We really should have won it 4-0 or 5-0 though. I'll eat my words on Fanning, a fantastic, hard working game. Heaslip was at his best and Reddan, Bent and Gopperth stepped up. Douglas is a ridiculous specimen and Toner is one of our most important players at the moment. The only disappointments were Kirchner and Reid but injuries can do that. Win next week and we're looking very good.

I thought Reid was solid really, wasn't a standout but used his feet very well in traffic to make ground.

**Puts on high picthed voice*** You're deluded!

Seriously, Wasps were on top of you for about 60 minutes and scored two cracking tries, they only really lost control of the game when Goode got clattered, you should be thankful he got smashed otherwise chances are you'd have lost the game as he and Simpson were far outplaying Gopperth & Reddin.

Besides everyone has got guys out, so what? loads of teams have, that's the point of these competitions they put stress on a playing squad to see who comes out on top and you also had home advantage.

Neither of those tries came from proper phase play though. One was an intercept and the other a mad bouncing ball that allowed Wade to produce a bit of magic. Watching at home I never felt anymore worried than I would be normally when the other team has the ball. I felt pretty comfortable with our defense and the only question was would our attack stop with the errors and get going. I dunno if Wasps had control for a full 60 minutes I thought it was pretty even most of the way through. Even if Wasps did have conrtol they lost it pretty badly they were clearly out on their feet near the end. Also the whole we should have got the BP isn't because people believe we dominated you it's because we've become accustomed as Leinster fans that we're clinical enough to get maximum points when the oppurtunity presents itself. We had the ball in your 22 for a good bit of the last 10 and already had three tries therefor we think we should have got the BP.

Also I believe Cmac was talking about our (greater than would ususally be expected) injury list was because Olyy said Wasps would have won with Haskell.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Wasps have injuries too, I'm talking match day 23s - Wasps lost their captain, and arguably their best/most influential player, hours before kickoff.

I was talking about the 80 minutes, Leinster really gifted Wasps two tries and didn't score when they should have in both halves. I also don't think Haskell would have made a winning difference Leinster's pack were on top all day yesterday, it would have required more than one player to change that.

**Puts on high picthed voice*** You're deluded!

Seriously, Wasps were on top of you for about 60 minutes and scored two cracking tries, they only really lost control of the game when Goode got clattered, you should be thankful he got smashed otherwise chances are you'd have lost the game as he and Simpson were far outplaying Gopperth & Reddin.

Besides everyone has got guys out, so what? loads of teams have, that's the point of these competitions they put stress on a playing squad to see who comes out on top and you also had home advantage.

60? Leinster went ahead on 60! I give Wasps about a 25 minute period between 10-35 minutes of the game. It changed when Leinster stopped trying the spectacular and ridiculous on first phase and began to break Wasps down.

 

[goodNumber10]

I was talking about the 80 minutes, Leinster really gifted Wasps two tries and didn't score when they should have in both halves. I also don't think Haskell would have made a winning difference Leinster's pack were on top all day yesterday, it would have required more than one player to change that.

Leinsters pack were on top all day?

Which day was this then?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Leinsters pack were on top all day?

Which day was this then?

The day in which Wasps relied on scraps and mistakes to score 17 points, which they did very well to get, and Leighton Hodges for 3. The day in which Leinster scored 2 tries from stringing numerous phases together in Wasps' half before strolling over. The day in which Leinster's back row rarely failed to get over the gainline. The day in which Wasps didn't spend an extended period of time in Leinster's 22. What game were you watching man? Leinster's back row bossed for the whole game, their second row were more physical and the only stand out front row was Jack McGrath. Leinster were very lucky because the half backs only woke up after 30 minutes but we wouldn't have overcome a 12 point deficit without our pack being on top like they were.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Leinsters backrow didn't boss anyone - Heaslip did sporadically for the first 50 then constantly for the last 30.
The others were OK but Hughes and Smashley were far better.

 

[goodNumber10]

The day in which Wasps relied on scraps and mistakes to score 17 points, which they did very well to get, and Leighton Hodges for 3. The day in which Leinster scored 2 tries from stringing numerous phases together in Wasps' half before strolling over. The day in which Leinster's back row rarely failed to get over the gainline. The day in which Wasps didn't spend an extended period of time in Leinster's 22. What game were you watching man? Leinster's back row bossed for the whole game, their second row were more physical and the only stand out front row was Jack McGrath. Leinster were very lucky because the half backs only woke up after 30 minutes but we wouldn't have overcome a 12 point deficit without our pack being on top like they were.

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!

Leinsters backrow didn't boss anyone - Heaslip did sporadically for the first 50 then constantly for the last 30.
The others were OK but Hughes and Smashley were far better.

exactly!

Leinster gave wasps a 17 point head start just tos how they could chase them down... nothing to do with pressure on ball or good defending.

i think he's erased the first 50-60 minutes from his memory VCR.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!

I feel like our artistic differences have become too big a barrier to our success, goodNumber10 I'm leaving the band.

 

[lynam1104]

I agree with the notion that Leinster should've put, another try or two on there. However not because they were on top but simply because they had field position and opportunities to do so. Theres a lot of work to do to insure that we're winning the majority of the match, really shoudl've finished it.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

There's always different glosses to put on these sorts of results.

One way to look at it is Wasps were gifted their points and that aside, Leinster could have strolled it.
The other way to look at it is to say that Wasps were close to winning even though we played, in my opinion, very poorly yesterday.

The former view is naturally more appealing to Leinster fans and the latter to Wasps fans; but here are the facts in my view:

1) Leinster won the collisions - Wasps have bullied lots of teams in the contact area and yesterday we didn't. Haskell missed - he's been stopping men even bigger than him right on that gain-line
2) Breakdown - we simply werent there. Smashley had a few go's but again, we missed Haskell. As is typical of Irish teams, Leinster competed far more for every ball than we were used to
3) Our scrum which has bossed a number of teams found it hard yesterday. We went forward a few times, as did Leinster, the difference was Mullan was getting pinged frequently for all sorts of stuff
4) Lineout was ok but iffy.

Overall, I'm going to say that yesterday was much as I expected. It might be controversial, but I believe man for man out starting team yesterday was the more talented (whereas Leinsters bench was the more talented). However, as always it barely mattered because in my view we are a poorly directed side who don't have an agreed rugby philosophy and don't know how we want to play. We lack a solid gameplan and this fact rears its ugly head against the best teams. In contrast, Leinster are a very very efficient, not to mention talented side, who can execute at very high percentages.

I have a huge issue with Stephen Jones who has made no impact as an attack coach and quite frankly, the only interesting things we see in attack are the products of individual brilliance rather than anything else. As Cmac mentioned, Leinsters tries were from phased play - Wasps never score back tries from phase play. We only sometimes do with the forwards. We don't string enough phases together and we're not accurate in the right areas.

The one thing I'm pleased with is our defence. And in that regard Its worth noting that we score lots of intercepts because of the aggressive nature of our defence. In other words, intercepts can't simply be put down as a fluke.