Glosgow Warriors vs Leinster, Friday 3rd Sept

[Jockstap]

Ridiculous yellow card. The ref was clearly terrified if Ryan.

He does make some pulverizing hits for a young fella, can't wait to see who he destroys tomorrow.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Where's Brian O'Driscoll?

Not good enough to get in the team any more. McFadden and O'Malley make O'Driscoll seem like yesterday's man. What Feicarsinn said is slightly more accurate

 

[dangandan]

talking about o'malley. i've seen him on the 1st xv team sheet quite often now when o'driscoll and co are absent. what kind of player is he? i'd like to see another centre similar to o'driscoll in his younger days where he was fast and had a good swerve. the young guys who are bulking up and relying on bashing through the middle doesn't work anymore in professional rugby... unless u have a good offload game and ur nonu lol

 

[munstermuffin]

That way centres are made these days though with the idea that crash balls are their first basic. But Leinster are showing prospects as in Leinster have the like of Ryan and Ruddock who are going to ba major players in future but their current backrow is still young as it is. In the backs I was talking to a fella who seemed to be convinced mcfadden will see plenty of game time this year and even possibly oust D'Arcy. Is that a possibility. But realistically for Munster and Leinster we should get used to these type of squads for the year as in a world cup year players will be monitored immensely

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

talking about o'malley.........what kind of player is he?

He's more of a playmaker than a battering ram. He made the bench for a Munster v Leinster game a couple of seasons ago while still a teenager so he's highly thought of.

 

[dangandan]

ah cool, nice to hear, thanks.

 

[Jockstap]

Surprised no one has commented yet, Glasgow 22 - 19 Leinster, not a great game, full of mistakes from both sides. Leinster doing well in the first half but the game turned with Fogarty's brainfart when he was sent off. Great come back by Glasgow and they deserved to win it. What concerned me about Leinster was once Glasgow started to gain the ascendancy they fell apart and looked like headless chickens.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

What did Fogarty do to get carded?

 

[Jockstap]

He was on for literally 1 minute when he threw some punches while getting cleared out.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Ah, silly move.
Leck was only on for 1minute in the Sale game before getting binned (spear tackle)

 

[coonor]

I think Leinster should have been able to wrap that game up but spot kicks and drop kicks were missed as well as try oppourtunties. I think the problem was that the Leinster lacked the players to be able to structure the game and this is something that happens when you play so many young/new/returning players. I think the ball was knocked on far to many times in contact and in the second mistakes were beginning to creep in. Glasgow I had a feeling wound win this. At home, Glasgow have a good record against leinster and Leinster never do well in the first game of the season. Great game by Glasgow especially their halfbacks and back three I thought they lead the team well. For Leinster I was impressed by dom ryan, heaslip mainly in the first half and Issac boss played well.

 

[munstermuffin]

Leinster didnt deserve to win in lads in my opinion, but well I still wouldnt worry as facts are:
- Glasgow always strong at home especially at start of season
- Leinster never perform well there
- Internationals make a big difference

But my only worry is are some of players we expect big futures for going to freeze and fail to deliver on their potential.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

There were Leinster debuts for Eamonn Sheridan, Isaac Boss, Heinke van der Merwe, Simon Shawe, Ben Prescott, Ed O'Donoghue and Mariano Galarza. Niall Morris, Eoin O'Malley, Ian Madigan, Dominic Ryan and Richardt Strauss only have a handful of appearances between them. Shane Horgan, Jamie Heaslip and John Fogarty didn't even appear during the pre-season. Luke Fitzgerald and Sean O'Brien are just back from long term injuries while O'Brien also captained the team for the 1st time. Given those factors, I'm not too disappointed with the result. In the cold light of day, Leinster picked up a point which is more than they did in Glasgow last season.

The scrum was excellent. Leinster's 4 props had just one previous appearance between them (and that was a cameo against Glasgow last season). Van der Merwe shoved his opposite number back at will while Shawe was very destructive in his 46 minutes on the field. Prescott was solid which is all that can be expected of somebody who only joined the squad during the week. Hopefully Shawe and Prescott can continue to improve. It's likely that both are competing to backup Mike Ross so if both can manage 50 solid minutes per game, they'll represent excellent business.

The lineout was decent. Given there were a couple of new props and a new second row, I thought there might be teething problems in this area. I'd like to see more emphasis put on challenging defensive lineouts though.

The backrow carried, tackled and competed strongly. It was very noticable that they all looked to offload the ball in contact.

The halfbacks produced a mixed bag. Boss got the ball away from the breakdown quickly but he often took the wrong option ie passed the wrong way or tried to break when it wasn't on. Nacewa is excellent in broken play but doesn't control the game and that came to the fore again.

O'Malley and McFadden were okay in the centre. The back three were very poor. Fitzgerald dropped everything, Morris looked lost on the wing while Horgan wasn't sharp.

The subs didn't really contribute. Madigan looked game but didn't add anything. Fogarty had a brain fart which cost him 10 minutes in the bin. Keogh was his usual solid, unspectacular self. Sheridan and Galarza will benefit from their 1st appearances in Leinster's colours. Prescott was the pick of the subs for his performances at scrum time but he didn't offer much around the park (that I saw).

All in all, it was 40 good minutes followed by a poor second half. The runout will help immensely. If a couple more internationals are back next week, I'd like to see this team:

15. Nacewa
14. Horgan
13. O'Malley
12. McFadden
11. Fitzgerald
10. Sexton
9. Boss
1. van der Merwe
2. Strauss
3. Shawe (he deserves another 40-50 minutes to get up to speed; start Ross from the following week on)
4. Hines
5. O'Donoghue
6. Ryan
7. O'Brien (capt)
8. Heaslip
Subs: Fogarty, McGrath, Ross, Galarza, Jennings, Reddan, Madigan, Conway

 

[munstermuffin]

Must say Shawe looks like he could be a good squad player and well isn't the worst prop by far in Leinster squad

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Just as I was saying to Feicarsinn not to write Shawe (or Prescott) off having not seen him play, I'll also say don't get too excited about him after just 46 minutes of action. If he can keep up his level of play from yesterday through the first couple of months this season, then it'll be time to praise him as a good squad player. As it stands, he's made a decent start and hopefully he can build on it.

Shawe is 30 or 31 so it's late to be re-entering the pro game but props can keep going at a relatively high level until they're 34 or 35 years old so he could have a medium term future in the pro ranks. If he doesn't make it with Leinster, I wonder if Connacht will come calling. They're having serious tighthead prop issues with Robbie Morris supposedly on the verge of retiring and just a 22 year old unknown Aussie trialist by the name of Barry Fa'amausili backing up Jamie Hagan.

 

[munstermuffin]

What is problem with Ross though Snoop and agree that Shawe is old but players have came back at a later stage and some props can keep going well into 30s

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I think Ross has a calf injury which he sustained against Leicester. He was touch and go to make this weekend's game and he should be fit next week. It's a great opportunity for him to show the Ireland coaches what he can do with Stan Wright out injured and no other real challenger for the Leinster #3 jersey.

and agree that Shawe is old but players have came back at a later stage and some props can keep going well into 30s

Yup. Off the top of my head Daan Human, Julian White, Rodrigo Roncero, Martin Scelzo, Lionel Faure and Phil Vickery are good players well into their 30s. Os Du Randt was a good player at 35 when he started the World Cup final. Hell, even John Hayes played his best rugby a couple of seasons ago when he was around 34 years old.

 

[munstermuffin]

Agreed Snoop, The Bull has been a much more important player in recent seasons than in early part of decade. I still think though Ross will need a season of magic to pull past Buckley and Hayes (Buckley to start for Munster for season and Hayes would've been retired if not going to World Cup)

But Ross needs to recreate form of days in Quins last season.

 

[coonor]

The Irish prop problem has made coaches look at as many options as possible which has really allowed players to get their chance and show everyone their ability.