Leinster vs Toulouse

[dangandan]

btw who thinks kearney has bulked up waay too much?? he seems to lack any speed or attacking threat apart from catching his high balls but when he was a newcomer he had quite the odriscoll swerve if this vid is anything to go by.

 

[munstermuffin]

Lads just on now but Leinster played ok but as stated midfield was poor and D'Arcy was extremely poor.
Frontrow was another headache and a worry (as is Munster's)

Heaslip played well and Nacewa always looked dangerous but away from home it was always difficult assignment.

 

[coonor]

Missed the match as I was playing in the Siam Cup. Gutted that we aren't in the final however we were up against it and I'd still say we've had a fairly good campaign. fairly respectable scoreline for an away at toulose

Positives:
Kearney is getting his form back
Heaslip played brilliantly as usual
Defence and breakdown was quite good at times

Negatives:
Handling
lacked the abition in attack for much of the game
THE SCRUM

 

[munstermuffin]

Leinster will recover just seen few highlights and Leinster just had a bad day and (as much as I hate to say) Sexton's class was miising

 

[Charles]

Thinking about this game again: we were missing Sean O'Brien, Luke Fitzgerald and Johnny Sexton who are all big players for us. Toulouse have a massive panel but I doubt even they could afford to lose players of that quality. Ah well, I hope they go on and win it now. Couldn't put up with another year of Munster gloating.

Toulouse was missing Census Johnston, Fred Michalak, Yves Donguy, Yannick Nyanga, Greg Lamboley, Yann David and Maleli Kunavore.

But it didn't matter in the end anyway coz even Sexton couldn't have done anything in the scrums...

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I don't like using injuries as an excuse since, as Charles pointed out, every team has their own concerns to deal with.

Leinster lost because Toulouse pulverized them in the scrum. There's no shame in that; Toulouse have one of the best units arounds. Due to Toulouse's dominance in that area, Jamie Heaslip couldn't do his usual damage off the back of the scrum and the backs were on the back foot.

You learn more in defeat than in victory. What Leinster will have learned is that they need three new frontrowers to compliment their current starters - Healy and Wright have played too much this year, van der Linde has been a huge disappointment, Ross has struggled in general play and Fogarty is an excellent backup but probably not starting material for a team hoping to win the biggest trophy in European rugby. Kevin McLaughlin has had a breakout season and is good enough to play against some of the top teams around but he isn't quite good enough to dominate top opponents. Leinster's lineout is more than comfortable on it's own throw but it doesn't compete strongly enough when it's the opposition who throw it in.
http://www.therugbyforum.com/forum/member.php?13948-Charles

 

[veux]

I don't know why Leinster haven't bought themselves a decent front row yet. They aren't going to win if people walk all over them in the scrum.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

CJ van der Linde is a World Cup winning tighthead. Mike Ross was a dominant scrummager in the Premiership. Stan Wright was imported from provincial rugby in New Zealand. Reggie Corrigan coached the Ulster front row into one of the better units around despite not having great raw material to work with - he was then brought in to help coach Leinster's scrum. Leinster have tried to build a good front row and coaching staff. For the most part it has worked with only Toulouse this year gaining a significant edge (Clermont Auvergne did well when Cian Healy came on). More quality depth is needed though.

 

[munstermuffin]

Snoop what has happened Cian Healy?

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

He's played a lot more rugby this season than he did last year (18 games for Leinster and 7 for Ireland). Perhaps the significantly increased time on the field has affected him. Also, when he plays loosehead, Stan Wright is generally the tighthead but Wright isn't as good a scrummager as van der Linde or Ross on that side of the scrum. If Wright (or John Hayes) don't lock that side of the scrum, it's naturally going to have a knock on effect on the other frontrowers. That's not to say that Heay hasn't struggled - he has but his struggles are limited when somebody other than Wright (who's an excellent loosehead) plays at 3.

 

[dullonien]

Bloody tightheads, not enough of them around. We've got one good one in Adam Jones. Scotland have Murray, England have a few decent ones. But Ireland are really struggling to find one that can scrummage atall. I blame France, they're hogging them all! Seriously though, how many top-quality tightheads can France choose from? Lucky buggers.

 

[munstermuffin]

Snoop I agree extra game time is a factor but it a major worry as it has a knock on effect and even around the field Healy's game as crumbled which as a Munster fan some might cheer but reality is we all Irish and want Healy (a young prop) to rediscover and improve form so that Ireland have options.