Some of this yes, others I don't really agree with.
Fardy being omitted was the right call. He's been poor since the restart and Baird was really good when he came on. Scott didn't have the impact required in last year's final either so isn't the answer to everything, and to be honest the strict way Gauzere was reffing the rucks he'd have been pinged constantly. Last year we went for experience over youth on the bench and couldn't come back into it. This year we went the other way and it's what gave us a chance. I wouldn't be criticising that element of the selection.
Agreed we were the worse team and Saracens deserved the win, and that blaming the ref etc is pointless. Not sure we were dominated physically though, definitely notbto the same extent we were last year or Ireland were multiple times against England. The scrum was a disaster but I thought we matched up relatively well other than that. Compared to last year where Conan and maybe Ryan were the only guys who could threaten the gainline it was night and day.
We lost because of a lack of composure in the first half which let Saracens rack up the points when they were on top, the breakdown and obviously the scrum was massive. The scrum is what cost us the end, it stopped our comeback in its tracks. Biggest difference between yesterday and 2011 is that we turned to scrum around at half time back then. Here we didn't and it meant we didn't get enough opportunities to attack the 22. Credit where credits due the Saracens defence and game management in the last 15 was exceptional and didn't give us a chance.
I agree about Healy, and have been saying it for a while. Unfortunately age is catching up with him and he's been in decline for over a year now.What's more worrying is that no one's really putting their hand up to replace him either for Leinster or Ireland. Kilcoyne was but he's injured and not a long term option either. Loosehead is becoming a real worry. Luke McGrath was poor as well and has been since the restart.
There are positives though, Larmour was excellent under the high ball and has been very solid since that poor game against Munster. Sexton's an interesting one. He's been good for Leinster this year but it can't go on forever. We have to move on sometime but to be fair we are giving Byrne more and more time in big games. Once Harry Byrne and Frawley are ready to step up in a year or two he'll be phased out but there's no need to rush it.
