Leinster v Conquerors of Europe, Cardiff Blues, Saturday Sept 11

[Draggs]

Only caught a few minutes of this match- shame about the last try.
Czekaj looked solid at 15 again, he certainly stays on his feet well (and was monstrous in the final try last week). I think that he has a pretty good chance of a call up this fall, as fullback cover.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Watched the game again last night after midnight on Setanta. a few more thoughts on Leinster's performance:

1. Having gone behind, Leinster brought a few kids off the bench. It was great to see an inexperienced combination of Madigan, McFadden and O'Malley help drag Leinster to victory. Likewise it was brilliant to see Dominic Ryan come in for the capatin and not weaken the team.
2. Mike Ross had a dominant 1st half but dropped off in the 2nd 40. Whether it was lack of match practice, the Blues upping their game or Andy MacPherson's woefully inept refereeing, I'm not really sure.
3. Andy MacPherson should be creditted with an assist for Shane Jennings try. He clearly blocked a Cardiff defender from tackling Isaac Boss.
4. Against Glasgow (away) and Cardiff (home) last season, Leinster picked up 4 points in total in two decent performances. This season they've got 6 points from the corresponding fixtures despite not reaching anywhere close to their full potential.
5. I make it 27 different players used by Leinster in just 2 games. With Stan Wright, Leo Cullen, Devin Toner, Rhys Ruddock, Paul O'Donohoe, Jonny Sexton, Gordon D'arcy, Shaun Berne, Rob Kearney and Andrew Conway having yet to play and all being likely to play a lot this season, it looks as though we're going to see a crazy amount of squad rotation. I hazard a guess that there'll be 8 or 9 changes to the squad for next weeks game.

 

[Jockstap]

What the fudge happened to Sexton?

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Only caught a few minutes of this match- shame about the last try, hopefully they will put on a winning performance next week.

Against the Dragons?

 

[profitius]

Watched the game again last night after midnight on Setanta. a few more thoughts on Leinster's performance:

1. Having gone behind, Leinster brought a few kids off the bench. It was great to see an inexperienced combination of Madigan, McFadden and O'Malley help drag Leinster to victory. Likewise it was brilliant to see Dominic Ryan come in for the capatin and not weaken the team.
2. Mike Ross had a dominant 1st half but dropped off in the 2nd 40. Whether it was lack of match practice, the Blues upping their game or Andy MacPherson's woefully inept refereeing, I'm not really sure.
3. Andy MacPherson should be creditted with an assist for Shane Jennings try. He clearly blocked a Cardiff defender from tackling Isaac Boss.
4. Against Glasgow (away) and Cardiff (home) last season, Leinster picked up 4 points in total in two decent performances. This season they've got 6 points from the corresponding fixtures despite not reaching anywhere close to their full potential.
5. I make it 27 different players used by Leinster in just 2 games. With Stan Wright, Leo Cullen, Devin Toner, Rhys Ruddock, Paul O'Donohoe, Jonny Sexton, Gordon D'arcy, Shaun Berne, Rob Kearney and Andrew Conway having yet to play and all being likely to play a lot this season, it looks as though we're going to see a crazy amount of squad rotation. I hazard a guess that there'll be 8 or 9 changes to the squad for next weeks game.

Thats a good summary. If I was Schmidt I wouldn't make too many changes. Give them time to gel. He must be satisfied with the performance.

Cardiff played well in patched. Thier scumhalf Ritchie Rees looks a good player.

 

[coonor]

Sexton pulled out after being injured in the warm up.

I was Impressed by Leinsters performance they definitely deserved the win but Cardiff deserved a bonus point.

Positives

- A very good scrum Mike Ross was powerful, Van der merwe was impressive and Healy was brilliant in open play and didn't weaken the scrum.
- I thought Fitzgerald was solid, Horgan was better than usual and Nascewa was the play maker and superb.
- I thought O'driscoll was good especially in defence.
- Madigan slotted in very well.
- The Backrow was solid.

Negatives

- Lineout was poor.
- We dropped the intensity in the second half and the defence slipped.

 

[Draggs]

Against the Dragons?

****, got me there... Misread the schedule and thought it was against Benetton.
Been out of it lately, so there you go.
Looking for a good match, but with a dragons win of course.

 

[munstermuffin]

Lads must say only saw bits but from reports it seems a great boost to see way Leinster had the nerve to come back and retake lead after loosing a decent lead

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Six points from two games against teams who finished in the top 5 last season isn't to be sniffed at especially when you consider Leinster aren't selecting from a full hand, have a new head coach trying to implement a new game plan, a new backs/skills coach and no defence coach. Couple that with the development of Dominic Ryan, Richardt Strauss, Eoin O'Malley and Ian Madigan and it's been a very positive start to the season. I was at the Leinster v Munster A game yesterday and there's a few more there who wouldn't be out of their depth if they got an extended run in the Magners League.

To come back from a 3 point deficit with kids in key positions is a great sign.

 

[cyRil]

Agreed with Draggs, Czekaj looks very impressive. Don't know what he's been on over the last couple of months but he looks like an actual rugby player these days!

 

[munstermuffin]

Agree with you snoop and people have to realize the international players are still effectively in pre season and Snoop on both sides for As there is a few that could be decent ML players

 

[Draggs]

Agreed with Draggs, Czekaj looks very impressive. Don't know what he's been on over the last couple of months but he looks like an actual rugby player these days!

Imagine what we would have been like now, had it not been for that injury.
With Dan Parks handling goal kicking, Ben Blair's spot isn't as guaranteed now.
Czekaj is a surprisingly big winger/fullback, and could probably play centre as well.
Good to know with the World Cup in one year.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Chris Czekaj has finally found his position, he looks at home at 15 and has really impressed there so far, last season he started to comeback to speed with the game and after having a good pre-season for the Blues he has started to fufill the early expectation of him. He will be there and there abouts for Wales come AI and with his form will pressure to bring the best out of Byrne.