Still not over this result yet. Thought we really could have won that game. Just seemes to get a bit rushed / air headed in their 22.

this is a fecking good and accurate confirmation of why we lost

Rugby Analyser 54 algorithms calculate a team’s effectiveness on their ability to successfully apply pressure on their opponents i.e. attain a score, field position or possession. The pitch is divided into 5 main zones, with 1 being the Teams defensive 22m area, threough to 5 being the attacking 22m area.

www.facebook.com/rugbyanalyser/photos/pc...7/?type=1&permPage=1

Currently rewatching it on tg4 player - at 28 min mark in it so far, McCartney is having an absolute stormer in the loose, I knew he threw well last night but didn't see his work around the park till now- looks like we got ourselves a cracking hooker

And a connacht team missing Heenan, Kearney and White, playing away from home. Ya leinster were missing a few but they have a much greater dept then we do

illplaybymyself wrote: Well behind??

Bit of an over reaction there I think. We got beat by a leinster side who are under so much pressure they had to win. And we would have come away with an LBP if we hadn't fallen asleep. Ya we didn't play to our potential but you have to credit leinster for shutting us down the way they did

Its the same Leinster team missing Sean Cronin, Mc Grath, Healy, Ross , O Brien, Ruddock and Madigan. It was our full whack.

That makes it very stark IMO.

Well behind??

Bit of an over reaction there I think. We got beat by a leinster side who are under so much pressure they had to win. And we would have come away with an LBP if we hadn't fallen asleep. Ya we didn't play to our potential but you have to credit leinster for shutting us down the way they did

Benji wrote: The mckeon at 7 idea should be shelved . His an 8 or 6. We were lacking the cuteness of a 7 and the clean ball. Jennings made hay
We miss Jake but Faloon should have started.
Its not like Mckeon is making mistakes . His just not fast enough to get on the end of things that we need to keep going .

100 Percent. He's just not a 7.

Overall it was a poor performance. Same problem in the pack as last year- just don't have enough beef in the pack to get over the gain-line when our back-line make incisions. Outside George and Mc Carthney the rest don't carry their bodyweight well in contact and just got mullered backwards all day long.

I'd say that was the worst game of Muliana's career. I'm sorry but for an experienced 100 cap former AB quite frankly he needs to be doing a hell of a lot better. Should have been withdrawn before half time in my view. yes he really was that bad. I honestly couldn't believe how poorly he played.

Thought Aki and Healy were good. Henshaw was solid. But for Robbie as a starting Irish international- solid isn;t good enough anymore. Solid was prior to the November Internationals. After that he needs to be hitting the high notes in every game he plays.

Carty is a nice player but he just isn't what's needed there at the moment. I thought Boss outplayed Marmion but he had a pack going forwards. Marmion had a backline that couldn't pass and a forward pack that went back backwards in every contact.

Serious reality check for us. 6th is about our level now. And we're well behind the other Irish provinces still.

But is that not the issue, the fact that they were at all that and the ref didn't recognise it and penalise them? Don't get me wrong, Leinster tried it and got away with it, more power to them. But is it not the ref's job to see it and stop them. Don't really think it's a case of them managing the ref, but more a case of the ref failing to do his job properly.

You can bitch about the ref all you like, but the simple fact is that Leinster played him way better than Connacht did, Leinster gave the appearance of rolling away while while still being in the way. They had blockers in our defensive line, they had Jennings disrupting everything in sight and generaly being a pain in the hole, Douglas hit everything he could even if he was late, Heaslip was another on the borderline with disruption and chaos. Boss slowed it all down when he had to and he too disrupted and didnt get pinged.

As i once explained a move to a young prop who was playing with me, he said Oh you cant do that, i replied you can, just dont get caught.

Leinster were slighly cuter in their game management, thats why they won.

Overall they deserved it, but I felt that a lbp would have been a fair reward for our endevours.

Yeah I know what you mean,I don't like to criticize players,and certainly say nothing personal for the very same reasons,I see forums for other teams and some of the stuff that gets posted is just classless,and I always think of what the players themselves and their families must think when they see what gets posted.
That said, they're professionals and I don't see any issue with fair comments whether they be positive or negative.
I agree about Carty. Out half is such an important position, I don't think you can afford to let someone grow into the role. I think he has real potential and just needs time to develop and work on his kicking. But I think he would be best served coming off the bench. Fair play to him, you can't fault his effort and he never shirks a tackle but he needs to build himself up for a game that has just gotten so physical.
The lack of fairness from refs is a sore point with me, I think we very rarely get a fair shake from refs. You don't want to keep harping on about it because you begin to sound like a whinger but it's gotten to the point where it's ridiculous. I was talking to a Leinster fan at half time and he thought the ref was a disgrace. What else would you expect he said ,Leinster at home against Connacht,it always goes like that. On the flip side , I thought too much went our way against Treviso a few weeeks back and he treated them very harshly.

I was in Slatterys with my mate,a Leinster fan.

ConamaraOB wrote: Also, it was nice to meet a bunch of ye for the first time in Slatterys last night and fair play to Slatterys for reserving the room (and the free shots of sambuca)!!

Even tho I knew most people there, met1 or two new people. Didn't meet you but trying remember back who you could be

Game, first of, we had penalty advantage, Shane jennings took HenShaw out of it, turned him up side down, kick into try zone, poolman just out. Ref goes to tmo, no try. Correct
Checks the tackle, finds nothing wrong with it. Crazy. No penalty, yellow or red
Then I'm thinking we have penalty advantage, no its a leinster 22 drop out

We were too flat, standing still getting the ball, trying to run the ball out from under our posts was stupid

It's hard sometimes to talk bad about players because maybe himself and his family read here, but carty needs time of until he is good enough to play. Not good kicker, not good tackler, no threat going forward. Ronaldson on other hand is

I thought Ian Davis was one of the worse performance in long time. If I'm right and others agree, I hope pat lam does his stuff and has a word. Remember the article I posted few days ago from October where matt o Connor had a go at Ian Davis. Mm

Was a very disappointing performance,we just didn't seem to show the same level of intensity that Leinster showed. Thought we were just too static and predictable in attack. I expected our scrum to operate better than it did,though admittedly it did improve as the game went on.
Thought the ref had a stinker, seemed to apply different rules to us and them.
Leinster were very cynical and seemed happy to concede penalties to stop potential tries,and even then it seemed to take him an eternity to give the penalty.
On the plus side...Good to see our lineout functioning better. I was very impressed in general with McCartney.
Also, it was nice to meet a bunch of ye for the first time in Slatterys last night and fair play to Slatterys for reserving the room (and the free shots of sambuca)!!

Not always, but sometimes stats are relevent, and very much so :

Negative

12 Turnovers conceded 17
92.0% Tackling success rate 85.0%

Huge positive

Lineouts on own throw 16 won, 0 lost (100.0%)

Benji wrote: The mckeon at 7 idea should be shelved . His an 8 or 6. We were lacking the cuteness of a 7 and the clean ball. Jennings made hay
We miss Jake but Faloon should have started.
Its not like Mckeon is making mistakes . His just not fast enough to get on the end of things that we need to keep going .

I like the Mckeon at 7 option, I think he's still learning, but he does get outplayed by proper 7s, definitely. Having seen that against ospreys when they played two 7s, Connacht should have been more alive to the threat from Jennings, there could have been instructions to a few/all players who came to a ruck first/second to watch for Jennings and block him from rucking or remove him as much as possible, I don't think it would be impossible to drill that in training the week before.

Was at the game, arrived about an hour before k/o to see Carty, Leader and Ronaldson practicing their place kicking (into the wind). Craig slotted them over (consistently) from the right hand side with a nice low trajectory, Daragh skying them from the left with huge distance and Jack balooning it from the middle. Watched it from the South Stand (never felt cold like it) (wouldn't go back) but I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that Jack was never going to convert the try. I'm shouting at Daragh to put his hand up but it was never an option by the looks of it. Oh captain my captain......please stand up.

Only saw bits and pieces of the game this evening and while what I have heard is mainly negative, I think it needs to be taken into account that Leinster have taken a lot of stick and started out with a real point to prove this evening. Usually against Connacht they'd be casual enough and expect things to happen, that certainly wasn't the case tonight.

Its disappointing to leave there with nothing as finding the knack of escaping with points from games like that is important as the season goes on but onwards to Ulster and hopefully we can put in a strong performance in Belfast.

Edinburgh picking up the 5 tonight and 4 for Cardiff makes things look a lot tighter with both sides have winnable games coming up.