Ireland-20 Australia-20

RUST ISSUES

Is it really enough that we drew at Croke park yesterday?

Is it really enough to use the excuse that we were “rusty”?

This was a match played in early November…can we use the same excuse when our first World Cup match kicks off on September 11, 2011 against (probably) Eddie O’Sullivan’s USA?

Of COURSE I was over the moon when Drico touched down under the posts to virtually guarantee a draw from this contest. But that can’t mean I can just forget what had gone before and not mention it.

And here’s the irony…when I’m writing posts like this I’m often giving out that we played it safe when we could have been adventurous. Well at the risk of being accused of never being happy, I think the opposite applied yesterday.

There’s a time and a place for adventure, and that time presented itself when we fell behind by seven points against the Wallabies. That time was NOT after winning our own lineout right outside our own 22 running the risk of putting the ball in a place where it could be intercepted.

That was an unnecessary gamble that had us seven points behind before we could have even gotten into our stride.

From there we steadied the ship somewhat and got the score to 6-10, and we’re awarded a penalty in front on the posts.

Again, not the time for a hopeful kick to Tommy Bowe, ROG! Take the easy three, get to within a point.

I calculate that those two decisions were crucial and resulted in a ten-point swing against us which if avoided could have us celebrating a victory today.

So let’s say that if anything was rusty on the day, it was our decision-making.

Now…to the good stuff. The Wallaby pack began strongly, but with no changes to our front five we were able to claw them back enough to be able to secure the ball which led to the equalising score at the death.

Of course nobody in said front five stood out more than the debutante, our own magnificent Cian Healy.

And the Wallabies can’t use the excuse that they didn’t know the playbook on him, since their captain spent a good portion of last season with his face very close to the Clontarf-born prop’s backside in the Leinster scrum!!!

Also there was much to applaud in the back line, with even Paddy Wallace catching my attention for once.

Overall it was a good way to kick off the international season for Declan Kidney’s men, and although it could be better, I didn’t see too much that makes me doubt they’ll be ready to defend their Grand Slam title in the new year.

I also had a few thoughts about the general state of refereeing after this game, but to know what they are you’ll have to see Part 2 of the vidcast.

Leinster-23 Cardiff Blues-6

SHAGADELIC

This match was a battle between one team who wanted to entertain and one that wanted to thwart, and since the home side failed to get the bonus point I suppose you could say the latter came out on top.

Though as hard as I find it to understand, there’s actually a thread over on Babbling Brook which suggests Leinster were wrong to go on the attack so early in the contest, one poster even suggesting that it was their determination to go for the bonus point that ultimately cost them one.

What absolute, utter, complete bollocks. These detractors clearly went to the Eamonn Dunphy School of Punditry, where to get your diploma you have to find as many clouds in you can in some silver lining.

Leinster Rugby had been plugging this match for weeks, as the “Halloween Thriller”, no less. Clearly it was an attempt to swell the crowd by using the fact that the game fell on Halloween night. Fans were encouraged to come in fancy dress, and there was other entertainment billed for the night.

And since it was all over the papers that Warren Gatland insisted the Welsh internationals stayed at home, plus the fact that Leinster had one of their strongest starting XVs of the season so far taking the field, why on earth WOULDN’T they try to give the crowd their money’s worth?

We had two penalty chances in the first few minutes that Johnny Sexton could have gotten in his sleep, but instead we kicked for touch and went for the try. Apparently the fact that we didn’t get them proves we should never have gone for them? I respectfully disagree.

Sure, Cardiff weren’t at full strength, but it was hardly a schoolboy XV they had on the park. They were still full-time professionals, and their goal was clearly damage limitation. They took every opportunity to eat up some clock, most notably deep in second half when we had some momentum and they chose to substitute their left winger Chris Czekaj who was furthest from the touchline.

They lined up in such a way that it made them hard to break down, and though the destination of the four points was rarely in doubt, they at least succeeded in preventing us getting the fifth, and they deserve credit for that.

But credit must also go to the home side, not only for their early statement of intent, but also their opening try by Shane “Shaggy” Horgan. I think my message to twitter right after it claimed it wasn’t merely “champagne rugby” it was Dom Perignon! Have a look at the YouTube clip of the sweeping move from one end of the field to the other yourself if you don’t believe me.

So at least the Halloween crowd was treated to a moment of rugby greatness, and my son for one thoroughly enjoyed his first taste of the RDS and is hungry for more.

And with results elsewhere going perfectly for us, we are left top of the Magners League going into the Autumn Internationals, and surely even the Babbling Brook boo-boys can’t find a way to moan about that!!!

Back to Sexton, who yet again was my man of the match, I repeat my call for him to be given the Number 10 jersey for the internationals against Australia and Fiji. We’ll see if Mr Kidney will answer the call.

Ulster-16 Leinster-14

SHOWING US WHO’S BOSS

Maybe it was karma because I slagged Isaac Boss’ hair-do in the vidcast.

Maybe it was that the players were distracted by Cheika’s hands-on involvement in objecting to the Jennings rulings.

Maybe it was the fact that we chose not to have Jonny Sexton on the park when we needed a reliable placekicker.

But all of those reasons do Ulster a major dis-service, since the fact remains that both teams have to play the conditions at kickoff and to put it quite simply the home side made a lot more use of possession when they had it and thoroughly deserved their victory.

And it doesn’t hurt Irish rugby either that they sit atop the Magners League for a while since fans to the east and south of the island tend to think it’s all about them these days anyway.

Of course I’m not happy with the defeat, and if we play like this when we have the ball for the rest of the season results like this will keep happening, but I think we can call this a blip and hopefully we can put things right before the Cardiff Blues come to town next Saturday and we can go into the Autumn International break on a high-note, and who knows…maybe Munster can do us a favour and find their form to beat the Ulstermen and help us back to the summit in the process.

Not much more I can say about this match, except that on the evidence of their displays I’m wondering if we’re wasting two valuable NIQ berths having Messrs Berne and van der Linde in the squad. Perhaps I’m being hard on the latter on account of his injury woes but the jury is still out on him in my book.

Brive-13 Leinster-36

NOT QUITE GOODE ENOUGH

Can you guess who I’m referring to with my title?

Could it be the home side, particularly perennial bad-boy Andy Goode?

Or could it be Leinster themselves, not getting the bonus point?

Or maybe it’s George Hook, who still seems to think Ronan O’Gara is the front-runner for the Ireland number 10 jersey?

In actual fact it’s directed at Welsh referee James Jones.  Since he went to so much trouble to make sure we heard his voice throughout the 80 minutes of this match, I’d like to make this post all about him.

Here’s a breakdown (pun fully intended) of the the game, with particular attention to the numerous Brive penalty infractions last Saturday.

4:42 not rolling away

7:39 off feet after the tackle

19:40 in at the side of the ruck

22:30 front row violation

32:00 not releasing after tackle

34:03 tackling man without the ball

38:47 not rolling away

40:22 in  at the side of the ruck

41:18 in at the side of the ruck…HERE is where Mr Jones chooses to mention to the Brive players that perhaps their thwarting their visiotrs a bit more than they should.

46:02 front row violation…this time Mr Jones is very keen to give Yashvilli the opportunity to stay on the pitch.  Those were his actual words!!!

48:22 Hi tackle from Nacewa is definite penalty but 50/50 yellow card at best and despite he constant refusal to go to his pocket for everything gone before, Jones takes the linesman’s advice (remember, he doesn’t have to) and makes Isa take a seat for 10mins.

51:14 yet another front row violation from Brive…THIS time, Jones decides to give another talking to.  Why?  Cos it’s not Yashvilli this time. We are beyond the realms of bullshit at this stage.

57:01 you guessed it, YET ANOTHER scrum violation from the home side.

71:00 having scored a second try and JUST enough time left for two more, yet another Brive infraction in our 22 gives us a penalty but Jones denies Sexton the quick tap and he must burn up time by kicking for touch.

73:00 Brive get a penalty in their own 22 and, yes, Jones lets them take a quick tap.

79:00 Andy “Up To No” Goode sees a banana boot at the base of a ruck, slowly grinds his studs down into the leg that wears them, BOD takes exception to this and though we get penalty, all Goode gets is a talking to.  I suppose after all that went (or should I say didn’t go) before it would’ve been a poetic injustice for a card to be produced then.

It can be safely said that Brive were so poor and our backline looked so up for this game that had we been afforded a 10-minute spell with an extra man in the first half, a bonus point haul was well within our grasp.  And it doesn’t help the games credibility that the nationality of the ref who was partly responsible for this was the same as a team which benefits from this failure.

As for our individual performances on the day, there were many good ones, particularly Sexton, who was not only flawless from the kicking tee yet again, but also showed great awareness on the field, and surely in my opinion MUST be handed the Ireland jersey against both Australia AND Fiji in November.

On the down side, well, Shaggy has had better days, and as for Malcom O’Kelly, well, I took a lot of stick on the Babbling Brook forum for suggesting he be made captain if Cullen couldn’t play, and now I know just how wrong I was.  He should drop in the 2nd row pecking order behind Toner after yet more acts of carelessness.

But all in all we would’ve taken four points from the French trip before kickoff, and with the Scarlets showing that the LettinOn Irish can be beaten at home, it throws this Pool wide open and gives us every opportunity to seize control again with home-and-away matches against Llanelli in December.

Why do I have a feeling, however, that the refs for both those games will be English?

Leinster-9 LettinOn Irish-12

SILENCED BY THE LAMB

This match was decided by two moments of questionable interpretation right at the death.

First, the referee ruled that there was no high tackle on Jonny Sexton. Then, Eoin Reddan thought he had one arm raised instead of two and chipped a through ball assuming we’d still have the chance to kick the equalising 3-pointer, but instead he was kicking away valuable group points.

Let’s have a look at the high tackle. Of COURSE I thought it was a foul, but don't take my word for it...let’s look at the reaction of Mr Stuart Barnes in the Sky commentary box. Right after the tackle he let out a “WHOAAA!” but once it was clear the ref wasn’t giving it, he kept his gob shut and the incident wasn't even so much as mentioned until the players had left the pitch.

My interpretation of all that? They’ve thought “Lads, we’ve gotten away with one here, better say nothing though so we’re sure to get out of here alive!!!”

But once we accept that the ref had made up his mind, what then followed has to be Reddan’s bad. Hoards of Munster fans sprung to Ronan O’Gara’s defence at the end of the 2nd Lions test over the summer after his last minute howler, and in a way I’m glad it’s a Leinster boy this time so I can make my point.

Surely what separates the good from the great in ANY professional sport is how they deal with pressure in a tight game right at the death? It’s at times like these when training ground routines are forgotten, when all the chalkboards in the world can’t prepare you for the situation at hand.

ROG should have enough experience to have kept his head at a time when giving away a penalty was the last thing his team needed. By the same token, Reddan shouldn’t have chipped the ball through unless he was ABSOLUTELY certain there was a penalty coming for his team.

Of course, there was the small matter of 79 minutes of action before that last gasp drama.

At the kickoff, we charged right down to their line and got a deserved 3-point lead. Then shortly after that, we got similar good possession yet Sexton fancied himself for a Murrayfield-esque drop goal when no doubt the smarter move would have been to send it out the line again and keep the visitors on the back foot.

I feel this error of judgement by Sexton allowed the LettinOn Irish to regroup and start into their gameplan, which turned out to be both well prepared and well executed.

We’ve heard this expression several times about another province, but in this case, the Irish definitely “out-Leinstered Leinster”.

They absolutely OWNED the lineout, thanks mainly to Messrs Casey and Kennedy, and they had a lions share of the breakdown as well. Clearly their mission was to keep things tight, and as good as we are at doing that to others, we didn’t look so hot when the boot was on the other foot.

And of course you can’t fail to mention the two impressive pressure kicks from Ryan Lamb which ultimately won the contest on the scoreboard, so don’t get me wrong…I am well aware that they thoroughly deserved to go back to London-sorry, I mean Reading-with something, it’s just that in this Leinster fan’s opinion, if the ref were different or Eoin Reddan had gone to SpecSavers, the result could have been oh so different.

What now for our Heineken Cup campaign? We now need at least ten group points from our three away matches, that’s what, starting with a trip to the south of France next Saturday, which is never easy.

Still, if there was a squad of players in this tournament you’d back to pull off something like that, you wouldn’t look much further than Michael Cheika’s, so rule us out at your peril.

Elsewhere in the competition…

Talking about keeping your head in last-gasp situations…it’s the last minute and you need a try to get a result. You have a penalty under the opposition’s posts. What do you do? Oh – wait – I forgot one crucial bit of info…YOU’RE MUNSTER. What do you do? Well, I would’ve said “take the scrum” but instead they ran it and the Saints’ defence held out for a famous victory.

Our nemesis did get a Heineken Cup break this weekend, with the improbable result from Treviso where the home side overcame Perpignan 9-8.

Congrats also to both Ulster and Connacht for fine opening round European victories.

Stamping Authority

Once upon a yesteryear I worked for a company that sold gas fires.

(Trust me, this post is about rugby)

My job was to travel to the home of someone who wanted to buy an appliance and scope out their boiler and pipework so that the fitter’s job would be easier when the time came to install it.

One day I was struggling, as was the norm with the way Irish roads are laid out, to find a particular address.  For the sake of this post, let’s say it was “32 Nothing Way” (get it? thirty-to-nothing? hehehe)

So I’m driving up and down Nothing Way wondering if the houses go odd numbers on one side or straight up one way down the other or what way they’re going when I spy a house with a sign planted in the front garden which actually says “Thirty-two Nothing Way” spelled out in big un-missable letters on both sides.

I can’t believe my luck, and I laugh to myself that this family goes to such great lengths to let passers-by know their address.

Since I’m fond of making smart-arse remarks (much like my choice of fake address name), I decide to make the observation after introducing myself to the lady of the house that they must never get cold pizzas when they order them on account of the sign.

Imagine how stupid I felt when she told me that they have the sign because her son was paraplegic from a rugby accident and they wanted to be sure an ambulance didn’t miss their house should they ever need to call one.

The poor woman’s son was a prop forward and had a spinal injury from a collapsed scrum at the age of 14 and would be without the use of his limbs for the rest of his life.

Needless to say I apologized for cracking the joke, put my head down and got on with my job.

You may think the point of my article is to say that perhaps rugby is too dangerous a sport for youngsters.  Far from it.

What I want to convey is the importance of those in control of discipline within the sport when it comes to handing out punishments for high-profile events such as John Hayes’ stamp on Cian Healy last Saturday evening in the RDS.

Yes, of course it could be said that I’m just standing up for the Leinster boy, especially since his chances of making the Ireland team would be stronger if Hayes’ ban didn’t happen to end the day before the first Autumn International against Australia in November.

But I don’t care if there’s a perceived bias in my opinion, for I believe the subject at hand is far more important.

Just what the hell is the point of having an organization called the “International Rugby Board” if it isn’t willing to get it’s hands dirty by handing out punishments across the board of top-flight professional rugby union?

Whatever the ACTUAL motivation of the IRFU in handing down the ban they did, and even if they WERE following “IRB guidelines”, by giving them the power to punish one of their own, you are creating the possibility of justice not being seen to be done, even if it is done.

You also encourage the unions to protect their own national team, when in fact the protection should surely go in the other direction along the spectrum of the sport’s levels of play.

I have chatted and tweeted and gotten involved in messageboards on this topic since last Saturday and one prevailing sentiment I have encountered is that “raking is part and parcel of the sport of rugby and Cian Healy would have known what he was in for when he was illegally interfering with the maul on the ground”.

Now don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against “raking” as a principle.  Having played as a prop myself, I know how complex the breakdown is, I know what mischief people can get up to, and I know that since the referee doesn’t spot everything, there needs to be some retribution and that is indeed part and parcel of the game.

It’s just that in this case, I feel Hayes’ defence is extremely weak.  First, his previous lack of sendings off is taken into account.  Well, I don’t have the actual numbers, but I guarantee you that since the introduction of sin bins to rugby, sendings off have been few and far between throughout the game anyway.

But the excuse that got me most of all was the assertion, actually given by the IRFU disciplinary committee in its judgement, that the injury he caused was “not deliberate”.

I’m sorry, but that’s like being lenient on a drunk driver because he didn’t set out to run somebody over when he turned the key in the ignition. 

If you are wearing studs and flail your boots up and down in the direction of a player on the ground, particularly in a maul containing about a dozen grown men pushing in different directions, you can’t possibly be 100% sure that you won’t cause the recipient serious damage.  Full stop.

And my primary concern is NOT who lines out for Ireland at Croke Park on November 15, but what underage rugby players will find themselves doing in a similar situation, or indeed one which is nowhere near the same but they think is similar due to their lack of experience.

Of course I’m not suggesting that the poor boy in my initial example was a victim of this, but it does illustrate the importance of the powers-that-be doing all they can to prevent such tragedies, and that THIS  should be their primary motivation given the high-impact nature of the sport in question.

The solution is simple.  The IRB needs to pledge to have a proper independent disciplinary board in place to enforce a code of conduct for ALL senior rugby tournaments (INCLUDING Lions tours) across the globe before the 2011 World Cup, when the eyes of the world will be on the game.

That way, when players in the Air New Zealand Cup and Magners League do virtually the same unsavoury thing on the same day, they’ll get the same treatment and kids all over the world can get the message that it’s better to both play and enjoy wonderful game of rugby union without putting others in harms way.

For the record, in the Healy/Hayes incident, I don’t understand how the touch judge could have seen the stamp and not noticed what the Leinster prop was doing to “earn” it.  The proper decision in my view should have been penalty to Munster and yellow card to Healy, with the penalty award being then reversed by Hayes’ infraction, and him still being sent off.

Thanks to Colin Heyburn for his permission to use his photo for my post and you’ll find the full range of his excellent shots from last Saturday’s Leinster v Munster clash at this link.

 

Leinster-30 The Munsters-zero

BLUE MAGIC

The hangover’s gone, the head is now clear, and, well, fancy that…the scoreline’s still the same!!!

And although we couldn’t get the fourth try, we still got a bonus in that the Hairsprays managed to overcome Edinburgh to leave us sitting proudly atop the Magners League going into the first break for Heineken Cup action.

Superlatives which befit this Leinster performance are hard to come by. I’m not sure if many international teams would have been able to break through our defence the way they played, and the big difference on the night was that going forward, things are beginning to click as well.

Remember folks…this was MUNSTER we beat. All due respect to the following teams I’m about to mention, but these weren’t Connacht, they weren’t the Dragons, they weren’t Calvisano. These were the guys whose fans once called us the “Ladyboys”.

Well I sincerely home that moniker is put to bed once and for all, for if we’re ladyboys, what does that make a team which hasn’t crossed our line for 166 minutes of rugby? (Fogarty got one in 74th min back on April 5).

And here’s a sentence I never thought I’d be able to write…WE OWNED THEM IN THE FORWARDS. Even when their strong bench took the field. Be it the scrum, be it the rolling maul, be it the line out, be it turning the ball over in the ruck, we were a step ahead of them at every turn.

Now...on the subject of John Hayes...yes, Cian Healy was making mischief at the base of the maul but in NO WAY was Ireland's highest-capped player justified in what he did in return. And just what the hell do phrases like "Oh, that's not like him" and "It's not in his character" have to do with anything???? The same was said of Alan Quinlan at Croke Park.

All I can say is...if we're getting the Munster boys to do things like that out of what is clearly sheer frustration, we must be doing something right.

Back to actual rugby matters, there was also the tackling. The marker was laid down in the first few minutes when Jean de Villiers made his first attempt to crash through and instead was sent crashing to the turf by Jamie Heaslip. And it didn’t let up, right to the 80th minute, with Nacewa stopping Williams in his tracks one of many big hits by the men in blue.

Going into last night’s encounter, the LettinOn Irish were clear favourites for our big Heineken Cup showdown next Friday. Once the final whistle blew, it was a whole different story. If we can play like this, we can beat anybody, and that’s a cast iron fact.

Happiest man in world rugby right now has to be Michael Cheika, who will be more than willing to put up with the headaches he’s bound to have to get the right 22 for the RDS.

Hopefully the Leinster faithful will be equally chuffed come fulltime on Friday.

Congratulations again lads, that night alone made the purchase of the season ticket worthwhile.

Edinburgh-22 19 Leinster-21

I don't have a whole lot of time for blogging and vidcasting and what-not this weekend so you'll see what I have to say about this performance in Episode 5 Part 2 of the Vidcast which you'll find here if it's not there in the top corner of this page anymore.

The Trinations 2009

ALIVE AND KICKING

No need for a long, drawn out, analytical post about this year’s Trinations if you ask me.

South Africa won, and deserved to win, but in no way do I consider them unbeatable, and the numbers prove it.

Over the six matches, they won 5 and lost 1, which seems impressive, until you look at the try count. They scored 10 tries yet conceded 11.

It doesn’t take a genius then to work out that it was the boot of Morné Steyn that put the Bokke on top this year, but for him to kick as many as 23 penalties (not to mention Francois’ 5 mammoth ones) in the tournament, his opponents had to concede them each time!

My contention is that both Graham Henry and Robbie Deans were guilty of sticking to their gameplan going into this tournament, rather than adapting to what the Springboks were doing and finding a way to keep the Steyns off the scoreboard. They each had 3 goes at it and only the Wallabies copped on when it was virtually too late.

All I can say is that I very much doubt Declan Kidney will make a similar mistake when making his plans for what has to be the marquee matchup of the Autumn International Series when Ireland face the Boks on November 28.

I won’t say a home win that day will be easy by any stretch, but we certainly have the resources to do it, even if they send their strongest squad here, which they probably won’t.

Still, it will make for a fascinating contest, and who knows…we could very well be on course for a 100% 2009 campaign that day all things going well…

Have I predicted too much?

Ospreys-11 Leinster-18

k

YOU SHALL NOT PASS

Not often does one picture perfectly sum up how a sporting contest went, so take in the one above from rte.ie because it does just that.

In it you see one of the Ospreys’ several Lions on display, James Hook, trying to break through the Leinster line, only to be thwarted by Messrs Sexton and D’Arcy, one of our only two summer tourists who to be fair got limited game time in South Africa.

One thing you don’t see in the picture is bums on seats in the stadium. And this was taken before the home “faithful” headed towards the exit with their team only seven points down and plenty of time to score a try.

This performance by the Welsh region, who don’t forget have won this league twice not to mention the Anglo-Welsh Cup once in the past, was so poor, so one-dimensional, that I had to check the internet afterwards to make sure Eddie O’Sullivan hadn’t been drafted onto their coaching staff.

In fact it can safely be said that if Leinster had made even half the mistakes they did on the night (eg Sexton, O’Kelly knockons, O’Kelly, Kearney stupidly offside ahead of the kicker to name but a few) then I’d be reporting on a cricket score right now and we’d have come away from the Liberty Stadium with a bonus point victory no question.

But I’m not writing this post to rue missed chances. I’d have taken your arm off if you had offered me this scoreline before kickoff in Swansea, so overall I’m more than happy.

Setanta’s so-called “experts” gave the man-of-the-match award to Sexton, but this was an extremely lazy decision if you ask me. Sure, he nailed five kicks, some of them from tough angles and all of them under pressure from the very low yet very unsportingly vocal Osprey crowd.

The TV panel also decried our taking of a drop goal when we did. Were they not watching the same match as I was? We'd been on their line several times to no avail - and that was the one time we needed points on the board. Nacewa was absolutely spot-on in both decision and execution in my book.

But the key to this victory was defence. There wasn’t a single point racked up by the home side that we didn’t gift them, and when we focused on getting men behind the ball, it was the first time this season I was reminded of the stingy defensive Leinster which did so well towards the end of the last one.

In case you don’t recall I call it “The Gandalf defence” as it sends out the clear message : “You shall not pass!!!”

It appears that despite the conspicuous absence of Elsom and Heaslip, we had a 6,7,8 combo on the field who were more than capable of competing in this league’s standard and higher, and it would be from here that I’d take our man-of-the-match, with perhaps Jennings getting the nod even if there were question marks over his captaincy towards the end.

It got to the stage where although I was afraid to say it out loud for fear of cursing the lads, with fifteen minutes to go I was pretty much certain there was no way they were crossing our line.

And considering they fiinshed up with such names as Wyn-Jones, Phillips, Byrne and Williams on the park, all we Leinster fans can hope for is that our own stars aren’t as slow kicking off their season when they (surely!!!) return to the side for the big clash with 100% Edinburgh next weekend.

Meanwhile, having seen similar swathes of empty seats at the Dragons and Scarlets this season, it has to be said something is seriously wrong with Welsh rugby right now.

Leinster-23 NG Dragons-14

AMATEUR HOUR

I had a great time on Saturday night at Leinster’s competitive home opener, that’s for sure, but in my book the only thing about the occasion which could be considered “top flight” was the attendance, which was the largest of the 10 Magners League games so far this season.

The officiating, for starters, was abysmal.  Forward passes missed, the ref getting buried by a lineout, a clearance kick claimed not to have been taken from inside 22 when it clearly was, and finally the Dragons try being scored after a blatant obstruction of Gordon D’Arcy.

Then there was the poor judgement of the visiting side.  Down by six and with the clock having run down, they had a penalty in their own 22 and merely had to put the ball out of play to secure a bonus point at the home of the European Champions, yet they seemed to think they were somehow capable of scoring a try against one of the continent’s stingiest defences and it ending up sending them home with nothing thanks to Berne’s drop goal.

Even Setanta were screwing up, as I discovered on re-watching the game the following day.  Their clock said only 78 minutes had elapsed when the referee blew for full time, and their commentator was getting player’s names wrong all over the place.

Add to all that the absence of most of Leinster’s vast Lions contingent and you’d be forgiven for thinking this was nothing more than a glorified AIB League matchup.

The one touch of class on the night came immediately after D’Arcy’s introduction, and that really says it all.  First play after he came on, he joined the line from the left wing and his quick pass to Nacewa allowed him to crash over for the score.

Not to say that there weren’t impressive displays about the park by the Leinster men.  It is quite clear that we have an abundance of riches in our squad, particularly in the key positions from 6 through 10.  Sean O’Brien earned his man-of-the-match accolade in the number 8 jersey, while Chris Keane had another impressive outing at scrum half.

One or two concerns I have in the backs…though both Nacewa and McFadden did well I’m concerned that their crash style is a bit too one-dimensional and could be easily thwarted by top Heineken Cup opposition.

And although he’s a cult hero and seems to give his best, I have to be honest and say I’m not a Shaggy fan anymore, at least not as a winger – he’s built more like a flanker if you ask me and I can’t help feeling we’d fare better with someone younger and pacier out there.

But a win is a win I suppose, though there’s little doubt in my mind that if we’d had our best team out in both our matches so far we’d have 10 points in the standings going into two tricky trips to Swansea and Edinburgh.

I just hope that when the Oct3 clash with the Munsters comes around, I’ll be treated to an evening of professional rugby which the price of my season ticket demands.

Scarlets-18 Leinster-16

ONE POINT CLEAR OF THE MUNSTERS ALREADY!!!

I think this weekend has woken Irish rugby fans to a new reality…our provinces AREN’T going to win every game they play after all.

Last season, I tended to criticise Leinster even when they had won a game so I think it’s high time I found a silver lining in a defeat, and this match gives me the perfect opportunity.

And I don’t need to “harp on” about the fact that our Lions players were missing either.

There were 3 keys to this defeat. One was the sending off of Thomas that never was. Another was Stan Wright’s inexcusable yellow card when we had a two-man advantage. Finally we had Fogarty’s dire lineout throwing in the second half.

Even with all of that, given a different rub of the green both Nacewa and Jennings would have had tries and I’d be writing about a victory and who knows even a bonus point in this column.

So how about I focus on the many positives to be taken from this display?

In the forwards, Kevin McLaughlin was clearly pumped up by wearing the Leinster number 6 jersey, and from the very first minute made you wonder if Rocky had left some his mojo behind as a parting gift.

Cian Healy seems to have toned down his disciplinary issues and was a powerhouse in the front row which surely must attract Declan Kidney’s attention.

But it was in the backline where I was most impressed.

Chris Keane barely put a foot wrong at 9, and showed that we have an embarrassment of riches there since with Reddan out I personally would have handed the start to Paul O’Donoghue.

Johnny Sexton was the man I was looking for to lead the line, and with 4 kicks outta 4, kicking in play that needs fine tuning but was stilll good and can only get better, and good aggression in the tackle, he didn’t disappoint me at all.

Shaune Berne was solid at 12, but what about Fergus McFadden alongside him? How many times did he carry the ball into a tackle only to pump his legs for another 2-3 meters? You have to ask yourself if there’s a way you can drop him when Messrs O’Driscoll and D’Arcy come back!!!

And finally Isa Nacewa was mercurial under the high ball, so much so you’d swear he had a 15 on his back.

Altogether the backs looked like they had a few early season cobwebs, but you could tell that once they’re gone they’ll raise hell for opposing defences in the weeks to come.

So as you can see, I’m not too put out by this result. We need the Magners League to be competitive, so at the start of a new season you can’t expect to go on the road for your opener and take easy points.

I didn’t see a single thing in this match that told me we won’t be more than capable of stuffing this lot in both our clashes in December.

Roll-on the RDS next Saturday!!!

Glasgow-22 Munster-9

With my Leinster still to play their season opener also on the road, it would be silly of me to gloat too much over this result.

Besides, as you will see from my rant in Episode 2 of the vidcast, it’s hard to pass too much judgement over games like this when teams are missing so many star players.  Let’s face it…Irish provinces lost a lot more players to the Lions squad than the Scottish ones…

Still, this match was disappointing for several reasons.  First and foremost was the attendance.  Home opener and the Warriors, one of only two professional clubs in Scotland, can’t even fill the main grandstand?  Whatever the reason, that’s a poor show in my view.

The team, on the other hand, were impressive, particularly when it came to goal-line defence, and they were tested from the very first minute, and did well to keep the visiting Champions scoreless throughout.

For their part, the Munsters were strangely off their game, because surely when your opposition has a kicker of the calibre of Dan Parks the last thing you want to do is concede senseless penalties, but that’s what they did.

The one try was a combined effort between Messrs Ronan and Murphy not to tackle Morrison which afforded him a linebreak which led to Jackson crossing.  But overall it was no more than the home side deserved.  At least have a dozen times the vistors brought their Liverpool-style kit into the Glasgow 22 and each time they were prevented from touching down.

I think this Leinster fan needs to be gracious and mark this down as a blip.

Roll on 6:30pm tonight.

Should We Take The Fifth?

If Michael Cheika wants any sort of motivation for his Leinster troops for the coming season, he need do no more than cut out this clip from the latest edition of Rugby World and pin it to the dressing room wall.

Here is columnist Gwyn Jones’ view on our chances next term…

“Rugby is booming in Dublin and the RDS is always full. They will be competitive but they won’t win the Heineken Cup this season. They won’t be able to replicate the quality of Rocky Elsom, who was the best player in Europe last year, and they’ve lost the experience of Felipe Contepomi. They’ll be a force but they won’t be quite as good as last season, when they almost over-achieved in everything.

Prediction for Magners League finish – FIFTH.”

And as if that wasn't bad enough, he predicts The Munsters will retaing their Magners League title, finishing 2nd in the table but winning the playoff.

So I read up on this Jones guy, and I found this profile done by the BBC website back in 2007. I especially like the part where he’s asked “What is the one thing you would still like to do?” to which he replied : “Not upset any more people!”.

Looks like he’s really livin the dream there, doesn’t it?

Hopefully we can use his words as ingredients for a nice humble pie come next May…