A selection of the “keyboard warrior” reactions after the full-time whistle of our featured matches of the weekend.
If you’d like to contribute stay tuned to our Facebook page for our “Feel free to leave your thoughts…” posts which show up around full time after Leinster & Ireland matches.
League deserves better than that standard of officiating
Greg Kelly
Tonight has highlighted for me just what an important player Rhys Ruddock is for us. He was our best player tonight.I will underrate him no more!#SCAvLEI— Padraig O'Neill (@PatcheSAM) September 8, 2018
Leinster not exactly at the top of their game but yeah the ref was pretty awful. Clueless at times, definitely not assertive enough and was duped more than once by Scarlets - Ken Owens repeatedly holding players in the ruck to win penalties for example.
Keith Geraghty
— Louise_Scarlet ❤️🏴 (@I_bleed_scarlet) September 8, 2018
Poor decision making at crucial times. Got pulled into a rushed and loose style by scarlets. Few fringe players doing themselves more harm than good. Lots to work on.
Seán MacDonnchadha
Cian Healy playing the full 80 minutes.Rare to see a front rower left in the game for its entirety. #SCAvLEI— The Loose Head (@TheLooseH) September 8, 2018
Constantly infringing at the break down and constantly coming from the side oh my god please say the ref is Welsh
Kenneth Young
I know we lost but what a final drive by the boys. LBP the least we deserved tonight. Congrats to @scarlets_rugby we’ll get you back at some stage 😜. For us well done boys just fell short @leinsterrugby @HarpinOnRugby #COYBIB #SCAVLEI— Richard Mifsud (@Richmif) September 8, 2018
Was that not second man into the ruck at the end which means penalty? Not the only decision that was shocking. Leinster not great but not sure did we deserve to lose that game.
Tom O'Donaghue
Leinster will rue a couple of missed penalty goals. A bit disjointed in defence at times too. #SCAvLEI— Brendan Hurley (@brendanhurley) September 8, 2018
A lot to unpack here:
Dreadful officiating at times with Scarlets getting an inordinate share of the 50:50 calls. Also "if it's not a try, he's going to the bin". WTF? If it's a try, bin him anyway, he committed a cardable offence! Also, should have been a penalty try: it wasn't a knock on, Gareth Davies played the ball on the ground.
Officiating aside, a mixed bag for Leinster. Some rust, some lack of concentration, some straight up poor individual performances. But also some real steel at times, the marching maul for one, the late counter ruck too. Also some very good defence at times too. Tries well taken, set pieces generally good plus some late glimpses of what Joe Tomane offers: it ain't pretty but it's different, it's direct and it's powerful.
In conclusion, one of our toughest games of the season out of the way, didn't disgrace ourselves at all & to come home with 6 points from two away games at the very start of the season is a fine return
Derek McGee
Is it unpatriotic to say I’m enjoying the pro14 more this season, now that I can watch it with English speaking commentary and analysis?— Simon Hick (@hicksimon) September 8, 2018
Early season wobbles - couple of kicks go over & we would have walked away with the win. Always disappointed to lose - but when we were on the move we looked unstoppable
Johnny Grimes
Well done @scarlets_rugby better side on the night looking forward to see you in the RDS @leinsterrugby @eirSport @eir— Odran OBrien (@Outhalf) September 8, 2018
Need to rewatch. Improvement on last week, but fo the last 30 we where quite slow off the line. Scarlets got the food calls from the ref, but we made too many mistakes.
Scarlets has quicker line speed than Krystle during the good times..... Leinster where slower than me during maths paper 2 😉
Neil Keegan
It was some game too. Would have taken the LBP before kick off so can’t complain. No shortage of drama and excitement this season already.— John Molloy (@molloyjh) September 8, 2018
Early season wake up call. You have to make your own luck. Refs have to learn too. Opportunities lost early on, mistakes punished later. Move on. Better to come.😉
Warren Doyle
No! Way too quick to give it. https://t.co/GVMmcmhiiJ— Gerry Thornley (@gerrythornley) September 8, 2018
Leinster poor at ten and made poor decisions at crucial times . We got bullied and dominated by the scarlets at the breakdown in the second half . No complaints scarlets deserved the win we were well off the mark tonight .
Cormac Powell
Scarlets deserved that - just - but you'd take 6 points from those two tricky away games every day of the week. #SCAvLEI— Paddy O'Brien (@Paddy__Paddy) September 8, 2018
The ref was shocking, Owens didn't get a try..Ross Byrne had a poor game.. it's only the second game in.. going to see them next week.. half them players will be rested for the wasps and Munster games. But it's gonna be a good season again this year hopefully.
Robbie Ross
2 missed scoreable kicks cost us in the end. That's the difference— Willy D (@WillyD85) September 8, 2018
Mike Adamsom to Andrew Porter.
Mike: Stay, don’t move, stay!
Porter:
Mike: Penalty, you need to make an attempt to roll away.
Porter:??
Niall Purcell
Some bull###t scrum calls and then pinging Porter for not moving away after telling him to "stay!"— marno (@david_marrinan) September 8, 2018
Went asleep for the 3rd quarter and lost the game because of that period.
6 points from the first two away games and we have Dragons at home next week.
We also will have all the internationals continuing to return.
We'll get better...
Cormac Mannion
Didn't realise you could tell a player to stay where he was and then penalise him for not rolling away. That ultimately led to the decisive three.— Graham Murphy (@small_far_away) September 8, 2018
If I had to pick a game against the Scarlets to lose this would be the one. A good advert for the Pro14 aside from some odd decisions from the referee.
Plenty of room for improvement for Leinster but 6 points from 2 away games this early in the season isn't a bad haul.
Andrew Byrne
A bit naughty from Gareth Davies?#SCAvLEI pic.twitter.com/sCTWBnyRgZ— rugby (@theblitzdefence) September 8, 2018
Always a tough place to go and it was a close game on the scoreboard too. Ref was poor at times which didn’t help. For only the second game of the season, the performance wasn’t bad. A few more games and the sharpness will be back. Wouldn’t be hitting the panic buttons just yet.
Damian Scott
That was a pretty good advert for an ever-improving @PRO14OfficialHigh intensity for so early in the season - and a fine game to watch despite wet conditions.Both teams have big players to come back as well. Plenty for both sets of supporters to look forward to.— 9-3 (@NawTri) September 8, 2018
Close game. A pity to lose but we'll just have to make sure we win at home against Scarlets. I Just can't figure out if Nagle is any good.
Garry Wynne
— Harpin' On Rugby 🏉 (@HarpinOnRugby) September 8, 2018
Many thanks to all who offered opinions.
Look out Monday for our match writeup JLP
