In a regular feature this season we’ll be sharing some of the initial “keyboard warrior” response to our featured match of the weekend ahead of Monday’s writeup.
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.
Good flowing game considering the dreadful conditions which would test any side. Immense tackling throughout. Connacht very strong in defence, breakdown and stifled Leinster were sluggish trying to walk the ball in instead of getting quick ball out wide and as a result saw them only 3-0 up at HT. A 2nd half of continuous phases, determined pressure & resilience gave Leinster a #BENEFITOFTHEDOUBT try. Excellent shows from Kearney D, McCarthy, Ringrose, VDF and MOTM Reddan saw Leinster home 13 - 0.
Big Joe Shep
Clancy's "any reason" question has completely turned this game. @connachtrugby should feel very aggrieved... #LEINvCON
— Eoin (@eoinsm) January 1, 2016
Leinster looking a better team every week. Terrible conditions for both teams.
Kieran Guilfoyle
@HarpinOnRugby wasn't pretty but better team won.
— Kevin (@marywards) January 1, 2016
Fair play to the Leinster faithful for turning out in such crappy conditions. Hard to read too much into the result but another win and a continued climb up the Pro12 table.
Andrew Byrne
Leinster have just been more direct 2nd half, carrying harder than their opponents did and using a bit more width.
— david kelly (@dk3lly) January 1, 2016
Clancy was clear. Told tmo he could not see all of the ball all of the time, implying he saw the ball grounded. Hence his question. Lack of TV angles does not mean ball was not grounded.
Darach Kennedy
@HarpinOnRugby can't fault the players in the conditions they have but it's like watching paint dry
— cathauld lang syne (@Cathal_OLeary) January 1, 2016
Missing bubbles to go with the bar of soap !!
Reddan deadly in terrible conditions, Ringrose great again
Defence excellent. Also, it's been a while since I was soaked to the jocks !!
Ciaran Kelly
The try was well dodge as they say, but Leinster were the better team and deserved to win. The soothing balm of the Pro12 is being applied.
— Whiff of Cordite (@WhiffofCordite) January 1, 2016
Naomi Farrell
That's rough on Connacht. Even allowing for the wording of the question, there's plenty of reason not to award the try.
— Eoin McDevitt (@EoinMcDevitt) January 1, 2016
For all the moans about the try I've seen few Connacht supporters acknowledge that they should have been carded for a cynical ruck infringement and for a swinging arm. They got away with a lot of lying on the wrong side in the first half as well as a lot of running across rucks to prevent Leinster players joining.
Ultimately the better team won. Connacht never looked like scoring and while questions may be asked about Leinster's try, questions also could be asked about why Connacht were allowed to infringe so much inside their 22.
Very happy from a Leinster perspective. 2nd in the Pro12, 1 point behind the leaders, with a game in hand and not on full form. Bring on the rest of the season.
John Molloy
Weather bad, result right. Credit to both teams for the 80 minute effort in those conditions. Few would have done better. #COYBIB
— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) January 1, 2016
Many thanks to all who offered opinions.
Look out Monday for our match writeup JLP
