A&E RUGBY : What Do You Make Of Leinster ?

Taken from Episode 50 of The A&E Rugby Podcast , Andrew and Elmer chat about why Leinster with all their resources , cohesion and talent just can`t seem to get across the line ?
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[@mauricegarvey4631]

Top 14 teams budget are way more than a club like Leinster , generally by double at least. Most of Leinster's players come through the local schools system, and their job is to try and develop players to play for the national team. They aren't poor and have advantages of a capital city so the criticism is warranted, but they aint Real Madrid. Losing the Euro final in Dublin v La Rochelle from 17-0 up was a mortal blow imo.

[@Mojo-IRE]

Has nothing to do with the budget. The salary cap in the Top 14 is set at €11.5m. Leinster have to be exceeding that now days. With the IRFU picking up the tab on lots of them. Snyman alone is getting €500,000 next year. Even players like Osbourne or Jimmy O'Brien who aren't on central contracts are on good salaries. They ain't playing for a lowly 30k a year or something. Leinster spend more on players wages than any other club in the world right now likely. The budget has nothing to do with it as the French clubs are strictly held to the cap now days under the tighter JIF rules.

[@spearsgears]

How did the Bulls do this weekend 🤔

[@Nologogo]

With regards to the comment @5:50, come on lads be better. Thought the Bulls played as well as we've seen them play all year. Jake White put in a brilliant plan and the team executed it really well. They made Leinster very very uncomfortable and again we were found wanting. No complaints from any Leinster fans to be fair to us (out media are different). We were well beaten by the better team.

[@neilmac6049]

Can I just note that Leinster have a smaller budget than Toulouse and most French teams. The majority of their players come from within a 40 mile radius of Dublin. They don’t have big signing on fees as they develop most of their players via their academy. The players they signed for in the coming year have made headlines because that’s the ONLY players they have signed. I take all the negative comments about Leinster as a compliment. Very few games they lose by more than a score. If any other team would win as much as Leinster do, they would be lauded. Their resources just to repeat are NOT insane….and their supporters are a big part of their resources. We fill big stadiums because we love our team. Highest average crowd attendance means good gate receipts…..

[@AndrewW-on5si]

That’s not entirely true. They actually have access to much larger funding than any other team outside of Ireland because they are supplemented by the IRU who top up contracts centrally. This is coupled with tax nuances and payback once a player finishes playing.

[@2msystems740]

And don't underestimate Leinster's and Ireland's predicament. It is big, when a virtually full Irish international side cannot beat a bang average club side you have major problems.

[@mthunziphakathi4215]

Atleast the Sharks won a trophy😂😂😂😂😂😂.

[@2msystems740]

The issues may well be partly the management and partly the players. Exacerbated by the arrival of Nienaber and the departure of Sexton. The real problem is the AB's. Fozzie putting up substandard sides over the years have given the Irish an inflated view of themselves and everytime they meet a half decent side, they falter if not fail. The irony is not lost here when the 3 best performing Irish players are from the southern hemisphere.

[@eoinmiller5620]

France and South Africa don't count as "half decent sides"? no?

[@2msystems740]

@@eoinmiller5620 France and South Africa are countries (sides). The French club Toulouse beat Leinster in yet another semi. They certainly are one of the top teams if not the top team in the world. And they have about half the French international players.

[@eoinmiller5620]

@@2msystems740 to quote you "The real problem is the AB's. Fozzie putting up substandard sides over the years has given the Irish an inflated view of themselves and everytime they meet a half decent side, they falter if not fail". Saying national sides now don't count when presented with counter evidence is moving the goal posts. France and South Africa are both top sides. Ireland have beaten them both, twice, in the last 18ish months. The only teams to actually beat Leinster in the Champions Cup in the last 4 years are 2 of the best clubs on the planet, and covid. That's it. Nobody else.

[@2msystems740]

@@eoinmiller5620 You are right, I was confusing an earlier Leinster comment with your response. And the reason being, that I see very little difference between the two (maybe wrongly so). And maybe the point I tried to make, ineptly perhaps, is that the Irish have not really been tested at international level. Though it may seem that SA (or France) should have been that test, it did not turn out so.

[@eoinmiller5620]

@@2msystems740 we're they not tests or did Ireland play well enough to prevent them playing their A game. Big question. Like for all the stick we get for the QF exit, we were one single held up try from sending NZ home. Not a bad refs call or anything else. It took the best NZ performance since 2019 to beat us and that came down to Ronan Kelleher breaking away from the end of a maul a second early. That's it. SA needed NZ to go a man down for the whole match to win by a point. Think these types of margins makes a lot of the talk around this Leinster and Ireland team nonsense tbh. Just opinions voiced void of any context. Thank you for addressing inaccuracies in you comment though. That is appreciated.

[@gkmarais]

Would not have been a small margin with a fair ref and tmo.

[@M10-i6b]

For an Irish team they are not too bad.

[@eoinmiller5620]

Leo Cullen needs to leave. Nienaber needs to leave. Goodmans appointment needs to be recinded. The entire coachin ticket needs to be given their walking papers. At this level, 3 years of 0 silverware is genuinely unacceptable. Byrne bros not good enough. Luke McGrath not good enough. The moment McGrath came on I said "We're going to lose this now". Bring in Noel McNamara, give Bleyendaal a shot. Nienabar was instrumental in setting munsters rugby back years and now hes doing it again in Leinster. Everything needs to change

[@user-ve4vb4vp1h]

You a joke if you only want to blame Nienaber .Ross Byrne and your centers couldn't break through a brown paper bag .So the only X factor in the backline is lowe and Keenan plus Gibson. Your pack has been brilliant this whole season but got physically dominated by the bulls .So please you cannot only blame the coaches , you also need to look at how the Irish international players performed on the day .

[@eoinmiller5620]

@@user-ve4vb4vp1h list all the names I mentioned as a problem and tell me how I only blamed Nienaber... I'll wait...

[@user-ve4vb4vp1h]

@eoinmiller5620 whatever may the best team win the test series in Sa .Promise we won't blame our coach the ref or the bounce of the ball .When we lose we accept our team was not the best on the day .

[@eoinmiller5620]

@@user-ve4vb4vp1h nice deflection there.

[@AndrewW-on5si]

I’m not sure Nienaber was the most astute signing. I think he will be able to replicate the Springbok defence but Leinster don’t have the same players. For instance Lowe and Larmour are much bigger and slower on the turn than the SA wingers. Rassie was the person Leinster needed. Someone who could evolve the Leinster playing style not try and change it.