For some reason, I think Leinster are going to get a red card today.
Ryan or Porter.
Ryan or Porter.
Rugby Union 21/22/23 Discussion | RWC time!
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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The atmosphere is absolutely incredible.
Well well. A 40 second try!!
Conan is on fire.
This is an incredible start.
Leinster have La Rochelle's number. Wow.
17-0 after 13minutes is some start.
If they lose from here it will be a bitter bitter pill to sqallow
If they lose from here it will be a bitter bitter pill to sqallow
La Rochelle still look excellent when it goes right for them.
They could definitely do it.
They could definitely do it.
Some half that from 2 great teams. A little worried about the pressure that LAR have been building and how we can keep dealing with it. Really need to get our hands on the ball more. Hate kicking it away to them. We've been excellent so far though. Hopefully some of their big guys will tire in the second half because they are terrifying.
Fabulous break, nearly went all the way
If this goes to the last 10 with a 7 point score between them I thing LAR win.
La Rochelle on top.
I want Leinster to win but I feel La Rochelle have been hard done by by Peyper. The balance of the bad decisions going Leinster's way. Awful to describe it in such terms, but hey, it's Peyper 
Card on the way for Leinster here
Leinster need a bit of magic from somewhere - they are clinging on - if they get a try its over
Leinster will be doing well to hold on. Have bottled the second half completly. Error after error after error.
Huge respect for La Rochelle's comeback here.
Twould indeed.
And it is
Yeesh, this will probably go down as an epic choke.
I know that we talk about rugby when talking about VAR but I just hate that so much of the game is being decided from up top. Bullshit stuff at the end imo
D4 will be upset tonight
Its what it is. Leinster were well beaten for 65 minutes
Well done LAR. Deserving champions and clearly the best team in Europe.
We learned nothing from last year and kicked them the ball endlessly and made ourselves defend too much. Horrible at the end from Al. Deserves a long ban for that.
I fear we'll never beat them until we stop playing so scared against them but fair play to the lads they put in a hell of an effort.
We learned nothing from last year and kicked them the ball endlessly and made ourselves defend too much. Horrible at the end from Al. Deserves a long ban for that.
I fear we'll never beat them until we stop playing so scared against them but fair play to the lads they put in a hell of an effort.
Well at least (formerly) Connacht's Ultan Dillane is now a European champion. 
Is O'Gara a genius? He has a maniacal vibe.
I think so. Hope he coaches Ireland some day.
Grim shadow cast over Ireland at the WC too now. Once again
Leinster should have won that from the position they were in and being at home.
Absolutely bottled that second half - mistake after mistake after mistake.
Id love to see the half time team talks because LA Rochelle looked like a different team in that second half, whereas Leinster looked nervous as hell.
La Rochelle play 15 matches a year in the french league like this, so they know what to do. Leinster put out their third team most of the time in the URC - they are not match ready like La Rochelle are.
Massive gulf in size as well. Dan Sheehan looks like a school boy compared to the La Rochelle hooker.
Having said that Leinster really blew it in that second half (At home).
Absolutely bottled that second half - mistake after mistake after mistake.
Id love to see the half time team talks because LA Rochelle looked like a different team in that second half, whereas Leinster looked nervous as hell.
La Rochelle play 15 matches a year in the french league like this, so they know what to do. Leinster put out their third team most of the time in the URC - they are not match ready like La Rochelle are.
Massive gulf in size as well. Dan Sheehan looks like a school boy compared to the La Rochelle hooker.
Having said that Leinster really blew it in that second half (At home).
Better motivator at least than Leo Cullen.
Seems nailed on.
I think there's more to it than that. He's got an intensity but also is very measured.
The difference in what you need to do was striking. Like i posted La Rochelle have a more competitive league in france and have been in this situation ten times already this season - where they are losing at half time and need to improve the performance to win.
Leinster then in contrast are putting out their third team against the dragons and hammering them as well. They are just not ready or battle hardened for what they need to do.
They absolutely shit their pants as well in that second half compared to la rochelle. From the position they were in after 20 minutes, they really should have went on and won.
Leinster then in contrast are putting out their third team against the dragons and hammering them as well. They are just not ready or battle hardened for what they need to do.
They absolutely shit their pants as well in that second half compared to la rochelle. From the position they were in after 20 minutes, they really should have went on and won.
O'Gara? Are you talking about De la Gare?
There’s a lot to be said for this. URC fans constantly bore on about it being the best league but it has outlandish gulfs in quality, whereas the top 14 is a dogfight every week
I don't think it has anything to do with us being battle hardened. If so then why can't Toulouse or any other French team beat us? It has to do with us showing LAR too much respect and taking 3 points where normally we would go for the jugular and kicking the ball much more than we normally do. The point of having a smaller more skillfull pack is to play running rugby like Ireland did to France in the 6 nations but for whatever reason we have abandoned that 2 years in a row against LAR. Still if the conversions had gone over from Byrne or we got over the line at the end then we might be having a different conversation. LAR are just a great team that know exactly how to make us abandon our normal game and losing to them is mostly just that they are the better team than us.
Edit - and a big thing is us being so terrified of their maul that we simply refuse to challenge their line outs even in the middle of the pitch.
Edit - and a big thing is us being so terrified of their maul that we simply refuse to challenge their line outs even in the middle of the pitch.
Well that fecking sucked. Better team won but losing James Ryan was a huge blow. Leinster have amazing strength in depth but he’s been having an unbelievable season and is so important in set pieces. Sod’s Law that he got injured making the best tackle of the match.
He is the Corkest man on earth. Not happening
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