Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

GerM

shuffol wrote: »

That clip was opening day of last season, it could just my imagination but I thought he looked heavier as the season went on and lost some of his sharpness around the breakdown, when I saw him for the Irish under 20s and in some of his early Leinster appearances I thought he did look like he could become an excellent groundhog style 7. Wouldnt be so sure about his stats, I imagine they could well be a year old.

I would think there is a decent chance his weight is heavier than that but I still wouldn't worry about his sharpness. In his games at 7 in the latter half of the season he was a pain at the breakdown not so much in pilfering (which I don't think he was ever excellent at) but in his rucking and slowing ball down. When he was younger and played the more traditional aspects of the openside he was noted for his ill discipline and concession of penalties at the breakdown. He killed us in one of the U20 WC matches I recall with a couple of absolutely braindead penalties. It was something he had to eradicate if he was to move on. As for his mobility, it's a matter of opinion I suppose. He scored a try against Connacht from about 40m a couple of months later and had enough gas to chase down Malzieu at Christmas so I'm not overly concerned about him; I think he still has plenty of mobility. I think he needs some more work on his handling and taking the ball into contact if I was to highlight any areas in his game.

He's pacy, mobile and powerful. He's also less than a year into a full contract. Played 23 games and scored 5 tries in one of the most competitive back-rows in Europe.

Dream first season, don't think he can really take too much criticism (fairly anyway) yet.

canonfodder

Anyone know when the Season Tickets are being sent out?

Kinger83

canonfodder wrote: »

Anyone know when the Season Tickets are being sent out?

Apparently they're sent out around 4 weeks prior to the first game of the season.. which was last Friday

molloyjh

IIRC they are normally out the second week in August or there-abouts so I'm sure we'll see them in the next week or so.

canonfodder

Cheers guys. I was thinking that they should be out this week just wondering if anyone had received theirs yet. Probably see them next week so.

totallegend

Are we getting physical cards this year? I remember there was an email sent out about being able to print/email individual match tickets, but don't know if that was an extra service or replacing the cards. Sounds like a good idea anyway.

justsomebloke

I swear if the branch ever start sending out season tickets early I'm going to suspect the branch is financially fubared. Generally if you get them before the season actually starts your doing well

CIARAN_BOYLE

Leinster play their first preseason game against rebels on friday. Melbourne is just after losing to Bath 15-0

You have to assume that anyone in the internation squad will stay in the international squad between the Connacht and France games this weekend. I would like to see

McGrath
Strauss
Hagan
Sykes
Toner
Ruddock
Ryan
Murphy

Cooney
Madigan
Carr
Macken
O'Malley
Conway
D Kearney

though VDM, Browne, Willis, Berquist, Nacewa, and Auva'a could all feature

molloyjh

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Leinster play their first preseason game against rebels on friday. Melbourne is just after losing to Bath 15-0

You have to assume that anyone in the internation squad will stay in the international squad between the Connacht and France games this weekend. I would like to see

McGrath
Strauss
Hagan
Sykes
Toner
Ruddock
Ryan
Murphy

Cooney
Madigan
Carr
Macken
O'Malley
Conway
D Kearney

though VDM, Browne, Willis, Berquist, Nacewa, and Auva'a could all feature

I wouldn't have any complaints with that, although with so many experienced players gone I would say Isa will start, and possibly VDM. In the above squad Ruddock would be my first choice captain, but if Isa is there I reckon he'll take the captains role.

ktulu123

Thank christ Leinster matches are starting back, serious withdrawals over the summer! I would expect a strong-ish team put out, joe wont want a bad start to the season again!

durkadurka

I wonder will some of the fringe internationals be released back a la stringer for munster?

Thinking about going to the Melbourne one.

justsomebloke

durkadurka wrote: »

I wonder will some of the fringe internationals be released back a la stringer for munster?

Thinking about going to the Melbourne one.

it all depends on who or what the 'ireland XV' that play on thursday is

CIARAN_BOYLE

durkadurka wrote: »

I wonder will some of the fringe internationals be released back a la stringer for munster?

Thinking about going to the Melbourne one.

I'm assuming that the fringe internationals will be playing the Ireland XV against Connacht match.

molloyjh wrote: »

I wouldn't have any complaints with that, although with so many experienced players gone I would say Isa will start, and possibly VDM. In the above squad Ruddock would be my first choice captain, but if Isa is there I reckon he'll take the captains role.

Nacewa as captain and Ruddock as pack leader and Toner as lineout caller. If you don't have a regular captain available you kind of want to split leadership roles. Leo usually does all three for Leinster but if he isn't there it tends to be parceled out.

Hagz

1. VDM
2. Strauss
3. Hagan
4. Sykes
5. Toner
6. Ruddock
7. Ryan
8. Marshall (someone said here that he's been a beast at 8 for Belvo, so I'd like to see him in action.)

9. Cooney
10. Madigan
11. Carr
12. O'Malley
13. Macken
14. Conway
15. Nacewa

As far as I know you can have a wealth of substitutions so I won't even bother naming the subs.

Hagz

Berquist has a nice new haircut. Now all he needs is a spanish accent and he's sorted.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Final list of signings for the new season
Jamie Hagan
Nathan White Short term world cup cover
Sean Cronin
Steven Sykes
David Gannon Not listed in the squad but played v Revels and has a new profile pic in his profile on the Leinster website
Damian Browne
Leo Auva'a
Cillian Willis Short term world cup cover
Mat Berquist
Fionn Carr

ongarite

With Jennings and Fitzgerald now unlikely to travel to World Cup, what's the first team going to look like for the first 5-6 games of the season?

durkadurka

VDM,Strauss, Hagan
Sykes, Toner,
Jennings, Ryan, Ruddock, - not sure of the exact config here

Boss, Berquist/Madigan

Carr/Fitz, Mcfadden?/Berquist, O Malley,D Kearney
Nacewa/Fitz

Not too bad


Edit: Jeebus i forgot McLaughlin

WeeBushy

1. VdM
2. Strauss
3. Hagan
4. Sykes
5. Toner
6. McLaughlin
7. Jennings
8. Ruddock
9. Cooney
10. Madigan
11. Carr
12. Berquist
13. O'Malley
14. Fitzgerald
15. Nacewa

Still a strong team. Guys like Ryan, Kearney, Horgan and Conway still being kept out of the side shows we have good strength in depth in most positions, maybe a little light in the centre and at scrumhalf. But based on that team looks like we'll cope fine without the WC players.

ongarite

Boss and McFadden rumoured to go to World Cup.
Scrum half choices are pretty short.

CIARAN_BOYLE

ongarite wrote: »

Boss and McFadden rumoured to go to World Cup.
Scrum half choices are pretty short.

Cooney/Willis/McGrath

durkadurka

Lets put this on hold for half an hour!

GerM

John Cooney come on down! Gonna be one hell of a start to his pro career by the looks of it.

ongarite

Could be a chance for McGrath too.
Only in the academy and could be on the bench, make a few sub appearances?

CIARAN_BOYLE

VDM
Strauss
Hagan
Toner
Sykes
McLaughlin
Jennings
Ruddock
Cooney
Madigan
Fitzgerald
Berqvist
EOM
Horgan
Nacewa

Harris Wright
White
McGrath
Browne
Ryan
Willis
Macken
D Kearney

GerM

GerM wrote: »

John Cooney come on down! Gonna be one hell of a start to his pro career by the looks of it.

flashy lad, hope we do trust him and not propel Willis ahead of him alright.

Got a bit of the cheekyness about him that you see in Care / Youngs too, bit of ballsyness that can go a long way if channelled correctly.

bamboozle

Deleted User wrote: »

flashy lad, hope we do trust him and not propel Willis ahead of him alright.

Got a bit of the cheekyness about him that you see in Care / Youngs too, bit of ballsyness that can go a long way if channelled correctly.

wouldnt be suprised to see an AIL scrum half getting some squad time before the wc players return. Watched Cooney for lansdowne last season, good but didnt stand out.

wixfjord

With my Leinster hat on, that announcement hasn't harmed our ML start too much.

Bit light at SH, but it will give Cooney, who looked good last week, a chance to shine hopefully, and perhaps McGrath aswell, although unlikely.

Also, Jennings, Fitz and MCL staying are three experienced HEC standard starters, which adds much needed experience.

There are chances of late call ups due to injury, but overall, we should have enough to compete well.

wixfjord

Also, anyone think that Luke not travelling could be the beginning of his career at 12? Would love to see him trialled there with O Malley, and it's an area where we have two "boshers" in Darce and MCF, with another coming through in Macken, and no real distributors.

He's a kicking option, good passer and good step, would love to see a game there.
Hopefully he'll flourish with the responsibility of being one of the senior players in our team for the start of the year.