Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

Tox56

Anyone know what the forecast is?

A dry, calm night with that incredibly exciting backline would be great to watch.

.ak

Deleted User wrote: »

20. Ryan


yes please!

Yeah, here's hoping we pull away with a bit of a score or two at the 60 min mark and he comes on and has a stormer.

Don't see it happening though, he'll probably be solid enough. It won't be like last week were the new guns cleaned up, because they've all been playing actively in A's and AIL. I take it this will be Dom's first touch of a ball since his injury?

irishbucsfan

Can't see the Scarlets pack doing anything at all against us apart from Edwards.

Shame because they have some good backs in the team. Newton is just another talented back 3 player, so common in Wales.

I'd expect a good win.

Rattlehead_ie

Good to see Ryan back from injury, would love to see him on the pitch and get game time. Hopefully impress in enough time to start poking at HC 15 and then from there.

Quint2010

Thats a strong and exciting looks team. Great to see Ryan back. We are a bit light tho in the second row department. Roll on the Thorn signing.

yimrsg

.ak wrote: »

Just noticed Ruddock at 8. Not a huge fan of him there. Anyone else remember the disaster against Ospreys (iirc) earlier in the season? He had a shocker at 8. In fairness that was then, this now, etc., etc. I doubt he'll repeat that performance any time soon...

Tipuric destroyed Leinster in that game. Made the whole backrow unit look very poor that night.

[Jackass]

Hopefully Conway, Fitzgerald and to a lesser extent Berquist (with one eye on the B&I cup), can come back by next week and we could be in great shape!

.ak

yimrsg wrote: »

Tipuric destroyed Leinster in that game. Made the whole backrow unit look very poor that night.

Very true. But even the basics seemed too difficulty for Rhys that day. There was one point were the scrum was going forward, and he failed to control the ball, tried to recover, then resulting in a turnover iirc. He just didn't look comfortable. I fully believe it was just a bad day at the office, and he'll be looking to impress there as he's ever becoming invaluable to the team as a utility forward.

molloyjh

Really good side. Delighted to see McGrath starting and Dom back in the squad. Really like the look of the back 3 too. All 3 were great last week in fairness. D Kearney has come on so much in the last season or so and linked up well with Isa a few times against Treviso.

Interesting to see Kev as captain again. I was surprised he got the armband ahead of Jenno last week.

Looking forward to this game now. And also really looking forward to Thorn signing.

molloyjh

.ak wrote: »

Very true. But even the basics seemed too difficulty for Rhys that day. There was one point were the scrum was going forward, and he failed to control the ball, tried to recover, then resulting in a turnover iirc. He just didn't look comfortable. I fully believe it was just a bad day at the office, and he'll be looking to impress there as he's ever becoming invaluable to the team as a utility forward.

He was all over the back row at the start of the season and captaining the side at the same time. I wouldn't worry too much about it tbh.

totallegend

molloyjh wrote: »

Interesting to see Kev as captain again. I was surprised he got the armband ahead of Jenno last week.

Two possible reasons; either it's because Jennings has been away with Ireland and Schmidt wants to maintain continuity, or it's because McLaughlin is more likely to retain his place once Heaslip and O'Brien are back...

molloyjh wrote: »

Looking forward to this game now. And also really looking forward to Thorn signing.

+1 on that, but I was listening to Newstalk last night, Thornley reckons that signing Thorn will mean the Heineken Cup is 'signed, sealed and delivered' for Leinster. Steady on there Gerry.

molloyjh

totallegend wrote: »

+1 on that, but I was listening to Newstalk last night, Thornley reckons that signing Thorn will mean the Heineken Cup is 'signed, sealed and delivered' for Leinster. Steady on there Gerry.

I hate that kind of thing. Fair enough if we sign Thorn and he works out (I'd be shocked if he didn't) then we will have addressed one area of weakness. With Cullen and possibly BOD back in time for the SF (can't see us losing to Cardiff in the QF) we could well be in a strong position. But I wouldn't fancy a trip to France to play Clermont ever. We could manage Sarries in London, but even that is no guarantee. And then possibly facing Toulouse, Munster or Ulster in a final should we get that far!? There's a lot of rugby between us and the cup and none of it easy. The whole thing is wide open as far as I'm concerned.

.ak

Yeah, a trip to Clermont will be monumentally tight. But nothing is impossible right?

Also, whilst I can't wait for Thorn to arrive for the novelty of it alone, there's a good chance he'll be arriving too late, and won't make as big an impact in the team as we think. The best we can hope for imo is that he'll be an above average journeyman, which at this stage is much needed. Thornley as is just being OTT as usual. Although it'll be great for the likes of Flanagan and Keogh and Toner, they'll learn heaps from him.

Noopti

totallegend wrote: »

+1 on that, but I was listening to Newstalk last night, Thornley reckons that signing Thorn will mean the Heineken Cup is 'signed, sealed and delivered' for Leinster. Steady on there Gerry.

I hate that ****e. He is a great signing and will help massively, but pinning a potential winning of the HEC on him is very annoying. I am still annoyed hearing people attribute Leinsters first HEC success squarely on the shoulders of Elsom, as if all the other squad members had nothing to do with it. Very unfair on the team/management as a whole.

Can't wait to see what Thorn adds to an already impressive Leinster team.

leftleg

totallegend wrote: »

I was listening to Newstalk last night, Thornley reckons that signing Thorn will mean the Heineken Cup is 'signed, sealed and delivered' for Leinster. Steady on there Gerry.

Thats what you get for listening to him; I detest both him and Hugh Farrelly as Sports journalist's. My 5 year old makes more sense then they do.

Actually Hugh did an article the other day about the lions coming up next year; the best thing about the article online is the comments section added in. Some of the comments are quite savaging of him as a journalist; funny reading indeed.

Mr.Applepie

Noopti wrote: »

I hate that ****e. He is a great signing and will help massively, but pinning a potential winning of the HEC on him is very annoying. I am still annoyed hearing people attribute Leinsters first HEC success squarely on the shoulders of Elsom, as if all the other squad members had nothing to do with it. Very unfair on the team/management as a whole.

Can't wait to see what Thorn adds to an already impressive Leinster team.

I think BOD has been quoted as saying they wouldn't have won it without Elsom and I think he was MOTM in 11 of his last 13 games. He definitely brought something to Leinster that they didn't have. Thankfully by the time he left others had learnt from him.

Noopti

Mr.Applepie wrote: »

I think BOD has been quoted as saying they wouldn't have won it without Elsom and I think he was MOTM in 11 of his last 13 games. He definitely brought something to Leinster that they didn't have. Thankfully by the time he left others had learnt from him.

I still don't buy it. You could easily say they wouldn't have won it without BOD and a number of other players. The singling out of Elsom is just odd.

Mr.Applepie

Noopti wrote: »

I still don't buy it. You could easily say they wouldn't have won it without BOD and a number of other players. The singling out of Elsom is just odd.

Yes of course you could take out certain players and they might not have won. The implication is the Elsom coming in that year pushed them over the edge and gave them something they didn't have before.

profitius

Noopti wrote: »

I still don't buy it. You could easily say they wouldn't have won it without BOD and a number of other players. The singling out of Elsom is just odd.

Nobody was saying they wouldn't have won it without SOB last season. The difference is people in this country hero worship any big name players from the southern hemisphere.

The real reason IMO Leinster won the HEC that year was because of Ireland winning the grandslam a few months earlier. It was the first major trophy for many of the squad and no doubt gave their self belief a boost.

Big Nelly

Has Thorn signed?

.ak

Eh, the REAL reason Leinster won in 09 is because of two words: Jonathon and Sexton. :rolleyes:

Ha nah, just kidding, but while I was definately a member of the Elsom appreciation society, he had just the same kind of impact as any of the other 'pivotal' players that help us to winning ways today. Sky Sports were also Elsom fanatics, so you get alot of that bleeding over into the casual fanbase.

Benny Cake

Noopti wrote: »

I still don't buy it. You could easily say they wouldn't have won it without BOD and a number of other players. The singling out of Elsom is just odd.

Speaking as a Munster fan, I believe Elsoms season with Leinster was the single greatest season by a NIQ for any of the Irish provinces... His performance against Munster in Croke Park in particular, was unreal.

Quint2010

Benny Cake wrote: »

Speaking as a Munster fan, I believe Elsoms season with Leinster was the single greatest season by a NIQ for any of the Irish provinces... His performance against Munster in Croke Park in particular, was unreal.

He was offside for THAT tackle mind...:)

[Jackass]

Big Nelly wrote: »

Has Thorn signed?

Supposedly it's all agreed and they are delaying the announcement so that the 3 month deal will end once the season is over.

RE Thorn, I don't think he'll make or break our season, but I definitely think he could make a massive difference. His power in the scrum alone is much needed, plus we just need that grunt around the park that Hines gave us.

I just hope he gets his head right and really gives this everything he's got. He's a born winner and hopefully he'll be determined to make this one shot at Heineken Cup glory count, and not see it as a nice vacation at the end of his career, just to see what northern hemisphere rugby is all about.

In reality, to win the Heineken Cup, I think we need Thorn on his world cup form AND a fully fit Cullen. If that happens, we have a superb chance, but still hoping against hope that Saracens do a number on Clermont in the quarter.

Neither game would be easy, but beating Clermont in France would be virtually impossible. They've a better home record than Tolouse.

In fairness though, we can't worry about what anybody else is doing, we can only focus on how Leinster get on, and the squad seems to be recovering from a few injuries and hopefully everybody comes together for the last leg of the season and we can ensure a massive battle to get our hands on all of the silverware.

Podge_irl

Leinster won that HEC because they had far and away the best defence in the league. They only conceded 6 tries all tournament. However anyone who doesn't think Rocky had a massive impact on that is off their rocker.

totallegend

Podge_irl wrote: »

Leinster won that HEC because they had far and away the best defence in the league. They only conceded 6 tries all tournament. However anyone who doesn't think Rocky had a massive impact on that is off their rocker.

Correct on both fronts; while Elsom was immense, Kurt McQuilkin was arguably the most important man in that squad, so it's annoying to hear people say that Leinster wouldn't have won it without Rocky.

If we hadn't had Elsom, we'd have had to play some lad called O'Brien instead. Wonder what happened to him...

CatFromHue

Podge_irl wrote: »

Leinster won that HEC because they had far and away the best defence in the league. They only conceded 6 tries all tournament. However anyone who doesn't think Rocky had a massive impact on that is off their rocker.

Fewest conceded tries in the Magners as well.

Clegg

Berquist will be leaving Leinster for Biarritz in the summer.

http://www.rugbyunit.com/2012/02/transferts-biarritz-a-trouve-son-10/

profitius

Clegg wrote: »

Berquist will be leaving Leinster for Biarritz in the summer.

http://www.rugbyunit.com/2012/02/transferts-biarritz-a-trouve-son-10/

Great news for Madigan. Berquist was unlucky that he never got a chance to show what he could do but its worked out well for Leinster.

Big Nelly

Clegg wrote: »

Berquist will be leaving Leinster for Biarritz in the summer.

http://www.rugbyunit.com/2012/02/transferts-biarritz-a-trouve-son-10/

Never got to see him play, it is good for Madigan who has been great all season......player of season for Leinster so far in Rabo!!!