Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

ongarite

hsbc wrote: »

Likely team for Friday night?

I like to see:
VDM
Cronin
Hagan
Cullen
Toner
Ruddock
Ryan
Auva'a
Boss
Madigan
Carr
EOM
McFadden
D. Kearney
Isa

hsbc

ongarite wrote: »

I like to see:
VDM
Cronin
Hagan
Cullen
Toner
Ruddock
Ryan
Auva'a
Boss
Madigan
Carr
EOM
McFadden
D. Kearney
Isa

Maybe they should play Fitzgerald now that he's gaining a bit of form? play him at FB and rest Nacewa? Would love to see Ryan getting good game time...

CIARAN_BOYLE

hsbc wrote: »

Likely team for Friday night?

Who knows with Joe. Toner, VDM, White, and Cronin I'd say are all near certs, same with Boss, McFadden and Madigan. Other than that I think BOD could do with more game time. My guess is below but I would be surprised if I have 10/15 right

vdm
cronin
white
toner
thorn
ruddock
ryan
auva
boss
madigan
fitzgerald
mcfadden
o'driscoll
kearney
nacewa

hsbc wrote: »

Maybe they should play Fitzgerald now that he's gaining a bit of form? play him at FB and rest Nacewa? Would love to see Ryan getting good game time...

I want to see him stay in the position no need to mess him around the backline, he came off early at the weekend so should definitely be good to play this weekend. If you want a DKearney Fitzgerald Carr backline I'd have Carr at 14 and Kearney at 15 with Fitzgerald staying at 11.

durkadurka

Do we think embra will send the transition year students over?
That's what I'm guessing.

totallegend

Here's my complete random guess, which is about all you can do with Joe in charge:

VDM/Cronin/Hagan
Thorn/Toner
Ruddock/Jennings/Auva'a
Boss/Madigan
Carr/McFadden/BOD/D Kearney
Isa
Subs: McGrath/Strauss/White/Browne/Ryan/Reddan/Sexton/EOM

I'd be somewhat confident of it being a Browne Cullen starting pairing, with Thorn benching.

Browne could well be called upon v Clermont, and hasn't had a good run out in a while. Toner unlucky to take the hit

6. Locky
7. Ryan
8. Ruddock

19. Auva'a

could be cool too

.ak

The worry is if Toner runs out against Cudmore and Hines he'll get mullered... Nothing against his skill and his ever improving form, but he just hasn't got the grunt in that department. I'd say we'll see Browne...

ScareGilly

Why doesn't anyone have Jennings in their starting 15 for this Friday? I'd have thought it'd be good to have his physical presence on the pitch at some stage against Clermont...

CIARAN_BOYLE

ScareGilly wrote: »

Why doesn't anyone have Jennings in their starting 15 for this Friday? I'd have thought it'd be good to have his physical presence on the pitch at some stage against Clermont...

you're right probably a good idea for him to get gametime this weekend

.ak

Depends on the game really. I think Locky is the bruiser in that backrow, really niggily and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, nor does he ever get pushed over by bigger opposition. I'd rather start locky at 6, SOB at 7 and then bring Shane into things when players start to tire and utilize his skills at the breakdown.

faigs

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Very coy, Guy!

Interesting that he seems to imply there'll be more signings. But then that could also be Carr/Browne.

I think one of them will be Fitzy.

WeeBushy

Can Leinster offer Fitzgerald the contract he wants? If he is on a provincial contract are Leinster free to offer him a him a bumper contract? If so they definitely should. He's better than a lot of foreign players in Ireland who are probably on more money that him. We should do everything to keep him imo.

CIARAN_BOYLE

WeeBushy wrote: »

Can Leinster offer Fitzgerald the contract he wants? If he is on a provincial contract are Leinster free to offer him a him a bumper contract? If so they definitely should. He's better than a lot of foreign players in Ireland who are probably on more money that him. We should do everything to keep him imo.

Well they aren't allowed offer anything while negotations are ongoing with the IRFU. Once those break down they have some autonomy regarding making offers but I'm not sure how much.

.ak

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Well they aren't allowed offer anything while negotations are ongoing with the IRFU. Once those break down they have some autonomy regarding making offers but I'm not sure how much.

Joe did say they'd be sitting down to talk on it this week. I wonder if that implies the IRFU have stepped back away from the table?

wicklowwonder

The Journal is running this story on Luke

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/almost-there-fitzgerald-ready-to-commit-future-to-leinster-414362-Apr2012/

LUKE FITZGERALD IS likely to sign a new deal with Leinster next week, it was revealed today.
It had been feared that the winger, whose current contract will expire this summer, could not agree terms on a new IRFU contract and would instead seek a move abroad.
Coach, Joe Schmidt, last week indicated that he had asked Fitzgerald to shelve the negotiations until they had navigated past the Cardiff Blues in Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final.
Today, speaking at Leinster’s open training session at the RDS, team manager Guy Easterby reiterated Schmidt’s point, saying: “Last week was a week when we wouldn’t revisit that at all.”
But the former Ireland scrum-half added that the Lions tourist is now likely to rubber-stamp his future well before the team’s semi-final trip to Bordeaux:
“Obviously we’re only in Wednesday this week, but certainly we would be hoping to have something done – certainly in the next week to 10 days.”
From being on the verge of being a certain starter for Ireland, Fitzgerald never regained his best international form after suffering a serious knee ligament injury in the November 2009 draw with Australia.
Declan Kidney persisted with the Blackrock boy during the 2011 Six Nations, selecting him at fullback in place of the injured Rob Kearney. However, a lack of confidence and form ultimately cost him a spot on the plane to New Zealand and he has not appeared for his country since.
In a recent interview on Setanta, Fitzgerald admitted he had ‘scope’ for leaving Ireland if a deal was not forthcoming. However, it now seems that his impressive recent displays (including the line break which set up Brian O’Driscoll’s try on Saturday) have earned him some extra currency within the offices on Lansdowne Road.

thomond2006

sounds like a provincial contract, rather than an international contract. Tbf he hasn't played for Ireland in 12 months.

Big Nelly

thomond2006 wrote: »

sounds like a provincial contract, rather than an international contract. Tbf he hasn't played for Ireland in 12 months.

Dont care as long as he signs.....

And about time IRFU stopped giving contracts to Munster players with no future in Irish team

irishbucsfan

Ah well you know. Allow something silly like injury stop you playing for Ireland, and of course you will not have your contract renewed despite being one of the form players in Ireland in your position and being 24 years old.

CatFromHue

thomond2006 wrote: »

sounds like a provincial contract, rather than an international contract. Tbf he hasn't played for Ireland in 12 months.

I wonder if this is the case what type of money will he be on i.e. is he being paid a salary equal to that of a high profile NIQ player?

Also if he is called up for Ireland will he then get an appearance fee for that?

Teferi

CatFromHue wrote: »

Also if he is called up for Ireland will he then get an appearance fee for that?

I've actually always wanted to know exactly this - I assumed that non-central contracted players have to get something?

WeeBushy

Teferi wrote: »

I've actually always wanted to know exactly this - I assumed that non-central contracted players have to get something?

There must be. Wasn't there talk of Cuthbert's appearance fees for Wales equally what he was earning at club level because he was still on a development contract? If Wales have appearance fees I think it would be fair to assume Ireland do as well.

irishbucsfan

I'd like to see something like

VDM, Cronin, White, Thorn, Toner, Ruddock, Ryan, Auva'a; Boss, Madigan, Fitzgerald, McFadden, O'Driscoll, D. Kearney, Nacewa

Then crack on for the Ulster game with a first team. Ravenhill will give them a test pre-Clermont.

totallegend

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I'd like to see something like

VDM, Cronin, White, Thorn, Toner, Ruddock, Ryan, Auva'a; Boss, Madigan, Fitzgerald, McFadden, O'Driscoll, D. Kearney, Nacewa

Then crack on for the Ulster game with a first team. Ravenhill will give them a test pre-Clermont.

Assuming the back-row for Clermont will be Kev/SOB/Heaslip and they would therefore play at Ravenhill, I'd give Jennings game time this weekend. Maybe drop Leo to the bench at play Ruddock at 8, Ryan is well capable of playing 6. I'd give Carr a run ahead of Fitz too.

justsomebloke

I have to say I'm not a massive fan of Ruddock at 8

justsomebloke

justsomebloke wrote: »

I have to say I'm not a massive fan of Ruddock at 8

agreed. He's a 6 through and through.

More Leamy than SOB.

totallegend

Deleted User wrote: »

agreed. He's a 6 through and through.

More Leamy than SOB.

Yeah, I think so too, but I was coming at it from the point of view of giving Jennings game time, and I'd rather give Ruddock and Ryan more game time than Auva'a

irishbucsfan

I would equally like to see Ruddock, Jennings, Auva'a. I would have Ryan/Jennings on the bench either way to cover 7.

Id like to see Fitz play right through the semi. He needs a string of games and once he gets them he hits awesome form. He can rest in May against Newport!

.ak

The build up for the Clermont match simmering nicely. Check out this video from Hines talking about the match up....

totallegend

.ak wrote: »

The build up for the Clermont match simmering nicely. Check out this video from Hines talking about the match up....

Was on lequipe.fr earlier, my heart sank when I saw the headline "Thomas Domingo returns from injury"... but he's only back training this week, might be back playing before the end of the season but won't affect Leinster.

Hagz

Leinster Rugby is showing it's support for Bank of Ireland's participation in the Bród campaign by donning the new Banc na hÉireann jerseys.



Delightful