Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

Podge_irl

[Jackass] wrote: »

Also, not going to root for link, but the IRFU are in talks with GAA about the possible use of Croke Park for a Leinster v Munster semi or final...

Would be funny to have 80,000 for the semi and 20,000 for the final! :eek:

Can't see them using Croker for a semi-final. A final possibly, but that would be it.

[Jackass]

An update on all things Leinster.

Out of the Heineken Cup in the semi's, disappointing, but brave performance, however secured our top seeding for next years tournament and Leinster will be ranked 3rd in Europe again next season, behind Munster & Toulouse.

Magners League final to come next weekend after a good win again over Munster, taking it to a famous 4 wins in a row against their arch rivals. Some highlights:

The winning try, scored by Rob Kearney yet again (he has taken over the mantel as the Munster tormentor from Gordon D'Arcy & Brian O'Driscoll in the first 2 wins. D'Arcy scored a try 3 games on the trot against Munster, in the loss at Thomond & the wins at Croke Park and RDS. - O'Driscoll with 2 in the wins in Croke Park and RDS.)

And the much talked about Heaslip in O'Gara (Heaslip is really shaping up to being the most influentual player in the Leinster pack. The obvious choice as the next Leinster captain after the world cup, presuming Cullen calls it a day or is no longer in peak condition to be first choice lock. Imo Heaslip will be the Ireland captain after O'Driscoll too...could well end up captaining the Lions. Amazingly, he has matched Rocky Elsoms record for MOM performances in a season, even managing something Rocky didn't - 3 in a row).

Leinster are now looking forward to the Magners League final to be hosted in the RDS. If Leinster win, they will become the first side to win the Magners League 3 times. Leinster have been given a clean bill of health with the exception of Luke Fitzgerald, and with home advantage and the history books on Leinsters side, they must be favourites, however anyone who thinks Ospreys are anything less than a fantastic side are fooling themselves, and Leinster had to really fight their way over the finish line in the last meeting with Ospreys in the RDS and this will be a massive test that Leinster will need to bring their best performance to.

In transfer news, this game will also be the end of an era for Leinster, as Michael Cheika takes charge of Leinster for the final time before moving to Paris to take the helm at Stade Francais, looking to bring home silverware for the 3rd season in a row for Leinster and end a very successful reign with hopefully 3 trophies in 5 years, including the Heineken Cup, and reaching at least the Heineken Cup semi-finals in 3 of those 5 seasons.

It's also the end of an era as the old guard of Leinster begin to depart, with Malcolm O'Kelly and Girvan Dempsey calling it a day at the end of the season. Chris Keane is also expected to hang up his boots as he goes back to full time education, and Bernard Jackman and Ronan McCormack are not officially confirmed as leaving yet, but are expected to depart also. Jackman will persue a coaching career, currently overseeing the coaching role at AIL side Clontarf.

Other expected departures are that of CJ Van Der Linde who will be returning to South Africa ahead of the World Cup, Kyle Tonnetti & Shane Monnahan have also been confirmed as making the move west this summer, joing up with Leinster academy backs colleagues Ian Keatley & Fionn Carr at Connacht. Academy scrum-half Dave Moore is on his way to Harlequins.

On the coaching side, Leinster will be losing valuable experience in Alan Gaffney who will be taking his Irish role as backs coach full time from next season, Kurt McQuinlan, Leinster defence coach, who has made Leinsters defence famous for winning games, is leaving on a sebatical from rugby, Chris Whitaker leaves his role as team manager to take the equivalent role in Paris as he follows Michael Cheika, and will be replaced by Guy Easterby in this role.

Leinster are also looking forward to the arrivals of new head-coach Joseph Schmidt, the much vaunted backs & defence coach of ASM Clermont, who will be brining along his own coaching ticket to Leinster.

Leinster have also confirmed the signings of Ed O'Donoghue & Issac Boss from Ulster.

More excitingly though, after new coach Schmidt expressed an interest in many Leinster academy players and indicated giving more young players a chance in the senior squad, a number of very exciting young Leinster talents have been promoted from Academy contracts to Senior development contracts, with Paul Ryan (flanker), Rhys Ruddock (flanker), Andrew Conway (fullback/wing), Jack McGrath (prop), Eoin Sheriff (lock), Brendan Macken (centre), Niall Morris (fullback) all making the step up.

Most exciting of these must be the very young Brendan Macken (billed as the next Brian O'Driscoll) and even younger Andrew Conway (billed as the next Denis Hickie) being called up so early in their careers. Most will remember Conway from his debut against Scarlets this season, where his searing pace saw him set up a wonderful try for Johnny Sexton (with a sublime off-load) and again using his pace to make a spectacular tackle to spoil a certain try and forcing a knock on in the process, all this a season after coming out of schools rugby.

So for the Leinster fan, we say goodbye to some old faces, but enter a new and exciting chapter of Leinster rugby, and we live in hope that the transition is smooth and that the new coaching ticket and developing squad can continue the fine Leinster form over the last 3 years and bring Leinster into an even more successful era.

But for now, it's all eyes on next weekend, with the Leinster v Ospreys game and the hope of more silverware to build on Leinsters ever growing reputation for bringing home the trophies.

myflipflops

The pack is beginning to look a little light for my liking for next season.

After losing Rocky last year, van der Linde will be missed. We need Healy to step up to the mark again.

Ed O'Donoghue is a decent lock to replace Mal but I just get the feeling that we are a Jamie Heaslip injury away from being in trouble at Heineken Cup level next season.

Flash92

Would of liked to of seen Dominic Ryan get a full contract, enjoyed his performances on the under 20s.

Good Riddance to CJ imo, compare his reputation to that of Stan Wright's, and then compare their performances.

Between Healy, Wright and Ross, we should be able to front up in the scrum, obviously we will need some proper training towards this, and I don't think that CJ is a big loss.

[Jackass]

I think the most significant movement is in the coaching to be honest.

Ed O'Donoghue is an excellent signing imo, he will add more beef to the current second row options of Cullen & Hines, with Toner being more of a set piece specialist. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hogan head off. He would be a superb signing for Connacht, even Munster or Ulster, I've always valued him as a player, but the writing is on the wall for him now, and if he stays at Leinster he'll only be picking up a pay cheque.

Boss is another great signing, having 2 scrum halves of the quality of Boss and Reddan gives Leinster a real edge, similar to the Munster axis of O'Leary & Stringer, it allows us to mix things up with two very different styles of scrum-half. Boss has arguably been the best Irish scrum-half over the last 12 months, despite little international recognition. I just hope we can retain the services of O'Donoghue too, as he has a bright future ahead of him, but no doubt the IRFU will be considering sending him off to Ulster.

Leinster will almost certainly make a signing in the pack also, there's a massive amount of back-row talent with McLoughlin, O'Brien, Jennings & Heaslip being front line, Keogh back-up, but perhaps on the move, and Ryan and Ruddock making great impressions in the Leinster first 15 and U-20's this year, I think there's more than enough there for top level cover and top level development, so I really hope there is no signing there.

Second row is now very well covered also, with Cullen, Hines, O'Donoghue & Toner being front line, with possibly Hogan as back-up and the development of Sherrif in the senior squad now too, with the other Ruddock not far behind to come through, again, I don't think we need signings.

McGrath is a great prospect at prop, but with 4 props in match day 23's for Heineken Cup, and the loss of CJ and probably McCormack, means he will be 4th choice if we don't make a signing, and I don't think he'd be ready for that. He's Leinsters answer to the tight-head role, after we left Hagan go (which I'm still disapointed about) but I wouldn't be surprised to see a prop to come in to cover after Healy, Wright & Ross - good news for Ireland though as Ross is sure to see increased game time.

It's hooker where there's real concern for me. Jackman had a poor season and probably went on for one more than he should have, but Fogarty, despite having a decent season, and Strauss, bizarely in and out of the Leinster squad, is not enough, and I think Harris-Wright, already in the Leinster senior squad, needs to be intrusted to start making starts and bench appearences for Leinster, if we don't sign a hooker, this will be a great vote of confidence in him, and I would love to see a young Leinster hooker take over the 2 jersey in the team.

Outisde backs are extremely well covered, particularly with the new promotions, so the only area of light-weight cover in the squad other than prop / hooker is at 10. After Sexton, I'm not quite sure I trust Berne and Nacewa, although both have had very good days there recently, I'd like to see an academy 10 get a chance, or better yet, Keatley to come home, as much as that's a pipe dream.

But I don't think there'll be any major changes in the squad, but i think next seasons Leinster squad will be younger, more experienced and fresher than this seasons, with some good signings mixing it up, and the real making or breaking of how we do will be in the new coaching team and how they make the side play and how the players adapt to the new style.

But I have to say I'm very excited by this new era coming in, and I wouldn't be too critical of possibly a bedding in period of one season, but a similar performance to this season would be very encouraging, with hopefully even greater things to come in the following seasons.

Jemo

[Jackass] wrote: »

I wouldn't be too critical of possibly a bedding in period of one season, but a similar performance to this season would be very encouraging, with hopefully even greater things to come in the following seasons.

there seems to be a trend amongst new coaching tickets in that many go on to win trophies in their first year and then fade away, whilst some take time to bed in before winning silverware (of course some just fail altogether).
To take Cheika for instance, in his first year we played a beautiful style of rugby but won nothing but it was the start of real building process and he gained a very high level of consistency in his final 3 years.

In Munster, McGahan's first year he had them playing their best rugby ever but inconsistently, and since then he hasn't really pushed on, but in fairness Kidney is a tough act to follow. A grand slam in his first year as Ireland coach, nothing in his second six nations (speaking of trophies solely). I think Kidney has more to offer however and we should do well at the world cup under him.

Whilst I can't wait for Smidht to come in and shake things up, I'd also like to see him develop the team even further rather than just pushing for a giant first year and then fizzling out. He has very strong foundations to begin with, hopefully he can improve us in areas where we are relatively weak, for example scrummaging.

Also I'm looking forward to how he develops the backline, Gaffney is an artist in creating tryscoring first phase moves, however I feel our backs could improve somewhat in multiphase play, knowing when to up the ante all of sudden like the french sides typically do.

All in all, with the players available, the recent promotions, the strong academy and finally a new highly rated coach, next year promises to be exciting and hopefully we can push on once again!

durkadurka

Anyone surprised at Niall Morris getting an upgraded contract?

He had an absolute shocker against the dragons when we sent that A team there, and hasn't been seen since really, even when the squad was stretched last month.

myflipflops

Deleted User wrote: »

Good Riddance to CJ imo, compare his reputation to that of Stan Wright's, and then compare their performances.
.

It wasn't the most succesful signing in the world alright but I thought he was quite good this year.

Would I would guess is that he had a decent hand in the improvement of Cian Healy last year as a scrummager (and Wright too actually!).

danthefan

durkadurka wrote: »

Anyone surprised at Niall Morris getting an upgraded contract?

He had an absolute shocker against the dragons when we sent that A team there, and hasn't been seen since really, even when the squad was stretched last month.

Which is probably why contracts are not decided on one game.

durkadurka

danthefan wrote: »

Which is probably why contracts are not decided on one game.

Where has he impressed then?

danthefan

durkadurka wrote: »

Where has he impressed then?

I don't know, but I would say the coaches are more informed than I am.

durkadurka

danthefan wrote: »

I don't know, but I would say the coaches are more informed than I am.

He was part of a brilliant blackrock schools back 3 with artemiev and luke fitz.

Very talented but i think every time he got a big chance with leinster it went wrong.
Was just wondering because there's so many talented backs in the academy there.

ALH-06

Deleted User wrote: »

Good Riddance to CJ imo... I don't think that CJ is a big loss.

In fairness he's been very unlucky with injury and has started to play a lot better recently. If he hadn't come with such a massive reputation we'd be very pleased with him.

[Jackass] wrote: »

I just hope we can retain the services of O'Donoghue too, as he has a bright future ahead of him.

I really hope he moves on. Far too talented to be feeding off Bosses' and Reddans' scraps. He's the makings of a great player but will now be forced to leave Leinster. It's a pity, I didn't agree with the Boss signing for this reason.

durkadurka wrote: »

He was part of a brilliant blackrock schools back 3 with artemiev and luke fitz.

Doesn't mean much, Artemiev could never make it at this level either. I'm unimpressed with Morris - he's a good player at AIL level but even at Blackrock RFC he hasn't been a standout player. The likes of Madigan, Carr, Monaghan, Conway and Macken would be way ahead of him in my reckoning.

ALH-06

What's with Dave Moore moving to Harlequins? I was pretty surprised to hear this.

He's been great with Blackrock in the AIL, but always a good distance behind Reddan, O'Donoghue and even Keane at Leinster. With O'Donoghue presumably looking to move on as well now, it's strange that Harlequins pipped for Moore. I wonder what kind of game time he'll get over there...

And anyone know about Cillian Willis up at Ulster?

Ciaran-Irl

With Conor O'Shea at Quinns, this probably isn't going to be the last promising youngster that moves across the water.

Stev_o

ALH-06 wrote: »

And anyone know about Cillian Willis up at Ulster?

Broke his leg this season after coming back from a very long injury. I doubt there's much of a future for him which is a shame but such is life he ll probably be left to go to the AIL or he might do the right thing and retire and not risk another serious injury to himself.

anonymous_joe

ALH-06 wrote: »

What's with Dave Moore moving to Harlequins? I was pretty surprised to hear this.

He's been great with Blackrock in the AIL, but always a good distance behind Reddan, O'Donoghue and even Keane at Leinster. With O'Donoghue presumably looking to move on as well now, it's strange that Harlequins pipped for Moore. I wonder what kind of game time he'll get over there...

And anyone know about Cillian Willis up at Ulster?

He's not going to take Boss or Reddan's place realistically, so he's fourth choice. Makes sense to head abroad.

[Jackass]

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/newsroom/4774.php

Leinster Rugby wrote:

Jamie Heaslip has been named the Bank of Ireland Leinster Player of the Year at the annual awards ceremony in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin on Friday evening...

The Naas man received the coveted award, thus following in the footsteps of recent winners Gordon D'Arcy, Felipe Contepomi, Bernard Jackman and Rocky Elsom in front of over 350 guests including; players, coaches, clubs, schools, sponsors and Official Leinster Supporters Club (OLSC) members, representing all parts of the provincial game.

Heaslip has played an influential role for the province in 18 appearances to date this season and has been a standout performer in Leinster's Magners League and Heineken Cup campaign.

Commenting on his award, a delighted Jamie Heaslip said: "It is a huge honour to receive this award and I'd like to thank Bank of Ireland for their generosity. I don't think I've ever received an award of this stature before on an individual basis and I wouldn't like to take too much credit because I couldn't have achieved this without my team-mates and coaches.

"The way the Leinster squad has been managed this year has kept guys fresh for every game and that has affected me positively, touch wood. It's also down to Cheiks' (Michael Cheika) ability to rotate the squad, the fitness coaches for keeping us fit and healthy, and everyone on the squad pushing each other because of the competition that's there.

"We have a huge test coming up next weekend against the Ospreys and it will be another massive battle up front. They have an array of talent out wide so we will have to up our levels again next week. There's no sense of our season being complete even though we were pleased to beat Munster in the semi final. While it's humbling and I'm extremely grateful to receive this award, I hope that it won't be the last one for this season."

A number of the departing players and coaches were honoured as was Shane Jennings who recently passed the 100 cap milestone for his province, while Head Coach Michael Cheika received a specially commissioned painting on behalf of Leinster Rugby and Bank of Ireland for his outstanding contribution to the province over the last five years.

Former Leinster and Ireland great Paddy Madigan was inducted into the Guinness Hall of Fame to honour a lifetime's involvement at all levels of the game. Educated in Belvedere College SJ where he collected five Leinster Schools caps, after leaving school he joined Old Belvedere and rendered outstanding service to the club and played a major role in the club's victory in the Leinster Senior Cup final in 1968. He won his first Leinster cap in 1964 and made 15 appearances for the province.

After he retired as a player, he served on the Old Belvedere executive and was President of the Leinster Branch in 1976/77 and was a member of the Leinster selection committee. An Ireland selector from 1978 to 1981 and chairman of the selection committee in 1980/81, he was manager of the Ireland team that toured South Africa in 1981. He was a member of the IRFU Executive Committee for well over a decade and was president of the Union in 1987/88. The first chairman of the IRFU Sponsorship Committee, he still works tirelessly with the IRFU Charitable Trust. On and off the field his contribution to the game has been immense.

Fresh from leading the Ireland Under-20's to Six Nations success, back-row forward Rhys Ruddock picked up the Powerade Young Player of the Year award in his first season in the Leinster Academy. The 19-year-old made his senior debut for the province in December and has played three times so far in the Magners League.

Isa Nacewa received the Comans Wines Tackle of Year for a tackle made on Niall O'Connor during the St. Stephen's Day victory over Ulster in the RDS, while Gordon D'Arcy picked up the Try of the Year award for his effort in the 30-0 Magners League victory over Munster in the RDS, as voted for by readers of the Evening Herald.

In what was another remarkable year for Leinster Schools rugby, St. Gerard's School picked up the Powerade sponsored School of the Year after making impressive strides in recent years.

The Philips Ladies Player of the Year went to Blackrock, Leinster and Ireland scrum-half Tania Rosser who has been an outstanding ambassador for the women's game over the last number of years. Tania continued her excellent run of form over the league and interprovincial campaigns this year and is a deserving winner of this prestigious accolade.

St. Mary's College, meanwhile, have had a tremendous season, not just at Senior level but throughout the club where they have competed at every level and in the process picked up four Leinster Branch trophies ranging from Under-21's up to J2 and are worthy recipients of the Canterbury Senior Club of the Year. The Senior side demonstrated a remarkable spirit before going under to Cork Con after extra time in the AIB League Division 1 Final; the huge colour and support they brought to the occasion was the abiding image from a truly memorable day in Athlone.

Canterbury Junior Club of the Year Seapoint went unbeaten in winning the Leinster League for the second time in their history. It was an extraordinary achievement in an extremely competitive League that was played on a home and away basis for the first time. They backed it up by winning all three Round Robin games to gain promotion to the AIB League, a most timely accomplishment as the progressive Killiney based club celebrates in 75th anniversary this season.

Bevan Duffy picked up the Paul Sheeran Club Player of the Year after being an integral part of Boyne's Newstalk Provincial Towns Cup winning team; a notable triumph for the Drogheda club who won the coveted pot for the second year in a row. The accomplished centre was also the stand-out performer in the Leinster League as his club finished runners up to Seapoint while he made a vital contribution to Leinster winning the Junior Interprovincial for the third year in succession.

Clondalkin's Jonny Stapleton set the benchmark this year by consistently promoting his club to a variety of media with fresh and innovative content and his voluntary efforts were rewarded with the Evening Herald Public Relations Officer of the Year.

Des Cahill was the Master of Ceremonies on a successful night which saluted an outstanding year for the game of rugby in Leinster.

LEINSTER ANNUAL AWARDS BALL WINNERS:

Evening Herald Club PRO of the Year
Jonny Stapleton (Clondalkin)

Philips Ladies Player of the Year
Tania Rosser

Canterbury Junior Club of the Year
Seapoint

Comans Wines Tackle of Year
Isa Nacewa

Canterbury Senior Club of the Year
St. Mary's College

Powerade School of the Year
St Gerard's School

Paul Sheeran Club Player of the Year
Bevan Duffy

Powerade Young Player of the Year
Rhys Ruddock

Evening Herald Try of the Year
Gordon D'Arcy (v Munster, Magners League, 3rd October)

Guinness Hall of Fame
Paddy Madigan

Bank of Ireland Player of the Year
Jamie Heaslip

Try of the season:

Don't have Nacewa's tackle of the season unfortunately.

Great achievement by Ruddock at just 19 to come into the Leinster academy, captain the Irish U-20's, get called up for Senior development contract, get 3 Leinster caps and win Leinster young player of the season, all in his first season. What an impact, he's going to be some player of the future!! We're churning out more top class back-row players than we can handle at the moment!! The two Ryan's are top quality also, with Paul already promoted to senior development contract and winning 3 full Leinster caps this season also.

durkadurka

Who knew that Isa's tackle was so impressive?

Reminds me of a joke i once told when i was best man at a wedding...

durkadurka

My vote for try of the year would be the last minute one against brive for the bp where shaggy's pass out to BOD had us shouting his name and applauding for 10 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW7HgpvlLFs

funky penguin

I got incredibly drunk at that match, made a drunken video with my mate about BOD scoring the BP try, shouted about said BP through Ballsbridge, in a Burger King and at anyone who would hear me......apparently. Woke up the next morning, mate rang me:

"I have a video of us celebrating BOD's BP try!!!"

Me: "We got a Bonus Point?"

durkadurka

funky penguin wrote: »

I got incredibly drunk at that match, made a drunken video with my mate about BOD scoring the BP try, shouted about said BP through Ballsbridge, in a Burger King and at anyone who would hear me......apparently. Woke up the next morning, mate rang me:

"I have a video of us celebrating BOD's BP try!!!"

Me: "We got a Bonus Point?"

Ah sure lash it onto youtube for us will ye?

The Rooster

With all the negativity about our scrum v Toulouse it has been interesting to note that following that, Biarritz dominated Munster in the scrum, we dominated Munster, and then Toulouse dominated Biarritz - I think it shows that we're not actually that bad in the scrum area, its just that Toulouse are absolutely superb and there's no shame in being 2nd best to them. (Of course it'd still be nice for us to improve in that area.)

If only the Toulouse backs made as many silly mistakes and knock-ons against us as they did against Biarritz!

Anyway, my point is that in the cold light of day, I reckon we've a great chance of regaining the H Cup next year

funky penguin

durkadurka wrote: »

Ah sure lash it onto youtube for us will ye?

Good lord no!

molloyjh

durkadurka wrote: »

My vote for try of the year would be the last minute one against brive for the bp where shaggy's pass out to BOD had us shouting his name and applauding for 10 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW7HgpvlLFs

Great little pass....the missus even made it into the footage there too. I didn't realise how loud the chants for Shaggy really were...

[Jackass]

[Jackass] wrote: »

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/newsroom/4774.php



Try of the season:

O'leary coming in with a late high shoulder on shaggy in that vid. Surprised no one has brought it up

Jedwardian

CJ van der Linde has re-signed with the Cheetahs after a two-year stint with Irish club Leinster.

The World Cup-winning tighthead’s return was partly facilitated by financial assistance from SA Rugby, who have offered him a contract through to the 2011 World Cup.

Van der Linde, capped 58 times for the Springboks, will add depth in a position where it is desperately needed. The imminent return of BJ Botha from Ulster will further improve that situation.

More to follow…

http://www.keo.co.za/2010/05/24/cj-boosts-sas-prop-depth/

LeeroyJones

Deleted User wrote: »

O'leary coming in with a late high shoulder on shaggy in that vid. Surprised no one has brought it up

to be fair, O'Leary had lined up Horgan while he had the ball and was well committed to the challenge just before Horgan offloads. It would be difficult for him to get out of the way

irishbucsfan

LeeroyJones wrote: »

to be fair, O'Leary had lined up Horgan while he had the ball and was well committed to the challenge just before Horgan offloads. It would be difficult for him to get out of the way

Agreed. I don't see a problem with the tackle at all. O'Leary did try to wrap, it was just a big collision that sent them both backwards.

And it wasn't illegally high.