Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

CouchSmart

O'Donohue's off to Connacht, surely we'll need a replacement or is there a good prospect coming through? It's a strange position we're in. In Reddan and Boss we have two top scrum halves but with both available to Ireland we could lose either at any time. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

GerM

CouchSmart wrote: »

O'Donohue's off to Connacht, surely we'll need a replacement or is there a good prospect coming through? It's a strange position we're in. In Reddan and Boss we have two top scrum halves but with both available to Ireland we could lose either at any time. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

All aboard the Luke McGrath hype machine! Woo woo! Wouldn't be surprised to see him brought straight into the academy next season out of school.

In all seriousness though, it's a concern. John Cooney looked good for the U20 team last season but has had little enough of a look in. Got a couple of starts for the A team this season but POD was normally the man in possession of that jersey. Hopefully he is ready to make a contribution. Du Toit has looked good but has only been in the sub academy thus far to the best of my knowledge.

profitius

GerM wrote: »

All aboard the Luke McGrath hype machine! Woo woo! Wouldn't be surprised to see him brought straight into the academy next season out of school.

In all seriousness though, it's a concern. John Cooney looked good for the U20 team last season but has had little enough of a look in. Got a couple of starts for the A team this season but POD was normally the man in possession of that jersey. Hopefully he is ready to make a contribution. Du Toit has looked good but has only been in the sub academy thus far to the best of my knowledge.

If McGrath is good enough then they should put him into the academy next season.

almighty1

CouchSmart wrote: »

According to a post of LF we've signed Carr on a 1 year deal.

Anybody heard any more on this?

profitius

almighty1 wrote: »

Anybody heard any more on this?

2 year deal according to some. It seems like hes going to Leinster anyway.

If/when he goes I might put a bet on him being the top try scorer in the league next season. He might not play as much with Leinster but he'll get more chances and he has a great strike rate.

CouchSmart

almighty1 wrote: »

Anybody heard any more on this?

A 2 year deal is all but confirmed now. Announcement will be soon, I'd assume.

Cooney and du Toit are both solid prospects.

Cooney is a flashy and niggly scrum half like peel and cussiter. Du Toit is a younger Boss IMO, strong quick and dangerous around fringes.

Not sure where either of them are in terms of progression to the ML team (not bein in the country hasn't helped with tracking the underage teams), but from seeing a lot of them over last two years, they're both on the right road.

I'm not sure if they'd complete an ML lineup, but I would guess that Cooney would be more ready than du Toit if they were called upon next season.

[Jackass]

Yeah Carr is confirmed in media as signing a 2 year deal. O'Donohue confirmed to Connacht.

Is Luke McGrath the Clongowes scrum-half from this season SCT? I was at the semi and the final this season, had heard a lot of hype about him, didn't stand out as spectacular or anything but good player.

The half backs and back-row of Clongowes were excellent. I thought the Clongowes out-hlaf was the star though, fantastic player. (Can't remember name)

GerM

[Jackass] wrote: »

Yeah Carr is confirmed in media as signing a 2 year deal. O'Donohue confirmed to Connacht.

Is Luke McGrath the Clongowes scrum-half from this season SCT? I was at the semi and the final this season, had heard a lot of hype about him, didn't stand out as spectacular or anything but good player.

The half backs and back-row of Clongowes were excellent. I thought the Clongowes out-hlaf was the star though, fantastic player. (Can't remember name)

McGrath is the Michaels scrum half. One of those players that you see at schools level and say "He's going all the way" like Kearney or McKinley when they were playing at that level. Also a very fine place kicker and captains the Irish U18 team.

The Clongowes outhalf is David Quirke. Absolutely silky runner but he's a Cork man and will be returning there after his schooling I believe. Not much of a kicking game though. One of the Clongowes three quarters did the goal kicking and he rarely but boot to ball during the tournament. Didn't need to when was was as good a runner as he was.

[Jackass]

Yeah the Clongowes left wing took the place kicks.

Shame about that lad being a Munster man. One of the more impressive schoolboys I've seen in a while.

I'm going to jump on this McGrath bandwagon so. w00t! w00t!

durkadurka

'last' 1300 tickets tomorrow at ten

Amazotheamazing

GerM wrote: »

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The Clongowes outhalf is David Quirke. Absolutely silky runner but he's a Cork man and will be returning there after his schooling I believe.

Interesting.

If Murray makes the step up we may not need a kicking outhalf for the next few years or so, Murray used to be the kicker for the u20's and still kicks for Garryowen on occasion.

GerM

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Interesting.

If Murray makes the step up we may not need a kicking outhalf for the next few years or so, Murray used to be the kicker for the u20's and still kicks for Garryowen on occasion.

True. The issue is that, in Irish rugby, if you're not the outhalf, you generally don't take the kicks. Look at McFadden, he was a superb goal kicker and was knocking them over from all angles last season. This season he has seen a lot more top level game time and Sexton and Naacewa have taken all the kicks at goal. McFadden took what I believe was his first shot at goal all season on Saturday, a straighforward enough kick and never even threatened the posts. If Murray becomes a regular match day player with Munster he'll rarely have a kick at goal and that talent will slip away. It infuriates me. Eoin O'Malley was an out half and goalkicker for the Irish U20 team but I am yet to see him have a shot for Leinster at any point. If the skills aren't maintained, they're lost.

CIARAN_BOYLE

GerM wrote: »

True. The issue is that, in Irish rugby, if you're not the outhalf, you generally don't take the kicks. Look at McFadden, he was a superb goal kicker and was knocking them over from all angles last season. This season he has seen a lot more top level game time and Sexton and Naacewa have taken all the kicks at goal. McFadden took what I believe was his first shot at goal all season on Saturday, a straighforward enough kick and never even threatened the posts. If Murray becomes a regular match day player with Munster he'll rarely have a kick at goal and that talent will slip away. It infuriates me. Eoin O'Malley was an out half and goalkicker for the Irish U20 team but I am yet to see him have a shot for Leinster at any point. If the skills aren't maintained, they're lost.

Gotta agree, I would much rather see McFadden or O'Malley take kicks than Nacewa when Sexton isn't available. They need the practice to keep the skill sharp.

jacothelad

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Gotta agree, I would much rather see McFadden or O'Malley take kicks than Nacewa when Sexton isn't available. They need the practice to keep the skill sharp.

I'm sure they still put in the practice kicking at goal. I

CIARAN_BOYLE

jacothelad wrote: »

I'm sure they still put in the practice kicking at goal. I

yeah but doing it in a match is completly different I'm sure, the real match practice is vital

CatFromHue

anyone do the leinster survey emailed about yesterday?

my god!

the leinster is good,
the leinster is great,
i surrender my will as of this date

i love the leinster

wixfjord

CatFromHue wrote: »

anyone do the leinster survey emailed about yesterday?

my god!

the leinster is good,
the leinster is great,
i surrender my will as of this date

i love the leinster

It's ****ing sickening tbh.
Whomever drew up this was either off their tits, or going through a break down of some sort!
****ing shocking stuff in it! It's a rugby team for gods sake!

Buceph

This is my post from munsterfans on it. I'm guessing it's a bunch of students who have the co-operation of the branch.

"It's bulls**t taken straight out of a marketing course (I have a degree in marketing myself.) But surveys are useless for this kind of thing. They're trying to establish Leinster fans as a "Neo-Tribe" and do an ethnographics investigation and there's some validity to it[to the idea of a fandom being a Neo-Tribe], same goes for any sports fan who feels a strong connection with their team. But outright asking "Are you wet for Kearney?" isn't the way to go about proving it. Quantitive analysis for an emotive subject isn't the right way to investigate it at all. You really want to start off with a few depth interviews with "hardcore" fans. Then use that to inform a discussion group that you record and put a few non-leading questions. Outright asking "Do you think Leinster fandom is a Tribe" isn't going to work. Another way to do it is to actually immerse yourself in the role, so that would involve going on the websites, getting behind Leinster, going to the matches and talking to people in a normal way. All far too hard for stoodents."


I sincerely doubt any credible marketing group would publish something so shoddy as that survey.

Edit: I filled out it with lots of details about my pride of being a Ladyboy and my visits to Thailand.

durkadurka

Is there a link to this?

Buceph

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Leinster_Rugby_Survey?utm_source=mdm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Win+Tickets+to+Leinster+v+ToulouseCome+to+the+Leinster+Awards+Ball

RuggieBear

Jesus.

Is that for real?

durkadurka

Its like a drug addiction questionnaire or something

Cpt_Blackbeard

RuggieBear wrote: »

Jesus.

Is that for real?

At least all LvM arguments can be finished with one link and no bans now.

It should make your job a little easier :P

wixfjord

Buceph wrote: »

This is my post from munsterfans on it. I'm guessing it's a bunch of students who have the co-operation of the branch.

"It's bulls**t taken straight out of a marketing course (I have a degree in marketing myself.) But surveys are useless for this kind of thing. They're trying to establish Leinster fans as a "Neo-Tribe" and do an ethnographics investigation and there's some validity to it[to the idea of a fandom being a Neo-Tribe], same goes for any sports fan who feels a strong connection with their team. But outright asking "Are you wet for Kearney?" isn't the way to go about proving it. Quantitive analysis for an emotive subject isn't the right way to investigate it at all. You really want to start off with a few depth interviews with "hardcore" fans. Then use that to inform a discussion group that you record and put a few non-leading questions. Outright asking "Do you think Leinster fandom is a Tribe" isn't going to work. Another way to do it is to actually immerse yourself in the role, so that would involve going on the websites, getting behind Leinster, going to the matches and talking to people in a normal way. All far too hard for stoodents."


I sincerely doubt any credible marketing group would publish something so shoddy as that survey.

Edit: I filled out it with lots of details about my pride of being a Ladyboy and my visits to Thailand.

Spot on, I'm a marketing grad aswell, and it doesn't take any training in the area to know that first of all, open ended questions don't tell you a whole lot, and especially stupid airy fairy questions like that.
It's far too long, but it's filled with pure ****e in the first place.
Typical marketing bull****, this sort of crap should be kept out of rugby, it's like the stuff on the back of Munster's jerseys, or that awful Leinster Glory song.

crisco10

wixfjord wrote: »

Spot on, I'm a marketing grad aswell, and it doesn't take any training in the area to know that first of all, open ended questions don't tell you a whole lot, and especially stupid airy fairy questions like that.
It's far too long, but it's filled with pure ****e in the first place.
Typical marketing bull****, this sort of crap should be kept out of rugby, it's like the stuff on the back of Munster's jerseys, or that awful Leinster Glory song.

Where did they get that stuff?!

And how was it distributed? I never heard of it until I came on here and leinsterfans...

Incidentally, Leinster stands for "Legends for Eternity Inventing Sexy Tactics to Erradicate Racism" right?

thomond2006

RuggieBear wrote: »

Jesus.

Is that for real?

+1 :pac:

CIARAN_BOYLE

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6391145
The table on this site claims that stan wright is only on around 140,000 a year with leinster, my guess would have been around one and a half times that.

I hope he is on a better salary next season over in France.

durkadurka

Slightly off topic but John o Shea!!!!!

CIARAN_BOYLE

durkadurka wrote: »

Slightly off topic but John o Shea!!!!!

was a shock for me too, I expected Robbie Keane as Ireland's best paid sportsman, boy was I surprised