Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

irishbucsfan

I love Woody but you can't compare him with O'Driscoll. O'Driscoll is the best this country has ever produced. Saying that Wood was better just because he won the ridiculous IRB award is insane.

totallegend

CatFromHue wrote: »

no it isnt

you're comparing a guy who has played a pretty good season at hooker with a guy who went on 2 lions tours and has the record for the most amount of trys scored by a guy in his position!

when ireland were awful, and i mean worse than scotland in recent years, wood was taking it to teams who barely had to try to beat us.

+1. The late 90s were a grim time and Wood was possibly our only player who was world-class.

If Strauss maintains this form for another couple of seasons, maybe then we can talk about him in the same terms as Woody, but Strauss has been a revelation this year.

roycon

strauss is good at playing a fast mobile handling style leinster game. he's not good at playing a scrummaging, throwing close in game. hes not that great a ball carrier in tight spaces. He will find it very hard to get near the irish team unless his throwing gets considerably better ane he puts on a stone. ireland dont play the same as leinster and he wont fit in as well

roycon

roycon wrote: »

strauss is good at playing a fast mobile handling style leinster game. he's not good at playing a scrummaging, throwing close in game. hes not that great a ball carrier in tight spaces. He will find it very hard to get near the irish team unless his throwing gets considerably better ane he puts on a stone. ireland dont play the same as leinster and he wont fit in as well

I think you could be onto something here...

Which team should aspire to be like the other though?

jolley123

roycon wrote: »

strauss is good at playing a fast mobile handling style leinster game. he's not good at playing a scrummaging, throwing close in game. hes not that great a ball carrier in tight spaces. He will find it very hard to get near the irish team unless his throwing gets considerably better ane he puts on a stone. ireland dont play the same as leinster and he wont fit in as well

If Sean Cronin can get near the irish team, Strauss can get near the irish team.

roycon

im probably over reacting by saying 'get near' but hes being talked up here as the best hooker in europe which is farcical

Can't think of another who's been as consistently good this season though...

Don't forget that he's had to play almost every game too because we only have JHW and Dundon/Sexton as backup.

No rest for the wicked!

roycon

id pick about 4 english hookers ahead of him at international level. thompson, hartley, mears and of course brian moore

jolley123

The only person I would rate higher than him in Europe right now is Servat, and maybe Flannery if he was fit.

Sundy

roycon wrote: »

im probably over reacting by saying 'get near' but hes being talked up here as the best hooker in europe which is farcical

Read that in a sunday paper today actually!

irishlad_85

Strauss at the moment is definitely playing better than any other hooker we have in Ireland. Flannery is our only hooker with consistently good throwing into the lineout. Best, Cronin and Varley just don't have the consistency to be considered truly world class. I've seen Strauss improve a lot over the course of the season. He has had a lot of responsibility with no experienced back up hooker at Leinster. I think if he was available for Ireland now he would definitely go to the World Cup. But it's all hypothetical now, so lets just hope he continues to improve and then we'll see what happens come the Summer tour or Autumn internationals in 2012. But don't forget we have Cronin going to Leinster next year, it should be interesting!

roycon

i think youve all been watching a bit too much sky sports and are getting carried away. hes great for leinster(except for his throwing) but for another team like clermont for example who have

Agustín Creevy
Mario Ledesma
Ti’i Paulo

i dont even know if hed get a look in

jolley123

roycon wrote: »

i think youve all been watching a bit too much sky sports and are getting carried away. hes great for leinster(except for his throwing) but for another team like clermont for example who have

Agustín Creevy
Mario Ledesma
Ti’i Paulo

i dont even know if hed get a look in

That's fair enough, your opinion.

I just don't see how you formed it.

Think about it. Leinster's scrum has been solid as ever, and he plays a part in that. He was voted player of the month. He is one of our best attacking forwards and defenders. He got MoM against Leicester for a reason, plus I don't remember a time where I've thought his throwing was below par other than the first 2 or 3 matches of the season. He is by no means world class, he needs another 2 or 3 seasons to prove that and some international experience, but he certainly would start for Ireland with Flannery injured.

Sundy

roycon wrote: »

i think youve all been watching a bit too much sky sports and are getting carried away. hes great for leinster(except for his throwing) but for another team like clermont for example who have

Agustín Creevy
Mario Ledesma
Ti’i Paulo

i dont even know if hed get a look in

I think your right there, he's a player who gets about a lot so gets picked by commentators much more. He is a totally different style of player to the big bulky hooker. I expect Schmit will rotate him and cronin next year depending on the opponents.

pajunior

Sundy wrote: »

I think your right there, he's a player who gets about a lot so gets picked by commentators much more. He is a totally different style of player to the big bulky hooker. I expect Schmit will rotate him and cronin next year depending on the opponents.

Would have thought him and Cronin were in similar molds since neither are amazing at lineout or scrum time but both are very dynamic around the park.

On a very off topic note, when did dynamic become the buzz word for describing any forward who has an ability to run?

funky penguin

Where on EARTH is all this talk about him not being good in the lineout coming from?

Those two miss-throws in the first half were the first I can remember him fluffing in a LONG time.

CIARAN_BOYLE

In the first seven HEC matches, ie group stages + Leicster Strauss had 52/60 successful throws which is pretty good imo

irishbucsfan

roycon wrote: »

i think youve all been watching a bit too much sky sports and are getting carried away. hes great for leinster(except for his throwing) but for another team like clermont for example who have

Agustín Creevy
Mario Ledesma
Ti’i Paulo

i dont even know if hed get a look in

Clermont would wet themselves if they were offered the opportunity to drop Creevy or Ledesma in return for Strauss.

And the idea that he can't throw or scrummage is preposterous. He is also about 650 times better than Steve Thompson, and isn't a feckin eejit like Dylan Hartley. And also he isn't an absolutely shambolic scrummager who is ridiculously underweight for a pro front-rower like Lee Mears.

He has just put in the best season at hooker for a Leinster player in the pro era, better than Shane Byrne ever managed for sure. Considering Leinster played (and beat) the teams ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the best club league in the world and also beat the team second in the lowly Aviva Premiership that is quite a feat.

So to summarise, Strauss has put in the best season in the pro-era that any hooker has done for Leinster this year, despite it being a year when they faced tougher games than at any point before. He is a class act.

CIARAN_BOYLE

irishbucsfan wrote: »

He has just put in the best season at hooker for a Leinster player in the pro era, better than Shane Byrne ever managed for sure. Considering Leinster played (and beat) the teams ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the best club league in the world and also beat the team second in the lowly Aviva Premiership that is quite a feat.

First and second in the aviva premiership

TheHighRoad

You have to laugh at some of the bull**** that is spouted here. I had a chuckle at the comments that Strauss is a poor scrummager and thrower - where the **** is that coming from? Leinster's lineout and scrum has been extraordinarily strong this season and Strauss is pivitol in it. Hes been a complete animal in the loose and to be perfectly frank hes had the best season of any hooker playing in Ireland that I can remember (including Flannery, Byrne and Wood). It would be interesting to see if he can keep it up but if he can he could be starting for South Africa soon let alone the big teams in europe (also laughed at that one, hes playing for the best team in europe right now!)

Jamie "God" Heaslip is one of 5 Leinster players in the 2010/2011 Magner's League Dream Team

MAGNERS LEAGUE DREAM TEAM 2011

15. ISA NACEWA (LEINSTER)
14. FIONN CARR (CONNACHT)
13. CASEY LAULALA (CARDIFF BLUES)
12. JONATHAN DAVIES (SCARLETS)
11. TIM VISSER (EDINBURGH)
10. RONAN O'GARA (MUNSTER)
9. RUAN PIENAAR (ULSTER)
1. IESTYN THOMAS (SCARLETS)
2. RICHARDT STRAUSS (LEINSTER)
3. MIKE ROSS (LEINSTER)
4. ALUN WYN JONES (OSPREYS)
5. RICHIE GRAY (GLASGOW WARRIORS)
6. SEAN O'BRIEN (LEINSTER)
7. SAM WARBURTON (CARDIFF BLUES)
8. JAMIE HEASLIP (LEINSTER)

This marks Heaslip's 4th year in a row in the "Dream Team".

errlloyd

Says a lot that Munster dominated the league and only have one dream teamer.

Also says a lot that Leinster dominate the dream team and Bod and Darcy didn't even get picked!!

lologram

errlloyd wrote: »

Also says a lot that Leinster dominate the dream team and Bod and Darcy didn't even get picked!!

I'm not sure how many games D'Arcy played, but Bod only played 7 ML games out of 21 so far. You couldn't really legitimately pick him for a team of the season when he only plays one third of the games

Burgo

lologram wrote: »

I'm not sure how many games D'Arcy played, but Bod only played 7 ML games out of 21 so far. You couldn't really legitimately pick him for a team of the season when he only plays one third of the games

Heaslips played the same amount has BoD though.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Over the last few weeks has anyone taken the time to watch Steven Sykes.

If so how has he done and will he fill Nathan Hines shoes next season. I haven't had a chance to watch him but he has still played every game so far this season for the second SA franchise in the super XV so I'm still going with he has to be kind of good anyway

Podge_irl

Deleted User wrote: »

This marks Heaslip's 4th year in a row in the "Dream Team".

5th I read. He's been in it every single year. Nice achievement.

CatFromHue

nice achievment, completely undeserved though.

wannenberg and xavier rush have started the same amount of games this season in the magners as heaslip has in the last 2 seasons, 17 compared to 7 and 10.

Podge_irl

CatFromHue wrote: »

nice achievment, completely undeserved though.

wannenberg and xavier rush have started the same amount of games this season in the magners as heaslip has in the last 2 seasons, 17 compared to 7 and 10.

But he's twice as good, so he still edges them on cumulative awesomeness.

roycon

haha if you really think strauss has any chance of ever starting for south africa you must be on acid. id say hes about 7th choice. since i started this il summarise with 'he plays well for leinster, hes played well this season, he fits the leinster style of play, but he definitely is nowhere near good enough on current form to get near the south african team. possibly subbing for ireland standard. but to say hes better than ledesma after one full season of professional rugby is a joke. i saw him play for blackrock against clontarf last year and he didnt even loom exceptional. wet day tight quarters. not that a good carrier at close quarters. and not hitting his men in the lineout . he developed well this season but theres a long and winding road ahead of him

So what you're saying is that in the guts of one season, he's gone from being sub AIL standard to HEC standard?

Can't wait to see how good he is next season so.