Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

Jello

No citing for O'Brien

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/0503/1224295912909.html

WeeBushy

Jello wrote: »

No citing for O'Brien

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/0503/1224295912909.html

Thank GBod for that!

yimrsg

roycon wrote: »

haha if you really think strauss has any chance of ever starting for south africa you must be on acid.
PdV doesn't play the gametype to get the most from Strauss. He picks big players and plays a more limited style. Bringing in Strauss would do very little to change SA's play.
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.
Cronin is the current sub hooker and will most likely be second fiddle to Strauss. There is no point in him playing for SA as his qualities in the loose wouldn't be utilised.
but to say hes better than ledesma after one full season of professional rugby is a joke.
Ledesma is 37 and Strauss 26. One's career has peaked and the other's on an upward curve. On this season's performance I'd choose Strauss. If you took another season or two into consideration, I think you would definitely have him down as better than Ledesma.
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 .
You say he's gone from unexceptional in the AIL to motm in the HC quarter final in the course of one season. If that's not impressive development then I don't know what is. Before the toulouse game he had completed 52/60 (86.7%) of his lineouts, Servat had 48/55 (87.3%). I'd reckon his lineout throwing is nothing to worry about.
he developed well this season but theres a long and winding road ahead of him
Completely agree but his impact thus far has been nothing short of meteoric. He's rated the 2nd highest hooker in the Erc opta ratings, ahead of Servat behind Brits.

I really think you've gotten it very wrong with regard to your opinion on him.

sock puppet

What's this about Strauss' first professional season? The guy's a Currie Cup winner.

CIARAN_BOYLE

sock puppet wrote: »

What's this about Strauss' first professional season? The guy's a Currie Cup winner.

I really don't know, he had 40ish caps with a super rugby team before joining Leinster and this is his second season at leinster so I don't know what the naysayers are on about

@Ruggie

@Ruggie / toomevera Can we have [Jackass] back please?

Got a bit interested in the Nurture thread of 20 months back, and found this post by him, and had to bump it.

[Jackass] wrote: »

There seems to be a lot of guys just dropping short over the years...I'd wonder how Connaht would like to take any of these guys on trial? i.e "sorry, you're not being given your pro contract here, but Connacht are willing to take you on on a 2 month trial"

And then that gives the IRFU and Connacht to take another look at these players in a different light and see if they can step up, maybe even unearth a couple of gems who didn't get a contract purely based on competition in a different squad. But they get the feebie of looknig at them first before commiting to a contract.

We've all seen it with players like Niall Ronan...never really made an impact at Leinster beyond the A team, but once he got a move and first team action, he stepped it up a gear and began to shine. Just because there are no oppertunities in one squad, doesn't mean the player can't go elsewhere and take the oppertunity if given the chance.

As for the Rocky syndrome, Rocky is a massive player and was the driving force, along with Brian O'Driscoll, last season, but we've seen it before, a key player goes and it's all doom and gloom, like when Hickie left, but then that paved the way for Luke Fitzgerald, who's already surpassed Hickie with respect to Lions appearances, and although a different style of player, he fills the gap nicely....as will O'Brien for Rocky imo. O'Brien is going to be a massive player imo, he'll be up there with the likes of Ferris, Heaslip and Wallace for impact...will probably be the natural replacement for Wallace at 7 in the Irish team, and is simular in the sense that he can play all accross the back row. (although as I said before, I think Jennigs should be given the oppertunity at international level).

I think Leinster have found their rythm now and know how to win things as displayed pver the last 2 seasons. The key element to turning this into a long term dominance of ML and Europe is moulding the emerging talent into the ethos and not losing quality as the new generation replaces the old...this includes Sexton having the impact of Contepomi, O'Brien for Rocky, Jennings for Gleeson, Toner for Mal, Strauss for Jackman, Healy for Wright, O'Donoghue / Reddan for Whitts, McFadden for O'Driscoll, O'Malley for D'Arcy.....in a lot of instances we are getting better quality...I mean we never really had a top class front row, now it's one of the strongest in Europe...we never had a dominant second row, while Cullen has stepped up his game, Toner and Hines have very strong options compared to the past, we never had a great 6, now we have O'Brien, at 8 we have Heaslip hitting his prime, at 7 Jennings has been excellent in taking over from Gleeson...we never had a top rated 9, we now have one and one very promising one, we never had an out and out traditional 10, and Sexton looks extremely assured in that role, so from 1 - 10 Leinster are stronger than ever before, and all with mostly young players, and in the outside backs, already the likes of Fitzgerald and Keaney have replaced the likes of Dempsey and Hickie and there's no loss of quality...we still have Horgan and Nacewa...the biggest challenge will be replacing that famous centre partnership, but the early signs with the likes of McFadden are very good...so all in all I think the generation coming through at Leinster will surpass the generation going out...

The final part of the transition is to get a good coach after this season on a long term deal to replace Cheika and to have a full understanding of the set up and carry on from where we left off...for that reason, I think it will be an internal appointment and will more than likely be either Alan Gaffney or Kurt McQuinlan, and I'd be happy enough with that. Plus Kurt is one of the best defensive coaches in Europe if not world right now...Leinster defence is amazing.

Pretty much Nostradamus style

wonton

Deleted User wrote: »

@Ruggie / toomevera Can we have [Jackass] back please?

was he banned? what for? excuse the ignorance, haven't been on here much

irishbucsfan

haha, [Jackass] got a bit abusive towards the end!

Just a year ago I would have rated him as easilly the best poster here!

WeeBushy

Just noticed its Van der Merwe's birthday today (well actually yesterday at this stage). Happy birthday Heinke

durkadurka

irishbucsfan wrote: »

haha, [Jackass] got a bit abusive towards the end!

Just a year ago I would have rated him as easilly the best poster here!

Turnips were mentioned

Jemo

He's a regular poster over on Leinsterfans.com, no doubt you could ask him there or pm him.

lologram

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/newsroom/8025.php

Leinster announce the signings of Browne and Carr on 1 year deals

Strauss extends contract to 2013, Dominic Ryan signs 2 year deal.

Macken and Madigan extend deals, Cooney and McKinley sign new deals.

CouchSmart

lologram wrote: »

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/newsroom/8025.php

Leinster announce the signings of Browne and Carr on 1 year deals

Strauss extends contract to 2013, Dominic Ryan signs 2 year deal.

Macken and Madigan extend deals, Cooney and McKinley sign new deals.

Fantastic news. Was worried we'd be losing some of them.

Delighted to see McKinley and Madigan sign up for more. There's going to be serious competition between them for a role at #10 as Sexton's understudy. Can only benefit them both.

Strauss and Ryan extending their contracts is excellent. Ryan in particular, absolutely unbelievable season for him. A dream start to professional rugby.

GerM

Most interesting piece of news there is John Cooney moving to the senior squad. He has only had one year in the academy and quite limited time in the A side with POD dominating that slot. I was quite impressed with him in last year's under 20 6N. Seemed quite a good option, nothing flashy just kept the game moving quickly and smoothly which is what you want. He could see a bit of game time next season with the WC taking place and there's always the outside chance that Boss may be called up.

We're still short one NIQ player. Losing Berne, Hines and Wright with only Sykes and Berquist on the way thus far.

Possibility that we won't fill that NIQ slot though, can't think of anywhere we're particularly needy of cover.

Also isn't there the potential that the NIQ restrictions change to be become more strict next year?

crisco10

Deleted User wrote: »

Possibility that we won't fill that NIQ slot though, can't think of anywhere we're particularly needy of cover.

Also isn't there the potential that the NIQ restrictions change to be become more strict next year?

Handy to keep it free. No point in using it for the sake of using it. We would be well placed to poach a bolter from the World Cup in Autumn that may crop up.

Delighted to see Mckinley staying on. I assumed he was going to move on for some reason. Kind of makes you wonder why we signed Berquist though?

Also, I assume Ryan and Madigan have signed full contracts?

Interesting to see Browne and Carr only getting 1 year deals. Has a bit of a "ah see how you get on" feel to it.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Deleted User wrote: »

Possibility that we won't fill that NIQ slot though, can't think of anywhere we're particularly needy of cover.

Also isn't there the potential that the NIQ restrictions change to be become more strict next year?

Word is that after next season NIQs are falling from 5+1 to 4+1. That may be why Bergvist is only signed for one season.

I'm happy with the squad for next season and I think that it would be smart to keep that slot open and bring in quality cover if there is a few major injuries. If Redden and Boss are both called up for the WC we could see a signing at SH too

GerM

Deleted User wrote: »

Possibility that we won't fill that NIQ slot though, can't think of anywhere we're particularly needy of cover.

Also isn't there the potential that the NIQ restrictions change to be become more strict next year?

Yup, heavily rumoured they're going to reduce the number of NIQ players available to the provinces. As I understand it, this would come into force for the 2012/13 season though so we can continue to have 5 NIQ plus a project player for next season. With Berquist on a 1 year deal and McKinley/Madigan signed up, I would expect him to make way for the reduced number.

I agree with you on the last NIQ; I cannot see where we're going to require one. Scrum half was one area I thought due to POD leaving and Reddan at the WC but it looks like we'll be backing Cooney for it.

CouchSmart

This doesn't bode well for Sheridan and T. Sexton. I assume they're being released?

thebaz

lologram wrote: »

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/newsroom/8025.php

Leinster announce the signings of Browne and Carr on 1 year deals

Strauss extends contract to 2013, Dominic Ryan signs 2 year deal.

Macken and Madigan extend deals, Cooney and McKinley sign new deals.

great news - particularly glad to see ryan signed up - he will be massive for us in the future - overall heading in the perfect direction

thebaz

GerM wrote: »

Most interesting piece of news there is John Cooney moving to the senior squad. He has only had one year in the academy and quite limited time in the A side with POD dominating that slot. .

have Cooney and McKinley being given full contracts ?

regardless both are good young prospects

GerM

thebaz wrote: »

have Cooney and McKinley being given full contracts ?

regardless both are good young prospects

It doesn't specify but I would assume they've been given development contracts as is standard for those moving from the academy to the senior set up.

roycon

t.sexton injured his cruciate and is out for 5 months missing the start of next season. this leaves only 2 hookers in the squad really with harris-wright and strauss at the start of next season (presuming cronin is at the world cup). i know dundon is there but hes an ail player really and hes 29 and from new zealand. i think we could do with another hooker

roycon

luke mgrath will be brought into the leinster academy next year at scrum half. has captained the irish schools to victory over france and england. wouldnt be surprised to see him even though hes only 19

WeeBushy

roycon wrote: »

t.sexton injured his cruciate and is out for 5 months missing the start of next season. this leaves only 2 hookers in the squad really with harris-wright and strauss at the start of next season (presuming cronin is at the world cup). i know dundon is there but hes an ail player really and hes 29 and from new zealand. i think we could do with another hooker

I reckon we're alright, we've had that situation for the whole season and have done alright (albeit a bit luckily with Strauss not getting any injuries). There are no IQ hookers available worth signing and if we were to sign a NIQ hooker then they would be impeding JHW + Sexton, or would be 4th/5th choice when everyone is available. 1st scenario isn't good for Ireland/Leinster long-term and I can't see anyone worth signing agreeing to the 2nd scenario.

We'll be stretched at the beginning of the season, but so will a lot of teams. We're ok in that department imo.

thebaz

roycon wrote: »

t.sexton injured his cruciate and is out for 5 months missing the start of next season. this leaves only 2 hookers in the squad really with harris-wright and strauss at the start of next season (presuming cronin is at the world cup). i know dundon is there but hes an ail player really and hes 29 and from new zealand. i think we could do with another hooker

david doyle may get a call up - hes a good up and coming prospect

bamboozle

roycon wrote: »

t.sexton injured his cruciate and is out for 5 months missing the start of next season. this leaves only 2 hookers in the squad really with harris-wright and strauss at the start of next season (presuming cronin is at the world cup). i know dundon is there but hes an ail player really and hes 29 and from new zealand. i think we could do with another hooker

Dundon is a class act, just cause players come through the AIL does not mean they are rubbish, plenty of good players knocking around the AIL.

Mahony

Whats the story with Ed O Donoghue seemed great last year for Ulster even got an Irish Cap and nothing this year? I know he was injured for a while but I thought he was back?

David900

Mahony wrote: »

Whats the story with Ed O Donoghue seemed great last year for Ulster even got an Irish Cap and nothing this year? I know he was injured for a while but I thought he was back?

I'd say you're getting mixed up with Touhy on the Ireland cap there, I don't think O' Donoghue has any full international caps.
He got injured for a good section of the season, not sure if he still is. Seems to be behind Toner anyway and even possibly McLoughlin.