Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

crisco10

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Very surprising if they are letting Sherriff move on. He'd be needed next season during the WC for depth. Unless he's been offered a substantial deal overseas?

With the signing of Sykes and Browne, I think an offer of first team ball would have been enough for Sheriff tbh.

Jedwardian

You could say with a fair degree or certainty that none of Toner, Sykes, Browne or O'Donoghue will go to the World Cup. That's Sheriff's best chance of seeing action but he'll still be frozen out. Then there are Flanagan and Marshall who both featured this season. Sheriff looks like falling victim to a numbers game.

faigs

Roman Poite for the final...

Jemo

Could the award be for graduating from the academy either?

Stev_o

faigs wrote: »

Roman Poite for the final...

Ha unlucky much. Poite is Hartley's illegitimate dad, he has him wrapped around his finger. Ill give BOD 20 minutes before he goes mad at Poite for some decision he makes while Hartley stands beside Poite grinning.

Jedwardian

Jemo wrote: »

Could the award be for graduating from the academy either?

Sheriff graduated from the academy to a development deal last year. Photos are here:
http://www.inpho.ie/cgi-bin/WebObjects/INPHO-Shop.woa/wa/e?e=lq-C5h2nKWpodtyYD_TdXQI48tOVpFLhOBRoeeO7h0I.a

Eoin Sheriff, Niall Morris, Shaun Berne, Stan Wright, Nathan Hines, Paul O'Donohoe, Stephen Keogh, John Fogarty, Ronan McCormack and Trevor Hogan all received caps. All the above bar Sheriff and Berne are confirmed as leaving or having retired. All award winners got some crystalware.

Two plus two may very well equal five in this case but I'm assuming Sheriff is leaving.

Donnielighto

Was Ryan's tackle in the home match or the away one? Also anyone know the time in the game?

Hype710

With Bernie Upton leaving and Michael Swift not getting any younger Sheriff could be on his way to Connacht, personally think it would be a good signing.

porterbelly

Where's O'Donoghue going ?

WeeBushy

Donnielighto wrote: »

Was Ryan's tackle in the home match or the away one? Also anyone know the time in the game?

I posted it on the page before this (somewhat inadvertently I might add)

From 7.30 onwards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L0iFxCf02o

Jedwardian

porterbelly wrote: »

Where's O'Donoghue going ?

Ed O'Donoghue's contract as a tackle bag holder lasts another two seasons.

WeeBushy

porterbelly wrote: »

Where's O'Donoghue going ?

Do you mean Paul O'Donohoe? He's heading to Connacht.

Ed O'Donoghue has 2 years left on his contract.

Taco Corp

WeeBushy wrote: »

Do you mean Paul O'Donohoe? He's heading to Connacht.

Ed O'Donoghue has 2 years left on his contract.

What's the story with Ed O'D this season? He'd play every now and again and then disappear. Injured?

WeeBushy

Surley wrote: »

What's the story with Ed O'D this season? He'd play every now and again and then disappear. Injured?

Mixture of injuries and being unable to regain his form when fit again.

I've got a feeling that if he can sort out his fitness over the summer he could make an impact next season. He was a good player at Ulster.

Sangre

Surely McKinley on Rush was tackle of the season! Probably not the most important but such a committed tackled.

GerM

Northampton have gone full strength for their clash tomorrow away to Leicester. Kick off is at 3.15pm.

15 Ben Foden
14 Chris Ashton
13 Jon Clarke
12 James Downey
11 Bruce Reihana
10 Stephen Myler
9 Lee Dickson
1 Soane Tonga’uiha
2 Dylan Hartley (capt)
3 Brian Mujati
4 Courtney Lawes
5 Christian Day
6 Calum Clark
7 Phil Dowson
8 Roger Wilson

Replacements
16 Brett Sharman
17 Alex Waller
18 Tom Mercey
19 Mark Sorenson
20 Mark Easter
21 Stuart Commins
22 Shane Geraghty
23 Joe Ansbro

tolosenc

GerM wrote: »

Northampton have gone full strength for their clash tomorrow away to Leicester. Kick off is at 3.15pm.

15 Ben Foden
14 Chris Ashton
13 Jon Clarke
12 James Downey
11 Bruce Reihana
10 Stephen Myler
9 Lee Dickson
1 Soane Tonga’uiha
2 Dylan Hartley (capt)
3 Brian Mujati
4 Courtney Lawes
5 Christian Day
6 Calum Clark
7 Phil Dowson
8 Roger Wilson

Replacements
16 Brett Sharman
17 Alex Waller
18 Tom Mercey
19 Mark Sorenson
20 Mark Easter
21 Stuart Commins
22 Shane Geraghty
23 Joe Ansbro

Lots of injuries, please! :P

Tomtom364

tolosenc wrote: »

Lots of injuries, please! :P

Minor 2 week knocks of course. Nothing serious.

GerM

Tomtom364 wrote: »

Minor 2 week knocks of course. Nothing serious.

Screw it. If we're gonna beat them, I wanna beat Lawes and Ashton. I want Nacewa to show Foden who is the best 15 in Europe. I want Ross to drive Tonga’uiha off his own ball.

(I will gladly accept an 80 minute, exhausting game however )

durkadurka

Extra time would be nice.

bamboozle

durkadurka wrote: »

Extra time would be nice.

extra time would be ideal!

i want to see Ashton & Lawes on the pitch, Lawes needs to be introduced to Hines & SOB

totallegend

GerM wrote: »

Northampton have gone full strength for their clash tomorrow away to Leicester. Kick off is at 3.15pm.

15 Ben Foden
14 Chris Ashton
13 Jon Clarke
12 James Downey
11 Bruce Reihana
10 Stephen Myler
9 Lee Dickson
1 Soane Tonga’uiha
2 Dylan Hartley (capt)
3 Brian Mujati
4 Courtney Lawes
5 Christian Day
6 Calum Clark
7 Phil Dowson
8 Roger Wilson

Replacements
16 Brett Sharman
17 Alex Waller
18 Tom Mercey
19 Mark Sorenson
20 Mark Easter
21 Stuart Commins
22 Shane Geraghty
23 Joe Ansbro

It's a seriously good team, hard to pick any major weaknesses, plus they might have Tom Wood back for the HC final (but he'll have had no game time). Is the bench a bit thin in terms of impact?

wixfjord

totallegend wrote: »

It's a seriously good team, hard to pick any major weaknesses, plus they might have Tom Wood back for the HC final (but he'll have had no game time). Is the bench a bit thin in terms of impact?

Jesus, I'm thinking the total opposite tbh!
Reihana isn't great on the wing
Clarke and Downey vs BOD and Darce?
Lawes fair enough, but Lawes and Day versus Hines and Cullen?
As for the back row, we're far more dynamic and a better unit.
Our bench is miles better, bar Madigan.
Our 10 is far better!

Could be looking back on this in two weeks with egg on my face, but let's call a spade a spade here, our team is better than theirs.

Wood back would be a big plus though.

bamboozle

totallegend wrote: »

It's a seriously good team, hard to pick any major weaknesses, plus they might have Tom Wood back for the HC final (but he'll have had no game time). Is the bench a bit thin in terms of impact?

inexperienced half backs (by inexperienced i mean lads with very little exposure of International matches or HC finals/semi finals)

2 slow crash merchant centres - expect to see lots of chips over the top from Sexton to get them turning

with Wood missing their back row is far weaker than Leinsters

Flakey hooker when it comes to lineout throwing.

their major strength is their scrum, that's why we need HVDM to start the final to make sure our scrum is as solid as possible...plus much as i dont like saying it Ashton.

GerM

totallegend wrote: »

It's a seriously good team, hard to pick any major weaknesses, plus they might have Tom Wood back for the HC final (but he'll have had no game time). Is the bench a bit thin in terms of impact?

It is. Saints don't have decent depth at all. They've a very strong first XV but once you take 5 or 6 players out of that, they struggle badly. They lost 7 games in a row earlier this season with the majority of them coming over the 6N when they were missing Wood, Lawes, Hartley, Foden and Ashton. If you look at their previous HEC matches, when they use the bench the game is normally over as a contest or it's very late on in the game. Unless the game is won by a distance they only bring on 3 or 4 players. Mallinder cannot rely on his bench to close out a contest. It's an area that Leinster will look to expose with the likes of Boss/Reddan, VDM, Jennings/KMcL and McFadden all coming on around the 55 minute mark.

GerM

wixfjord wrote: »

Jesus, I'm thinking the total opposite tbh!
Reihana isn't great on the wing
Clarke and Downey vs BOD and Darce?
Lawes fair enough, but Lawes and Day versus Hines and Cullen?
As for the back row, we're far more dynamic and a better unit.
Our bench is miles better, bar Madigan.
Our 10 is far better!

Could be looking back on this in two weeks with egg on my face, but let's call a spade a spade here, our team is better than theirs.

Wood back would be a big plus though.

We do have the better team, wixfjord, but Northampton's plan will be not to let us utilise it. Their strength is the front 5 and they will look to strangle the game up front and not let the ball out. I'm sure you saw how they handled Ulster in the second half. They just increased the tempo up front and shoved them around. They kept the ball. Ulster's superior strike runners and creativity could do nothing when Northampton kept the ball and they kept the score board ticking with the boot. We have the better team but we will have to be able to match them in their strongest area before we can show that. Munster won in 2006 with a more pedestrian back line than Northamptons.

wixfjord

GerM wrote: »

We do have the better team, wixfjord, but Northampton's plan will be not to let us utilise it. Their strength is the front 5 and they will look to strangle the game up front and not let the ball out. I'm sure you saw how they handled Ulster in the second half. They just increased the tempo up front and shoved them around. They kept the ball. Ulster's superior strike runners and creativity could do nothing when Northampton kept the ball and they kept the score board ticking with the boot. We have the better team but we will have to be able to match them in their strongest area before we can show that. Munster won in 2006 with a more pedestrian back line than Northamptons.

That's indeed their plan I'd presume, but I was simply picking the weakness in the 15v15.

What I'm also basing my opinions on is that our front 5 is far, far stronger as a unit than Ulster, and that we'll be able to handle the NH front 5. We won't be shoved around I'd wager, and we'll want to instill our own game plan.

totallegend

wixfjord wrote: »

Jesus, I'm thinking the total opposite tbh!
Reihana isn't great on the wing
Clarke and Downey vs BOD and Darce?
Lawes fair enough, but Lawes and Day versus Hines and Cullen?
As for the back row, we're far more dynamic and a better unit.
Our bench is miles better, bar Madigan.
Our 10 is far better!

Could be looking back on this in two weeks with egg on my face, but let's call a spade a spade here, our team is better than theirs.

Wood back would be a big plus though.

Jaysus, you fairly demolished my opinion there, fair play to you.

Maybe I'm trying to talk them up to dampen down my own optimism, but just because a player/unit is not as good as his Leinster counterpart doesn't make him/them bad players.
I suppose it depends on what sort of game pans out. They'll look to bash it up with the fat lads and hope to get a gap for Foden and Ashton to run through. If we can close off that sort of game, I don't think they'll have a plan B. Like you said, Clarke and Downey in the centre are a bit one-dimensional so I don't see them getting much change out of BOD and D'Arcy.
Let's hope for 25-degree weather so Tonga'uiha and Mujati* run out of steam early on...

*but not Ross

wixfjord

totallegend wrote: »

Jaysus, you fairly demolished my opinion there, fair play to you.

Maybe I'm trying to talk them up to dampen down my own optimism, but just because a player/unit is not as good as his Leinster counterpart doesn't make him/them bad players.
I suppose it depends on what sort of game pans out. They'll look to bash it up with the fat lads and hope to get a gap for Foden and Ashton to run through. If we can close off that sort of game, I don't think they'll have a plan B. Like you said, Clarke and Downey in the centre are a bit one-dimensional so I don't see them getting much change out of BOD and D'Arcy.
Let's hope for 25-degree weather so Tonga'uiha and Mujati* run out of steam early on...

*but not Ross

Wasn't looking to demolish your opinion at all sir! Just don't think that they match up to our 22, but as GerM says, that doesn't always mean a win.

I do however think that their front row is their main weapon, and will be a huge test for us, especially with Poite reffing!

Hype710

I know Ansbro is moving on and I know Scotland are fairly shíte but I don't get why he doesn't start more often for NH? Looked decent in the Six Nations...