Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

hsbc

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Ian Nagle and McLoughlin could be our 2nd Rows in WC 2015. I'm very happy with that prospect... I personally don't see why we shouldn't try Locky out in the row because at Leinster we have O'Brien and Ruddock as 6s for the forseeable future and for Ireland we have O'Brien and Ferris. There is just no room for Locky, he'd be much better off at as LOCKy.

I see what you did there - very clever...;)

irishbucsfan

hsbc wrote: »

I see what you did there - very clever...;)

I'm really very special.

B0X

I wish there was a HEC vs Super 15 champions match... so we could win a triple

ambid

There is a lot of agitation on the Ireland Team Talk/ Gossip thread for Boss to be taken to the world cup. My priorities may be all over the place here because that would be good for Ireland, but just how fecked would Leinster be if that happened?

With POD moving to Connacht and no replacement signed, Leinster would have to bring in their current fourth choice scrum half (I'm not even sure who that is!).

I imagine management have thought it through, but am I the only one worried by this? We have three fly halves for next year, but if we lose Boss I'm struggling to think of a single scrum half.

So do the rest of you think this is a worry, and what are Joe's options?

CouchSmart

ambid wrote: »

There is a lot of agitation on the Ireland Team Talk/ Gossip thread for Boss to be taken to the world cup. My priorities may be all over the place here because that would be good for Ireland, but just how fecked would Leinster be if that happened?

With POD moving to Connacht and no replacement signed, Leinster would have to bring in their current fourth choice scrum half (I'm not even sure who that is!).

I imagine management have thought it through, but am I the only one worried by this? We have three fly halves for next year, but if we lose Boss I'm struggling to think of a single scrum half.

So do the rest of you think this is a worry, and what are Joe's options?

Rumour has it we're signing Cillian Willis on a short term deal to cover over the WC.

lemansky

There is a rumour going around that Cillian Willis will be signed up on a short term deal to tide us over during the WC.



EDIT: Beaten to it as usual

GerM

Possibly already mentioned on here but Stuart Barnes has revealed in his Sky Sports column that SOB was awarded the ERC player of the year accolade.

ambid

CouchSmart wrote: »

Rumour has it we're signing Cillian Willis on a short term deal to cover over the WC.

Fair enough. I had visions of Guy Easterby making a comeback!

tolosenc

jacothelad wrote: »

Splitting hairs a little but he is given as 6'4" and 17st.

I have an old program here that lists him as 195cm (which is a smidge under 6'5"), and 109kg...

Ireland's current 1st choice locks are both 198cm and 111 and 110kg. Saying that one kilo and a couple of centimetres makes a guy too small is naive, unless, of course, the implication was that POC and DOC aren't physically suited to the position either. All three are better than Toner, but he is significantly taller and heavier than them. Look at the All Blacks - Brad Thorn is 196cm, Whitelock and Boric are 110kg. Dean Mumm and Mark Chisholm in Australia are a similar size. His height in comparison to most of the locks in the France team is very similar, but he does weigh a bit less. His size is a non issue.

Quint2010

GerM wrote: »

Possibly already mentioned on here but Stuart Barnes has revealed in his Sky Sports column that SOB was awarded the ERC player of the year accolade.

Was he? Nothing on the ERC site about this and it says the award was to be announced yesterday. Well deserved obviously-just wondering why Leinster havent announced it and the press in general here..

WeeBushy

Tweeted by BOD this morning

GerM

Quint2010 wrote: »

Was he? Nothing on the ERC site about this and it says the award was to be announced yesterday. Well deserved obviously-just wondering why Leinster havent announced it and the press in general here..

Agreed. I thought the absence of an announcement was a bit odd but Barnes is the only person who has mentioned anything about it. Surprised Thornley said nothing of it in his column given he was on the panel.

Barnes: "O'Brien, in particular, has been outstanding and was a unanimous final choice at full time for the ERC Player of the season."

irishbucsfan

GerM wrote: »

Agreed. I thought the absence of an announcement was a bit odd but Barnes is the only person who has mentioned anything about it. Surprised Thornley said nothing of it in his column given he was on the panel.

Barnes: "O'Brien, in particular, has been outstanding and was a unanimous final choice at full time for the ERC Player of the season."

Maybe it hasn't been officially announced yet?

pajunior

WeeBushy wrote: »

Tweeted by BOD this morning

Suddenly the rest of Europe will be hoping that Leinster do retain the trophy

Or at lease have the courtesy to wash that one!

Quint2010

GerM wrote: »

Agreed. I thought the absence of an announcement was a bit odd but Barnes is the only person who has mentioned anything about it. Surprised Thornley said nothing of it in his column given he was on the panel.

Barnes: "O'Brien, in particular, has been outstanding and was a unanimous final choice at full time for the ERC Player of the season."

Ah. Thats kinda different. I think he was just saying that the sky panel etc were unanimous as to who SHOULD win it.

irishbucsfan

Yeah sounds like he was just talking about the Sky panel.

I don't think O'Brien will be unanimous. No doubt Jeremy bloody Guscott will select Soane Tonga'uiha and one of the French will pick Parisse just to be awkard. These are the type of people who made Richie McCaw the 2009 Player of the Season.

GerM

Quint2010 wrote: »

Ah. Thats kinda different. I think he was just saying that the sky panel etc were unanimous as to who SHOULD win it.

Perhaps. I would have thought it was in reference to the panel that decide on the winner of which he is one of six voters. When he referenced the award directly in title, I thought it was definitely in reference to the official panel.

Quint2010

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Yeah sounds like he was just talking about the Sky panel.

I don't think O'Brien will be unanimous. No doubt Jeremy bloody Guscott will select Soane Tonga'uiha and one of the French will pick Parisse just to be awkard. These are the type of people who made Richie McCaw the 2009 Player of the Season.

Soane "40 minutes" Tonga'uiha? SOB will win the award. Or Heaslip. Or Nacewa.

irishbucsfan

Quint2010 wrote: »

Soane "40 minutes" Tonga'uiha? SOB will win the award. Or Heaslip. Or Nacewa.

I wouldn't give him that nickname based on 1 performance at the end of a Premiership season.

But obviously Nacewa or O'Brien should win the award. I'm just saying he won't be a unanimous choice.

PhatPiggins

Quint2010 wrote: »

Soane "40 minutes" Tonga'uiha? SOB will win the award. Or Heaslip. Or Nacewa.

Yeah right pal, did you see what Tonga'uiha did to Mas and Botha in the previous rounds? The fact that he made mincemeat of both Castrogiovanni and Dan Cole the week before the final excuses his fatigue a week later.

Sean O'Brien wins it hands down for me.

wixfjord

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Yeah right pal, did you see what Tonga'uiha did to Mas and Botha in the previous rounds? The fact that he made mincemeat of both Castrogiovanni and Dan Cole the week before the final excuses his fatigue a week later.

Sean O'Brien wins it hands down for me.

In fairness the scrums in the Leicester game were even enough, and Leicester were shading them when Cole came on.

He's played a crazy amount of games this season iirc, and was visibly tired on Sat, will be interesting to see who NH recruit this Summer now.

profitius

SOB has been the player of the year in Europe. He is now regarded as being world class but before the season started he wasn't even well known outside of Ireland. Nacewa has had a great season too but SOB's rise has been very impressive.

WeeBushy

It's official!

Sean O'Brien has been named as the ERC European Player of the Year for 2011...

The award crowns a magnificent season for the Leinster back row player, who started every one of the Irish province's nine games as they carried off the Heineken Cup for the second time in three years.
This weekend O'Brien, who also played throughout Ireland's RBS 6 Nations campaign this year, and his Leinster team mates will be hoping to double up by becoming only the fourth club to win a domestic league and Heineken Cup double when they meet Munster in the Magners League Grand Final at Thomond Park.

O'Brien was presented with his award, a specially struck gold medal, by ERC chief executive Derek McGrath at a ceremony at the player's home ground, the RDS.

"Sean was an inspirational character at the heart of the Leinster pack in their victorious Heineken Cup season and proved himself to be a major force both as a ball carrier and defender," said McGrath.

"He played across the back row, scored vital tries and picked up three Heineken Man of the Match awards. His power, athleticism and consistency over the course of the Heineken Cup made him an excellent choice for the ERC European Player of the Year Award."

In 2010 ERC, the governing body of Europe's two club rugby tournaments, launched the highly acclaimed ERC15 Awards, recognising the efforts of a number of outstanding contributors to the first decade and a half of European competition. The inaugural recipient of theERC European Player Award, as the best player over the first 15 years of these tournaments, was Munster's Ronan O'Gara.

For the 2010/11 season ERC opted to present one award to recognise the best player of the season from both of its tournaments - the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup - selected by a panel of five experts.

The Selection Panel comprised three members of last year's ERC15 Awards committee, Stuart Barnes (Sky Sports), Jean-Roger Delsaud (Midi Olympique) and Stephen Jones (Sunday Times). They were joined by Heineken Cup Ambassador, Raphael Ibanez, and Gerry Thornley (Irish Times).

After studying the performances of players from the 24 Heineken Cup and 20 Amlin Challenge Cup teams in this season's campaign the Selection Panel presented a five man shortlist to ERC:

*Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)
*Isa Nacewa (Leinster)
*Sean O'Brien (Leinster)
*Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais Paris)
*Soane Tonga'uiha (Northampton Saints)

The shortlist was also presented to the 44 clubs and their recommendations were factored into the deliberations of the Selection Panel which reconvened in Cardiff, host city for the two European finals, to complete the selection process. The winner was confirmed after all five shortlisted candidates had been seen in action in the two finals.

"It's been a fantastic year for me, and more importantly for Leinster," said O'Brien. "It's great to be presented with an award like this, but it has more to do with the team than it has to do with me. Hopefully, this is only the start rather than the end of our success in Europe, and of course, we've got another trophy to aim at this weekend."

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/newsroom/8120.php

PhatPiggins

wixfjord wrote: »

In fairness the scrums in the Leicester game were even enough, and Leicester were shading them when Cole came on.

He's played a crazy amount of games this season iirc, and was visibly tired on Sat, will be interesting to see who NH recruit this Summer now.

I'd say no one of note seeing as they're close to the salary cap maximum already.

Well done SOB

seeing_ie

"Leinster is the rugby we dream. All players, number one to number five, involved in a dynamic and ambitious rugby in which risk taking is a concept which is an integral country fundamentals of their game should see the front of Leinster move with an ease that would blush over a three-quarter of the Top 14 will pass the ball after plating with the aim to make it live constantly and continuously to ensure the continuity of the game."

Well said, the man from LeMonde:D with a little help from google.

bamboozle

profitius wrote: »

SOB has been the player of the year in Europe. He is now regarded as being world class but before the season started he wasn't even well known outside of Ireland. Nacewa has had a great season too but SOB's rise has been very impressive.

which raises the question has SOB this season been as good as Rocky in '09?

totallegend

seeing_ie wrote: »

Well said, the man from LeMonde:D with a little help from google.

Ah Google translate. No substitute for leaving cert French, learnt well over a decade ago:

"Leinster is the rugby of which we dream. All the players, from number one to fifteen, involved in a dynamic and ambitious rugby in which risk taking is a concept which forms an integral part of their game. One must see the forwards of Leinster move with an ease which would embarass a Top 14 three-quarter line, passing the ball after the tackle with the aim of keeping it alive constantly and to permanently ensure the continuity of the game."

Gerry Thornley put to shame. Even with the dodgy google translation, that is a really good piece of writing and my chest is bursting with pride that the team I spend most of my weekends cheering on is viewed with such admiration abroad.

monkeybutter

bamboozle wrote: »

which raises the question has SOB this season been as good as Rocky in '09?

Deffo, it's like he's playing Schools Rugby, but he's a year older than everyone else.

myflipflops

WeeBushy wrote: »

Tweeted by BOD this morning

Jaysus, Amy looks very shiny without the makeup.

andrewdcs

From wiki:
Sean O'Brien (born 14 February 1987)

Does that make anyone else (even in their early 30s) feel fecking ancient....

God bless you you child like hero!