Heaslip Retiring / Appreciation Thread [MOD WARNING: POST 1]

Sangre

Yeah_Right wrote: »

Always a shame when an injury ends a player's career. Over the past 10 plus years living in Ireland I came to appreciate Heaslip more and more. Loved how his game evolved. I'd rate him as one of the top ten number 8s I've ever seen.

I've even forgiven him for kneeing McCaw in the head ��

One of my favourite memories of Heaslip was a random league match against Ulster (I think) at the RDS sometime around 2009-11. My flatmate and I were watching game, having a few beers and maybe a little bit of whacky-backy. Heaslip took off on a storming run down the sideline, a young Ulster (?) back charged across to make the covering tackle and received a big "don't argue" to the face. One of the best fends we'd ever seen. We spent about 10 minutes rewinding it and laughing. Ok, yes there was definitely some Maryjane involved.

The comment about him not watching rugby. I've heard that from a few of my mates who played at pro level. They just didn't enjoy watching games in their down time apart from big test matches. After they retired, they have started to enjoy watching it as a fan again.

Can someone please remember this match? It has just now come back to me. I vaguely remember it was against a new exciting player who suddenly got a very abrupt welcome to the interpros.

prawnsambo

Sangre wrote: »

Can someone please remember this match? It has just now come back to me. I vaguely remember it was against a new exciting player who suddenly got a very abrupt welcome to the interpros.

This looks like the one. The recipient I think was Jamie Smith:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdM-IWNQ1k4

If it was Jamie Smith, he really didn't have a career at all. Went to Dragons where he got a handful of caps in two seasons and retired due to injury. Apparently he's now the national coach for Barbados, so there's always that.

ScrubsfanChris

His try saving tackle against Hogg in 2015 is the moment I'll always remember, especially as we won the six nations with a +6 points difference.
Probably already posted today but whatever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHdXgb0dKL4

lalababa

To be honest I never rated him as world class. Like he never won a world cup but I'm sorry he's dead. RIP you will be sadly missed.

P_1

Sad news but alas probably to be expected given the time between the initial injury before the England match and now.

People often give a lot of the plaudits to the likes of BOD, POC and ROG (the Acronyms if you will) but in my eyes he was the standout player in green and certainly in blue over the years.

While we have a great conveyor belt of backrow talent coming through, today a large set of Beats headphones have been left to fill.

Burkie1203

Never stop trying

https://twitter.com/RugbyLAD7/status/968082867019493376

irishbucsfan

5 quid to the person who predicts the next post

sydthebeat

It will be me, saying this. How do I collect the funds!??

ScrubsfanChris

sydthebeat wrote: »

It will be me, saying this. How do I collect the funds!??

This......

Ah $h!t too late

thomond2006

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Never stop trying

Never post links from there. Stop. Please.

If you want to know why, I can PM.

prawnsambo

thomond2006 wrote: »

Never post links from there. Stop. Please.

If you want to know why, I can PM.

Can I go on that PM list? Please?

thomond2006

prawnsambo wrote: »

Can I go on that PM list? Please?

Sure. I will need to disable PMs temporarily. Will get back to ye.

irishbucsfan

He is a wanted man

Yeah_Right

prawnsambo wrote: »

This looks like the one. The recipient I think was Jamie Smith:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdM-IWNQ1k4

If it was Jamie Smith, he really didn't have a career at all. Went to Dragons where he got a handful of caps in two seasons and retired due to injury. Apparently he's now the national coach for Barbados, so there's always that.

That's the one. Thanks. Welcome to first grade little man!! We found it hilarious. We were wasted

Guy:Incognito

prawnsambo wrote: »

Can I go on that PM list? Please?

And me. Pm please

irishbucsfan

He was like the mean uncle at a family get together, skipping away from the youngest child

Neil3030

I too would like to subscribe to Thomand's newsletter!

CatFromHue

The last, and only, time Thomond Pm me he thought I was a Munster fan :mad:

Time to redeem yourself my old friend :pac:

connemara man

may i also subscribe to said newsletter

its_phil

Best of luck to Heaslip in retirement, cruel irony that a man who seemed to have tiger blood would be forced to retire through injury.

09 in Croker was great, but that Hogg tackle in Murrayfield will be my go to memory. What a player and a leader.

Teferi

My favourite player. Devastated to see him go, would have loved to see him retire with a World Cup medal in his back pocket. Was the perfect team player, adjusting his game to suit the needs of the team. A competitor and a fantastic athlete, no doubt he'll be successful in the afterlife.

leakyboots

Sad way to end but he had a great career, we can't all get giant posters of ourselves floating around Landsdowne. Seems to be setting himself up well for post-retirement, best of luck to him

leakyboots

leakyboots wrote: »

Sad way to end but he had a great career, we can't all get giant posters of ourselves floating around Landsdowne. Seems to be setting himself up well for post-retirement, best of luck to him

Actually that might hint at the timing of the announcement. Monday is a good distance from the game this weekend and it's the last home game for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if Heaslip is walked out at the start or the end of the game.

prawnsambo

Deleted User wrote: »

Actually that might hint at the timing of the announcement. Monday is a good distance from the game this weekend and it's the last home game for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if Heaslip is walked out at the start or the end of the game.

I thought you were going to pull him up for his spelling of Lansdowne. But that's a good point too.

Stheno

Deleted User wrote: »

Actually that might hint at the timing of the announcement. Monday is a good distance from the game this weekend and it's the last home game for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if Heaslip is walked out at the start or the end of the game.

Are we not away to Scarlets this weekend?

Would love to see him walk out before Saracens, now that's motivation for the team

.ak

lalababa wrote: »

To be honest I never rated him as world class. Like he never won a world cup but I'm sorry he's dead. RIP you will be sadly missed.

You won't be sadly missed if you keep ignoring mod warnings.

Stheno

Stheno wrote: »

Are we not away to Scarlets this weekend?

Would love to see him walk out before Saracens, now that's motivation for the team

Sorry meant next weeks weekend! It's the point in time that's far enough away not to disrupt the build up but be timely enough for him to get a send off.

Stheno

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Sorry meant next weeks weekend! It's the point in time that's far enough away not to disrupt the build up but be timely enough for him to get a send off.

The Scotland game?

Stheno

Stheno wrote: »

The Scotland game?

Do you run the Ulster rugby twitter account ?

Stheno

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Do you run the Ulster rugby twitter account ?

No but i am a bit slow tonight after starting a new job today

I'd like to see home get a sendiff from both Leinster and Ireland fans lots of ordinary fans wont be at the Scotland game

Its a pity we don't have testimonials

leakyboots

prawnsambo wrote: »

I thought you were going to pull him up for his spelling of Lansdowne. But that's a good point too.

For shame! :pac:

Yeah_Right

Right enough of this Heaslip love fest. A true legend of the game announced his retirement, Wyatt Crocket. I know he never got fancy player of the year nominations or wore headphones or flip flops with such panache. I don't think he even has Twitter or Instagram. He just played lots of rugby and won a lot of them


In all seriousness the two announcements are so different. Heaslip is forced from the game due to injury. Crocket has decided to retire from internationals now, the Crusaders at the end of this season and then finish off with two season for Tasman. A much nicer way to end a rugby career.

prawnsambo

Yeah_Right wrote: »

Right enough of this Heaslip love fest. A true legend of the game announced his retirement, Wyatt Crocket. I know he never got fancy player of the year nominations or wore headphones or flip flops with such panache. I don't think he even has Twitter or Instagram. He just played lots of rugby and won a lot of them


In all seriousness the two announcements are so different. Heaslip is forced from the game due to injury. Crocket has decided to retire from internationals now, the Crusaders at the end of this season and then finish off with two season for Tasman. A much nicer way to end a rugby career.

He has a twitter account but has never tweeted. But he has a pretty active Instagram account. :P

Rackard

Thought I was very complimentary of him and said I rated him but he is not above criticism either.
Maybe it was that he created too high a standard for himself that it was natural he could not maintain it for the last few years.

Burkie1203

Rackard wrote: »

Thought I was very complimentary of him and said I rated him but he is not above criticism either.
Maybe it was that he created too high a standard for himself that it was natural he could not maintain it for the last few years.

In his last full year he played all bar 20 minutes of irelands tier 1 games

We won in sa for first time
We beat nz and aus in november

He was WPOTY nominee.


He was setting the standards right up until he got injured. At the highest level.

Rackard

Burkie1203 wrote: »

We won in sa for first time
We beat nz and aus in november

All thanks to Heaslip.

Fair enough if you (and others) believe he was maintaining his standards to the end but with my Leinster/Ireland blinkers off, he frustrated the hell out of me the last few years watching him and I certainly wasn't one of those that would be wishing him to mess up.

Like a previous poster said, I'm sure he'll sleep well at night all the same.

molloyjh

Rackard wrote: »

All thanks to Heaslip.

Fair enough if you (and others) believe he was maintaining his standards to the end but with my Leinster/Ireland blinkers off, he frustrated the hell out of me the last few years watching him and I certainly wasn't one of those that would be wishing him to mess up.

Like a previous poster said, I'm sure he'll sleep well at night all the same.

We understand your opinion. Do you not think that if multiple rugby professionals thought he was good enough to deserve a WPOTY nomination that it may be worth reevaluating that opinion? I mean surely you have to admit that those people know better than you or I? I mean, this isn’t even about Heaslip really. It’s about acknowledging that people professionally involved in the game probably know better than people not involved to that level.

Rackard

molloyjh wrote: »

We understand your opinion. Do you not think that if multiple rugby professionals thought he was good enough to deserve a WPOTY nomination that it may be worth reevaluating that opinion? I mean surely you have to admit that those people know better than you or I? I mean, this isn’t even about Heaslip really. It’s about acknowledging that people professionally involved in the game probably know better than people not involved to that level.

God yeah - I would bow to greater knowledge there obviously but just remember being hugely shocked at his nomination.
Sometime these things are personalty contests too. Back in the day Beckham was often shortlisted for Ballon D'Or while Keane never got a look in.

Podge_irl

I often thought it Heaslip wore 7 on his back rather than 8 he would have been lauded a lot more over the last few years. He has adapted his game so many times over the years and is the perfect player to allow his backrow colleagues to play their own game. His work on the deck was as good as any backrow out there and he was excellent at cleaning up scrappy ball with intelligent carries. It was a world away from his free-running style that he broke onto the scene with.

You could conceivably clone the man and play three of him across the backrow and end up with a pretty balanced team.

Guy:Incognito

Teferi wrote: »

My favourite player. Devastated to see him go, would have loved to see him retire with a World Cup medal in his back pocket. .

Not sure even an injury free Jamie had decades left in him.

ectoraige

Podge_irl wrote: »

I often thought it Heaslip wore 7 on his back rather than 8 he would have been lauded a lot more over the last few years. He has adapted his game so many times over the years and is the perfect player to allow his backrow colleagues to play their own game. His work on the deck was as good as any backrow out there and he was excellent at cleaning up scrappy ball with intelligent carries. It was a world away from his free-running style that he broke onto the scene with.

You could conceivably clone the man and play three of him across the backrow and end up with a pretty balanced team.

Before his injury, I thought it would have been great to see him as blindside with the Lions alongside Vunapola (sp?) and SOB, it's a shame how things came to pass.

I always admired the work Heaslip did defensively, whenever Ireland or Leinster were cycling through the tackles, I was always looking to see if Heaslip was back on his feet, because you knew he wasn't going to miss a tackle. As a ball-carrier, he was one of those players who always had the strength to eke out one more stride as before going to ground. And as an all-round player, he always had great positioning, and was probably the most intelligent No. 8 we've had since Foley.

I wish him well in his retirement, he had the career most players can only aspire to achieve.

tototoe

leakyboots wrote: »

we can't all get giant posters of ourselves floating around Landsdowne.

As brilliant as bod was, that was completely cringey and ott, it should never ever happen again or anything of that ilk. Loads of great players have retired for various reasons including injury and never were acknowledged in that kind of fashion. I don't remember floating giant balloons for poc for example, nor anything else...and as good as heaslip was, it shouldn't happen here either. If Leinster want to do it, work away but shouldn't happen by Ireland imo. Sh!t happens, players retire...but that giant balloon was ridiculous imo

Burkie1203

Rackard wrote: »

All thanks to Heaslip.

Fair enough if you (and others) believe he was maintaining his standards to the end but with my Leinster/Ireland blinkers off, he frustrated the hell out of me the last few years watching him and I certainly wasn't one of those that would be wishing him to mess up.

Like a previous poster said, I'm sure he'll sleep well at night all the same.

We beat SA with a two man backrow for an hour. He was outstanding that day. He was also very good in Chicago. When we conceded scores you could see him behind the posts getting heads up and focused on the next play.

Several players also spoke about his leadership in those games at critical times. Some players could easily panic in those situations. Heaslip was very process driven.

Heaslip 2016 was a far cry from Heaslip of the late noughties but he changed his game hugely to adapt to become a more rounded player with a game to suit those around him.

The WPOTY nominations are IIRC down to former players rating players performances over the year in international rugby. He was nominated twice. Both times in years when Ireland created little bits of Irish rugby history.

2009 - Slam
2016 - Away win in SA and beat NZ.

molloyjh

I love how Drico got lauded for changing his game over the years but Heaslip gets crap from some quarters for doing the same.

Teferi

tototoe wrote: »

I don't remember floating giant balloons for poc for example,

Because he was injured in a World Cup game.

Buer

tototoe wrote: »

As brilliant as bod was, that was completely cringey and ott, it should never ever happen again or anything of that ilk. Loads of great players have retired for various reasons including injury and never were acknowledged in that kind of fashion. I don't remember floating giant balloons for poc for example, nor anything else...and as good as heaslip was, it shouldn't happen here either. If Leinster want to do it, work away but shouldn't happen by Ireland imo. Sh!t happens, players retire...but that giant balloon was ridiculous imo

Wasn't that balloon for the caps world record? That wasn't his last game for Ireland or Leinster.

tototoe

Buer wrote: »

Wasn't that balloon for the caps world record? That wasn't his last game for Ireland or Leinster.

Last home game for Ireland as far as I remember.

http://www.the42.ie/ireland-italy-match-report-sexton-odriscoll-1351720-Mar2014/?amp=1

prawnsambo

tototoe wrote: »

Last home game for Ireland as far as I remember.

http://www.the42.ie/ireland-italy-match-report-sexton-odriscoll-1351720-Mar2014/?amp=1

Last home game I think.

Damn! Another ninja edit.

I hope they have a massive set of inflatable headphones at the Aviva on Saturday week and Heaslip drives out onto the turf in a 181 audi branded entirely with just his own face and starts doing doughnuts to the sound of Justin Timberlake's cry me a river.

tototoe

Teferi wrote: »

Because he was injured in a World Cup game.

Not the point.