Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XI (The Finals Countdown)

hype101

So Alex Soroka looks a player.. Bossing contact last night against Eng with another year at this level.. Is it lock he'll likely end up?

Squidgy Black

hype101 wrote: »

So Alex Soroka looks a player.. Bossing contact last night against Eng with another year at this level.. Is it lock he'll likely end up?

Not too sure where'll he'll end up playing. Played lock in school and for the u18/19s, but he's played 6 for Trinity in the AIL. Probably that bit too small for lock at the moment at the higher level.

Buer

Strange scenario with guys like Keenan and TOB in the 23 on Friday and Adam Byrne and Barry Daly both lining out for UCD yesterday.

Looks like a changing of the guard. Shame if it turns out like that. Byrne's career is exceptionally unfulfilled given his natural talent.

stephen_n

Buer wrote: »

Strange scenario with guys like Keenan and TOB in the 23 on Friday and Adam Byrne and Barry Daly both lining out for UCD yesterday.

Looks like a changing of the guard. Shame if it turns out like that. Byrne's career is exceptionally unfulfilled given his natural talent.

Daly is only returning from a long injury lay off, so maybe it’s just easing him back in. Byrne is a strange one alright, it seems Cian Kelleher has completely passed him out. I didn’t see that happening. Byrne has all the skills and ability, just seems to lack the psychology to back it all up. When he gets a run of games he always looks brilliant. Been very unlucky with injuries though in the last two years.

Dubinusa

Daly has been ravaged with injury. Byrne has not improved. A change of scenery might do Byrne a world of good.
Keenan looks a solid pro. Can play wing and fb. O'Brien also comes highly rated. It is great to see the competition in the squad.
With RK and Ferg most likely out the door, we will see lads like Keenan and T.O.B getting more game time. The depth of young lads in the back line is good. J.O.B and C.O.B are getting minutes and Gavin Mullin is possibly getting a development contract?
What will they decide with Dowling? I think he could be a good player, not international quality, but good nevertheless. He can play at 6 also. I reckon Aungier's fate will be decided soon. He should get a good run over the next few weeks.
This years development contracts:
T.O.B
Mullin
Baird
Aungier


Possibles
Dowling
Salanoa.

Dubinusa

Oops forgot lads leaving:
Ferg, age works against him. D.K is in form and T.O.B coming up. Keenan can also play wing.
RK, age and loss of form.
A.B just not trusted. A new team would be the right move?

Clegg

The 42 says Conan will return to full fitness before the Saracens game. Whether he'll feature in the 23 is a different matter as Doris and Deegan are in such great form. But we'll have another top quality player available to us either way.

COB picked up a hamstring injury against Ospreys and will be out for a few weeks.

https://www.the42.ie/cack-conan-injury-fitness-leinster-5019454-Feb2020/

THFC198

I’ve got no evidence to prove this, but was speaking to a member of the Dowling family at a golf event and they were saying he’s very close to signing for Connacht next year. To be honest, i think it’s a move that suits all parties

Shefwedfan

Clegg wrote: »

The 42 says Conan will return to full fitness before the Saracens game. Whether he'll feature in the 23 is a different matter as Doris and Deegan are in such great form. But we'll have another top quality player available to us either way.

COB picked up a hamstring injury against Ospreys and will be out for a few weeks.

https://www.the42.ie/cack-conan-injury-fitness-leinster-5019454-Feb2020/

If he gets two games under belt and is in good fitness I think he starts.


Doris off the bench would be a great situation. I think Deegan would lose out

Scottmactom

I don't see any scenario where Conan starts against sarries bar injury to Doris.

Buer

I don't think it's feasible for Conan to start so quickly and he could be in a situation very similar to the one he found himself in 2 years ago when Murphy starting all the knock out games even after Conan returned. It's harsh on him given he was aruably the form back row in Ireland for the 6 months prior to his injury. But Doris is a serious talent and I believe he's going to be a fixture in the Irish team for a long time and potentially a future captain.

It's going to be difficult to keep three No. 8s happy. Deegan is almost certainly going to have to develop more into a flanker if he wants more game time or potentially depart at some point. There's a gap at blindside much more than elsewhere with Murphy and Ruddock being our only really specialist options there. Fardy will surely finish up in the next year.

It's almost a guarantee that one of them is approached by other provinces/the IRFU about moving on. Deegan is the most likely but I also don't see his style suiting other teams nearly as much and him stagnating if he did move.

kingofthekong

Buer wrote: »

I don't think it's feasible for Conan to start so quickly and he could be in a situation very similar to the one he found himself in 2 years ago when Murphy starting all the knock out games even after Conan returned. It's harsh on him given he was aruably the form back row in Ireland for the 6 months prior to his injury. But Doris is a serious talent and I believe he's going to be a fixture in the Irish team for a long time and potentially a future captain.

It's going to be difficult to keep three No. 8s happy. Deegan is almost certainly going to have to develop more into a flanker if he wants more game time or potentially depart at some point. There's a gap at blindside much more than elsewhere with Murphy and Ruddock being our only really specialist options there. Fardy will surely finish up in the next year.

It's almost a guarantee that one of them is approached by other provinces/the IRFU about moving on. Deegan is the most likely but I also don't see his style suiting other teams nearly as much and him stagnating if he did move.

Baird might play a Fardy role going forward being used at Blindside and at second row, Soroka in a couple years will be there aswell

Former Former

Very hard to see Conan being ready and even if he is, Doris has done plenty to warrant keeping his place.

Bigger concern is Healy. Going off on Saturday, he looked in a bad way. I would be surprised if he's playing against Saracens.

Scottmactom

Even if he does make sarries I doubt he will be near 100%.

Given Ed Byrne is also out at the moment it doesn't look good.

Dubinusa

I think Doris would be a better 6 than Deegan. I think he's stronger and more physical. I think Deegan could be a good 7. But, there's a logjam at 7. When Conan returns, it's going to be tough to get all the 8's playing time. Serious depth at 8!

THFC198

Healy out of 6N and presumably the sarries game aswell could leave us in a big hole, I’d be worried if we start to get beaten up at scrum time. Very rare, if ever, do you see a team lose the scrum battle and win the game

Buer

Dooley has been playing some really good stuff of late which is promising but obviously there's a drop there if Healy doesn't make it. I'd imagine we would go with Bent covering loosehead if Ed Byrne isn't available.

There's 3 weeks between the last 6N game and the Saracens game though so he's not necessarily out of it yet.

prawnsambo

For those who may have missed it, this is a cameo of Ryan Baird against the Ospreys on Friday night. He stole the lineout just before this passage of play.

Former Former

Buer wrote: »

Dooley has been playing some really good stuff of late which is promising but obviously there's a drop there if Healy doesn't make it. I'd imagine we would go with Bent covering loosehead if Ed Byrne isn't available.

There's 3 weeks between the last 6N game and the Saracens game though so he's not necessarily out of it yet.

It's not a good sign that it only took two days to rule him out of the 6N.

My guess is his season is finished.

THFC198

Buer wrote: »

Dooley has been playing some really good stuff of late which is promising but obviously there's a drop there if Healy doesn't make it. I'd imagine we would go with Bent covering loosehead if Ed Byrne isn't available.

There's 3 weeks between the last 6N game and the Saracens game though so he's not necessarily out of it yet.

Think I agree with you re: Bent, is there even another option? Let’s hope he could be back for sarries but hip injuries are never good

mister paul

prawnsambo wrote: »

For those who may have missed it, this is a cameo of Ryan Baird against the Ospreys on Friday night. He stole the lineout just before this passage of play.

Including lineout steal

salmocab

Baird looks very quick for his size in fairness

prawnsambo

salmocab wrote: »

Baird looks very quick for his size in fairness

Looks like a nightmare to tackle.

salmocab

prawnsambo wrote: »

Looks like a nightmare to tackle.

Yeah all bits flying around like a pantomime horse

arsebiscuits1

salmocab wrote: »

Baird looks very quick for his size in fairness

I don't think you need to add the "for his size" part either lol. He is just frighteningly quick.

There was a moment in the Leinster A game vs Ulster when he chased down their sub winger over 65 metres and caught and tackled him.

He had just played 70 minutes and this Ulster lad was on the pitch about 10 minutes.

A man with his athletic gifts could well end up being a test Lion.

Clegg

That jaysus pass from JGP.


Rancid.

hype101

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

I don't think you need to add the "for his size" part either lol. He is just frighteningly quick.

There was a moment in the Leinster A game vs Ulster when he chased down their sub winger over 65 metres and caught and tackled him.

He had just played 70 minutes and this Ulster lad was on the pitch about 10 minutes.

A man with his athletic gifts could well end up being a test Lion.

I really hope they see him predominantly as a 6.. Would strike me as the likely long term first choice 6 for both Leinster and Ireland.. A 4, 5, 6 of Ryan, Ahern and Baird in 2-3 years would be pretty exciting.

prawnsambo

prawnsambo wrote: »

For those who may have missed it, this is a cameo of Ryan Baird against the Ospreys on Friday night. He stole the lineout just before this passage of play.

I've seen enough. Hype this train folks.

Scottmactom

hype101 wrote: »

I really hope they see him predominantly as a 6.. Would strike me as the likely long term first choice 6 for both Leinster and Ireland.. A 4, 5, 6 of Ryan, Ahern and Baird in 2-3 years would be pretty exciting.

Relax with the hype.

awec

He's a second row primarily, right?

Enjoy the highlights while you can, in a few years his youtube videos will just be him hitting rucks and looking angry in between hitting rucks.