Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XII (The Byrne Supremacy)

molloyjh

molloyjh wrote: »

From a Leinster perspective the thought of a front five of Porter, Kelleher, Furlong, Baird and Ryan is fairly Venjur. :pac:

swiwi_

Am I the only one thinking WTF is that gif Venjur?!

salmocab

swiwi_ wrote: »

Am I the only one thinking WTF is that gif Venjur?!

No you are not, I’m interested in her plans for the staple gun.

molloyjh

salmocab wrote: »

No you are not, I’m interested in her plans for the staple gun.

Interested may be the wrong word....

salmocab

molloyjh wrote: »

Interested may be the wrong word....

After almost 30 years of rugby I need my fix of avoidable pain

arsebiscuits1

Has anyone checked on poor Richie this morning??

Whatever about foreign signings - surely Alaalatoa has far too many vowels in it to sit right with him

jacothelad

salmocab wrote: »

No you are not, I’m interested in her plans for the staple gun.

Is she trying to nail down the G Spot? :D

The difference between a golf ball and the G Spot is that a man will spend hours looking for a golf ball.....:D:D

hold my beer

Sploosh

FrannoFan

My first thoughts on the signing were what conspiracy is this?
Is porter switching to lose head? (a bad idea in my opinion as Furlong year long absence just highlighted)
Is porter off to Munster? (another terrible idea from a leinster fan persepctive)
Is Furlong off to France?

But reading through here about how many games Bent played and how this guy would be close to first choice in any other province think thats exactly what he is. A replacement for Bent.
For me Bent is one of the most under rated players in Ireland (not on this forum but he is much maligned ever since the circumstances of his arrival and first cap) For me he has been the corner stone of of our 4 pro14 triumphs. A third choice who pays regularly good enough to make most sides. Leo acknowledged how we could have a game and he would win us 5 scrum pens on his own. He put in a hell of a shift this year with Vakh injury.

I (hope) think thats what this signing is. A high quality replacement for a (high) quality player in Bent.

yerrahbah

I cant see this guy being happy enough to be in a suit for the big European games

Either one of Furlong or Porter are leaving

Or the most likely option Porter is moving to LH

Burkie1203

yerrahbah wrote: »

I cant see this guy being happy enough to be in a suit for the big European games

Either one of Furlong or Porter are leaving

Or the most likely option Porter is moving to LH

If one was leaving, we would have heard rumours by now I guess.

Porter switching back makes more sense IMO. Healy signed on for 1 more season. Maybe his last?

Clegg

I'm very disappointed at the obvious lack of Archer fans in this thread.

Squidgy Black

Clegg wrote: »

I'm very disappointed at the obvious lack of Archer fans in this thread.

I don't think Alaalatoa can be compared to Stephen Archer......

aloooof

Clegg wrote: »

I'm very disappointed at the obvious lack of Archer fans in this thread.

I think he's under-rated, and has improved his skills this season. Even sold a dummy against Toulouse.

(Edit: Squidgy getting in there before me)

theVersatile

Burkie1203 wrote: »

If one was leaving, we would have heard rumours by now I guess.

After the way the CJ news came out of the blue I'm not so sure.

sydthebeat

theVersatile wrote: »

After the way the CJ news came out of the blue I'm not so sure.

CJ leaving was rumoured 2 months before it happened

https://www.ruck.co.uk/reports-cj-stander-set-for-shock-munster-exit/


nothing comparable to Furlong or Porter

thomond2006

sydthebeat wrote: »

CJ leaving was rumoured 2 months before it happened

https://www.ruck.co.uk/reports-cj-stander-set-for-shock-munster-exit/

This was just Jackman making stuff up.

Clegg

Robin McBryde confirmed as forwards coach for the Lions. We started off slowly under him, but I feel there's been big improvements this season. Many of our younger forwards have developed a lot and we've even seen the established players like VDF and Ruddock reach higher levels of performance.

https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/status/1381888011810570245?s=09

aloooof

sydthebeat wrote: »

CJ leaving was rumoured 2 months before it happened

https://www.ruck.co.uk/reports-cj-stander-set-for-shock-munster-exit/


nothing comparable to Furlong or Porter

But that article is about him leaving for a big money move to France. So not really comparable either.

In any case, I'd be very surprised to see Furlong or Porter leaving.

prawnsambo

aloooof wrote: »

But that article is about him leaving for a big money move to France. So not really comparable either.

In any case, I'd be very surprised to see Furlong or Porter leaving.

It's often the case with these rumours that part of is right and the other part is speculation.

sydthebeat

thomond2006 wrote: »

This was just Jackman making stuff up.

:rolleyes:

well im asking him for next weeks lotto numbers then... seeing as his "guesses" are so close to the bone

obviously the news was out within agents that CJ wasnt re-signing

aloooof

sydthebeat wrote: »

:rolleyes:

well im asking him for next weeks lotto numbers then... seeing as his "guesses" are so close to the bone

obviously the news was out within agents that CJ wasnt re-signing

I think this is confirmation bias, tbh. We had plenty of rumours in the past of any number of players leaving when coming close to their contract expiry, only for them to re-sign soon after. It happened with CJ himself in the past.

https://punditarena.com/rugby/thepateam/top-14-leaders-montpellier-emerge-as-the-club-courting-cj-stander/

theVersatile

sydthebeat wrote: »

obviously the news was out within agents that CJ wasnt re-signing

Or teams were simply making offers since he was in his contract year...

sydthebeat

aloooof wrote: »

I think this is confirmation bias, tbh. We had plenty of rumours in the past of any number of players leaving when coming close to their contract expiry, only for them to re-sign soon after. It happened with CJ himself in the past.

i dunno

the date of Jackmans rumour ties in around the time that CJ is supposed to have told Farrell and the IRFU that he was retiring.

Obviously CJs agent knew too.

salmocab

Clegg wrote: »

Robin McBryde confirmed as forwards coach for the Lions. We started off slowly under him, but I feel there's been big improvements this season. Many of our younger forwards have developed a lot and we've even seen the established players like VDF and Ruddock reach higher levels of performance.

https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/status/1381888011810570245?s=09

Looks like the worst looking boy band I ever saw.

sydthebeat

anyway, the point is there no such similar rumour going around about Furlong or Porter.... regardless of contract timing or not.....

jacothelad

Clegg wrote: »

I'm very disappointed at the obvious lack of Archer fans in this thread.

Perhaps they have developed another string to their bow.......;)

Buer

It's probably worth mentioning that Ala'alatoa primarily played as loosehead when he first came through into senior rugby in Australia. It's miles from where he is now but him featuring there for Leinster at some point probably isn't out of the question either.

Quin_Dub

yerrahbah wrote: »

I cant see this guy being happy enough to be in a suit for the big European games

Either one of Furlong or Porter are leaving

Or the most likely option Porter is moving to LH

Think People are over-thinking this.

He's a direct replacement for Bent and bridges the gap between the loss of Aungier and Salanoa and the upcoming Milne & Clarkson.


He's probably doubled his salary making the move and at 29 it's probably his last gig assuming he settles and goes reasonably well.

He'll do 3/4 years here like most NIQ's and he'll make far more money than he could ever make in NZ.

Will he push and challenge the players above him more than Bent? Probably , but he's not being signed to facilitate anybody leaving (other than Bent) or for Porter to swap sides.

sydthebeat

and he'll still be eligible for Samoa as well, so there will actually be more room there for the likes of Vahk / clarkson than there currently is with bent