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

I was careful to couch my point without directly criticizing Leo (don't want to offend loyalists), he's been very successful as a player and as a coach at Leinster. BUT, Leinster finishing at or near the top of the league in the mid teens, given their player base, legacy and quality of the opposition, is not saying a great deal. It would be astounding if they finished outside the top 4 in those years. And to horrorshow's point, bringing in new players and playing a strategic long game is definitely one of Leo's outstanding talents, ideally suited to roles like DOR. But my point has nothing to do with Leinster, it's that we have no idea really how good a coach Leo is on his own, particularly in the International game. The Ireland coaching job is not one I'd like to see him in for that reason.

Everything I've heard or read about him tells me he has strategic and executive skills, plus he knows the Irish rugby scene inside and out. Assuming he has some business chops (he is involved in the family biz I believe) he seems like a good fit for DOR job description. People are talking in terms of him as Irish coach, another job not currently available. Nucifora won't stay forever.

Stormers will almost certainly send a weakened team to Belfast. They’ll have had a couple of games in the NH at full strength followed by Clermont at home (6 days after their LI game). It’s a 6 day turnaround between that and the Ulster game before a 7 day turnaround to playing away to Sharks. I just don’t see them flying their first team guys all over like that.

If Ulster can win that one it buys is a decent bit of breathing space (assuming we beat Cardiff obv). Factoring in their game in hand it would put us 10-12 points clear. They are away to Sharks, as I said, and also Bulls during the 6Ns. If they drop a few points there and/or we pick up a few BPs in our last 3 then we should be fine.

Its also worth noting that the Stormers game is a week before the Champions Cup R16. Depending on how fixtures fall Stormers may even choose to send a weakened side to Dublin. At this stage you’d have to fancy their chances of having a home R16 game, being 4th in their pool with a home game vs a stuttering Clermont who just sacked their coach. They are at home for the last 2 rounds of the league too so have a run of home games then.

The pickings are slim when the international players are away. No Kelleher or Sheehan, the cupboard is bare. Loosehead, Milne and Hanan, that cupboard is bare.

My post about this next block of matches, after Europe, was not clear. Apologies

Its going to be interesting to see who makes your academy.

Who’s looking good in your academy at prop? Boyle has a lot of hype and i honestly thought McGuire looked fantastic at under 20s. I liked him more than Boyle but i understand that Boyle is a technical guy who needs to put on some weight. Hanan hasn’t played as much as I’d expect… and Lasisi has moved to TH?

I honestly think that front row is by far the clearest point of difference between leinster and other irish teams (other than 10). So, interested to see what comes next.

They'll likely bring Tom Connolly from Trinity into the fold. He's (comparatively) old (23?) so he might get a dev rather than an academy contract.

But I expect he'd be in the Leinster ranks next season.

Numerous A and Development appearances so far

Is he the guy from connacht who started late? I think i read an article about him.

From Galway and moved to prop at 19s/20s

All, I hope

Great interview with Ross today.

Byrne: I've spent enough time over the years worrying about things that aren't in my control

Ross is playing very well. He's so reliable. He rarely has a poor day.