Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

I haven't really been paying too much attention to the Conway stuff, but it's at least a distraction from my increasing nerves about this game. I really don't have a good feeling about it.

More bizarre than the last one. You’re arguing that Conway shouldn’t be happy with his caps and his Munster career because of how well Leinster have done…that’s literally what you wrote. A) you can’t possibly know what he thinks, B) he might not have made any progress in Leinster and would have been less likely to get caps as a result. That’s likely the logic he used when choosing Munster. He’s got a great career out of it, I’d say he’s happy other than being pissed off with the injuries.

if anything Conways is a story that should inspire Leinster guys who struggle for first team rugby to gtfo, but you’ll find as many stories (like Byrne) where things don’t pan out.

I actually agree with you on the attitude to him leaving. I was just referring to the hype of him coming into the setup out of schools/u20s. The guy was outrageously dominant at schools level. I would put him up with Fitz, Ryan, Larmour in terms of early hype. Obviously your mileage may differ etc

In fairness, to echo the above he was probably the most dominant schools player ever. Was top try scorer in U20s 6 N. Got a full contract directly out of school, no academy. He was enormously hyped (and rightly so).

It was three years later when the hype levels had equilibrated that he moved to Munster - he hadn’t continued on the same trajectory he’d set at school’s level and we had other options at the time, which probably explains why you were only mildly annoyed.

Eoin O'Malley? Eh, no.

I think the Conway thing is just about played out at this point, but I think it's worth addressing this.

I'm trying to be objective. Remember, the original point isn't about Conway's thoughts and feelings. I'm sure Conway had great craic on O'Mahony's stag weekend, or maybe he'll get a lovely warm feeling in his tummy when he thinks about one of those 4 victories he got in the 15 games he played in against Leinster, but the cold, hard reality is that he walks away from a decade of rugby with nothing tangible to show for his time there. Literally nothing. Achievement on the pitch is winning things. He's had 21 opportunities including the Rainbow Cup. None of them taken.

Sure, he scored a lot of tries for Munster, just like Craig Gilroy did for Ulster or Matt Healy for Connacht. I don't think that's the bracket he would have been aiming for. Matt Healy's club career has been objectively more successful than Conway's Munster career since Healy actually won something.

Again, like I said before, Conway's move can easily be used as a cautionary tale of not biding your time and waiting for your opportunity. He jumped early and it likely cost him game time for club and country, as well as half a dozen trophies.

If it's a bizarre take, it should be very easy to make the counterpoint.

Right — which he won playing for Leinster. The statements about Conway are scoped to his career with Munster, but yeah that part definitely reads misleading in fairness. I edited for a bit more clarity.

To be clear, I'm not making a judgement about Conway as a player. Yes he improved. He was always going to improve, he was very young when moved. But are you telling me you'd try and convince a player to swap provinces using Conway's career as an example because, despite missing out on a lot of winning that he would very likely have been a part, he got good at chasing a kick (something which equally could have happened if he stayed at Leinster)?

I think people are massively overreacting to ROG's comments - he just said it would be a possibility that Robertson may want Goodman on his coaching ticket. Hardly an outrageous suggestion

This idea that Larmour is poor under the high ball is overblown. He's been fine this, no worse than any of the other back. Keenan spills plenty of balls in his own right, no one would consider him weak under the high ball. It's more about defensive positioning on a team level imo, making sure there are supporting players available to assist and not leaving someone isolated.