Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

No need for a foreign center signing, Osbourne should be backed, and there's Frawley to boot.

Mistske

That email was a bit ... lacklustre.

But the poster wasn't questioning Leinster's ability to develop meaningful contributors, or even world class players.

The issue is that your current homegrown-pipeline policy has not been sufficient to win a Heineken Cup in the last two attempts.

Since Fardy, you have not recruited a top-tier NIQ player capable of augmenting a team of otherwise homegrown players. You have instead recruited filler who don't start if the Irish options are fit. And I don't mean that in a disparaging way, N'Gatai in particular was excellent business. But he doesn't start if Henshaw and Ringrose are fit. Meanwhile, there is not a man born to an Irish mother who would keep Brad Thorn out of a rugby team.

And that's the difference. Admirable if you continue to try capture a fifth star via NIQ moneyball, don't get me wrong, but the ceiling of this approach is becoming ever clearer.

On a related note, and though it's probably more a question Nucifora (or his successor), but if Joe McCarthy is going to miss out on a Heineken Cup final, what's the difference between him missing it for a Jason Jenkins and him missing it for Will Skelton, a Franco Mostert, etc?

And Turner!

The problem with this is Sexton was the best 10 in the world. So basically, who's out there that's close to Sexton? There's no Aussies, nor Kiwis. S.A have just decent out half. La Rochelle play with a good out half.

Harry Byrne just turned 24! I wouldn't write him off. The reason we lost this week has as much to do with the prep, the use of the bench and a couple of players being poor.

But he wouldn't be competing with current internationals.

Suppose you had signed someone like Mostert or Skelton after Fardy left. Let's call this hypothetical player "Skeltert".

Skeltert would have started in the 2022 Heino final, moving Ross Molony to the bench ahead of Joe McCarthy.

Skeltert would have started in the 2023 Heino final, and we can assume Molony then benches if Jenkins isn't around.

In neither case would he have been competing with a current Irish international. The only Irish qualified casualty above is Joe McCarthy missing his bench spot in the 2022 final. And if you want to include him as a "current Irish international", I go back to my question above - why is it better he missed the 2023 final squad for Jenkins, over a superior player?

Or have I got this totally wrong, was McCarthy injured?

I see what you're saying regarding Fardy. I agree. But Leinster signed Jenkins to play that role and he's just not good enough. Leinster unearthed a gem with Fardy!

Next season, I hope to see more of McCarthy. I'd like to see more of Deeny too, although Deeny doesn't have a power game. But he is 1:99 meters and close to 18 stone.

I think it's a similar scenario for Munster, where they have a big loosehead lock, Ahern, and he's injured . You'd love to see them get a run.

But thats just completely incorrect, the IRFU has sanctioned plenty of NIQ players that competed with Irish internationals. Nacewa and Kearney played alongside each other for years. Or even specifically at outhalf Contepomi competed directly with Sexton.

And thats just two examples for Leinster, nevermind the many others, or those at the other provinces.