Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

There is a difference between claiming he can’t pass from left to right. Rather than suggesting it’s a weakness, that he factors in when choosing between passing a running. So no, no one is suggesting he can’t pass to his right, other than maybe you.

Equally, if he goes to the world cup and plays himself into getting game time or a bench spot, I don't see how he doesn't get a shot at a starting spot for us next season.

While i get your point...

If Porter had not moved back.. then irieland squads first choice LH Props for the WC would be Healy and Kilcoyne.. With furlong Porter and Beadlam at tight head.

The allocation of players to positions isn't done lightly, I'd imagine. It's not just a case of looking at a guy and thinking the team would be better served with him playing elsewhere.

For someone like Lasisi, I would imagine they take a holistic view of the situation and identify what is in the pipeline on both sides, where the potential bottlenecks are and where the potential gaps are.

Lasisi was good at U20 level but he never looked as good as Boyle did (Boyle was involved a year young in the same squad as Lasisi before being a stand out player during a GS win the next year).

Then they had Michael Milne coming through who was only 2 years older than Lasisi (various teams had tried Milne at tighthead also but Leinster wanted him at loosehead which was his original position given they had Clarkson at tighthead).

Then they look at tighthead and see that they don't really have the same quality on the horizon with only Clarkson looking like a strong option coming through in the development line. They lost Salanoa, Sam Illo and Jack Aungier all in 12 months which essentially wiped out their pipeline at tighthead. Something had to be done there to try and develop another tighthead.

In the case of Porter, it's far more a case of immediate need at the top level of the game. Healy was on the wane and we really don't have great options beyond Porter still. It's Healy in the 23 still at this point. Hopefully one or two of the options above come through to a test level in the next 3 years but I don't disagree with the Porter move.

Sparrow looks good, but has a thinner frame for a prop, Reckon he probably goes down the loosehead route as a pro but looks like he is properly physical folded people at both scrum time and open play. Alex Mullen looks seriously promising as a tighthead though, think he is about 6'4/5 and looks large enough to play the postion as a pro. He also has a great pair of hands for a fella that big. Can't comment on the club players because I Haven't seen enough of them but hopefully they have the heft to play tighthead.

If none of Lasisi, Clarkson, McCarthy or McGuire don't come good as tightheads by 2025 I think we are in a serious panic mode at tighthead. Furlong looks like he will be a part time player for us from here on out and the younger lads will probably take 4 years of development at least and tighthead prop is the position that players typically take the longest to become solid at.

Its tough to sign a guy like jenkins on pretty good money presumably and then not play him at all in those kinds of games.