Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Yes and No. Yes he would have been a pretty good replacement for Ala'alatoa but in the same breath no because he wanted a starting job long term and only Munster could offer that out of the 4 provinces.

With Ala'alatoa going and more than likely Jason Jenkins and Charlie Ngatai potentially not getting renewed, Leinster will have 3 NIQ slots available.

I can see them using two of them spots for next season on a borderline world class lock and a veteran older Prop with the NIQ designations and bring in an Irish tighthead.

At Tighthead, I would see if Leinster can get Marty Moore back from Ulster. He is a bit injury prone but he is a quality scrum technician and would really help the Leinster scrum at the end of games. With Rory McGuire and Paddy McCarthy potentially emerging at tighthead, I would offer Moore a two year deal to give the young props some breathing room to develop.

If he can get over his recent health scare and come back, I would love to see Lood De Jager at Leinster. He knows how Nienaber wants to play, he is a brilliant line-out operator and would add some serious additional bulk to the Leinster pack. A trio of James Ryan, Lood De Jager and Joe McCarthy would be monstrous in a match day 23.

I could easily see Cullen and Nienaber go with a veteran South African prop like Trevor Nyakane who can play both sides of the scrum. He does make alot of sense too. He will be 35 by the time he would be at Leinster meaning that they could have him as a one year rental and hope the likes of Jack Boyle has taken the next step and will step right into the back up loosehead role by the start of the 2025-26 season.

The likes of Trevor Nyakane and Marty Moore would be one to two year rentals who allow breathing room for the young emerging props. They would also give Leinster a huge amount of experience that they would be losing with Healy set to potentially retire and Ala'alatoa leaving.

Lood De Jager would improve Leinster's scrum and lineout with his sheer size and bulk. Nyakane and Moore would give them a rock solid front row with Ronan Kelleher off the bench.

Will this all happen? who knows but I can see Nienaber wanting to bring some players he knows into Leinster and I can see him wanting to hold onto a NIQ designation for the future.

127 caps for 19 year old Sam prendergast is impressive.

Very interested to see how Clarkson goes in such a strong pack. It feels make-or-break for him.

That is a way stronger Leinster team than I expected

No idea how Larmour is still getting picked on current form. Rob Russell is really getting a bit of a raw deal.

Yeah. Now the question is is Jenkins (or another signing) needed as a squad player? - or can Deeny and O'Tighearnaigh fill that role from next season?

Molony's there too, obviously. And Soroka could play some second row, if he ever gets fit.

Josh Murphy was probably a better second row option for Leinster than Jenkins is.

Any thoughts on how Jack Dunne is getting on at Exeter? He doesn't seem to have been making the side for the Premiership games, playing Premiership Cup instead.

The ref will probably be told one of them to speak to. My gut tells me that will be Ryan most of the time.

Scarlets taking the UFC approach tonight

Has Big Joe got even bigger since last week? Great start for Prendergast. Osbornes pass for that try was simple but lovely. Keenan oozes class.

Well done Clarkson! Great turnover.

Scarlets player was practically lying on the ground at that last turnover. Some of the decisions tonight have been confusing at best.

Not sure I saw a forward pass from there to JGP