Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Somehow coming away with 4 wins from the last 4 games so can't complain. Plenty still to be sorted on the training field though on both sides of the ball. Conceding 27 points at home to a second string Sale is really not good enough and I'm sure the players will know that themselves too. A lot of sloppy errors still happening. We're missing a few guys around the place but the team is still close to full strength.

With the interpros on the horizon, I'd imagine they've already identified some of their selections which are likely to be impacted by player management. I can see guys playing one or the other but not both when it comes to the games.

For each game, I'd expect something along the lines of:

Keenan, Larmour, Ringrose, Frawley, Lowe, Byrne, JGP, Conan, Connors, Baird, Molony, McCarthy, Ala'alatoa, Kelleher, Healy

JOB, Russell, Turner, Henshaw, Lowe, Byrne, McGrath, Doris, Penny, Ruddock, Ryan, Jenkins, Furlong, Sheehan, Porter.

It will be interesting to see if opponents have to rotate similarly. I'd expect Crowley and Beirne have to take a break at some point, most likely visiting Connacht. Henderson has already missed some game time with injury so may be exempt from resting.

Rory O'Connor in the Indo is reporting that RG Snyman will be on the bench for Leinster

Just read that RG Snyman is going to cost Leinster €500,000. I wonder will the IRFU sanction that? They probably would if Leinster move off of the three NIQ players.

They also might say that he will stop other Irish locks from developing, to be fair the young locks coming up do have potential but I think they aren't of the same quality or potential of James Ryan or Joe McCarthy, Leinster can also argue that Baird is moving to Flanker and that he wouldn't be obstructed.

With Doris and Sheehan more than likely moving to Central contracts, Leinster should have some money to sign Snyman and potentially another prop to replace Ala'alatoa.

I'd be shocked if it was a pay for play deal.

Snyman could command €500k easily enough elsewhere without a pay for play deal. A few niggly injuries and his salary is massively reduced. Great for Leinster but he'd be absolutely mad to sign such a contract.

They might not sanction it not on money concerns but can it be argued that he will be obstructing Irish talent from getting opportunities while he is there? Can it be argued that McCarthy might get less game time or see a reduced role because of it? Can it be argued that while Baird is playing flanker, is Snyman stopping him from getting game time at lock?

Can it be argued that Leinster don't particularly need the signing in order to remain competitive and win trophies?

Can it be argued by the other provinces that the rich are getting richer at Leinster with the Snyman signing?

The IRFU might also not be pleased that repeated use of the NIQ designation on a lock. First it was Scott Fardy, then Jason Jenkins and now RG Snyman. I think this is less of a concern.

I still think the deal goes through as Leinster did not make any signings this past season, they will have Sheehan and Doris moving onto central contracts and at least 2 of the 3 NIQ players are moving on at the end of the year clearing space for the move. Leinster have also seen a lot of talented players move to the other provinces. Roman Salanoa, Joey Carbery, Jordi Murphy, Jack Aungier, Andrew Conway, Sam Ilo, etc... and more than likely they will lose another player or two next season to the other provinces. It can be argued that Leinster would not have a problem at tighthead prop and therefore not needed to use the NIQ designation on Ala'alatoa if it wasn't for Salanoa, Ilo and Aungier all be moved to Munster and Connacht respectively.

I do think the signing happens and I also think Leinster pick up a prop. Either a loosehead that allows Porter to move back to tighthead or a tighthead that can lighten the load for Furlong. It won't be Jack Aungier anyway, there would be war if Leinster were to take Snyman from Munster and Aungier from Connacht, it would be hilarious though lol.

The English salary cap is increasing by £1.4m for next season so there's scope for teams to bring in a few big names (if they have the money). They can have one player exempt from this (Finn Russell for Bath). Japan is also the other obvious one. Extremely popular with SA players and no shortage of money. French teams would gladly pay for him. Their medical restrictions are more intensive but it's more for uncovering underlying or potentially long term issues such as LCD's neck nerve damage or Vakatawa's cardiac issues.

The other option would have been to return to SA. Whilst he definitely would have taken a pay cut, he'd be going home having spent 5-6 years on the road and has made a small fortune already. There has been significant investment in a couple of SA teams of late too which has allowed them bring guys like WLR, Etzebeth, Coetzee, Marco van Staden etc. back there in the last year.