Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

While I generally agree with the overall sentiment, there’s a stunning amount of hyperbole here so I’m going to have to, unfortunately, defend Ulster.

Our academy is admittedly woeful but I’m struggling to think of literally anyone who was top notch at u20 level and disappeared without a trace. There are plenty of guys who, in my opinion, were barely serviceable at that level and wouldn’t have made the squad in a different year group.

If we are going to blame Ulster for declines then we should damn well be giving them credit for their rise. No Leinster produced winger has come close to the heights stockdale reached, and if you put any value in Gordon darcy’s opinion then he may have lost all that made him great if he came though at Leinster. If leinster could fix stockdale then why do I still have to watch Larmour immediately make a 90 degree turn as soon as a defender comes with eyesight? Why is chis cosgrave spending his time in the AIL because he’s allergic to tackling, or why was Andrew smith let go because he dropped balls like he made a bet? Both highly rated players coming through. Stockdale had many flaws to start with but much of his downfall has been due to losing his explosiveness because of several injuries.

Not sure why Baloucoune is being brought up as some massive downfall when most only had him picking up a few caps. Out of form? Certainly. Decline? Bit much. He never got called up to Ireland u18, u10 or u20, and he barely played any sevens. Surely Ulster have done very well getting him to the standard he’s at?

Nick Timoney has done fantastic in earning Ireland caps, as did Eric O’Sullivan, thanks to Ulster. Many players who move were never good enough if we are being honest, and while I believe that generally the best strategy is to stay at Leinster, I do believe we are not a barrier to players of a certain level progressing further, despite how poor we were last year.

Bourgarit out for 3-4 months is a huge loss for them.

Weird how they don't just play a home and away interpro series during the 6N. Where's the gametime going to come from for the players down the depth chart now with fewer league games? Guys like Deeny, Brownlee, Arenzana-King twiddling their thumbs in the stands...

I didn't see the incident.