Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XII (The Byrne Supremacy)

Are you willingly disregarding my point that I'm referring to Frawley? Or are you just arguing for the sake of it?

My initial point on Frawley is as a 10 option at the moment, recent history suggests he is more suited to a bench option.

His recent accolades at 10 point to a player who can perform under pressure and change the pace of a game.

I say this in adding to the discussion that people want to see him more at 10. That would be great but I haven't seen enough consistently that he's a starter.

In pointing to you saying he was "good" other than "brilliant". Fine. Have those semantics if you want. I feel like you're arguing with someone who has the same point of view as you

Unfair to compare him to much beyond Sexton's first few appearances off the bench, and in that regard he compares favourably. Sexton shot the lights out in the second half against Northampton and his legend was born but his performances for Ireland initially were better than fading ROG with very few mistakes and good decisions but he was not BB or Maradonna. His reputation is around consistency and the incredible decision maker he became, but hind sighting that back onto is earliest appearances is unfair to any other new comer.

Frawley hasn't made many starts at ten. Some of that is because of injuries others because he was number 3 or number 4 at Leinster

Carrying he is better than both Byrne's.

Tackling he is better than both the Byrne's.

Drop goals better than both the Byrne's

Passing, there is not much difference. Ross is very easy to read who he is passing to, Harry sometimes throws a hail Mary but overall there isn't much difference

Standing flat, him and harry are better than Riss.

Cross field kicks, Riss is probably better .

Game management, Ross is way better than Harry and we haven't seen enough of Frawiey starting to know. This is where gametime is preventing us knowing if this guy is world class or not.

He needs at least 12 starts before six nations. I'd prefer that to happen and for Prendo to be the bench player

It will be exetremely hard for Leo to ignore him when Farrell is picking him at 10 for Ireland as backup to JC which seems very likely after the South Africa tour.

welcome back all, fun season ahead. Looks like we are back where we left off, 9 & 10 transition , but surely it’s impossible to leave Frawley off the No.1 10 select given what he has proven in SA, he’s too good to be a versatile super sub IMHO. 9, haven’t changed, Gunne & Foley need their day, an easier one to bank on I suspect, and the EI tour will give us a good insight on that front

9 not a problem position IMO. Gibson Park is class. McGrath needs to be moved on unfortunately, Foley looked better this last year IMO.

they need to give the younger players important gametime

Even if he's back fit for the start of the season, JGP will play only a handful of URC games. There will be plenty of game time for someone to stake a claim, the question is whether we have someone good enough to do it. I'm skeptical enough about Foley tbh.

They are simply not going to drop one of the best player in the world for a European game just so they can take a look at a young guy and see what he might be like. This is absolutely delusional and having a go at Cullen because of it is absolutely bananas.

The test will be hie much time mcgrath. It will likely be at Gunn's expense with Foley in the squad for most games.

How many games is JGP likely to miss. If it's 3 or 4 games and they rotate mcgrath and Foley starting with gunn getting a couple of games off the bench, it will be fine but I'd prefer to see order of gametime Foley, Gunn, and Mcgrath in third. I suspect it will be mcgrath/Foley on similar time and Gunn in third.

I suggested it's a matter of important game time, with first or very strong team, a few posts ago. Thst ws shot down as ridiculous.

Look, I want to see good continuity. Investment means short-term loss for long-term gain. If they give JGP all the important game time as he ages and slows down, the others won't grow as quickly. So JGP will have to drop further before it justifies replacing him.

I'm advocating for investing in the younger lads before it's absolutely necessary. It's not that radical.

I'm advocating for investing in the younger lads before it's absolutely necessary. It's not that radical.

But the issue is you're talking about the "younger lads" - you don't even know if it's Foley or Gunne you're talking about, one has not really shone at all so far and the other has practically zero senior experience.

We have four European pool games and, as we saw last season, your pool standing goes a long way to determining your path through the knockouts. Dropping the second-best SH in the world for a totally unproven youngster just to give him some experience would be an incredible move, and slating a coach as "conservative" for not doing so is a bit much IMO.

Pre-season has started, we have two friendlies and then there are seven rounds of the URC before the first European game. There is loads of time for guys to show what they can do, and if they do, great, if they don't, they don't. Chances are Gunne will go to South Africa with EI too.

https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/2024/08/06/leinster-rugby-academy-for-2024-25-announced/

The Leinster Rugby Academy for 2024/25 has been confirmed this morning by Academy Manager, Simon Broughton.

While the second- and third-year Academy players have already been back for their first block of pre-season training, the final group of year one players won’t join up with their new teammates until tomorrow in UCD.

The players named, and their Energia AIL registered clubs are; Oliver Coffey (Blackrock College RFC), Billy Corrigan (Old Wesley RFC), Caspar Gabriel (Terenure College RFC), Hugo McLaughlin (Lansdowne FC), Ruben Moloney (UCD RFC), Alan Spicer (UCD RFC), Andrew Sparrow (UCD RFC), Niall Smyth (Clontarf FC), Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley RFC) and Alex Usanov (Clontarf FC).

Niall Smyth – Blackrock College / 

*did not play underage rugby in New York

Bit of an odd note to include? What's the story there? Is it that he literally didn't play any rugby until he moved to Ireland for secondary?