James Downey

bonnieprince

Anyone heard of this guy? Stuart Barnes mentions him in his column, he plays with northampton and has been with calvisano,connacht and munster. Never came across him as a munsterfan for years. And he is a big centre.

RuggieBear

from dublin...played for connacht and leinster iirc...might have had a trial at munster but not sure he ever played a match for them.

big solid guy in the same tradition as David Quinlan.

Stev_o

Very much a basher at 12 and he does his job very good with Saints at getting over the gain line. Probably will be with the Ireland A in the CC in the summer.

figs86

6'4'' converted from forwards when he was in school

used to play in clontarf

one of only 2 players (at the time anyway) to have played for 3 provinces (was in leinster academy and leinster 'a' before making a successful move to connacht. following a 6 month trial with munster he wasnt picked up by them)

then spent a season or 2 in calvisano after ben gissing went there

then to northampton as a squad member not really a starter

got a few starts and held his position in northampton and is now coming to our attention again!

bamboozle

he's probably 27/28, went to Belvedere and played for Clontarf. Has been desperately unlucky with injuries and was suprising to see Connacht release him, suprisingly nimble for a big man and played wing a fair bit for Connacht.

one position we're short on is 1st centres these days.

Amazotheamazing

In fairness to Downey, Munster offered him a contract but told him they couldn't assure him gametime. He was coming back off a run of terrible injuries and wanted to get back playing so he turned down the Munster offer and moved to Italy.

Has been fairly ever-present since he signed for Northampton, he's doing well and it's great to see he's put his injuries behind him.

myflipflops

Good solid GP player but far from international class. At a quick thought, he;s behind BOD, Darcy, P Wallace, Earls, Murphy, Luke Fitz, Cave in the centre pecking order at the very least.

remus808

pwhite587 wrote: »

Good solid GP player but far from international class. At a quick thought, he;s behind BOD, Darcy, P Wallace, Earls, Murphy, Luke Fitz, Cave in the centre pecking order at the very least.

And Trimble, Horgan, The other Murphy, McFadden, god knows who else.

[Jackass]

karmabass wrote: »

And Trimble, Horgan, The other Murphy, McFadden, god knows who else.

:eek: I'd take issue with those 2. Horgan, one of the top all time try scorers in the Heineken cup and for Ireland?

Jonh Murphy? He's one of the form wingers in GP and one of the top try scorers iirc (either this season or last) - if he played in Ireland may well have been in the Ireland Grand Slam first 15.

Or McFadden? A young promising player who has only got a handfull of chances in a centre competeing with Fitzgerald, D'Arcy, O'Driscoll & Contepomi? I think he's done superbly well and I'm looking forward to seeing him get more game time, massively strong and quick player with good hands...wouldn't write him off yet!

Downey wouldn't be near the same level as any of those guys - was a Belvo schools player and played for tarf and had the odd game at Leinster - decent player, but I'd compare him to a Gary Browne or a Hurley before any of the above players...

Podge_irl

[Jackass] wrote: »

:eek: I'd take issue with those 2. Horgan, one of the top all time try scorers in the Heineken cup and for Ireland?

Jonh Murphy? He's one of the form wingers in GP and one of the top try scorers iirc (either this season or last) - if he played in Ireland may well have been in the Ireland Grand Slam first 15.

Or McFadden? A young promising player who has only got a handfull of chances in a centre competeing with Fitzgerald, D'Arcy, O'Driscoll & Contepomi? I think he's done superbly well and I'm looking forward to seeing him get more game time, massively strong and quick player with good hands...wouldn't write him off yet!

Downey wouldn't be near the same level as any of those guys - was a Belvo schools player and played for tarf and had the odd game at Leinster - decent player, but I'd compare him to a Gary Browne or a Hurley before any of the above players...

Eh...that was his point. As in he's behind all the players mentioned.

bonnieprince

thanks my learned rugby fellows, i like the idea of a big centre having played there myself and its a good option during the game for a crash centre. hope he gets some more gametime and gets noticed.

7mountpleasant

Thought he was very good against the ospreys, really good straight running.

[Jackass]

Podge_irl wrote: »

Eh...that was his point. As in he's behind all the players mentioned.

Apologies. Should learn to read before replying

Chucky the tree

karmabass wrote: »

And Trimble, Horgan, The other Murphy, McFadden, god knows who else.

Jesus, the chap would want to be really really awful at rugby if he's behind Horgan for a centre spot.