Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

profitius

totallegend wrote: »

As for Leinster letting Felix Jones leave, I think it was the right call.

I heard Cheika wasn't very happy about Jones leaving. Jones himself wanted to leave.

tolosenc

Anyone know what Julien Pierre is up to next season?

EDIT:
Others who would be on my wish list - Andries Bekker, Mark Chisholm, Cam Jowitt, Anthony Boric, Ali Williams, Nathan Sharpe, Sam Whitelock, AW Jones, and of course Richie Gray.

Most of those are very unlikely.

But, if we could get Whitelock and Gray...

bamboozle

apart from Morris leaving, saturday's indo reported Stan Wright has signed a deal with Stade Francais.

totallegend

tolosenc wrote: »

Others who would be on my wish list.... Cam Jowitt...

Excuse me??!

GerM

tolosenc wrote: »

Anyone know what Julien Pierre is up to next season?

EDIT:
Others who would be on my wish list - Andries Bekker, Mark Chisholm, Cam Jowitt, Anthony Boric, Ali Williams, Nathan Sharpe, Sam Whitelock, AW Jones, and of course Richie Gray.

Most of those are very unlikely.

But, if we could get Whitelock and Gray...

Quite the wish list! Status/opinions on them as far as I know:

Pierre - under contract until 2014
Bekker - under contract until 2012
Chisholm - available I believe but supposedly in talks with Bath
Jowitt - Don't know status but cannot see it happening and wouldn't really want it to either.
Boric - contracted until 2012
Williams - Don't think he's available although can't find confirmation. In my opinion it's a big risk. Has had some major injuries and some public disciplinary issues. If we could sort those I'd be more than happy to have him but it's a big if.
Sharpe - My overall preference. Playing fantastic stuff and is not having his contract renewed by the ARU post WC.
Whitelock - under contract until 2012
AW Jones - An interesting one. No words on his talks of late. He did declare an interest in moving to France however and there were rumours of him being in talks with T14 teams. Not as good as he was but still a very good player. Would be happy to have him.
Gray - Under contract until December which I think makes him quite unlikely. He'd miss the first 4 HEC games. He's still very young so I could see him extending by a couple of years at home before making a move abroad.

GerM

F*cking hell!!

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/newsroom/7829.php

Hold my calls, I've some researching of players to do!

Beanmachine

Sykes is a decent player i have seen him play a few times in th S14/15, Never seen Berquist play before so can't really comment on him.

thomond2006

Berquist is a straight swap for Berne, Sykes replaces Hines and Hagan replaces Wright. Simples.

I thought they would let Madigan and McKinley contest the backup 10 spot to Sexton, obviously they don't feel they are up to it quite yet.

wixfjord

Hmm, not overly happy with these signings.
Berquiest for a year fair enough, but Sykes to replace Hines?
Not good enough really.

Quint2010

Beanmachine wrote: »

Sykes is a decent player i have seen him play a few times in th S14/15, Never seen Berquist play before so can't really comment on him.

Wikipedia not very complimentry about Sykes. Says he plays SR and hooker???

WeeBushy

I wouldn't follow Sykes' wikipedia page when forming a judgement...

This picture of him being lifted by the beast is pretty funny:

TheRevolution

thomond2006 wrote: »

I thought they would let Madigan and McKinley contest the backup 10 spot to Sexton, obviously they don't feel they are up to it quite yet.

I agree to be honest. If Sexton gets injured then Leinster's season is over. Of all the provinces Leinster have the weakest back up 10. Munster have Warwick, Ulster have Pienaar, even Connacht have Nikora/Keatley.

McKinley and Madigan will be fine players but they would fall apart if they had to play against Leicester in the HC QF tomorrow.

skregs

PhatPiggins wrote: »

I'm waiting for the Francis article that still has the username from the thread he knicked it from on it. Not long now.

Nah, I always make sure I change the words around so no one can say I'm robbing your opinions

profitius

TheRevolution wrote: »

I agree to be honest. If Sexton gets injured then Leinster's season is over. Of all the provinces Leinster have the weakest back up 10. Munster have Warwick, Ulster have Pienaar, even Connacht have Nikora/Keatley.

McKinley and Madigan will be fine players but they would fall apart if they had to play against Leicester in the HC QF tomorrow.

I think McKinley has alot of potential. I don't see Madigan as being a top class 10 but maybe a decent 12. With Nacewa and McFadden also being able to kick for goals a kicking 10 is not needed.

GerM

TheRevolution wrote: »

I agree to be honest. If Sexton gets injured then Leinster's season is over. Of all the provinces Leinster have the weakest back up 10. Munster have Warwick, Ulster have Pienaar, even Connacht have Nikora/Keatley.

McKinley and Madigan will be fine players but they would fall apart if they had to play against Leicester in the HC QF tomorrow.

Nacewa would be brought straight in at 10 if that came to pass. He's done alright for us there as has Berne. Nacewa played 10 when we beat Munster this season. Berne was outhalf in Toulouse last season as well as playing excellently during the group stages where he started a few of the games at 10. We're not as short as you think. Berquist will be a straight swap for Berne. If anything, we've more depth at 10 than the other provinces I'd think.

ambid

wixfjord wrote: »

Hmm, not overly happy with these signings.
Berquiest for a year fair enough, but Sykes to replace Hines?
Not good enough really.

Maybe he's a steady squad banker (like Ed O'Donoghue before his injuries) and they're planning on bringing in a top class second row later?

WeeBushy

What I can find about Sykes from google:

• He was an unused sub for South Africa against the B&I Lions
• Interview: http://www.ruggavibe.com/page/the-vibe/375577-QA-with-Steven-Sykes
• Short biog: http://www.worldartists.co.za/page/clients/638638-Steven-Sykes
• Sharks profile from 2009: http://www.sharksrugby.co.za/content.aspx?id=17481
• Updated Sharks profile: One of the unsung heroes of a successful Currie Cup campaign for the champion Sharks in 2010, his physical prowess and enjoyment of being a forceful influence in the tight phases of the games added huge value to a physical Sharks side where dominance in the collisions and at the breakdowns was crucial to their success
  

Beanmachine

Quint2010 wrote: »

Wikipedia not very complimentry about Sykes. Says he plays SR and hooker???

I never said anything about his wikipedia, From seeing him play a number of times he looks a decent players is all i said, I wouldn't say he's the finished article and wouldnt be as well rounded as the player he's replacing (Hines) but i think he could definetly do a good job for Leinster.

totallegend

wixfjord wrote: »

Hmm, not overly happy with these signings.
Berquiest for a year fair enough, but Sykes to replace Hines?
Not good enough really.

Dunno mate, I haven't seen enough of Sykes to make any sort of judgement, but it's been rare enough that Leinster have got it wrong with their foreign acquisitions lately*. We all doubted the wisdom of bringing in Wright and Strauss... At any rate, he's a second-row playing regularly for one of the top sides in the Super 15, South Africa are never short of decent forwards, so he can't be all bad.

Tell you what though, I haven't watched much Super 15 this year but I'll be all over it this weekend...

*Disclaimer: Clint Newland doesn't count, nor does Galarzo.

ambid

totallegend wrote: »

Dunno mate, I haven't seen enough of Sykes to make any sort of judgement, but it's been rare enough that Leinster have got it wrong with their foreign acquisitions lately*. We all doubted the wisdom of bringing in Wright and Strauss... At any rate, he's a second-row playing regularly for one of the top sides in the Super 15, South Africa are never short of decent forwards, so he can't be all bad.

Tell you what though, I haven't watched much Super 15 this year but I'll be all over it this weekend...

*Disclaimer: Clint Newland doesn't count, nor does Galarzo.

Good point that.

CouchSmart

All 3 are good signing. Sykes is 26 and is exactly the type of player we need to pair up with Cullen/Toner. He's 118kg and 6'6" (Toner's 120kg and 6'10", so Sykes is a big unit but less lanky than Toner).

Berquist, who admittedly I haven't seen much of, is what we need. It's only a year contract, and with Sexton likely to miss large parts of the season we'd end up being overly reliant on Madigan/McKinley. He's about as good as possible for a back-up 10, we're never gonna get a top class player willing to sit on the bench behind Sexton.

Hagan, well his positives are pretty self evident.

GerM

CouchSmart wrote: »

Hagan, well his positives are pretty self evident.

Epic beard?

molloyjh

totallegend wrote: »

Dunno mate, I haven't seen enough of Sykes to make any sort of judgement, but it's been rare enough that Leinster have got it wrong with their foreign acquisitions lately*. We all doubted the wisdom of bringing in Wright and Strauss... At any rate, he's a second-row playing regularly for one of the top sides in the Super 15, South Africa are never short of decent forwards, so he can't be all bad.

Tell you what though, I haven't watched much Super 15 this year but I'll be all over it this weekend...

*Disclaimer: Clint Newland doesn't count, nor does Galarzo.

In fairness to Clint scrummaging is a different beast up these parts (and he admitted as much himself at one stage) and I think he was def showing signs of improving in that regard. Given that he was only here a few months I would have liked to of seen how he would have gone with a full season under his belt. Didn't see enough of Galarzo to comment. That probably says it all I suspect...

molloyjh

Something worth looking at for Sykes...obviously a couple of promo videos from his management team, but better than nothing...

http://www.worldartists.co.za/page/clients/638638-Steven-Sykes

And something on Matt Berquist....

http://s968.photobucket.com/albums/ae170/Essentially/Matt%20Berquist/?action=view&current=VTS_01_1_xvid.mp4

[Jackass]

I'll have to trust Schmidt on this, an I do, although my initial reaction is that this slightly weakens our squad. Wright is undoubtedly stronger than Hagan, but I'm all for the trade off given the age and potential, I don't know anything about this out-half lad, but understudy to Dan Carter will do for me, it's only a year to bridge McKinley in as second choice imo, Emergency cover, but I'd reckon McKinley will be given a few starts and sub appearences to develop him in Magners while this lad covers HEC sub duties perhaps...

The second row lad is the disapointment. Hines has been such a massive player for us, and imo it is the major weakness in our squad, second row, so I really expected a marque signing here, a world class proven talent, but he's been signed as a project player and long term solution, so I'm all for that, but still feel we could do with another signing here, and maybe we'll get it. As it stands, we only have 4 NIQ's next season, two of which are project players, so one more NIQ would be acceptable imo, but it's got to be in the second row.

It's crucial to me that we keep Maguire and McGrath now though and I still feel Fionn Carr coming back and the adddition of one more second row would wrap up the squad extremely nicely.

handsomecake

Sykes is a massive signing. Seriously good player who plays second row and back row . Really dynamic with ball in hand . A bit of a wrecking ball. I watch all the southern hemisphere stuff and this guy is very good.

handsomecake

Berquist is not very good, it's disingenuous to say he is carters understudy. They prefer a kid called Tyler bleyendaal.or even fotualii or dagg in a pinch.


Poor mans David holwell

Podge_irl

Our of curiosity, while many people are acknowledging Leinster's reasonably impressive track record wrt foreign signings, how many signings has Schmidt actually made? Wright, Hines, Nacewa were all Cheika after all. Schmidt is involved in the Newland and Galarza signings though (I think).

Getting signings right was something it took Cheiks a couple years to get consistently right. Though I suppose Dawson has a decent bit of input into it as well.

GerM

3pm this Saturday sees the Sharks play the Stormers in the S15. Our boy Sykes comes face to face with Bekker who has been in top form. Could be a good one to watch if anyone is interested in having a look at him.

sock puppet

handsomecake wrote: »

Berquist is not very good, it's disingenuous to say he is carters understudy. They prefer a kid called Tyler bleyendaal.or even fotualii or dagg in a pinch.


Poor mans David holwell

He's only replacing Berne though.