The Academies

opinionatedfan

.ak wrote: »

The thing with Crosbie is he's a fairly big unit. I could be wrong, but he looks bigger than Reid and Marsh. The latter both have oodles of skill, but get bullied about a little regarding their step up to to senior level. One would hope Crosbie's physicality would stand to him when he makes that step.

Upon my viewing of crosbie, he strikes me more as a 12 than a 10.

irishbucsfan

Has anyone mentioned that Crosbie is more a 12 than a 10?

opinionatedfan

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Has anyone mentioned that Crosbie is more a 12 than a 10?

haha yeah i didn't see the previous post about it.

farrell2121

Catholic Marsh wouldn't be too far behind Paddy Jackson. Just needs to get some gametime under his belt. Huge potential.

lurtz

Marsh is an absolutely fantastic footballer,much better than Noel Reid I think. He has skills and flair that you just dont see in Ireland. Id rather see McKeon go in instead of Byrne

bilston

farrell2121 wrote: »

Catholic Marsh wouldn't be too far behind Paddy Jackson. Just needs to get some gametime under his belt. Huge potential.

Sure you didn't mean Protestant Jackson?;)

CIARAN_BOYLE

bilston wrote: »

Sure you didn't mean Protestant Jackson?;)

as someone with a family member named cathal I'm willing to bet that is what autocorrect on phones can do.

RobbieRuns

and their next coach will be Jewish Schmidt !

farrell2121

bilston wrote: »

Sure you didn't mean Protestant Jackson?;)

Ok, just saw the typo.! What can I say

[Jackass]

I can see a large phase of academy players being brought through in the next couple of seasons. There's always 3 - 4 a season who come through and gradually build up game time over a number of seasons, but I can see after next season and big turn around in playing personel at Leinster and large scale game time for fringe / younger players like O'Malley, Macken, Reid, McGrath, O'Connell, Murphy, Ryan etc. and whoever else takes their chance from the academy.

Leinster squad is already 66%+ academy graduates, but I can see a bit of a blitz over the next few years with a lot of the old gelacticos and old guard coming to an end of their career soon.

Hopefully it will be managed better than down south, but in fairness to Leinster, it's not like they've waited until the last minute, a lot of fringe players from the academy have 20+ or even 50+ caps already (like O'Malley) before being relied upon as first teamers, as they inevitably will.

CGD

[Jackass] wrote: »

I can see a large phase of academy players being brought through in the next couple of seasons. There's always 3 - 4 a season who come through and gradually build up game time over a number of seasons, but I can see after next season and big turn around in playing personel at Leinster and large scale game time for fringe / younger players like O'Malley, Macken, Reid, McGrath, O'Connell, Murphy, Ryan etc. and whoever else takes their chance from the academy.

Leinster squad is already 66%+ academy graduates, but I can see a bit of a blitz over the next few years with a lot of the old gelacticos and old guard coming to an end of their career soon.

Hopefully it will be managed better than down south, but in fairness to Leinster, it's not like they've waited until the last minute, a lot of fringe players from the academy have 20+ or even 50+ caps already (like O'Malley) before being relied upon as first teamers, as they inevitably will.

Leinster have been good at introducing new young players especially through the A team plenty of non contracted sub academy players have played Leinster A games the last few seasons as a sort of audition for academy or a development contract.

FellasFellas

Ed Byrne is back in action now, should be interesting to see where next season takes him.

opinionatedfan

FellasFellas wrote: »

Ed Byrne is back in action now, should be interesting to see where next season takes him.

wonder if he will get back for a 20s 6 nations game, if not hopefully the JWC.

In fairness to him he is in a fairly stacked position right now, so he might not break through as fast as some might have expected when he left school.

FellasFellas

opinionatedfan wrote: »

wonder if he will get back for a 20s 6 nations game, if not hopefully the JWC.

In fairness to him he is in a fairly stacked position right now, so he might not break through as fast as some might have expected when he left school.

Think the 6 Nations is too soon, plus Dooley and Taylor are playing well. I hope to him playing in the JWC, he's a great player and a good leader too.

opinionatedfan

Taylor has really struggled. Heard he had a better go of it versus Scotland though.

irishbucsfan

If McGrath is in the senior team next year then Byrne could see some good time for the A team. Who are the other looseheads? Tracy is back there now I think?

Ah Jack OConnell is the man I'm thinking of. OConnell, Byrne and Tracy are grand for the A team next season.

FellasFellas

opinionatedfan wrote: »

Taylor has really struggled. Heard he had a better go of it versus Scotland though.

Yeah heard that too. I'd like to see Bryan get in at hooker as well. McGuigan is a grafter but having seen Byrne play for UCD this year, he's in a league of his own.

FellasFellas

irishbucsfan wrote: »

If McGrath is in the senior team next year then Byrne could see some good time for the A team. Who are the other looseheads? Tracy is back there now I think?

Byrne can play both sides, not sure which one he is primarily, think a loosey. Tracy can play there too yeah, not sure who else there is. That's why we might see Dooley getting a contract this year.

opinionatedfan

irishbucsfan wrote: »

If McGrath is in the senior team next year then Byrne could see some good time for the A team. Who are the other looseheads? Tracy is back there now I think?

Figure McGrath is moved full time to the main squad, Jack O'Connell who started last week versus the dragons would become the 3rd string LH at that point starting A games and the B&I cup along with being on the bench a lot when Healy is not around. There were rumors about Healy needing surgery post Lions aswell, his shoulder he has been nursing for a good year now but that has seemed to die down a bit.

Tracy was moved to Hooker last I heard, leaving Byrne as 4th string LH. Dooley is interesting, could see him getting a academy contract next year.

TH situation could be: Bent/Hagan rotating with Moore and the mighty Furlong even further back.

lurtz

opinionatedfan wrote: »

Figure McGrath is moved full time to the main squad, Jack O'Connell who started last week versus the dragons would become the 3rd string LH at that point starting A games and the B&I cup along with being on the bench a lot when Healy is not around. There were rumors about Healy needing surgery post Lions aswell, his shoulder he has been nursing for a good year now but that has seemed to die down a bit.

Tracy was moved to Hooker last I heard, leaving Byrne as 4th string LH. Dooley is interesting, could see him getting a academy contract next year.

TH situation could be: Bent/Hagan rotating with Moore and the mighty Furlong even further back.

Tracy is playing mostly loosehead for ucd. I can see Dooley getting a contract alright.
Shane Delahunt who can play both sides of the scrum is also being trained as a hooker on the sly

rugby_fan

With the 20s six nations nearly over, what players do people feel have put their hands up for an academy contract?

opinionatedfan

rugby_fan wrote: »

With the 20s six nations nearly over, what players do people feel have put their hands up for an academy contract?

For Leinster:
Thornbury, McGrath, JVDF all have academy contracts.
Peter Dooley and Tom Daly should.
Crosbie i'm not sure about, probably not but another province would be wise to pick him up.

amtw

Should think that after fridays nights tally Tom Daly is a definite, our front row worked well so Dooley is a probably, Crosbie I'm not so sure about either.

Liveforrugby

amtw wrote: »

Should think that after fridays nights tally Tom Daly is a definite, our front row worked well so Dooley is a probably, Crosbie I'm not so sure about either.

The guy can kick goals too! Would love to see him starting for leinster some time soon

Hagz

I'm not impressed with Daly tbh. Take away his goal-kicking and i don't really see what he offers. He'll improve in the academy though.

FellasFellas

Hagz wrote: »

I'm not impressed with Daly tbh. Take away his goal-kicking and i don't really see what he offers. He'll improve in the academy though.

I played against him recently and he's a strong enough guy, strong through the tackles, good leg drive on him. A good offloader if he can get his hands free.

opinionatedfan

Think Daly is being played out of position, he is a far better 12 in my opinion.

Obviously far from the finished article but has all the tools.

CGD

opinionatedfan wrote: »

Think Daly is being played out of position, he is a far better 12 in my opinion.

Obviously far from the finished article but has all the tools.

Yeah would agree with that. An academy place would bring him on no end

backgreen

what are the stats on guys making it from the u20 in rugby...in gaa very few from u18/21

opinionatedfan

backgreen wrote: »

what are the stats on guys making it from the u20 in rugby...in gaa very few from u18/21

depends on the year but since 2008, from what I remember, around 10 players have made it as full Irish internationals. A lot more players still filtering through.

Most of the under 20 squad will get a full academy contract if they dont already have one.