Jonny Sexton leaving Leinster *mod warning post 1*

thomond2006

MOD WARNING: Ok This thread is going downhill rapidly. The My Province is better then your province crap stops now or this thread will be locked and bans handed out. Silly season is here as it is international season and numerous seagulls with come to wreck threads so please don't fall for their crap

I thought the move was off or that it was simply bargaining for a better contract, but a lot of word going around that it's still on.

French clubs cannot announce any signings until April when the 'window' officially opens.

If the move does happen, it's definitely the highest profile move of an Irish player out of the country. The concern for the IRFU will be that it starts a trend of Irish players leaving for big bucks as has happened with Welsh players.

If Sexton does go...
Given how Sexton has played a huge role in Leinster's recent successes and therefore helped the IRFU earn a lot of meritocracy payment, you'd wonder if the IRFU should have broken the bank to keep him. However from their perspective that opens a can of worms for salary inflation of other players.

Sexton won't be playing with mugs in the backline at Racing. A potential 9-15 is Machenaud, Sexton, Imhoff, Roberts, Chavancy, Fall, Hernandez with the likes of Wisniewski and Andreu also in the squad. Racing have also made significant investment in the pack, with both Northampton props arriving along with Jaundre Kruger.

It's an utter disaster for Leinster should Sexton leave and it will be difficult to attract a replacement of Sexton's quality. No Irish or Irish Qualified flyhalf is an adequate replacement and with the money bandied about in France and Japan it will be hard to compete for a big name 10. Leinster have zero control over Sexton's negotiations, then again they weren't paying him...

P_1

Where's that coming from? Is it in any of the more reputable French papers?

thomond2006

Babbling brook and Planet Rugby fora

Otacon

If it does happen I can think of one person who will be delighted...

P_1

Disaster if tis true, and would certainly increase my ire at the IRFU if its the case.

Between that and the Puma deal falling true it hasn't been the best month of business for the lads behind the scenes at Lansdowne Road

Fishooks13

P_1 wrote: »

Disaster if tis true, and would certainly increase my ire at the IRFU if its the case.

Between that and the Puma deal falling true it hasn't been the best month of business for the lads behind the scenes at Lansdowne Road

We don't know whats happened but the IRFU have done a lot in keeping our best talent here in the past. But they simply cannot compete on a sustainable level with some of the offers made by French clubs in the past to other players, and if that happened they would have been right not to match the offer

justsomebloke

Truthfully this could open a whole can of worms for Irish Rugby if he has a successful stint in France, as I can see alot of other players taking their chances to get some big money while during their prime years while the window to come back for any tax is still open to them.

P_1

Fishooks13 wrote: »

We don't know whats happened but the IRFU have done a lot in keeping our best talent here in the past. But they simply cannot compete on a sustainable level with some of the offers made by French clubs in the past to other players, and if that happened they would have been right not to match the offer

Well if they can't/won't match any competing offers from France surely its time for them to allow the provinces to at least attempt to do so.

.ak

Maybe, but the rumoured figure is 620k. That's not far off what he's supposedly on now (400k). I think a bump to 500k would've kept him and be worth it imo.

IRFU will lose out big time on ERC-fed money as Leinster will not qualify for playoffs for a while now.

Winters

I would like to think that the fact his agent is Fintan Drury is key to all the rumours and links to French teams.

It seems to be Platinum One's way of doing things these last few years. It certainly didn’t work out so well for Luke Fitz at the time and as far as I know BoD is no longer with Platinum One.

I would still stand by my opinion that we should only pick players for the national team that are contracted to the IRFU. Strong point I know but it would certainly be a deterrent.

Tox56

.ak wrote: »

Maybe, but the rumoured figure is 620k. That's not far off what he's supposedly on now (400k). I think a bump to 500k would've kept him and be worth it imo.

IRFU will lose out big time on ERC-fed money as Leinster will not qualify for playoffs for a while now.

That is a bit of an exaggeration, if Munster can reach the Quarters with ROG/Keatley at 10 and a misfiring backline, I'm sure Leinster can go reasonably deep into the competition with Madigan and the likes of Kearney/Fitzgerald/Nacewa/BOD around him.

danthefan

While there's nothing official yet I've seen enough to believe it's true.

Honey-ec

danthefan wrote: »

While there's nothing official yet I've seen enough to believe it's true.

Will be going public from the branch later today.

P_1

Really think that the central contract idea is totally undermined by

1 - Not allowing the provinces to offer contracts once the IRFU have put an offer on the table
2 - The comparative amateurism of the IRFU contract negotiators compared to the professionalism of the provinces' contract negotiators.

This could have our provinces like the Welsh regions if it isn't fixed very quickly.

awec

If this is true I wonder what the knock on effect will be on the IRFU IQ policy and the "play in Ireland to get picked for Ireland" idea.

If Sexton goes, I doubt he will be the last, if our best players end up in France then I don't see how the IRFU plan can work.

4PP

Zero, Nothing, Zilch, Nada, Rien..............on French forums/sites about this............absolutely nothing.

If there was anything to it there would be.

French clubs rely heavily on sponsorship. Habana's signing at RCT was controlled to create maximum exposure & entice partners on board before they went off & sponsored someone else.
Officially it can't be done 'till 15/04 but that only applies to the T14. A player coming from outside of France can announce what he likes without risk of sanctions.

Lorenzetti is no fool when it comes to generating income & if JS was moving he would have made sure it was all over the web.

Fishooks13

Michael Corcoran tweeting that he's heard it from good sources.

Writing seems to be on the wall

awec

Honey-ec wrote: »

Will be going public from the branch later today.

What will we hear? Deal done? In talks?

justsomebloke

Winters wrote: »

I would still stand by my opinion that we should only pick players for the national team that are contracted to the IRFU. Strong point I know but it would certainly be a deterrent.

I would agree with this as it will in some way help the provinces keep some of their top players, as players would have to factor in sponsorship losses into the equation.

I don't think the IRFU or the branches can afford to get into this type of bidding war so I would actually agree with the IRFU on this one. However if he only went for a 620K contract I would be extremely surprised as when he take tax into the equation he mightn't be on anything more then was offered by the IRFU

Fishooks13

Corcoran now tweeting that it will announced shortly

4PP

justsomebloke wrote: »

I would agree with this as it will in some way help the provinces keep some of their top players, as players would have to factor in sponsorship losses into the equation.

I don't think the IRFU or the branches can afford to get into this type of bidding war so I would actually agree with the IRFU on this one. However if he only went for a 620K contract I would be extremely surprised as when he take tax into the equation he mightn't be on anything more then was offered by the IRFU

Don't know about imcome tax but his PRSI payments will be over 25% of his gross....

P_1

Frantically scanning through a RM92 version of lf.com to see if there's any truth to it on their side.

Here's the link if anyone else cares to also frantically scan
http://forum.racing-metro92.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1297&start=770

ScissorPaperRock

Fishooks13 wrote: »

Corcoran now tweeting that it will announced shortly

Ah f***. That's really disappointing.

awec

Well, colour me shocked.

phog

P_1 wrote: »

Really think that the central contract idea is totally undermined by

1 - Not allowing the provinces to offer contracts once the IRFU have put an offer on the table

Luke Fitzgerald???????????????????????

Fishooks13

Kidney's master plan is finally coming to fruition!

4PP

P_1 wrote: »

Frantically scanning through a RM92 version of lf.com to see if there's any truth to it on their side.

Here's the link if anyone else cares to also frantically scan
http://forum.racing-metro92.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1297&start=770

There talking more about Quesada than JS

.ak

.ak wrote: »

Maybe, but the rumoured figure is 620k. That's not far off what he's supposedly on now (400k). I think a bump to 500k would've kept him and be worth it imo.

IRFU will lose out big time on ERC-fed money as Leinster will not qualify for playoffs for a while now.

come on now fella, 400k -> 620k is a 55% pay increase!!

thomond2006

Fishooks13 wrote: »

Kidney's master plan is finally coming to fruition!

won't be completed until NOC is in Leinster colours, missing kick after kick against Munster in a Heineken Cup Final.

Clareman

I can see this as being a positive thing for Irish rugby but a negative thing for Provincial Rugby. By having someone on a central contract pretty much blocks the development of upcoming players, it is great to have all the top players here, but if they can get paid somewhere else the gap will be filled by someone so let someone else have an opportunity, it's a glass half full/empty situation.

P_1

phog wrote: »

Luke Fitzgerald???????????????????????

Wasn't that saga dragged out for far longer than it should have been precisely by the IRFU not letting Leinster negotiate until they took their offer off the table?