Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XI (The Finals Countdown)

crisco10

Larmour realistically missing more Ireland games than Leinster though?

10 weeks is end of 2020. Which from a Leinster point of view is just the group HEC games in December?

Richie_Rich89

I don't think Larmour is that much of a loss when you consider what other players are available. It's obviously hugely disappointing for him personally, but I'm not sure he will actually be making the Leinster starting XV when David Kearney returns. Kearney is far more solid defensively on the right wing, and I feel Keenan is a better fit at fullback.

Buer

It's a loss but not a huge one, to be honest. We have cover there and I'm excited to see HK get a run at 15 in big games. If Keenan is away with Ireland too now, we could see some debutants in November too.

Keenan, Lowe and Kearney is a very solid back three when the bigger games arrive and JOB has really impressed of late. Some of his work yesterday was excellent none more so than a massive counter ruck in the first half where he dominated the collision and turned the ruck over.

That was a dire game. Two pretty good teams and it was turgid physical relentless stuff that produced mistake after mistake. It was test intensity at times with two 23's full of internationals (who will be playing against each other in their Nations colours in a few weeks time). I'm not sure Leinster were on the same page as Benetton and I thought we got beaten up at times. Consequently our set piece was pretty central to the result and the performance of James Ryan in the final 20 minutes was fairly brutish stuff - saved us on one or two occasions.

Byrne and Baird advanced their cases for Ireland. Jack O'Donoghue put himself in the frame if there is a call up. Park coughed up a few errors but I thought that was another really good game from him.

Combination of Benetton going all out and some of the Leinster players trying to mind themselves a bit hidden in that result. Need to better over the next few weeks in both sets of colours.

StackSteevens

Deleted User wrote: »

That was a dire game. Two pretty good teams and it was turgid physical relentless stuff that produced mistake after mistake. It was test intensity at times with two 23's full of internationals (who will be playing against each other in their Nations colours in a few weeks time). I'm not sure Leinster were on the same page as Benetton and I thought we got beaten up at times. Consequently our set piece was pretty central to the result and the performance of James Ryan in the final 20 minutes was fairly brutish stuff - saved us on one or two occasions.

Byrne and Baird advanced their cases for Ireland. Jack O'Donoghue put himself in the frame if there is a call up. Park coughed up a few errors but I thought that was another really good game from him.

Combination of Benetton going all out and some of the Leinster players trying to mind themselves a bit hidden in that result. Need to better over the next few weeks in both sets of colours.

Ben Whitehouse definitely contributed to making it such a dire game. The contrast between his whistling and Nigel's reffing of the Munster game was chalk and cheese.

StackSteevens

StackSteevens wrote: »

Ben Whitehouse definitely contributed to making it such a dire game. The contrast between his whistling and Nigel's reffing of the Munster game was chalk and cheese.

Owens will definitely let a minor laws infraction go if it doesn't materially impact play but plenty of ref's will penalise regardless.

I don't want to blame Whitehouse as there were a lot of knock ons contributing to the stops. It was just one of those games.

Skyfloater

Whitehouse does seem to allow both packs to stand around for ever, before the "crouch" command though. It was ridiculously slow at times.

arsebiscuits1

Tommy O'Brien was the 24th man at the weekend.

With Larmour gone he could be looking at a bit more time on the wing or the 23 shirt.

The caveat is with Keenan probably the front runner for Ireland involvement now - who replaces him at 15?

Dave Kearney has played there in the past or do we look at getting Silvester a debut?

I know Jimmy has played there once or twice but not sure the coaches are looking at him as a 15.

Buer

I have to say, the new interpretations have made for horrible watching. Rugby is incredibly stop/start. I know the intention is for teams to clean up their acts but it's very difficult for teams to be able to adhere to these when the game is played at such speed and aggression. I don't see the numbers dropping back to where they were with time. I'd love to see the average number of penalties this season compared to recent. NZ and Australia have had sufficient time to get used to the new interpretations but still combined for 21 penalties yesterday.

Owens may let games flow generally but he still whistled for 21 penalties at the weekend which is a pretty solid number. 19 was the fewest number of penalties in any Pro14 game from the weekend and it peaked with 27 yesterday in Llanelli. This is all without any crowds screaming for penalties which generally will be worth another couple of penalties on any given day.

sydthebeat

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

Tommy O'Brien was the 24th man at the weekend.

With Larmour gone he could be looking at a bit more time on the wing or the 23 shirt.

The caveat is with Keenan probably the front runner for Ireland involvement now - who replaces him at 15?

Dave Kearney has played there in the past or do we look at getting Silvester a debut?

I know Jimmy has played there once or twice but not sure the coaches are looking at him as a 15.

Cian Kelliher?

Squidgy Black

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

Tommy O'Brien was the 24th man at the weekend.

With Larmour gone he could be looking at a bit more time on the wing or the 23 shirt.

The caveat is with Keenan probably the front runner for Ireland involvement now - who replaces him at 15?

Dave Kearney has played there in the past or do we look at getting Silvester a debut?

I know Jimmy has played there once or twice but not sure the coaches are looking at him as a 15.

Cian Kelleher or Frawley are probably the most likely options if we're trying to put out our strongest teams

salmocab

sydthebeat wrote: »

Cian Kelliher?

Have to say that when he re-signed with Leinster I thought it was an odd move for both sides, he never stood out for Connacht but I’ve thought he’s been really good when he got game time since his return. This surprised me as I assumed I knew more than the Leinster coaching team.

Guinness RFC

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

Tommy O'Brien was the 24th man at the weekend.

With Larmour gone he could be looking at a bit more time on the wing or the 23 shirt.

The caveat is with Keenan probably the front runner for Ireland involvement now - who replaces him at 15?

Dave Kearney has played there in the past or do we look at getting Silvester a debut?

I know Jimmy has played there once or twice but not sure the coaches are looking at him as a 15.

I’d say Jimmy is in pole position in that instance. When he has played there for us he played well adding to the attacking play of the backline. Seem to remember him misjudging one or two garryowens from the opposition.

But I still think he’s the best option there ahead of Kelleher or Frawley. Kelleher is not as assured at the back in terms of fielding and counterattacking. Frawley is untried as far as I know but I’d like to see him given a shot to grow his repertoire of positions. I think Frawley is better over the first few yards and stepping players from static rather than blazing through the line at full tilt. Could be proven wrong though!

Squidgy Black

Guinness RFC wrote: »

I’d say Jimmy is in pole position in that instance. When he has played there for us he played well adding to the attacking play of the backline. Seem to remember him misjudging one or two garryowens from the opposition.

But I still think he’s the best option there ahead of Kelleher or Frawley. Kelleher is not as assured at the back in terms of fielding and counterattacking. Frawley is untried as far as I know but I’d like to see him given a shot to grow his repertoire of positions. I think Frawley is better over the first few yards and stepping players from static rather than blazing through the line at full tilt. Could be proven wrong though!

Frawleys played 15 a couple of times, Connacht in 2018 most notably, was supposed to start at 15 last year against Edinburgh but Ross had a late injury and was pulled right before the game.

Exclamation Marc

Max Deegans injury quite serious also.

From Leinster Rugby:

Jordan Larmour was withdrawn against Benetton Rugby with a dislocated shoulder and will have a procedure this week.

There is no timeline on his return yet until after the procedure but he will be unavailable for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations and Autumn Nations Cup.

Ryan Baird was also withdrawn from the game against Benetton Rugby with an adductor strain. He will be further assessed this week by the Leinster Rugby medical team.

Cullen also confirmed that Max Deegan suffered an ACL knee injury against Dragons at the RDS Arena in Round 1 and had a procedure last week which went well. Unfortunately, Max will be unavailable for a number of months.

It was also confirmed that Tadhg Furlong would remain under the supervision of the Leinster Rugby S&C and medical team this week as he recovers from a calf issue but that Rónan Kelleher (quad), Andrew Porter (hamstring), Johnny Sexton (hamstring) would all be assessed by the IRFU medical team this week.

arsebiscuits1

Nightmare about Max. Really feel for the guy.

Coming off against the Dragons I'd say he know - you could see it in his face.

That's a bit concerning about Baird also

Serbian

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

Nightmare about Max. Really feel for the guy.

Coming off against the Dragons I'd say he know - you could see it in his face.

That's a bit concerning about Baird also

Adductor strain is probably not too bad, main issue is that it can be slow to heal

AbusesToilets

Classic Leinster player in great form picking up injury right before the 6Ns. Plus ça change..

armchaircoach

AbusesToilets wrote: »

Classic Leinster player in great form picking up injury right before the 6Ns. Plus ça change..

We just need to wait for Ruddock's scheduled injury this weekend!

kingofthekong

Would love to see one of the provinces bring Trevor Brennans son in, last I heard he was playing with Toulouse, not sure where he is now

I'm fairly sure hes been offered contracts a while back, him and Jaeger would be great assets to any of the provinces

The Lost Sheep

kingofthekong wrote: »

Would love to see one of the provinces bring Trevor Brennans son in, last I heard he was playing with Toulouse, not sure where he is now

I'm fairly sure hes been offered contracts a while back, him and Jaeger would be great assets to any of the provinces

One son is with Montpelier, another with Toulouse. No chance of it happening IMO.

AbusesToilets

kingofthekong wrote: »

Would love to see one of the provinces bring Trevor Brennans son in, last I heard he was playing with Toulouse, not sure where he is now

I'm fairly sure hes been offered contracts a while back, him and Jaeger would be great assets to any of the provinces

Definite missed opportunity, good chance the eldest will be capped by France in the future.

Bazzo

AbusesToilets wrote: »

Definite missed opportunity, good chance the eldest will be capped by France in the future.

Don't think it really was a missed opportunity. I don't get the impression Brennan(senior) ever really instilled any burning desire to play for Ireland in them, seemed clear from a young age they wanted to play for France.

Jump_In_Jack

kingofthekong wrote: »

Would love to see one of the provinces bring Trevor Brennans son in, last I heard he was playing with Toulouse, not sure where he is now

I'm fairly sure hes been offered contracts a while back, him and Jaeger would be great assets to any of the provinces

From what articles I could find on them it seems like they have no interest in ever representing Ireland, they see themselves as French now, and both have potential to have promising rugby careers in France whether they make it to the senior national team or not.
I don’t think Trevor Brennan has any love for the IRFU anyway so I doubt his sons would want to come here.
Best of luck to them anyway, I hope they make it in France.

RugbyLover123

Jaegar also said on a Rugbypass podcast during lockdown that his goal was the All Blacks and basically if that wasn’t looking likely he’d play for Ireland.

Exclamation Marc

Ringrose and Doris picked up Leinster Player's Player of the Season Awards. Hard to argue against either.

Ringrose picked up Player's Player of the Season and Doris Player's Young Player of the Season.

FrannoFan

I recall Munster sounded out the brennan in montpellier.

reality is french qualified, raised there, better career potential earnings.

Jaeger was sounded out as well as far as i know but says wants to be an All Black. not being picked up out of school probably not much love for the Irish system either.

provinces not permitted to sign front rows who aren't Irish qualified so no surprise to think such high profiles props aren't regularly checked up on

hahashake

With respect to Jager I don't think he is international quality. At least not so far in his career, but he's 25 so probably still improving.

arsebiscuits1

hahashake wrote: »

With respect to Jager I don't think he is international quality. At least not so far in his career, but he's 25 so probably still improving.

It's hard to gauge. He's been number 2 tighthead in the most dominant pack in super rugby for the last few years. I'm sure he'd have hoped for more starts after Frank's left but Alaalatoa has been excellent recently.

I don't think he's a better option than Porter or Furlong. But I think he's fairly on par with the level of tightheads we have below them.

Richie_Rich89

If none of the Ireland squad players are released I think I'd like to see a Leinster team over this period something like:

1. Peter Dooley
2. Dan Sheehan
3. Michael Bent
4. Jack Dunne
5. Devin Toner
6. Josh Murphy
7. Scott Penny
8. Rhys Ruddock
9. Luke McGrath
10. Ciarán Frawley
11. Rory O'Loughlin
12. Tommy O'Brien
13. Jimmy O'Brien
14. David Kearney
15. Jack Kelly

16. Sean Cronin
17. Michael Milne
18. Thomas Clarkson
19. Ross Molony
20. Martin Moloney
21. Rowan Osborne
22. David Hawkshaw
23. Liam Turner/Michael Silvester

I think it could be time to move on from Scott Fardy in the second row. Playing a 36-year old over the hill NIQ ahead of Jack Dunne would be questionable in the extreme - especially when there are quality, experienced options like Toner (who should really be in the Ireland squad, imo) and Molony for Dunne to play alongside.

I know Kelly isn't with the squad, but I'd like to see him get another opportunity after honing his skills and techniques and getting some confidence playing 7s. He looked pretty good on the circuit. He's probably actually with the 7s atm preparing for this tournament against the provinces. If he's not available, I suppose Michael Silvester would be the guy to pick at 15. Will Leinster have another look at Kelly? Eddie Jones took an uncapped 7s player to the World Cup. But maybe Irish rugby would be too conventional to do anything like that?

Cian Kelleher has been good when he's got chances, but with Andrew Smith in the pipeline as a left wing and James Lowe monopolising gametime for big matches, is he a player for the future who's on an upward trajectory still?