Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Boyle leaving would be bad for Leinster. There were rumors that he'd signed a contract before xmass. I'd put McCarthy on a development contract to avoid the Sharks from circling.

That makes no sense to me.

Sure there are 2 years between them but Byrne is a better prop (but not significantly so) and with more Irish caps to his name would probably cost a similar if not more of a wedge than EOS.

I had heard EOS was a budget concern in which case they're not solving it with bringing in Byrne.

Now if Byrne wants more first level rugby than perhaps thats a different case but he's hardly going to be getting European knock out minutes up at Ulster for a few seasons by all accounts

I can say with near certainty Boyle or McCarthy aren't going anywhere. Milne maybe but even I don't think he goes. All the looseheads are waiting on what happens with Healy before they announce a move. If he announces his retirement, you can expect Milne to probably stay, if he says one more year which it looks like will be the case, Milne will make the move to Munster and Ed Byrne probably makes his move to Ulster. Leinster know what they have in Boyle and McCarthy and won't allow them to leave.

Does anyone find it a bit odd that Leinster haven't announced a replacement for Michael Ala'alatoa yet? They are usually fairly on the ball and looking to get signings done early in the season so the focus can be on the business end of the season. The fact that they enquired about getting Tom O'Toole means that they are on the hunt for someone currently and are in the middle of searching. Asking about Tom O'Toole also shows they want a borderline starter at the position to take the weight off Furlong's shoulders too, so I wouldn't be shocked if it is a relatively big signing.

I honestly think they are potentially looking to move Furlong to the Healy role on the bench. Having Healy off the bench the last number of seasons since Porters emergence has been so valuable to Leinster. I think Leinster and Ireland both understand the Furlong needs a reduced role for club and country and with Bealham, O'Toole and Jager, they can lighten the load for Ireland. With Leinster, they currently don't have that luxury.

The only reason why I think they haven't pulled the trigger is that they might be waiting to see what happens with the Rebels in Australia and see if they can land Taniela Tupou. Obviously that is a dream signing and therefore unlikely but I didn't think they would sign Snyman and they did, so here's hoping!

When I said reduced role I didn't mean in terms of age I meant in terms of reduced workload.