Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Blue tinted glasses if you think Maloney is an international quality lock. Now, 5 years ago or 10 years ago. He doesn’t have the required size at all

5 years ago we had an explosive Dillane, Quinn Roux, Toner, Henderson, Ryan.

10 years ago POC, Toner, Mike McCarthy, Henderson, Dan Touhy

He would be as good a rugby player as Touhy and roux (who were squad members and not really playing) but not their physicality.

He is what he is, A very good rugby player but not an international quality lock.

On the re watch, HB looks worse as a center. Some of his tackling was awful. I would have preferred to see Brownlee get the start. I hope Leo doesn't go down that road again. Ross was ok. Still needs minutes in his legs.

Deegan was superb! Again! Best player on the pitch, imo. Milne was great as was Connors. I reckon Connors could see international caps this summer. Clarkson looks a different man. Very good performance. Deeny very good and Turner....what can you say? The man is a player.

Pssst! JL is not a good fb!

HB was poor! It's just a fact. I'm not writing him off, I'd prefer him at 10.

Larmour has definitely played 15 a decent few times since 2020.

That's just starts presumably?

To be fair the Six nations ends next week so them saying his Six nations is over, might not be that bad. Farrell said " He got injured yesterday in training, just a freak accident really, just a reaction, reaching out for a tackle that was non contact and's injured his bicep".

If he is out for a period of time, I have faith in McCarthy, Jenkins and Molony to cover for him as the match day locks.

Bicep issues are very finicky. If Farrell was able to definitively rule him out of the rest of the 6N fairly immediately, it would certainly suggest it isn't a niggle and is probably something significant and clear like a tear.

If it is a torn bicep, it's probably a season ender. RB was out for 3 months with his.

Probably shouldn't be looking too far ahead, but losing Ryan for a long stretch of games would be terrible for Leinster.

A narrative seems to have developed that he's not playing well this season which isn't true. I don't think he's been as good as last season where he was possibly Ireland's best player in the Six Nations, but you just need to look at the win over La Rochelle to see how vital he is to the province. He was exceptional that day. Leicester won't be an easy game and getting past them isn't a guarantee. But if we do I'd really rather not have to face the European champions without Ryan.

Jenkins and McCarthy is not too shabby but Ryan will definitely be missed again the top teams in Europe. Fingers crossed he's back in time.

Honestly (and I expect some people to roll their eyes at this), if Ryan played at the weekend ahead of McCarthy, I think we beat England. It was a new level of intensity for McCarthy and the ruck was a place where we missed the accuracy and aggression of Ryan.

McCarthy is a great talent but he's still very raw and developing. England put us on the back foot and didn't allow him the opportunity to get his carrying game or his defensive hits going. Eliminate those elements of his game and he isn't as strong as some others in his basics at the ruck and lineout.