Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

My concerns around Prendergast's defence etc. are more to do with his apparent reticence to take contact (in attack and defence) rather than just his frame.

It would be one thing if he was putting himself in position to make hits and getting blown off physically - that is something you would be more confident could be solved for. To me though looking at him this season, I see a guy who I think shies away from physical contact in a way Johnny Sexton or Jack Crowley absolutely never did/do.

I don't think just putting more physical size on him will necessarily solve that problem unfortunately.

They're not really comparable though - they were at totally different points in their careers. Prendergast was never part of Leinster's academy - they passed him over to take Alex Soroka, which clearly looks like a decision Leinster got wrong.

But it's not comparable to a 27 year old guy moving 8 years into his pro career.

This is highly debatable to me. He was already on 13 caps before he made the move as a 23-year-old, so he was already pretty clearly in the national squad framework, and it's not like he became an international level player after that move.

I believe he'd be a better, more well-rounded, more confident rugby player had he stayed, it's not just about what shirt he'd have had on his back.

I dunno - those are games that it is crucially important that Leinster win.

If you look at this season - those early season wins (34-13 against Sharks - Deegan MotM and try scorer, 36-27 over Edinburgh - Deegan try scorer, 54-5 over Scarlets - Deegan 2 tries etc etc) are really important.

He's Leinster's second highest URC try scorer this year with 6 tries, is the second highest in the entire URC in terms of line out steals (with 8) and brings an experience and leadership to those teams as well that is crucial. Leinster just rolling out quasi-academy sides in those games will not see them getting the results they need for home knock out games and the ability to rest players ahead of big European knock outs etc.

Yeah, but you keep ignoring my point. I can't see many examples of players who left who seemed to develop or significantly improve as players. Carbery certainly did not. It's not just about opportunity, he just never seemed to be the player we thought he might have been when he broke through. Just getting minutes is pointless if its playing a gameplan he's singularly ill-suited to playing.

It is an entirely fair statement to say Leinster have been by far the best coached, most stable and most successful province over the past 10 years or so. That's the primary reason why, all else being equal, it's where players want to play when they have the chance.

I mean did Deegan significantly improve?

Carbery improved enough to be locked on ireland back up for a long time in an era where it was impossible to start. He probably would have looked better in a much much more loaded leinster team but i don't know if he would have been a better individual player.

I would say they are the only club in that situation who have the type of in built union protections of their talent, yes. Right?

Yeah, Deegan is a more well rounded player now than he was 5 years ago. He's developed a much grittier side to his game and is a far better defensive player and a much better line out player.

There are plenty of guys in the Leinster squad where they've made huge visual improvements in their overall game over the past 5-6 years; the examples I gave earlier being the most prominent examples (JGP, JVDF, Lowe & Keenan), but there are plenty of others too. Even a guy like Larmour (someone I've been critical of historically for not improving enough) has shown clear signs of improvement this year under high balls and defensively.

I do think there is plenty to suggest Carbery would have improved his overall skillset being coached by Lancaster than van Graan for the best part of the last 6 years.