An upgrade on Pollard? Steady on…
Pollard is pretty damn average in every facet. His goal moving percentage is really poor, in 70th percentage range.
Ah, Pollard is better than Ross Byrne - though they are similar enough players in style. Though I fair wager Ross Byrne would be more invested in club rugby.
In the last two years, he’s started two European Cup finals, won a grand slam and went to the RWC, none of which he’d have done if playing in England
Yes, but he's unlikely to be in that position again for Leinster
Fair play. Thats great researching.
Yes that 20/21 season is where HarryB started to take flight.
Harry played 10 that season (11 Starts) almost as many times as Frawley has in his entire career!
Funny how their two careers have diverged over the last 4 years.
People forget, me included, Frawley is still only 26. Relatively young and inexperienced at 10. Harry is 25 and more experienced at 10, yet is almost out the gap at Leinster.
For Harry Byrne, I think it's impossible to tell where the truth lies between ability, hype and the toll of injury.
He was called up to tour NZ with the Ireland squad in 2022. If he hadn't picked up an injury, he'd have played 10 in the Maori games instead of Frawley, and maybe he could have made an impression. As it was, Frawley got his chance and took it with both hands. Harry's career is full of all these Sliding Doors moments. He was on fire when he first broke into the Leinster team, and six months later the world shut down.
As it stands now, he's a shadow of the player he looked like becoming. I think a move to another province could reinvent him, because it's hard to see how he has a future at Leinster.
I've said it before about Harry - but to me the questions around him all seem more to do with his mentality and mindset and maturity, more than his physical talent. He definitely had some real misfortune with ill-timed injuries that stunted his progress, or robbed him of some chances, but I feel if you could take Ross' leadership and mindset and transplant it into Harry's skillset, you'd have a great 10.
I do think Harry was unfortunate last season not to be backed after steering the ship relatively well in Ross' absence, but he responded to that by travelling to South Africa and playing like a complete drain against the Lions, with awful body language and a sense of just not giving a ****, rather than seizing the chance to go and prove himself. He got another chance in what turned out to be a relatively important late season game up in Ravenhill, and let himself down again with some bad mental errors that cost Leinster a win.
He's in an unfortunate position now - because there are three other guys all fighting hard for that jersey and all three seem to have a step on him right now. I think the time has probably come for him (given contracts are typically negotiated over the next couple of months) where he should be considering a move to Galway or Belfast.
I think this is fair. In the long run I wonder if backing Harry instead of Ross post 6N would have been the better long term move but Harry's response on the pitch at least was awful.
I see Nic Berry is appointed as ref v NZ
Delighted to see Hollie Davidison chosen for the Fiji game...well deserved
Williams v Arg
Piardi v Aus
Davidson is class, would happily take her for any game. Better than 90% of her colleagues
Kelleher is out of the November series with an ankle injury. Awful for him and Ireland. We've nobody close to the same ability now he and Sheehan are missing.
Bit opportunity for maybe a younger hooker to stake a claim. Might be too soon for someone like Gus McCarthy, but he has looked good for the u20's and on his Leinster appearances to date. One I'd the standouts for Emerging Ireland too.
Posted on this on the Leinster thread before seeing this - but curious as to who will be the third hooker in the November squads now.
Contenders are probably: Dave Heffernan, Lee Barron, Diarmuid Barron.
Don't see Niall Scannell getting the call at this juncture, and also don't see guys like Dylan Tierney Martin, Eoghan Clarke or John Andrew in the mix.
Gus McCarthy as a very outside bet - he's talented, and had a good EI tour. John McKee is injured, and to me hasn't quite looked international quality yet in his career. Equally - I think James McCormick in Ulster is very talented, but don't see him making this leap this quickly.
Massive opportunity for Lee Barron tomorrow night given he's starting. He's good around the park, but his lineout throwing has occasionally been iffy in the past. A solid game tomorrow night and he could be very well placed.
It's unfortunate for Irish rugby to have two very average Kiwi out halves starting in an interpro and Harry Byrne playing 4 minutes off the bench for Leinster.
Was that not his choice?
Think a decision needs to be made on Jamie Osborne very soon. Excelled at fullback for Ireland dieing the summer, but was also brilliant at 12 for Leinster against Munster. Really impressed by the gain line stopping hits he was making. Put in a huge hit on Nankivell around the 60 minutes mark that stopped a Munster set piece attack in Leinster's 22. Led to a turnover penalty.
Osborne must surely get the 23 jersey at least for Ireland. Think he's also pushing for a starting spot. Too good to ignore.
From a rugby perspective, Morgan is as Irish as Byrne.
Don’t think a lot was clarified in terms of Irish pecking order from the two interpros.
Some guys will be frustrated with themselves that because of injury or otherwise, they probably slightly failed to put their absolute best foot forward.
Hooker is a very real concern - none of our first four choice hookers played this weekend, and Sheehan & Kelleher are definitely missing. Awful timing for Herring & Stewart to be down too.
Don’t think any of the Munster forwards (Beirne an obvious exception) showed anything to suggest they warrant inclusion. I was pretty disappointed in Hodnett - some of it is the role he’s asked to play, but baffled at passages of that game where Munster are getting turned over the breakdown repeatedly or being forced to rely on slow ball, but the open side is just standing out on the wing waiting for easy carries. The gulf between JvdF and him was still vast IMO on yesterday’s viewing. Behind the scrum, feel Ben Murphy continues to put his hand up. I’d have him int the squad right now. To me he’s leapfrogged a lot of guys and there is more merit to capping him against Fiji than rolling out JGP or Murray for that game.
Interesting exchange. Ben Murphy has now surpassed Matthew Devine IMHO Devine was pretty good standard on EI tour , over hyped perhaps, but far from the standout performance of Murphy in past 4 games with 4/4 tries to his name. How does that leave Connaught given Devine had established himself as starter pre his departure?
For me on a Western POV, you have Bealham Hefferan Joyce C.Prendergast B.Murphy Forde Gavin Hansen who should be in the extended squad (no Aki, yes, he's more for Connacht than Ireland future now)
How about Bolton?
Joyce will be nowhere near the squad with Ryan, McCarthy, Beirne, Baird, Henderson about. Tom Ahern too
Not sure why Gavin would be included at this stage.
Aki will be picked.
The only Gavin in contention is Hugh and he has a ways to go yet.
I meant Hugh Gavin yeah
Some really lazy click bait journalism by R o c in the indo
Headline states Kelliher in race to be fit for NZ game.
Leinster have issued an update saying he had a procedure done last week and is out for 4 - 6 wks
We are 25 days out from NZ game, add in the procedure from last Monday at best & he is 4.5 weeks from returning....he ain't playing v NZ just call it what it is
You seem to have done a nice job of summarising why the headline is pretty accurate. I'm not sure that counts as clickbait.
Agree 100%. I'd argue he's in with a strong case to be the starting 12, but Aki will probably get the nod there. Whether he makes the bench will depend a lot on whether we go 5-3 or 6-2. It's unfortunate for him that he's competing with Frawley, because always likely to lose out on in a 6-2 split.
I’d love to see Andy Farrell be bold and play Heffernan at 2 and Dylan Tierney Martin on the bench.
why not having both B.Murphy and Devine in the squad behind JGP as you dream crazy ;)
Yeah Murphy has a very ceiling
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