Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

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They lost the Premiership Final last season by 4 points after getting a red card in the 21st minute, and currently top the table this season.

I think people are unrealistic about this, quite frankly, including players. There is one professoinal rugby employer in Ireland, players don't have a choice who they work for on the Island. They do have a choice where to work because the union grants that choice and the system or recruitment reflects that. Cops, nurses, civii servants, etc don't really have a choice where they work, they are assigned somewhere by their employer. The idea that players have a natural veto over where they work in Ireland is not a natural fact, the IRFU could change it any time they liked. Players could be sent wherever the union wanted them to go. That is not the system currently but that system could be instituted fairly easily. Players who qualify for an academy could be designated to a province and could be contractually obliged to remain there for x number of seasons, or they could choose to go abroad to become a pro. I'm not recommending it per se, but it is definitely within the power of the IRFU to institute some sort of system where players are more evenly distribruted.

Feel you're the unrealistic one and completely underestimating employment law here. I think you're wrong for both nurses and civil servants - they cant just be reassigned to another part of the country long term at a whim.

I am open to being corrected, but my understanding is that unless a contract includes language that the person can be moved to another location then the an employer, like the IRFU, cant just decide a guy who has been working in Dublin for the last 8 years must go to Galway in the middle of their contract or to a completely separate jurisdiction in the case of Belfast.

The IRFU could include whatever language they want in future contracts but it would just make them all less far attractive to sign. The IRFU would end up having to pay a premium to players to accept the loss of control of where they will live.

I think youre purposely misreading what I wrote. Cops come out of templemore and are told where to go, teachers find jobs where they find them and move, same as nurses, many of whom move to Australia. What I wrote about the IRFU is that they could initiate a system where players are invited to one of the academies and offers come with a commitment to stay at the province for x number of seasons. Academy invitations are spread among the provinces. Any kid is free to pursue a career outside the country but in Ireland there is one professional rugby employer and they can arrange things however they choose to. No-one is being 'reassigned' anywhere, they are being assigned to somewhere as part of their initial recruitment, there is no employment law issue with offering someone a job in Galway.

More likely that you didnt even read your own post.

Mine referred to the Byrnes and you started off your response with:

I think people are unrealistic about this, quite frankly, including players. There is one professional rugby employer in Ireland, players don't have a choice who they work for on the Island.

Then you say:

The idea that players have a natural veto over where they work in Ireland is not a natural fact, the IRFU could change it any time they liked.

And:

Players could be sent wherever the union wanted them to go

You repeatedly talk about players in broad terms throughout your post and then only mention the academy players idea at the end of your post.

Owes no one anything anymore.

What an absolute legend.

On the cusp of retiring at one stage he manages to go on and play an insane 10 more years.

Congrats on a stellar career.

Absolute legend of the game who will go down as one of the best loosehead props to play the game but I think it was time for him to retire. Jack Boyle, Paddy McCarthy and Alex Usanov need the game time to develop and it was hurting Leinster and Ireland having Porter play up to 70 minutes a game. We have some really exciting talent that deserve to play.

Thank you Churchy!

As a season ticket holder of 20 years, I have a soft spot for young Mr. Healy.

I remember him emerging on the scene in Celtic League games back then, as a bit of a phenom, a new breed of schoolboy players arriving almost fully formed and taking his seat on the bench as he began coming on for Reggie Corrigan and lighting up the pens of the great old rugby correspondents of the day.

That he made it to 37 years of age as a prop forward, with some of the injuries on his chart that would have been career-enders for any other man, is a tribute to his ethic, his physical uniqueness, and his love of the game and his teams.

The stories of Cian being down on Dollymount Strand tossing and dragging tractor tyres on the sand, as he recovered from having torn his ham-er clean off the bone have become almost the stuff of legend down D3 way. But the Proper Church wasn't willing to draw a line at 27 years old. He sweated blood to get back. And here is still is, 11 years on.

So thanks, Cian, for the memories, for the moments, for the pirate's haul of silverware, for the revolution in performance and success that marked your tenure as No. 1. Number one indeed.

The last service he could do for his province and his country is to offer a sample of his DNA. Because somebody should bottle it.

it’s one employee offering jobs! Pretending it’s an industry with some sort of nefarious actor skewing competition to serve corrupt interests is make believe. Basic draft thing. We have 20 positions in 4 locations, those offered positions may have to move!

He was a competitive shot putter too, right? Agree here, its always inspiring to see an old war horse shift aside for the younger player but remain as a mentor and team player til the end, doing whatever is needed.