Don't know about Munster, but isn't Emmet Farrell Leinster's kicking coach?
Afaik Munster don't have a dedicated kicking coach
Gavin is being put down the 12 route and he'll never play 13 for Connacht because that's Forde's job and he's not losing it.
As I said, I'm shocked Forde isn't in the summer tour squad. He was on the extended six nations squad.
Osbourne won't have the 12 jersey for long if Gavin keeps improving.
Agree on Forde & also don't see any real benefit of bringing Mccloskey who is kicking 33 yrs of age...we know what he can do
I think you have that backwards.
any time they've played together it's been Forde at 12 and Gavin at 13.
There's a lot of quality coming through in the centres at the moment. Osborne, Cooney, Tector at Leinster, Forde and Gavin at Connacht, Postlewaithe at Ulster. Not familiar with Munster enough to say, but that's a ridiculous amount of mouths to feed when you're looking at who might get game time in green
Forde is a 12 (and a very good one who should be part of this Ireland squad imo), that's why it makes sense to try develop Gavin as a 13. If that doesn't work for Gavin, he can switch to 12.
Osborne is unlikely to play much at 13 for Leinster next season, certainly not after Ioane arrives. I'd say he's a better 12 than Henshaw at this stage (or if notyet, will be before the end of next season) and should be Leinster's first choice 12.
I hope Ireland stick Osborne at 12. With McCloskey travelling during the summer, which is odd (32/33), it doesn't look like they are goin to do that.
Gavin looked immense at 12 at U-20. I don't know what he's like as a defender at 13.
Agree though, it makes sense to see if he can continue to develop at 13. Luckily Connacht now have the perfect man in place to help Forde and Gavin.
Forgot that.
4:50 talking about switching his kicking tee etc. Madigan talking about the draw again.
Yeah, I don't think it would hinder Gavin to play 13 for a couple of years. If it doesn't work out, he can revert to 12. I don't think he'd be any worse off for playing 13, if anything it might help his distribution as he might be seen as a bosh 12 and not encouraged to develop that side of his game sufficiently. It would likely help him defensively too, even if he turns out to be a poor 13. I only see upsides to him playing 13 now.
And yeah, there are few other people who I'd want coaching him daily to see him fulfill his potential.
jack Aungier officially called up to the Ireland touring squad after Bealham joins the lions squad.
Well deserved for both of them really
Has there been any indication of who will take Bealham's place since he was called up to the Lions? Or will he be released back to Ireland when the Leinster players join with the Lions?
Bealham is an official squad call up, replacing Xander Fagerson. Jack Aungier replaces him in the Irish touring squad.
Jamie George etc. are just training bodies for now while guys are tied up with the league finals this weekend.
Two posts above yours
I'm a long time Osborne fan (many remember remember his first defensive contribution in professional rugby but it was actually the way that he straightened the line the first time that he received a pass that had me sitting up) who thought that he would have overtaken Henshaw by now. He hasn't though and I think that it's largely because although he's a big enough guy he doesn't have enough of a physical presence. He's not powder puff or anything but he doesn't dominate contact like you'd really want him to. He's 23 now and should really be close enough to physical maturity - maybe we need another covid period where he can do an Aki on the weights. His ability to pick lines and create space for others are top drawer but you need a 12 who can make some hard yards too and that's not in him yet, he's also not that likely to make a dominant tackle.
Connors has only played for Leinster 57 times. It's a testament to how good he is that he has continued to get contracts despite playing so little due to injury. Penny is 3 and a half years younger (made his Leinster debut the same year though) and has to the best of my recollection never been selected ahead of Connors but has 91 caps for Leinster.
Would hold counsel until he gets a proper crack at 12 which i hope he gets from now on
Watching him at the weekend, he didn't look like he was struggling to make ground through contact. I like his ability to get hands free in the tackle to get a pass away
I think that he struggles manfully, he's not really going backwards but equally there are very few dominant carries. His lines of running are exceptional but the rest of the team aren't always expecting them and his passing before being tackled is also exceptional but again something that the rest of the team aren't always alive to. For him it's a shame that Lancaster didn't stay another year. Hopefully Bleyendaal and Farrell will be able to find a way to incorporate those talents into the attacking pattern.
I suppose I'm arguing that I expected him to have had that crack this season (and Barrett wouldn't have helped that) but the main reason that Henshaw is still ahead of him is because he's so much more physical. They're fairly comparable in size (Henshaw a touch shorter and heavier) but Henshaw punches well above his weight. I was in the restaurant of a hotel with my family in Athlone a few years ago during the peculiar Covid restrictions and he was hanging around the lobby for a few minutes where we could see him. My 14 year old son remarked on how much smaller he seemed in person than on the television and he was right. It wasn't that he was short but how slender he was. Yet, you watch him on the pitch manhandling the opposition and you'd never think of him like that. I expect Jamie to be a 50+ cap Irish international. If he can add a bit of physical dog he could become a legend. All going well he's got about a decade in front of him in the game and I'm hopeful that he might turn out to be something very special.
To be fair, I don't think Henshaw had that level of physicality to his game at Osbourne's age either.
Henshaw started as a 15 and sometimes played 13, then moved to 13 with a bit of 15, then 13 with a bit at 12 before moving to leinster and became a full time 12. So he probably didn't have the physicality at Osborne's age, but grew into it.
Yeah, that was what I was getting at. Comparing Osbourne to Henshaw currently and pointing out that Osbourne doesn't have the same physicality feels a bit of a non-point. Osbourne may end up getting there too, but it's taken years for Henshaw to become the player he is in terms of the physicality stakes. If Osbourne stays fit, I would not be surprised to see him become a bit more tanky over time, but there's more than one way to attack the line. He picks amazing lines and gets over the gainline that way. My recollection is that Henshaw was similar when he was young too. I hope he doesn't swap intelligent lines and excellent handling for offloads to put others over the gainline for power-based boshing.
I'd take Osborne's game over Henshaw's all day. It's been a long time since Henshaw was creating tries the way Osborne has the last season or so.
Yeah, agreed. Big fan of Henshaw, but I'd like to see Osbourne used at 12 more next season.
Baird with consecutive motm awards in the URC semi-final and final. Been excellent in recent weeks and putting his hand up as POM's successor.
Until he puts on a green shirt.
You really are the eternal optimist
There was a moment very early on in the game with Baird where he was caught behind the gainline with the ball, but he fought and scrapped and put in a big leg drive and just eked out 2 or 3 metres from a pretty poor position. I think it showed mentally he was switched really on, which imo has been one of his biggest issues. He had a great game yesterday, we know he can do it, he just has to show up every week.
