I would have felt completely comfortable if Joe Heyes ad opted for Ireland so I suppose I would be fine if DE Lutiis signed for Ulster…😉
I can only imagine how Fiji, Samoa and Tonga must feel.
Oh, don't get wrong - the cynic in me would still be delighted to see another great THP prospect signed into Irish rugby, and I'll cheer him on if he does happen to make the switch!
I would just absolutely hate if this became the norm.
Im not sure why you would??
GDP of tonga is 0.5 billion. GDP of Fiji is 6 billion. GDP of samoa is 1.25 billion.
GDP of new zealand is 270 billion. GDP of australia is 1.98 Trillion.
Tonga, fiji and samoa absolutely cannot afford to hold onto their prospective professional players. in fact they actively encourage professional pathway schemes which is aimed at retaining local players while offering the best prospects the path to pro rugby (as an alternative to the much more haphazard policy which existed previously where players left the islands of their own accord trying to make it in NZ, aus and europe.) The islands can only provide a minuscule amount of players with a comparable career, for a short length of time (the drua pathway). The vast majority of islander players playing outside of this have moved for economic reasons.
That isnt anywhere near comparable to a Bok or Aussie moving to ireland to pursue a pro career, when they could have just as good a pro career whilst retaining the ability to play for their home nation.
https://www.the42.ie/ulster-rugby-16-6953717-Feb2026/
IRFU clearly are ID'ing and going for young IQ talent. Josh Neill also of course.
The Aussies are known for not paying props well. They spend big on the backs and backrowers.
Hard to miss! -To use a bad pun- Madigan regularly spoken about it over the last year. He's not pro Dave Alred, who is/was Sextons "guru". Apparently Crowley also.
Stats up to the 11th March 2026 (before the Scotland game)
James Humphreys showed a nice natural kicking style v Zebre. It did though look remarkably like his Dads!
Doak, Murphy, Humphreys -Ulster. Madigan a fan of Richie Murphy
The online outrage over the De Luttis saga is gas. Australian Rugby seem to have unlimited funds to throw at NRL players. Yet the prospect of a 22 year old injury prone prop moving abroad to take a better offer has their fanbase in meltdown, playing the paupers having their players "poached" by big, bad Ireland.
The whole "poaching" thing is hilarious. This isn't some 14 year old scoolboy from a poor Fijian village being enticed leave with a scholarship and the prospect of representing their new country and the money that comes with it (as NZ, France and Australia themselves have previous for). He's a 22 year old professional athlete getting an offer to work abroad. He's Irish eligible since birth, so very different to a project player scenario. If Australian rugby allow him to leave, it's because they think he's worth less than what the IRFU are offering him and aren't willing to match it.
Naughton has a lovely, natural kicking technique (which Madigan has been complimentary of), and to my untrained eye the closest to Thomas Ramos' of any Irish player.
I wouldnt have any sympathy for Australia myself. If the player is Irish qualified then thats fair enough in my book. I remember the Australia squad that played Ireland in 2018 had an incredible amount of players that qualified under residency.
Koribete (Fiji), Kuridrani (Fiji), Kerevi (Fiji), Naivalu (Fiji), Genia (PNG), Tupou (Tonga), Latu (Tonga).
Personally I'd prefer if Ireland developed their own first and foremost. There is a good number of young 19-21 year olds THPs coming through. Bishti, Niall Smyth, Andrew Sparrow, Alex Mullan.
A fella with Irish parents/grandparents is infinitely more “our own” than Meafu or Atonio are “France’s own”. Yet you never hear a peep from anyone when they line out for France.
Kicking stats can be an inexact reflection of a kickers competence. I remember Chris Patterson having brilliant kicking stats but he never took a penalty kick that was much beyond 30 metres. If stats were broken down as to where the kicks were taken from etc that would be far more informative than simply how many went over. Someone a few years ago produced a really detailed analysis of the main kickers of that era involving a comprehensive list of detailed information on each kick. For example, David Humphreys if I remember correctly was rated as the 15th best while ROG was rated lower yet we probably would have put money on it being the other way round.
It is interesting that Murphy has a 'higher' success rate than Doak. It would be instructive to compare the kicks taken by each. I wonder is it possible that Doak attempts longer, wider kicks than Murphy for example. I have no idea if this is so. Just interested. S.P. at U20s seemed to be a fabulous goal kicker. Maybe he has been 'coached' to bits.
100%, ideally there would be a kicking stat along the lines of xG in football.
Ulster pretty much never kick penalties so I think it's reasonable to assume Doak and Murphy have faced a roughly similar difficulty of kick, i.e. almost exclusively conversions.
If there's a tough kick that we need to make, Doak takes it. Doak is a much better kicker than Murphy.
Surely Murphy only kicks when Doak is not on the pitch?
They're happy with it. They've been selecting NZ and Australian born players for decades.
genia didnt qualify under residency, his mother was australian.
xG is stupid like many forms of stats. People don't seem to understand that the math that's used is infinite so it'll be never accurate over a small sample. And a small sample is 5k or less.
I wouldn't use it unless I could run it a minimum of 10k times and even then you are not guaranteed that it will be close to accurate.
Something like degree of difficulty of each kick and a stat not solely about kicking percentage. So attach a point score for each kick. A conversion under the posts gets one point, a conversion from the sideline or a kick from the halfway line in the centre gets three and so on. Accumulate the points and divide by the amount of kicks taken.
And then there's the 'clutch kick' element to consider. One right footed kicker's conversion from the right touchline when his team is 44-5 ahead is hardly equivalent to a 30 metre from just right of the posts when 1 point behind and the clock in the red. Pressure is not just for tyres. Combining good technique with intense practice builds habit and under pressure it's habit that determines outcome.
True. And Latu grew up in Sydney. Tupou had to qualify on residency as he's grown up in NZ after his family moved there. As always there's a lot of context needed when talking about players qualifying for countries they weren't born in.
I think recently Murphy got to kick when Doak was on the pitch - just before Doak joined the international squad. Getting Murphy up to speed?
SP is an example of a natural kicker who's confidence is shot to bits from the tee.
Nobody can definitely say its a result of coaching. I would say though; coaching certainly hasn't been part of the solution.
He knocked them over from every angle at U-20s (Richie Murphy).
Agree kicking & confidence are entirely aligned well beyond coaching or process IMHO. Timer also adds the pressure dimension which can be significant if kicker was inevitably involved in the pre try activity leading to mental or physical fatigue
Well personally I don't see any difference between a kick in the first and eightieth minute.
People talk about pressure but that's just a player being badly prepared. It's fine to realise the moment but then you have to go back into your game mode, your ritual before a kick. All players should be prepared for this. It's on the management if they are not.
Yeah and that's fine in theory. In theory, people are all rational actors and sports stars are trained to handle pressure. Back here in reality, things like fatigue and pressure really do matter. To expect otherwise is silly.
The irfu should be looking to develop full backs and fly halfs to take goal kicks.
10s almost have enough to be doing during a game in terms of workload and managing a game
or anyone who place kicks while amateur players should maintain it and do it at some stage through their pro career. Like there was so much press bull and talk about garry ringrose kicking at goal when at school yet hes never done it at all really in the pro game.
If you're not going to be first choice kicker in the match day squad, why would you bother with the extra hours of training.
Conor Murray would have kicked a couple of important kicks. Practice surely helped
Same reason any professional athlete tries to improve at anything. Get selected, get better contracts, get paid more. Would Ramos be as valuable to Toulouse and France if he wasn’t a world class kicker as well as a world class 15? Of course not. Would Doak be as valuable to Ulster?
