Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

I've seen the rumours.

It doesn't make huge sense if his long term plan is to play 10 - because he'll be firmly behind Crowley, and then competing with the very promising Tom Wood for minutes too.

This guy just turned 20 last October (same month he debuted for Leinster), I genuinely don't know how many minutes he could have expected to have gotten at this point.

Yeah agreed. There's a bottleneck at Munster also. Apparently he's been offered a place as a hybrid back at 10/12/15. But if that's the case there's an opening at Leinster with Frawley's imminent departure.

On top of Munster not being a great place to nurture talent, the overall environment seems incredibly chaotic from the outside. The squad isn't in a great place with performances varying wildly from very good to abysmal. Beyond that their coaching structure is in a constant state of flux. The Demented Mole guys made a good point that MacMillan really hasn't "raised the floor" like he set out to do. He won't be staying long term either if there isn't notable improvement next season.

Quick question, not an expert. Lets say winger standing still under where high ball going to land in his bread basket, next thing a flying winger at full pace launches himself from a few metres away into the air, catches the ball but lands on the winger. Does the standing winger get a red card? If so will unscrupulous coaches not use this to their advantage? (this is a question nothing to do with the Max Deegan card, which has been decided).

We need clarity on this as much as with a head to head red card.

Contact in the air - Challenging players in the air - Law 10.4(i)

Play on – Fair challenge with both players in a realistic position to catch the ball. Even if the player(s) land(s) dangerously, play on

Penalty only - Fair challenge with wrong timing - no pulling down

Yellow card – Not a fair challenge, there is no contest and the player is pulled down landing on his back or side

Red card – It’s not a fair challenge with no contest, whilst being a reckless or deliberate foul play action and the player lands in a dangerous position

Quoted from the post above.

I'd imagine it's the first of these options from the scenario you give. Play on according to the rules mentioned above.

Fair play to Tom Clarkson. His rate of progression has really been staggering. Three years ago I was sure he wouldn't be offered a new Leinster contract when his was up for renewal. He really struggled in the scrum and was making no impact in the loose.

Now he's a fairly competent scrummager and excellent in the loose. His last few appearances off the bench in the Champions Cup and his start against Ulster have underlined that. Leinster should have no real concerns about their future at tight head post Furlong. That's a huge complement to Clarkson and how hard he has worked.

3rd of the day goes to Alex Soroka - glad to see him renewed. Big opportunity for him to have a big role this season with Baird hurt and Deegan suspended.

He's a great example of how people (me especially as I shared your sentiment) should be a bit more patient with the big men. And I'm sure glad the coaches have better patience than I!

We've got a bit spoiled with less common athletic specimens like Porter, both McCarthys, Ryan and even Boyle to a certain extent. I.e. these fellas were physically ready to thrive at an extremely high level in their early 20s.

The case for a lot of big lads isn't always that. I think lads who can do it in their early 20s are more an exception.

Clarkson started delivering when he was in and around 25. Once his body had settled into the physical demands of his position.

Baptiste Serin for a year. What ye say?

Will be 32 in June. No realistic prospect of RWC with Dupont, Lucu & Le Garrec in front of him.

I'd love to have him, but think he just extended his deal out till 2028. If we did sign him, you could be sure the French would act the bollix and call him into every squad though.

Luke Pearce confirmed as referee for the Champion Cup SF.

I don't think he speaks English, which would make a one year deal fairly tricky.

Holly?

Absolutely none of them have developed into top players (although still time for Edogbo to do so).

For someone with Gabriel's ceiling, and with the absolute mess that Munster is on and off the pitch at the moment, I wouldn't be happy with him going there at all.