Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Sheehan can finish almost as well as Lowe. Conan too. The bit of the game Lowe gives you is that boot and his offloading game, the latter is much harder to replace for Ireland.

I see scrumhalf Naoto Saito is leaving Toulouse.

No indication where he's going.

Just a thought.

Lowe leaving does leave both Ireland and Leinster short of experienced wings going into next season.

Ireland - TO'B, Hansen and Baloucoune - they are all very susceptible to injury. Nash has also been in and out with injuries

Leinster - TO'B, JO'B, Kenny and Lowe have been out main wings this season. Lots of injuries there. Osborne has not looked the part yet.

I get that Lowe probably wants two years and he just seems to be unlucky in terms of his age profile because I think two years is too long but a one year contract would seem right. However, I would understand if he is holding out for two years.

Who actually replaces him in the team in a big HEC match? Jimmy? Osborne? Kenny is still learning his craft. We're only an injury or two next season from having to stick Jamie Osborne at 14 and Henshaw at 12 in a European match. The squad is looking a bit threadbare

True, you'd certainly.hope that. Henshaw had had a bit of a Lazarus effect the last few seasons insofar as he's been injured, form fallen off a cliff yet then hit form again. That doesn't seem to have happened this time. He looks like he's held together with bandages and strapping now. Not entirely unexpected given he's been playing pro rugby literally straight out of school.

I saw it and he looked frustrated. But how was he supposed to answer the question about online backlash to losing the Champions cup?

Social media should be pretty irrelevant to how he does his job. What should he have said?

He didn't say leinster supporters aren't on social media.

Be frustrated with Cullen if you want, that interview is neither here nor there. And you've misrepresented what he said in the interview so just stick to the justifiable reasons to criticise him rather than getting annoyed about things he didn't say

I don't suppose so. I also don't expect him to engage with social media. He has a boss who will decide on his future.

Social media is important to fans because it's the main way we can discuss these topics. He'll be having the actual discussions in person with the people who make the decisions about his career. Why on earth would he spend time worrying about social media when he'll be in contact with the people who make the decisions?

To an extent, i get the point in the journalist asking the question. But I've no idea what he should have said except a shorter version of what he actually sai.

"

 He has a boss who will decide on his future.

"

He's not working in some bland enterprise. There is a fan/club relationship and he'd be wise to pay a bit of heed. He sounds a bit entitled and he is taking Leinster supporters for granted.

He's basically saying that he has no connection or contact with fans.

Saying all social media is toxic is such a copout as well as there are many forms of it and you can clearly guage true sentiment if you spend a few minutes trying.

If they played great rugby this year and maybe got a win against Bordeaux I wonder how many fans would they have had at the Lions game last weekend? Its that sense of being taken for granted.

What would a trawl of Twitter tell him? That some fans are angry, some are furious, most have no idea what they're talking about, some fans want him to resign, some loons probably want to rape his wife and some fans are disappointed, appreciate the great work they do and want the team to improve and get over the line in finals.

I dont expect him to spend any time trawling social media. It's a waste of time. The salient information is available without all the nonsense.