Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Interesting Matt Williams article in the IT. Have to agree with a lot of what he is saying.

Well, I genuinely appreciate that you've responded with some respect.

It was a bloody appalling story, deeply unpleasant. It absolutely needed reporting on! But I work in broadcast media, and I do know that there have been accusations against Southern rugby players that the media would have loved to leverage for subscriptions and clicks, but couldn't. So when they could, there was a complete feeding frenzy.

I wanted to point that out, and it could well have come across as "that's the only reason they reported it". I don't mean that. It belonged in the news; it should have been something every Ulster fan was aware of. It is a disgusting allegation.

But one they were found not guilty of.

The IRFU can say they were fired because of their WhatsApp messages. No-one believes that. As I mentioned, Gilroy messaged worse (revealed in the investigation) and the IRFU didn't care.

If the IRFU is so concerned, and disgusting WhatsApp messages are a firing offence, has it instituted some kind of organisation-wide check to make sure no similar messages have been sent? (On player's personal phones?) No. It is only concerned when players' text messages are made public. It does not care that sexist, ugly messages are sent. It cares when the public is aware of those messages being sent. That, to me, means it is about Public Relations.

I don't think the comparison was trite, but I'm perfectly happy to just say we disagree on that.

Thanks, FtD

Right. Why weren't Jackson and Olding suspended for a few weeks, if that is the level of punishment?

Is that not exactly and precisely what I've been arguing?

This is going to roll on and on. I don't mean that we're going to argue - I just mean that it's bloody endless, and a massively unpleasant story to revisit. And I don't have the energy for it.

I think Spicer should be given the heave-ho, others don't; that's that. I don't think he will because it hasn't presented a PR problem, but I spent a long periods of my early twenties getting wazzed, and you know what? I never did anything like that, and I do judge Spicer, the same way I'd have judged a mate that did something like that. Let's leave it here.

That's valid.

I was mad for Osborne to get starts at 12 since the 6N. But he hasn't been as good as I had hoped. In hindsight Frawley should have gotten more time at 12.

As For Friday night, it's hard to see them try a new approach with Ringrose or Frawley.

Ringrose at 12 isn't as mad as it sounds, but not for the first time in a final. I wouldn't mind if they tried it next season though.

Lowe will be hard to replace in the short term. But he doesn't have a medium-term future in the sport because he's 34 next month and will be 35 at the time of the world cup. But the world cup take place in the short-term future so it is an issue.

He would have to be replaced in the 2027-28 season either way. No amount of contracting or money could fix that. So they needed replacements either way.

It's at odds with the IRFU's whole 'win today, win tomorrow' thing. Yes, he'll be 35 at the time of the next World Cup, but what about maximising performance in the 2027 6N? Lowe could be the difference between finishing 2nd and finishing 3rd in the table, say, with all the financial implications that has.

I think by dropped you mean he wasn't fit. But that doesn't really suit the narrative.

I couldn’t give a rat’s how Lowe was treated, it’s professional sports and sometimes unpleasant decisions have to be made. They all sign up to this the day they sign their first contract.

The problem is we have reduced our options of genuine test level wingers a year out from the RWC for the sake of a marginal saving.

Maybe Lowe wouldn’t have been up to it come September 2027, maybe Hansen will get fit and turn out to be a very good left wing. But if he doesn’t, we have an issue.

And I wouldn’t disagree with very much of that. But it doesn’t contradict anything I’ve said above.

Posted this in Ireland thread but seems more appropriate here:

I think people will only realise the loss of Lowe when we end up with Osborne covering the wing like he did in the 6N game against France last season. 

We seem to be banking on Baloucoune and TOB to stay fit or Stockdale to regain his 2018 form (and stay fit). Hansen is quality but has been injured for the guts of 3 seasons now (24 games since the NZ QF in 2023-Lowe has started 50 games in that time despite the narrative of an increasing injury profile) so seems rather optimistic to pen him in to the Irish 11 jersey this stage. Incredibly shortsighted to limit your potential options further for the sake of about €100k.