Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread II

jamiedav2011 · 29-03-2013 12:12pm

irishbucsfan wrote: »

http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/news/9565.php#.UVV2QDvzreM

Good to hear a bunch of these confirmed. Positive news again.

Any standouts as not being there?

Roux, Ryan, Marshall, Murphy are all key.

Podge_irl · 29-03-2013 12:13pm

Only one year for Moore and O'Connell is a bit interesting but good to see both Murphy and Ryan sign two year deals

Tox56 · 29-03-2013 12:24pm

Martin Moore jumping from 2nd year academy to a senior deal? They must be confident he's ready

opinionatedfan · 29-03-2013 12:25pm

Moore went from 2nd year academy to a 1 year development contract.

Reid, O'Connell and Hudson went from 3rd year academy to 1 year development contracts.
Obviously a challenge to the three now to earn a 2 year deal like Macken, McGrath and a few others did this season.

Murphy and Marshall went from 3rd year academy to 2 year contracts.

SCM only 3rd year academy member not bumped to a development contract.

Happy to see Macken rewarded for the improvements he has made this year with a 2 year contract.

Tox56 · 29-03-2013 12:30pm

I also notice they slipped this in:

The province also hopes to agree a deal for one more overseas player in the coming weeks.

After a period of constant bad news things are looking up again

opinionatedfan · 29-03-2013 12:42pm

players out of contract and not mentioned there are:

Andrew Goodman(rumoured to be staying)
Brian O'Driscoll(ONE MORE YEAR PLEASE)
Damian Browne(rumoured to be leaving)
Heinke van der Merwe(rumoured to be leaving)
Mark Flanagan(no rumours about his future)
Sam Coghlan-Murray(rumoured to be leaving)

Zuffer · 29-03-2013 12:44pm

Great news, and also very nice of Leinster to put it all in one place, and clarify who's on central contracts. Making life easier for the keyboard warriors!

lurtz · 29-03-2013 12:47pm

Seeing as coghlan murray recently put up a highlights reel on youtube probably means he isnt getting renewed

lurtz · 29-03-2013 12:52pm

CGD wrote: »

The same Barry Daly who was offere Munster Academy and lasted about a week?

yes the very same,a phenomenal talent.

opinionatedfan · 29-03-2013 12:53pm

lurtz wrote: »

yes the very same,a phenomenal talent.

wouldnt go that far, right now it looks like he will be consigned to the AIL unless he makes a move overseas to the Championship.

lurtz · 29-03-2013 12:57pm

opinionatedfan wrote: »

wouldnt go that far, right now it looks like he will be consigned to the AIL unless he makes a move overseas to the Championship.

you clearly havent seen him play much,or played with him. Hes alot better than many young back three players ahead of him here and elsewhere in the country

opinionatedfan · 29-03-2013 1:02pm

lurtz wrote: »

you clearly havent seen him play much,or played with him. Hes alot better than many young back three players ahead of him here and elsewhere in the country

I seen bits and pieces, not a regular at AIL games.

If this is the case why is he on the outside looking in on the professional game?

lurtz · 29-03-2013 1:04pm

opinionatedfan wrote: »

I seen bits and pieces, not a regular at AIL games.

If this is the case why is he on the outside looking in on the professional game?

well you'd have to ask the professional coaches not me. I know last year he was told he missed out on the leinster academy by a matter of inches,and was offered a full contract in Italy,and then left the munster academy

Hype710 · 29-03-2013 1:05pm

Thought Luke McGrath would get bumped up. They might have to yet if he rips it up at the JWC. Watched the SCM video, are most of those tries pre illness does anyone know? The ridiculous one he scored against Italy U20 came right before his illness IIRC.

lurtz · 29-03-2013 1:09pm

LEINSTER:
15: Rob Kearney
14: Dave Kearney
13: Brendan Macken
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Isa Nacewa
10: Ian Madigan
9: Isaac Boss

1: Cian Healy
2: Richardt Strauss
3: Mike Ross
4: Devin Toner
5: Quinn Roux
6: Kevin McLaughlin
7: Shane Jennings
8: Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN
REPLACEMENTS:
16: Sean Cronin
17: Jack McGrath
18: Jamie Hagan
19: Leo Cullen
20: Rhys Ruddock
21: John Cooney
22: Andrew Goodman
23: Andrew Conway

lurtz · 29-03-2013 1:10pm

Hype710 wrote: »

Thought Luke McGrath would get bumped up. They might have to yet if he rips it up at the JWC. Watched the SCM video, are most of those tries pre illness does anyone know? The ridiculous one he scored against Italy U20 came right before his illness IIRC.

his illness was back in october/november 2010 I think they would have been after

irishbucsfan · 29-03-2013 1:19pm

Yeah pretty sure a lot of that Ireland u20 stuff came before the illness. Some of it was after.

Podge_irl · 29-03-2013 1:39pm

Is EOM injured or not registered for the Amlin? Only reasons I can think of to start Machen ahead of him.

Tox56 · 29-03-2013 2:02pm

Podge_irl wrote: »

Is EOM injured or not registered for the Amlin? Only reasons I can think of to start Machen ahead of him.

Looks like they're giving Macken a chance to impress before the Wasps game. There was an interview in the IT where they were talking about Macken and EOM fighting it out to be BOD's replacement. EOM can't cover as much from the bench as Goodman/Conway so he either starts or doesn't feature at all. I'd say they're doing the same thing with Jennings/McLaughlin to decide the 3rd backrow.

shuffol · 29-03-2013 2:03pm

Tox56 wrote: »

Looks like they're giving Macken a chance to impress before the Wasps game. There was an interview in the IT where they were talking about Macken and EOM fighting it out to be BOD's replacement. EOM can't cover as much from the bench as Goodman/Conway so he either starts or doesn't feature at all. I'd say they're doing the same thing with Jennings/McLaughlin to decide the 3rd backrow.

Is Macken even registered?

Tox56 · 29-03-2013 2:06pm

shuffol wrote: »

Is Macken even registered?

He is

opinionatedfan · 29-03-2013 2:08pm

Macken is a serious talent, if he can get his mental game to a level consistent with his physical attributes we could be talking about a certain International.

Already made strides this season in a lot of areas.

trouttrout · 29-03-2013 2:09pm

opinionatedfan wrote: »

Macken is a serious talent, if he can get his mental game to a level consistent with his physical attributes we could be talking about a certain International.

Already made strides this season in a lot of areas.

How many players can you say that about though? He's been ok anytime I've seen him for Leinster but EOM is a step above which makes it unusual that he's not starting. Especially with injury to BOD

Tox56 · 29-03-2013 2:16pm

trouttrout wrote: »

How many players can you say that about though? He's been ok anytime I've seen him for Leinster but EOM is a step above which makes it unusual that he's not starting. Especially with injury to BOD

Macken in particular though. EOM is smarter and probably a better distributor but Macken really is a physical specimen. Richie Murphy was the one speaking in the IT about him:

His speed off the mark and his turn of pace is second to none. Even in training sessions against our lads, they find him very hard to handle. He brings that to his game. He’s a good passer. He’s a relatively big guy, one of our biggest backs at 95 or 96kgs.”

And Leinster have a pretty quick squad. At 6'2 he'd be bigger than most centres in Ireland but also one of the fastest. I didn't have much hope for him at the start of the season (perhaps wrongly given his age) but he has shown big improvements throughout the season. O'Malley has 3 years of extra experience on him, so you would expect him to be "a step above", but Macken is raw talent.

trouttrout · 29-03-2013 2:18pm

Tox56 wrote: »

Macken in particular though. EOM is smarter and probably a better distributor but Macken really is a physical specimen. Richie Murphy was the one speaking in the IT about him:

And Leinster have a pretty quick squad. At 6'2 he'd be bigger than most centres in Ireland but also one of the fastest. I didn't have much hope for him at the start of the season (perhaps wrongly given his age) but he has shown big improvements throughout the season. O'Malley has 3 years of extra experience on him, so you would expect him to be "a step above", but Macken is raw talent.

No doubt, but ahead of the Wasps game would it not make more sense to play EOM again seeing as he's coming back from injury

Hype710 · 29-03-2013 2:18pm

Podge_irl wrote: »

Is EOM injured or not registered for the Amlin? Only reasons I can think of to start Machen ahead of him.

That's pretty harsh on Macken. He's a more potent attacking weapon than EOM and the centre combination didn't really fire last week. Against Edinburgh with a good backline around him Macken performed very well, scoring two tries and winning MOTM.

irishbucsfan · 29-03-2013 2:20pm

Yeah I really don't think EOM has been particularly excellent since coming back. Macken has been making good progress this season. He deserves his place.

EOM needs a bit more time to get up to speed. He was unlucky that he came back just before a break so it was a bit of a stunted return.

Tox56 · 29-03-2013 2:24pm

trouttrout wrote: »

No doubt, but ahead of the Wasps game would it not make more sense to play EOM again seeing as he's coming back from injury

If he had been fit and firing yes, but he has been slow coming back from injury. With BOD returning soon and not many games left I'd say he'll be looking to next season to get fully up to speed.

FrannoFan · 29-03-2013 2:27pm

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Yeah pretty sure a lot of that Ireland u20 stuff came before the illness. Some of it was after.

pity he hasn't developed further, he looked such a talent in his earlier years. Most clubs aren't interested in a highlights reel, they request 2 full matches you played in to get an idea of what you are like.

looking light on back 3 talent. delighted for Martin Moore, had to graft at 20's to get academy contract initially so nice for him to get bumped up now. they obviously trust him to replace Hagan.

Clegg · 29-03-2013 10:55pm

After seeing the hammering that Munster have gotten from Glasgow I'm now even more impressed that we beat them last week. I know our game against them was when neither had their first choice 15 but they're still a good side, especially at Pro 12 level.

Leinster have to win the rest of their league games. I wouldn't fancy having Glasgow away in the playoffs.

Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread II

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