Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread VII: The Fan-base Awakens

former total wrote: »

brokenhooker in dismally negative post shocker.

I haven't heard anything about an injury to JVDF (he was training during the week) and the people who said that they heard Murphy is starting have declined to tell us where they heard it, but still, if our third-choice seven is Jordi Murphy, I'll take that any day of the week and so would every other club in Europe.

O'Brien is also back training so maybe he'll bench tomorrow. Surely no-one could b*tch about that.

he should be 4th choice because he is not a very good 7 simple as that.

if JVDF is healthy its a bizarre selection choice.

I'd have picked Ross ahead of Furlong but no harm giving the younger guy the game time. Probably would have gone for Molony over Triggs too but I suppose Leo knows about the second row.

Murphy is a very good player, he won't let us down, no harm in a bit of squad rotation, VDF put in a good shift against Connacht.

15. Zane Kirchner(31) - NIQ
14. Isa Nacewa(33) - NIQ
13. Garry Ringrose(21)
12. Ben Te'o(29) - NIQ
11. Dave Kearney(26)
10. Jonathan Sexton(30)
9. Eoin Reddan(35)

That backline is so uninspiring, someone said yesterday that leinster don't have a need for young talented backs.. i'd strongly disagree, there is a bigger need for young talented backs than there is forwards.

Yet bar Ringrose Leinster have been incapable of producing those players for years now.

Reddan over McGrath is utter short termism and proves what many have been saying for Luke for awhile, maybe he isn't good enough?
That back three lacks pace, Nacewa is miles off his peak yet is still a 1st choice player for Leinster, Kirchner is solid when at 15 but nowhere near the quality you'd want from a NIQ signing.

Munster have a much better back three and scrumhalf, while Leinster have a better outhalf. Centres are about the same, although I'd prefer Saili to Teo and Ringrose over Scannell.

Depressing the state of the Leinster backline and how far it's fallen.

Deleted User wrote: »

Kirchner's probably been close enough to our best player this season.

which says a lot about how the backs have been playing. He is a decent player but nothing special and wouldn't have gotten near the leinster backline at it's peak.

Shame leinster lack talent in the backs, gone are the says of fast attacking backs, now we rely on grinding teams out with our pack ala Munster.
There is a desperate need for some young fast creative backs in that side, yet we are stuck with plodders like Kearney & McFadden, 1 dimensional players in Teo and players well past there peak in Reddan and Nacewa.

Not to mention what Madigan has turned into.

At a certain point people are just going to have admit that the academy has produced one decent back in half a decade and thats simply not acceptable.

Buer wrote: »

Hickie aside, we never really had backs with anything too special in terms of pace. It was far more about angles, reading and handling.

we don't even have most of those things anymore either..

Leinster have failed utterly in developing some quality backs since Rob Kearney & Luke Fitzgerald came into the team 8 years ago.

Only one player in that Leinster backline would start in the Ulster backline. Same probably applies to the Connacht backline, maybe 2.

awec wrote: »

It's a cycle, teams aren't going to pop out talent year after year after year.

Is there any team anywhere that develops talent all over the field on a consistent basis? I am not sure.

Ulster churn out young backs but we struggle to produce forwards. Leinster churn out forwards but struggle to produce backs.

In a few years it could be the other way around. That's just how it goes.

8 years is some gap and frankly it's unacceptable in terms of whoever is in charge of developing young backs. Look what Connacht have achieved in recent years.

errlloyd wrote: »

I'm not concerned, Kellegher and Byrne have been handy so far this year. There are even younger players pushing in. These years senior cup had a great generation of backs, I am excited to see who makes it.

If Kelleher and Byrne were rated they'd get more gametime like Ringrose..

Leinster have stopped developing backs, simple as that. Someone needs to be held responsible when Munster have a more exciting backline than Leinster. Not to mention Ulster and Connacht being ahead of Leinster in that area aswell.

There is always plenty of underage backs standing out in the cup, Leinster rugby has failed to bring any of these players through to the senior team. Which is why Leinster have such an average backline.

Señor Fitzgeraldo ?

awec wrote: »

Ulster's backs are freakishly good at the moment but that won't last. Eventually it'll dry up.

Leinster don't have a monopoly on producing backs. I don't believe the "we're Leinster, we should be producing backs" argument really stands up.

Yes and No. No monopoly for sure. But they should be producing more than anyone else in general although oc course there are peaks and troughs.
1) The biggest pool of players and potential players
2) Within that, the biggest proportionate pool of players through the school system of hot house and high level coaching from a young age, which is critical to develop what we see 15 years later as 'natural talent' and 'rugby brain'. Like it or loath it, the Blackrock, Belvo, Clongowes, and a handful of others, still churn out an astonishingly high proportion of the players who make it as pros or to the Irish team.

errlloyd wrote: »

You're wrong about both of them. They were top class. Sure BOD reckons O Malley was gonna start ahead of him on merit.

that's a nice little story to trot out but it didn't happen.. it's all what if's, pie in the sky stuff.

Leinster rugby have failed utterly in recent years in developing backs. Which is clear as day with 3 NIQ's in the backline & a 35 year old scrumhalf who is miles off his best.