Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XI (The Finals Countdown)

The one standing thing that will endure in this crisis is is that Dan Leavy will come back and the overhype of Connors will be our in perspective. VDF have been the best Leinster player this season although you wouldn’t know it with the Conners hype. Hopefully Leavys re introduction will bring a new perspective on the 7 position going forward.

Ah I think most people had Leinster as big favourites going into the game. They had already taken apart the massive pack in the RDS and shown that they couldn't live with sustained high pace. Toulouse winning would have been a big upset.

Actually that RDD game had one of my favourite moments of the season when JGP threw that ridiculous pass to Adam Byrne for the BP.

Well, after a completely hectic period with work, things have fallen off a cliff. I'm left with two options, provide bespoke, unrequested reports to the client to demonstrate our value and innovation.....or consider the best Leinster uncapped XV of the professional era.

Tough choice.

Given the fact that a significant percentage of contracted players get capped in Ireland, it's not going to be a particularly pretty team but lets see how it goes. Have tried to keep it to Irish guys even if we had a NIQ player who became IQ

1. Ronan McCormack. Solid all round prop. Like a budget Jack McGrath. Mulitple appearances at A level for Ireland. Peter Dooley could push for this spot in a year but I imagine he'll be capped in the medium term.

2. Brian Blaney. Again, rakes of average lads picked up caps. Blaney was there on some big days, especially Toulouse in 2006 and nailed his throws two of which were instrumental in set play tries from ball off the top.

3. Peter Coyle. Default selection although I'm probably missing out on someone. Tough when you consider lads like Hagan was capped and Emmet Byrne capped multiple times (and deservedly in the days of 22 man squads) and we relied heavily on imports. If he wasn't injured all the time and then retired, someone like Knoop would have been in the mix but given he barely featured, he's a non runner.

4. Damien Browne. Very solid player whose career probably deserved more profile than he received. Got a handful of medals from his two years. Unlucky not to play in the European knock outs in 2012 after Thorn came in on a short term deal.

5. Ross Molony. A no brainer, for me. Smart player, unlucky not to be brought on the 2017 tour to Japan although he has struggled for fitness slightly since then.

6. Ciarán Potts. Didn't play a huge number of games due to injury cutting his career short but he could have had an excellent career for Leinster if he didn't play his last game the week after his 23rd birthday.

7. Stephen Keogh. Massively unlucky never to get capped given some of the players who did pick up a few.

8. Des Dillon. Not an easy call but Dillon was an exceptionally talented guy who really should have had a far more significant career than he did. Guys like Dominic Ryan, Niall Ronan, Aidan McCullen and Max Deegan are all capped in the back row. It's almost harder finding a Leinster back row who wasn't capped in the past 20 years. I'm not picking Toland. End of.

9. Brian O'Riordan. He was a really tidy scrum half who never managed to make that next step up. Regularly looked good at Celtic League level.

10. Ian McKinley. I'm bending the rules due to a real lack of options. The guy should have ended up with 50 Irish caps. He was a genuinely special talent when making his first start for Leinster at 19. The back catalogue isn't great with Andy Dunne probably the pick of the bunch given we relied on NIQ players heavily in Contepomi, Warner, Spooner and even Eddie Hekenui before Sexton. We once went into a match against Toulouse with BOD starting at 10, for context.

11.Barry Daly. Straightforward choice. If he had managed to keep fit in the last 3 years, I think he'd have a couple of caps already. Very rounded player and will hopefully still get the reward his talent deserves.

12. Conor O'Brien. I could be accused of recency bias on this one but he had as good a season last year as any peripheral centre we've had in the past couple of decades. David Quinlan would be top of my list but for a couple of token caps in Japan in 2005. Same for Noel Reid and Argentina or ROL in 2017.

13. Eoin O'Malley. Another no brainer and would have probably collected a handful of caps if he had stayed fit. I do think people oversold him as the next BOD. He would have been something of a placeholder, in my opinion but still a very good player whose career ended far too early.

14. Gary Brown. Another who probably should have had a better career than he did. Great try scorer, was a budget Denis Hickie. Always loved this try with the little fake as he approached the defender was lovely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7krBBpp99U

15. Fionn Carr. Bit of manipulation to squeeze Carr in. Was never a massive fan of his but he could finish, no doubt. Brendan Burke probably deserves a mention.

All in all, a pretty ropey side. Doesn't really hit home how many players are capped until you look at something like this. So many players with a couple of token caps.

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Although I'm enjoying the thought of Luke absolutely foaming at the mouth at a project player getting in ahead of him, especially one that's only been with the club for less than 3 years.

worth it just for that really

A peak Hickie ahead of all of them, for me. Did it at both provincial and test level with consistency over a sustained period. In the past 20 years, I don't think there was a better Irish winger overall when all were at the peak of their powers, to be honest. Had some very bad injuries but still managed to retain his speed and ability throughout.