Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread V

****e weather presumably helps Leinster though? Glasgow likey the offloady.

total former wrote: »

Yeah I think they're fair enough observations, aren't they? In relation to this game he said:



And


Seems like he was asked a question, he gave a reasonable answer. But sure whatever, the guy is going to get flak whatever he says.

Ah come on TF he's obviously complaining. He's said the thing needs to be reviewed, that it's damaging the league and that the conversation on it isn't exactly a two way thing. How is that not complaining!?

Also the internationals have played a fair bit this season. After this weekend Heaslip will have played in 13 of Leinsters 24 games. Seems low right? Factor in that 4 of those were during the 6 Nations and 1 was the week before the AIs kicked off (when he had to be in Ireland camp) and this will be his 6th and possibly last game rested. That's 6 of a potential 24 league games. Is that really that huge a deal? Don't we have several players in the squad today that have 6 Nations medals?

EDIT: Heaslip has played a total of 20 games this season and has missed 1 through injury. That's a lot of game time with 2 months left in the season. They are off the back of a Championship win with a 6 day turnaround. Anyone who started the last 2 games of the 6 Nations should be rested ahead of the Euro QF. Regarding Fitz I'm not sure what the logic is there, but unless people think that the logic is that Joe wants to shaft Leinster I am choosing to believe there is a decent reason for it.

molloyjh wrote: »

Ah come on TF he's obviously complaining. He's said the thing needs to be reviewed, that it's damaging the league and that the conversation on it isn't exactly a two way thing. How is that not complaining!?

Also the internationals have played a fair bit this season. After this weekend Heaslip will have played in 13 of Leinsters 24 games. Seems low right? Factor in that 4 of those were during the 6 Nations and 1 was the week before the AIs kicked off (when he had to be in Ireland camp) and this will be his 6th and possibly last game rested. That's 6 of a potential 24 league games. Is that really that huge a deal? Don't we have several players in the squad today that have 6 Nations medals?

EDIT: Heaslip has played a total of 20 games this season and has missed 1 through injury. That's a lot of game time with 2 months left in the season. They are off the back of a Championship win with a 6 day turnaround. Anyone who started the last 2 games of the 6 Nations should be rested ahead of the Euro QF. Regarding Fitz I'm not sure what the logic is there, but unless people think that the logic is that Joe wants to shaft Leinster I am choosing to believe there is a decent reason for it.

Hang on, you can't just point to Jamie Heaslip and use him to defend the entire program.

Luke Fitzgerald needs game time. How do you justify holding him out?

Podge_irl wrote: »

So what about his history? There is no evidence that this will help him avoid another injury. Half his injuries were in training.

MOC is right to be annoyed that Fitz can't play. He played ONE 6N game ffs. Its stupid

Well im no medical expert. but it makes perfect sense to me.
& if the Ireland management told Leinster that he should be eased back in (on the bench) thats good enough for me.
He has McFadden and Kearney starting on the wings!!!!
Again ZIP it Matt.... and just get on with it.

When you look back at previous seasons Leinster have always struggled because of the Irish players welfare system.

Something which has never been said until.....................

molloyjh wrote: »

It's a 6 day turnaround from an international window and a week in advance of a Euro QF. If you're not going to rest guys then you never will. Some perspective wouldn't go amiss here.....

This might be a relevant point if MOC was arguing that every single Irish player should be made available and playing. He's not saying that though.

Teams who aren't under such a restrictive and blind policy are perfectly capable of making their own judgements on player welfare, it's pointless assuming we would be any different.

molloyjh wrote: »

Personally I think the scheduling is the issue here, not the player welfare system. And that's the problem I have with MOCs comments. In the context of this week they are total nonsense. The internationals should not be playing this week under any circumstance. That a key fixture is scheduled for this week is what should be getting the attention.

But has Joe said similar in the past? Yes. Do I have some sympathy with provincial coaches? Yes. Do I agree? Not entirely. In terms of comparing them I'd need to look back at game time in previous seasons (on the mobile here so not so easy to do). It's my sense (and I could be totally wrong) that internationals have been made more available this season than previous seasons.

I agree with you here - I don't think that this season is any different from other seasons in that regard. I just hate to hear this coming from MOC now - he seems to be making his excuses before anyone sets foot on the pitch this evening.

molloyjh wrote: »

I'm on the phone so the fact that I did even that should be enough!

Heaslip is an example, I edited my post after to say that I don't know what the logic is for Fitz, but unless we think Joe is looking to shaft Leinster I'm happy to believe there's a genuine reason.

Just like you can't use just one player to defend the entire program, you can't use just one to tear it down.

BTW Rob has played the same number of games for Leinster as Heaslip and this will be just his 6th rest this season. He's played 21 games this season so far having not been injured. Jack McGrath has played just 1 game less.

I really don't get why you're defending the system while also saying you don't understand the logic behind it. And also thinking that your belief in Schmidt is relevant to it, when I see little evidence that it is. There's actually no indication that Schmidt had anything to do with this decision (or the programme which he has detracted from in the past), everything we've heard suggests it's a rigid set of rules which is absurdly rigidly applied to everyone.

Do you believe that the clubs across Europe starting internationals tonight who played 6 days ago are all getting it wrong? Obviously there's no evidence their players condition is negatively affected by this. You are suggesting you think Leinster want to start every single one of the guys who started last weekend (by bringing up guys like Heaslip), but clearly we see that clubs make individual decisions and rest guys coming out of the 6 Nations where they believe it's needed. Haskell/Warburton this weekend as an example. I see absolutely no reason why you would think this is a better policy than just imposing blanket decisions on players and taking the decision out of the hands of the medical staff who work with the players week-in, week-out at provincial level (far more than the IRFU's staff).

I mean Fitzgerald was been wrapped in cotton wool during his return, clearly Leinster have been in no rush to push him faster than is needed. Why would they want to play him this weekend if there was any risk involved? This sort of system frustrates the players, frustrates the coaches, and it should be frustrating you as well.

You cannot tell in August when fixing dates what will be key games in March, as no teams has fixed form. I bet Glasgow didnt think theyd be playing Leinster in 5th place at this time of the season.

The Pro12 has to carry on with its task regardless. Player management is a matter for the clubs and unions. Although it does seems to be wildly inconsistent. Fitzgerald and Healy dont need this game off, they should be playing. Why doesnt Jordi get a rest?