Ryan or Ruddock?

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I don't think Sherriff has been given a great shot yet in fairness :/ deserves a few more ML games

Who would you drop to give him game time though? Leinster have five backrowers on their books who've won caps for Ireland in the last year. For his own sake he needs to move.

 

[lucky number 7]

He played all his underage ad second row as far as I remember having a player who can slot in between 2nd row and Backrow to a high standard is surely an asset ? I havent seen alot of him lately so cant argue his case too strongly but from what I recall he was a pretty tough nut and a good lineout operator.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Beats your situation at prop and scrum-half!

I reckon Denis Leamy could do a job at Tighthead

 

[Peat]

I reckon Denis Leamy could do a job at Tighthead

Probably wouldn't do much worse than Buckley has.

I sometimes think they should play Buckley as a monster second-rower. That'd be one massive shove up the prop's backside. Back-row would have to do a lot of jumping at lineout time mind...

 

[Feicarsinn]

I reckon they should make Buckley the kit boy for all the good he does on the pitch. Bloody useless lump.

 

[lynam1104]

Probably wouldn't do much worse than Buckley has.

I sometimes think they should play Buckley as a monster second-rower. That'd be one massive shove up the prop's backside. Back-row would have to do a lot of jumping at lineout time mind...

I had a coach who tried that and the result was what you would expect, one more fat lazy lump on the field with a very strong scrum.

 

[durbutter]

I reckon they should make Buckley the kit boy for all the good he does on the pitch. Bloody useless lump.

Harsh, on his day he's a monster around the park.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Perhaps, but he can't do the only thing he's actually required to do. He's like having a fly half who can't kick or pass.

 

[Peat]

Harsh, on his day he's a monster around the park.

Aye, it was those days I was thinking of when I suggested lock for him.

Mind you on his off days he's like a big tub of blacmange fitted onto rollerskates.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Harsh, on his day he's a monster around the park.

What day was that? It certainly wasn't in the last year!

 

[coonor]

Perhaps, but he can't do the only thing he's actually required to do. He's like having a fly half who can't kick or pass.

(Cough) Niall O'Connor (Cough)

I like Ryan for his aggression and athleticism ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqlrWcn_HmY ). I like Ruddock's work rate and leadership skills. I'd ship off Keogh because his career can do no further at Leinster.

Buckley had a good game against Toulon but consistency is the key to being international class. That's why O'Driscoll is great because on his bad day he's still pretty good.

 

[Feicarsinn]

I was just on scrum.com and had a look at one of their little columns. The author seemed to imply that Ireland were only a decent tighthead away from a semi final spot. Well, we have one. Actually, we have a good one indeed. Trouble is, WE WON'T BLOODY PICK HIM!!!!!! ARHGHG

 

[durbutter]

What day was that? It certainly wasn't in the last year!

NZ this summer? Not saying he's great but he has some attributes

 

[MunsterMan]

Buckley was immense in the summer tour. Put in several huge tackles and made several sublime carries and offloads against NZ.

The thing is though, Ireland really don't need to select a tighthead who is good around the park.

If we have Healy at loosehead and Cronin at Hooker, we already have a better ball carrying options than most frontrows in the world (who generally pick the props based on their scrummaging credentials, the mad ********! ). A solid tighthead who will lock out the scrum is what we need. Ross must start.

Keogh should be on his way to Connacht hopefully. He would suit their confrontational style down to the ground. O'Brien to play 8 whenever Jamie is not available, and Ryan/Jennings at 7.

 

[King_D'Arcy]

Ryan would be my fave out of the 2. He's aggressive and agile and I dig that in a big way! Funny thing is he's appeared in virtually every Magners league and Heineken cup match this year and he still hasn't been given a full contract. Does that mean players like Conway and Paul Ryan get paid more than Ryan despite the fact that they get far less game time? if this is the case that is complete exploitation!

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

The thing is though, Ireland really don't need to select a tighthead who is good around the park.

If we have Healy at loosehead and Cronin at Hooker, we already have a better ball carrying options than most frontrows in the world (who generally pick the props based on their scrummaging credentials, the mad ********! ). A solid tighthead who will lock out the scrum is what we need. Ross must start.

This is spot on.

For Leinster, Richardt Strauss, Cian Healy, Sean O'Brien, Nathan Hines and Jamie Heaslip carry a lot of ball and regularly break the gainline so they can afford to pick a tighthead who's great at scrummaging but fairly average at everything else. If Ireland pick Cian Healy, Sean Cronin, Jamie Heaslip, Stephen Ferris and Sean O'Brien, they too can afford the luxury of picking Mike Ross ahead of Tony Buckle. I suspect that when Jerry Flannery regains fitness (and perhaps with the addition of a new ball carrying backrow), Tony McGahan will seriously consider dropping Buckle- at present his ball carrying ability is the only decent thing about his game.

There were rumours during the summer that Andrew Conway and Brendan Macken got bumped up to better contracts because other teams came sniffing around. Ulster were one of the teams rumoured to be looking at them. I suspect that Dominic Ryan and Ian Madigan have seen or will soon see their academy deals replaced with full contracts given the amount of games they've played this year.

 

[munstermuffin]

Snoop I don't know Leinsters situation on contracts but there is a limit on amount of full contracts and was just wondering how many are on full contracts there.

As for Buckley, well with Ireland we know there is options but in fairness Tony McGahan has no other options and is only left with 1 option so it hard scenario for us.
On contracts also I did see Keith Earls with agent just before Christmas and they were discussing contracts. Keith looks set to be offered an Irish contract but seemed unhappy at the terms and money. I do think he'd stay no matter what as he is a proud Limerick man but still I not happy until it signed

 

[profitius]

Whats the betting more players will switch between provinces. Leinster might take a lock from Munster and Munster might take some Leinster backs.

The downside of academy Leinsters success is that many teams will be watching them closely and offer contracts to sub academy players which will force Leinster to sign them like what happened with Conway. Leinster should max out their academy with potential players. During the summer they lost 2 sub academy players. Jones to Ospreys and Stephen McAuley to Leicester Tigers.

Theres even talk now about English clubs wanting to sign deals with some Leinster schools.

 

[profitius]

From what I've seen of Buckley this season he's not lazy. Technically not a good scrummager but he's still alot better than Hayes or most props in Ireland. He's over 20st and I'd imagine its hard for somebody of that size to run around the field like a 14st back.

 

[MunsterMan]

Whats the betting more players will switch between provinces. Leinster might take a lock from Munster and Munster might take some Leinster backs.

The downside of academy Leinsters success is that many teams will be watching them closely and offer contracts to sub academy players which will force Leinster to sign them like what happened with Conway. Leinster should max out their academy with potential players. During the summer they lost 2 sub academy players. Jones to Ospreys and Stephen McAuley to Leicester Tigers.

Theres even talk now about English clubs wanting to sign deals with some Leinster schools.

Incredibly interesting. Leinster really does have the resources to support another pro rugby team looking at it from the long term.