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The Leinster thread

  • Thread starter snoopy snoopy dog dog
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It appears as though CJ van der Linde is heading back to South Africa at the end of the season. He's been a poor signing for Leinster due to injuries ruining his time with the province.

Him leaving opens up a NIQ spot in the squad. I wouldn't mind seeing them bring in a quality hooker (somebody like Marius Tincu) and an Irish backup prop (Dave Ryan? Bryan Young? Brett Wilkinson? Darragh Hurley? Tim Ryan?) to bolster the options in the front row.
 
Quite a few rumours have been swirling over the last week with regards player transfers and retirement.

It appears that Girvan Dempsey, Malcolm O'Kelly, Chris Keane and Bernard Jackman may be quitting at the end of the season (according to various message boards). Adding fuel to the rumours of the latter three retiring is the fact that Leinster have signed/are looking to sign Ulster duo Isaac Boss and Ed O'Donoghue along with sounding out Munster academy hooker Mike Sherry. Sherry may not be the only Munster academy member who Leinster are chasing with suggestions that David O'Callaghan is on their radar. Ulster are also chasing O'Callaghan apparently.

If O'Callaghan and O'Donoghue are brought in, it doesn't bode well for Leinster's academy second rows. Ciaran Ruddock and Mark Flanagan may begin to consider their future. Likewise I can't imagine there'd be much room for Trevor Hogan. At 30 years old he's at best looking like the 5th choice lock. As a full international his contract is probably quite significant. Since O'Callaghan wouldn't be making a sideways move from one academy to another, Hogan's place would be under threat from a younger, cheaper option with a big future ahead of him.

It also seems as though Ulster have been sniffing around the Leinster academy and tried to get Brendan Macken on board for next season. David Kearney was sounded out last season by Matt Williams about making a move north. With Clinton Schifcofske off to RL in Wales, Bryn Cunningham almost always crocked and Jamie Smith learing his trade, Ulster are short of 15s. Kearney may take them up on their offer of first team rugby next season.

All in all, there'll be lots of movement in and out of Leinster over the summer.
 
See the way the link is GroupID=1? Well, needless to say TRF knows who is the world's outstanding player at the moment.
 
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0416/1224268445089.html

The RDS is considering redeveloping its showgrounds, home to Leinster rugby. This could involve the demolition of the Anglesea Stand to boost capacity from about 18,000 to about 22,000. A decision is likely before the end of the year.


"It needs to be redeveloped," said (Michael) Duffy. "We are conscious of the need to bring it up to modern spectator comfort standard and we want to make it all-seater."
Click to expand...
About time they redeveloped it. The view from the back of the Anglesea Stand is appalling (the roof is sloped so that kicks are impossible to see and there are too many pillars) while the terraces have a restricted view of the pitch.
 
It's a new season so it's time enough to resurrect a thread which hasn't been posted on in 4 months.

Leinster face Wasps in a pre-season game in Donnybrook on Friday. This is the squad named:
Leinster squad to face London Wasps:

BACKS: Isaac Boss, Luke Fitzgerald, David Kearney, Michael Keating, Ian Madigan, Fergus McFadden, Ian McKinley, Niall Morris, Isa Nacewa, Paul O'Donohoe, Eoin O'Malley, Eamonn Sheridan

FORWARDS: Jason Harris-Wright, Trevor Hogan, Ben Marshall, Jack McGrath, Sean O'Brien, Mike Ross, Dominic Ryan, Paul Ryan, Eoin Sheriff, Richardt Strauss, Devin Toner, Heinke van der Merwe, Stan Wright

Wasps are further along in their pre-season so I fully expect them to win but I'd like to see Leinster throw the ball around a little and also see if Greg Feek has had any impact on the scrum yet. I hope Ian McKinley gets a run at 10- he has the talent to take over from Shaun Berne as primary backup flyhalf this year in my opinion.
 
If its anything like the pre-season games last year it'll be beyond meaningless. 5 or 6 substitutions before half time. Academy players making way for .... well for god knows who.

It'll be good for Toner, Fitzgerald and O'Brien to get a run but outside of that it'll be nothin more then a training session.

You know they are charging close to €30 smackers to enter?
 
Expensive for pre season but hope Luke Fitz gets through ok as he's going to be needed big time for leinster and Ireland
 
I amnot paying 30 quid for a preseason ticket. They can stuff off.
 
Munsters is very good with dearest ticket â'¬25 for covered seating and you can get a family terrace ticket (2adults & 2 kids) â'¬35
 
Yeah, but as it's Limerick your tickets will probably get stolen on the way in.
 
Munster don't play any warm up games in thomond and well feic it easy to see you've never been to Thomond park as it has a reputation around the world for been a great stadium and any visiting fan never has trouble just fun. And limerick may have it's troubles but so does Dublin no more so.

Back on the issue Snoop I agree it very expensive when Leinster don't have full team and players come on and off too much disrupting the flow.
 
I have actually, but Limerick is the worst town in Ireland by a country mile. Despicalbe place.
 
Glad to see Fitzgerald is back, he's one of my favorite Irish players.
I started liking Leinster to annoy my GFs mom (from Munster) - now i just generally like them :p Probably my favorite team in the Magners
 
Olyy said:
Glad to see Fitzgerald is back, he's one of my favorite Irish players.
I started liking Leinster to annoy my GFs mom (from Munster) - now i just generally like them :p Probably my favorite team in the Magners
Click to expand...

That's the way Olly! It's great to Lukey back alright. I'd hope to see far more of him at inside centre this year where he's probably most effective. While this would have the effect of somewhat marginalising D'arcy I think it's our best option in the longrun.
 

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