Maguire signs for Connacht

[colster]

http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/magnersle ... nacht.html

[cormac]

http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/magnersle ... nacht.html

Hagan for Maguire. Hope we've got the better of that deal.

[ronk]

http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/magnersle ... nacht.html

Hagan for Maguire. Hope we've got the better of that deal.

Why wouldn't we. Maguire is a young player but he's one for the long haul, hence why he's the only non 1st year member of the academy still uncapped by Leinster. This in a position where we had really been struggling for depth and with injuries. He's a good lad and has loads of talent, I think he'll do well but he has a lot of learning to do. I could easily see him coming back in a few years.

[fourthirtythree]

Best of luck Stewart, hope you come back a winner.

[Justtoby]

Will he come back though? Maguire isn't Leinster born and bred like Hagan is and was only recruited from Wales in 2009. A good two year stint playing regularly with Connacht would trump two years in the Leinster academy in terms of his loyalty in my opinion. I hope the move works out for him. Ireland could use another strong option at that position in the long term.

[ratpack]

Serious chance he won't come back, if it goes well for him he could well end up in Munster when Botha leaves. Hagan will by then be sharing the tighthead duties with Ross and certainly won't be space for a third TH in the squad. That's if everything goes well for him which I've no doubt it will. He's a big lad with buckets of strength. Connacht replacing like with like in terms of physche.

[jezzer]

Good signing for Connacht. Possibly a bigger upside to him than Hagan.

[[Jackass]]

Yeah really hating this player trading thing, getting rid of our best youth to get back some of our other youth...

Maguire was an important player for next season...with Wright gone, that's just Ross and Hagan now. I remember a time when we had Ross, Van Der Linde & Stan Wright...

O'Connell couldn't have gone instead?

I suppose that's Harris-Wright gone for Cronin...

Morris gone...

D. Kearney maybe to help them out with loss of Carr?

uggh

[Justtoby]

Maguire was an important player for next season...with Wright gone, that's just Ross and Hagan now. I remember a time when we had Ross, Van Der Linde & Stan Wright...

Ross, Hagan, Shawe possibly, Moore. van der Merwe played a bit on that side in South Africa too. Leinster have plenty of options on the right side of the scrum.

[Donny B.]

Like Hagan he'll benefit from gametime. He's a huge lad but he still has a lot to learn about scrummaging.

[CiaranIrl]

Good luck to the lad. I remember him mullering the highly rated under 20s England Scrum last
year and being highly impressed.

Shawe has looked solid enough as well. Would like to see him get another year.

[ronk]

O'Connell couldn't have gone instead?

Maguire is the Hollywood option because of his size and power, I wouldn't write off O'Connell. It's worth bearing in mind that O'Connell got 12 Ireland U20 caps to Maguire's and is good on both sides of the scrum. As I recall from watching them at the time, there was a reason; O'Connell is a good player, workrate guy rather than a freak.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I've only ever seen O'Connell play for the Ireland u-20s but I was really impressed every single time. Based on those performances I think he has a very big future with us. With Ross being away at the world cup I'd hoped that Maguire would get games then. I'd be surprised if we don't sign another prop now even if it's only until November or so.

[porterbelly]

A good two year stint playing regularly with Connacht would trump two years in the Leinster academy in terms of his loyalty in my opinion. I hope the move works out for him.

Here's hoping!

[ronk]

I've only ever seen O'Connell play for the Ireland u-20s but I was really impressed every single time. Based on those performances I think he has a very big future with us. With Ross being away at the world cup I'd hoped that Maguire would get games then. I'd be surprised if we don't sign another prop now even if it's only until November or so.

Possible. But the inclination towards AIL players does change that somewhat, e.g. Darren O'Reilly. As DC continuously reminds us, the international market for tightheads is expensive. We're not going to have an easy time signing someone worth playing for modest money, there's too much expensive rubbish out there and most guys we sign won't be in that great condition (fitness) compared to the academy guys, unless we go for a rockstar, but there's no point in doing that. You still have a mixed bag and it would take away from the strategy at the moment of having guys like Hagan getting as much gametime as possible before the HC kicks off.

All the top opposition props in the ML will be gone anyway, so it's not like we won't be able to struggle through. We might even do well out of it as we have squad depth and young players. We do also have guys like van der Merwe.

From my recollection of O'Connell he was a particularly dynamic prop without being a particularly destructive scrummager. I wouldn't call him a weak scrummager by any means, but it's not his forte. The sudden competitiveness of scrummaging has set him back a little on that front, but shouldn't be more than a blip and he's still been getting good gametime for the As. By that I mean that a young scrummaging specialist can hold up better in the scrums and we live with nothing else around the park, a young versatile prop who's better in the loose might contribute more but could be a risk until he gets to sufficient standard to get by.

The other thing I suppose we should mention is the sub-academy. Martin Moore, in particular, has looked solid for the U20s against some very powerful packs. Not many tightheads captain U20 sides.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'd forgotten about Moore actually, I've been very impressed with him alright. I agree with all the reasons ronk has outlined for not signing anyone but Schmidt seems to like a better safe than sorry approach judging by Prescott, Newland and Shawe so thats why I wouldn't be surprised if we sign someone.

[ronk]

I'd forgotten about Moore actually, I've been very impressed with him alright. I agree with all the reasons ronk has outlined for not signing anyone but Schmidt seems to like a better safe than sorry approach judging by Prescott, Newland and Shawe so thats why I wouldn't be surprised if we sign someone.

I had wondered about them. There has been an element this season of panic at tighthead because of the timing of Stan's injury. It appears early on that the decision was taken not to replace CJ with a tighthead due to the availability of 2 good tightheads. Ross was pressed into more service than has been ideal. Prescott didn't play for us, Newland came and went, he was only really getting up to speed by the end of his contract, but it wasn't extended. If Stan's recovery schedule had slipped you can be damn sure we would have found a way to keep him. The fact that Shawe has been used so many times shows us that we have options beyond spending a lot of money on players we mightn't need.

With a year under Joe's belt here, he'll be a little better prepared. With a year of pro training (with Feek) under his belt Shawe will start looking good compared to someone else coming in and taking time to adjust.

I just think there's a lose-lose element to signing a tighthead. If we sign one, we have to go out there and find someone who can slot in immediately without being better than Ross/Hagan but do better than O'Connell/McGrath/Shawe. The market is so competitive at the moment, that we might find ourselves better off waiting until we need someone before we go signing a short term option anyway. At least in those circumstances you can offer a guy some gametime. Shame Ollie wasn't a few years younger, he'd be the sort of guy you could call up and put on standby.

[suisse]

Best of luck Stewart, hope you come back a winner.

He's moving to Connacht. If he wanted to be a winner, he'd go to Aironi

[lummix]

Good move for both leinster and connacht. Props need gametime to develop their scrummaging etc, in three years time hopefully he will come back to us when ross is finishing up, though have a feeling the turnips might rob him due to their love of the monster prop

[Sea_point]

Good move for both leinster and connacht. Props need gametime to develop their scrummaging etc, in three years time hopefully he will come back to us when ross is finishing up, though have a feeling the turnips might rob him due to their love of the monster prop

Absolutely, there are new players coming onstream to the academies every year and more established players have to move up or on to facilitate thie development. It's the logical move for all concerned once the Hagan deal was done...

Galway and Connacht will probably suit the lad, and our forwards Coach Dan McFarland is second to none in Ireland (and a former TH prop too)...