Michael Alaalatoa signs for Leinster

[Degz]

Both honest players and do a job for Leinster, but I don't see Dooley or Bryne as top end European props. That being the case, I can absolutely see why Team Ireland would want Porter moved over. The possibility of having two world class props on the team at the next world cup, and hope something comes through as back up.

Both can put in a shift too, so you're looking at finding/dragging out someone for 15-20 minutes. Healy might last that long? Killer certainly.

Of course it leaves us short on the tighthead side, but surely being short behind a starter is better than not having a starting option on one side?

Other thing, of course, is that this is a Crusader starting prop. He's not coming here to play third choice and not in Europe. I'd say a word has been dropped in his shell like that he'll be backing up (/vying with) Furlong.

[wixfjord]

Both ARE excellent starting options at a top European side.

Excellent?

They're not really.

I mean as long as Cian is available and not rested neither will start for us in a big game.

If Dooley wants to be a #1 LH, then it's unlikely he'll ever be one in blue.

I don’t know, Dooley like Porter is still learning his trade in a specialist role - he was a no.8 before this. I really like Dooley and think this year he has made great strides. He used to pop in and out of games which hurt his chances, this season he is on the ball from start to finish and in fairness if fans were anything to go by many here were asking that he be in the euro match day 23 ahead of Byrne.

He had probably his best ever performance away in blue against Montpellier alright.

But surely that coupled with the fact he's not in our 23 for big games and Porter may be moving across would support the point that he might be interested in looking elsewhere?

[Jonny tight lips]

There’ll be a few lads falling from some great heights off of those high horses after that announcement.

This signing would be contradictory towards a few comments by the vocal minority over the last few weeks and months.

By the looks of things he will be our only not Irish qualified player next year and in the position he plays we provide 2 viable options to the national team so I’m not sure why anybody would have any complaints.

We had sent tightheads east and south last year and have a guy playing north too. When the two boys are away we will be short enough with only a guy coming back from a year out and an academy prospect so an injury away from disaster without cover

East?

Yeah I meant west .. d’oh

[fourthirtythree]

Ireland don't really have anything decent coming through at loosehead, Healy and Killer both the wrong side of 30 with the former having loads of miles on the clock and the latter really more of an impact sub. I'd be very surprised if the call from above hasn't been to move Porter back over.

Be surprised if Pete Dooley isn't considering his options very strongly.

Yeah, but look at it the other way around as well. Porter was playing near 80 minutes week after week for Ireland when Furlong was injured. Who is behind him? If one of both or Furlong or Porter was injured, who would be playing for Ireland?

It would be absolute madness to shift a genuinely world class Tighthead prop. We have an obvious problem at Loosehead, but it's not like we have an overabundance of Tightheads that means we wouldn't just be creating a new problem there for what is in no way a guaranteed solution.

That's what is worrying me. Remember when we had "too many" looseheads and McGrath moving on was for the good of everyone involved?

I think if recent history has taught us anything it should be that having international quality, homegrown, competition for key places on the Leinster team is good for Ireland. Porter has become outstanding in the last few months, all the bits are fitting into place.

[Theleinsterlad]

Excellent?

They're not really.

I mean as long as Cian is available and not rested neither will start for us in a big game.

If Dooley wants to be a #1 LH, then it's unlikely he'll ever be one in blue.

I don’t know, Dooley like Porter is still learning his trade in a specialist role - he was a no.8 before this. I really like Dooley and think this year he has made great strides. He used to pop in and out of games which hurt his chances, this season he is on the ball from start to finish and in fairness if fans were anything to go by many here were asking that he be in the euro match day 23 ahead of Byrne.

He had probably his best ever performance away in blue against Montpellier alright.

But surely that coupled with the fact he's not in our 23 for big games and Porter may be moving across would support the point that he might be interested in looking elsewhere?

Possibly however if he feels like many players that he is moving in the right direction getting better he may hold moving for that reason. 1 year ago he wasn’t even in contention for our 23 and he needs to ask the question if I stay and become no.1 when Healy retires am I closer to a green jersey then going off to one of the other provinces - and looking at those that have moved away, their international careers have nose dived as opposed to improving

[Theleinsterlad]

PS I think many are way off with Porter going LH for the benefit of Ireland. A huge amount of time has been invested in porters TH technique to get him to the level to compete at international level and finally this year he has reached that level at scrum time in my opinion. If you don’t have a top level TH at international level you ain’t going to win the big games. Having furlong and Porter as a combo now means no matter what our scrum has a foundation.

I might be wrong but I think it would be a big mistake to reverse this after the work he’s done to get there. Ps. I would have previously been one of those saying wouldn’t it be great having Porter and furlong on the field at the same time - Saturday should re-align minds with the huge pens we won because we had two top class THs

[riocard911]

PS I think many are way off with Porter going LH for the benefit of Ireland. A huge amount of time has been invested in porters TH technique to get him to the level to compete at international level and finally this year he has reached that level at scrum time in my opinion. If you don’t have a top level TH at international level you ain’t going to win the big games. Having furlong and Porter as a combo now means no matter what our scrum has a foundation.

I might be wrong but I think it would be a big mistake to reverse this after the work he’s done to get there. Ps. I would have previously been one of those saying wouldn’t it be great having Porter and furlong on the field at the same time - Saturday should re-align minds with the huge pens we won because we had two top class THs

+1

[elephantman]

The more I think about the signing of Alaalatoa, I’m convinced it means Porter is going back to loosehead next season for Leinster and Ireland.

Tom O’Toole is highly rated by Farrell and Marty Moore is another option at tighthead. Knox in Munster could be another option but 2023 may come too early for him.

Alaalatoa is too good a player to not even make the matchday 23 for Leinster.

I suspect Team Ireland has already made its decision. Porter is going back to loosehead.

[Flash Gordon]

What is this obsession with moving Porter back to loosehead? He is a world class tighthead, he was a very mediocre loosehead - does nobody remember him playing there? He was pretty much sixth choice on merit and didn't like playing there.

On the signing, am on the fence about it. If Bent is leaving then it's no harm having an experienced tighthead from a different rugby culture come in to help bring Vahk and Clarkson on I guess.

He was back up to Loughman on the U20's if you remember. I do think that he would have developed into a good loosehead but as we all know he's been built to play TH. I don't just mean that his technique has been built but also his body. There are positions like prop and backrow forward where a top team needs at least 2 sets of international class props and backrowers to be competitive. Box Ticked at TH.

[mildlyinterested]

What is this obsession with moving Porter back to loosehead? He is a world class tighthead, he was a very mediocre loosehead - does nobody remember him playing there? He was pretty much sixth choice on merit and didn't like playing there.

On the signing, am on the fence about it. If Bent is leaving then it's no harm having an experienced tighthead from a different rugby culture come in to help bring Vahk and Clarkson on I guess.

He was back up to Loughman on the U20's if you remember. I do think that he would have developed into a good loosehead but as we all know he's been built to play TH. I don't just mean that his technique has been built but also his body. There are positions like prop and backrow forward where a top team needs at least 2 sets of international class props and backrowers to be competitive. Box Ticked at TH.

that was his 1st season at u20, his second he was a star player at loosehead.

[Oldschoolsocks]

The more I think about the signing of Alaalatoa, I’m convinced it means Porter is going back to loosehead next season for Leinster and Ireland.

Tom O’Toole is highly rated by Farrell and Marty Moore is another option at tighthead. Knox in Munster could be another option but 2023 may come too early for him.

Alaalatoa is too good a player to not even make the matchday 23 for Leinster.

I suspect Team Ireland has already made its decision. Porter is going back to loosehead.

Why?

[Serb]

I was watching a couple of interviews with Alaalatoa from a couple of years back and he mentioned that he also plays loose head.

He never benched or started for Crusaders at loose head, so pretty unlikely, but any chance we’re thinking about this backwards and he’s the one going to loosehead?

One thing that stood out to me about him when looking through the last few seasons — he has only missed 3 games in the past 5 seasons which is a pretty good injury record.

Also, in terms of a song for him, it’s clearly La Bamba. “A la la la la toa” etc

[elephantman]

The more I think about the signing of Alaalatoa, I’m convinced it means Porter is going back to loosehead next season for Leinster and Ireland.

Tom O’Toole is highly rated by Farrell and Marty Moore is another option at tighthead. Knox in Munster could be another option but 2023 may come too early for him.

Alaalatoa is too good a player to not even make the matchday 23 for Leinster.

I suspect Team Ireland has already made its decision. Porter is going back to loosehead.

Why?

Just a hunch, albeit a strong one.

I suppose the reasoning behind it is Porter is too good a player not to be starting most weeks, getting Furlong and Porter on the field together etc.

I can see the arguments for and against the move. My strong suspicion is that the decision has already been made.

[Theleinsterlad]

I was watching a couple of interviews with Alaalatoa from a couple of years back and he mentioned that he also plays loose head.

He never benched or started for Crusaders at loose head, so pretty unlikely, but any chance we’re thinking about this backwards and he’s the one going to loosehead?

One thing that stood out to me about him when looking through the last few seasons — he has only missed 3 games in the past 5 seasons which is a pretty good injury record.

Also, in terms of a song for him, it’s clearly La Bamba. “A la la la la toa” etc

Like the song Serb! He looks built like a loose head

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I've been banging the Porter to LH drum for a long time and would be delighted to see it happen. Lots of reasons why it makes sense but even if people don't agree with them there's one simple reason that surely does make sense to everyone...if you're Porter would you be happy with being second fiddle to Furlong for the next 4/5 years or would you rather be starting in all the big games? If I was him I'd be really pissed off that Furlong was first choice again so soon after returning from injury and Porter had become really top class in his absence. Then you're reminded of the quality of Tadhg and really it's no contest.

[Oldschoolsocks]

The more I think about the signing of Alaalatoa, I’m convinced it means Porter is going back to loosehead next season for Leinster and Ireland.

Tom O’Toole is highly rated by Farrell and Marty Moore is another option at tighthead. Knox in Munster could be another option but 2023 may come too early for him.

Alaalatoa is too good a player to not even make the matchday 23 for Leinster.

I suspect Team Ireland has already made its decision. Porter is going back to loosehead.

Why?

Just a hunch, albeit a strong one.

I suppose the reasoning behind it is Porter is too good a player not to be starting most weeks, getting Furlong and Porter on the field together etc.

I can see the arguments for and against the move. My strong suspicion is that the decision has already been made.

How about a virtual pint on it?

Say check back this time next year? Mines a Smithwicks btw

[the spoofer]

I think most of those mentioning Porter back to LH have never put their head in a scrum. It may have been relatively common back 20 years ago for lads to switch but now it's nigh on impossible to do that. He would need months and months of scrummaging at a high level before he would be able to move against any top international team. It's the equivalent of asking Ross B to move to 9.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I think most of those mentioning Porter back to LH have never put their head in a scrum. It may have been relatively common back 20 years ago for lads to switch but now it's nigh on impossible to do that. He would need months and months of scrummaging at a high level before he would be able to move against any top international team. It's the equivalent of asking Ross B to move to 9.

Did Ross Byrne play 9 for the under 20’s?

[wixfjord]

I wonder how much of Alaalatoa did we see when we were doing those 'war games' scenarios with Crusaders during the covid break. Obviously we know a lot about what he can do.

[elephantman]

Why?

Just a hunch, albeit a strong one.

I suppose the reasoning behind it is Porter is too good a player not to be starting most weeks, getting Furlong and Porter on the field together etc.

I can see the arguments for and against the move. My strong suspicion is that the decision has already been made.

How about a virtual pint on it?

Say check back this time next year? Mines a Smithwicks btw

Haha, you’re on! Mine, predictably enough, is a Heineken