the spoofer wrote: ↑April 3rd, 2022, 8:05 am
We can only hope that Leo and Co have seen something that we haven’t.
I think that we're contracting Jenkins for the raw materials, not the finished article. It's similar to what Joe Schmidt tried to do way back with Quinn Roux, except instead of going for a very young player [Roux was 21 when he arrived at Leinster] we've gone for a guy who has been around the block once – Jenkins will be 27 when he arrives, and has played pro rugby in SA, Japan and obviously Ireland.
From what we saw at the weekend Jenkins will need to change some parts of his game, focus on a daily basis on what he is being told by the coaches in training, and do a lot of hard work to get to the player we want him to be. In short, he is going to have to adapt to how we play, and answer to how we want him to play.
For example, we work very hard off the ball – our forwards cover a lot of ground and reorganise quickly in phase play and in kick chase. So he'll have to do that. But we don't want him to just concentrate his efforts on that to the detriment of his set-pieces duties – we want him to be the tractor that drives the scrum and an absolute hoist at the lineout.
But we've got good coaches. Their job is to improve a player's basic skills [his carrying, his tackling, his catch-pass, his body position in contact situations] then integrate him into unit skills [scrummaging, various lineout and kick-reception roles, mauling], then drill his roles in the gameplan into him until they become automatic ... and they do that all the time. That's their job. Mike Ala'alatoa has changed quite a bit since he arrived from the Crusaders [in my opinion, at least].
Jenkins is really big [203cm & 124kg] and he looks like he moves well. He's not a lazy player: he made the most tackles of anybody on the pitch - 18/0 [source: https://www.espn.com/rugby/playerstats? ... gue=270557 ]. So if he works hard, wants to learn and stays fit, I think he can be a useful player for us.
Josh had 19 per that source. Still a great total for a power player making his first start of the season with an early planned sub.
You've pretty much covered it there.
Always took the view that any player no matter their level of experience or development became better players having been coached by Joe Schmidt.
We are seeing the same thing with Lancaster et al.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall who's the greatest player of them all? It is Drico your majesty.
This news of Charlie Ngatai coming over from Lyon, has it been covered here already?
Backup 12/2nd playmaker. Big unit. I have family in Hamilton and when he was with the chiefs he was a big pacy unit with great feet and very hard to take down. Kind of late career BOD type style.
Since he's been in Lyon i havent seen him. Looks to be even bigger now, tho prob not as mobile.
Wonder does this suggest a move back to 10 for Frawley in anticipation of Sexton retiring and with Hawkshaw gone?
LH Prop
Cian Healy(34/Belvedere/Clontarf) - signed contract in 2022
Ed Byrne(28/Clongowes/UCD) - signed contract in 2022
Andrew Porter(26/St. Andrews/UCD) - central contract until 2025
Michael Milne(23/Birr RFC-Roscrea/UCD) - signed contract in 2022
--
Marcus Hanan(21/Clane RFC/Old Belvedere) - Academy Yr 2
Jack Boyle(20/St. Michaels/UCD) - Academy Yr 1
TH Prop
Michael Alaalatoa(30) - signed contract in 2021
Tadhg Furlong(29/New Ross RFC/Clontarf) - central contract until 2025
Vakh Abdaladze(26/Coolmine RFC/Clontarf) - signed contract in 2022
Tom Clarkson(22/Blackrock/DUFC) - signed contract in 2021
--
Temi Lasisi(20/Enniscorthy/Lansdowne) - Academy Yr 1
Hooker
James Tracy(30/Newbridge/UCD) - signed 2yr contract in 2021
Ronan Kelleher(24/St. Michaels/Lansdowne) - signed contract in 2021
Dan Sheehan(23/Clongowes/Lansdowne) - signed contract in 2022
--
John McKee(22/Campbell/Old Belvedere) - Academy Yr 2
Lee Barron(21/St. Michaels/DUFC) - Academy Yr 1
Lock
Ross Molony(27/St. Michaels/UCD) - signed contract in 2021
Jason Jenkins(26) - signed contract in 2022
James Ryan(25/St. Michaels/UCD)- central contract until 2023
Ryan Baird(22/St. Michaels/DUFC) - signed contract in 2022
Brian Deeny(22/Wexford RFC/Clontarf) - signed contract in 2022
Joe McCarthy(21/Blackrock/DUFC) - signed contract in 2022
--
Alex Soroka(21/Belvedere/Clontarf) - Academy Yr 2
Backrow
Rhys Ruddock(30/Exile/St. Marys) - signed contract in 2022
Jack Conan(29/St. Gerards/Old Belvedere) - signed contract in 2021
Josh Van Der Flier(28/Wesley/UCD) - signed contract in 2022
Will Connors(26/Clongowes/UCD) - signed contract in 2022
Max Deegan(25/St. Michaels/Lansdowne) - signed contract in 2022
Caelan Doris(24/Blackrock/DUFC) - signed contract in 2022
Scott Penny(22/St. Michaels/UCD) - signed contract in 2021
--
Martin Moloney(22/Athy RFC/Old Belvedere) - Academy Yr 3
Sean O'Brien(21/Blackrock/UCD) - Academy Yr 2
Mark Hernan(21/St. Michaels/Lansdowne) - Academy Yr 1
Scrumhalf
Jamie Gibson Park(29) - signed contract in 2022
Luke McGrath(28/St. Michaels/UCD) - signed contract in 2021
Nick McCarthy(26/St. Michaels/UCD) - signed contact in 2021
Cormac Foley(22/St. Gerards/Lansdowne) - signed contract in 2022.
--
Ben Murphy(20/Pres Bray/Old Wesley) - Academy Yr 1
Outhalf
Jonathan Sexton(36/St. Marys/St. Marys) - central contract until 2023 WC
Ross Byrne(26/St. Michaels/UCD) - signed contract in 2022
Harry Byrne(22/St. Michaels/Lansdowne) - signed contract in 2022
Centre Robbie Henshaw(28) - central contact until 2022
Garry Ringrose(26/Blackrock/UCD) - central contact until 2025 Conor O'Brien(25/Mullingar RFC/Clontarf) - signed contract in 2019
Ciaran Frawley(24/Skerries RFC/UCD) - signed contract in 2022
Jamie Osborne(20/Naas RFC/Naas) - signed contract in 2022
Back Three
Dave Kearney(32/Clongowes/Lansdowne) - signed 2yr contract in 2021
James Lowe(29) - signed 3yr contract in 2020
Hugo Keenan(25/Blackrock/UCD) - signed contract in 2021
Jimmy O'Brien(25/Newbridge/UCD) - signed contract in 2021
Jordan Larmour(24/St. Andrews/St. Marys) - signed contract in 2022
Tommy O'Brien(23/Blackrock/UCD) - signed contract in 2022
--
Andrew Smith(21/St. Michaels/Clontarf) - Academy Yr 2
Niall Comerford(21/Blackrock/UCD) - Academy Yr 2
Max O'Reilly(22/St. Gerards/DUFC) - Academy Yr 2
Rob Russell(23/St. Michaels/DUFC) - Academy Yr 1
Chris Cosgrave(20/St. Michaels/UCD) - Academy Yr 1
Leaving
Sean Cronin(35) - rumoured to be retiring.
Devin Toner(35/Castleknock/Lansdowne) - confimed to be retiring.
Dan Leavy(27/St. Michaels/UCD) - signed contract in 2021
Peter Dooley(27/Birr RFC/Lansdowne) - confirmed to be leaving for Connacht
Jack Dunne(23/St. Michaels/DUFC) - confirmed to be leaving for Exeter
Charlie Ryan(23/Blackrock/UCD) - rumoured to be leaving for Connacht
Josh Murphy(26/St. Michaels/UCD) - confirmed to be leaving for Connacht
David Hawkshaw(22/Belvedere/Clontarf) - confirmed to be leaving for Connacht
Rory O'Loughlin(28/St. Michaels/UCD) - confirmed to be leaving for Exeter
Liam Turner(22/Blackrock/DUFC) - rumoured to be going to 7's
Adam Byrne(27/Naas RFC/UCD) - confirmed to be leaving for Connacht
Last edited by mildlyinterested on April 5th, 2022, 10:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
Bernard Jackman was asked about Leavy retiring on Twitter and he shot it straight down. Says Leavy is just working his way back from injury.
Jackman has lots of contacts among agents so if Leavy was leaving Leinster then I suspect Jackman would know. He also coached Leavy at Michaels if I remember correctly.
I could be proved wrong but all the available evidence points to Leavy not leaving Leinster and not retiring either. We are probably fretting over nothing.
This has not aged well.
Treat life like a dog: If you can't eat it, play with it, or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
After the Leavy news and with Connors out for the season, there's a big opp for Scott Penny now to step up. One injury to VDF and he'll be starting 7 in knockouts most likely.
“Naturally Johnny wants to play every game but also I think there’s a general understanding both from him and us that that is not going to be the case all the time.
“And we’re very lucky that Ross [Byrne] is so good. I thought he was outstanding at the weekend, one of his best games this season. He was the big reason why we got the win. They work really well together.
“Harry [Byrne] is obviously on his way back now and he’s had a bit of a frustrating season but he is there and Ciarán Frawley as well. We’ve got good options there for sure.”
Bernard Jackman was asked about Leavy retiring on Twitter and he shot it straight down. Says Leavy is just working his way back from injury.
Jackman has lots of contacts among agents so if Leavy was leaving Leinster then I suspect Jackman would know. He also coached Leavy at Michaels if I remember correctly.
I could be proved wrong but all the available evidence points to Leavy not leaving Leinster and not retiring either. We are probably fretting over nothing.
This has not aged well.
Not something I'm happy about getting an inkling of early either.
