ronk wrote: ↑July 14th, 2021, 8:31 am
Penny has gotten loads of game time including at 8.
Penny is going into his fourth season with the senior squad, where he is fourth choice 7, behind three internationals, and fourth choice 8, again behind three internationals. He is he youngest of his six rivals with between 2 and 7 years on them
He has gotten lots of game time in the Pro14 and Rainbow Cup, but he has played zero minutes in Europe.
Over the last three years there have been significant injuries to all three 7s ahead of him and all three 8s ahead of him. So the opportunities are there for him, right? They aren't really though. As soon as those injured players have come back, despite him getting all those minutes in their absence, they go straight into the European squads, straight into the international squads - he gets more minutes against Zebre away.
He is now entering into dangerous territory. If you were his agent - and remember, despite what we often think of them, agents aren't just there to do contract negotiations with a players team or sponsors, the largest part of their role is career guidence, and their only interest is the player. Not his club, not his country - the player. So if you had a talented player like Scott Penny, who we'll assume wants to be a top player at international and european level - preferably at Leinster, what would your advice be? Could you see him reaching either or both of those goals as things currently stand at Leinster?
I'm not sure I can. Much as I love to blame Nucifora for everything (are we sure he wasn't involved in running the match in wembley on sunday - asking for a friend) I'd be hard pressed to blame him if Penny decided to move - because if I were Penny's representative, I'd be thinking along those same lines myself. If I want Scott Penny to be an International and to play European rugby, its just not going to happen the way things currently are at Leinster unless a lot of things outside of Scott's or my control happen. And thats no way to run a career.