Leinster Squad 22-23

[ronk]

That's a real shame. He was a talent and we had struggled to produce someone like him in that position for a long time. Could have been special.

He and Leinster clearly gave it a lot before calling it at 26.

[jezzer]

I got pasted for saying this on PR years ago, but COBs running style always reminded me of a young Jauzion.

Shame we never got to find out if would ever get close to Yannick's dizzying levels, but the promise was there

Best of luck to him.

[mildlyinterested]

There was positive news on a number of players with Rónan Kelleher (shoulder), Dave Kearney (hamstring), Will Connors (knee) and Ross Byrne (foot) all back and available for the first game of the new season.

Cullen also gave a positive update on Joe McCarthy (ankle) and Jordan Larmour (knee) who are due to train fully with the rest of the squad next week as they recover from procedures over the summer.

Unfortunately four players have had setbacks over the pre-season schedule with Hugo Keenan (knee and abdominal issue), James Lowe (calf) and Liam Turner (toe) all out for a number of weeks.

In addition, James Tracy underwent neck surgery over the summer and he will be out of action for a longer period of time, up to four months.

There was no update on Tommy O’Brien (knee) or Charlie Ryan (knee) who both remain on the long-term injured list.

[mildlyinterested]

There was positive news on a number of players with Rónan Kelleher (shoulder), Dave Kearney (hamstring), Will Connors (knee) and Ross Byrne (foot) all back and available for the first game of the new season.

Cullen also gave a positive update on Joe McCarthy (ankle) and Jordan Larmour (knee) who are due to train fully with the rest of the squad next week as they recover from procedures over the summer.

Unfortunately four players have had setbacks over the pre-season schedule with Hugo Keenan (knee and abdominal issue), James Lowe (calf) and Liam Turner (toe) all out for a number of weeks.

In addition, James Tracy underwent neck surgery over the summer and he will be out of action for a longer period of time, up to four months.

There was no update on Tommy O’Brien (knee) or Charlie Ryan (knee) who both remain on the long-term injured list.

Charlie Ryan hasnt played in a game in what must be nearing 2 and half years.

[wixfjord]

Tracy out for the four months is a huge opportunity for McKee & Barron. That's obviously why McElroy is back around too.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Ah that's shite for Charlie Ryan, was really hoping he'd be fit for the start of the season and the fact that he was retained made me think it was a possibility.

I'd been wondering where Turner was, typical that he's injured just when we look a bit light in the centre and he could have got a shot.

We might have lost some depth out wide but from 1-10 we have loads of players vying for places and I'm not even sure what positions some of them will end up playing. I suspect our pack at the end of the season will be unrecognisable from some of the selections at the end of last season.

No mention of Harry in that update, would love for him to get the nod this weekend and lay down a marker.

[wixfjord]

https://twitter.com/leinsterrugby/statu ... 0304071681

That is one large man.

[alanair]

https://twitter.com/leinsterrugby/statu ... 0304071681

That is one large man.

Oh dear , JJ says he learned a lot of stuff at Munster !!!….how long till he can un-learn ??

[Ruckedtobits]

https://twitter.com/leinsterrugby/statu ... 0304071681

That is one large man.

Oh dear , JJ says he learned a lot of stuff at Munster !!!….how long till he can un-learn ??

Interested to see that Denis Leamy highlighted that, with Mike Prendergast, they have been trying to "increase the pace and continuity at which they train". This response was in the context of how he compared his experience with Munster with what he had experienced in Leinster.

Stuart Lancaster's training of Leinster over recent Seasons has been remarked on by many players and some coaches who have been in the environment. His use of three groups working together 'attackers v defenders' the length of a pitch for 15 / 20 mins non-stop is one of the innovations which aids the drive for pace and continuity. Such work at high-pace, with a disciplined outlook towards offside / breakdown infringements is a core part of every training session. It will be fascinating to see if Munster's overall pace of play follows this pattern and what will be the consequence. This overall pattern was previously a hallmark of Glasgow Warriors under Dave Rennie when they were successful.

[ronk]

Signings looking good so far.

Reminds me of the impact of Lowe and Fardy. Hope the result is the same.

[mildlyinterested]

Tadgh McElroy training with seniors today, makes senses given injuries.

U20s henry mcelrean and hugh cooney too

[backrower8]

Harry Byrne starting for Lansdowne away to Tarf. Back to square one. Build some confidence.

[naraic]

Harry Byrne starting for Lansdowne away to Tarf. Back to square one. Build some confidence.

Apparently he didn't feature. Hopefully all is well.

[hugonaut]

Time for Andrew Goodman to get on the blower to George Bridge at the Crusaders. We're f*cked in the back three, one fit player out of six.

[Oldschool]

Time for Andrew Goodman to get on the blower to George Bridge at the Crusaders. We're f*cked in the back three, one fit player out of six.

Sheehan and Ringrose can cover against the weaker teams

[Blue Man]

Osborne will be back from SA soon. Hopefully Kearney will be back from his knock. I’d like to see Smith, King and Cosgrove get game time as we need to develop depth in the 3/4s

[wixfjord]

According to Friend on Fri, the Emerging guys won't be flying back until Tuesday, so won't be back for the Sportsground on Fri night.

We could be fairly patched together in the backrow and outside backs in that case.

[Blue Man]

Yeah, that’s going to leave us tight. Really could have done with Deegan, Penny, McCarthy, Culhane, Osborne and Smith. Hopefully Turner will be available for selection but with T O’Brien still out and Frawley also doubtful, if Henshaw and Ringrose are to be rested for a home match in the Aviva, we might see Harry Byrne at 12 if he’s fit.
In the back row we might see Jenkins at 6. Either way, the squad will be seriously stretched

[Lock9541]

Harry Byrne was meant to start for Lansdowne to see if he can play a full 80 minutes but pulled out in the warm up

[hugonaut]

Osborne will be back from SA soon. Hopefully Kearney will be back from his knock. I’d like to see Smith, King and Cosgrove get game time as we need to develop depth in the 3/4s

Don't think this is realistic at all, Blue Man.

The league has changed really quickly and to a massive extent. We're not going to be developing players throughout the league to see if they can make the cup team to anything like the same extent as we previously did. That era is over, in my opinion.

Three significant factors have hit at the same time:
1] South African teams: the biggest impact, obviously. These are all well-established and well-funded teams with a continual supply of high quality players from a really strong rugby culture.

For the guts of the last ten years, it was basically us, another strong Irish province, the stronger of the two Scottish teams and the strongest of the four Welsh teams competing for the league. They're all still there, but now there are four additional teams who are all in the mix for the top four.

2] Rescheduling: no clashes with international games in November, February and March, which massively impacted the strengths of the teams fielded by the two Italian clubs and the two Scottish clubs and had significant impacts on the Irish and Welsh teams.

3] The financial crisis in the English professional game: the number of players returning to the URC from English clubs over the last couple of years has been notable. Look at Cardiff: Josh Adams [Worcester], Rhys Carre [Saracens], Taulupe Faletau [Bath], Rhys Priestland [Bath], Liam Williams [Saracens], Thomas Young [Wasps] have all returned from England.

This all makes the league a stronger competition and dramatically reduces the gap in strength between cup and league. In my opinion, our group matches in the cup last year were probably the easiest games we played all season.

We will have to be much more careful about selecting academy players while we are hunting for points, and putting two academy players out in the same unit is just a flat out weakness: vis Pa Campbell and Conor Phillips in Munster's back three against Connacht, or Max O'Reilly and Rob Russell in our game against Zebre.