Luke McGrath & John Cooney

[goreyguy]

Luke was at irish training camp on Sunday.

Sure everyone with a pair of boots with new laces would have been at that training camp.

considering he hadn't played in a few weeks due to injury, i thought it was notable Schmidt still wanted him there.

[Dave Cahill]

50 players apparantly, 4 from Connacht according to Pat Lam, 11 from Ulster according to Les Kiss, which leaves 35 between ourselves and Munster. Take out the furriners and the journeymen...

[Oldschoolsocks]

50 players apparantly, 4 from Connacht according to Pat Lam, 11 from Ulster according to Les Kiss, which leaves 35 between ourselves and Munster. Take out the furriners and the journeymen...

Sure if we do that we're only left with 6/8 of a forward pack, one out half, one centre and two permanently injured utility players.

[LeinsterLeader]

50 players apparantly, 4 from Connacht according to Pat Lam, 11 from Ulster according to Les Kiss, which leaves 35 between ourselves and Munster. Take out the furriners and the journeymen...

11 from Munster also, so that makes........... 24 from us

[Dave Cahill]

50 players apparantly, 4 from Connacht according to Pat Lam, 11 from Ulster according to Les Kiss, which leaves 35 between ourselves and Munster. Take out the furriners and the journeymen...

11 from Munster also, so that makes........... 24 from us

I stand corrected, its 'close to' 50 players according to the media. I initially thought it was going to be 48 players, so that pretty much tallies.

[desperado]

I would only play Cooney in a break glass in case of emergency situation at the moment. I've nothing against him and think he's a good player but we only really have the space and time to develop one young scrum half at the moment and for me that should be McGrath. In the medium and long term I see McGrath being a central cog in this team and with game time over the next couple of months he could become a major asset as early as this season. I don't see Cooney ever being anything other than a decent squad player tbh.

I think it's wrong to say McGrath has a poor pass although would certainly agree that it's inconsistent. I think it's shown a marked improvement since his school days though so let's hope that continues.

I'd agree with all of the above; and I don't think he has a poor pass and no more inconsistent than Reddan's or Bosses. I do think he occasionally has rushes of blood to the head and takes the wrong snap decisions. You could look at it another way and classify that as quick thinking He is only 21 in a fulcrum position where decision making and option taking are key. IMHO I think he has a really bright future - given the opportunity, proper coaching and support. He wasn't U20's Int captain for nothing. The extended gametime needs to happen soon though.

[Ruckedtobits]

McGrath passing has improved but is neither consistent nor good. Good passing at Pro12, or higher, level is Pienaar or one of the recent Scots or current Welsh SH Webb. Ball is passed from the ground, travels 12 -17 metres on either side, fast through the air and is catchable in front of OH, whether he wants to take it coming in, going straight, or going wide, with ball coming across him. McGrath's passing occasionally reaches that standard but is very rarely passed from the ground and very rarely in front of OH, much more at him and at varying heights.

He is a hugely intelligent and talented footballer and if he was not, each of the Leinster coaches he has worked with, may have discarded him. However, if his passing was of the standard described above, he would be automatic reserve to Murray.

Reddan, even at 35, is the outstanding passer in Leinster and his bad days are all the more evident because of this. He had two shockers early on this season and one other day when the clock hit 60 mins, he couln't get the ball to any first receiver.
Boss is now slowest passer of the three but in general his pass, altbough slow through the air, is usually in front of the receiver.

McGrath is improving and will continue to do so. However, I still believe that Leinster could invest wisely in Peter Stringer as Player / SH Coach for 6 months to work with McGrath and McCarthy and play off bench as required. What McGrath possesses in rugby skills cannot be coached, or learned, by repetition. Passing can be improved by it, but its not a quick fix.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I would only play Cooney in a break glass in case of emergency situation at the moment. I've nothing against him and think he's a good player but we only really have the space and time to develop one young scrum half at the moment and for me that should be McGrath. In the medium and long term I see McGrath being a central cog in this team and with game time over the next couple of months he could become a major asset as early as this season. I don't see Cooney ever being anything other than a decent squad player tbh.

I think it's wrong to say McGrath has a poor pass although would certainly agree that it's inconsistent. I think it's shown a marked improvement since his school days though so let's hope that continues.

I'd agree with all of the above; and I don't think he has a poor pass and no more inconsistent than Reddan's or Bosses. I do think he occasionally has rushes of blood to the head and takes the wrong snap decisions. You could look at it another way and classify that as quick thinking He is only 21 in a fulcrum position where decision making and option taking are key. IMHO I think he has a really bright future - given the opportunity, proper coaching and support. He wasn't U20's Int captain for nothing. The extended gametime needs to happen soon though.

Luke has had a few horror shows since I said that

It's funny, when others were convinced he'd be a star when he was in school I said that I wasn't quite so sure because his pass was slow and a bit loopy...and yet I was then defending him to the hilt when people said his passing was a liability because I thought that was a total exaggeration and that bar the odd pass he had definitely improved and was generally perfectly adequate. Think I even said it was a myth at one point before Luke decided to have the aforementioned horror shows, but those games definitely made his competent performances seem much worse to people. Confirmation bias...one of the most infuriating things about sport.

Thankfully he's much better now anyway and hopefully he can stay healthy and deliver on his potential. It's so unlucky for him that he got injured just as he finally seemed to be first choice (whatever about the knee, a blister FFS!) and that Reddan suddenly starts playing better. Hopefully he'll overcome all that though, it does feel different this time.