Pre-season friendlies

[simonokeeffe]

Larmour looks well built, I sort of feared that he would be a little bit of a twink but that he is not, Ed Byrne looks like he is getting back to his best and his twin I think could be a great option for Leinster for the coming season if he can improve on his line out throwing as the rest of his game is very good imo.

Lets leave Larmours sexual preferences out of this

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Is it just me or was Marsh really good, he is still 4th choice but he doesn't look anywhere near as bad as he is made out to be granted it wasn't great opposition so he still has a bit to do but he has done his chances no harm.

Hard to tell from short highlights but thought his try was brilliant and he obviously had a couple of nice kicks too.

I don't get the criticsm for him. I doubt there's a better 4th choice ten in Europe and we're lucky to have someone like him who can slot in an emergency but (presumably) be on low wages and happy to barely play. I'm also happy for him to keep playing with the A team. We already have two very young outhalves in the senior squad so there's no pressure to develop anyone else and having a relatively experienced/good player at that level can really help the rest of the team. I can't remember but I'd be surprised if I didn't advocate cutting him loose in the past, more than happy with his role now though. When a young ten puts pressure on him then they should get priority but for now I think it's a good deal all round.

[riocard911]

Hawkshaw will most likely be the next pretender to the Johnny/Philipe/Ollie throne, IMO.

[Cathalsmart]

Hawkshaw will most likely be the next pretender to the Johnny/Philipe/Ollie throne, IMO.

Don't even know if this is a compliment or not

[riocard911]

Hawkshaw will most likely be the next pretender to the Johnny/Philipe/Ollie throne, IMO.

Don't even know if this is a compliment or not

LOL. Whoever it is, they're pretenders until actually occupying the throne in full pomp and regalia.

[Cathalsmart]

True to be fair, a different form of "innocent till proven guilty".

[wixfjord]

Marsh always looks fairly good when he's not under pressure, his passing and thinking is bang on, just doesn't have the physical skills to back it up at the top level. I agree though, great 4th choice 10.

One thing that looks good from those highlights is our attacking shape. Seems to be a continuation of last season when we used a lot of flat decoys and out the back passes to create space. Looks like the young lads are well drilled.

[Cathalsmart]

I was impressed at how well drilled they were and how well they gelled as a team considering they wouldn't have played that much together.

[mildlyinterested]

15. Rob Kearney
14. Hugo Keenan
13. Jimmy O’Brien
12. Isa Nacewa CAPTAIN
11. Dave Kearney
10. Ross Byrne
9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Peter Dooley
2. Bryan Byrne
3. Michael Bent
4. Ian Nagle
5. Scott Fardy
6. Josh Murphy
7. Jordi Murphy
8. Max Deegan

16. Sean McNulty
17. Ed Byrne
18. Vakh Abdaladze
24. Oisín Heffernan
25. Mick Kearney
19. Oisín Dowling
20. Peadar Timmins
26. Will Connors
21. Charlie Rock
22. Cathal Marsh
29. Fergus McFadden
23. Ian Fitzpatrick
27. Barry Daly
28. Adam Byrne
30. Jordan Larmour

I'll be interested to see where McFadden plays.

[mildlyinterested]

Senior players yet to appear in preseason:

Cian Healy
Jack McGrath
Tadhg Furlong
Andrew Porter

Richardt Strauss
Sean Cronin
James Tracy

Devin Toner
Ross Molony
James Ryan

Jamie Heaslip
Sean O'Brien
Rhys Ruddock
Jack Conan
Josh Van Der Flier
Dan Leavy

Luke McGrath

Joey Carbery
Jonathan Sexton

Robbie Henshaw
Garry Ringrose
Rory O'Loughlin

James Lowe

[Edna Kenny]

Interesting to see if Isa is used at centre more often given the injuries there.

[mildlyinterested]

Interesting to see if Isa is used at centre more often given the injuries there.

has been the plan since start of pre-season basically..

[riocard911]

Interesting - Vakh was benching loosehead last week. This week it's tighthead. The Andrew Porter Experiment 2.0?

[mildlyinterested]

Interesting - Vakh was benching loosehead last week. This week it's tighthead. The Andrew Porter Experiment 2.0?

Oisin Heffernan is on the bench too, so TH cover there.

[BlueBlue]

Very sad for Tom Daly ACL injury and surgery.

[Dave Cahill]

Interesting to see if Isa is used at centre more often given the injuries there.

has been the plan since start of pre-season basically..

Or has it been the plan since last weekend because he's the last cab on the rank.

[mildlyinterested]

Interesting to see if Isa is used at centre more often given the injuries there.

has been the plan since start of pre-season basically..

Or has it been the plan since last weekend because he's the last cab on the rank.

well he was training at 12 during the team session at the open training.

[Cathalsmart]

Interesting - Vakh was benching loosehead last week. This week it's tighthead. The Andrew Porter Experiment 2.0?

He covers both sides anyway doesn't he?

[the spoofer]

Interesting to see if Isa is used at centre more often given the injuries there.

has been the plan since start of pre-season basically..

Or has it been the plan since last weekend because he's the last cab on the rank.

well he was training at 12 during the team session at the open training.[/quote]

That wasn't the case in Arklow from what I saw.

[mildlyinterested]

That wasn't the case in Arklow from what I saw.

I was told differently but fair enough.