Leinster's Backrow going forward.

[mildlyinterested]

obviously its a step down, but that's just the way it will be.

[arsebiscuits1]

I think the JWC this summer will make us very excited to see Doris in action for us next season.

Anyone I have spoken to rates him insanely highly.

Not quite in the James Ryan level of hype. But certainly rated higher than any other forward in recent times

[CiaranIrl]

I think the JWC this summer will make us very excited to see Doris in action for us next season.

Anyone I have spoken to rates him insanely highly.

Not quite in the James Ryan level of hype. But certainly rated higher than any other forward in recent times

Totally agree, but I'm nervous about openside (as mentioned above). Ruddock, Fardy, Josh Murphy & Doris will all be options at blindside for us. Conan, Deegan & Doris will all be options at 8. Leavy & VDF will be there for 7, but their minutes in a world cup year will be seriously limited, and that's assuming neither will be injured, which is fanciful.

We'll be seeing a lot of Will Conor's next year I'd say. Are there any other options in the UBL? Butterworth or someone? Great to hear of a few talents coming through (thanks GG, as ever) but no way they'll be ready for next season.

[mildlyinterested]

no obvious older 7 playing AIL comes to mind as an obvious addition, maybe Tony Ryan(Clontarf) or David Aspil(St. Marys)

Timoney/Oliver at other provinces.

[CiaranIrl]

What about bringing Conor Gilsenan back? Hewas very highly rated once upon a time. Regular at London Irish now, who will be relegated, and he would get sh!t loads of gametime with us.

[mildlyinterested]

What about bringing Conor Gilsenan back? Hewas very highly rated once upon a time. Regular at London Irish now, who will be relegated, and he would get sh!t loads of gametime with us.

id be very surprised

[neiliog93]

What about bringing Conor Gilsenan back? Hewas very highly rated once upon a time. Regular at London Irish now, who will be relegated, and he would get sh!t loads of gametime with us.

He's not at Leinster level. Part of an Irish back row that has been blown away by most Prem opponents this season. Not a bad openside toiler for the Prem though.

[leinsterforever]

Will Connors is a 7 who will be in the academy.

Max Kearney & Scott Penny are two 7's who could be in the academy.

Hasn't Richard Dunne played openside for Leinster 'A' in the last few months? What do you make of him? And is that Tom de Jongh guy still playing the game?

SOB needs surgery on his shoulder. Played more for the Lions in 6 weeks than for us in either of the last two seasons.
Whatever miracle dust the Lions were able to sprinkle on him (or magic spray) clearly isn't sanctioned for use by the IRFU.

This, combined with Heaslip, combined with Ruddock's worrying injury profile, makes the failure to keep Jordi look even more like a very bad piece of business.
We now actually need to sign a back row for next season, in all likelihood.

Not sure about that. Discounting SOB, we'll still have:

6: Ruddock, Josh Murphy, Doris
7: Leavy, van der Flier, Connors
8: Conan, Deegan, Timmins

If there's an injury crisis, they could give a short term deal to David O'Connor at blindside, Tony Ryan at 8, and whoever emerges as the best option out of Dunne, Kearney or Penny at openside

[hugonaut]

Will Connors is a 7 who will be in the academy.

Max Kearney & Scott Penny are two 7's who could be in the academy.

Hasn't Richard Dunne played openside for Leinster 'A' in the last few months? What do you make of him? And is that Tom de Jongh guy still playing the game?

SOB needs surgery on his shoulder. Played more for the Lions in 6 weeks than for us in either of the last two seasons.
Whatever miracle dust the Lions were able to sprinkle on him (or magic spray) clearly isn't sanctioned for use by the IRFU.

This, combined with Heaslip, combined with Ruddock's worrying injury profile, makes the failure to keep Jordi look even more like a very bad piece of business.
We now actually need to sign a back row for next season, in all likelihood.

Not sure about that. Discounting SOB, we'll still have:

6: Ruddock, Josh Murphy, Doris
7: Leavy, van der Flier, Connors
8: Conan, Deegan, Timmins

If there's an injury crisis, they could give a short term deal to David O'Connor at blindside, Tony Ryan at 8, and whoever emerges as the best option out of Dunne, Kearney or Penny at openside

Sean O'Brien hardly ever plays for us anymore, and hasn't done for half a decade. He's started 30 games for Leinster in five years [source: https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/player?PlayGuid=SO756800 ]. It's not something new, and it's not something to which we're all going to have to become familiar. We're all used to it. It's nice to have him around, but we haven't been able to rely on him to play in forever. Practically everybody who has any interest in the province knows that he's on a central contract, that he's an Irish player first and a Leinster player somewhere down the line after that.

We're allowed a free hand in selection for our European games, and the highest number of games he has played in a season since 2011-12 in that competition is 4. He played in 3 [of 6] in 2012-13, 3 [of 7] in 2013-14, 2 [of 8] in 2014-15, 2 [of 6] in 2015-16, 4 [of 8] in 2016-17 and 2 [of 7 thus far] this season. Dev has played in all bar one of them; he missed a game in 2015-16. In the same period Dev has accrued 46+9 caps for Ireland, and Sean has won 26+3.

So it's not a case of having SOB available for big games and resting him for another games ... he's just not really ever available. If he's not available for the rest of the season, it's just business as usual.

Beyond our complete non-reliance on SOB, there's also a chance that we won't be missing many backrow players to test duty next season. On the back of the Six Nations, you'd have to say that O'Mahony and Stander have very firm grasps on the No6 and No8 jerseys respectively. Jordi's versatility makes him a strong shout for the backrow sub role, and obviously Joe is a fan. So it might be that, out of seven or eight backrows in the senior squad, we're only missing one or two during international windows.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

You've posted about SOB's appearance record before and it shocked me then, and even though it shouldn't be a surprise at this stage, it's shocked me again.

[curates_egg]

Wow. We all know it but I didn't realise it was that bad.
SOB's latest injury was more the straw that broke the camel's back for me though.
We've lost his 6 big games a season on top of Heaslip's 14; Murphy's 17/18.
Ruddock's injury profile is really a concern now. JVDF is getting injured way too often so early in his career.

So we're really down to relying on Leavy, Conan, Deegan and what's behind them. That's not a great situation.
We're already in a pinch now with Jordi still on our books.
If we sign a decent second row for next season, it will allow us more flexibility with Fardy.

I'm sure Doris, Murphy, Porridge etc will also come good, but our Euro squad will be weaker next season if we don't make a good signing at 5/6/7.

[RoboProp]

Sean O'Brien is the Ferrari in Ferris Beuller's day off. Looks great, but realistically best days are past and the time you try to rewind the clock, and take it out of the garage it gets broken.

[mildlyinterested]

Confirmation that Timmins is leaving along with Jordi and Heaslip's retirement:

Sean O'Brien(31) - Signed central 3 yr contract in 2016
Rhys Ruddock(27) - Signed contract in 2018
Jack Conan(26) - Signed contract in 2017
Josh Van Der Flier(25) - Signed contract in 2018
Dan Leavy(24) - Signed contract in 2017
Josh Murphy(23) - Future unconfirmed
Will Connors(22) - Academy Yr 3
Max Deegan(21) - Signed contract in 2017
Caelan Doris(20) - Academy Yr 2

[leinsterforever]

Confirmation that Timmins is leaving along with Jordi and Heaslip's retirement:

Sean O'Brien(31) - Signed central 3 yr contract in 2016
Rhys Ruddock(27) - Signed contract in 2018
Jack Conan(26) - Signed contract in 2017
Josh Van Der Flier(25) - Signed contract in 2018
Dan Leavy(24) - Signed contract in 2017
Josh Murphy(23) - Future unconfirmed
Will Connors(22) - Academy Yr 3
Max Deegan(21) - Signed contract in 2017
Caelan Doris(20) - Academy Yr 2

In light of Timmins leaving, I think I'd be in favour of drafting David O'Connor and Tony Ryan into the squad, and signing up two opensides to the academy

[mildlyinterested]

so because 1 backrow is leaving they should sign 4?

[leinsterforever]

so because 1 backrow is leaving they should sign 4?

If Timmins wasn't going I'd suggest bringing in 3 rather than 4 because there wouldn't be the need for Tony Ryan

[Dave Cahill]

so because 1 backrow is leaving they should sign 4?

If Timmins wasn't going I'd suggest bringing in 3 rather than 4 because there wouldn't be the need for Tony Ryan

Is this the same Tony Ryan that was in the squad a couple of years ago?

[mildlyinterested]

Doris looks like he is in his mid 20s.. not someone who just turned 20.

[riocard911]

Doris looks like he is in his mid 20s.. not someone who just turned 20.

Perhaps the new Wolverine?

[CiaranIrl]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh9goMwlrRj ... artimmins1

Timmins moving to the US, away from rugby. Best of luck to the guy.