Leinster v Dragons Sat 15 Sep 5.15pm (EirSports/TG4)

[cormac]

Jack McGrath picked up a knee injury in training last week, out for a few weeks. Tom Daly injured his MCL in the Leinster A match out for 4-6 weeks. No other injuries.

Still no return date for SOB or Dan Leavy.

https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/sta ... 1748924416

[LeRouxIsPHat]

MK saying that Sexton, Ringrose, James Ryan, VDF, and Kearney all due back this weekend.

[wixfjord]

'Offsetting the disappointment of losing McGrath is the boost of having a number of Ireland internationals set for their seasonal bows this weekend.

The province face the Dragons at the RDS on Saturday and Leinster are likely to welcome back Johnny Sexton, Garry Ringrose, James Ryan, Josh van der Flier and Rob Kearney, who have not yet featured this season.

Something like:
Byrne, Byrne, Porter, Fardy, Ryan, Ruddock, VDF, Deegan, McGrath, Sexton, Lowe, Tomane, Ringrose, Byrne, RK
Dooley, Tracy, Bent, Molony, Doris, O'Sullivan, Byrne, DK

[mildlyinterested]

MK saying that Sexton, Ringrose, James Ryan, VDF, and Kearney all due back this weekend.

why play any of them against the dragons though...

[leinsterforever]

Will Sexton play more than one of the Dragons, Edinburgh and Connacht games? Might be better to put him in against Edinburgh

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'd love to see Molony and James Ryan together, think they'd complement each other quite well and I'd really like to see Molony surrounded by a more first choice selection.

[curates_egg]

Will Sexton play more than one of the Dragons, Edinburgh and Connacht games? Might be better to put him in against Edinburgh

Yes please. I'm home for that one

[Ruckedtobits]

Will Sexton play more than one of the Dragons, Edinburgh and Connacht games? Might be better to put him in against Edinburgh

Yes please. I'm home for that one

If it's only one of three, it'll be Connacht......but I don't think there's a restriction imposed by JoeS. Players & Prov Coaches are getting a little more flexibility to get a good run at EPCR games to give all Provinces a chance to go to Autumn window feeling good.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Plus, isn't it likely that the main guys like Sexton will only play two games in November?

[deco]

Will Sexton play more than one of the Dragons, Edinburgh and Connacht games? Might be better to put him in against Edinburgh

Yes please. I'm home for that one

If it's only one of three, it'll be Connacht......but I don't think there's a restriction imposed by JoeS. Players & Prov Coaches are getting a little more flexibility to get a good run at EPCR games to give all Provinces a chance to go to Autumn window feeling good.

I'd be very surprised if this is the case.

[cormac]

I'm pretty sure there's a limit on games/minutes for the players but not which games they play those minutes in.

[Oldschool]

I'm pretty sure there's a limit on games/minutes for the players but not which games they play those minutes in.

It's easy to imagine that there is also a restriction (requirement) that players have a minimum amount of game time prior to going into the AI series (injury permitting of course)

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I heard we have to send some of our allotted game time minutes down to Munster.

[curates_egg]

Beyond my own selfish preferences, surely Sexton has to start this to give Ross Byrne's ankle a rest? Repeatedly flogging Byrne for 80 minutes is surely only going to exacerbate the injury.
The IRFU meddling has left us with no other option than to play Sexton a bit now, so if they really prevent us from doing so, and - by doing so - damage Byrne, I hope the Culcaster fight back.

Meanwhile, Carbery is on media duty saying he's now a died-in-the-wool Munster player and never coming back to Leinster.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Are we sure Byrne is injured? Took a knock in the first game but played well for the rest of it and I wouldn't have said he looked inhibited on Saturday.

[curates_egg]

Are we sure Byrne is injured? Took a knock in the first game but played well for the rest of it and I wouldn't have said he looked inhibited on Saturday.

Even if he's not, he can't be playing every single minute for us until Joe decides he wants Sexton to stretch his legs.

[Oldschool]

Are we sure Byrne is injured? Took a knock in the first game but played well for the rest of it and I wouldn't have said he looked inhibited on Saturday.

Even if he's not, he can't be playing every single minute for us until Joe decides he wants Sexton to stretch his legs.

Realistically tho' Byrne will get a rest during the HC matches and AI internationals unless Sexton gets injured(which does happen admittedly)
It's doubtful that Byrne wants to be rested.

[harblstuff]

Beyond my own selfish preferences, surely Sexton has to start this to give Ross Byrne's ankle a rest? Repeatedly flogging Byrne for 80 minutes is surely only going to exacerbate the injury.
The IRFU meddling has left us with no other option than to play Sexton a bit now, so if they really prevent us from doing so, and - by doing so - damage Byrne, I hope the Culcaster fight back.

Meanwhile, Carbery is on media duty saying he's now a died-in-the-wool Munster player and never coming back to Leinster.

I saw that this morning.

Let's be honest here, Leinster has Sexton, Ross Byrne, Ciarán Frawley and Harry Byrne in that order, with Noel Reid as the worst case scenario back up.

Let's fast forward two years and look at two possible scenarios.

Scenario one, Carbery is successful at Munster and Munster benefit from that. He will not move, he will likely be happier, he'll see more Ireland game time, he'll be challenging Sexton and may see some silverware. Happy player, happy fans, happy Ireland coach = happy IRFU.

Scenario two, Carbery is not successful at Munster and Munster do not improve because of it (or just don't improve because it's Munster). He won't be a happy player, his performance and development will suffer, he won't play full back at Munster and will likely be booed by fans. Will he come back to Leinster, whether Sexton is here or not? Likely not. Even if Sexton is gone, the IRFU would likely block any move, Ross Byrne will likely have some Ireland caps, he will have the number one spot at Leinster - if he wants out of Munster, he'll have to leave Ireland.

I said this before (with certainty on Reddit, not sure about here) - we will never see him play in blue again.

Edit:

The narrative keeps being hammered home by the media. It was only 4-6 months ago that Carbery said he was happy at Leinster and always will be and he is thrilled to play at 10 and 15, like his favourite player Beauden Barrett, as well as being able to learn from the best (Sexton) - the article today said he was leaving because he wasn't playing 10, he wants to play 10, even though he's learning from Sexton, he's being blocked.

Complete and utter bullshit. Fans on here will be aware of this, but look at Munster fans, Connacht Fans, Ulster fans and fair weather Ireland fans - they will all think he was born a Lunster thanks to this media onslaught.

Like oft repeated on here before, as well as on BluesTalk, it's easy to get over him playing in red, however the WAY in which he was moved, the WAY in which the media is circlejerking about him playing at Munster - it's a pain in the f%~king hole.

[OTT]

I am not happy how it all went down, I never will be but can we not go on about it in every thread.

He is gone, he wont be playing in any of our matches this season, can we stop bringing him up in every match thread.

[LeinsterLeader]

Meanwhile, Carbery is on media duty saying he's now a died-in-the-wool Munster player and never coming back to Leinster.

Yep, if you read the article that's what it say's....... but the actual quotes from the player are well...... ambiguous?

"At this moment in time I’m very happy seeing myself here for a while.”

Personally, I don't think we will see Joey in blue again but I wouldn't get "Gone for ever" from that interview.