I was pretty gutted that nobody else got my dead letter drop from this day last year – I thought that the weird text justification, awkward sentence composition and [especially] that extraneous exclamation mark at the end would alert the le Carré fans out there!
http://forum.leinsterfans.com/viewtopic ... n&start=40 [page 3]
Basically, the whole argument of whether or not we should sign him is
really one of perspective. If you're looking at it from the IRFU's point of view,
any short-term NIQ signing is one that is only ever going to benefit that
distinct province, as opposed to Irish rugby as a whole.
That said, the province vs country debate that was brought into focus by the
half-assed announcement regarding future NIQ policy can only be seen as an
ongoing tête-à-tête. No doubt we'd all like to see some sort of well-devised
resolution that everybody could walk away happy from, but it seems a bit
naive to think that'll happen any time soon.
Surely when you look around at the strength-in-depth of the position in Ireland,
it's apparent that while Leinster aren't particularly well-served at No4 – even
given Damien Browne's recent good form – there's absolutely no shortage of inter-
national class locks in the country. Players like Tuohy, Ryan and McCarthy,
even if they're still behind O'Callaghan in Declan Kidney's selection, give real
depth in national terms and should allow Leinster a bit of leeway.
Ultimately, you've got to believe that a guy like Thorn is going to add real
pop if we can manage to get him past the PCRG!
!