Babbling 'brook

Came on here to see if anyone else had noticed Wilson! Late to the party as always! What a unit. Werent he and Hadden the strating props in the last 20s team? If so, he was very good for them but to do it against quaçit senior oppo is another level altogether. Him, Hendy and McCann all outshone thei...

Larmour is the new Dave Kearney and I say that with absolute respect. An excellent URC player whose form will get him into international squads during purple periods. It's a good thing to have. In terms of role for Leinster, I guess so. But Dave was a guy who maxed his potential and played smart, t...

The contrast with a guy like Hugo Keenan is massive. The difference between Keenan now and the guy who initially made the Leinster academy is night and day. He obviously has a good record historically, but I doubt anyone would say he's delivering on the promise we all would have had for him. Not tr...

Some people keep referring to Barron as light. He is not. He is 6'3" but without Dan Sheehan's genetics. So he is tall, very tall for a hooker and so is currently still athletic and wiry and will fill-out somewhat like Jack Boyle has but who is just over 2 inches/ 6 centimetres shorter than Ba...

Initially, I didn't quite get the rational behind letting Tadhg McIlroy go to Connacht and holding on to Barron, because of the two of them, last season I thought the former had put in the better performances, with what little game time they had. However, Barron's outstanding performance vs Edinbur...

I thought Foley was pretty great, personally. He seems to have that confidence all good 9s need. Looked for signs of him lacking pace from ruck to ruck, as mentioned on here, and didnt see any. Of the other kids, Boyle impressed me, Culhane was v good, Osborne was very classy and Tommy (not really a...

Carbery was selected at 15 when Kearney was injured and he started to get selected more at 10 afterwards. He had leverage to walk into Leo's office and say he had offers but he'd stay if he got to play 10 more. He knew that. Leo would have had to play him more at 10 if he stayed. Carbery was first ...

In terms of the cautionary aspect, one thing that rarely gets asked is "why is he taking the job?". Well, if you want to learn cutting edge attacking rugby, there are probably 3 teams you should spend time with and Leinster is one of them. Learning from those you are teaching and winning g...

Since the first time i saw Foley i thought he had the good stuff and its been a frustration to see so little of him since. Thought it was going to be Cooney 2.0 situation. Hopefully he'll get the shot his talent deserves and we'll see what he's got. Id be surprised of he isnt at least URC starter qu...

We'll have to be allowed to recruit and I'd hope Nienaber will have the contacts to bring in some SA TH brute. Only concern is the likes of Malherbe and Du Toit don't really fit what we currently look for in props - mobility, good hands, carrying power. Other options might include looking at an IQ ...

But Ronk, Leinster didnt really lose anyone of significance. If anything, it was a "nibble Leinster approach". A certain amount of redistribution of young Leinster talent makes total sense. At least until other provincial academies are loading up more local kids. We're still managing to po...

Gervais saying David Humphreys getting the gig Sent from my SM-G990B2 using Tapatalk I understand he was a short listed candidate a decade ago but was considered too inexperienced. Well regarded within IRFU and the RFU. Can he act as independently as Nucifora did? That's the big question. Few, at p...

Andrew Goodman and Felipe too.

offshorerules wrote: ↑October 23rd, 2023, 11:08 am Courtney Lawes is retiring after RWC. Good luck to him .

Went out with a bang. Good sort.

I don't think I've ever watched a full basketball game, so the 'cheating' thing is really interesting to me. What do they do to cheat in the NBA? Time wasting through fouls or something is it? Hooking the arm of a player going to the rim, taking their space, pushing them, taking a charge illegally,...

I was ranting in another thread about how cheating is endemic in rugby and always has been. What's fascinating to me about the Rassie/Nienhaber innovations is that they're all very positive. There's no real sign of cynical tactics or moves designed to give unfair advantage. They really are helping ...

ronk wrote: ↑October 23rd, 2023, 8:20 am It's the brotherly shove.

Only if you're an Eagles fan!

I was ranting in another thread about how cheating is endemic in rugby and always has been. What's fascinating to me about the Rassie/Nienhaber innovations is that they're all very positive. There's no real sign of cynical tactics or moves designed to give unfair advantage. They really are helping t...

If Team A sends a penalty or drop goal attempt wide, rather than Team B having to kick ball back to A from drop out, the game should resume with B tapping from the spot where the kick was taken. NFL has a similar rule. In rugby it would deter a team in the lead from wasting clock time on speculativ...

Scrum penalty was a joke. Both saffer props pushing in to pop George up.