Leinster V NG Dragons RDS Fri 2nd Oct 20:15

[riocard911]

There'll be absolutely eff all in the kitty for any overseas signings lads, jeez.

For sure. And the lads might have to fly economy to SA and back - not so nice.....

[carlow man]

How do you know? Has anyone from the club actually said there is no money? If they decide not to sign someone I dont think it will be because there is no money available, it will be because they want to stick with homegrown players. Lots of clubs across all leagues are still signing overseas players in the current climate.

[carlow man]

Re degz: how do you know? Has anyone from the club actually said there is no money? If they decide not to sign someone I dont think it will be because there is no money available, it will be because they want to stick with homegrown players. Lots of clubs across all leagues are still signing overseas players in the current climate.

[Dave Cahill]

Re degz: how do you know? Has anyone from the club actually said there is no money? If they decide not to sign someone I dont think it will be because there is no money available, it will be because they want to stick with homegrown players. Lots of clubs across all leagues are still signing overseas players in the current climate.

They aren't, whats happening is that clubs, who generally do their business in November and December - January at the latest, are honoring contracts for new players that were signed before the current climate kicked in because they can't think of a cost-effective way to get out of them.

[joooooe]

How do you know? Has anyone from the club actually said there is no money? If they decide not to sign someone I dont think it will be because there is no money available, it will be because they want to stick with homegrown players. Lots of clubs across all leagues are still signing overseas players in the current climate.

I haven't been told personally, but the Dáil Special Committee on the Covid-19 response heard from Philip Browne last week that the IRFU expects to lose up to €35m this year. It would be extraordinary if Leinster alone actually had a stash available for investment in additional players. Leinster don't want to sign players, true. But they also can't.

[Flash Gordon]

There'll be absolutely eff all in the kitty for any overseas signings lads, jeez.

Exactly, The players and staff have been taking very significant pay cuts and deferrals. Our income has been hammered obviously, we can't bring in outside talent. If we did imagine how that would go down with players and staff who had taken big pay cuts.

[LeinsterLeader]

I see Munster are selling the cardboard cutouts for the stands at their home games. What's the thoughts? Good idea or bad idea?

[Twist]

Anything that generates revenue is worth considering at present, but in Munster's case it invites the obvious question as to why they didn't do this before covid.

[joooooe]

Anything that generates revenue is worth considering at present, but in Munster's case it invites the obvious question as to why they didn't do this before covid.

Zing!

[riocard911]

How do you know? Has anyone from the club actually said there is no money? If they decide not to sign someone I dont think it will be because there is no money available, it will be because they want to stick with homegrown players. Lots of clubs across all leagues are still signing overseas players in the current climate.

I haven't been told personally, but the Dáil Special Committee on the Covid-19 response heard from Philip Browne last week that the IRFU expects to lose up to €35m this year. It would be extraordinary if Leinster alone actually had a stash available for investment in additional players. Leinster don't want to sign players, true. But they also can't.

The "money" quote from Stuart Lancaster in today's the42:

“Leinster have got to be Leinster. We’re not going to go out and sign five or six overseas players. In the modern climate anyway, with the way that finances are being dictated this next 12, 24 months, the Leinster model is the one that I would want, personally, where you have homegrown talent coming through."

Self-explanatory vis-à-vis the current covid environment, IMO.

[Blue not red blood]

Anything that generates revenue is worth considering at present, but in Munster's case it invites the obvious question as to why they didn't do this before covid.

Zing!

Plenty of Communion snaps so

[backrower8]

The "money" quote from Stuart Lancaster in today's the42:

“Leinster have got to be Leinster. We’re not going to go out and sign five or six overseas players. In the modern climate anyway, with the way that finances are being dictated this next 12, 24 months, the Leinster model is the one that I would want, personally, where you have homegrown talent coming through."

Self-explanatory vis-à-vis the current covid environment, IMO.

Agreed. That is the reality of the situation. I am very proud of the outputs and achievements of the Leinster model, but no model is perfect and we are exposed, at LH in particular (lesser extent at SR & SH), when it comes to the top flight matches. But there will be no bailouts for the foreseeable future.

[joooooe]

The "money" quote from Stuart Lancaster in today's the42:

“Leinster have got to be Leinster. We’re not going to go out and sign five or six overseas players. In the modern climate anyway, with the way that finances are being dictated this next 12, 24 months, the Leinster model is the one that I would want, personally, where you have homegrown talent coming through."

Self-explanatory vis-à-vis the current covid environment, IMO.

Agreed. That is the reality of the situation. I am very proud of the outputs and achievements of the Leinster model, but no model is perfect and we are exposed, at LH in particular (lesser extent at SR & SH), when it comes to the top flight matches. But there will be no bailouts for the foreseeable future.

There will be no external bailouts, but there will be plenty of lads moving between provinces as a result. I don't think there are any outstanding candidates at other provinces to fill gaps in the Leinster squad, but the longer this goes on the more likely it becomes. Unfortunately, that works two ways, and our upload speed is a lot faster than our download speed.

[Serb]

We are exposed, at LH in particular (lesser extent at SR & SH), when it comes to the top flight matches. But there will be no bailouts for the foreseeable future.

I’d disagree about being exposed at second row. It’s a very short term problem, that’s possibly already solved with the rise of Baird. By the time Fardy is packing his bags and heading back home to Australia, I’d expect Baird to have long replaced him in European and league knockout stage games.

We also have a few other promising senior and academy players in Dunne and C. Ryan.

Scrum half is an issue, but exposed isn’t the right word for it. We won the European cup with the same two lads in situ, it’s just not an area of strength for us. I’d worry more about the lack of quality prospects in the pipeline here, but we have years to sort that out.

Agreed that loose-head is a major concern with Healy potentially on the wane, and imo exceptionally average players in Dooley and Byrne lying in wait. Milne is still very young but has a fair few games under his belt, but if he’s not great then we’re potentially in trouble here.

One thing is for sure, Leinster will be the ones bailing out the other provinces, not the other way around.

[Twist]

Anyone going to risk their reputation for all time by estimating the 23 for this?

[CiaranIrl]

Anyone going to risk their reputation for all time by estimating the 23 for this?

Having no reputation to risk, I'll guess (and obviously it's a total guess): Byrne, Kelleher, Bent, Maloney, Baird, Ruddock, VDF, Deegan, JGP, Ross Byrne, Lowe, Frawley, O'loughlin, Cian Kelleher, Keenan

Dooley, Tracy, Parker, C. Ryan, Penney, O'Sullivan, J. O'Brien, T O'Brien

[leinsterforever]

The noises coming out seem to indicate it'll be a pretty strong line-up and they want to put a few things right after the Saracens game.

1. Healy
2. Kelleher
3. Porter
4. Ryan
5. Baird
6. Doris
7. Connors
8. Conan
9. McGrath
10. Sexton
11. Lowe
12. Henshaw
13. Ringrose
14. Keenan
15. Larmour

16. Tracy
17. Byrne
18. Parker
19. Toner
20. van der Flier
21. Gibson-Park
22. H. Byrne
23. O'Loughlin

I could be way off. There are literally three or four different players who they could realistically select for some positions, like tighthead and openside. Plus, going so strong at home to one of the (no disrespect) weaker teams would be a bit of a wasted opportunity to get up and coming players like Clarkson and Tommy O'Brien involved. Suppose we'll see what happens.

[Serb]

I think it’ll be closer to the strong team than the second string team. We have two games we should win comfortably, then we lose the internationals for 8 weeks is it? I think we’ll go strong enough for both of those games.

We have at least six games in a row following that where we’ll have no internationals (bar maybe the odd one released from camp).

[Ruckedtobits]

Find room for P Dooley, R Molony, R Ruddock, JGP, R Byrne, H Keenan, and RO'L.

[mildlyinterested]

The noises coming out seem to indicate it'll be a pretty strong line-up and they want to put a few things right after the Saracens game.

1. Healy
2. Kelleher
3. Porter
4. Ryan
5. Baird
6. Doris
7. Connors
8. Conan
9. McGrath
10. Sexton
11. Lowe
12. Henshaw
13. Ringrose
14. Keenan
15. Larmour

16. Tracy
17. Byrne
18. Parker
19. Toner
20. van der Flier
21. Gibson-Park
22. H. Byrne
23. O'Loughlin

I could be way off. There are literally three or four different players who they could realistically select for some positions, like tighthead and openside. Plus, going so strong at home to one of the (no disrespect) weaker teams would be a bit of a wasted opportunity to get up and coming players like Clarkson and Tommy O'Brien involved. Suppose we'll see what happens.

nothing they can do in this game can put right the saracens disaster.