Michael Bent- Irish Q'd

[cormac]

Signing confirmed according to Michael Corcoran on Twitter.

[rdsblue]

Before the Cheetahs match, Bent came on in the 2 previous matches on either side of the scrum and had a big impact for the Caines. His full name is Michael Ryan Bent and this might be a clue to his IQ status. He's a big unit at around 6'1 and 18 1/2 stone and he's still not even 26. Apparently he's highly thought of at Taranaki though some players can't seem to step up from NZ provincial to Heineken. He's got to be worth a shot though.

[Edna Kenny]

Wikipedia sayd he's an instrumentation technician so he might be able to fix the score board in the RDS as well.

[cwebber82]

Michael Bent is the best prop the hurricanes has this year, saves their scrums every time. Dominated Tony Woodcock and Owen Franks this season in the scrum, All Blacks starting props. He's well deserving of starting but has been getting 40 mins + on the field each game, it appears to be more the fact that the stamina in the hurricanes is lacking and they bring him on in the second half to pick it up a little. Played a total of 9 Super games to date he's a real game changer on the field. If Leinster have signed him he'll be the next ireland tight or loose head prop, no doubt. Hammett will be feeling the pain letting him go, stuck with an aging front row and an up and comer whos not quite there yet with the scrumming. Bent earned his team a tighthead in the scrum right on the opponents line with seconds to spare, turned the ball over and cleared to win them this pretty wee thing http://www.espnscrum.com/itm-cup-2011/r ... 46963.html Often likened to Olo Brown, legendary all blacks prop, for his ability to get in, do the job well and never complain. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/supe ... Hurricanes Good luck to him!!

Sounds like you've done homework Leinster 270. Fingers crossed he's the real deal and he doesn't do a Steven Sykes..

[leinster270]

He is IQ because his grandparents are irish. He has a sister and family who have lived in Ireland for years.

[glenageary]

Searched twitter - he has no account??

People mentioned our bad prop signings, but remember Stan the man, he was fairly unknown , had a slow start and then with a bit of fitness and training, bang - He was great - having a guy who is IQ means he has time to be developed and he is young enough, great signing , here is hoping it works out

[tackle-bag]

I like the sound of this guy I must say. The comparisons with Borlase are probably unfair on a number of levels. When Borlase arrived, he was already 25 but had played bugger all top-level rugby if the truth be told. I think he had less than 20 provincial caps and had made just a couple of appearances from the bench in the Super XV. Bent has played almost twice as many provincial games for Taranaki, winning the Log o' Wood along the way. He also has a more substantial quantity of Super XV experience under his belt.

Another point of distinction is the physical stats of the two players. If their respective profiles are to be believed, they're the exact same weight at 118kg. However, Bent is just over 6'1" making him almost three inches shorter and considerably more compact. With Borlase, Munster continued their trend of picking a TH who is probably too tall to ever excel in that position. Look at the best THs in world rugby and you will find very few who are much more than 6 feet tall:- John Afoa (6' even), Owen Franks (6'1"), BJ Botha (6' even), Nicolas Mas (5'10"), Euan Murray (6'1") Luc Ducalcon (6' even)... even our own Mike Ross (6'2"). At 6'4", Carl Hayman is very much the exception rather than the rule. Joe Schmidt's signings to date have by and large been extremely shrewd. I see no reason why this case will be any different.

[totalrandomer]

From a 'Canes fan on another forum......

"journeyman super15 player at best the only reason we care about losing him is because we lost Tialata and Schawlager at the end of last season"

[hugonaut]

I'm happy with the signing.

He's Irish-qualified, beyond anything else ... this will give us three IQ tightheads in our senior ranks, and we have another three [Jack O'Connell, Martin Moore and Tadgh Furlong] in the academy, with probably another one or two to come in – the CWC tighthead this year is an especially impressive candidate. We've gone from being a very weak outfit at producing and fielding Irish props to the leading province in the country.

Granted, the only prop we have brought up solely through the Leinster ranks to date is Cian Healy, but I think that it shows good scouting and managerial skill to bring in Irish-qualified contenders from an English outfit [Ross], another province [Hagan] and New Zealand [Bent].

Getting in a guy at 25/26 from a decent set-up in New Zealand means that there'll be a core of expertise there, both physically and technically. He'll have lifted a lot of weights and spent a lot of time scrummaging at a good professional level already ... it's not like you're bringing in a 19 year old from the academy or an amateur guy like Simon Shawe. A lot of the work has already been done, but there's still room for improvement. It's a good age to bring an IQ prop in.

We've got good forwards coaches here in Gibbes and Feek, and I've little doubt that they can make a competent, combative prop out of him at Pro 12 level. Hopefully the competition between himself and Hagan will spark both of them on to really improve and push Mike Ross at HEC level.

[Logorrhea]

From a 'Canes fan on another forum......

"journeyman super15 player at best the only reason we care about losing him is because we lost Tialata and Schawlager at the end of last season"

Seems to be the consensus from those closer to his current home.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Granted, the only prop we have brought up solely through the Leinster ranks to date is Cian Healy, but I think that it shows good scouting and managerial skill to bring in Irish-qualified contenders from an English outfit [Ross], another province [Hagan] and New Zealand [Bent].

I was actually just thinking that it's a bit damning on the IRFU that he went under the radar for so long despite our problems at prop. Obviously we don't know the full story and they may well have looked at him and not deemed him good enough or he might not have been interested but I doubt it somehow.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'm also encouraged by the fact that Feek has worked with him before.

[gfo]

SHers I know say Bent is appalling

[olaf the fat]

SHers I know say Bent is appalling

could work well in the Irish scrum so

[BlueBlue]

From a 'Canes fan on another forum......

"journeyman super15 player at best the only reason we care about losing him is because we lost Tialata and Schawlager at the end of last season"

Seems to be the consensus from those closer to his current home.

Or sour grapes. People tend to judge a player before a ball is even kick. Joe makes good signings, Leinster have a very smart set up, I'll give the lad a chance and by that I mean most of a full season before I decide in my mind if I thick he deserves a Leinster Jersey. Most of a season because thats how long it takes with a TH of this age. Remember stan !

Also a few negative comments about Hagen, which are a bit early. We were delighted to get him back from Connacht as he was going well for them. Him having regular games was a big plus here. I think with the games he's been getting , not that regular he's been doing fine. More games and he will improve. Its early days.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

"Bent out of shape- Scrum costs Leinster yet again"

I've a horrible feeling we'll be seeing that headline.

[Scott]

"Bent out of shape- Scrum costs Leinster yet again"

I've a horrible feeling we'll be seeing that headline.

ffs can we at least wait till he plays a few games before we throw him on the rubbish heap

[Xanthippe]

"Bent out of shape- Scrum costs Leinster yet again"

I've a horrible feeling we'll be seeing that headline.

ffs can we at least wait till he plays a few games before we throw him on the rubbish heap

Or perhaps wait until the signing is confirmed before we start writing headlines about him

[tackle-bag]

Or perhaps wait until the signing is confirmed before we start writing headlines about him

It's well confirmed at this stage. The following article has several quotes from Greg Feek about the signing:- http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/h ... 68670.html

[Donny B.]

Or perhaps wait until the signing is confirmed before we start writing headlines about him

From today's IT

Meanwhile, Leinster scrum coach Greg Feek was asked about the new prop signing Michael Bent. The 25-year-old arrives from Wellington this summer with an Irish passport as Nathan White moves to Connacht.

“He’s obviously Irish, he’s got a sister living in Dublin,” said Feek. “I first met him when he was playing for Taranaki B when I was working for the Hurricanes.

“He is still young as a prop. The Irish passport helped and when his CV turned up on the desk, having known him, he’s on his way over for next season.

“He’s played tighthead, he can play loosehead so obviously tighthead is a role, anywhere in the world, even in France or England, you are always looking for tightheads to develop. But he can certainly pop over the other side as well.

“He’s a strong man, he hasn’t played at the high level a helluva lot but myself and Joe saw potential in him. With the age profile we got at Leinster, with Rossy in his thirties, and some good academy guys coming through like Marty Moore, Tadhg Furlong and loosehead James Tracy, it is between that age that we need to fill.”