Michael Bent- Irish Q'd

[Xanthippe]

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

Ah well that's different, I hadn't seen that article so this all appeared to be based only on a piece written on April 1st and a comment from Corcoran on twitter. Strangely enough Sinéad Kissane has nothing on this and she is normally ahead of the game with Leinster news.

[Xanthippe]

From today's IT
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.

That's a very interesting line from Feek - did Leinster (or the IRFU) go looking for him or did he come to us?

[Broken Wing]

His profile on the Hurricanes' page lists Ireland as one of his holiday destinations and he has a sister living here so maybe he came looking.

Whatever road brought him here I'm looking forward to seeing him in action next season.

[Scott]

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

Ah well that's different, I hadn't seen that article so this all appeared to be based only on a piece written on April 1st and a comment from Corcoran on twitter. Strangely enough Sinéad Kissane has nothing on this and she is normally ahead of the game with Leinster news.

That's a bit harsh on Brendan Fanning. He is an excellent rugby jurno a bit above Aprils fools pranks.

[tackle-bag]

From today's IT
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.

That's a very interesting line from Feek - did Leinster (or the IRFU) go looking for him or did he come to us?

Could just be a figure of speech, but if there are decent THs out there with Irish passports, I'd love to see them making themselves known to the IRFU.

[ronk]

I imagine it was an agent thing with the CV.

That said, the issues at prop have been published a lot and there clearly is some form of scouting out there when we consider guys like Tom Court.

[Lar]

A few thoughts:

1 Steven Sykes. I admit he looked great on paper and apparently back on the filed in SA he is playing well again, but he didn't work out here. Joe's record on signings isn't always great.
2 Jamie Hagan. I was very pleased he was signed from Connacht. I thought he would progress this season. It looked when it was announced White was off to Connacht that Leinster might be stepping up Hagan's progression. Sadly nothing I have seen in the last two months is suggesting that Jamie will be a long term consistent option at TH. I hope I am wrong but the signing of Bent did not make me think - Great - we have three IQ THs - my immediate thought was Joe has decided Jamie isn't for the long haul.
3 Jamie Hagan. If 2 above is right then Jamie himself isn't a good example of a decent Joe signing.
4 The IRFU. Can it be a coincidence that in the aftermath of Twickenham there isn't an element of the IRFU being behind the signing also and not just Joe. I am encouraged however the guy has worked with Feek though, as mentioned by someone else.

[Donny B.]

I wouldn't give up on Hagan just yet. He's still very young don't forget, 24 is a baby in prop terms, especially for a tighthead. Don't forget he did quite well in the half he played against Montpellier. He clearly has a way to go and could probably get fitter too, but it took Ross a season to get fit enough to play our game.

In terms of Bent, I think it's kind of pointless speculating how good/bad he is cause we won't have a clue how he'll go until he gets here. Sykes looked a great signing when it was announced but it didn't work out for one reason or another. When Strauss was announced it was a last minute addition to the squad but he's worked out to be one of our best signings ever.

Let's just hope we've found an Irish-qualified prop who hopefully can provide some sort of cover for Ross.

[CiaranIrl]

Extraordinary to think that Nacewa & Heinke will be our only NIQ players, as things stand, yet the suits want to prevent Nacewa re-signing when his contract is up. Beyond stupid.

I imagine we'll sign a foreign lock though. Hopefully an established top level one.

[cwebber82]

Has Heinke signed on for next season yet? Didn't see anything announced.

I think Nacewa will be allowed to re-sign in the end. These new rules will probably be amended so a province can make a case to re-sign a player. Ridiculous rules anyway. The IRFU already have power of veto over any potential foreign signing ie Nathan Hines. If the suits block Nacewa resigning after five years and three irish born children then they need their collective heads examined.

[CiaranIrl]

No resigning announced, but I understand that he will do soon.

[cwebber82]

No resigning announced, but I understand that he will do soon.

Good stuff. He's been a super signing.

[artaneboy]

I wouldn't give up on Hagan just yet. He's still very young don't forget, 24 is a baby in prop terms, especially for a tighthead. Don't forget he did quite well in the half he played against Montpellier. He clearly has a way to go and could probably get fitter too, but it took Ross a season to get fit enough to play our game.
.

In fairness to Hagan, I don't think he has been bad as painted in his performances to date. Most of the unfavourable comment is based on his two most recent appearances. Remember, in the Osprey match he got done by Adam Jones in an early engagement that injured him immediately after he came on- and went off as quickly as a result. He obviously carried that rib-cartilage injury into the Munster match, where he was obliged to replace Ross and face Wian de Preeze. There are few more formidable LHs than Jones and de Preeze in Europe- so Jamie's difficulties- (when injured) must be set against that.

[lostprofit]

“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.”

In Joe and Greg we trust.

[RichardP]

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

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

LOL - I'm surprised there aren't more people commenting on the irony of a prop called Bent.

[Donny B.]

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

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

LOL - I'm surprised there aren't more people commenting on the irony of a prop called Bent.

When the news broke on Sunday that we'd signed a prop called Micky Bent, I took a lot of convincing that it wasn't an April Fool's joke!

[Donny B.]

I wouldn't give up on Hagan just yet. He's still very young don't forget, 24 is a baby in prop terms, especially for a tighthead. Don't forget he did quite well in the half he played against Montpellier. He clearly has a way to go and could probably get fitter too, but it took Ross a season to get fit enough to play our game.
.

In fairness to Hagan, I don't think he has been bad as painted in his performances to date. Most of the unfavourable comment is based on his two most recent appearances. Remember, in the Osprey match he got done by Adam Jones in an early engagement that injured him immediately after he came on- and went off as quickly as a result. He obviously carried that rib-cartilage injury into the Munster match, where he was obliged to replace Ross and face Wian de Preeze. There are few more formidable LHs than Jones and de Preeze in Europe- so Jamie's difficulties- (when injured) must be set against that.

You're confusing Paul James with Adam Jones, but agree with you general point.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

"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

I do have massive reservations about the signing but tbh I really only wrote that post because the pun came to me. It wasn't that I was trying to think of a way I could slag him off.

You're right though, I'm not much of a fan for writing something like that, apologies!

Great news that VDM is signing another contract. Another year or two of him with McGrath and hopefully others to come through sounds great to me! He's been fantastic for us. You know that when he comes off the bench in a big game that he's going to make at least 2 bone crunching hits!

[simonokeeffe]

seems another Stan Wright type scenario, played NPC, v little or no Super Rugby, after a season or two of fulltime rugby he could come good

[tackle-bag]

seems another Stan Wright type scenario, played NPC, v little or no Super Rugby, after a season or two of fulltime rugby he could come good

Bent will have two full seasons in the Hurricanes Super XV squad under his belt by the time he arrives in Dublin, in addition to 45+ provincial caps. Fair enough, he hasn't been a starter for any of that period but he has made about 5 appearances from the bench already this season. It's not enormous experience, but it's not to be sniffed at by the same token. He won't be new to professional rugby by any means.