Can't see Nathan White being a project player, he's 30 now

Wouldn't be that impressed with POD, his passing is atrocious at times and he takes 2, 3 and even 4 steps sometimes before he passes. He can be quite careless and all over the shop at times as well. Frank has no gas anymore and doesn't seem to have the passion needed. O Leary wouldn't come to us, Stringer is experienced and most importantly very hungry. He wants to be no1 and he'd certainly be that here.

Being honest, Henry, Ray, Rodney and Dylan may be all on the way out, provided we can get replacements and unless they turn around their form. Be sad for Ray but his next contract will be as an NIQ and he's picking up too many injuries.

I've heard Sykes will be Leinsters next 'project', but that was before he was entirely unimpressive, so they might just give up on that idea. If you designate a player as your project then decide he's rubbish and cut him loose you probably get in trouble. Speaking of which, that's precisely why we will probably hold on to Ah You, we'll get a tongue lashing if we let him go.

With strong backrows coming through I agree this could be Ray's last year with us. It'll be a sad day when he's no longer lining out for us, he has given his all. I don't begrudge him his cap, the man deserves it 100%, it's just a shame that one single game for Samoa now means he's part of the NIQ list for next year.

Henry is only on a one year contract, and McSharrys impressive emergence and new contract does not bode well for him. Nor does the reduction in NIQ spots. In the strictly come dancing NIQ elimination round, Henry and Razor are looking precarious. Dylan, Reynecke, George and Fets are probably safe unless management decide on a multi-elimination and a new round of NIQs in next year.

Sorry but all this talk of getting a new 9 and 10 are doing my head in, I have actually been impressed by PO'D when he has got the chance to play 9 as well as Jarvis at 10. We were all in agreement that Jarvis is young and needs more game time. Bringing in O'Leary would be a step back as well. Rhys Ruddock would be a huge capture, but would say that he would prefer to head over the other side of the water.

@Porterbelly, good points all.

Hagan would be first choice, but he's contracted for 2 years, so unless Leinster are anxious to get rid we won't be seeing him back. Unfortunately I don't think White will be available either; he's not capped so once Strauss is Irish qualified they'll probably declare White their new "project". Ryan would be a good back-up but I don't see him as a starter. We might have to go foreign

Stringer's the man at 9, wouldn't be impressed with O'Leary, simply not good enough. We already have one scrumhalf who throws the ball at the 10's nose or toes.

At outhalf, if we had an old stager like Stringer at 9 I'd love to see a couple of young lads like Jarvis and maybe McKinney (3rd choice at Ulster) fight it out. Gopperth would be a live option though, he'll be available once they're relegated and he's used to struggling teams Would have no interest in Staunton.

Carr is only on a one-year deal so he might come back.

I expect given his age, injuries, and the fact he's NIQ after playing for Samoa, Ray won't be around for much longer. Rhys Ruddock will be available in the summer (he turned down a 2 year deal last summer, told Leinster they could play him or he'd be off).

Who else will be available in the summer?

And who'll we release (Rogers, Razor, Ah You...)?

Interestingly Tomas O'Leary's contract is up this season and the rumour is he'll leave Munster. A few french clubs are have said to have turned his head and with Murray in front of him he's tired of playing 2nd fiddle. Depending on his International ambitions he might want to stay in Ireland and if the IRFU want to keep their best players surely we could come to an arrangement with him? Don't know how the Stringer situation is/could have affected this.

All our money should go to signing a 3,9 and 10

Obviously luring Jamie back would be my 1st choice at 3, but failing that I'd like to see us go after Nathan White of Leinster. He's a on a 1 year deal, not sure if it will be renewed, solid scrummager and will lock our scrum. Tim Ryan as mentioned would be a decent player for us. I think we need 2 tightheads unless Maguire starts showing something. I think the u20 world cup might be too much to go on. He was 120kg back then and his sheer size probably made him outpower any opponent, rather than technique.

Stringer would be my 1st choice at 9. Experienced and still hungry.

Jeremy Staunton will be available in the summer I think. With Henry likelely to be gone it frees up an NIQ spot which could be used at 10. Tonetti, McSharry, Griffin, Duffy and academy players coming through so plenty of depth in the centre. Someone like Jimmy Gopperth would fit in nicely.

If he was available and willing to come provided his wage demands aren't too big I'd take Fionn Carr back in a heartbeat. We lack flair and with him in the team we're always in with a shout of scoring tries. Playing most of the season with the reserves in Leinster might make him see what he's missing down here.


I'd hate to see us sign squad fillers like Tommy O Donnell, Billy Holland et al. We must give some of these academy players opportunities

the squad mite not need a dramatic overhaul anyway.

our 3/4 line is quite good and has plenty of cover in vainekolo.henry, tonetti and touhy. o halloran can also cover fback- also some good acad players like boland coming tru.

our 2nd row and backrow is also quite stong and also has acadamy players kike 2 conneelys, heffernan, kearney and qualter coming. anderson, grace and mckeon isnt bad back up for team on our budget.

we are also ok at lh and hooker. tighthead is a prob but rodgers has looked solid in scrum when he has played.loughney has also shown he can do a job there and id like to see them rotate more there. maguire looked very promising wit irish u20s a couple of years ago and will come good. id like to see rodney tried at lh before giving up on him completely. he is too goo a carrier to dump but just no good at th.

scrum half has been inconsistant so far. murphy has had some good days and some stinkers.donoghue similar ive never seen moore or two in acadamy so cant comment. def an area we need to improve on.

we have three outhalves of which none have grabbed the jersey and made it theirs. nikora imo is an impact player for the last 20. o connor is an a.i.l. player and we havent seen enough of jarvis to make a decision yet. this is the big money position and you get what you pay for. we may prove lucky wit jarvis yet but at this stage its prob too late anyway. we have a very promising oh in acadamy in jack carty and he may be worth bringing into 1st team squad.

the type of money it would cost to sign a top out half isnt there and we just arent high profile enough a club to attract them even if it was available.
ther are a few irish 10s playing in aviva but not first choice who would better than what we have seen here and prob wdnt break the bank.
1. jeremy staunton age 31 and subbing for toby flood at leicester. similar in style to keatley and decent experienced 10 who can kick goals.
2. steenson, havent seen a lot of him but subbing for meires at exeter. only seen highlights of him but seems solid and good goalkicker.
3. jeremy manning, very much my 3rd choice but subbing for gopparth at newcastle.

at tight head id doubt we would get hagen back but worth a try. failing that i would suggest Tim Ryan. he has played for munster, toulon and newcastle and decent scrummager.
Three of the home games lost were lost on smallest of margins in play(blues, treviso and gloucester) and should have been won. if they were mood would be so much better with fans.they were lost largelt to weaknesses at th in scrum and poor decision making at halfback. the rest of the team has been doing ok generally no matter what personel play. yes there have been errors but the effort has been good.
improvements in these areas and you could c a different team.

clan clover wrote:

its_phil wrote:

clan clover wrote: I see London Irish picked up Ofisa Treviranus, why could we not have went after him, offered some boys in Part Ex or something. He was some animal when he was here last time.

Because we don't need a backrow forward where he now plays

Eh, and why don't we need a top quality backrow forward, and don't say we have enough of them, because we simply do not.

He may be good but is he worth another NIQ spot that we don't have.He'd be demanding top money as well I'd imagine along the lines of Taylor, Henry money that we dont have. He'd probably want a two year contract too, so that would hinder the development of the likes of Conneely McKeon Heffernan coming through who would do a cheaper job, take no NIQ spot, they are home talent and have more potential than Ofisa. I'd rather see Grace playing too, because I think he has a lot of potential once he gets a run of games.

If we are going to get a new backrow, we have to duck into the AIL because we cant afford anything else.

The top quality back rows you want,dont come cheap and unfortunately we cant afford much else

its_phil wrote:

clan clover wrote: I see London Irish picked up Ofisa Treviranus, why could we not have went after him, offered some boys in Part Ex or something. He was some animal when he was here last time.

Because we don't need a backrow forward where he now plays

Eh, and why don't we need a top quality backrow forward, and don't say we have enough of them, because we simply do not.

clan clover wrote: I see London Irish picked up Ofisa Treviranus, why could we not have went after him, offered some boys in Part Ex or something. He was some animal when he was here last time.

Because we don't need a backrow forward where he now plays

I see London Irish picked up Ofisa Treviranus, why could we not have went after him, offered some boys in Part Ex or something. He was some animal when he was here last time.

Interesting from that.

No team has more then 3 outhalfs on their books.

Of our three, Jarvis, who is favourite of most is the only one that could leave to make space for somebody!!

Not great decisions there at all giving contracts

eastcoastconnacht wrote: They did call them important contract announcements. How long does Macca have left?[/quote

Ah You Rodney 2012
Anderson TJ 2013
Browne Andrew 2013
Buckley Dennis Academy
Duffy Gavin 2012
Fa'afil Henry 2012
Flavin Adrian 2013
Gannon Dave 2012
Grace Eoghan 2013
Griffin Eoin 2014
Jarvis Matthew Dev 2012
Kearney Mick Academy
Layden Shane Academy
Loughney Ronan 2013
Maguire Stewart Dev 2012
Matthews Keith Retired
McCarthy Mike 2013
McCrea Mark 2013
McKeon Eoin Dev 2012
McSharry Dave 2014
Moore Dave 2012?
Muldoon John 2014
Murphy Dermot Dev 2012
Murphy Frank 2013
Naoupu George 2013
Nikora Miah 2013
O'Connor Johnny 2013
O'Connor Niall 2013
O'Donoghoe Paul 2013
O'Halloran Tiernan Dev 2012
Ofisa Ray 2012
Reynecke Ethienne 2013
Rogers Dylan 2012
Stevens Jamie Dev 2012
Swift Michael 2012
Tonetti Kyle 2012
Tuohy Brian 2013
Vainikolo Fetu'u 2013
Wilkinson Brett 2013

ummm, wrote: Niall, why the **** did you kick away posession at the end of a match we were chasing, you complete dingbat?

Meanwhile in the weekly Ulster press release they said "Come in Agent O'Connor, your time is up."

NOC should be made watch the 39 phases of Munster before there drop goal over and over again to show how to grind out some points not hoof the ball away and give up just because we dont make ground on the first few phases.

"Dan McFarland, Niall O'Connor and Mick Kearney answering questions from the Journos"

Niall, why the **** did you kick away posession at the end of a match we were chasing, you complete dingbat?