Creedence wrote:

phatguerilla wrote: As for Sears, its good to see him go out and bat for the province as it were and not take it lying down,

He's been good all season hasn't he? - another solid signing. I'd imagine it is unheard of in polite rugby circles for a CEO of a province to tear into the IRFU and another province like that. I'm sure he'd appreciate the cricket reference too! He was clearly marking Leinster's card. I mean, he was in Africa the last time they came calling for Carr and co, so it's not like they've a history with him.

I think whenever the professional director or whatever the title is in the IRFU comes in then there's a good chance Sears will really come into his own, I think two professionals might appreciate each other, perhaps in mutual dissatisfaction with the previous amateur set up.

phatguerilla wrote: As for Sears, its good to see him go out and bat for the province as it were and not take it lying down,

He's been good all season hasn't he? - another solid signing. I'd imagine it is unheard of in polite rugby circles for a CEO of a province to tear into the IRFU and another province like that. I'm sure he'd appreciate the cricket reference too! He was clearly marking Leinster's card. I mean, he was in Africa the last time they came calling for Carr and co, so it's not like they've a history with him.

From looking at Maccas twitter account, it looks like this was completed last week.
If thats the case, the players must have already known, so I dont see any harm in word getting out and being confirmed. Better than rumors doing the rounds

For those interested, Macca posted about Wagamamas and Nandos last week, as well as opening a box of Celebrations last Thursday. I might be putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5, but if I am right, the players must have known before the Biarritz game at home, and it had no negative impact

NOOOOOOOOO!!!

For a while there I foolishly thought the issue had died down and he would be staying. Why oh why did it have to be announced mid-season, mid-week when the squad are on their way to Biarritz? I doubt McCarthy would have wanted that. Last week's motm and player of the season is on the way out, great preparation for a match in france against a team out for revenge, thanks leinster/irfu/thornley.

As for Sears, its good to see him go out and bat for the province as it were and not take it lying down, but I think that being both foreign and new to the job, complaints about Connacht players being poached and whatnot will just fall on deaf ears or worse annoy some of the traditionalists in positions of power.

Sears has made some very pointed comments about leinster targeting connacht players

Bitterly disappointed but best of luck to him!

Congratulations Mike. Delighted that your talent and hard work has got the recognition it deserves. A pity you have to go elsewhere to get trophies, but such is life.
Looking forward to seeing you tear it up for Connacht for the remainder of this season.

Confirmed on the Wireless this morning.Macca is off to Leinster on a 3 year deal at the end of the season.



Best of Luck Mike !! You'll be missed :ohmy: :dry:

connachtexile wrote: From babbling brook about Leinster trying to sign a lad from France...

On the bright side, if any of this is even partially true, maybe we can sell ourselves to Macca as more professional than that moggy smuggling bunch of amateurs...

From babbling brook about Leinster trying to sign a lad from France:

Apparently, it seems this player is not meant to sign for us, as everything that could go wrong has gone wrong with the deal.

Late last week, after Leinster Rugby's request, a season ticket holder volunteered to collect the new players cat from the UK. He borrowed his brother in laws van, a 2002 Ford Transit and made the journey via Dublin - Holyhead to meet the players wife and the cat at Knutsford Services in Chesire on Saturday morning. All was going well, depsite a choppy crossing and the season ticket holder made his way towards Crewe via North Wales. Unfortunately, the van broke down somewhere near Chester, I understand the the timing belt went, which obviously caused serious problems. Eventually with the help of the Police, he had the van towed to a Ford Dealer in Chester. The bad news was that the van could not be fixed until monday, and anyway the season ticket holder did not bring enough cash to pay for repairs, £650 I understand. He telephoned Leinster Rugby to try and advise of his breakdown but there obviously was nobody in the office on a Saturday morning.

Meanwhile the players wife sat in the cafeteria at Knutsford Services waiting for an Irishman to collect her precious moggy, to be smuggled into Ireland. After 6 fruitless hours waiting she gave up and headed back down south with the cat. I gather the season ticket holder later hitched 3 lifts from Chester to get to Knutsford late on Saturday evening but at that stage the players wife was long gone. He managed to get a room in a Travelodge near Knutsford for the night.

Sometime on Sunday the players agent made contact with Leinster Rugby, giving out yards about the fact that the players wife sat around for 6 hours at Knutsford Services on Saturday and effectively saying that if this was the way Leinster treated star players they could stuff their contract. However, some diplomatic manouvers by a Leinster offiocial, managed to calm things down and arranged a meeting with the player and his agent in a Heathrow Hotel on the following morning (Monday).

In due course the Leinster delegation travelled to Heathrow early the following morning , and awaited the meeting at the Premier Inn North Heathrow. Unfortunately, the player and the agent did not show. They were in fact sitting waiting in the lounge of the Premier Inn South near Terminal 5. Eventually at lunchtime contact was made with the player who offerred to meet later in the day but unfortunately the Leinster delegation were booked to return on a lunchtime flight. So the player has said no thanks brandishing Leinster as amateurish, his wife has vowed never to travel to Ireland again and I understand his agent has agreed a lucrative deal for the player in Rugby League in Japan. Good luck and good riddance.

The physio's cousin had more information , but I was racing to a pilates class so couldn't stay to hear more. However she did say that the poor season ticket holder arrived home on Monday without the van, and to make matters worse Customs stopped him at Dublin Port and confiscated the 400 Major he had bought aboard the ferry.

So no new signing at present.

A few names were mentioned but no one that I'd say was a 100% definitely him. Looks like Macca might be a more attractive option if the above is true.

mary hinge wrote: Macca doesn't want to go.

How do you know that?

Macca doesn't want to go, so his resting place next season will tell us whether or not the IRFU truly value the professional structure in Connacht or whether the apartheid regime still rules. There's nothing stopping the IRFU funding a central contract for Macca while he remains with us.

I think Sears has been very smart here. It puts pressure on the IRFU, and if Leinster sign him, alot of people will be gunning for them and the IRFu with both barrels

I find it interesting that Sears has gone public with this. Usually all we hear is a contract being signed and the usual 'We're sorry to lose him..' etc. That he's come out and said that Leinster are trying to nick one of our senior players and we're not happy is a new thing. For me it can mean one of three things.

1. He's raising a stink so the IRFU give the purse strings a loosen or Macca gets a central contract.

2. It could be construed that he's accusing Leinster of 'poaching' a player which would look bad even though it goes on all the time with all sides (us included).

3. Damage limitation. If Macca goes he can point and say we did out best.

Will be interested to see what the outcome is.

ummm, wrote:

The most recent high-profile departures were winger Fionn Carr and hooker Seán Cronin, who moved to Leinster in 2009, while outhalf Ian Keatley signed with Munster the same year.

How's that for a kick in Jamie Hagan's nads?

Funny enough he's probably in a better position than he's been for about 2 years. He's been playing well, and with 2 tight heads in the international setup Leinster will want to keep him, Connacht would probably have him back, and most obviously Munster could well do with signing him in place of the hapless Archer.

The most recent high-profile departures were winger Fionn Carr and hooker Seán Cronin, who moved to Leinster in 2009, while outhalf Ian Keatley signed with Munster the same year.

How's that for a kick in Jamie Hagan's nads?