Porterbelly wrote:
Kiernan Brookes, haven't seen much of him. Going from Tigers to Connacht would be a leap backwards really

Plus he's NIQ - played 3 times in the Churchill Cup this year for England Saxons against the full US, Tonga, and Canada teams.

Porterbelly wrote:
I'd add Ruadhri Murphy of the Brumbies on that list as well.

Fair enough, but if he goes well in Oz, he surely would be mad, Ted, to sign for us.

Bring back hanging!

_nobody_ wrote: He was never in the connacht academy.

He went to college in Limerick, played with UL and was brought into the Munster sub academy from there. He did play under age with connacht though.

Munster have 5 hookers on their books, he is fifth choice behind Flannery, Varley, Sherry and Fogarty.


I firmly believe we need to look at higher quality players then this

Correct, my humble apologies.
Getting my academies and underage mixed up.

connachtexile wrote: Agree about the TH but not Ryan any Dave or Tim. Tim ain't good enough and Dave is a LH who is extremely injury prone.

A couple of questions:

1. Why not get Bracks on a short-term contract?

2. Whats the name of that young lad whose Irish qualified and plays for Leiceter prop wise?

3. Isn't there a Sligo born prop in the Munster Academy?

4. What about Paddy Ryan of the Waratah's? He's irish/IQ and looks a good prospect.

www.waratahs.com.au/Waratahs/HSBCWaratah...erid/28/Default.aspx

Thoughts?

Wouldn't be keen on Bracken, maybe as scrum coach but nothing else. I think Robbie Morris is doing a bit with us though

Kiernan Brookes, haven't seen much of him. Going from Tigers to Connacht would be a leap backwards really

Not sure, you thinking of hooker Sean Henry?

I'd add Ruadhri Murphy of the Brumbies on that list as well.

Swifty can never retire, we need him way too much.

simpleton wrote: The big question for me is where do we go when swifty packs up his bags.

that will never happen. he will never retire. clean out your mouth after that :sick:

Macca and swift have a major effect on our scrum, in particular swift who pushes behind the th, that is the obvious reason for the George and Gannon positional changes, may also be part of the mulldoon at 7 selection but probably not. Rodney IMO is unlikely to ever be a high quality lock out the scrum th but that doesnt mean he can't be a hugely effective back up prop closing out games and carrying ball.

We need a frontline th as well, not instead.

I expect that our scrum will steady a bit once we get our second row pairing back on the pitch. The big question for me is where do we go when swifty packs up his bags.

ummm, wrote: But when Dave arrived he was solid in the scrum and this year he's going backwards. That's not a good sign. It means he had it and lost it, which doesn't suggest any improvement is imminent.

He has lost weight, he is a shadow of the guy that arrived, he had it when he arrived and he will get it back they must be trying different techniques with him or have him on slimfast or something. But he is massive in the loose and we know he can scrum so hopefully with a bit of one on one and live practice scrummaging he will learn. In terms of prop wise he is only a pup.

Agree about the TH but not Ryan any Dave or Tim. Tim ain't good enough and Dave is a LH who is extremely injury prone.

A couple of questions:

1. Why not get Bracks on a short-term contract?

2. Whats the name of that young lad whose Irish qualified and plays for Leiceter prop wise?

3. Isn't there a Sligo born prop in the Munster Academy?

4. What about Paddy Ryan of the Waratah's? He's irish/IQ and looks a good prospect.

www.waratahs.com.au/Waratahs/HSBCWaratah...erid/28/Default.aspx

Thoughts?

But when Dave arrived he was solid in the scrum and this year he's going backwards. That's not a good sign. It means he had it and lost it, which doesn't suggest any improvement is imminent.

There are a lot of assumptions on here about players wages, people talking about big money as if they are in the know. No one on this forum knows what anyone players wages are ,so they are just that assumptions and anything written in the press is also based on speculation. So lets not try to assume, Jo Bloggs is on 500k and a losing bonus scheme.

When the beast arrived he was no Magners beater in the scrum it took him time,he was dumped by Leinster and he turned from been dodgy to pretty good and the same will happen with Rodney he needs time , look at Cian Healy an old lady could have pushed him backwards when he first made a break through with Leinster and now look at him he is getting better all the time and Rodders will too. But for the moment we do need a solid scrum, when we have one George comes into his own at the back of it and then maybe although a big maybe we may see quality from the backs.
Back to the Ofisa signing for London Irish, he was obviously on the Market in the summer and regardless of what people say about our young up and coming backrow he would have been a good signing.

I hope our U-20'S are all tied down, they looked very good at half time on saturday....Looks promising...

thats what people i kno down there say he is on but if hes on more hes still worth it if u can afford to pay it which they can

Botha is on alot more than that in Munster

top class tightheads are really expensive. bj botha is reportedly costing munster 250k+ and afoa in ulster similar. botha is definately worth it but if you look at the comments coming from munster as big a reason for the turn around in their scrum is the hiring of a dedicated scrum coach and a return to live scrummaging in training(no machines). connacht cant afford that money 4 a thead but a proper scrum coach could help. peter bracken is living in galway and wud be an option even say 2 days a week.

i only mentioned tim ryan as he falls in our price range and has experience required. whatever happens i fear that rodney isnt good enuf and never will be. i think he is just too big ala buckley and they both have same scrumaging style. stand up, fall down or just for variety turn in.

At 10 i fear gopparth will be in demand if newcastle go down. his goalkicking alone will insure this. that will put him out of our range.realistically our best bet is someone who is experienced and still hungry but not first choice atm. thats why i suggested jeremy staunton or steenson.

stringer might come if money was right because of the tax law here. the offer to go abroad would have to be excellent to offset tax break he has coming if he stays here. i also cant see leinster going 4 him and he may as well retire as move to ulster. galway wud suit him 4 a couple of years tho especially if he was convinced it was a team wit ambitions and he was made captain.

to convince him of that tho good signings at 3 and 10 are essential. not ones that bankrupt the rest of the squad but good solid pros who can deliver in their roles.

It's interesting to look at ummm's stats of points for and against etc. The top teams have defence as their priority. While we are not too bad in this respect, we fall down in our scoring potential. We must obtain a stable source of possession and without a reliable scrum we will continue to struggle. Our priority has to be securing a new TH. Unless we do we are doomed to remain in the second tier of Irish, as well as European rugby.
All the points made about poor service at 9 are valid but, as also stated, the best 9 in the world will under perform behind a beaten pack. I cannot see the value in either Stringer or O Leary coming to us. I surprised that EE has not tried Moore at 9 given the poor performances of the Murphy and O Donohoe. I see Moore has captained the A side recently - they've at least developed a habit of winning.( 3 of their last 4 ). Why have a third 9 and not use him at all, especially when the guys ahead of him have been so disappointing.
Similarly, Jarvis has been under used. NOC just has not been reliable, even with all his opportunities. Griffen has been variable but at least has shown potential and needs more chances. Mc Sharry had a couple of great games but needs to be more consistent. I remain to be convinced about Tonetti's defence but he's a strong ball carrier, one of the few who can break the gain line for us.