Ya i read that too.
His international career will suffer hugely if he is not in Ireland.Even if he was no1 Hooker at Leicester he probably would not even make Irelands bench.
Leinster are well covered with Strauss, Tom Sexton and Dundon so hopefully he makes the right decision to go back west !!!

Seems that Leicester are interested in Cronin, word is that there is a contract on the table.

Doesnt make sense as he would be behind Youngs there and could end up in the same situation as hes in at the moment

Yeah I can't see him helping our scrum situation much. Haven't seen him much this season but apart from line outs doesn't seem to offer much around the park.

At best toner is still a work in progress, at worst he will not get past his current standard. He would be no match for macca atm and it would seem both Leinster and Ireland's selectors agree.

Apparently Devin Toner is out of contract at the end of the year and is weighing up his options. Can't be happy as been pegged as a squad player. Opinions?

P.S. Allegedly Leicester have offered Cronin a contract. If he's serious about his international prospects don't think he'd go.

Ha ha fair play, I'll take one of what Swifty's been drinking please! :lol:

Although would love to think on some parrallel universe we would be lining up the likes of Richie Gray as Swifty's long term replacement.

ummm, wrote: Lots of suggestions that if a player leaves then we <em>should</em> get someone else in return. Not going to work like that, folks. Once a player is out of contract he's no longer Connacht's property and can sign where ever he likes, the teams he joins owes Connacht nothing, this isn't a swap deal.

you are right of course but no approach to a player or his agent is allowed before january of the expiry of contract season.
clubs like leinster, in this case, and northampton, in corbisiero case, get around this by using their friends in the media to get the ball rolling. players also use these means to flag their desired destination so in this scenario its credible to believe that macca will likely end up in rds and cronin, carr and maybe even browne in the sportsground.

Lots of suggestions that if a player leaves then we should get someone else in return. Not going to work like that, folks. Once a player is out of contract he's no longer Connacht's property and can sign where ever he likes, the teams he joins owes Connacht nothing, this isn't a swap deal.

swifty, i take that you have hit the bottle tru depression today so! lol.

Lolzies

i was watching (hard to see cause of the heavy fog) sale vs northamption on friday and for a team playing so bad, sale have decent players. there bottom of the aviva and 6 points behind london irish.

players we could go for, will have to lose a few NIQ, ER let go and rodney and nikora are/will be irish quallified if we resign them.

Danny cipriani- back up to parks. (galway would suit his many girlfriends)

mark cueto

richie Gray- a handy replacement for macca.

andy powell- if we lose george, POWELL is the man. (golf carts would be handy in galway traffic)

sam tuituipou- former munster centre

james gaskell - 22year old flanker, 6ft 7'' just under 17stone.

marc jones- hooker, 6ft 2''.

if things really hit the fan - they also have tony buckley and cillian willis

I think we'll need two second rowers, unlikely to get two equally huge however. Maybe even a second hooker along with cronin, another tighthead to replace rodney, hopefully of higher quality, and a decent back up 10 would be nice (maybe someone will come through the academy). No pressure or overly high expectations so!

Exactly the guy played 99 times for Leicester Tigers and can play 11 to 15. Someone we could use and is proven and tested.

So out shopping list is as follows:

Sean Cronin
Fionn Carr
James Rael
Lea Auva'a
Massive flanker maybe a project player (does C.J. Stander know anyone?)
Huge Second Rower ala Damien Browne

I would agree re Johne Murphy. He'd be a good addition and an improvement on fringe players like Loxton and McCrea who are probably leaving at the end of the season.

mary hinge wrote: Folks: we can be sure that if rumours have started that Cronin, Carr, and Browne are coming to Connacht the quid pro quo is Macca moving East.

I, for one, wouldn't want that swop.

And if Johne Murphy is not good enough for Munster, then he's not good enough for Connacht either.

to be fair hes just back/ coming back from an injury which has kept him out since start of season. add in the arrival of downey and lualala, the maturing of zebo and the emergence of o dea, its fair to say the deck has been stacked against him.

hes a good player though and if connacht were to sign him he would definately be an improvement on many of the options currently available.

Above anything we need a couple of big forwards, our pack overall is too light.

Damien Browne would be one weighing in at 120kg

We could do with a big flanker as well to give us more of an edge

If Rodney goes as expected and Nikora turns IQ, we may have room for an NIQ/project player.