But the young players are not fit and solid enough to brake the line and offload which is the main part of a 12. And Connact particularly and desperately needs that...

I would be 100% against that. Duffy has suffered in the past with being moved about.

its_phil wrote:

ummm, wrote: I guess this means Jarvis & McCrea will see more game time in the centres, that could be interesting.

Layden could be moved into center too. Played there all the time when he was at school and extremely smart when there. Full back is his more natural position but he's very capable of playing there.

I think the wiser solution is Gavin Duffy as 1st centre, he has the experience of it, and it lets a lot of gametime in their position of choice (full back) for Loxton/Layden/Jarvis..

sea_point wrote: This wil be an educated guess by The Examiner, but none of the provinces point blank come out and say we have X number of players on full, X on Development and X on Acadamey ones. This is an IRFU directive to keep the waters muddy regarding spend/salaries.....

But those numbers make sense, 45 player so bascically three in every position there or there abouts (some positions require more cover due to attrition, the girly backs less)...

I don't think that includes players centrally contracted, so I think Munster will probably have in excess of 50 players to choose from.

The thing that gets me is that Gav was quoted as saying on Friday

"Staying with Connacht means a huge amount to me, as a team we have become a really tight knit group this season and that is only going to get better next season as we add even more quality to the side. "

And now 5 days later we are not signing anymore players?

I know we struggle with budget but would have liked to see one more signing at the very least.

salmson wrote: AFAIK Murphy was originally a, and currently plays AIL at, flanker. It seems that trying him at flanker was the logical extension of the Irish Tight-Head Solution (TM IRFU) wherby back 5 forwards (Hayes, Buckley, Macklin) are shoehorned into number 3 shirts with varying degress of success.

Since he's been at flanker for his club this year and not featured for the first team or much for the A's it's hardly a surprise he's been let go.

It'd be nice if the branch published a list of all players they've got on full, development, and academy contracts for next year. For instance I think Browne has another year on his contract but I don't know, what's the story with Dave Nolan, is Layden dev or academy and so on and so on....

Not unusual for flanker missing a yard of pace to move into hooker, for TH it tends to be short second rows. It's not a new process by the IRFU or in fact any RFU, it's been going on for decades at all levels and in most countries (have played rugby in UK for twenty years myself). Front row is not a position that most rugby players aspire to, back row is always an over subscribed position in any team/club...

Speaking of player numbers, De Paper has an article today about Munsters finances and discloses the following.

Munster have 39 players on contract this season, with a further six on Development contracts.

That figure will remain necessarily static in 2013 because of the number of international players in the squad.


Read more: www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugby/munste...6.html#ixzz1rjNJa14c

This wil be an educated guess by The Examiner, but none of the provinces point blank come out and say we have X number of players on full, X on Development and X on Acadamey ones. This is an IRFU directive to keep the waters muddy regarding spend/salaries.....

But those numbers make sense, 45 player so bascically three in every position there or there abouts (some positions require more cover due to attrition, the girly backs less)...

sea_point wrote:

ummm, wrote: It doesn't come as a major surprise, but still very disappointing to see it in writing.

We are going to see a lot of kids get game time this season, while also hoping they play out of their skins in the B&I cup. We are walking a razor thin wire in terms of injuries.

I guess this means Jarvis & McCrea will see more game time in the centres, that could be interesting.

One thing I don't like about the article is it makes it look like we've got a three in, three out situation. <strong>It's three in and six out</strong>.

The main question now is who is our third choice hooker?

Not quite, becasue you have to include Dave Gannon & Tonetti in the Ins/Outs column, remember they only arrived on short term contracts for injury cover and have moved onto permanent ones for next season. Asssuming at leastr one of the academy move up to development then that's all square in my books...

I forgot about Gannon, but Tonetti was cover for Matthews, who is also no longer around.

So I'll agree to give you one of those two

AFAIK Murphy was originally a, and currently plays AIL at, flanker. It seems that trying him at flanker was the logical extension of the Irish Tight-Head Solution (TM IRFU) wherby back 5 forwards (Hayes, Buckley, Macklin) are shoehorned into number 3 shirts with varying degress of success.

Since he's been at flanker for his club this year and not featured for the first team or much for the A's it's hardly a surprise he's been let go.

It'd be nice if the branch published a list of all players they've got on full, development, and academy contracts for next year. For instance I think Browne has another year on his contract but I don't know, what's the story with Dave Nolan, is Layden dev or academy and so on and so on....

ummm, wrote: It doesn't come as a major surprise, but still very disappointing to see it in writing.

We are going to see a lot of kids get game time this season, while also hoping they play out of their skins in the B&I cup. We are walking a razor thin wire in terms of injuries.

I guess this means Jarvis & McCrea will see more game time in the centres, that could be interesting.

One thing I don't like about the article is it makes it look like we've got a three in, three out situation. It's three in and six out.

The main question now is who is our third choice hooker?

Not quite, becasue you have to include Dave Gannon & Tonetti in the Ins/Outs column, remember they only arrived on short term contracts for injury cover and have moved onto permanent ones for next season. Asssuming at leastr one of the academy move up to development then that's all square in my books...

If it came to it say Flavin or Reynecke got an injury we could always give Murphy a short-term deal or get some veteran out of contract on a short-term basis as well. It would be cheaper while giving some one of our younger lads like O'Byrne alot of gametime in the B&I Cup next year to blood him for the next level.

With our squad not growing I'm actually excited to see some of the younger guys given a chance like Layden or Marmion. I think they could be future first teamers.

ummm, wrote: I guess this means Jarvis & McCrea will see more game time in the centres, that could be interesting.

Layden could be moved into center too. Played there all the time when he was at school and extremely smart when there. Full back is his more natural position but he's very capable of playing there.

Callum o Connell? Kevin o Byrne?

It doesn't come as a major surprise, but still very disappointing to see it in writing.

We are going to see a lot of kids get game time this season, while also hoping they play out of their skins in the B&I cup. We are walking a razor thin wire in terms of injuries.

I guess this means Jarvis & McCrea will see more game time in the centres, that could be interesting.

One thing I don't like about the article is it makes it look like we've got a three in, three out situation. It's three in and six out.

The main question now is who is our third choice hooker?

For some reason my posts are coming up blank (mods, delete the previous ones) so I'm trying again. The Irish Times are reporting Eric as saying that 'the recruitment drive is over' and that no one else will be signed ahead of next season. Very disappointing.


www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0411/1224314608530.html

Connacht's recruitment plans over

GAVIN CUMMISKEY

Wed, Apr 11, 2012

CONNACHT’S RECRUITMENT drive for next season is over. The meagre rations devoured. That means the only new arrivals will be Dan Parks, a 34-year-old Scottish international outhalf, Willie Faloon, a talented 25-year-old Ulster openside, and Kiwi tighthead prop Nathan White, who arrives from Dublin.

Ray Ofisa, Henry Fa’afili and Brian Tuohy have been released, while several young players along with captain Gavin Duffy have got new deals. That’s the budget spent. “We don’t have anything left,” admitted coach Eric Elwood. “We signed up a lot of young players we wanted to keep. Unfortunately, you can’t keep everyone but we don’t have any more slots to fill now.”

At least they got cover in the three most important positions; an international, albeit ageing, place-kicker, someone to lock the scrum and a genuine scavenger appears like respectable business in comparison to last year when Ian Keatley left to become Ronan O’Gara’s understudy, while Fionn Carr and Jamie Hagan effectively returned to the All-Ireland league. Neither can make the Leinster bench at present.

“We are very happy,” Elwood continued. “Nathan is an ex-captain of his home team (Waikato) and has been involved in a quality outfit in Leinster [on the bench ahead of Hagan]. Key positions in any team are three, 10 and seven. That’s no disrespect to the guys we have there already . . . there should be great competition within the squad, like between Johnny (O’Connor) and Willie. But that’s healthy.

“We don’t expect them to win us every game but we are hoping they will add to the culture we are trying to develop down here.”

The next major task for the Connacht Branch is to hire a chief executive officer to replace Gerry Kelly, who retires this summer. The process is ongoing and of no concern to Elwood. “It is nothing to do with me. That’s someone else’s decision.I have good people working alongside me down here in Billy (Millard, attack coach), Mike (Forshaw, defence coach), Dan (McFarland, forwards coach) and Conor McPhilips on our analysis. The CEO decision will be made by the PGB (professional game board) . . . I don’t have a say in it.”

Ideally, the new man will land into another season of Heineken Cup rugby should Ulster or Leinster win the tournament on May 19th. The lessons of this season’s Pool stages having been banked. “Yeah, with two Irish teams left in opposing semis there is a good chance. There is no doubt the experience brought a new dimension to rugby in the West. Now everybody’s got a taste of it we’d love a crack at it again.”

Elwood couldn’t but notice the success of his former boss last weekend. Michael Bradley’s Edinburgh charges have clearly focused all their energies on Europe in contrast to their current 11th-placed standing in the Pro 12, two points behind Connacht. Both teams have five victories from 19 games.

“Credit has to go to Edinburgh. I did fancy them at home as Toulouse are a completely different team on the road as we experienced. Ulster have beaten them (Edinburgh) twice this season – speaking to Brads, he said Ulster were very, very impressive in Edinburgh – they got a bonus-point win. I wouldn’t write off Edinburgh because the high-tempo way they play, they can upset anybody, especially on a big pitch like the Aviva.”

Not nots stocking up on scrum halves, seems a strange decision on his part considering TOL is with them as well

Richie Rees to London Irish now apparently. Guess we'll just have to try and make do with what we have at scrum half. Hooker and Centre are two major priorities now.