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Irish accused of aiding All Black defections
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<blockquote data-quote="Feicarsinn" data-source="post: 392948" data-attributes="member: 22777"><p>This just isn't how it works out I'm afraid. Look at Rocky Elsom for example. Came if for a season, massive asset for Leinster. With him around there was a noticeable improvement in the likes of Kev McLaughlin, Sean O'Brien and even Jamie Heaslip. Those guys learned from him, in fact he aided their development as players massively. Now Leinster have arguably the most back row depth in Europe, all of them being Irish. Johnny Sexton learned a great deal from Felipe Contepomi, as did Keith Earls from playing along side Doug Howlett and so on. </p><p></p><p>What you've got to understand is that Ireland doesn't have the same flow of talent as New Zealand. It's all well and good saying things like Richard Strauss is blocking the progress of Jason Harris Wright, but it's obvious that Harris Wright is never going to be good enough to be part of the international side. It's better for Irish rugby to have a few big foreign names in the provinces, helping the teams succeed at the highest levels thereby exposing the lads to higher levels of rugby, as well as imparting their knowledge to youngsters, than to have journeyman Irish players holding the team back. Who are John Afoa and BJ Botha going to be holding back? There aren't very promising TH's coming out of either Ulster or Munster atm I'm afraid. Better to have those teams be able to compete than end up in a situation like the Scottish franchises where your best players are in teams that can't get out of their Heineken Cup groups.</p><p></p><p>In saying that, there are some positions that we have to keep an eye on. I know the no. 10 jersey is regulated after how poor our options got in the middle of the last decade. An eye should also be kept on TH and quite possibley second row.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is a commonly held misconception. Ross featured in 21 games for the first team last year. Fact was that he was out of shape and pretty poor when he did feature. He's been a revelation this year.</p><p></p><p>On the Connacht issue, what players in the AIL are you suggesting are better? Do you seriously think that Connacht wouldn't have had a look at them?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Feicarsinn, post: 392948, member: 22777"] This just isn't how it works out I'm afraid. Look at Rocky Elsom for example. Came if for a season, massive asset for Leinster. With him around there was a noticeable improvement in the likes of Kev McLaughlin, Sean O'Brien and even Jamie Heaslip. Those guys learned from him, in fact he aided their development as players massively. Now Leinster have arguably the most back row depth in Europe, all of them being Irish. Johnny Sexton learned a great deal from Felipe Contepomi, as did Keith Earls from playing along side Doug Howlett and so on. What you've got to understand is that Ireland doesn't have the same flow of talent as New Zealand. It's all well and good saying things like Richard Strauss is blocking the progress of Jason Harris Wright, but it's obvious that Harris Wright is never going to be good enough to be part of the international side. It's better for Irish rugby to have a few big foreign names in the provinces, helping the teams succeed at the highest levels thereby exposing the lads to higher levels of rugby, as well as imparting their knowledge to youngsters, than to have journeyman Irish players holding the team back. Who are John Afoa and BJ Botha going to be holding back? There aren't very promising TH's coming out of either Ulster or Munster atm I'm afraid. Better to have those teams be able to compete than end up in a situation like the Scottish franchises where your best players are in teams that can't get out of their Heineken Cup groups. In saying that, there are some positions that we have to keep an eye on. I know the no. 10 jersey is regulated after how poor our options got in the middle of the last decade. An eye should also be kept on TH and quite possibley second row. This is a commonly held misconception. Ross featured in 21 games for the first team last year. Fact was that he was out of shape and pretty poor when he did feature. He's been a revelation this year. On the Connacht issue, what players in the AIL are you suggesting are better? Do you seriously think that Connacht wouldn't have had a look at them? [/QUOTE]
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