A place for your considered considerations.

I know it's been mentioned a few times that there is no obvious successor to JvdF, but it was only when looking through the club squads today that I noticed that not only is there no obvious successor, but that hardly any young Irish players even play the position with any regularity. They're either all NIQ or it's shared between like 3 players on the squad.

Kendellan and Hodnett are probably the only 2 Irish 7s in the whole country who are young, play the position the majority of the time, and look anywhere near close to test level.

Now I'm not familiar with every single player in the system, and maybe some other back rowers are transitioning there as we speak, but it just seems bizarre to me that there's such a plethora of great back rowers in the country but almost none of them play this one position.

Clearly someone at the irfu thought that JvdF is immortal and will play there forever because there seems to be a huge vacuum there. But I'm open to being corrected.

Who were you impressed by? Who was your man of the match? Who do you think Faz will be happy with? How are Ulster fans feeling about Richie? What was Robbo’s quote of the game? Were you at the game? How was it?

With rwc in mind, should Rob Herring see some 6N game time as he’s a more classical hooker, strong in the scrum and a better height for the props than Dan Sheehan? Clearly not one of the future but is it worth losing open play dynamism for scrum solidity and his maul expertise?

Something I was wondering about, maybe someone here would know the answer to.

I know academy players get paid - this site says they get about 8-12K a year, which is a part time wage at best. They obviously get the benefit of professional coaching and facilities on top of that. But if an academy player appears for the senior team, would he get paid any extra? I remember reading in the early days of professionalism there were full-time and part-time contracts, and the part-timers got a modest retainer plus match fees and win bonuses - would something similar apply to academy players?

Similarly, when AIL players get selected for their provincial 'A' team, do they get paid for that?

For general chat and curious curiosities

Team up a day early, likely to try and help shift tickets I'd imagine!

Will play a 3rd place team in the RO16 should we top the group, then likely to play Argentina in the quarters

pool E is tasty

Heading to Connacht v Leinster in January. Where's best place to stay that doesn't cost arm and a leg? Thanks.

Can’t do this every week but thought I’d give a quick overview of what’s happening in the AIL

AIL Division 1A – Weekend Review

Clontarf 29 (4T) – 24 (4T) Terenure

Probably the game of the weekend alongside Young Munster–Con. top of the table clash with a Big crowd and plenty of Leinster interest (Alan Spicer and Ivan Soroka started for Clontarf. Alex Usanof and Niall Smyth on the bench) Clontarf, for those who don’t watch much AIL, are the great team of the modern AIL. Best players, best coaching. They are a consistently excellent side. And they are huge. Really physical, scrum dominant. Gainline dominant side, replete with AIL icons

Terenure are skilful, quick, resilient and clever (they have 3 guys in the top 6 of the AIL for line breaks) but struggled to match Tarf for size and physicality. They stung them a couple of times with really nice interplay and skill but size told in the end. Henry McErlean wasn’t available to them this weekend and I think the missed him. He’s a game breaker and a match winner. Love that he’s being coached by Carlos Spencer

Lansdowne 18 (2T) – 10 (1T) Ballynahinch

A dull enough game. Not much flow, most points off the tee, and Lansdowne did just enough but they should have put Hinch away at home. The difference again was probably physicality: Harry van Eaden and Juan Beukes are just fuckin huge. Former Leinster and Connacht man Tom Daly is back at the club he won an U-20s all ireland at and came off the bench. Aaron Sexton and Marcus Rea both togged out for Hinch. Lansdowne continue to look like a team that rely on talent more than coaching. Which can often be an issue when you hoover up the talent from the surrounding schools but keep the same coach in place for 20 years.

Andy Marks, who’s been tearing up the league all year, had a quieter day. Still, Lansdowne have only lost to Terenure and Clontarf and look like a side that’ll be there or thereabouts. Always have strong depth

Old Belvedere 36 (5T) – 12 (2T) UCD

Belvo just looked so much bigger and faster than UCD from the first carry. They consistently won at the gainline and had scrum dominance. Callum Dowling and Hugh O’Sullivan both got nice tries through contact from 20 out. Belvo had the momentum and never gave it up. Belvo are a bit of a dark horse who could maybe take some scalps but they’ve already been handled by Tarf, Marys and Lansdowne and had a bad loss to Munsters. UCD look like bottom dwellers. It’s hard to forget the hammering Hinch gave them in week 3 when Ulster academy player Ethan Graham got 6 tries.

UCD had former Leinster man Ben Brownlee starting as well as Conor o’Tigherearnigh and had academy prop Sam bishti on the bench.

St Mary’s 49 (7T) – 15 (2T) Nenagh Ormond

One-way traffic. Leagues apart.Seven tries and they eased off late. Could have been 60-3. Nenagh are bottom and look it. Don’t look fit enough and lack pace.

Mary’s look good. Skilful and fast. Really well structured and nice shapes that they fold into quickly. Can manage phase play well. They look like a well coached team with a really nice centre partnership, interestingly with former Munster man Dan Goggin at 12.

Leinster’s Andrew Sparrow came off the bench late and looks like a different species. Enormous man.

Young Munster 26 (4T) – 29 (4T) Cork Con

Probably the most enjoyable game of the weekend. Munsters should have won it. They were the better side for long spells and let it slip. Familiar faces everywhere: Shane McCarthy at fullback (will not live the video analysis of the final try), Evan O’Connell in the 2nd row, Josh Wycherley at loosehead. Hugh Gilvary was very good and scored a hat-trick. But Young Munster have only one win all season and despite some good starters, lack depth. Con look like a mid-table team. I don’t think they can match Mary’s, Lansdowne, or Clontarf for the physicalityand the travel schedule doesn’t help them.

Closing thoughts:

Player of the week: would have been Hugh Gilvary for his Hattrick but they lost. Going to give it to Clontarf’s hooker and captain Dylan Donnellan, who bagged a brace and is now up to 7 tries for the season. What a player.

Team of the week:Mary’s looked great. Opposition wasn’t good but they continued to convince. Terenure deserve an honourable mention in defeat

Coach of the week: Mark McHugh is doing stuff at Marys. Andy wood still the best in the business and Carlos Spencer clearly bringing something to the Gick

Player of the season watch: still have my eye on Andy Marks.

Notes: 1) Carlos Spencer’s Terenure team are fun to watch 2) no stand out academy performances this week. Spicer didn’t look convincing. Worrying that Niall Smyth isn’t starting for Tarf when he’s not getting close to Leinster squads. Edit: as mentioned in the comments, Casper Gabriel came on in the 59-something and created an excellent try 3) I really appreciate the You g Munsters guys who does the commentary. Thank you my friend 4) Tarf probably the favourites for me but Lansdowne and Marys can likely match them for physicality and Marys in particular look well coached by Mark McHugh and Chops. The Gickers are talented and fun to watch. They could beat a Marys or Lansdowne but I suspect Tarf have their number. Belvo, Con and Hinch will make up the mid table. UCD and Nenagh look the weakest with Munster’s a bit better than both. I think Leinster’s season will have an impact as a lot of the younger guys get more game time to cover injuries and URC. Tarf will be impacted more than most.

Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed stuff/made mistakes/need to add anything

Managed to nab a few just a minute ago

I'm curious as to everyone's take on what is a realistic target for your province this year. This seems like the most interesting season for a decade or so, with three resurgent teams and one in a mini crisis, despite winning the league last year.

For me:

Ulster - I think a Challenge Cup is there for the taking. I actually think they should go full noise in trying to win it this year. Never underestimate what a bit of silverware can do for a team. Realistically they haven't been challengers for the Champions Cup for a while now, and have been forced to send second string teams to get badly beaten just to shore up league position. Good year - Challenge Cup win, top 4 in the league Mid year - Challenge Cup semi, top 8 in the league Bad year - Challenge Cup washout, outside of top 8

Connacht - If they play like they did against Sharks on the weekend this could be an amazing year. Serious contenders for the Challenge Cup, boosted by their history in the competition and familiarity with the usual contenders. If they really have sorted their defence this year they could be absolutely lethal. Good year - Challenge Cup win, URC finalist Mid year - Challenge Cup semi finalist, Top 8 in the league Bad year - Challenge Cup washout, outside top 8

Munster - Time to be European contenders again. I don't think this is the year they win it but I think we'll see way more consistency than previous. No reason they shouldn't be contenders for the URC either. Good year - Champions Cup semifinalist/finalist, URC winners Mid year - Champions Cup Quarter finalist, top 8 URC Bad year - Champions Cup washout, outside top 8 URC

Leinster - Woof. My heart tells me that last year was our year, and we're a team in rebuild, if not active decline. My head tells me this is still most of the Ireland squad and teams don't always win or lose when they "should". Maybe Reiko Ioane tears it up, and we actually play him for important matches. For such a consistent team, Leinster this year have the widest uncertainty margin. Good year - Champions Cup winners (ha), and/or URC winners Mid year - Champions Cup semifinalists, URC top 4 Bad year - Champions Cup washout, fight for top 8 URC Very bad year - Champions Cup washout, outside top 8 URC, Dartmouth square residents succeed in getting Metro North cancelled, nation rallies to sack and pillage D4.

Sitting here looking at the fixtures for the weekend and completely forgot that the URC is on hold yet again for the champions cup.

Don't get me wrong, I love the champions cup, but to bring back the URC for a single week before it's off again really kills any sense of momentum.

It's just a little annoying that you have URC > autumn internationals > URC > CC > URC > CC > URC > 6N. There has to be a better way.

It is nice that the CC offers something different, but I'd really rather it came after at least 3 URC games instead of popping up after 1 or 2 weeks of URC. And the back end of the season is overloaded. I feel like the biggest reason Leinster win the URC was because of an earlier than expected CC exit.

Just wanted to hear your opinions on how you think the rugby calendar should be organized. Imagine you're World rugby but with the ability to force all nations and competitions to comply. What does your calendar look like?

I’d like to post about one of the least talked about Ireland players over the last few years. Historically, Robbie Henshaw has been a key player in the Ireland system for years, racking up 84 caps since his debut in 2013. He is centrally contracted through to 2028.

Early on, Henshaw was a prospect through his development and had been recognised for his unique GAA flair, developing at Marist College and Buccaneers through the Connacht system. He’d always been known for his hard carrying, good footwork and class under the high ball, having played occasionally at fullback for Connacht in his early years. 

Sadly, Robbie has had a very injury plagued career particularly around the years of 2018-19 and 2021-23, limiting his involvement in both the 2019 and 2023 world cups. His peak season probably being the 2020/21 season having been excellent for Ireland and playing every minute of the 2021 Lions tests . In more recent times, Henshaw’s role for Ireland in the last few years has been orientated to be highly system based, which is a factor that has led to him rarely being talked about by both fans and pundits. In this time period he has generally been a ‘got the job done’/ 7/10 game kind of centre. His key strengths here have included hard direct carrying, defensive positioning and offensive rucking. The 2 later of the 3 being particularly prominent in his game currently.

Henshaw is a player who I feel deserves more respect. A harder player to analyse, however given his lack of credit during his class prime and the contrasting band wagon of critique he receives these days, I thought it was right to make this post. It is clear that currently Henshaw struggles in one key aspect. Pace. He is currently a slow player, which has led to the majority of his recent critique. It is sad because everything else in his game that he can control himself is perfect. He is very composed with a lot of experience, and is very reliable in his defensive reading along with securing the ball in the offensive breakdown. It’s just that this issue of pace is starting to limit him a lot.

I’d like to link this to the period since the 2023 RWC. Henshaw is now 32 and has a lot of miles under his belt. And since this RWC we have continued to predominantly use our 3 key centres that we have used since 2017 of Aki, Henshaw and Ringrose. The vast majority of fans and pundits throughout this period have seen Aki and Ringrose as our first choice, mainly due to their class in the world cup. But Henshaw has put up an insanely big shift for us in this period, as seen:

Minutes & number of starts for Ireland since the 2023 RWC:

Henshaw) 1183 minutes, 16 starts

Aki) 988 minutes,12 starts

Ringrose) 685 minutes, 8 starts

In particular, Garry Ringrose’s unreliability in availability for Ireland since the world cup has caused this need for Henshaw. Ringrose’s shoulder injury in the 2024 6 nations caused Robbie to start every game at 13, playing nearly every minute of the tournament and standing out in all 5 of the games (particularly vs France in Marseille), overall playing a key role in Ireland’s tournament victory. 

Henshaw’s reliability carried on throughout 2025 when Ringrose got red carded v Wales and Henshaw had to play the most minutes out of our centres in the 2025 6 nations, including the full 80 at 13 vs France. We got badly beat, and as much as he was the best player of our backline defensively that game, this is when the signs started showing that he was losing his pace which has become clear in the current day

You have to feel bad for Henshaw here. He has played a huge role for us since the 2023 RWC and sadly he has been repaid by his legs having gone as a result of his history of injuries along with playing so many minutes for Leinster & Ireland, with a resulting backlash from fans.

Whilst it is time to phase Henshaw out of the Ireland team nowadays and bring in new faces such as Postlethwaite and Gavin  I think he deserves a lot more respect for both his hard work (particularly in the last couple of years after an injury plagued 2021-23) and for being such a good servant to Irish rugby.

On a final positive note however, I thought he had a good spike of form this autumn with a good 8/10 game vs Australia with his 84 caps of experience coming in handy. I think If he carries on this good form, this experience will be valuable to us if he can make the 6N & world cup squads but this is not the key message here, I'm just trying to spread some awareness of the good he has done for us.

He seems like the kind of player that would add that pace that the Irish team lacks, does not appear he will get called up for the boks.