Conor McHugh

@dplockhart What are you seeing that suggests that? Like genuinely, forget what’s been said about him either positive or negative, just what about him is like Sexton

Sam is the closest this generation will get to another Johnny Sexton, so playing him now gives him exposure at the highest level. Short-term pain, long-term gain. The people criticising Farrell today will be the ones at the next RWC saying we should’ve blooded the youngsters.

Sam Prendergast is 22 years old. Was reading Johnny Sexton’s book again. He broke into the Leinster team when he was 23 and the Ireland team when he was 24. He had plenty of doubters then. Sam has an incredibly high ceiling. He gets slagged a lot, but wrong to write him off!

@admckendry Partly down to injuries. Josh Gibson and Conor Magee would be involved otherwise. Thomas Dougan ought to be involved at no 8 at some point and Dan Green is probably losing out in a stacked out half and strong full back year

Good win for the Ireland U20s, but only two Ulster players involved and both, Tyrese Abolarin and Blake McClean, are props and were on the bench. Not a great look.

@youroulonemily Very anti social behaviour. He’ll get it in the neck for that

@richardt84 @rava_ian They’ll be next years u20s

@rava_ian Can’t find anything online but thought there was an Under 18 group a couple of years ago who won their interpros? Would be very worrying if progression of that group resulted in just 1 player turning out for Ireland under 20s.

Congratulations to Blake but this selection is a sad reflection on the state of underage rugby in Ulster. Rory Best has some job on his hands.

@MB5Plug Was a fantastic game of rugby

Outstanding try by SA A ! Kepe does what he does best and finishes ! Watch live live.supersportschools.com/events/68945bb…

@MB5Plug Strong suggestions it’ll be Leinster at this stage

Josh Neill is top 1 forward in the country. Whatever union and country that signs him is getting an incredible rugby player.

@thepaulwilliams It’s almost like people thought the undue hype and praise at his age was way too much given his experience age and obvious shortcomings

I think people forget that Sam Prendergast is only 22.

@thepaulwilliams Not one prop has received a world player of the year nomination. Scandalous stuff

Props, never get their props.

@SquidgeRugby What about the other weaknesses in his game? I’m assuming you don’t want to talk about his defence?

Sharing this again, because I’m so so tired of 99% of talk about the Prenderboy being about the one weak area of his game.

@sgeraghty85 @Overthehillprop not sure what OP is saying but because of an increased central contracts at Leinster , they ended up dealing with a surplus where they didn’t need to shed anyone because they had/have 10/11 central contracts. So while their budget was cut with the rest, it wasn’t really.

@mackhairs @Overthehillprop Yeah, budgets were cut due to a drop in revenue during covid. OP says there is a specific link between this cut and the increase in the number of Leinster CCs. CC allocation is based on player's importance to the national team, not about funding a specific province

Gerry banging on the door but doesn't quite make the link between budget cuts to all provinces but Leinster consistently being the only one getting additional central contracts during the period to increase their funding in the Nucifora era.

@sgeraghty85 @Overthehillprop The 4 provinces had a flat rate budget cut happen during covid while at the same time Leinster picked up more central contracts which at the time were 100% paid for so they actually ended up having an increase in funds where the other 3 were under a lot more pressure to cut

@Overthehillprop What exactly is the link? Are you saying the provincial budgets were cut to increase the CCs given to Leinster players?

@Eanna_jpg He’s a really good defender

@Kieranbcfc2 @JoeNaConnacht It’s Andrew smith

@JoeNaConnacht Any idea of the name of the rumoured second one? Guess it’s a case of Connacht not having the budget (looking at a province in blues) but players wanting to stay in Ireland and close by, believing they’ll improve with better players and our bigger budget.

Fairly surprised with the amount of players leaving Connacht to head to Munster. Not fully sure what’s behind it.

@Ug71873056 @kilianjcarroll @10Broderick @brettruganalyst I thinks it’s something Leinster should celebrate and not be so defensive over. It’s a unique set of circumstances in their favour and they maximise it excellently. I don’t see the reason to be sheepish over acknowledging it

What complete & utter rubbish - “professionals since 12 years of age”. 🤷‍♂️.

@kilianjcarroll @10Broderick @brettruganalyst If there were only 4 pro teams in England you’d see something similar then. Leinster are huge beneficiaries and have capitalised perfectly on a unique economic and demographic situation where they don’t need to fund their two biggest suppliers of pro players.

@10Broderick @brettruganalyst I'm pretty sure there's plenty of rugby schools in England with the same level of facilities as Michaels, Backrock, Gonzaga etc. And by the way, most kids playing rugby don't go to boarding school.

@JoeNaConnacht Might have to promote Naughton and West to senior deals, retain Carty and maybe look at Hawkshaw or Forde being more focused on playing 10 next year

I had heard JJ Hanrahan was moving back to Munster. He’s expected to have a very bright future as a coach once he retires. From a Connacht perspective, with JJ gone, Josh Ioane on the move, and JC at the end of his contract, who of note is realistically going to join Connacht?

@kilianjcarroll @CuColin @LeinsterClub @therosser If you’re assigning where parents are from you’ll start losing a lot of lads, don’t be so silly 😂

@CuColin @LeinsterClub @therosser Simply making the point that's not just a Mayo man, he's from both Mayo and Dublin.

@scrumpox1 @Overthehillprop He was under 20s captain in 2023 not the most recent season?

@Overthehillprop He’s come in from the U20s, not Leinster Freddy Douglas has just done the same thing for Scotland

1. This is being rightly framed as a great thing for Gus McCarthy but it does go to show how broken the Irish system is, because there is no way this (5th choice provincial to international cap in a few weeks) happens for a player in any of the other 3 provinces.

@FogartyJack Absolutely. Especially if ToT switches fully to LH then Wilson is nailed on starter.

@mackhairs Looks that way right?

Not sure how to feel about it, from an Ulster POV. Quite a lot of these guys are quite important for ulster's season. Even Scott Wilson is a good name for us now. Essentially only Zac Ward makes sense from where I'm standing