By Podge O'Donnell
The
2012 2013 season is fast underway with all four provinces putting their final
finishing touches to preseason. Midlands Sports will be following Leinster and
Connacht throughout the coming season and providing in depth analysis and up to date coverage of all the action as it unfolds. Both
the Leinster and Connacht squads have Midland representatives and we have put
together a preview of what can be expected in the coming months.
Leinster Rugby
Former Mullingar RFC player/coach
Joe Schmidt starts his third season in charge of Leinster after winning back to
back Heiniken Cup titles. First up, is a difficult away trip to Wales to take
on the Scarlets on Saturday 1st September in the Rabo Pro 12.
Leinster have finished runners up, over
the past two seasons and will be keen to get the season off on a winning
note and mark their clear intentions that they plan on winning the Rabo Pro
12 third time lucky. The Scarlets are a
team that Leinster will know very well by the end of the season as they are
drawn along side each other in Pool 5 of the Heiniken Cup along with Clermont
and Exeter Chief’s. Scarlets will provide a test for Leinster, however the
crunch tie in Pool 5 will be home and away ties with last seasons semi
finalists Clermont. Joe Schmidt and Leinster know Clermont inside out at this
stage drawn in the same group together last season and meeting each other at
the semi final stages in the previous two campaigns with Schmidt getting the
better. Clermont will again this season hold the key to a third successive
title returning home to Leinster.
2012/2013 Squad
The majority of the team that has
served Schmidt so well returns again this season with no real big name signings
to note. Leinster have added some reinforcements to the pack in the form of 25
year old New Zealand born prop Irish qualified prop Michael Bent moving from
The Hurricanes. Bent can cover both sides of the scrum equally and will no
doubt provide considerable depth in a key position.
Schmidt has also acquired further
need reinforcements to his options in
the second row adding the 21 year old 6’5 powerhouse South African Quinn Roux
from The Stomers in the Super 15 along with 24 year old Tom Denton joing from
Leeds Carneige. The only new addition to the back line is experienced
outhalf/center Andrew Goodman another New Zealander joining the Blues from Tasman and is a direct replacment for
Matt Berquist who leaves after injury disrupted his progress last season. The
signing that made most of the headlines this off season was the resigning of
the injury ridden Luke Fitzgerald to a new one year deal after a very long
period of negociations.
Players To Watch:
Dominic Ryan-
After intially breaking onto the leinster Senior scene,
injury has hampered the highly rated openside flankers progress.Natural
openside flankers are hard to come by and Dominic Ryan is as natural as they
come. Since breaking into the first team squad in 2009 Ryan has won 25 starts
as well as numrous cameos from the bench along with 2 apperances for the
Ireland Wolfhounds last season. If Ryan can show good form in the Rabo Pro 12 when
given oppertunities and avoid injury he will
push Shane Jennings hard for the starting number 7 shirt come Heiniken
Cup time.
Andrew Conway-
Has showed glimpses of magic for Leinster over the past
three seasons at full back or wing. A natural broken field counter
attacker, lite up the Under 20 world cup
with some individual moments of brilliance last summer but injury and the
presence of Isa nacewa has limited his options but if given regular game time
stays injury free, he will become the next Leinster attacker to become a
household name. Conway is the type of player that Joe Schmidt favors and is he
can reproduce his underage form and skills, he will be a joy to watch with his
fast feet ducking and weaving through opposing teams defences.
The Midland Connection-
Apart from the Head Coach, there is lots for Midland
rugby enthuasuasts to keep an eye on when following Leinster Rugby this season.
Mark Flanagan has signed a new one year contract extension and looks set to see
extended game time after impressing last season before the signing of Brad
Thorn. Although there is now fresh competition in the second row for the
Mullingar native, he can use last years positive experiences to his advanatage
and again prove that he can step in easily when required.
Conor Gilsenan another Mullingar native groomed in
Clongowes Wood is entering his second season in the Leinster Academy. Gilsenan
who featured in the Brittish & Irish Cup squad last season will be hoping
to continue his development. A nasty injury ruled himout of this summers under
20 World Cup early, after some magnificant performances at openside flanker.
Gilsenan is tough as they come and has a workrate that is second to none, could
see him gain some Rabo Pro 12 game time this season while playing a key role in the Brittish and
Irish Cup squads.
Connacht Rugby
Eric
Elwood leads the Westerners into a second consecutive Heineken Cup season
hoping to build on last season’s efforts where they recorded one pool win
coming against Gloucester, after being drawn in a tough group including the
mighty Toulouse.
This
season won’t get much easier being pulled out in the draw in Pool 3 along with
Biarritz, Harlequins and new Italian franchise Zebre. Connacht face Zebre first
up, away in Parma on October 13th.
Zebre are coached by former Italian scrum half and stalwart Alesandro
Troncon and host a squad full of journey men pros and Italian internationals.
Players such as Josh Sole, Mauro Bergamasco and Marco Bartolami are all
experienced top level internationals while former Munster and Ireland underage
Prop forward Dave Ryan now plying his trade will add a local feel to a typical
dogged Italian outfit.
Connacht
will need to build on a solid 8th place finish returned last season in the Rabo
Pro 12. Connacht face the Cardiff Blues in Galway on the 1st September.
Finishing in 8th place last season was Connacht’s highest ever in the
competition, during which Connacht achieved three victories in a row for the
first time in nearly ten years. New players were blooded through the squad, the
Connacht Juniors and U-20’s won the Interpros’, and the Irish squad that
travelled to New Zealand contained four Connacht representatives in props Ronan
Loughney and Brett Wilkinson, second-row Mike McCarthy and Connacht captain and
full-back Gavin Duffy. These key players return again to Galway and should add
a stable base for improvement again. While a first season competing in the
British & Irish Cup will allow the up and coming underage players ample
opportunity to impress.
2012/2013 Squad
Eric
Elwood had a busy summer by all accounts strengthening the squad for the new
season. Some big names signings are coming to Galway. Key additions come in the
shape of recent Scottish out-half Dan Parks. This high profile signing
demonstrates the ambition of the province, and will bring a wealth of
experience to the out-half position. Prop Nathan White and flanker Willie
Faloon have signed from Leinster and Ulster respectively, and both featured in
this seasons Heineken Cup Final.
Young
hooker Jason-Harris Wright has been recruited from Bristol, and is a product of
the famed Leinster academy, and has Heineken Cup experience. Exciting 23 yr old
centre Dannie Poolman also joins and adds a real play maker to the backline.
Poolman is comfortable at either wing or second center.
Robust
centre Brian Murphy signed a one year development contract after an impressive
season with Galwegians where he won Connacht player of the season while Mata
Fafita joins from Sligo and will add some depth to the 12 shirt. Matt Healy a
former Ireland U20 international joins from Landsdowne after impressing over a
number of seasons. While JP Cooney will add some needed strength at Prop after
impressing with Garryowen. These latter signs show players that there is still
a role for the AIL in grooming players for professional rugby.
Players To Watch:
Tiernan O’Halleron-
After braking onto the scene last season, Tiernan
became arrguably Connachts best attacker and real dangerman for opposing teams
at the tende age of 20. At home on the right wing he is a strong finisher and
has excellent footwork to match a strong
6’2 frame. A native of Clifden O’Halleron learned much of his rugby in
Cistertian College Roscrea. However there are some other strong links to the
Midlands as father Aidan, a keen
footballer in his early years, helped Carmelite College, Moate to Hogan Cup
victory in 1976 and then went on to lift the Sam Maguire trophy with Offaly in
1982 also playing rugby for Athlone and Tullamore.
Tiernan became Connacht's first ever try scorer in the
Heineken Cup history in November 2011. His form during the early stages of last
season earned the former Ireland Under-20 international a new two year contract
with Connacht and an invitation to training with the Ireland squad ahead of the
Six Nations. If Tiernan can continue to develop the sky is the limit and will
surely be in contention at some point for full Ireland honours.
Shane Layden-
Similar player to O’Halleron with a strong and rangey
frame. Layden was capped last season for Connacht against Leinster and Having scored a hat-trick for Connacht U20 in
their Inter-Pro victory over Munster propelled him into the Irish u20 team for
the Six-Nations and then on to the U20 World Cup. Although far from the finished product, Connacht could do worse than give
him considerable game time this season as going on his form for Buccaneers in
the AIL and the Irish U20’s there are
not too many raw talents of this calibre floating around very often.
The Midland Connection-
Buccanners Rugby club gives the Midlands a real
presence across all Connacht teams. Over the years the Athlone club has
developed some top class rugby players with many going onto wearing the green
of Connacht at senior level and Ireland at various grades. This season really
gives Midland rugby enthusiasts a real chance to see some young Midlanders
hopefully pushing for game time at the higehest level after earning their
stripes at Academy and AIL level.
If preseason games are anything to go by then Academy
players such as Buccaneers winger Conor
Finn (Ballinasloe), second row Danny Qualter (Athlone) and outhalf Jack
Carty (Athlone) may also see some senior level game time. One
player who has really stood out in the last couple of weeks is 18 year old
Robbie Henshaw (Athlone) who hails from a family steeped in Buccaneers
tradition made his first start in the recent defeat to Harlequins all this in
the same week he collected his leaving cert results. These local players will also
play key roles in the Brittish & Irish Cup.
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