Irish Provinces NEWS & GOSSIP thread 2016-17

[Sin é]

First topic message reminder :

What it says in the title - a place to put all bits of news not worth starting a thread for the Four Proud Provinces of Ireland such as new signings, interviews that maybe of interest to others etc.

[Rory_Gallagher]

I think he's an excellent player and hope to see him and Leavy as the future 6/7 for Ireland. I think they would compliment each other very well and both were part of the same JWC team (where SOB played at lock if I'm not mistaken). Ireland could do with an aggressive wrecking ball at 6, so I really hope he cements his place as the starting 6 for Connacht and then gets recognition for Ireland. It will be very tricky for him to do as I think there will be only a couple of players outside of the Japan summer tour who will feature for Ireland between now and the next World Cup.

As for replacements for Paddy...none that I know of and I refuse to believe any of the stuff floating about the internet. I find it a little amusing that someone can throw a completely made up rumour into the mix and send some fans into a total frenzy and hours of google searches. Might as well just wait.

[Marshes]

I see him nailing down his place for Connacht for sure this season, he has a very high ceiling IMO. But yeah we have fair national competition in the backrow, he could struggle to break in there. At Leinster alone there is enough test quality backrows before we talk about the other provinces, at 8 alone next year they have Heaslip, Conan and now Max Deegan competing! Like I say I don't know what the priorities of this whole Nucifora project in that context are. Rather than paying lip service to it by sending lads like Ah You to Ulster, we should be looking at where bottlenecks are preventing real quality getting gametime. I wonder are there blockages sometimes moving players out of Leinster.

Hopefully some good news soon! The only ones I've heard have been Stephen Donald who wouldn't be a bad shout for a year, lend his experience to young McPhilips and still give him plenty of gametime. Aside from that noone else comes to mind. Slim pickings for IQ players there.

[geoff999rugby]

As I have posted elsewhere McPhillips looks well short - Nelson and Cooney are ahead of him and the Academy players - Curtis and Lowry both look more promising.

McPhillips is good with the boot but otherwise is short of what is required
Herron I would not even consider

[wolfball]

link

Connacht CEO Willie Ruane has confirmed that the province have narrowed down their search for a new stadium to three potential locations but he admitted that the whole process continues to move at a much slower pace than he would like.
Last March, Ruane admitted that he had hoped to have a clearer picture on exactly where Connacht's new home will be situated by the end of the summer but that doesn't appear to have happened yet.
Redeveloping the Sportsground remains a viable option as discussions are ongoing with the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) while it is understood that the other two locations in question are a move to Galway United's Eamonn Deacy Park or a new stadium in the Galway docks.

Look-out Connacht have outgrown the 7,800-capacity Sportsground and have been on the look-out for a new home for quite some time but they have at least now whittled down their options.
"We're at the phase now where we have three potential locations, they're fully scoped out, fully costed, drawings done, all of that and it really is a case of selecting which location we'd go with and then progress it to the next stage," Ruane said.

"Some of that comes down to what we'd be able to achieve, and what might be viable in each location, then obviously engaging with the stake holders in each of those. That's where it's at.
"Unfortunately, and this has been the case for a while, we're working on other people's pace, so we're dependent on others.

"We're working at the pace of others, but we're pushing it as much as we can. It's frustrating, I won't deny that.

[Marshes]

A new stadium on the docks would be mighty, although would need fairly high walls to protect from the wind or most of the balls will end up in the harbour!

Making it a municipal stadium as well would make so much sense, a city like Galway could have a consistently decent rugby and football team with the right facilities

[Don Alfonso]

Felix Jones for interim coach? Brave.

[Rory_Gallagher]

Felix Jones for interim coach? Brave.

For Munster? Source?

[Don Alfonso]

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/sport/266077/felix-jones-to-perform-interim-munster-rugby-coaching-role.html

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