Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 2079 - 18/02/2026 17:43:21    2657203

Leinster have won one European Cup in 13 years, during which Johnny Sexton played a major part in Leinster's and indeed Irelands ratings through that time, but even he as a Leinster and Ireland legend playing that pivotal roll as an extraordinary and gifted out half could he on his own bring any more than one European cup to Leinster's display cabinet. It's a God's send that no finger was left pointing at any other player for Leinster's failure to bag a few extra bits of silver over those 13 years, or for that matter for the failure of our Ireland team to perform as expected, per usual, excluding triple crowns and grand slams.

We all knew that J C'c retirement was imminent however life went on apparently, then when it happened no stone was left unturned to find as near as dammit a replacement for J S. In no time we had R B, C F, H B, and S P, at the same time coincidently we had J C keeping in mind that J C was a munster player with no one seriously challenging for his position. The mathematics are simple and straight forward as to where the advantages lie.

The formulae / method used to select one of four to fill the role of fly half for an upcoming game was always going to leave a sour taste in three mouths, at least, and so R B thought it better if he left for greener pastures, and so he did unfortunately, personally I thought he had as much to offer the game as the other four, however because he left to play abroad by doing this he has ruled himself out of any chance of playing for Ireland, that must have been a tough decision for him to make.

C F ended up in no man's land, he was damned if he stayed as he was unlikely to get the # 10 shirt soon and time was not on his side, so he is about to start wearing the # 10 shirt with Connaught, he has made the right decision imo.

So now we have two left, S P, and H B. on one side and J C on the opposing side, for what it's worth public opinion was always going to row in behind J C for Saturdays match but how will A F react ???

Listening to how S P was treated coming off the pitch last week was nothing short of disgusting, saturated with s##t. How would those boo boys / girls like if it their parents or family was exposed to that level of muck.

Four players from the same province vying for the same team position was / is too big of an ask, in fact there was always going to be one or two sporting casualties that could have been avoided.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 3366 - 18/02/2026 23:02:29    2657232

Anyone else here think/agree that the Irish Legal system needs a massive overhaul?

Its archaic, ineffective and inefficient, I believe a completely new system is required. Following a series of different legal cases in the past 2-3 years, I have been increasingly left scratching my head at how this current system is allowed to continue.

Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1615 - 19/02/2026 08:22:32    2657255

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11909 - 19/02/2026 10:31:40    2657277

Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 369 - 19/02/2026 10:51:08    2657279

Square_B (Leitrim) - Posts: 1819 - 19/02/2026 11:48:07    2657293

Andrew might finally break into a sweat :P

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10240 - 19/02/2026 12:18:14    2657300

SouthGalway (Galway) - Posts: 204 - 19/02/2026 12:46:29    2657305