WHEN THE ACTION finished last year in the Six Nations, there was no separating Ireland’s Dan Sheehan and Scotland’s Duhan van der Merwe in the race to be the tournament’s top try scorer.
Both bagged five tries apiece and are part of the leading contenders this time around on the eve of the 2025 tournament commencing.
France’s Louis Bielle-Biarrey is the favourite, while team-mate Damian Penaud. the top try scorer in the 2023 Six Nations, is another contender, but he will miss tomorrow’s opening game with a toe injury.
Ireland’s James Lowe, and van der Merwe’s Scottish colleague Darcy Graham, are others in the frame, but who do you think will be the top try scorer come the end of the action on Saturday 15 March?
Let us know.
Poll Results:
Louis Bielle-Biarrey (275)
Damian Penaud (230)
Dan Sheehan (96)
Other (78)
Duhan van der Merwe (68)
James Lowe (56)
Darcy Graham (8)
So much for the irfu looking after the interest of the 4 provinces…
@Justin Flynn: Leinster are losing:
Ala’alatoa – HCup sub
Ed Byrne – start URC
Moloney – start URC
Jenkins – HCup Starter
Ruddock – regular captain
Lasisi – Academy
Murphy – Academy
Gaining:
RG – 12 month max
Barrett – 6 month
What is so ridicilous about making 1/2 more signings? Look how many Munster have signed..
@Dave Moran: Don’t know why the spaces didn’t work in that.
@Justin Flynn: What more can the IRFU do? They can’t force a player to move if he doesn’t want to. And now they have given permission for Connacht to sign a NIQ if they cannot persuade another Irish player to join. Ball is in the provinces court now, not the IRFU.
I would give Harry Byrne to connacht
@sean o’farrell: 1000% – let him compete with Carty and if good enough he’ll be in the Ireland squad. No use in starting him once a month next season
So Leinster are trying to buy the ECC next season. Next thing, they’ll sign DuPont!
I suspect if Andy Farrell was picking his squad today, there’s be Crowley, Frawley and Prendergast in it and rightfully so. Crowley undisputed 1st choice, Frawley for his versatility on the bench and Prendergast as the one with highest future potential.
@Michael Corkery: yet prendergast hasn’t done anything to deserve this highest future potential in senior rugby. Couple years ago it was the same with Harry Byrne, yet crowley even though he’s had ups and down seems to just be getting better as the season goes on. Crowleys potential ceiling is above all other 10′s on the in eyes. I’ve nothing against prendergast and hope he turns into a top player.
@Patrick O’Sullivan: it’s all opinions on our part. I’ll be interested to see how AF sees it when he picks his squad. I think Crowley and Frawley are certs and that 3rd OH slot is sometimes picked with future in mind. I’d have Prendy above the 2 Byrne brothers on that fact alone and maybe even on form although for sure Leo Cullen doesn’t see it that way
@Patrick O’Sullivan: Prendergast hasn’t done anything deserve recognition for his birthday future potential? He is only 21. In his year with the under 20s he led Ireland to a grand slam and a world cup final. If that’s not showing potential I don’t know what is.
@Gearoid MacEachaidh: and who was outhalf the year before to do the same? Tyle
@Michael Corkery: Crowley is doing a great job but Predergast is likely to be the Irish no 10 in the next WC
@Michael Corkery: at least they are not poaching players from the other provinces.
@Michael Corkery: 100% agree all just out opinions and having different view points makes the comments section.
I agree on crowley and frawley being certs and I’d say Ross will also be going with prendergast as a development slot. We have a serious lack of 10′s at the required level in ireland. Carbery for me is the 2nd best 10 at the moment and he isn’t available even if he were fit. What’s the craic with tector seems to be the completely forgotten man
@Gearoid MacEachaidh: u20s doesn’t me anything at senior level.
Finn Smith and ntamack were the starting 10′s for there clubs and capped at 21. If prendergast is what you say he is why is he still stuck behind the 2 byrnes
@chris mcdonnell: Snyman ??
@Tom Murphy: really then why wasn’t jj hanrahan our best ever 10? He was nominated for u20 World player of the year, was prendergast? For 2 years we listened to harry Byrne is the future now this
@Lulu: Jenkins
@Lulu: rejected by munster.
@chris mcdonnell: tried to get Tot and bealham?
@chris mcdonnell: Tector didn’t play in a junior World Cup.
@Kingshu: henshaw
My armchair opinion is it’s time to give Prendergast a crack as first choice for Leinster.
Of course he’s not guaranteed to make it, but the Byrne brothers have had ample time, and clearly are not world class
I’ve nothing against them, but it should be Prendergast/Frawley. They’re both Leinster Boys, let them at it, it’s their turn.
Great signing. Need a TH who is a world class scrummager, not for what he does around the park given the athleticism of Sheehan/Kelleher and the Leinster back 5. Also having Boyle, Milne and Paddy Mccarthy get reps against him in training will do the world of good
The debate of who’s the best OH in Leinster needs to grab realism with 2 hands. Yes the Byrnes are good and capable but very limited. Both are slow and unable to attack the line. RB showed his limitations in the CC. Frawley is way ahead of both and should start the remainder at 10. (Unless Keenan stays with 7′s). Prendergast should be elevated to no 2 and retain RB as cover but Harry needs to move for his own benefit. 4 or even 5 quality OH’s on the books makes little sense.
@Noel Lynn: they just gave Harry a new contract.
@Noel Lynn: Jimmy O’Brien is a far better fullback than Frawley. I’d agree with you though, it’s time to give Frawley the 10 jersey as first choice with Prendergast as his back up. If Leinster are serious about being the best in Europe they need ditch the misplaced loyalty they seem to be showing R Byrne.
@Noel Lynn: Just as a matter of fact. Harry Byrne is actually quite quick and has very good acceleration for a 10. He has quite a different physiological profile to his brother.
@Michael Halpenny: yeah, I’ve never been a fan of Harry but you’re dead right. He’s not the same as Ross
@Noel Lynn: Your opening sentence is fantastically ironic, considering the rest of your post. Well done, we all need a good laugh to start our day. Firstly if you think Harry Byrne is slow, it’s obvious you have never watched him play, as he is certainly no slower than Frawley. In reality neither Ireland or Leinster see Frawley as a 10. They both see him as a utility back, that’s an option off the bench at 10. The reason being, there is zero evidence from Frawley’s starts at 10 to suggest he’s better than any of the other 10’s. Realism requires looking at the evidence, not the highlight real.
Game time and experience is the most important thing for a prospective irish international. Not loading the bench for one province. Not a good move in the long run. Starting week in week out would have been great for him
@Red Rooster: I agree, at his age he would be better off in connacht for a few years.
The idea that Prendergast should be given “a crack” as starting 10 for Leinster next season is for the birds, he’s 21 with no international caps and no big match caps for Leinster. Frawley should be given a go with SP getting a bench spot in some big games, season 25/26 is when he should be solid no2 and fighting to take the 10 jersey off Frawley
Although Connacht fans would love to see Pendergast or even HB lining out, it would not be a good decision for either. There is an inane bias against players who grew up in Ireland playing for Connacht or Ulster. Hence Cian Pendergast seems to be on the outs for Ireland (?why), and Caolin Blade and Cooney, who have always been excellent, never got a chance.
Perhaps the new regime in Ulster will help out the Irish players, but the coaching situation in Connacht seems to be a complete mess.
@PatN: connacht had never had more players in the Irish squads and panels.
@PatN: not sure it’s just Connacht and Ulster. Look at Coombes. Stellar for Munster but seemingly not in consideration. Hodnett seemingly not in consideration. A lot of players across the provinces doing great stuff and not getting selected.
@chris mcdonnell: That’s not true Chris. The last two Irish squads have had 2, and 3, Connacht players respectfully. The Six Nations the year before had 4. The year before 6. I remember being at a Six Nation game under Schmidt and there was 5 Connacht players I think on the pitch at one stage.
This squad for South Africa will have 2, maybe 3 Connacht players. For contrast the last SA tour had 8 Connacht players I believe.
Not only is there not more than ever, its probably at the lowest its been in over 10 years.
Such a messy situation with outhalfs. So far only Crowley has stepped up to show that he has the class to fill the shoes of Sexton, O’Gara, Humphries, Campbell, Ward etc. The OH situation in both Ulster and Connacht is really weak. Munster don’t have a viable backup now that Carbery is injured again.
Leinster have 4 OHs – Pendergast would definitely get the nod if he carried some bulk. We really don’t know how good Frawley is as he has never got a decent run at it – but he has a decent running and kicking game and is an excellent defender. The Byrne brothers – it seems unfair to label them that way – are remarkably similar. I thought that Harry had great distribution skills early in his career, but he got injured and lost confidence and doesn’t want to make mistakes.
#FromTheGroundUp
Any conveyor belt service technicians available?
Slimani is an excellent signing for Leinster, and more power to them, but next season when their 6 best players are from outside the province (Snyman, JGP, Henshaw, Lowe, Barrett, Slimani) can we just keep a lid on the “conveyor belt” stuff?
I said this about Prendergast after the Connacht game and was called out by 3/4 people for making it up…
It seems that there’s a perception that moving province is a sign of weakness from the player. Really it’s a brave move and shows a bit of self belief. Why not back yourself to go and be first choice?
Trend
This is positive news. The young man should really fancy getting into that Heineken Cup 23 next season. First he needs to add some bulk and spend the summer falling in love with tackling aswell. If you were him looking at things objectively, this is the right call. Not sure how much he’d learn at Connacht now Friend is gone. The coaching appears to be better at Leinster.
Slimani would be a very shrewd pick up. Leinster very short at TH and second row no matter what the whingers outside of Leinster say. It’s simple fact and numbers. There’s a few really big THs coming through the pipeline at least. Plenty of opportunities for game time for Clarkson and McGuire next season too.
OK, I understand connacht position.
Now they are free from IRFU.