Scott Fardy on fire in Eire

You are right that Leinster don't have huge reserves at lock however, in James Ryan at lock Leinster have one of the most promising forwards in Irish rugby. Ryan captained Ireland under 20s to the 2016 under 20 RWC final beating NZ along the way and is one of the few Irish players to get a senior international cap before a provincial cap. No mean feat. I think Fardy may have been brought in to mentor Ryan who isn't far off being the finished article but it is a name that you will be hearing more about. That said Fardy has been an excellent signing and a stand out player of the season.

Doesn’t seem to even imply that he felt he was prejudiced against because of where he went to school. Do you understand what I was getting at in my comment though? He was in pro systems 5 years before he made his mark at the Brumbies. Public schooling was not enough to prejudice him getting a contract opportunity but then they didn’t play him because he was from a public school?

Who said we had it right? NZ have it right, the competition doesn’t. And yes, they’re loving it there. They wouldn’t be without the southerners that’s for sure.

Don’t get me wrong, PA, I’m not knocking the great strides Ireland are making in their development pathways, it’s very exciting. England are as well it’s just not as visible given that it’s spread over 12 teams.

Harry, I am not so sure how accurate this is about Fardy's school history. Speaking to his Dad once, he told me that despite public schooling he was picked in the OZ Schollboy side, only to break his leg in a club game the week before touring. It seems that that event sent his career on a different trajectory, leading him overseas but eventually back to the Brumbies, then the Wallabies. I am one of those scratching their head at Cheika's omission of him last year after he served his country so gallantly every time he was asked. His Irish actions and the compliments of them raise eloquent questions that Cheika is yet to answer.

Ultan Dillane is a great prospect swell but is starting lag behind a little but still has a lot of promise.

Look at the number of Kiwis that have won / have been nominated. There is definitely some bias if purely because the team is the strongest. Because the player of the year title is not infallible - I mean, the fact that Barrett won last year proves that it's not particularly accurate.

Jordan Larmour is in the Irish squad now !!

been here 8 years - working for govt . but my family is in sri lanka. and my wifes family is in - guess :P u mean the Sheikh Zayed Mosque - yes it is neat , all white marble and rest is real gold (24k). it also has some Swarovski chandeliers , that may be worth the GDP of a small country. i forgot to tell about the Sultan Qaboos mosque in Oman - which has the largest hand-woven carpet in the world. lgoogle it. it is also quite bid but not as big as szm. TBH, we are very afraid to travel in these parts , as no country other than UAE, Bahrain Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait are 100% bomb free. LUCK IS A FORTUNE - as Dean Jones says !!! Bahrain is the least conservative country. :P Dubai is also very conservative and people need to be very aware their peculiar nature. a lot of westerners get into trouble there , thinking things are relaxed. THEY ARE NOT! unfortunately my work calendar and office schedules dictate my travels. thus most of the time i end up in Canberra at the height of winter DUH :(

@ riddler " exeter is a club of zero egos.. many would be hard pressed to name 5 of their team.. " NOT really , if u follow aviva and the better clubs one could start with the auzzies - Dave Dennis , Julien Salvi , Nik white , Lauchie Turner then they have Thomas the tank Waldrom also Don Armand then the english backs - Henry Slade and Jack Novell any more known names i missed? :D

Somewhat bias, towards Kiwi players????? Get a grip!! If the Zimbabwean, was that good, then explain, without that excuse you gave, why he never received the IRB player of the year, title??

Almost like things are somewhat biased towards the Kiwis at the player of the year awards due to the fact that they're the team that wins the most, and McCaw was the captain of that team. Pocock was injured from 2013-14, but in 2015 internationals he was better than McCaw and in my opinion probably should have won player of the tournament in the RWC as he was far superior to Carter in the early rounds, although Carter was sublime in the QF, SM and final, so I am totally happy with him getting player of the tournament also. I don't remember Richie owning him very often at all. In fact, I remember Pocock outplaying Richie on multiple occasions just as I remmeber Richie outplaying Pocock in multiple occasions too. There were two occasions in 2011 when Pocock outplayed him in my opinion—the Tri-Nations match where he ripped the ball out of Richie's arms to set up Samo's great try and even in the WC SF where the Wallabies were collectively dominated but Pocock was the only guy keeping us competitive. I'd say that 2015 and 2016 Pocock was the best openside flanker.

Yeh Fionn, I do know that Richie received three IRB player of the year awards during his time. To say Pocock was better around the 2010 - 2016 period, would not be quite right, as from memory, I think he, Richie, receive one of those awards during that period. To compare the two, with Pocock, never receiving that award, is a tad out of whack. Make no mistake, Pocock was a very good seven, right from the time he started playing here, since emigrating from the African continent, but Richie did own him more than he ever own Richie.

Yeah, I was having a look at the fjords of Oman and they looked super beautiful, buy beyond the fjords there wasn't a whole lot that I was really interested in seeing. How long have you lived and worked there for? Iran does sound very fascinating, and the chance to see Persepolis when at Shiraz would be incredible. Esfahan is meant to be spectacular also, as I've heard is Yazd and Kerman. The chance to buy a rug wouldn't be so bad either, eh? That's very interesting that people in Jordan are quite conservative inwardly, I had thought it was one of the relatively less conservative countries in the Middle East. That being said, ever since I saw Indiana Jones I wanted to go to Petra and ever since I saw Lawrence of Arabia I wanted to see Wadi Rum, so we will see. That being said, is there a kid in the world who doesn't grow up wanting to see the pyramid of Giza, the Sphinx, Luxor, Abu Simbel and the Valley of the Kings? The White Desert looks cool also. Shame about the fact that Egy;t isn't the safest place to visit right now. I was in Gallipoli and Istanbul and they were great. If you've never been I would recommend Istanbul very highly—it was the capital of the East Roman Empire then the Ottoman Empire and has some great history and archaeology. I didn't get to go to Cappadocia unfortunately. I have no real interest in a modern city like Dubai, but the mosque in Abu Dhabi looks pretty cool from the photos. That's hilarious about Storm Fionn—I'll have to show my father :P thank you.

Fun Bus, I know you’ve made this point previously. The point being made is that they are not even using their assigned quota because they are developing domestic players instead. It’s not too long ago that Leinster was not the main supplier of test players to the Ireland team or squad. Players were not considered good enough until their mid 20s and gave Ireland a tag of having a constantly ageing squad in various tournaments. The emergence of players such as Carbery, Furlong, Stockdale, Henshaw, Ringrose, Carbery, Larmour, Ryan and being selected at 20/21 is a new feature of Irish rugby selection. And that’s now starting within the schools age grade Tier. I read this article in an Irish paper in the last week with astonishment at what is now happening on the domestic development front and the investment being put into it the pathway. I don’t know if this happens in other unions already but it’s certainly a first in Ireland at this level of intensity. https://independent.ie/sport/rugby/schools-rugby/two-or-three-per-cent-of-each-year-go-professional-at-the-moment-how-one-school-has-become-irish-rugbys-biggest-production-line-36482484.html

Fardy has been brilliant for Leinster this season, but to say Ireland are short on second rows is wrong, James Ryan is the perfect example of an Irish born lock who will go on to do great things also Tadhg Beirne and Donnacha Ryan, two world class locks, could be called on if required. Ireland should be far more worried about hookers than 2nd rows imo.

White has started in all but 2 of current English champions Exeters premiership games and all their Champions Cup games. Strangely labelled just a kicker ( has a huge right boot) in Australia now playing with the club that plays the most ball in hand style of rugby in Europe whose speed to the ruck and accuracy of pass has seen him labelled the "buy of the season" in English rugby press whilst his defensive work is the highest of any current halfback at the elite level. His game in the 41-10 win over former club Montpellier was excellent and doesn't show any indication of not lasting. Along with Fardy another "not required" by the Michael Cheika Wallabies.