D'Arcy agrees new Leinster deal + other contract news

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/rugby/2012/0430/1224315380427.html

Gordon D'arcy has signed a 2 year IRFU contract extension and several other Leinster players have signed extensions too including Cullen, Boss, Reddan and McLaughlin.

Also according to the above article Leinster have signed an IQ TH and second row, does anyone know much about these guys?

Leinster will bring in two new faces for next season with lock Tom Denton arriving from Leeds Carnegie and tighthead prop Michael Bent joining from the Hurricanes in New Zealand. Both forwards, who have agreed two year deals, are Irish qualified already.

It's the mother load of contract extensions!!

Leinster renewals: Leo Auva’a – 2 years, Isaac Boss – 2 years, Fionn Carr – 1 year, Andrew Conway – 2 years, John Cooney – 1 year, Leo Cullen – 1 year, Gordon D’Arcy – 2 years, Aaron Dundon – 2 years, Mark Flanagan – 1 year (Development), David Kearney – 2 years, Brendan Macken – 1 year, Ian Madigan – 2 years, Kevin McLaughlin – 3 years, Isa Nacewa – 1 year extension, Eoin Reddan – 2 years, Rhys Ruddock – 2 years, Thomas Sexton – 1 year (Development), Heinke van der Merwe – 1 year.

Class!

Poor Luke.

Why D'Arcy gets a contract and Luke Fitz doesn't is beyone me. Fitz have been superb this year, D'Arcy as always has been reasonably solid in defence but offered nothing going forward.

D'Arcy is cheaper.

Fitzgerald could have stayed but he wanted a salary in the BOD, POC, Bowe, Ferris, Heaslip bracket and Leinster said no

Forget about D'arcy, he's old news man.... who are this prop and second row?!

Fionn Carr is a lucky boy......

The prop has played a few games for Hurricanes - never seen him play though

geoff999rugby wrote:D'Arcy is cheaper.

Fitzgerald could have stayed but he wanted a salary in the BOD, POC, Bowe, Ferris, Heaslip bracket and Leinster said no

As far as I know Lenster have nothing to do with his contract. Negotiations are with the IRFU.

Schmidt said that we'll know more this week. I think he'll stay.

geoff999rugby wrote:The prop has played a few games for Hurricanes - never seen him play though

He's decent, and can play both sides happily. We won't see him until the NPC is over in Oct though. He wants to see the season out with Taranaki.

Luke is a nat's nadger away from signing a central contract I believe.

Darcy signing a two year contract is a bad move IMO.

Darcy should not last in the Leinster or Irish team for two more years.
Delighted for the others and glad to see that Leinster are really hunting high and low to get IQ players in.

I don't know what would be best for player/team in the Luke situation.

He may well benefit hugely from a time in France or Australia.
Leinster have mountains of back 3 players too.

Leinster will pay part D'Arcy's contract though as they would Fitzgerald's so the level of salary of both is directly relevant to Leinster

What message does this send to Fergus McFadden if the IRFU feel that Gordon D'arcy will be a key man for Ireland for another 2 seasons?

He's 26/7 now so this basically means he will be closing in on 30 before he has a fair crack at the Ireland, and perhaps even Leinster, 12 shirt.

The IRFU have really lost the plot and don't seem to have any vision for Ireland moving forward.

rodders wrote:What message does this send to Fergus McFadden if the IRFU feel that Gordon D'arcy will be a key man for Ireland for another 2 seasons?

He's 26/7 now so this basically means he will be closing in on 30 before he has a fair crack at the Ireland, and perhaps even Leinster, 12 shirt.

The IRFU have really lost the plot and don't seem to have any vision for Ireland moving forward.

Completely agree Rodders
Very poor call IMO. He can still play for Leinster too without a central contract.

Who is the 12 coming up behind McFadden???? Is there one? Macken is a 13 really? Fitz?

Really bad call. D'arce is a legend but his time is done internationally in the same way we did to poor John Hayes. The difference is we have potentially viable alternatives but we won't give them a run of games to work their way in.

D'arcy put in a huge effort against Fofana and just about stopped him scoring the winner by the skin off his teeth.....the problem is:

a) D'arcy is no longer capable of performing like that on a regular basis

b) Fofana will get better, whereas D'arcy will get worse

c) Despite D'arcy's defensive heroics he offers very little in attack himself

At the very most he should have got a 1 year extension and even that is extremely generous to a player 3 or 4 seasons past his prime.

I think most of us are in agreement on the Darcy front, hopefully he and McFadden will swap places. McFadden being the HCup player and Darcy the Rabo player

McFadden has looked very good this season when at 12 or wing.

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:I think most of us are in agreement on the Darcy front, hopefully he and McFadden will swap places. McFadden being the HCup player and Darcy the Rabo player

Well that won't happen now if D'arcy has a central contract. McFadden will have to make do with shifting between 12, 13 and wing...the latter two positions at the expense of better young prospects like O'Malley, Macken, Kearney jr and maybe even Fitzgerald.

Just because he gets a two year deal doesn't mean he has to be first choice. Leinster are the best team in Europe because they have two good players for every position. Great news and well deserved. Plenty still to offer.

Do they have a set amount of money set aside for central contracts and feel the need to spend it all?

Would it have been so bad to drop D'Arcys central contract or are they afraid he'd move off to France?

In our pursuit of ideals of glory let's not forget to put our feet back down on the ground and realise that it was 'defence' that eventually held up super-delights Leinster at the end and indeed through most of the encounter.

Schmidt is a wise man and he knew the game he'd need and the players he'd need to play it (to give us only a chance). I really think, like most observers thought, that Leinster were truly up against it yesterday regardless of how they chose to play it. And I know in his heart, Schmidt felt the same

Someone somewhere's here today said that D'arcy's time is coming to an end. Now there's a wise thought given that he's certainly of an age to be preparing for the end...just like O'Driscoll and O'Gara.

He's not a fool. He knows he's going down hill towards retirement. But neither is Schmidt a fool and he's not of a mind to risk opportunity to any undue deference to Irish 'great servants'.

It was an away game, always a different thought process in his mind; and it was a HC semi-final (a step-up from the humdrum intensity of Pro12) and it was a French team (he knows French teams and he knows Irish players know them too!)...and it was one of the very best French sides (he knows how they play, how they think and what their attitude would have been to a Leinster showing up with the bright new kids hoping to do a free-running high-jinx attack on Top 14 warriors).

Schmidt knew all that - and picked D'arcy. I'd guess he knew it would be more prudent to prepare for a defensive game than throwing caution to the wind and going for a low-centre of gravity circus show

Yes, D'arcy is running towards an end. But my criticism of him (and by extension Kidney) has always been not how Kidney chooses, or who he chooses, but how he chooses to use those players he chooses.... all of them, as a unit; not just fixating on the limitations of one or more players. Kidney's downfall is not in choosing D'arcy, his downfall is in not knowing how to blend the stoicism of defence with a swift and organised sustained attack.

Actually, a part of me felt we (Leinster) played too much of an 'Ireland' game yesterday and almost suffered the consequences of affording too much room and respect to an attacking side. But I think Schmidt realised his young bloods, who excel more in attack than defence, would have been found out defensively in a game Clermont were never going to throw away casually.


In short, like Leinster v Ireland, Clermont are a better side than France and Schmidt knows it.

Yes but fly this is about Ireland not Leinster...its a great deal for Leinster as Schmidt can shuffle his side as required, albeit there will be a pressure from the IRFU that D'arcy will play 12 in the big games when fit.

The problem is there are only 20( or 22) central contracted players and unless they are injured or exceptionally out of sorts, and sometimes even then, they will start all off the big international games, particularly the 6N which is the main money spinner for Irish rugby.

This deal effectively means D'arcy will start for 12 for Ireland when fit and McFadden will have to continue to play a utility back role for the next 2 seasons at least.

He'll get games for Leinster at 12 due to the player management system and squad rotation but he won't get a sustained run at 12 whilst D'arcy is fit.

Ireland's problem is Kidney (his fellow coaches) and their confused thought processes. Okay, we'll even extend that to the IRFU who are I'm sure being guided/advised in their central contracts thought processes by their head coach.

Young blood fancy players won't offer a lifeline to that confusion if Kidney and co don't want to extract themselves from thinking Irish players just aren't good enough to attack in unison..so let's defend with intent.

Ireland's problem isn't who'll be going on tour to New Zealand or playing in the next season's 6N, Rodders. It's the man in charge and his systems.

To do it briefly again - giving Mcfadden International experience under current arrangements is just giving doubters the ammo to say he isn't up to it - because most Irish players who put on an Irish shirt now are like meat fed into a grinder. Coaching issues sorted first, then we can have lovely long debates on which players are best suited to an effective system. At the moment D'arcy and McFadden are just meat in a grinder, whichever of them plays.

My point Fly is that the problems don't stop at Kidney, they go right to the IRFU money men.

Kidney is just another cog in the wheel but Irish rugby is in unchartered waters here, the provinces have created a monster, a depth of players and expectation amongst fans that the IRFU aren't equiped to deal with.

Jeebus D'arcy was trying to wangle a 3 year contract! The jammy feicer is lucky to get a contract full stop!

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0502/1224315455124.html

This deal effectively means D'arcy will start for 12 for Ireland when fit and McFadden will have to continue to play a utility back role for the next 2 seasons at least.

How does it? Schmidt isn't contracted to play him.

It's up to McF to displace Darcy and he obviously hasn't done that, yet.