Anyone want tickets for the final shout me out.
If Leinster were to be caught you would have expected it in that game as they haven’t played together in a long while with the 6 Nations and there was bound to be a lack of fluency from that. Like Munster and Ireland they really limit the mistakes and put their bodies on the line when the pressure comes on.
I know it’s all speculation but how different would the salaries of both them squads be? Just watching it and it’s very rare you see a prop play 76 mins but that was when Vunipola was taken off today. He played all 3 Lions tests, the 6 Nations and even the premiership game last week but with Barrington being an ordinary type of prop clearly they flog him as much as possible. They just don’t seem to have the same squad depth, and I presume Sexton was by a distance the highest paid player on the field?
Id say the Saracens squad wage bill is significantly higher.
Sexton probably was the best paid player on pitch but most of that Leinster squad are on first contract out of the academy e.g. is Leavy paid more than Shalk Burger? Is Ryan or Toner paid more than Itjoe or Kruis?
They won the last two european cups. They have a huge squad. Just on a slight downward cycle from peak.
They had 7 lions on tour. Load of injuries which weakened them today
A Leinster v Munster final will bring the country to a stand still.
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It won’t happen Matty
The step off his left side was unreal, opened it all up, fannytastic
Weren’t 14 of the 23 that won the grand slam at Twickenham from Leinster though, with a few out through injuries including some of the top earners and obviously they also have a few imports. I don’t know if Saracens have as big a squad as Leinster, they wouldn’t need it as first framers tend to play all games they are available for. Not sure about you comparing them players for wages either, it could equally be said is Maitland on as much as Lowe, Barrington on as much as McGrath or Fardy on as much as Saracens teenager in the back row. It would be interesting if someone done a full squad comparison, I don’t think the Irish provinces are as poor as they plead.
Can’t see Munster beating Racing
Nobody said irish provinces were poor but you are comparing with one of wealthiest clubs in europe. Leinster have load of v well paid players and a lot of rest of squad (outside the 23 there today) are young home produced players. V hard to do a valid comparison really as all the clubs bury the figures as best they can
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It’s sort of what Ewans article is about, Irish provinces will never be able to compete again because of finances. I reckon at least 10 of the Saracens squad today either came through the system there or were picked up from semi-professional rugby. I reckon the total wage bill for both franchises would be much closer than many think.
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What a weekend for Irish rugby. Glorious. Simply glorious.
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I’d say it would put Italia 90 in the shade .
Is that not completely at odds with Ewans article?
Looking at saracens squad on wiki there id say 23 or 24 players are ‘blow ins’ for want of a better phrase. Leinster have 8. Three of whom (nagle, cronin and henshaw) were picked up from other provinces
Leinster would hockey us better off losing gloriously to Racing
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We’ll smash the bastards.
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Yeah what I was saying is Ewans article was wrong because the disparity in finances is not really there with Leinster - as well as the recent performances of Leinster and Munster proving it wrong.
Saracens will inevitably have more blow-ins as they have local clubs competing for players. Du Plessis won a European medal with them last year but he came to England to study, spent years playing at a very low level, a season at Nottingham and then Saracens picked him up. He then moved to LI last summer as they apparently offered him more money and age is against him. Lads like Lamositele, Spencer and Kruis are all blow-ins as well but all were picked up from obscure places.
Having said all that, Connacht obviously can plead poverty and I imagine Ulster and Munsters wage bill is also a tier below Leinsters.
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Not significantly Id imagine. Good post. Iv no beef with Saracens or their spending. But they are far from hard done by.