Leinster strive to keep hold of Marty Moore

After Marty Moore's decision to accept a three-year offer from English Premiership club Wasps, reported in The Irish Times last week, Leinster and the Irish management have seemingly striven to dissuade the 24-year-old tighthead from leaving the province, and may ultimately succeed in doing so.

After reported interventions from members of the Irish and Leinster management, Moore has been persuaded that his future best lies with the province.

However, discussions are continuing on a daily basis, and legal advice is now being taken.

Opening two matches

Moore has averaged more than 20 minutes per match as a replacement in all 10 of Ireland’s matches in their last two back-to-back titles, and after missing out on the World Cup due to a broken metatarsal, was yesterday recalled to Ireland’s 35-man squad for their opening two matches at home to Wales and away to France.

Given the age profile of Mike Ross (36) and Nathan White (34), Moore is seen as one of the future contenders for the tighthead side of the scrum for many years to come, although despite playing more than 50 times for his native province, his game time at Leinster this season has been limited.

Ross has been granted a one-year provincial contract by Leinster after being downgraded from an IRFU international contract.

Plenty of experience

Ironically, Leinster are due to face Wasps at the Ricoh Arena in their final European Champions Cup pool match on Saturday and it remains to be seen whether Moore will feature in that game.

Moore had been attracted by the prospect of being coached by Dai Young, who won 51 caps for Wales as a player and made three Test appearances for the Lions, with whom he toured three times.

But at a young age for a prop with plenty of experience under his belt already, losing Moore to the English Premiership would be a major blow both for Leinster and Irish rugby.