The prospect of paying in the region of £250,000 (€328,000) compensation to Wasps in light of Marty Moore having signed a heads of agreement with the Premiership club left Leinster with little option but to reluctantly give up on their attempts to keep the 24-year-old tight-head.
After several weeks of negotiations with Leinster, who followed up a one-year offer with a reduced two-year contract, Moore decided to accept the three-year deal on the table from Wasps. As reported in The Irish Times two weeks ago, he informed team-mates and Leinster management of his decision to join the Coventry-based Premiership club.
More lucrative
Aside from being financially more lucrative, one of the main attractions of the move for Moore, who has won over 50 caps for Leinster and ten for Ireland, was the prospect of being coached by the Wasps director of rugby
Dai Young
.
A three-time Lions tourist who won 50 caps at loosehead for Wales, Young has been a long-serving head coach, firstly with the Cardiff Blues for eight years, and at Wasps since 2011.
Informed of Moore's decision, and on foot of The Irish Times report, Leo Cullen, Joe Schmidt and Ireland scrum coach Greg Feek all re-entered the fray and strove to persuade the player to remain.
After days of discussions, Moore was of a mind to stay put, but Wasps were determined to complete the signing. Legal advice was sought by both parties, and with Wasps entitled to roughly one year of his salary as compensation should the deal have fallen through, Leinster backed down.
Ironically, Moore suffered a torn hamstring in Leinster's defeat to Wasps on Saturday and has been sidelined for six to eight weeks. Given the hamstring injury which has sidelined Mike Ross, it would have been interesting to see if Moore had been picked in his stead. Whatever his fate with Ireland over the ensuing three seasons, his loss is significant for Leinster, all the more so given the IRFU are not permitting the provinces to sign overseas tightheads, even though they downgraded Ross from an international to a provincial contract, leaving Leinster to conclude deals with both tightheads.
They have re-signed the 36-year-old Ross for one year, but have lost out on his 24-year-old understudy. Big part
Leinster confirmed his departure in a press release, which quoted Cullen thus: “Naturally we are disappointed to be losing a player of Marty’s calibre in particular having invested in his development over the years but we wish him well. Once he recovers from his hamstring issue we hope that Marty has a big part to play in our Guinness Pro12 run-in.”
Moore was quoted on both websites: “I’m really pleased to have signed a contract with Wasps next season. I am looking forward to working with Dai Young and his coaching team as well as the squad and am excited about the challenge ahead in the Aviva Premiership. However, up until the move I am fully committed to Leinster Rugby and I would like to thank everyone here as well as the Leinster fans for the support they have shown me.”
Young was quoted on Wasps’ website: “Marty has already proven his international pedigree with Ireland and, at only 24, he has plenty of years ahead of him to continue his development and become a top-class tight-head. His addition will strengthen the depth we have in this key position . . .”
