The Six Nations General Banter Thread. *Read Mod Warning. Post no.5*

PhatPiggins

andrewdcs wrote: »

Don't see enough of Wallace at 10 to rate him, how consistent is his place kicking / game management etc. As ever, Italy will try to rough a few people up early on, I really don't want it to be ROG.

We could play Rob Kearney at 10 and still beat Italy

BoarHunter

GiftofGab wrote: »

When is the English and French team been named?

Tomorrow morning 08.00 am for the French 23

darrenh

This guy reckons Ireland are getting a bit "arrogant" after winning the grand slam. Never heard of him but he has 25 caps for Scotland and went on two lions tours.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/johnbeattie/2010/01/i_cant_wait_for_the_six_nation.html#more

SomeFool

Riskymove wrote: »

many think wallace is not an international 10

Clever of Uncle Deccie to give him some gametime at 10 in the A game just in case though wasn't it!

outwest

is croinin injured because if not kidney is making a huge mistake, if flan hasnt played in a few months. and best has 120 min of rugby this year 80 of which for banbridge,

thomond2006

Big boost for Wales:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/8489043.stm

Wales full-back Lee Byrne has had a two-match ban overturned, leaving him free to face England in the Six Nations opener at Twickenham on Saturday.

Expect to see Hook at 12, Roberts at 13 and Byrne at 15.

anonymous_joe

I know it's a bit late, but yay for Kevin McLaughlin.

I'm pretty happy with that team, actually. It's about as strong a side as we could put out at the moment.

danthefan

Also very happy with the team.

Just hope Sexton will get gametime at some stage now, I can't see him starting against France anyway.

Judgement Day

thomond2006 wrote: »

Big boost for Wales:



Expect to see Hook at 12, Roberts at 13 and Byrne at 15.

Damn! England need every bit of help they can get with this one ,but when I wrestle with my schizophrenia I realise that when push comes to shove all I care about is Munster Ireland. Even if Jonny Wilkinson plays for England for the entire Six Nations campaign I want Ireland to win another Triple Crown and Grand Slam.

BoarHunter

the 22 french :

Front row : Thomas Domingo (Clermont), William Servat (Toulouse), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan)
Second row : Lionel Nallet (Racing Metro), Pascal Pape (Stade Français) third row : Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz)
Scrun half : Morgan Parra (Clermont)
Fly half :François Trinh-Duc (Montpellier)
centers : Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Français
wing : 11 Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont), 14 Benjamin Fall (Bayonne),
Full back :Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse)

Bench : Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Français), Luc Ducalcon (Castres), Julien Pierre (Clermont), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse), David Marty (Perpignan), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse).

Barname

what did Shaggy do to Kidney?

Crash

Barname wrote: »

what did Shaggy do to Kidney?

played on the right wing.

JustinDee

Barname wrote: »

what did Shaggy do to Kidney?

He is building a squad. Not performing damage limitation.

Riskymove

SomeFool wrote: »

Clever of Uncle Deccie to give him some gametime at 10 in the A game just in case though wasn't it!

well he is in the squad as third out-half cover so giving him some time was a must on that basis...when did he last play there?

I'd imagine he'd hardly be first choice if ROG and Sexton were both injured though...I presume Humphries would appear

Noffles

thomond2006 wrote: »

Big boost for Wales:



Expect to see Hook at 12, Roberts at 13 and Byrne at 15.

Makes a far better 15 for us,very pleased to see... shame we couldn't sort the scrum half issue out.... England look like a team planned for attacking... as are we, "could" be an entertaining game!!

Hook and Roberts in centre..style and power!

thomond2006

Wales no.9 should be Rees or Roberts.

Roberts is probably more talented but Rees is is better form at the moment.

Cooper has been terrible since he returned to Cardiff.

Noffles

thomond2006 wrote: »

Wales no.9 should be Rees or Roberts.

Roberts is probably more talented but Rees is is better form at the moment.

Cooper has been terrible since he returned to Cardiff.

Will find out at 13:00 anyway, I'd see Rees getting the nod, far from ideal really, especially for this match.

Barname

JustinDee wrote: »

He is building a squad. Not performing damage limitation.

ah, yeah, that explains the continuing reliance on The Bull !

JustinDee

Barname wrote: »

ah, yeah, that explains the continuing reliance on The Bull !

You asked about Horgan.
Who did you think would be the equivalent for the tight-head job?

When you build a squad you don't clean house out particularly following up on a unprecedented season. You blend experience with promise. The Aussie cricket team are experts at doing this and given the teams that Dec Kidney has been fielding, I'd say he, his coaches and team manager also know who to select.

anonymous_joe

BoarHunter wrote: »

the 22 french :

Front row : Thomas Domingo (Clermont), William Servat (Toulouse), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan)
Second row : Lionel Nallet (Racing Metro), Pascal Pape (Stade Français) third row : Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz)
Scrun half : Morgan Parra (Clermont)
Fly half :François Trinh-Duc (Montpellier)
centers : Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Français
wing : 11 Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont), 14 Benjamin Fall (Bayonne),
Full back :Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse)

Bench : Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Français), Luc Ducalcon (Castres), Julien Pierre (Clermont), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse), David Marty (Perpignan), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse).

Whose Benjamin Fall? Can't say I've ever heard of him.

Barname

JustinDee wrote: »

You asked about Horgan.
Who did you think would be the equivalent for the tight-head job?

When you build a squad you don't clean house out particularly following up on a unprecedented season. You blend experience with promise. The Aussie cricket team are experts at doing this and given the teams that Dec Kidney has been fielding, I'd say he, his coaches and team manager also know who to select.

yes, my first question was about Horgan, your response led to other questions....

JustinDee

Barname wrote: »

yes, my first question was about Horgan, your response led to other questions....

Ok-doke.
So who is the in-form obvious replacement for John Hayes?

PhatPiggins

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Whose Benjamin Fall? Can't say I've ever heard of him.

Young guy playing on the wing for Bayonne. Can cover 15 as well, think Ugo Moyne with a brain. Has done some good things in a struggling team will be interested to see how he goes with more go forward ball.

Barname

JustinDee wrote: »

Ok-doke.
So who is the in-form obvious replacement for John Hayes?

but you said...

He is building a squad. Not performing damage limitation.

I guess the plan acc. to you is to have a 38 yo at THP for the WC?

GiftofGab

BoarHunter wrote: »

the 22 french :

Front row : Thomas Domingo (Clermont), William Servat (Toulouse), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan)
Second row : Lionel Nallet (Racing Metro), Pascal Pape (Stade Français) third row : Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz)
Scrun half : Morgan Parra (Clermont)
Fly half :François Trinh-Duc (Montpellier)
centers : Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Français
wing : 11 Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont), 14 Benjamin Fall (Bayonne),
Full back :Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse)

Bench : Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Français), Luc Ducalcon (Castres), Julien Pierre (Clermont), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse), David Marty (Perpignan), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse).

Surprised to see Clerc on the bench. Should be interesting to see this new guy Fall.

anonymous_joe

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Young guy playing on the wing for Bayonne. Can cover 15 as well, think Ugo Moyne with a brain. Has done some good things in a struggling team will be interested to see how he goes with more go forward ball.

Must be some boy to be starting ahead of some of France's wings.

PhatPiggins

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Must be some boy to be starting ahead of some of France's wings.

He's handy alright but Heymans has shown no form and Clerc only slightly more, this season.

Lievremont has a tendancy to favour players from the lesser lights in the T14 sometimes before they're ready. I hope/dont think this wont/will be the case with Fall.

I'd say Boarhunter will some better views on him I've only seen he 3/4 times this season.

BoarHunter

heymans is not playing well these days ,Clerc is off form and struggling since his injury.

Fall is a bet on the future let's hope he capitalize on this but i guess he will. He is very good in the defensive replacement, physical and quick.

I don't really like the fact that Lievremont picks some players for their ability to cover different positions.

There is no cover for Fly half in this line up. Only Elissalde covers 9 and 10 on the bench. Would have like to see boyet given a chance ...

I am not a Fan of ouedraogo but as the staff says : they want a very mobile 3rd row.... means Picamoles who puts Burger on his back twice last november is out of the list ... and bonnaire on the bench !!!:eek:

Parra is very promissing scrum half and you will see him in the RDS soon against leinster. He will learns loads with Elissalde.

JustinDee

Barname wrote: »

but you said...

I guess the plan acc. to you is to have a 38 yo at THP for the WC?

I don't think you get what I pointed out hence the selective quoting.

A replacement for Luke Fitz has been required. The younger of the two names has been selected to start the game in that position ie. Trimble.
If there is the need for a replacement for John Hayes, who should it be? Are they the better option?

Stev_o

Somewhat of a odd French selection, Mas is a bit of a average prop ditto Servat at hooker. Dimengo however is a class act and is a french version of Healy minus a few inches. Tran Duch though will get them nowhere fast so thank god they have Para to fall back on for kicking and honestly i think the centre pairing is a bit slow, David or Marty not a better option? Roguiere has played how many games on the wing this year? Would of liked for the wild card of Andreu to be given a shot

wicklowwonder

JustinDee wrote: »

I don't think you get what I pointed out hence the selective quoting.

A replacement for Luke Fitz has been required. The younger of the two names has been selected to start the game in that position ie. Trimble.
If there is the need for a replacement for John Hayes, who should it be? Are they the better option?

you are spot on it is excellent squad management from kidney! The team have not lost a game in a year, two players are injured 1st game of 6 nations he brings in trimble and mclaughlin two guys guaranteed to fancy their chances at wc next year, horgan and to a lesser extent quinlan might feel they should be there but both these guys could be retired by time wc comes around! Difference between kidney and eos! Kidney has a plan for next year and year after, as part of plan i can see him address the prop situation by giving court and ross game time but he also wants to try win back to back 6 nations so whole scale changes are not an option!

Beanmachine

Is Picamoles injured?

BoarHunter

Beanmachine wrote: »

Is Picamoles injured?

ni. he is just not picked. The staff want a light and fast 3rd row. ouedraogo wouldn't have been my pick though.

If i had the choice i would have picked a starting 3rd row :

Harinordoquy - Chabal - Dussautoire with bonnaire on the bench. But Chabal is picked as a second row in the national team ( he never plays as such in Racing )

Chabal is having a great season as number 8 this year, he has improved his game so much lately ...

but anyway he is injured.

BoarHunter

Stev_o wrote: »

Somewhat of a odd French selection, Mas is a bit of a average prop ditto Servat at hooker. Dimengo however is a class act and is a french version of Healy minus a few inches. Tran Duch though will get them nowhere fast so thank god they have Para to fall back on for kicking and honestly i think the centre pairing is a bit slow, David or Marty not a better option? Roguiere has played how many games on the wing this year? Would of liked for the wild card of Andreu to be given a shot

Mas destroyed the Welsh front row last year and you can ask them. They admitted it themselves

thomond2006

They lose Barcella and can bring in Domingo.

Crazy depth.

BoarHunter

Barcella is impressive though. huge loss for the team. He destroyed everything in front of him so far.

i am looking forward to see Ducalcon as he is very good in TOP14 and not stranger to the 1st position of Castres in the league. If he confirms we will have a very good front row with 4 international props Domingo, Barcella, Ducalcon, Mas and 2 good hookers : Servat and Swarzewsky.

twinytwo

BoarHunter wrote: »

heymans is not playing well these days ,Clerc is off form and struggling since his injury.

Fall is a bet on the future let's hope he capitalize on this but i guess he will. He is very good in the defensive replacement, physical and quick.

I don't really like the fact that Lievremont picks some players for their ability to cover different positions.

There is no cover for Fly half in this line up. Only Elissalde covers 9 and 10 on the bench. Would have like to see boyet given a chance ...

I am not a Fan of ouedraogo but as the staff says : they want a very mobile 3rd row.... means Picamoles who puts Burger on his back twice last november is out of the list ... and bonnaire on the bench !!!:eek:

Parra is very promissing scrum half and you will see him in the RDS soon against leinster. He will learns loads with Elissalde.

Form is temporary class is permenant... we have seen many times over what both clerc and heymans are capable of doing. I think that leaving heymans out fo the squad is madness even if he is playing well below par

danthefan

twinytwo wrote: »

Form is temporary class is permenant...

I absolutely hate that saying.

thomond2006

danthefan wrote: »

I absolutely hate that saying.

It's true though.

Strongly applies to BOD, he had a major dip in "form" during 2008. Then has his best year ever in 2009.

PhatPiggins

danthefan wrote: »

I absolutely hate that saying.

+1 it's completely over used as an excuse to play guys who are out of form/past it. Picking players because they might start playing well at some stage is a no no for me.

danthefan

thomond2006 wrote: »

It's true though.

Strongly applies to BOD, he had a major dip in "form" during 2008. Then has his best year ever in 2009.

It's not true, it's a daft cliche used to justify selection of guys who aren't on form.

twinytwo

danthefan wrote: »

It's not true, it's a daft cliche used to justify selection of guys who aren't on form.

So if drico or kearney were playing badly coming up to the 6N's would you have dropped them??.. i think not.

BoarHunter

twinytwo wrote: »

Form is temporary class is permenant... we have seen many times over what both clerc and heymans are capable of doing. I think that leaving heymans out fo the squad is madness even if he is playing well below par

totally agree with that but the staff is under another perspective- they want to build for the world cup.

I don't particulary like the staff in place- For me the team should gather the right man at the right place.

We should have a big third row with Chabal at 8- he is absolutely huge this season for Racing. instead the staff wants him at 4....

ouedraogo doesn't have his place in the team in my mind... when you have bonnaire, harinordoquy, Picamoles, dussautoire to choose from ...

Number 9 should be Elissalde in my mind experience is key at that position. And we should have a 10 kicker such as Boyet or Wisniewski ( Racing ).

So i think we are heading straight to failure as we want to prepare a WC which is very hazardous to commit to and in the meantime not putting all our chances in the 6N.

danthefan

twinytwo wrote: »

So if drico or kearney were playing badly coming up to the 6N's would you have dropped them??.. i think not.

They're not playing badly. Even if they were they'd still be the best 13 and 15 we have available, they're so much better than the competition. I don't really see what point you're trying to make.

PhatPiggins

twinytwo wrote: »

So if drico or kearney were playing badly coming up to the 6N's would you have dropped them??.. i think not.

Thats not a like for like comparison as we dont have any decent replacements for them.

France have a raft of international class wingers.

twinytwo

BoarHunter wrote: »

totally agree with that but the staff is under another perspective- they want to build for the world cup.

I don't particulary like the staff in place- For me the team should gather the right man at the right place.

We should have a big third row with Chabal at 8- he is absolutely huge this season for Racing. instead the staff wants him at 4....

ouedraogo doesn't have his place in the team in my mind... when you have bonnaire, harinordoquy, Picamoles, dussautoire to choose from ...

Number 9 should be Elissalde in my mind experience is key at that position. And we should have a 10 kicker such as Boyet or Wisniewski ( Racing ).

So i think we are heading straight to failure as we want to prepare a WC which is very hazardous to commit to and in the meantime not putting all our chances in the 6N.

I could never understand that myself.. i always thought he did the most damage coming off the back of the scrum having him at 4 is a waste

twinytwo

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Thats not a like for like comparison as we dont have any decent replacements for them.

France have a raft of international class wingers.

But how many of them have the experience of Heymans and Clerc.
Half a break and either would destroy us. If france had heymans clerc and rougerie in the back 3 we would be in alot of trouble

PhatPiggins

twinytwo wrote: »

But how many of them have the experience of Heymans and Clerc.
Half a break and either would destroy us. If france had heymans clerc and rougerie in the back 3 we would be in alot of trouble

There playing Scotland though,might as well try the new combinations against them.

Having seen the way that back 3 you mention have been playing this season I wouldn't be overly worried to be honest, we have an equal/better combo ourselves and more importantly all our guys are on form.

BoarHunter

the group is named for Scotland and ireland. There should be very little change in between games.

BoarHunter

PhatPiggins wrote: »

There playing Scotland though,might as well try the new combinations against them.

Having seen the way that back 3 you mention have been playing this season I wouldn't be overly worried to be honest, we have an equal/better combo ourselves and more importantly all our guys are on form.

Well i didn't find Kearney at his best lately. i happened to see him knocking on a few garryowen which i was very surprised to witness ... these balls usually have his name on it. i didn't find him awesome against LI either.

he is working on carrying the ball and we can see him more adventurous in the counterattack but this has its downside.

when you receive a ball knowing that you are going to kick it straight away, you commit fully to the catch.

when you want to run the ball after the catch, then you have to get an eye on the ball and the other at the opposition

Kearney is in a phase of improvement ATM and he might get out of it as a great full back, much more complete player.