Ireland Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread

CIARAN_BOYLE

Next WC is a long time away. Below is 39players that you haven't mentioned and I would not be surprised to see any of them travelling and making squads in the next WC, they could easily step up.

LH: Paddy Mac, Kilcoyne, McGrath, Buckley
H:Sherry, JHW, Annette
TH:Hagan, Moore, Macklin, Bent, White
L:Nagle, Foley, Kearney, Henderson
BR:Ruddock, Ryan, Gilsenan, DOC2.0
SH: McGrath, Cooney
OH: Jackson, Keatley
Center: McFadden, EOM, Griffin, McSharry, Hanrahan, Spence, Whitten
Back Three:Jones, Gilroy, TOH, Conway, Zebo, Layden, LOD, Hudson

I know Ferris is kinda young but he won't be playing in the next WC. With his knees the way they are I honestly think he has two more seasons at most before retirement:(:(

Also they are trialing 23 man squads at international level in the AIs this year, they should be adopted afterwards so we could see 23 man squads.

dtpc191991

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Next WC is a long time away. Below is 39players that you haven't mentioned and I would not be surprised to see any of them travelling and making squads in the next WC, they could easily step up.

LH: Paddy Mac, Kilcoyne, McGrath, Buckley
H:Sherry, JHW, Annette
TH:Hagan, Moore, Macklin, Bent, White
L:Nagle, Foley, Kearney, Henderson
BR:Ruddock, Ryan, Gilsenan, DOC2.0
SH: McGrath, Cooney
OH: Jackson, Keatley
Center: McFadden, EOM, Griffin, McSharry, Hanrahan, Spence, Whitten
Back Three:Jones, Gilroy, TOH, Conway, Zebo, Layden, LOD, Hudson

I know Ferris is kinda young but he won't be playing in the next WC. With his knees the way they are I honestly think he has two more seasons at most before retirement:(:(

Also they are trialing 23 man squads at international level in the AIs this year, they should be adopted afterwards so we could see 23 man squads.

Henderson could play flanker as well as lock. He would be a good repalacement for Ferris as he seems to be cut from the same cloth. I was just picking the best team based on current form and talent. I would fully expect the above you mentioned to be travelling and getting games at the pool stages. 23 man squads should be good as it will allow for TH and LH cover on the bench.

Best of luck Geordan

http://www.espnscrum.com/scrum/rugby/story/164466.html?addata=chromium

Teferi

Sound lad, very handy player, good servant.

CatFromHue

55 starts plus 17 appearances from the bench and scored 18 tries ain't too shabby at all.

CiaranMT

To win 72 caps in the same period that the Swerve and Kearney have been around is some achievement. A player I always liked, will always remember his ridiculous DG from halfway against France when we beat them in Landsdowne Road.

RoundBox11

This might be the wrong thread for this, but i was on youtube and i found the highlights to the O2 challenge match in the Aviva 2 years ago. When i watched it again i was amazed (again) of how good Luke Marshall was. I know the opposition wasn't great and that it was just an exhibition match, but he was really... really good. He completely dominated the game. So that got me wondering why hasn't he broken through yet in the Rabo? I mean surely if Ulster were to nurture this guys talents he could really make some noise for Ireland in a few years!

Heres the links to the first and second half highlights (it only shows the tries, it's just there was a lot of them).

Craig Gilroy, Paddy Jackson, Iain Henderson, Martin Moore etc. all had good games too. It was a while ago now tho.

http://youtu.be/x3bkmNv7Lns

http://youtu.be/DTVyWRv8yfk

shuffol

He was head and shoulders above anybody else on the pitch and there were some fantastic young players playing in that game.

RoundBox11

Yeah exactly! His passing and kicking were superb, he ran some great lines and the tacklers were just bouncing off him.

He should be ahead of spence at 12 imo. Maybe in a year or so he'll overtake wallace. Hopefully anyway.

irishbucsfan

He's been very unlucky with injuries this year. Never got a chance.

Ulster have massive depth in the centres coming through.

bilston

He broke his cheekbone in the first half of the season which put him out for a couple of months and then when he came back he sprained his ankle which put him out for another 6 weeks or so, when he eventually came back from that it's been suggested that Ulster told him to write of this season for Ulster and to concentrate on getting himself fit and getting gametime with Ballymena.

I'd be fairly confident we'll see a lot of him next season...if he stays fit...

But you look at the young centres at Ulster and realise there's a fair bit of talent coming through. Marshall, like all of them, will have to work hard to get into the side. This is a good thing though as it will make them all better players.

Cave 25
Spence 22
Allen 21
Marshall 21
Farrell 19

Throw in the fact that Peter Nelson can play 13 and Paddy Jackson can play 12 then there is even more depth, not to mention Paddy Wallace (obviously), Jared Payne, Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble who can all play centre!

.ak

bilston wrote: »

He broke his cheekbone in the first half of the season which put him out for a couple of months and then when he came back he sprained his ankle which put him out for another 6 weeks or so, when he eventually came back from that it's been suggested that Ulster told him to write of this season for Ulster and to concentrate on getting himself fit and getting gametime with Ballymena.

I'd be fairly confident we'll see a lot of him next season...if he stays fit...

But you look at the young centres at Ulster and realise there's a fair bit of talent coming through. Marshall, like all of them, will have to work hard to get into the side. This is a good thing though as it will make them all better players.

Cave 25
Spence 22
Allen 21
Marshall 21
Farrell 19

Throw in the fact that Peter Nelson can play 13 and Paddy Jackson can play 12 then there is even more depth, not to mention Paddy Wallace (obviously), Jared Payne, Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble who can all play centre!

Get him in a Leinster shirt then.

RoundBox11

.ak wrote: »

Get him in a Leinster shirt then.

I'd say thatd do him wonders. Leinster could really do with someone like him. A move to munster would be good for him too. Nothing against Ulster, just because they've so much depth in the centre

profitius

Ulster have more centers than the rest of the provinces put together!

TheKeenMachine

.ak wrote: »

Get him in a Leinster shirt then.

To be fair, Leinster are not short on centres either with Darce, Drico, Ferg, EOM, Macken as well as Reid, Fitz and if we're in real trouble Jonny or Isa.

Fireball07

TheKeenMachine wrote: »

To be fair, Leinster are not short on centres either with Darce, Drico, Ferg, EOM, Macken as well as Reid, Fitz and if we're in real trouble Jonny or Isa.

I think the point is that Darcy and O'Driscoll are both getting on, EOM is good, of course, but isn't Macken a 13 aswell?? And I rate McFadden at 12 but his versatility hurts him a bit, I think, and I'm not sure he'll ever be a top class 12, which Marshall might become.

And as for Munster, we do have Hanrahan coming through, and we have Earls already. But outside of them, there's a few players but none of whom like they'll ever be international standard- Dineen, Barnes, etc.

Hagz

Sure Leinster will just get back McSharry.

phog

I saw a tweet from Ml Corcoran yesterday morning and if I understood him he was saying that becasue of the way the IRB have structure the tours now (3 test games) that it will be 12 years again before Ireland play the All Blacks in NZ. That will probably mean that most of the guys in any of the provincial squads even the lads that are on the JWC squad will be close to retiring without ever having played there. In my opinion that's very disappointing.

totallegend

phog wrote: »

I saw a tweet from Ml Corcoran yesterday morning and if I understood him he was saying that becasue of the way the IRB have structure the tours now (3 test games) that it will be 12 years again before Ireland play the All Blacks in NZ. That will probably mean that most of the guys in any of the provincial squads even the lads that are on the JWC squad will be close to retiring without ever having played there. In my opinion that's very disappointing.

They just need to get the finger out and go on the lions tour in 2017...

Yeah, it would be a shame alright

Why does every article with O'Gara make me cringe these days? It's as if they just put any and all bad news in the ones that O'Gara headlines

http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/irish-international/2012/0619/325597-ogara-shrugs-off-hansens-comments/

O'Gara featured as a replacement in the first and second Tests and could resume fly-half duties if Jonathan Sexton is moved to inside centre in place of the injured Gordon D'Arcy.

jm08

Deleted User wrote: »

Why does every article with O'Gara make me cringe these days? It's as if they just put any and all bad news in the ones that O'Gara headlines

http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/irish-international/2012/0619/325597-ogara-shrugs-off-hansens-comments/

I think your post is far more cringe worthy. You need to get out more

Fishooks12

Deleted User wrote: »

Why does every article with O'Gara make me cringe these days? It's as if they just put any and all bad news in the ones that O'Gara headlines

http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/irish-international/2012/0619/325597-ogara-shrugs-off-hansens-comments/

Don't really see what's wrong with anything he's said there Emmet

Fishooks12

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Don't really see what's wrong with anything he's said there Emmet

nothing that he said. That's not what I meant. I said that everytime he's in the headline, there's bad news snuck into the article. Whether it be cringey comments like the above international class thing, or else bad news such as ;

Jonathan Sexton, probably one of the best out halfs in the world, stepping into the 12 Jersey for an entire game when we've got two 12s available to us is a dire situation.

ROG is a 10. Sexton is a 10.

One of them plays, one of them subs.

jm08

Deleted User wrote: »

nothing that he said. That's not what I meant. I said that everytime he's in the headline, there's bad news snuck into the article. Whether it be cringey comments like the above international class thing, or else bad news such as ;

Jonathan Sexton, probably one of the best out halfs in the world, stepping into the 12 Jersey for an entire game when we've got two 12s available to us is a dire situation.

ROG is a 10. Sexton is a 10.

One of them plays, one of them subs.

Dan Carter, who is the best outhalf in the world, had no problem doing it for most of the season for his club and I'm pretty sure the reason he was there was not because they didn't have a 12 to play there.

Conters, Wilkinson etc. among others gets on with it as well. Even JJ Hanrahan just gets on with it for the U20s.

jm08

jm08 wrote: »

Dan Carter, who is the best outhalf in the world, had no problem doing it for most of the season for his club and I'm pretty sure the reason he was there was not because they didn't have a 12 to play there.

Conters, Wilkinson etc. among others gets on with it as well. Even JJ Hanrahan just gets on with it for the U20s.

We do have a 12. One who's played out of his skin this season. His name's Paddy Wallace.

And Carter did it because he was injured.

And because he played 12 before, plenty of times.

In fact, as usual, your overt defence is misplaced.

jm08

Deleted User wrote: »

We do have a 12. One who's played out of his skin this season. His name's Paddy Wallace.

And Carter did it because he was injured.

And because he played 12 before, plenty of times.

In fact, as usual, your overt defence is misplaced.

Paddy Wallace hasn't played in over a month and has been on holiday, so probably not doing too much training, even if he was keeping himself in good nick. He is only there in case anyone else gets injured in training.

Why would Carter play 12 because he is injured? Surely if you are injured you wouldn't be able to play 12 or 10?

You do Sexton an injustice - he was good at 12. Made a great break (only one) in the game at 12 last week.

Tox56

Not only are we playing a short term option at 12, we are playing a short term option at 10, and playing our long-term 10 at 12!

The only possible gain is short term, and even then we aren't going to set the world alight if NZ prepare for ROG and can shut him down in attack. All this while completely neglecting the long term.

In answer to above Carter was protecting his groin by not kicking as much

irishbucsfan

Carter played 12 because his injury restricted his kicking, they needed another 5/8 to cover.

jm08

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Carter played 12 because his injury restricted his kicking, they needed another 5/8 to cover.

Not so sure about that - he played twice at 10 at the start of the season (Mar/April) and then moved to 12 for his next 5 games, then back to 10 (more than likely to give him a game or two at 10 before the Test matches).

totallegend

jm08 wrote: »

Not so sure about that - he played twice at 10 at the start of the season (Mar/April) and then moved to 12 for his next 5 games, then back to 10 (more than likely to give him a game or two at 10 before the Test matches).

You were wrong, accept it, move on.