France V Ireland – Stade de France, Paris. Sunday 4th March 15:00 RTE2 & BBC2

irishbucsfan

Ardillaun wrote: »

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I think people are making too much of the 4 internationals in a row bit. I don't think it'll take that much of a toll on these guys that we need to be resting players specifically because of it. These guys just had 2 weeks off.

If anyone needs to be rested it would be Ferris anyway.

Healy seems to take a bad knock in every game these days. He looks like he needs a break more than anybody.

In fairness he looks like he's been hit by a car everytime he plays regardless of how rested he is.

jm08

irishbucsfan wrote: »

DOC is a poor defensive lineout option and is 6 inches shorter than Gray. But Tuohy obviously doesn't have a "bit of dog" in him, nor is he one of the lads, nor can he do a job, nor is he honest. Or any of those other intangibles.

What Tuohy excels in as a rugby player, he more than loses out in being from somewhere other than Munster.

If we want a defensive lineout player, pick Toner. If we want a work horse, pick McCarthy, if we want a ball carrier, pick Tuohy. If we want the best blend of all those things pick Ryan.

6 from 10 = 4 (doc). 5 from 10 = 5 (tuohy). Fact. if you can't manage the facts, there isn't much hope of the intangibles I suppose.

do you think ryan is getting picked as he is from munster or do you think he is being picked because he is the best blend?

whats tuohy's best attribute and do Ireland need him for that particular aspect of his game?

totallegend

jm08 wrote: »

6 from 10 = 4 (doc). 5 from 10 = 5 (tuohy). Fact. if you can't manage the facts, there isn't much hope of the intangibles I suppose.

do you think ryan is getting picked as he is from munster or do you think he is being picked because he is the best blend?

whats tuohy's best attribute and do Ireland need him for that particular aspect of his game?

Have you ever posted anything on boards that wasn't defending a Munster player or criticising a non-Munster player?

If you genuinely, honestly think Tuohy is not playing better rugby this season than O'Callaghan, then you don't watch rugby, there's no other explanation. Either that or you actually are Declan Kidney.

Tox56

jm08 wrote: »

6 from 10 = 4 (doc). 5 from 10 = 5 (tuohy). Fact. if you can't manage the facts, there isn't much hope of the intangibles I suppose.

do you think ryan is getting picked as he is from munster or do you think he is being picked because he is the best blend?

whats tuohy's best attribute and do Ireland need him for that particular aspect of his game?

I ask the same question as was posed above, do you actually believe DOC is playing better than Tuohy, and is a better player to have in the squad?

JRant

jm08 wrote: »

JRant wrote: »

Having only played 3 games at 7 so far how does he have the "technical ability and brain" to play there?
It's a bit rich to say he'd drop SOB while our backrow is functioning pretty well and then say Murray has to start despite playing like a drain last week.
Your right it is only my opinion but I like to make my mind up based on facts.

you see it in some players - you know they are going to be a bit special. toland reckons omahoney is going to be a world class player. you might find that difficult to understand as you can only deal with fact.

and the backrow is not functioning well considering the 3 great players that are there.

You certainly do see it in some players alright, like POC and BOD. Have yet to see that from POM yet, its probably a bit to early to call tbh. I've no problem with players like him coming into the team, lord knows we need to start developing a squad with real options in as many positions as possible. That is not what we are getting though, atm we seem to have a situation where some players are just parachuted into the team on little more than a whim while other are left scratching their heads in bewilderment.

In what ways are they not playing well? They seem to function as a pretty effective unit when they play together. They may not be making as many yards with ball in hand but thats to be expected with such agricultural service from our SH.

Cpt_Blackbeard

DOC is picked for what he does in the tight. He is the most important man in our choke tackle system (followed probably by best). He is behind Ryan for Munster due to the packs need for another carrier. A carrier the Irish pack do not need to the same extent.

For the system Ireland currently look to be playing, DOC probably has the most adequate skillset. Personally, I'd choose Ryan over DOC as his aggression makes up for his slightly less impressive tight work and his general play is a level above DOCs. Tuohy would only really come into the equation if we dropped a carrier from our backrow.

Flincher

This weekend is when the questions about the backrow will be answered.

The current combination has played important games against Australia, Italy x2 and Wales x2. Australia didn't have a backrow that day (McCalman is a below average 8, and was playing out of position at 7). Both times against Wales we've lost out to Warbuton, and we've done fine against Italy.

I think the backrow has won 3, lost 2. As well as the 3 lads might be playing individually, there are still question marks of whether the combination can deal with a top quality backrow.

I guess we'll find out on Sunday.

Hype710

Was watching a DVD of the Ireland France game from 2009, and in it POC is the tighthead scrummager and DOC is behind the loosehead. Does anyone know when they switched roles as it appears DOC's scrummaging is seen as a reason for picking him ahead of Ryan?

shuffol

jm08 wrote: »

6 from 10 = 4 (doc). 5 from 10 = 5 (tuohy). Fact. if you can't manage the facts, there isn't much hope of the intangibles I suppose.

do you think ryan is getting picked as he is from munster or do you think he is being picked because he is the best blend?

whats tuohy's best attribute and do Ireland need him for that particular aspect of his game?

Tuohys an outstanding all round second row, the fact that you dont appreciate this suggests to me that you've limited interest in rugby and are just here for a bit of a wind up. The aspect of his game that I think Ireland could most benefit from is not his ball carrying per se but the fact that he can hold the ball in his hands whilst resisting the urge to dive at the feet of the nearest defender. We've 3 players in our pack who's first instinct when they receive the ball is look for contact or hit the deck, Ross, POC and DOC. Personally I think this is too many, POC and Ross are indispensable so that leaves DOC who offers a lot around the maul but little else. Watch Tuohy play for Ulster and you'll see him pop up all over the field linking with forwards and backs, this is the aspect of his game Ireland could most benefit from.

JustinDee

irishbucsfan wrote: »

DOC is a poor defensive lineout option and is 6 inches shorter than Gray

Richie Gray is 7" tall??
Donncha O'Callaghan is 6"6. Same as Paul O'Connell.

DDC1990

JustinDee wrote: »

Richie Gray is 7" tall??
Donncha O'Callaghan is 6"6. Same as Paul O'Connell.

DOC 6'6, Richie Gray 6'10.

JRant

Flincher wrote: »

This weekend is when the questions about the backrow will be answered.

The current combination has played important games against Australia, Italy x2 and Wales x2. Australia didn't have a backrow that day (McCalman is a below average 8, and was playing out of position at 7). Both times against Wales we've lost out to Warbuton, and we've done fine against Italy.

I think the backrow has won 3, lost 2. As well as the 3 lads might be playing individually, there are still question marks of whether the combination can deal with a top quality backrow.

I guess we'll find out on Sunday.

We didn't lose to Wales twice because of our backrow, it had more to do with trying to kick the leather off the ball every time we got it.
When we play to our strenghts of getting our strike runners attacking the line with pace we look impressive. However all we seem to be doing is shoveling slow ball to stationary players.

heybaby

JRant wrote: »

We didn't lose to Wales twice because of our backrow, it had more to do with trying to kick the leather off the ball every time we got it.
When we play to our strenghts of getting our strike runners attacking the line with pace we look impressive. However all we seem to be doing is shoveling slow ball to stationary players.

I agree, the amount of times I have mentioned Irelands obsession with hoofing the ball away with box kicks and garrowens, is unreal. I simply cannot understand the arrogance/stupidity of Kidney thinking that we can win games by constantly gifting the opposition possession. You keep possession of the ball and the likelihood is that you will be on the winning side. We will lose the game tomorrow because we will give away silly penalties, as we did in the first couple of minutes against italy and wales, it is inevitable, this team weer so disciplined in 2009 but their discipline leaves alot to be desired these days.

We will lose the game because we wont win our restarts, we hardly ever do, tmrw will not be any different. Kearney is the only world class catcher of an aerial ball we have, its simply not enough athat we cannot contest aerial challenges, if you cant compete in the air, you gift possession and momentum to the opposition.

We will lose this game because we wont be able to capitalise from french mistakes that will inevitable come. Invariably there will come acouple of periods when we are in attack but owing to our inherent inability to offload in the tackle, spread the ball wide, be creative, run angles, receive the ball while running at full pace, we will scupper our own chances, thus giving the partisan home crowd encouragement and gifting momentum to the home team.

I'll say it again, we'll get a gutsy effort for the lads tmrw, but Paris will continue to be the graveyard its been. Ireland have been in decline since 2009, I have seen zero to suggest otherwise in this campaign. I predict defeat tmrw and against england and kidney to go after thsi 6 nations.

ironingbored

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

DOC is picked for what he does in the tight. He is the most important man in our choke tackle system (followed probably by best).

I don't remember us having actually doing a successful choke bar once in the last two games.

This would however be a ridiculous reason to include someone who in all other aspects is miles behind Ryan and IMHO Touhy and/or McCarthy. It's a little like the "John Hayes is a world class lifter" argument towards the twilight of his career.

You could argue for Stringer's inclusion on the basis that he's an excellent proponent of the tap tackle.

jm08

totallegend wrote: »

Have you ever posted anything on boards that wasn't defending a Munster player or criticising a non-Munster player?

If you genuinely, honestly think Tuohy is not playing better rugby this season than O'Callaghan, then you don't watch rugby, there's no other explanation. Either that or you actually are Declan Kidney.

tuohy is playing great for ulster, but there are a few things that are going against him at the moment.

1. he hasn't been involved with the irish squad since the summer tour to new zealand. since then, he has been out of form but mainly injured when it came to international duty.

2. if paul o'connell played for ulster, he would be starting for ireland and more than likely if his ulster partners was doc or ryan, they would have them starting as well instead of another lock whose main attribute is ball carrying. maybe if sob & pom were rotated, he might be useful. tuohy as a ball carrier instead of sean o'brien would be handy, and pom as a lineout option would help out there where tuohy isn't so strong.

jm08

shuffol wrote: »

Tuohys an outstanding all round second row, the fact that you dont appreciate this suggests to me that you've limited interest in rugby and are just here for a bit of a wind up. The aspect of his game that I think Ireland could most benefit from is not his ball carrying per se but the fact that he can hold the ball in his hands whilst resisting the urge to dive at the feet of the nearest defender. We've 3 players in our pack who's first instinct when they receive the ball is look for contact or hit the deck, Ross, POC and DOC. Personally I think this is too many, POC and Ross are indispensable so that leaves DOC who offers a lot around the maul but little else. Watch Tuohy play for Ulster and you'll see him pop up all over the field linking with forwards and backs, this is the aspect of his game Ireland could most benefit from.

tuohy is playing well for Ulster at the moment. but he has been injured a fair bit and his form can be patchy. I think he is great in the loose, but I don't rate him as anything special in the lineout and he is lucky in that muller is a pretty good operator in that respect. Putting him with toner would be a good plan.

the reason why poc takes on so much ball is because he never, ever gets turned over and is outstanding at securing ball.

at club level heislip & sean o'brien rampage around the pitch - thats their job. You don't see them doing that so much at international level even though it is still there job. there is a good chance that tuohy might have the same difficulty when and if he moves up a gear.

and its non of your buiness what my interest is in rugby - its a message board ffs. if you don't like what i say or you think i'm thick, or i'm trying to wind you up, why don't you just ignore me - isn't that the best way to deal with a wind up merchant

totallegend

jm08 wrote: »

tuohy is playing great for ulster, but there are a few things that are going against him at the moment.

1. he hasn't been involved with the irish squad since the summer tour to new zealand. since then, he has been out of form but mainly injured when it came to international duty.

2. if paul o'connell played for ulster, he would be starting for ireland and more than likely if his ulster partners was doc or ryan, they would have them starting as well instead of another lock whose main attribute is ball carrying. maybe if sob & pom were rotated, he might be useful. tuohy as a ball carrier instead of sean o'brien would be handy, and pom as a lineout option would help out there where tuohy isn't so strong.

3. The coach for the national team has an unswerving loyalty to O'Callaghan which defies all rational explanation. The reason Tuohy hasn't been in the squad is because Kidney doesn't pick him, which is what I'm giving out about!

People are talking like having another ball carrier in the pack in Tuohy (or Ryan) would be a bad thing. I don't understand this, especially when people are slating O'Brien and Heaslip for not carrying enough.

PS, if Tuohy's lineout work is not great, this is not a reason why he should be behind DOC, who is not a lineout specialist either.

Look, I just get frustrated that form is rewarded in certain players and others keep their places regardless of whether or not there is a better player available. If you want to keep defending DOC, that's fine, but it's nonsense. Even his provincial coach has realised that there are better options.

Tuohy is weak in the lineout?

Clegg

The whole "DOC does a lot of work in the tight" excuse doesn't wash with me. He's playing the same as he has for the last few years. Full of grunt and effort but not much good work actually being done.

Tuohy would be my preference for starting lock but Ryan would also be an improvement over DOC at this stage. He did more good work in 20 minutes than DOC did the entire game against Italy.

We could actually use another decent carrier in the pack. Tuohy/Ryan would at the very least offer the same amount of grunt as DOC while also offering a better ball carrying option. I'd be much happier with one of those 2 in the starting 15.

totallegend

Kassandra Slimy Catfish wrote: »

Tuohy is weak in the lineout?

Look a couple of posts up, apparently O'Brien doesn't rampage around the pitch either.

Annabella1

Match is tomorrow lads...Why is this thread dominated by a non squad member?? Lets stick to the match 22!

danthefan

jm08 wrote: »

tuohy is playing well for Ulster at the moment. but he has been injured a fair bit and his form can be patchy. I think he is great in the loose, but I don't rate him as anything special in the lineout and he is lucky in that muller is a pretty good operator in that respect. Putting him with toner would be a good plan.

the reason why poc takes on so much ball is because he never, ever gets turned over and is outstanding at securing ball.

at club level heislip & sean o'brien rampage around the pitch - thats their job. You don't see them doing that so much at international level even though it is still there job. there is a good chance that tuohy might have the same difficulty when and if he moves up a gear.

and its non of your buiness what my interest is in rugby - its a message board ffs. if you don't like what i say or you think i'm thick, or i'm trying to wind you up, why don't you just ignore me - isn't that the best way to deal with a wind up merchant

You're all for letting Murray play his way into international rugby, despite patently being off the pace at the moment, yet Touhy shouldn't get a chance based on some hypothetical nonsense. Shockingly, Murray is from Munster and Touhy isn't.

Fireball07

ironingbored wrote: »

I don't remember us having actually doing a successful choke bar once in the last two games.

Tbf we did have one excellent one against Italy, and DOC was involved. But, as you say, it's not a reason to be included...

totallegend

Annabella1 wrote: »

Match is tomorrow lads...Why is this thread dominated by a non squad member?? Lets stick to the match 22!

Fair point, but I think most of us are exercised by Ryan being on the bench rather than the Tuohy issue.

Annabella1

totallegend wrote: »

Fair point, but I think most of us are exercised by Ryan being on the bench rather than the Tuohy issue.

If we win tomorrow...it will be the case of Tuohy who??!:D

irishbucsfan

JustinDee wrote: »

irishbucsfan wrote: »

DOC is a poor defensive lineout option and is 6 inches shorter than Gray

Richie Gray is 7" tall??
Donncha O'Callaghan is 6"6. Same as Paul O'Connell.

Yeah sorry I was wrong there. I'm on my phonr here so I didn't look it up. The point is that both him and Tuohy are a lot smaller than Gray, so the point that Tuohy shouldn't be picked because he's "5/6" inches shorter than Gray is rubbish.

Tuohy should be involved. As for the choke tackle, Tuohy caused a turnover last night doing exactly that. But sure ye know hopefully the lads will give it a lash.

Clegg

Annabella1 wrote: »

If we win tomorrow...it will be the case of Tuohy who??!:D

Eh no it wouldn't.

We'd still be calling for the best players to play for Ireland. And DOC is no longer one of the top 2 locks in Ireland.

B0X

Annabella1 wrote: »

If we win tomorrow...it will be the case of Tuohy who??!:D

Only unless DOC gets a hat trick...

sting60

DOC should not be near the bench never mind the first team.How many penaltys will he give away before he is taken off.Everybody with any knowledge of rugby knows fake tan should not be in Paris except his father.I believe the French will target Earls/Darcy partnership and will destroy them.I have promised I would not mention [Pyelonephritis] as I already have got two red cards from the date of his appointment.

Fishooks12

sting60 wrote: »

DOC should not be near the bench never mind the first team.How many penaltys will he give away before he is taken off.Everybody with any knowledge of rugby knows fake tan should not be in Paris except his father.I believe the French will target Earls/Darcy partnership and will destroy them.I have promised I would not mention [Pyelonephritis] as I already have got two red cards from the date of his appointment.

he hasn't given away any in our 2 opening games, in fact he's played well enough although D Ryan should still start

phog

sting60 wrote: »

DOC should not be near the bench never mind the first team.How many penaltys will he give away before he is taken off.Everybody with any knowledge of rugby knows fake tan should not be in Paris except his father.I believe the French will target Earls/Darcy partnership and will destroy them.I have promised I would not mention [Pyelonephritis] as I already have got two red cards from the date of his appointment.

Our worst offender in this years 6Ns is SOB on 4, closely followed by Darcy on 3.

In the W/C Healy was the highest offender on 8, with DOC on 5 and SOB on 4.

but don't let the facts get in the way of good rant.

Tox56

phog wrote: »

Our worst offender in this years 6Ns is SOB on 4, closely followed by Darcy on 3.

In the W/C Healy was the highest offender on 8, with DOC on 5 and SOB on 4.

but don't let the facts get in the way of good rant.

Is there any way to know what those are for?

irishbucsfan

Tox56 wrote: »

phog wrote: »

Our worst offender in this years 6Ns is SOB on 4, closely followed by Darcy on 3.

In the W/C Healy was the highest offender on 8, with DOC on 5 and SOB on 4.

but don't let the facts get in the way of good rant.

Is there any way to know what those are for?

Id imagine breakdown infringements, considering how much DArcy does on the ground.

Havebt got a problem with anyone's discipline this season except for SOB, he needs to cut out the sloppy breakdown infringements, but I'm sure that'll come.

duckysauce

we won't mind this time tomorrow after we have beaten les blues, have the faith and go on.

Tox56

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Id imagine breakdown infringements, considering how much DArcy does on the ground.

Havebt got a problem with anyone's discipline this season except for SOB, he needs to cut out the sloppy breakdown infringements, but I'm sure that'll come.

I presumed that, but he hadn't stood out as being particularly bad at conceding penalties there. Probably wasn't paying enough attention.

totallegend

duckysauce wrote: »

we won't mind this time tomorrow after we have beaten les blues, have the faith and go on.

If the French exploits at the World Cup taught us anything, it's that teams who are playing poorly can turn it around, going from losing to Tonga in the pool stage to almost winning the WC final a few weeks later.

We can do it, we need pretty much everything to go our way but it is possible.

Flincher

JRant wrote: »

We didn't lose to Wales twice because of our backrow, it had more to do with trying to kick the leather off the ball every time we got it.
When we play to our strenghts of getting our strike runners attacking the line with pace we look impressive. However all we seem to be doing is shoveling slow ball to stationary players.

Agree with that to some extent. We didn't lose the Welsh game because of the backrow, but I think its fair to say that our backrow came out second best against theirs both at the World Cup and a few weeks ago. As well as the 3 lads are playing individually, they haven't dominated a top class backrow yet.

The kicking issue sometimes could be a result of how well the pack is doing. I think the more we struggle up front, the more we tend to kick the ball away. In both Welsh games, we kicked from hand over 30 times, compared to 18 last week.

sting60

The French are going to kill us at 12 and 13 my half blind dog can see that.Why has the worst coach in Irsh history not been sacked,jobs for the boys.[He won tournaments because other countries were building for bigger things]

molloyjh

totallegend wrote: »

duckysauce wrote: »

we won't mind this time tomorrow after we have beaten les blues, have the faith and go on.

If the French exploits at the World Cup taught us anything, it's that teams who are playing poorly can turn it around, going from losing to Tonga in the pool stage to almost winning the WC final a few weeks later.

We can do it, we need pretty much everything to go our way but it is possible.

The French players took matters into their own hands in NZ. They went out and played for each other and despite not playing great rugby almost pulled it off. Can't see the Irish lads doing the same tbh.

TimmyoTooleI

sting60 wrote: »

The worst coach in Irsh history

A new forum low. Brian Ashton will love this

JRant

Flincher wrote: »

JRant wrote: »

We didn't lose to Wales twice because of our backrow, it had more to do with trying to kick the leather off the ball every time we got it.
When we play to our strenghts of getting our strike runners attacking the line with pace we look impressive. However all we seem to be doing is shoveling slow ball to stationary players.

Agree with that to some extent. We didn't lose the Welsh game because of the backrow, but I think its fair to say that our backrow came out second best against theirs both at the World Cup and a few weeks ago. As well as the 3 lads are playing individually, they haven't dominated a top class backrow yet.

The kicking issue sometimes could be a result of how well the pack is doing. I think the more we struggle up front, the more we tend to kick the ball away. In both Welsh games, we kicked from hand over 30 times, compared to 18 last week.

It's a bit of a catch 22 situation though. The more ball you kick away the more pressure comes on the pack to defend and more mistakes follow. It's a lot harder to play without the ball and the current rules make it more difficult to get it back once you give it away.
I'd also say our second row aren't hitting the rucks as much as they should be either. It drive me around the bend that they're either first receiver or standing in midfield butchering moves. The difference when Ryan comes on is staggering, he just hits anything that moves and attacks the breakdown with the intensity we need, not to mention the fact that he's really developed his hands this season.

Kayless

JRant wrote: »

It's a bit of a catch 22 situation though. The more ball you kick away the more pressure comes on the pack to defend and more mistakes follow. It's a lot harder to play without the ball and the current rules make it more difficult to get it back once you give it away.
I'd also say our second row aren't hitting the rucks as much as they should be either. It drive me around the bend that they're either first receiver or standing in midfield butchering moves. The difference when Ryan comes on is staggering, he just hits anything that moves and attacks the breakdown with the intensity we need, not to mention the fact that he's really developed his hands this season.

if the French don't get to far ahead before he comes on I can see us turning this game around in the last 1/4 but I'm not sure it'll be enough to make up for our weak 12/13 axes

Brewster

Cmon Ireland, about to leave on EI 520 to Paris. Slight delay due to fog in Paris. Shoulder to shoulder today gentlemen.... We can do this...!

Benny Cake

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0303/1224312711343.html

Apologies if this has been posted already...

Great interview with O'Gara. It's refreshing to read someone speak honestly and openly when all we usually get is clichés and bullsh1t.....

irishbucsfan

He didn't get much satisfaction out of his team winning because he didn't start. Good man ROG.

Benny Cake

irishbucsfan wrote: »

He didn't get much satisfaction out of his team winning because he didn't start. Good man ROG.

Is that honestly all you took from the interview?

For the record, what he said was:

“It’s an emotional rollercoaster. I played eight or 10 minutes; it was a boring game at that stage. You don’t get much satisfaction, from a selfish point of view.

ROG makes no secret of the fact that he wants to start, if you managed to make it through the rest of the article you will see he also says:

“I’d love to say that if you’re 17 or 37, the best players get picked but there are other considerations. You have to build for the future; build players and build their confidence. I have no problem with that. Then at the same time if you have any bit of balls about you, you want to get picked. I don’t think I am being difficult by saying that but I have my own high standards.

irishbucsfan

Benny Cake wrote: »

irishbucsfan wrote: »

He didn't get much satisfaction out of his team winning because he didn't start. Good man ROG.

Is that honestly all you took from the interview?

For the record, what he said was:

“It’s an emotional rollercoaster. I played eight or 10 minutes; it was a boring game at that stage. You don’t get much satisfaction, from a selfish point of view.

ROG makes no secret of the fact that he wants to start, if you managed to make it through the rest of the article you will see he also says:

“I’d love to say that if you’re 17 or 37, the best players get picked but there are other considerations. You have to build for the future; build players and build their confidence. I have no problem with that. Then at the same time if you have any bit of balls about you, you want to get picked. I don’t think I am being difficult by saying that but I have my own high standards.

So he takes no satisfaction from a team win because he can't take credit and he is also coming out in the national media suggesting he's not being selected even though he's the better player. Not surprising though tbh.

Id have far more respect for someone who isn't looking for praise for putting their national team ahead of their own interests. He makes it sound like he's making a personal sacrifice, not that he has been dropped for a clearly superior player. Seems to me like he should skip reading Conor George and stop fishing for adoration.

At least we can be certain that as long as his ego remains, so will that incredible confidence that makes him the best stoppage-time player in the world bar none.

danthefan

He seems a bit delusional to me. We're not building for the future, we're picking the best 10 available. And he definitely has not played his best rugby for Ireland in the last 18 months, not a chance. As has been pointed out numberous times over the last 2 years we have not beaten a single decent side with ROG starting at 10.

irishbucsfan wrote: »

At least we can be certain that as long as his ego remains, so will that incredible confidence that makes him the best stoppage-time player in the world bar none.

Really? Again, since Sexton has come on the scene I don't think there's been a single game that we were losing when Sexton came off for us to win after ROG was introduced.

Benny Cake

irishbucsfan wrote: »

So he takes no satisfaction from a team win because he can't take credit and he is also coming out in the national media suggesting he's not being selected even though he's the better player. Not surprising though tbh.

It's sad that you perceive it like this. The dogs on the street know Sexton is there on merit. However, ROG is entitled to believe in himself personally. Would you rather all interviewees were like Kidney, & never spoke their mind?

Finally, as anybody who has spent time warming the bench will tell you, there is very little "personal satisfaction" from the team winning without you contributing. Anybody who says otherwise is talking through their ring.

dub_skav

Benny Cake wrote: »

Is that honestly all you took from the interview?

For the record, what he said was:

“It’s an emotional rollercoaster. I played eight or 10 minutes; it was a boring game at that stage. You don’t get much satisfaction, from a selfish point of view.

ROG makes no secret of the fact that he wants to start, if you managed to make it through the rest of the article you will see he also says:

“I’d love to say that if you’re 17 or 37, the best players get picked but there are other considerations. You have to build for the future; build players and build their confidence. I have no problem with that. Then at the same time if you have any bit of balls about you, you want to get picked. I don’t think I am being difficult by saying that but I have my own high standards.

So in the bolded bit he's saying (in my reading of it) that he's clearly better than sexton, who only starting for development.
I don't know why you think that makes him come across well