Ireland Tour to New Zealand 2012 Discussion thread

Seph503

Tomtom364 wrote: »

I dont see any problem with DOC being included in the squad as he is still a very solid player.
Though he shouldnt be starting.

IMO I think Kidney will be looking to go for the Ryan & POC combination if POC is fit.

History would say he will not. POC had to get injured for Ryan to get a look in and thankfully he shamed Kidney's selection policy when he played.:cool:

ray jay

If POC is fit I'd expect he and Ryan will start with DOC on the bench, otherwise Ryan and DOC to start with Touhy benching.

theKramer

Seph503 wrote: »

History would say he will not. POC had to get injured for Ryan to get a look in and thankfully he shamed Kidney's selection policy when he played.:cool:

And then in the interview after the match Kidney says "we always knew he had that ability"..
So then why the FÚCK did you not pick if you always knew he had it in him :mad:

Podge_irl

He needs to stop all this showboating seen work and concentrate on the unseen work.

.ak

As much as I have man-love for Ryan, I still believe our scrums were manshamed by the English in Twickers due to the engine room. Our front-row need a big second row in order to operate against big movers like Cole. I know Court doesn't cope well at TH, but the scrums were under pressure before he came on. Personally I think it showed up DOC's lack of power there more so than Ryan, as I think Ryan should be played in the loose side.

Touhy's got some power in him at scrumtime, I think a Touhy and Ryan backrow after a few international tests would restore that engine power again...

Tox56

.ak wrote: »

As much as I have man-love for Ryan, I still believe our scrums were manshamed by the English in Twickers due to the engine room. Our front-row need a big second row in order to operate against big movers like Cole. I know Court doesn't cope well at TH, but the scrums were under pressure before he came on. Personally I think it showed up DOC's lack of power there more so than Ryan, as I think Ryan should be played in the loose side.

Touhy's got some power in him at scrumtime, I think a Touhy and Ryan backrow after a few international tests would restore that engine power again...

That may be true, but no second row in the world could stop Court getting crumpled in like that.

Podge_irl

Ross injured himself in the first scrum so difficult to read too much into any of them.

Ildere

theKramer wrote: »

And then in the interview after the match Kidney says "we always knew he had that ability"..
So then why the FÚCK did you not pick if you always knew he had it in him :mad:

And that was after Kidney said Ryan was good but not good enough.

Kidney reminds me of Jack Charlton, in that the greatest criticism of him will be that he didnt believe in his heart that Ireland were good enough to win anything and therefore the team selection really didnt matter as we have no chance anyway.
His hand was forced to pick Ross and it saved kidneys career.
The people he is taking on this tour will finish it off for him.

Hagz

Did you guys see the new Irish training gear? It's pretty cool. Hopefully we change our jerseys soon. I'm not a fan of the breastplate.

Fishooks12

Hagz wrote: »

Did you guys see the new Irish training gear? It's pretty cool. Hopefully we change our jerseys soon. I'm not a fan of the breastplate.

pics?

Hagz

Fishooks12 wrote: »

pics?

Actually, might not be new training gear given the fact it has no puma logo etc. Might just be a prototype they've been given to try out. Looks nice though.

ionadnapokot

Trying to piece together what the starting NZ team might be:

15. Dagg
14. Julian Savea ? *
13. Smith
12. SBW
11. Guilford
10. Carter ?
9. Aaron Smith ? *
1. Woodcock
2. Mealamu ?
3. Franks
4. Williams?
5. Whitelock
6. Thomson ?
7. McCaw
8. Read

16. Hore
17. BFranks
18. Brodie Retallick *
19 Vito/Crane
20 Weepu
21 Cruden
22 Ben Smith

*=New cap

NZ haven’t lost a test match in Eden Park since 94’.
Last time Ireland played them there was in 2005 (27v17).
Closer this time perhaps?

ray jay

@irfurugby tweeted: Ireland update. O'Connell running. SOB small procedure like BOD's. Ferris calf strain and doubt for tour. McLaughlin on standby


Probably a good thing for Ferris really, and it's nice to see McLaughlin getting some recognition at last. Kidney's being forced into trying new players whether he likes it or not!

Ferris pal, I know you're superman, but please, please sit this one out.

thomond2006

Ferris hasn't been himself since the quarter final, he's better off sitting out the tour and coming back to pre season more fresh.

If McLaughlin can play as well against NZ as he did in the HEC final, Ireland won't miss Ferris that much.

bamboozle

irfu saying ferris is doubtful for NZ, KMcL on standby

Hagz

Hopefully Ferris takes a well earned break and McLaughlin will be rewarded for his solid form this season.

Cpt_Blackbeard

It will be interesting with Ferris out to see who gets the nod to replace him. Do we keep SOB at 7 where he is continually improving and slot POM in at 6, or do we move SOB back to 6 to accommodate Henry. I'd love to see POM get to test himself against NZ.

Fishooks12

I'd have SOB stay at 7 and POM go into 6

bamboozle

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

It will be interesting with Ferris out to see who gets the nod to replace him. Do we keep SOB at 7 where he is continually improving and slot POM in at 6, or do we move SOB back to 6 to accommodate Henry. I'd love to see POM get to test himself against NZ.

on form McLaughlin deserves to start at 6 ahead of POM.

Fishooks12

bamboozle wrote: »

on form McLaughlin deserves to start at 6 ahead of POM.

No he doesn't

POM has been a better player all year round and has infinitely more potential . McLaughlin has been great this year and I really like him but even Leinster posters like Ak have admitted he doesn't have much about him at international level

totallegend

Fishooks12 wrote: »

No he doesn't

POM has been a better player all year round and has infinitely more potential . McLaughlin has been good but even Leinster posters like Ak have admitted he doesn't have much about him at international level

In fairness to McLaughlin, he's been given no chances at international level, but yeah, if we're basing it on potential, it has to be POM. McLaughlin is probably the better player right now, but he's also 6-7 years older...

Plus, there is no way in hell Kidney will start with McLaughlin ahead of POM, but if Henry and O'Brien are both injured, we're going to start running out of back-rowers very quickly. 2010 all over again

Cpt_Blackbeard

bamboozle wrote: »

on form McLaughlin deserves to start at 6 ahead of POM.

Probably a good idea. A Leinster majority losing convincingly to the All Blacks might finally convince some sections that test rugby is actually a huge step up from the HC. As a bonus, it's one less Munster lad to get broken on Irish duty.

BIG BAD JOHN

ionadnapokot wrote: »

NZ haven’t lost a test match in Eden Park since 94’.
Last time Ireland played them there was in 2005 (27v17).
Closer this time perhaps?

I admire your optimism!
If we keep to within 20 points in the first two tests we'll be doing well I think.
We might do better in the final game (by which time NZ will have won the rubber). There'll probably only be 10/15 points in that one.

Fishooks12

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Probably a good idea. A Leinster majority losing convincingly to the All Blacks might finally convince some sections that test rugby is actually a huge step up from the HC. As a bonus, it's one less Munster lad to get broken on Irish duty.

Fishooks12

BIG BAD JOHN wrote: »

I admire your optimism!
If we keep to within 20 points in the first two tests we'll be doing well I think.
We might do better in the final game (by which time NZ will have won the rubber). There'll probably only be 10/15 points in that one.

The opposite will probably be true. We'll be more competitive in the first test but slacken off as Kidney trots out the same team for the 3 tests

I think we have a decent chance of winning the first test, even under kidney, considering the transition NZ are going through and the fact that a lot of their players are out of form or just returning from injury

CatFromHue

totallegend wrote: »

In fairness to McLaughlin, he's been given no chances at international level, but yeah, if we're basing it on potential, it has to be POM. McLaughlin is probably the better player right now, but he's also 6-7 years older...

McLaughlin is 5 years older than POM and is only 27. Far too young to be ignored due to his age if you ask me as he's actually coming into his prime. Also most of the time he starts for Leinster he starts at 6.

POM has only played 6 a couple of times this year. I think he looks pretty handy at 8 but I'm still not sure he is as good as people say in the other positions in the back row. I'm not saying I don't think he's good far from it but is he as good as he's being made out?

For me I'd be going with McLaughlin who's been excellent for 3 seasons now and seems to specialize more in the 6 jersey.

Teferi

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Probably a good idea. A Leinster majority losing convincingly to the All Blacks might finally convince some sections that test rugby is actually a huge step up from the HC. As a bonus, it's one less Munster lad to get broken on Irish duty.

If you look really closely at this post you can see the tear drops that splashed the screen as Blackbeard typed it. He just can't take Leinster being top dogs of Europe.

Cpt_Blackbeard

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Probably a good idea. A Leinster majority losing convincingly to the All Blacks might finally convince some sections that test rugby is actually a huge step up from the HC. As a bonus, it's one less Munster lad to get broken on Irish duty.

yes because the difference between POM and McLaughlin is so monsterous that one would see us beating the ABs and the other would see us being beaten convincingly by same.

:rolleyes:

CatFromHue

CatFromHue wrote: »

McLaughlin is 5 years older than POM and is only 27. Far too young to be ignored due to his age if you ask me as he's actually coming into his prime. Also most of the time he starts for Leinster he starts at 6.

POM has only played 6 a couple of times this year. I think he looks pretty handy at 8 but I'm still not sure he is as good as people say in the other positions in the back row. I'm not saying I don't think he's good far from it but is he as good as he's being made out?

For me I'd be going with McLaughlin who's been excellent for 3 seasons now and seems to specialize more in the 6 jersey.

most of his games were at 6, he's really very good there.