Ireland Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread III

durkadurka

I presume Tuohy's tournament is done. Mike McCarthy an able replacement or maybe baby-faced Henderson.

It's good that, rather then the injuries to key players mounting up, we have players to come back in.

Always worth noting that tactics, selection, blah blah is one thing , but a key determinant of success is the amount of your top players you can put on the pitch.

The grand slam team of '09 had a pretty good run of luck with injuries.

We have two weeks to gather ourselves for England the another two weeks to recover, with a possible opportunity to make one or two rotations against Italy.

All good.

vienne86

thomond2006 wrote: »

It doesn't sound good for Tuohy. I imagine Mike McCarthy will replace him?

Tomorrow will be McCarthy's first game since his injury. Let's hope he goes well.

Hype710

Buer wrote: »

Fair point but I can't see him even ever playing in Ireland again at all now which is a pity. He could do a job.

What happened last week?

sullivlo

Hype710 wrote: »

What happened last week?

Think it's that he is suing the irfu.

19543261

Surely Henderson will be ahead of McCarthy at this stage?

Edit: never mind, plenty of time to catch up..

thomond2006

Racing play Bayonne at home next week. It's a handy fixture on paper and definitely a match that Sexton doesn't need to play. I'd say he'll be on the bench to dig them out of a hole if needs be. Racing go to Grenoble on March 22 and they'll want Sexton for that one.

errlloyd

I thought I would miss Joe from Leinster because I love squad rotation - I've said it here before. I love seeing players who don't always get a run out, kicking ass. I didn't think the 6 nations would give him a chance to start anything but his strongest team - but his injury enforced rotation has unearthed some gems, and I wonder will they keep their place, what do you think.

Like look at our wingers. Bowe, Zebo, Fitzgerald, Earls are all lions, according to this excellent demented mole article McFadden is statistically one of Ireland's most valuable players (let them prove it). Yet he has somehow made Dave Kearney and Trimble play like men possessed. They're playing like they know every game could be their last. They're playing like the fires of hell are burning under them. How could they be dropped?

padser

Molester Stallone wrote: »

I don't think last week has made any difference to his Irish chances to be fair.....he had none before it.

I'm unsure what happened last week? Was it just bad game.

Assuming so, TOL was a lion selection for 2009. He has had a horrific run of injuries and form since then (and I never particularly liked him as a player) but with the exception of Murray it's absolutely possible he comes back into form which would put him ahead of the rest of the Irish scrumhaves (redden, boss, Marshall, Marmion). We are not exactly blessed with quality in depth in that area albeit that Murray as first choice is reasonably strong

danthefan

padser wrote: »

I'm unsure what happened last week? Was it just bad game.

Assuming so, TOL was a lion selection for 2009. He has had a horrific run of injuries and form since then (and I never particularly liked him as a player) but with the exception of Murray it's absolutely possible he comes back into form which would put him ahead of the rest of the Irish scrumhaves (redden, boss, Marshall, Marmion). We are not exactly blessed with quality in depth in that area albeit that Murray as first choice is reasonably strong

Last week it came to light he's suing the IRFU for an injury sustained in training.

Bolded - no, it's not imo. He's had one good season in his career, 2008/09. To think, 4 or 5 years later, he could have some resurgence in form is fanciful in the extreme to me.

ThisRegard

An unpleasant thought from Dallaglio in this mornings Times on Sexton

I'd also wager a bet that England will pay a lot of attention to Sexton who is so important to Ireland. If they tackle hard and happen to get him off the field, things would be a lot easier.

We all know players are targeted during games with an aim to negate them, but it's nasty to see it written that the intention is to injure a player.

Buer

Exciting times for Ireland's fans. We have put in place the building block for the tournament now and done so in relatively impressive fashion.

To reel things in somewhat though, I'm not going to go cock-a-hoop quite yet. I think some people are getting a little carried away. We put in an excellent performance yesterday but I felt we should be winning by at least a clear score in that game anyway. Wales have not been good since last season's 6N. We've often beaten them and beaten them well in the past so I'm reluctant to use them as a yardstick.

In the past year, they've beaten Argentina, Tonga, Japan and Italy. They spluttered to victory past Italy and Tonga. They've also lost to Japan away and Australia and South Africa at home. They're looking quite average/poor.

I'd hope the squad and management aren't listening to the hype at the moment. I think most of us would have expected us to win our opening two games.

England is going to be a different proposition. I think we've got the brains and the set up to beat them but they won't play like Wales did. They've got the pragmatism and power to make things far more difficult for us and, in people like Care and Brown, have backs with genuine guile who don't rely on using pace and power in open space to hurt opponents.

I'm not sure we can afford to change any of the starting line up. The one I would look at would be Moore in for Ross to give a little more dynamism around the field but it would be a huge ask of him to make his full debut in such a cauldron. If Bowe is back, I'd bring him straight in just because he's so adept at certain tactics and gathering kicks in behind.

I think we'll continue to use the boot as the main method of attack rather than try to open them up through the hands and get ourselves smashed. Flat kicks in behind them on quick recycles, blindside snipes and chips etc. will make an appearance, I would think.

Most importantly though, we'll have to starve them. Defence will have to be like a Scot getting the first round in. We cannot give them easy ball which Vunipola, Brown and May will gobble up.

danthefan

ThisRegard wrote: »

We all know players are targeted during games with an aim to negate them, but it's nasty to see it written that the intention is to injure a player.

If they tackle legally then there's nothing nasty about it really imo, such is the game. If someone commits a deliberate act of foul play then yeah, that's out of order, but I don't think any of the English players will do that tbh. Discipline seems key for Lancaster.

laugh

Will we be 6th in the rankings on Monday?

Tox56

Buer wrote: »

Exciting times for Ireland's fans. We have put in place the building block for the tournament now and done so in relatively impressive fashion.

To reel things in somewhat though, I'm not going to go cock-a-hoop quite yet. I think some people are getting a little carried away. We put in an excellent performance yesterday but I felt we should be winning by at least a clear score in that game anyway. Wales have not been good since last season's 6N. We've often beaten them and beaten them well in the past so I'm reluctant to use them as a yardstick.

In the past year, they've beaten Argentina, Tonga, Japan and Italy. They spluttered to victory past Italy and Tonga. They've also lost to Japan away and Australia and South Africa at home. They're looking quite average/poor.

I'd hope the squad and management aren't listening to the hype at the moment. I think most of us would have expected us to win our opening two games.

England is going to be a different proposition. I think we've got the brains and the set up to beat them but they won't play like Wales did. They've got the pragmatism and power to make things far more difficult for us and, in people like Care and Brown, have backs with genuine guile who don't rely on using pace and power in open space to hurt opponents.

I'm not sure we can afford to change any of the starting line up. The one I would look at would be Moore in for Ross to give a little more dynamism around the field but it would be a huge ask of him to make his full debut in such a cauldron. If Bowe is back, I'd bring him straight in just because he's so adept at certain tactics and gathering kicks in behind.

I think we'll continue to use the boot as the main method of attack rather than try to open them up through the hands and get ourselves smashed. Flat kicks in behind them on quick recycles, blindside snipes and chips etc. will make an appearance, I would think.

Most importantly though, we'll have to starve them. Defence will have to be like a Scot getting the first round in. We cannot give them easy ball which Vunipola, Brown and May will gobble up.

We've done though what I expected us to do under Schmidt, raise the level of performance and adapt the style of play to do the necessary for each game. We've not come close to the NZ performance yet, and still put 2 beatings on the 2 teams we've faced. I've got a lot of faith in this team and coach to do what they need to do to win, this is not a high quality 6 Nations, any of the big 3 SH teams would walk the tournament imo. When you think about it, if there is just one performance to rival the NZ game in the 3 remaining matches, that could well be enough to win the championship

duckysauce

ThisRegard wrote: »

An unpleasant thought from Dallaglio in this mornings Times on Sexton



We all know players are targeted during games with an aim to negate them, but it's nasty to see it written that the intention is to injure a player.

:eek: Jesus that's mental .

rrpc

ThisRegard wrote: »

An unpleasant thought from Dallaglio in this mornings Times on Sexton



We all know players are targeted during games with an aim to negate them, but it's nasty to see it written that the intention is to injure a player.

Hmmm. Danny Care?

Certainly not Owen Farrell

aimee1

duckysauce wrote: »

:eek: Jesus that's mental .

courtnay lawes has previous, Aviva final last year for example.

rrpc

Buer wrote: »

Exciting times for Ireland's fans. We have put in place the building block for the tournament now and done so in relatively impressive fashion.

To reel things in somewhat though, I'm not going to go cock-a-hoop quite yet. I think some people are getting a little carried away. We put in an excellent performance yesterday but I felt we should be winning by at least a clear score in that game anyway. Wales have not been good since last season's 6N. We've often beaten them and beaten them well in the past so I'm reluctant to use them as a yardstick.

In the past year, they've beaten Argentina, Tonga, Japan and Italy. They spluttered to victory past Italy and Tonga. They've also lost to Japan away and Australia and South Africa at home. They're looking quite average/poor.

I'd hope the squad and management aren't listening to the hype at the moment. I think most of us would have expected us to win our opening two games.

England is going to be a different proposition. I think we've got the brains and the set up to beat them but they won't play like Wales did. They've got the pragmatism and power to make things far more difficult for us and, in people like Care and Brown, have backs with genuine guile who don't rely on using pace and power in open space to hurt opponents.

I'm not sure we can afford to change any of the starting line up. The one I would look at would be Moore in for Ross to give a little more dynamism around the field but it would be a huge ask of him to make his full debut in such a cauldron. If Bowe is back, I'd bring him straight in just because he's so adept at certain tactics and gathering kicks in behind.

I think we'll continue to use the boot as the main method of attack rather than try to open them up through the hands and get ourselves smashed. Flat kicks in behind them on quick recycles, blindside snipes and chips etc. will make an appearance, I would think.

Most importantly though, we'll have to starve them. Defence will have to be like a Scot getting the first round in. We cannot give them easy ball which Vunipola, Brown and May will gobble up.

I noticed England pushed up a lot in defence against Scotland. They also wrapped in to cut off the pass outside but left themselves very open to a crossfield kick to a winger or in behind. Personally I think the kick behind would be tough as the traffic would probably do its best to slow the chase.

We will be kicking, but there's always the dividend of getting behind the rush defence with straight running off one out ball. Scotland managed that a couple of times, but the support wasn't there.

ScissorPaperRock

Buer wrote: »

Exciting times for Ireland's fans. We have put in place the building block for the tournament now and done so in relatively impressive fashion.

To reel things in somewhat though, I'm not going to go cock-a-hoop quite yet. I think some people are getting a little carried away. We put in an excellent performance yesterday but I felt we should be winning by at least a clear score in that game anyway. Wales have not been good since last season's 6N. We've often beaten them and beaten them well in the past so I'm reluctant to use them as a yardstick.

In the past year, they've beaten Argentina, Tonga, Japan and Italy. They spluttered to victory past Italy and Tonga. They've also lost to Japan away and Australia and South Africa at home. They're looking quite average/poor.

I'd hope the squad and management aren't listening to the hype at the moment. I think most of us would have expected us to win our opening two games.

England is going to be a different proposition. I think we've got the brains and the set up to beat them but they won't play like Wales did. They've got the pragmatism and power to make things far more difficult for us and, in people like Care and Brown, have backs with genuine guile who don't rely on using pace and power in open space to hurt opponents.

I'm not sure we can afford to change any of the starting line up. The one I would look at would be Moore in for Ross to give a little more dynamism around the field but it would be a huge ask of him to make his full debut in such a cauldron. If Bowe is back, I'd bring him straight in just because he's so adept at certain tactics and gathering kicks in behind.

I think we'll continue to use the boot as the main method of attack rather than try to open them up through the hands and get ourselves smashed. Flat kicks in behind them on quick recycles, blindside snipes and chips etc. will make an appearance, I would think.

Most importantly though, we'll have to starve them. Defence will have to be like a Scot getting the first round in. We cannot give them easy ball which Vunipola, Brown and May will gobble up.

Agreed. We've had three good/great performances in a row at home now, but the real test will be whether we can take that to a place like Twickenham.

Against England, I'd hope we can try and go through the phases a bit more and try and run the ball a bit. I don't think (not that I've checked) that there's as much of a size differential between their backs and ours, and the NZ game showed that we are capable of dealing with power.

In saying that, their linespeed can leave a bit of space in behind, and if our kicking game can be as accurate as it was yesterday then it's definitely something we should exploit.

Kayless

ScissorPaperRock wrote: »

Agreed. We've had three good/great performances in a row at home now, but the real test will be whether we can take that to a place like Twickenham.

Against England, I'd hope we can try and go through the phases a bit more and try and run the ball a bit. I don't think (not that I've checked) that there's as much of a size differential between their backs and ours, and the NZ game showed that we are capable of dealing with power.

In saying that, their linespeed can leave a bit of space in behind, and if our kicking game can be as accurate as it was yesterday then it's definitely something we should exploit.

I actually think Schmidts is playing a blinder here, In the Scotland game we did enough to win and in the end it was to much for the Scots, in the Wales game we used the lineout and Sextons kicking game, two of Irelands strengths but this game plan was employed because of the weakness of the Welsh lineout and the strength of our driving maul plus Schmidt expected the game to by played in the rain so made sense to play like we did.

But, we are yet to see a repeat of the NZ game plan and players keeping saying Ireland haven't showing their full hand which I would agree with if you consider the variety of plays in the game plan against NZ. This suggests that Ireland have set plays, a running game, the choke tackle and some other styles of play up their sleeve for the England game, England will be expecting us to play against them like we did against Wales but will we?

If it's a dry day for the game against England I wouldn't be surprised to see set plays, men going up the middle, sextons rap arounds ect... how England are going to defend that I don't know because Ireland haven't used it yet, so it's not like they can do video analysis. Plus I think England are very one demental and a bit like Wales in that Schmidt will know how they are going to try to play against us, in my mind thats advantage Ireland.

shuffol

If we manage to beat England it'll be the best win over them since 2004 IMO, I think they've a super side developing there. I still dont think we carry much of a threat in open play, we're the smartest most miserly side in the tournament though and have a coach who's an expert in finding chinks in the oppositions armour. If we do win I suspect it wont be too pretty.

I'm just delighted that barring a disaster we'll be going into the final weekend of the 6N with a shot at the trophy, too often in the past few years we've been out of it at this stage and the excitements died.

The Pheasant2

We should target players like Farrell and Hartley who are known to be easily riled. Try and get under their skin like we did to Phillips yesterday - just frustrate the hell out of them in the hope of forcing some errors

sullivlo

The Pheasant2 wrote: »

We should target players like Farrell and Hartley who are known to be easily riled. Try and get under their skin like we did to Phillips yesterday - just frustrate the hell out of them in the hope of forcing some errors

Did you see Farrels push on Scotland scrum half yesterday after England knocked on the ball? Disgusting.

danthefan

sullivlo wrote: »

Did you see Farrels push on Scotland scrum half yesterday after England knocked on the ball? Disgusting.

Ahh give it a rest. There are a few Irish players that I won't name who have been well known to get involved in that sort of thing.

shuffol

sullivlo wrote: »

Did you see Farrels push on Scotland scrum half yesterday after England knocked on the ball? Disgusting.

It was unnecessary but disgusting is certainly over egging it, I actually cant stop laughing every time I watch the clip, Farrells expression makes him look like a child playing tag in a playground.

http://balls.ie/rugby/video-owen-farrell-pushes-chris-cusiter/

shuffol

Not sure if I'm correct on this but have Ireland now gone 2 full games without effecting a single successful choke tackle? A change of tack with Kiss gone or other sides copping on.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

danthefan wrote: »

Ahh give it a rest. There are a few Irish players that I won't name who have been well known to get involved in that sort of thing.

Don't recall any Irish player doing stuff like that as consistently as Farrell does it

Deano7788

shuffol wrote: »

Not sure if I'm correct on this but have Ireland now gone 2 full games without effecting a single successful choke tackle? A change of tack with Kiss gone or other sides copping on.

Kiss isn't gone.

danthefan

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

Don't recall any Irish player doing stuff like that as consistently as Farrell does it

Possibly not but we do have players who have done that sort of stuff, totally unnecessarily. Irish rugby fans can be awfully sanctimonious at times imo. But anyway, lets not get bogged down in it, after such a good win yesterday which was basically built on discipline.

phog

shuffol wrote: »

Not sure if I'm correct on this but have Ireland now gone 2 full games without effecting a single successful choke tackle? A change of tack with Kiss gone or other sides copping on.

Are you sure?

The Pheasant2

shuffol wrote: »

It was unnecessary but disgusting is certainly over egging it, I actually cant stop laughing every time I watch the clip, Farrells expression makes him look like a child playing tag in a playground.

http://balls.ie/rugby/video-owen-farrell-pushes-chris-cusiter/

Big smile across his face as he pushes nice 'ol Chris Cusiter :mad: Hope we'll be sending Healy down his channel a few times at Twickenham!

Podge_irl

shuffol wrote: »

Not sure if I'm correct on this but have Ireland now gone 2 full games without effecting a single successful choke tackle? A change of tack with Kiss gone or other sides copping on.

Kiss is still there...

shuffol

Deano7788 wrote: »

Kiss isn't gone.

Right you are, my mistake.

Tox56

danthefan wrote: »

Possibly not but we do have players who have done that sort of stuff, totally unnecessarily. Irish rugby fans can be awfully sanctimonious at times imo. But anyway, lets not get bogged down in it, after such a good win yesterday which was basically built on discipline.

Just like pointless crap like Farrell's push isn't limited to other countries (not that I think that was the implication), Irish fans aren't the only ones who are 'sanctimonious' about that stuff when it suits them. Sports fans are sports fans everywhere

sullivlo

shuffol wrote: »

It was unnecessary but disgusting is certainly over egging it, I actually cant stop laughing every time I watch the clip, Farrells expression makes him look like a child playing tag in a playground.

http://balls.ie/rugby/video-owen-farrell-pushes-chris-cusiter/

Perhaps disgusting was a but harsh :P

Uncalled for.

Fireball07

Looking at France today, I really think that we will be too structured, organised and clinical for them.


England are going to be the real test, they're a very solid outfit. The same plan that worked against Wales and Scotland mightn't work to the same extent against England, we won't beat them up up front. We'll have to add something else... and I'm sure we will.

molloyjh

Fireball07 wrote: »

Looking at France today, I really think that we will be too structured, organised and clinical for them.


England are going to be the real test, they're a very solid outfit. The same plan that worked against Wales and Scotland mightn't work to the same extent against England, we won't beat them up up front. We'll have to add something else... and I'm sure we will.

I was in no way impressed by England yesterday. Scotland were utter pants and when they were down to 14 men and England were in their 22 knocking on the door the English couldn't convert that into points at all. They only managed 7 points in the entire second half. One score. Against a Scottish team that were that bad.

TheGoldenAges

Anyone have an idea what the changes in the rankings will be after this weekend?

ssaye2

TheGoldenAges wrote: »

Anyone have an idea what the changes in the rankings will be after this weekend?

I Imagine we swapped 7th and 6th with wales only

http://www.irb.com/rankings/sportid=1/ranking/index.html Last weeks

former legend

TheGoldenAges wrote: »

Anyone have an idea what the changes in the rankings will be after this weekend?

Yes we now go sixth behind France in fifth and England in fourth

Kayless

http://www.thescore.ie/mike-phillips-niall-horan-twitter-1307742-Feb2014/ :eek:

uggybear

wonder who's going to get a call up to replace Dan Touhy in the second row alongside O'Connell and Toner?

Fireball07

uggybear wrote: »

wonder who's going to get a call up to replace Dan Touhy in the second row alongside O'Connell and Toner?

You'd imagine it'd be Henderson, since he got the call when POC was out?

danthefan

uggybear wrote: »

wonder who's going to get a call up to replace Dan Touhy in the second row alongside O'Connell and Toner?

McCarthy or Henderson - not a concern really tbh.

Taco Corp

danthefan wrote: »

McCarthy or Henderson - not a concern really tbh.

how nice it is to be able to say that

uggybear

Was very impressed by Henderson's performance in the Wolfhounds game vs England Saxons, think he should get a spot in the squad.

wp_rathead

Macca or Henderson can easily fill spot on bench - great to have such options available

former legend

McCarthy was probably ahead of Tuohy prior to the Scotland game so I'd say he's most likely to slot back in. Henderson might be the more exciting impact sub but it's going to be a serious dog-fight up front against England and that will probably swing it for McCarthy.

LeeroyJones

former legend wrote: »

McCarthy was probably ahead of Tuohy prior to the Scotland game so I'd say he's most likely to slot back in. Henderson might be the more exciting impact sub but it's going to be a serious dog-fight up front against England and that will probably swing it for McCarthy.

I understand where you're coming from but I would be wary of limiting ourselves to England's capabilities.
While responding to England's gameplan we shouldn't lose sight of our own. Yes, pick a side that can armwrestle against them but we should not be afraid to play our style of rugby. For that reason I would keep a hold of POC and Toner to start and front up to their pack but as the game goes on an gaps begin to appear I would prefer to have Henderson coming on rather than McCarthy

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

Not a fear Toner is going to be dropped. Only a few short months ago I thought he was just going get a few token caps until Ryan came back from injury and Henderson stepped up

But he's now established himself as Irelands first choice lock alongside Paulie. He's going to be an important player for us come the world cup imo