Ireland Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread VIII - ** MOD NOTE POST #4781 **

irishbucsfan

Thinking about what I want to see in the first 10 minutes. I’d like to see us send play into the Welsh half and keep it there. No overplaying leading to Welsh penalties, no mistakes from their exits, no sloppy set pieces, maybe even lots of extremely bad refereeing in our favour.

Don’t want to see any first phase Welsh ball in our half for the first 40 minutes please, thanks very much indeed.

stephen_n

irishbucsfan wrote: »

.

Don’t want to see any first phase Welsh ball in our half for the first 40 minutes please, thanks very much indeed.

Don’t ask for much, do you?

Peregrine

Jack Kanoff wrote: »

We have to win, a loss is going to be bad..not count dookoo bad....

Will the forks be out so?

Try_harder

On the bus from hell from Clane!

I miss my train

irishbucsfan

stephen_n wrote: »

Don’t ask for much, do you?

As a great prophet once said, shoot for the stars so that if you fall you land on a cloud.

awec

Can someone start a match thread please?

Yeah_Right

Marina Old-fashioned Locket wrote: »

dont be so defensive, i am sure ireland will win but then again what if they dont.
the pressure seems to be getting to quite a few here too.
as many have posted here, ireland are no 3 in the world, we have the greatest coach in modern rugby, we have the best 9 and 10 in the world.
How can we lose?
What if we lose?

I do enjoy your posts. They always make me chuckle. It's a shame we don't see as much from you when Ireland win.

I like the fact that you have ridiculously high standards. Unbeaten in 9 matches (I think) but one loss and Schmidt should fear for his job. As an ABs fan I agree with this sort of exacting standard. I expect the ABs to win every match and when they don't, the coaches should be tarred and feathered and the players flogged.

I do disagree with a couple of your points though. Barrett and Smith are the best 9 and 10 in the world. Hansen is the greatest coach in modern rugby. And Schmidt handles the media very well. It's the media who struggle with Schmidt.

count dookoo has succesfully predicted 225 of the last 4 Irish disastrous results.

Dave_The_Sheep

Try_harder wrote: »

On the bus from hell from Clane!

I miss my train

Waiting on that bus I think. Taking an age.

foxyladyxx

The first score is vital for Ireland to settle the nerves.

I call it 50/50 but odds ever so slightly in Ireland's favour with home advantage

thomond2006

Cmon Ireland. Smash the seagulls.

1eg0a3xv7b82of

These are the facts
we are no 3 in the world
A good bit behind the blacks but a touch behind England
If we lose today or to Scotland it will be a disaster

foxyladyxx

Marina Old-fashioned Locket wrote: »

These are the facts
we are no 3 in the world
A good bit behind the blacks but a touch behind England
If we lose today or to Scotland it will be a disaster

What a cheerful chappie you are :pac:

irishbucsfan

Marina Old-fashioned Locket wrote: »

These are the facts
we are no 3 in the world
A good bit behind the blacks but a touch behind England
If we lose today or to Scotland it will be a disaster

Nah, not a disaster. I’d put us as 60:40 favourites based on both sides current form.

salmocab

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Nah, not a disaster. I’d put us as 60:40 favourites based on both sides current form.

Will you leave it out he’s setting out his stall so he can come back later and beat the worn out drum.

Cowboy848

Scythica wrote: »

Its funny, if you go on scrum5 or whatnot forums you'll see the Welsh think the exact same as us except the other way around. This fixture is possibly unique in rugby in the fact that home advantage seems to mean absolutely naff all

Speaking of forums you should check out the schools rugby thread on Planet Rugby Foum. Hilarious.

molloyjh

Me nerves!

Awesomeness

Long way to go but this could be our best ever 6 nations. If we could a grand slam and at the same time build for world cup with invaluable experience for porter, ryan, leavy, conan, farrell, stockdale and larmour at the same time that is some tournament.

Try_harder

Can’t believe we got a TBP and Wales got NOTHING!!!

Try_harder

I was in the Aviva - half cut! But we got a TBP and Wales got NOTHING!!!!

Burkie1203

So ireland beat Scotland and england dont beat france and we win the title

Clegg

5 points ahead of everyone else in the competition.

Win against Scotland, which isn't guaranteed, and we'd be at a minimum 4 points ahead of England going into St Patrick's Day.

Results couldn't have gone better for us this weekend. Still over the moon with our result, few mistakes to iron out but that was 90% of a brilliant performance.

Try_harder

Oh Flower of Scotland, when will will see your likes again!
Eddie- your boys took one hell of a beating!!!

PTH2009

Clegg wrote: »

5 points ahead of everyone else in the competition.

Win against Scotland, which isn't guaranteed, and we'd be at a minimum 4 points ahead of England going into St Patrick's Day.

we could be champs going over to England actually. A win for us vs Scotland and an England loss to France leaves this
1 Ire 18/19 BP
2 Eng 9/10BP
3 Scot 8/9pts BP

Scotland could win it all potentially if they beat us

We need to win next day which is the main thing.

PTH2009

PTH2009 wrote: »

we could be champs going over to England actually. A win for us vs Scotland and an England loss to France leaves this
1 Ire 18/19 BP
2 Eng 9/10BP
3 Scot 8/9pts BP

Scotland could win it all potentially if they beat us

We need to win next day which is the main thing.

We don't even need England to lose. If we got a BP win and England don't get a BP win then we've won the tournament.

Burkie1203

We basically have two bites for the title

thomond2006

Ireland and England to win without BPs in Round 4 IMO.

stephen_n

thomond2006 wrote: »

Ireland and England to win without BPs in Round 4 IMO.

That would do very nicely. Having the championship wrapped up going to London would take some of the pressure off.

That said, Scotland are well suited to hitting us out wide where we’ve been weak.

Synode

thomond2006 wrote: »

Ireland and England to win without BPs in Round 4 IMO.

I can see us getting one against Scotland

joseywhales

Only changes I could see is Henderson (though Ryan and toner were imperious) and maybe sob(though leavy was phenomenal). The best thing about today was they consistently kept attacking for the entire game through phases and that we have more depth than we thought, notably Porter,Farrell and leavy. But with the options coming back, Ireland are a hard team to plan against now.

The fitness required to play our game is painful to even imagine.

AudreyHepburn

Two superb games today - Wales really put us to the test and we answered them with aplomb. I am now quietly confident that this will be our year!

With the panel we have to choose from it’s going to take a complete disaster in two weeks time to stop us.

And sincere congratulations to Scotland - they more than deserve that win.

joseywhales

joseywhales wrote: »

Only changes I could see is Henderson (though Ryan and toner were imperious) and maybe sob(though leavy was phenomenal). The best thing about today was they consistently kept attacking for the entire game through phases and that we have more depth than we thought, notably Porter,Farrell and leavy. But with the options coming back, Ireland are a hard team to plan against now.

The fitness required to play our game is painful to even imagine.

There is no way SOB should just walk back into the team imo. Henderson and Furlong will come in I'm sure.

joseywhales

Madelynn Glamorous Range wrote: »

joseywhales wrote: »

Only changes I could see is Henderson (though Ryan and toner were imperious) and maybe sob(though leavy was phenomenal). The best thing about today was they consistently kept attacking for the entire game through phases and that we have more depth than we thought, notably Porter,Farrell and leavy. But with the options coming back, Ireland are a hard team to plan against now.

The fitness required to play our game is painful to even imagine.

There is no way SOB should just walk back into the team imo. Henderson and Furlong will come in I'm sure.

I'm not suggesting he will but he might bash his way into the team in training, that's if he can get fit.

whatawaster

Madelynn Glamorous Range wrote: »

There is no way SOB should just walk back into the team imo. Henderson and Furlong will come in I'm sure.

If SOB is fit, he is picked imo. He is a level or two above all our other backrow players, and is in the Murray-Sexton-Furlong category for me.

Synode

Mad that James Ryan has more caps for Ireland than he does for Leinster. He looks so comfortable at International level.

whatawaster

whatawaster wrote: »

If SOB is fit, he is picked imo. He is a level or two above all our other backrow players, and is in the Murray-Sexton-Furlong category for me.

It would entirely be a reputation pick and it would be wrong imo. He hasn't shown anything like being that sort of player since the Lions tour which is ancient history at this point. Leavy certainly deserves his place after today.

Buer

Synode wrote: »

Mad that James Ryan has more caps for Ireland than he does for Leinster. He looks so comfortable at International level.

He has more Leinster appearances.

Synode

Buer wrote: »

He has more Leinster appearances.

You're right. Wikipedia Leinster caps hasn't bee updated since Oct

It's pretty incredible how good Porter was today. Has made the step up to international rugby at TH after a handful of games. You could easily have forgiven him for getting a doing over in the scrum today but he was rock solid.

stephen_n

Madelynn Glamorous Range wrote: »

It's pretty incredible how good Porter was today. Has made the step up to international rugby at TH after a handful of games. You could easily have forgiven him for getting a doing over in the scrum today but he was rock solid.

Considering he was getting mullered at AIL level 12 months ago, his learning curve has been astronomical.

joseywhales

Madelynn Glamorous Range wrote: »

whatawaster wrote: »

If SOB is fit, he is picked imo. He is a level or two above all our other backrow players, and is in the Murray-Sexton-Furlong category for me.

It would entirely be a reputation pick and it would be wrong imo. He hasn't shown anything like being that sort of player since the Lions tour which is ancient history at this point. Leavy certainly deserves his place after today.

That reputation being the best rugby player on the lions tour. He will be in the mix if fit, he has more physicality, better at the breakdown, better in link play and more football ability than all of our other options, in each of those facets individually. But yes he has to reprove it again which he has consistently for nearly a decade, so I wouldn't bet against him doing it again. Might not even be leavy that would lose out in that scenario. Realistically he'd do well to get 30 minutes by the Scotland game.

Flincher

I wouldn't go rushing O'Brien in at 7. I think there's a great balance in the backrow at the minute. It would be great to have him as a bench option. The accuracy of clear outs by both Leavy and O'Mahony was outstanding today, and with Barclay and Watson being such a threat on opposition ball, I'd prefer to keep that duo in place.

I'd also probably leave Ryan and Toner in place. Scotland used their own lineout effectively as an attacking platform and those two and O'Mahony would give us the best chance to target it. Stuart McInally is a converted backrow, so I'd like to see us put them under pressure on their throw.

Halfbacks pick themselves, Farrell has done enough to retain the 13 shirt. I'd like to see Conway at fullback if he gets 80 mins under his belt for Munster at the weekend. Larmour back in the 23 shirt.

I still have a nagging concern about the lack of width in the opposition red zone. Skipping ahead to Twickenham, I don't think England will cough up scores from picking and jamming, or one out passes like the Welsh did today. Twice towards the end of the first half, there were tries for the taking had we gone wide (I think Aki scored the second chance). The likes of Vunipola, Itoje, Launchbury, Hughes, etc will defend the 5 yards either side of the rucks far better than the Welsh did today.

JRant

If SOB is fit he plays IMO. Stander, Leavy and SOB would be just the tonic for the Scottish backrow headache we saw today in Murryfield. Sure he pretty much only plays for Ireland these days with the odd European game thrown in for Leinster. For all his many qualities, and he has many, his ability to absolutely blow opposition players out of a ruck is a joy to watch.

It may seem harsh on POM but he hasn't hit his own high standards this year, plus he would be a great weapon to spring from the bench.

bilston

If available then Furlong and Henderson to come into the starting XV and SOB and Conway to the bench for me. I can't make an argument for Ringrose over Farrell after today given GR has very little gametime under his belt.

bilston

Madelynn Glamorous Range wrote: »

PTH2009 wrote: »

we could be champs going over to England actually. A win for us vs Scotland and an England loss to France leaves this
1 Ire 18/19 BP
2 Eng 9/10BP
3 Scot 8/9pts BP

Scotland could win it all potentially if they beat us

We need to win next day which is the main thing.

We don't even need England to lose. If we got a BP win and England don't get a BP win then we've won the tournament.

Yeah a BP win over Scotland and the title is more or less secured as our PD is already about 26 better than England's. A BP win over Scotland and you would assume you'd be able to add at least 10 to that. So effectively England would need 2 BP wins in Paris and at home against us, deny is a LBP and probably beat us by 15-20 points in the process.

Faugheen

Madelynn Glamorous Range wrote: »

joseywhales wrote: »

Only changes I could see is Henderson (though Ryan and toner were imperious) and maybe sob(though leavy was phenomenal). The best thing about today was they consistently kept attacking for the entire game through phases and that we have more depth than we thought, notably Porter,Farrell and leavy. But with the options coming back, Ireland are a hard team to plan against now.

The fitness required to play our game is painful to even imagine.

There is no way SOB should just walk back into the team imo. Henderson and Furlong will come in I'm sure.

Yes he does, every day of the week.

He's struggled with injuries this season but he was one of the best players on the Lions Tour just a few months ago and he's a better back row than the three already in the team.

Buer

Ringrose shouldn't be in the 23. He has played very little over the past 10 months and, one or two flashes aside, didn't look near his best against a pathetic Kings team. I could see him being exposed in a 6N test without being at his sharpest.

Farrell is fine. Let himself and Aki continue and develop as a real option. Even a fully fit and firing Ringrose may find it hard to get back in the side if Farrell keeps going like this.

The Rape of Lucretia

Buer wrote: »

Farrell is fine. Let himself and Aki continue and develop as a real option. Even a fully fit and firing Ringrose may find it hard to get back in the side if Farrell keeps going like this.

Aki was pretty ropey today though. Our weakest player. And not really international standard I am fearing. Farrell Ringrose combo for Écosse if Ringrose plays full game well next weekend.

Synode

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Aki was pretty ropey today though. Our weakest player. And not really international standard I am fearing.

You must have been watching a different game than me. Aki was an excellent carrier, and showed his class and power when scoring his try