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

Faugheen

There really is nothing funnier than watching Irish fans flip-flop over whether certain players are of standard or not.

A couple of weeks ago Aki was the best thing since sliced bread now someone is saying he's not up to standard. He was very good carrying today but he did make a few errors. It happens.

We really need to stop making judgement calls based on one game.

Burkie1203

Faugheen wrote: »

There really is nothing funnier than watching Irish fans flip-flop over whether certain players are of standard or not.

A couple of weeks ago Aki was the best thing since sliced bread now someone is saying he's not up to standard. He was very good carrying today but he did make a few errors. It happens.

We really need to stop making judgement calls based on one game.

Especially when you look at the criticism of the selection of Farrell in AIs.

We still have issues mostly in defence (out wide) and also in opposition 22 we get very narrow.

Healy and Stander in the first half going route one when we needed to go wide.

bilston

With 8 tries in 7 matches Jacob Stockdale is on course to beat BOD's record of 46 tries by the time he wins his 41st cap!

stephen_n

bilston wrote: »

With 8 tries in 7 matches Jacob Stockdale is on course to beat BOD's record of 46 tries by the time he wins his 41st cap!

Les hope he beats it!

Tigerandahalf

Great game today and great to get a win.
I was pretty worried about Wales.

I thought Farrell was superb and much more effective than Henshaw has been recently. Great depth there now. I get the feeling Farrell could be hard to shift.

Our work at the breakdown was incredible today. We just didn't allow the Welsh any time there. It is the biggest difference Schmidt has made in the Irish set up.

Porter had a great game and held the scrum up well. Healy was good too and that Welsh scrum is pretty good.

Sexton must have been carrying some sort of knock. He seemed to skew his kicks from left to right so who knows if it was a knock or what.

I still find we make awful hard work of scoring our tries. We seem incapable of putting the ball through the hands quickly in the backline or use decoy runners and put the player through around the back. Not sure if it is just a coaching issue or we don't have the hands/vision at 12/13.

Come a world cup I am not sure if this physical style of play will allow us to play to the same level with a turnover of less than a week between games.

We have great depth though now.
Worries about the back up at 2, 10 and perhaps 15. We have been blessed that Sexton hasn't gone off early in a game. Other than that we have a great squad to play with.

prawnsambo

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I still find we make awful hard work of scoring our tries. We seem incapable of putting the ball through the hands quickly in the backline or use decoy runners and put the player through around the back. Not sure if it is just a coaching issue or we don't have the hands/vision at 12/13.

Wasn't that how Stockdale's first try was scored? Ball through the hands and decoy runners getting Halfpenny turned in.

Flincher

prawnsambo wrote: »

Wasn't that how Stockdale's first try was scored? Ball through the hands and decoy runners getting Halfpenny turned in.

It was, but in fairness there were two other occasions towards the end of the first half where simple hands would have resulted in tries on the right. I think against England in Twickenham we'll have to take every one of those chances on offer.

PTH2009

paddys day 2018 could be Glorious but but

We have to beat Scotland in 2 weeks and with a BP just to make sure and don't get too cocky. They only beat us last year after we all thought we would walk through them

Getting a title in London will be nice but not the same without getting the GS ??

Stheno

PTH2009 wrote: »

paddys day 2018 could be Glorious but but

We have to beat Scotland in 2 weeks and with a BP just to make sure and don't get too cocky. They only beat us last year after we all thought we would walk through them

Getting a title in London will be nice but not the same without getting the GS ??

How many times have we won the six nations?

awec

Stheno wrote: »

How many times have we won the six nations?

Three times since it became the six nations.

Stheno

awec wrote: »

Three times since it became the six nations.

Since 2000

Id take a 4th GS or not

One of the nicest experiences i had today was in the pub we were in.

There was an elderly couple beside us having lunch and as the game progressed they really got into it, despite not knowing the rules or how long the game was on for. We were chatting to them

In the last ten minutes they were glued to the tv and cheered as much as everyone when we won, they both went nuts at the last try.

PTH2009

Stheno wrote: »

How many times have we won the six nations?

paddys day itself is a piss up but a paddys day with Ireland possibly lifting the 6 nations trophy will be the cause of more drink lol

all about the 10th March firstly vs Scotland

A loss to Scotland will be very damaging but we have a chance to win the title in London either way. Scotland beat us they will be on 12 pts or 13pts with a BP win going into the last day and they face Italy away so they could end up being on 17/18 pts before we face England

joseywhales

PTH2009 wrote: »

Stheno wrote: »

How many times have we won the six nations?

paddys day itself is a piss up but a paddys day with Ireland possibly lifting the 6 nations trophy will be the cause of more drink lol

all about the 10th March firstly vs Scotland

A loss to Scotland will be very damaging but we have a chance to win the title in London either way. Scotland beat us they will be on 12 pts or 13pts with a BP win going into the last day and they face Italy away so they could end up being on 17/18 pts before we face England

From a team perspective I want us to win every game by one point between here and the world cup while renewing the team.

From a party perspective I live in the us and I've booked tickets to NY specifically to see us beat England and join the revelery.

Either way it's all positive

Faugheen

See a lot of people saying now that Farrell will be hard to shift.

Let's calm down on the hyperbole. Farrell was great today, but it's one game. Pound-for-pound Henshaw and Ringrose are still better, more rounded players.

What he can do though is allow himself to be an option, and we don't have to worry about what happens to Aki/Henshaw/Ringrose because Farrell can come in without a worry.

He played very well, but let's not make him out to be the second coming. I posted earlier about Irish fans flip-flopping based on one performance. People are now saying Farrell is possibly first choice after one game..

Johnny Farango

Faugheen wrote: »

People are now saying Farrell is possibly first choice after one game..

Farrell is first choice at the mo, on the back of the Wales game and his performance v Argentina. Ringrose is not fully fit/hasn't enough match practice so the argument is deferred to an extent. It will be rare enough in the modern game to have our first four centres fully fit so it's fantastic to have such options available. If all four are fit it's down to form I guess.

Buer

Faugheen wrote: »

People are now saying Farrell is possibly first choice after one game..

Are they? I can't see that. But he clearly has an opportunity to make himself first choice right now.

He's the man in possession, has played excellently in back to back starts for Ireland and Schmidt is a fan. He's absolutely in with a big chance of staying in the team. He'll see out this 6N and then it's up to others to get the Jersey back. There is no established Irish centre aside from Henshaw.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a midfield of Henshaw and Farrell combine this summer.

Burkie1203

Faugheen wrote: »

See a lot of people saying now that Farrell will be hard to shift.

Let's calm down on the hyperbole. Farrell was great today, but it's one game. Pound-for-pound Henshaw and Ringrose are still better, more rounded players.

What he can do though is allow himself to be an option, and we don't have to worry about what happens to Aki/Henshaw/Ringrose because Farrell can come in without a worry.

He played very well, but let's not make him out to be the second coming. I posted earlier about Irish fans flip-flopping based on one performance. People are now saying Farrell is possibly first choice after one game..

Makes a change from 1 or 2 saying the wrong farrell was called up for AIs


We have 5 or 6 viable centres now IMO

Aki, Henshaw, Ringrose, Scannell, Farrell, McCloskey


I hope Conway gets into the 23 for Scotland game. Start building back 3 options up as well as centre and win a 6n would be obscene

irishbucsfan

We still have pretty major issues with our attack which showed up at times. It's bizarre to say that when we scored so many tries, but we're getting great results out of taking advantage of Welsh errors, which is a brilliant level of ruthlessness. We're not getting our shape in place quick enough and we end up putting ourselves under huge pressure. However maybe that was down to Sexton not being at 100%. Wales must be furious with their performance off the ball, they had us under severe pressure in the first half but two big errors let us back into the game. After that they played extremely poorly after coming out for the second half. I think we were clearly the better team.

In the first half we were getting very frustrated with our attack. We started playing the ball from within our own 10 meter line for the first time after about 30 minutes and weren't really going anywhere until a big defensive error led to a huge gap which we took brilliant advantage of. That led to a penalty for us (and it absolutely should have been a try for us but we blew the opportunity to get the ball to Earls with noone across from him). Then once again on our next possession in our own half we attacked for a few phases and went nowhere. Eventually Murray kicked the ball back to Wales but they gave away a pointless penalty being offside at that kick and we eventually scored from the territory that gave us. Those two moments in quick succession at the end of the first half gave us 10 points and completely changed the game. If Wales held their defensive integrity in our half during that period the game would have been very different at half time.

We scored another try off a similar set of phases after a turnover we won in the 2nd half, 4 or 5 phases of extremely blunt attacking play almost killed the possession before we went wide and found a huge amount of space. I'm hoping moments like this will give the lads the confidence they need to go looking for that space out wide earlier against Scotland.

prawnsambo

irishbucsfan wrote: »

We still have pretty major issues with our attack which showed up at times. It's bizarre to say that when we scored so many tries, but we're getting great results out of taking advantage of Welsh errors, which is a brilliant level of ruthlessness. We're not getting our shape in place quick enough and we end up putting ourselves under huge pressure. However maybe that was down to Sexton not being at 100%. Wales must be furious with their performance off the ball, they had us under severe pressure in the first half but two big errors let us back into the game. After that they played extremely poorly after coming out for the second half. I think we were clearly the better team.

In the first half we were getting very frustrated with our attack. We started playing the ball from within our own 10 meter line for the first time after about 30 minutes and weren't really going anywhere until a big defensive error led to a huge gap which we took brilliant advantage of. That led to a penalty for us (and it absolutely should have been a try for us but we blew the opportunity to get the ball to Earls with noone across from him). Then once again on our next possession in our own half we attacked for a few phases and went nowhere. Eventually Murray kicked the ball back to Wales but they gave away a pointless penalty being offside at that kick and we eventually scored from the territory that gave us. Those two moments in quick succession at the end of the first half gave us 10 points and completely changed the game. If Wales held their defensive integrity in our half during that period the game would have been very different at half time.

We scored another try off a similar set of phases after a turnover we won in the 2nd half, 4 or 5 phases of extremely blunt attacking play almost killed the possession before we went wide and found a huge amount of space. I'm hoping moments like this will give the lads the confidence they need to go looking for that space out wide earlier against Scotland.

Yeah. I was screaming at them to go out to Earls and I think there were two phases where that was on and we trucked it up instead. I think Stander took one of them and can't remember who took the other. But after that the space was covered off.

Wales were often getting pulled to one side defensively and leaving gaps on the other. We did not take advantage of a lot of those opportunities. Even Bundee's try was a trot in if he'd turned right.

Faugheen

Buer wrote: »

Are they? I can't see that. But he clearly has an opportunity to make himself first choice right now.

He's the man in possession, has played excellently in back to back starts for Ireland and Schmidt is a fan. He's absolutely in with a big chance of staying in the team. He'll see out this 6N and then it's up to others to get the Jersey back. There is no established Irish centre aside from Henshaw.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a midfield of Henshaw and Farrell combine this summer.

Yes, people are saying he'll be hard to shift. Which means they are saying he's possibly first choice. Knowing Irish fans, next time he has a below par performance there will be the greatest over-reaction we've seen since ROG/Sexton would miss a kick at the height of that rivalry. There's two better 13s than him when fit.

It's like last year, when people said Sexton would have a hard time getting back into the team because Jackson was playing so well. If you have a better player at a position then that player gets picked. It's very simple.

Truth is, Farrell is doing what he should be doing, but Ringrose and Henshaw are both better rugby players than him. Farrell missed more tackles than any other Irish player yesterday, so he still has a lot to work on in defence. Let's relax and let him play his rugby without putting such pressures on him.

irishbucsfan

By the summer I'm not so sure Ringrose will be considered a better rugby player so straightforwardly. We'll see. Certainly based on Ringrose's current disjointed season and form there's no question that Farrell is the better choice. Henshaw is the only player I'd guarantee a place tbh and I'm looking forward to seeing Farrell throughout the rest of this competition to see if he's worth the jersey outside him.

prawnsambo

irishbucsfan wrote: »

By the summer I'm not so sure Ringrose will be considered a better rugby player so straightforwardly. We'll see. Certainly based on Ringrose's current disjointed season and form there's no question that Farrell is the better choice. Henshaw is the only player I'd guarantee a place tbh and I'm looking forward to seeing Farrell throughout the rest of this competition to see if he's worth the jersey outside him.

Well at the very least, it's great that we're having this discussion. Wouldn't have thought it possible a couple of years ago.

foxyladyxx

Buer wrote: »

Are they? I can't see that. But he clearly has an opportunity to make himself first choice right now.

He's the man in possession, has played excellently in back to back starts for Ireland and Schmidt is a fan. He's absolutely in with a big chance of staying in the team. He'll see out this 6N and then it's up to others to get the Jersey back. There is no established Irish centre aside from Henshaw.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a midfield of Henshaw and Farrell combine this summer.

Now that could be a match made in heaven. Farrell will get the next two games to gain experience I would hope. He can't be dropped now and surely is ahead of Aki?

foxyladyxx

prawnsambo wrote: »

Well at the very least, it's great that we're having this discussion. Wouldn't have thought it possible a couple of years ago.

What will happen if Murray or Sexton get injured? We have no clear replacement for either position. Both were immense yesterday with Sexton having a massive game .

Faugheen

foxyladyxx wrote: »

Buer wrote: »

Are they? I can't see that. But he clearly has an opportunity to make himself first choice right now.

He's the man in possession, has played excellently in back to back starts for Ireland and Schmidt is a fan. He's absolutely in with a big chance of staying in the team. He'll see out this 6N and then it's up to others to get the Jersey back. There is no established Irish centre aside from Henshaw.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a midfield of Henshaw and Farrell combine this summer.

Now that could be a match made in heaven. Farrell will get the next two games to gain experience I would hope. He can't be dropped now and surely is ahead of Aki?

Why is he surely ahead of Aki? Based on what?

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Aki didn't have the best of days yesterday but had played very well up to this point. One game changes nothing.

bilston

Faugheen wrote: »

See a lot of people saying now that Farrell will be hard to shift.

Let's calm down on the hyperbole. Farrell was great today, but it's one game. Pound-for-pound Henshaw and Ringrose are still better, more rounded players.

What he can do though is allow himself to be an option, and we don't have to worry about what happens to Aki/Henshaw/Ringrose because Farrell can come in without a worry.

He played very well, but let's not make him out to be the second coming. I posted earlier about Irish fans flip-flopping based on one performance. People are now saying Farrell is possibly first choice after one game..

I think it's more with a view to the Scotland game were Ringrose will be available. Given the lack of gametime that Ringrose has Farrell should keep the 13 Jersey for the rest of the Championship. Moving forward it will be looked at again.

The Rape of Lucretia

Farrell 12, with Henshaw and Ringsie options at 13 must be looked at. Aki is surely only a temporary thing. With the strongest indications that he is not really regular starter material being that he is being let stay at Connaught - if he were a likely long term starter, Joe would be moving him. Joe also seems to still hold some hope that Payne will play again. So Aki a sort of 5th choice, who like Dillane or Marmion is more bench material in an injury crisis, rather than part of his ideal squad.

Gonad

Sorry to hijack thread but have a random question.

Does anyone know what match it was when Shane Horgan threw like an under arm reverse pass for Leinster and Drico scored ?

Can’t find the video on YouTube

Thanks

baas baa

Ringrose to 23 perhaps if Conway remains out, Mcfadden is a misnomer in the 23 IMO.

Henderson and Furlong to come back in, though who drops out for Henderson I'm not sure. Stander is the player looking over his shoulder.

irishbucsfan

Gonad wrote: »

Sorry to hijack thread but have a random question.

Does anyone know what match it was when Shane Horgan threw like an under arm reverse pass for Leinster and Drico scored ?

Can’t find the video on YouTube

Thanks

It was against Brive in 2010, Cheika's last season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW7HgpvlLFs is the try.

Bonus point try, pretty crucial

sxt

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Farrell 12, with Henshaw and Ringsie options at 13 must be looked at. Aki is surely only a temporary thing. With the strongest indications that he is not really regular starter material being that he is being let stay at Connaught - if he were a likely long term starter, Joe would be moving him. Joe also seems to still hold some hope that Payne will play again. So Aki a sort of 5th choice, who like Dillane or Marmion is more bench material in an injury crisis, rather than part of his ideal squad.

Do you remember a few years ago on here, when everyone was saying Jared Payne wasn't good enough, at international level. Yet Joe Schmidt and rory best and every single one of his team mates and all his opponents knew how crucial and influential his presence was. Bundee Aki is the new Jared Payne.

OldRio

I was going to post about how wonderful the Young guns played yesterday. How good it is that the coaching staff have 'difficult selections'.
How I hoped sensible debates can be made about different players. Unfortunately I've just read the post by TRoL. (How apt) and realise for the infantile that is impossible.

Gonad

irishbucsfan wrote: »

It was against Brive in 2010, Cheika's last season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW7HgpvlLFs is the try.

Bonus point try, pretty crucial

thank you

prawnsambo

OldRio wrote: »

I was going to post about how wonderful the Young guns played yesterday. How good it is that the coaching staff have 'difficult selections'.
How I hoped sensible debates can be made about different players. Unfortunately I've just read the post by TRoL. (How apt) and realise for the infantile that is impossible.

That's what he does.

MikeSD

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Farrell 12, with Henshaw and Ringsie options at 13 must be looked at. Aki is surely only a temporary thing. With the strongest indications that he is not really regular starter material being that he is being let stay at Connaught - if he were a likely long term starter, Joe would be moving him. Joe also seems to still hold some hope that Payne will play again. So Aki a sort of 5th choice, who like Dillane or Marmion is more bench material in an injury crisis, rather than part of his ideal squad.

How would Aki leaving Connacht benefit Irish rugby?
It would just saturate Leinster's midfield options meaning somebody would be losing out on valuable game time. Aki already has plenty of experience playing with Henshaw which has definitely played into his hands. Ringrose must stake his claim with Henshaw at Leinster because it looks like Henshaw will never be dropped when fit.

.ak

bilston wrote: »

With 8 tries in 7 matches Jacob Stockdale is on course to beat BOD's record of 46 tries by the time he wins his 41st cap!

He reminds me of Bowe in his earlier stages of his carrier; serious athlete with a nose for the line. The Earls and Fitzgerald’s of the world will work their balls off in a match but never keep up with the Stockdales and Bowes scoring records because these guys are in the right place at the right time. That intercept at the end summed it up for me, killer instinct.

prawnsambo

prawnsambo wrote: »

Well at the very least, it's great that we're having this discussion. Wouldn't have thought it possible a couple of years ago.

To me the Farrell situation is interesting in the context of Joe's match selection. It's historically been the biggest criticism of him as a coach that he selects conservatively but him having Farrell on the radar so long ago and trusting him despite early season wobbles has been seriously vindicated.

Good to have a coach who is playing the longer game in terms of talent development. Even better the message it sends about coming back to play in Ireland. Only back in Ireland a few months and Farrell is performing in one of our biggest fixtures of the year.

FrancieBrady

.ak wrote: »

He reminds me of Bowe in his earlier stages of his carrier; serious athlete with a nose for the line. The Earls and Fitzgerald’s of the world will work their balls off in a match but never keep up with the Stockdales and Bowes scoring records because these guys are in the right place at the right time. That intercept at the end summed it up for me, killer instinct.

Anscombe should be taken out and thrashed for that pass though. It never ever looked that it had the legs to find it's target and Stockdale could have had his sandwiches before deciding what to do with it.

Terrible play by the Welsh tbh.

.ak

.ak wrote: »

He reminds me of Bowe in his earlier stages of his carrier; serious athlete with a nose for the line. The Earls and Fitzgerald’s of the world will work their balls off in a match but never keep up with the Stockdales and Bowes scoring records because these guys are in the right place at the right time. That intercept at the end summed it up for me, killer instinct.

Two moments today, getting up to catch that cross field effort requiring all of his 6"5 frame and that intercept really reminded me of Bowe. The intercept in particular.

Smashing performance from him.

Jack Kanoff

.ak wrote: »

He reminds me of Bowe in his earlier stages of his carrier; serious athlete with a nose for the line. The Earls and Fitzgerald’s of the world will work their balls off in a match but never keep up with the Stockdales and Bowes scoring records because these guys are in the right place at the right time. That intercept at the end summed it up for me, killer instinct.

You mean Keith Earls... our highest try scorer currently playing ...only 2 or 3 trys behind Bowe and has a very good chance of overtaking BOD if he stays fit for the next 4 or 5 years

phog

.ak wrote: »

He reminds me of Bowe in his earlier stages of his carrier; serious athlete with a nose for the line. The Earls and Fitzgerald’s of the world will work their balls off in a match but never keep up with the Stockdales and Bowes scoring records because these guys are in the right place at the right time. That intercept at the end summed it up for me, killer instinct.

Earls! What more has he to do to get the recognition he deserves.

awec

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Anscombe should be taken out and thrashed for that pass though. It never ever looked that it had the legs to find it's target and Stockdale could have had his sandwiches before deciding what to do with it.

Terrible play by the Welsh tbh.

Would have been a Welsh try if they went through the hands IMO. Our defense was all sucked in narrow, they had about 3 on 1 out wide.

awec

awec wrote: »

Would have been a Welsh try if they went through the hands IMO. Our defense was all sucked in narrow, they had about 3 on 1 out wide.

We had players sweeping over, it was a lot of space and the overlap was spread out so no fast hands, I don't think it was a try scoring opportunity without a skip pass but with the way North had gotten around Kearney who knows.

Bridge93

Welsh press and forums have been fairly unanimous in their appraisal of the game. No excuses being made (one or two like you always get from all sides) beaten by the better side on the day. Some even going so far as to say it would've been a travesty had they stolen it

Buer

awec wrote: »

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Anscombe should be taken out and thrashed for that pass though. It never ever looked that it had the legs to find it's target and Stockdale could have had his sandwiches before deciding what to do with it.

Terrible play by the Welsh tbh.

Would have been a Welsh try if they went through the hands IMO. Our defense was all sucked in narrow, they had about 3 on 1 out wide.

Pass was right call, I think. It completely took out our defence. It was just poorly executed. If they went through the hands, we would have corner flagged and taken them down even if they managed to get it away to the wing under pressure from Farrell and Murray coming up.

That pass hits its target and Wales have a clear run in.

foxyladyxx

Bridge93 wrote: »

Welsh press and forums have been fairly unanimous in their appraisal of the game. No excuses being made (one or two like you always get from all sides) beaten by the better side on the day. Some even going so far as to say it would've been a travesty had they stolen it

Yes I have read them too . They have been very honest in posting about the Welsh teams' weaknesses which I think is a bit harsh in that the Welsh team played well in some aspects.. I see where we ,on the other hand, have been compared to the All Blacks. We have a long way to go before achieving such status such is the length in depth of the Kiwis .nor can we match their psysicality.

The Welsh posters ,by and large, admit that it is always difficult to win at the Aviva.

FrancieBrady

Buer wrote: »

Pass was right call, I think. It completely took out our defence. It was just poorly executed. If they went through the hands, we would have corner flagged and taken them down even if they managed to get it away to the wing under pressure from Farrell and Murray coming up.

That pass hits its target and Wales have a clear run in.

Yeh, it was the pass, (the only real option they had imo) it was woefully bad and gave Stockdale all day to eye it and calmly intercept.

.ak

Faugheen wrote: »

See a lot of people saying now that Farrell will be hard to shift.

Let's calm down on the hyperbole. Farrell was great today, but it's one game. Pound-for-pound Henshaw and Ringrose are still better, more rounded players.

What he can do though is allow himself to be an option, and we don't have to worry about what happens to Aki/Henshaw/Ringrose because Farrell can come in without a worry.

He played very well, but let's not make him out to be the second coming. I posted earlier about Irish fans flip-flopping based on one performance. People are now saying Farrell is possibly first choice after one game..

I was probably one of those gushing fans but the reason I think he’ll be hard to shift is not based on one game, but rather two things; his performance in the AIs, and the fact Joe is a big fan, even claiming him as a “project”, bringing him back into squad despite minimal game time after his injury. Joe sees big things for him.

A third reason is it’s unlikely Ringrose will play in the 6n campaign this year, then Farrell becomes the incumbent.

Good options to have all fit; Aki, Henshaw, Ringrose, and Farrell. Happy to see a combination of any two on the field.

.ak

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Farrell 12, with Henshaw and Ringsie options at 13 must be looked at. Aki is surely only a temporary thing. With the strongest indications that he is not really regular starter material being that he is being let stay at Connaught - if he were a likely long term starter, Joe would be moving him. Joe also seems to still hold some hope that Payne will play again. So Aki a sort of 5th choice, who like Dillane or Marmion is more bench material in an injury crisis, rather than part of his ideal squad.

I know you’re not a big fan of Aki for whatever reason but he’s taken to international rugby like a duck to water, bar injury he’ll be very hard to shift, and aside from a couple of errors he had a very good game yesterday.

.ak

Jack Kanoff wrote: »

You mean Keith Earls... our highest try scorer currently playing ...only 2 or 3 trys behind Bowe and has a very good chance of overtaking BOD if he stays fit for the next 4 or 5 years

Yeah i was thinking that when I made the post, I should have made the note I meant the Earls we say yesterday. I thought he put in a great shift around the park, reminded me of Fitzgerald; creating opportunities for others around the park, a real danger-man, and in my mind put in a much bigger shift than Stockdale with more skills on display, yet it’s Stockdale that ends on the score sheet.