Irish Team v Italy

RuggieBear

G Murphy
S Horgan
B O'Driscoll (capt)
G D'Arcy
D Hickie
R O'Gara
P Stringer
R Corrigan
S Byrne
J Hayes
M O'Kelly
P O'Connell
S Easterby
D Leamy
A Foley

Replacements: F Sheahan, M Horan, D O'Callaghan, E Miller, G
Easterby, D Humphreys, G Dempsey.

daosulli

woohoo, no dempsey :-)

palance

Murphy instead of Dempsey is a great choice, it gives us a far greater attcking dimension. I'm very surprised Leamy's starting instead of O'Connor though

[Jackass]

Strongest Ireland team possible, except for gleeson....Hopefully no injuries, and that's a top class team.

How does everyone else rate our back row to that of France and England? I think that's one place where top teams would be stronger then us, despite the hugh amount of dept we have in that position...i just dont see leamy and easterby as world class players like the rest of the Irish team...would have preferred O'Connor to Leamy also.

Trojan

DubGuy22 wrote:

Strongest Ireland team possible, except for gleeson....Hopefully no injuries, and that's a top class team.

Except for P Stringer, according to some of the guys (Munster fans too!) on here.

Actually, this probably deserves a thread of it's own.

uberwolf

I'm surprised though happy with Murphy's position.

My only query on this would be if it's a question of a wee experiment and trying to get a few points for points scored sake and whether EOS would revert to Dempsey against top opposition - Dempsey being the better defender.

Back row raises my considerable eye brows as well, though it's virtually a lottery there - I'd thought Millar was playing so well at the moment

Nukem

uberwolf wrote:

Dempsey being the better defender.

Dempsey is the same as Murphy but i think its Murphys skill around the park that will get him the 15 jersey everytime.

Miller - yes yes. Very confust. Easterby isn't playin great,also Quinlan would have been nice but Leamy is playing great.
Stringer had a great game last Sat,reckon someone had a word.

Anyone wanna take a potshot at what the score will be.
Ireland 52 - Italy 18 (my guess)

uberwolf

I admit to having been surprised by Murphy the first time I saw him under a high ball. Very good and brave. But having stood in the South Terrace watching the Boks trying to cross our line I'd argue that Dempsey was the man you wanted there and not Murphy.

But I'm an enthusiast and not an expert in rugby terms and certainly the trend has been for the full back as an attacking threat not a goal keeper and no defence in the world could nullify the line breakers we have playing well. Murphy, D'Arcy and O'Driscoll coming at you!! - where do you - chasing shadows.

Nukem

uberwolf wrote:

Murphy, D'Arcy and O'Driscoll coming at you!!

The more and more i think of the backline the more and more i am impressed.
With those three in the middle and Hickie with his speed and step and the big fella on the other wing and ROD with his boot mmmmmmmmm....................

Reckon they could do real damage.

[Jackass]

Nukem wrote:

Anyone wanna take a potshot at what the score will be.
Ireland 52 - Italy 18 (my guess)

Ireland 63 - Italy 13

jonno

Possibly the best team we could put out, especially in the backs. Dempsey offers more defensively but Murphy is a class act and does what a full back does best.

As for the back row, where's Quinlan gone? Is he injured? Simon Eastreby hasn't been playing that well so I would have put the Munster back row in there. But I suppose EOS is going for strength in the pack (seeing as how its probably Italy's main strength) and so Leamy gets in there.

An Tarbh

Certainly surprised at O'Connor being dropped, surely he was worth a run for the 6 nations, Leamy is more a blindside, both could have been included but Easterby has always been one of Eddie's favourites plus he had a great game against Munster which didn't do his chances of selection much harm. Backline does look pretty mouthwatering, let's just hope O'Gara and O'Driscoll are fit enough.

accensi0n

27-10

nl

all i have to say is that Eric Miller should be on.
He is without doubt the best back row available to the Irish team.

BolBill

Since their are no British players in the first fifteen can we now dispense with "Irelands Call" ????

Downtime

Where was Easterby born ? ROG is American.

RuggieBear

BolBill wrote:

Since their are no British players in the first fifteen can we now dispense with "Irelands Call" ????

No

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

An Tarbh

O'Conner certainly was not average against South Africa he had a great game, easily was the best back rower on display, it was the game against Argentina where he was poor and since Leamy has come on in the Heineken Cup Eddie obviously feels the time is right to give him a run.

BolBill

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

(1) Where is the Anthems thread?
(2) Agree with you with O'Connor, totally over hyped
(3) Also thought Shaggy would have been dropped, hes a bit of a stocking

jonno

BolBill wrote:

(3) Also thought Shaggy would have been dropped, hes a bit of a stocking

Well I suppose EOS wanted the Heineken Cup's top try scorer playing in a game that may give us a haul of points. But hey thats just me talking

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

RuggieBear

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

I agree....i thought O'Connor didn't look out of his depth playing for Ireland but i did expect a lot more from him. Typical english (Sky?) hyperbole!!!! Some times wish Leinster and Munster were in the Z premiership so we could shut the jingoistic ****ers up....

Nukem

Think Sky Sports hyped him too much -good player. But the players mentioned above are class and proven even leamy looks better.hope he has a good game on Sunday.

An Tarbh

I know O'Connor isn't our best 7 but he's certainly better than Wallace. He should be playing at no. 8

Nukem

An Tarbh wrote:

I know O'Connor isn't our best 7 but he's certainly better than Wallace. He should be playing at no. 8

Ha! Wallace has been out for a while but fit and with practise id pick Wallace anyday.
Anyone here what the Italian defensive coach said about D'arcy and BOD - went something like

"yes they are quality players but i believe our 2 centres will contain them and compete in attack - it should be an interesting competition"

Hats off for enthusiasm but D'arcy in his form,like trying to catching wind.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

An Tarbh

No Wallace

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

besty

i think its a very strong team. close call between leamy and o'connor alright. i do think leamy's physicality will suit the first away game in italy however - hence his selection.

Peace

Whats the deal with the ball?

They've mentioned a couple of times now thatits not a regulation ball..

eirebhoy

What a ref to have for an Ireland match, Paddy O'Brien.

[Jackass]

Bloody injury to D'Arcy early in the game :mad:

typical we wont be able to have our showpiece backline for the 6N!!

O'Gara having a shocker tbh
It's games like these you see BO'D's not the right man to be captain.....
He inspires the team to pull off good breaks etc. but we need someone who could cool the team and settle them in the early stages like a Martin Johnson would have.
Also there's to much emphisis on O'Driscoll in the set-piece backline moves.
He has to much to do on the pich, it effects his game imo.

besty

Jesus Christ. Paddy O Brien absolutley rides us. Every time i see him ref us he ****ing rapes us. Great stuff from shaggy for stringers try. Another great break by BOD

[Jackass]

lol, i loved horgans over head throw, with all the grace of a elephant ballirina
Worked lovely though..good try strings.

Amz

I'm happy enough with the win, but with O'Driscoll and D''Arcy both coming off injured I'm a little worried about future games, hopefully it's nothing too serious.

I think Stringer could have supported a lot better, at times he was very slow to come in.

Meh! Nothing to get particularly excited about.

thejollyrodger

A win is a win but I am not so sure about Ireland winning the grand slam now. The Italians have seriously improved in the last number of years. It wont be a case of an automatic win in the future.

That ball caused us so many problems. O Gara was having a nightmare. Why cant they just use the Gilbert or have one standard ball.

I dont think any of the injuries will cause us problems for Scotland IMO

Amz

It was funny to hear the BBC commentators talking about "Ireland's tough test at Murrayfield next week" when before the match yesterday they would have written Scotland off.

Agent Smith

a win's a win, i still cant get over the england wales match yesterday....

thejollyrodger

those injuries sounds a lot worse, thankfully its scotland up next and not France or England

Nukem

In not too many words "what the f*ck was that" ,the forwards were so slow getting to everything. Leamy aint gonna get picked again he was so slow to the ball. Easterby where was he. The scrum dont bloody start and ROG - jesus dont blame the ball you have been training with it all week.
Some severe head scratchin is a must in the EOS camp in the morning

D'arcy and BOD injured grand slam*bye* *bye*

mike65

Amz wrote:

I think Stringer could have supported a lot better, at times he was very slow to come in.

The try aside thats the worst I've seen him play, the whole pack was a day late and a dollar short giving the backs bugger all to work with. The final score really does flatter them.

Its going to be an interesting 6 nations.

Mike.

Worried by Eddie's interview afterwrds, i flicked between bbc2 and Rte and got both of them and he seemed to let slip that D'Arcy had "torn" his hamstring "in full flight" which is not the kind of news we need from this match.

looking at next saturday we might have to play with a hole in the center which Scotland will put absolutely everything through!

Crash

i'm much more worried about O'Driscolls hamstring - while not as serious as darcy's injury, if we end up with the captain out against England (and with darcy possibly out as well) we're in serious danger. the forwards in the match werent getting to anything in time, lagging behind and responsible for way too many turnovers.

however there were some jewels out of todays match - O'Driscolls played beautifully - for someone very near to concussed, his part in the first try was spectacular. and Geordan Murphy overall was amazing.

Sangre

Terrible, terrible play from the backrows, no where in sight everytime there was a a half-break. Lost count how many times a back had to hold on the ground or the ball was turned over. Man, I wish we had Wallace again, speed on him.
Anyway, one center injured we can handle, two will be a nightmare.
Brilliant players game from BOD, terrible captains game. He definitely is not the man for the job, he should be worrying about his own game not others. Some one like PoC.

[Jackass]

6 days is a very short time to have to recover from a performance like that, and as far as the grand slam is concerned, the Irish lads now know they could seriously blow it any match, so it's a good kick up the ar$e in that respect.

The forwards are not good enough..plain and simple...O'Connell and O'Kelly can be proud, but props were poor, scrumageing was terrible, and it's certainly where we will be attacked in every game...thankfully Scotland have nothing to offer as far as rugby is concerned in that department, They really need to sort it out for the France game (i think is before England game, isn't it?), taking account of the fact Italy have a very good (also under rated) pack, so we wont be punished much harder than that, but if the french or welsh back line got that kind of possesion and terretory they'd beat us comfortably.

If both centers are gone it will most likely be dempsey on with horgan, murphy and dempsey switching around. But it's the other center spot that concernes me...i think george hook mentioned Maggs...but i'd be more inclinde to have dempsey 15, 14 hickie, 13 murphy, 12 horgan, 11 Bowe...or even hickie in the center and murphy on the wing. But i don't think Maggs was ever a top player..and he's also been very poor for Ulster this year!!

All in all though very dissapointing.

anybody wanna hazard a guess at how long we'll be mssing either of our centres?
anyone had any simliar injuries (D'Arcy was running at full tilt afaik, O'Driscoll overextended his hamstring in a ruck) and had anything less than a month out?

jonno

From what EOS was saying it sounds like D'Arcy's injury is worse and could miss a few weeks whereas O' Driscoll's is just a twinge that he got in a ruck when his leg was extended.

As for the match, we were extremely lucky to be leading at half time. Had De Marigny been kicking all along for Italy we could have found ourselves 15-8 down.

We were battered up front especially at the breakdown. The backrow was the slowest I've seen in a while. Leamy and Easterby seemed to be the last to the ruck every time. At one stage O'Driscoll and D'Arcy were the first to the breakdown with The Bull and MOK coming in afterwards but no sign of our backrow. Another time MOK stole a lose bad from the breakdowna dn still no sign of our back row. I almost forgot the Axel was playing.

On a more positive note, Stringer made the most of having no support and tried his best and showed great awareness for the try, and ROG had the mentality to get over the ball issue and composed himself quite well. MOK and POC both controlled the lineout pretty well while Murphy and O'Driscoll both had excellent games as well.

Looks like we might have alot of work to do up front. If Reggie isn't fit next week Horan will have to front up and start to scrummage and we'll have to make do with Maggs and Shaggy in the centre or maybe draft in Payne to partner Shaggy.

Costly result but we'll have to forget it and move on.

Crash

I dont even want to make a guess on how long they're out - its a serious blow to have D'arcy and O'Driscoll out at once - a huge blow and a serious loss to the grandslam that we're shooting for.

Whats the current situation with Gleeson? He was really missed today, alwyas first to the breakdown. Eddie will be forced to use Miller or Wallace next week surely? Maybe even both?

jonno

I'd be surprised if Leamy gets a start the next day. He was very poor. As for Easterby, he'll probably start because EOS is in love with him. Wallace should be drafted back along with Quinlan. Gaffney might not see the need to play him but EOS should bring him in.