Irish Team v Italy

jonno

Deleted User wrote:

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?

Gleeson still isn't even back training yet as far as I know. Miller and Quinlan should be used against Scotland with Wallace on the bench and see how it goes. Meanwhile send Easterby and Leamy to sprinting school.
If we are to have a chance of beating France or England up front we need our back row to perform. Both teams yesterday showed their weaknesses in the back three. Betsen could be back for the Irish game so lets hope Harinordoquy and Magne aren't.

big problem areas for next saturday
1 - Back Row - all changes could be a possiblity but despite playing poorly todat i like Foley in the team, a natural unnofficial pack leader.
2 - Centers - Possible partnerships are too many to number, which will be right against the Scots?
3 - Front Row - Has Sheahan been playing well wnough to get into the side? Where do Eddie's other options come from if Reggie isn't up for it, Horan's a great rugby player but a poor prop imo.

These situations are vital if we want to have a chance of the Grand Slam.

jonno

Deleted User wrote:

big problem areas for next saturday
1 - Back Row - all changes could be a possiblity but despite playing poorly todat i like Foley in the team, a natural unnofficial pack leader.

I'd go with Miller, Quinlan and Foley. We need to inject some speed into the back three and Wallace and/or Miller will do that. Problem is Wallace hasn't been playing that much.

2 - Centers - Possible partnerships are too many to number, which will be right against the Scots?

Presuming BOD makes it, its a simple case of Shaggy at 12 and BOD at 13.

However if BOD doesn't make it I'd maybe put Shaggy at 12 and Murphy at 13 with Bowe on the wing.

Other options include bringing Maggs in and playing Shaggy at 13 or drafting in Payne to play at 13.

3 - Front Row - Has Sheahan been playing well wnough to get into the side? Where do Eddie's other options come from if Reggie isn't up for it, Horan's a great rugby player but a poor prop imo.

Our scrum was very ordinary today for some reason. Both props started badly but improved. That five metre scrum that Italy demolished us in showed up how poorly Horan is scrummaging. I'd stick with the same starting tight five against Scotland. Byrne was hitting his marks today and was the victim of being involved in an underperforming front row for most of the scrums untill the props sorted themselves out.

thejollyrodger

well one game at a time, I reckon we can beat scotland even if we miss B.o.D & Darcy. It gives them a bit of a break. When is the match after that ?

But there are serious problems with this Irish team, they look like they havent prepared for this 6 Nations at all !

jonno

thejollyrodger wrote:

But there are serious problems with this Irish team, they look like they havent prepared for this 6 Nations at all !

That's exactly what I thought during the first 30 minutes or so.

We have Scotland next week and then a two week break till the England game.

Crash

the one thing i noticed after this match is a lot of people slighting Ogara after this match - granted he didnt adjust fast enough but the bounce and flight on that ball was ****ing weird.

thejollyrodger

thejollyrodger wrote:

well one game at a time, I reckon we can beat scotland even if we miss B.o.D & Darcy. It gives them a bit of a break. When is the match after that ?

But there are serious problems with this Irish team, they look like they havent prepared for this 6 Nations at all !

you know the funny thing is they have been training in my school 3/4 times a week since january 5th. And i've been out to see them a few times and they were doing everything at full speed, with no errors even when they were under pressure from defence. They really looked like a team with only one thing on their minds, and then after the first set of phases in the game today, O'Gara missing touch three times, it seemed as though they reverted to plan X, which was just to oppose the Italians instead of playing our own game.

It was very dissapointing, and the different ball was infuriating too!

GreenHell

I don't think there is any mystery to what happened today, a huge italian pack bossed us around the field and wouldn't let us play that game we went out there to play.

Not to worried about next week, our set piece is better than Scotland and so is our pack. They'll be well up for it but we should shade it again. If BOD and D'Arcy are missing there are plenty of combinations, it'd like to see S. Horgan stay at 12 with maybe Payne or Kelly coming in at 13. Its looking like D'Arcy should make the scotland game so fingers crossed...

Quinlan for Esterby too, Esterby has been sturdy in defense but Quinlan offers more going forward. Leamy to keep his spot played well today in a tough game.

jonno

Don't know about Kelly. As far as I know he's only played a few games for Cork Con and that's it. I'd bring in Payne and play him at 13 if it comes to that.

As for Leamy, he put in a few tackles but that was about it. I'd keep him on the bench and bring him on if we reach the comfort zone.

daveirl

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Nukem

Everyone is talking of Leamy/JOC well iv got an idea feck the pair of them out on their asses - kick Easterby off the team as well for good measure.

Bring back the 3 best ball carriers Ireland have Quinlan/Miller and Wallace.
Foley is fine he has a bad game and its still good.
The one thing i love watching about those three is the tackle rate and the ball carry stats at the end of the game.At least one of them is always way ahead.

daveirl

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Nukem

daveirl wrote:

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Know what you mean - but its sink or swim time for Ireland in my view.They either stop pretending to be good and stop there b*ll****.

Not taking anything away from Italy;they are a side to be reckoned with now. But we were cr*p and still beat them,time to flick on the afterburners and go for it,enough of playing it safe we have shown we can perform,now lets show them how good we can perform.

mike65

daveirl wrote:

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Ohhhhh hostages to fortune alert!

On the ball - Mitre is used only in Italy, everyone else uses Gilbert and the Italians are locked into a contract so everyone will have to get used to it for a while. This is of course, madness. The IRB should stipulate a single standard ball for ALL competitions.

Mike.

daveirl

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GreenHell

The whole Stringer thing at the moment is a bit worrying. I don't think he has lost it, I do think that Munster and Ireland are committing less players to the rucks than before, forcing stringer to dig it out, slowing the ball down.

RuggieBear

GreenHell wrote:

The whole Stringer thing at the moment is a bit worrying. I don't think he has lost it, I do think that Munster and Ireland are committing less players to the rucks than before, forcing stringer to dig it out, slowing the ball down.

That's a very good point...the protection of the ball has been piss poor and stringer is sufereing as a consequence

daveirl

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RuggieBear

daveirl wrote:

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while i would be the last person to defend stringer....i did notice a couple of the other sh's passing a the odd shocker over the weekend.

I think stringer is reacting to all the critisism of his inability to break...he has never done it in his career and trying to teach the old dog new tricks, is putting pressure on the facets of the game he is good at.

He should just realise now that he won't be going to NZ with the Lions....Cussiter and Peel are fighting for lions test spot