Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Eben will always be remembered for

You forget, any player that wears a SA jersey is automatically considered a god regardless of how they play.

Just watching back the Snyman take out on Casey, it really should have been a red card, he missed the ball and then took two steps before driving through on a vulnerable player. It's dangerous, and had a severe outcome. The referee completely bottled it. It was a hitman job, he didn't care about the ball he just targetted a hit on the player, a bit cowardly really, he didnt' attempt that on a player his own size. This qualifies as dangerous play, and pretending it's part of the game is complete rubbish IMO. It's an off the ball hit, deserved a red card.

it’s not a red or even a yellow but it should have been an Ireland penalty

Andy Dunne had good take on it, he was trying to leave something on the 9 like a lot of players do, stop him getting to next ruck and slow Irish ball, he just hit him too hard and his head hit the ground, his head doesn’t hit the ground and nothing is said about it, apart from him been offside anyway

Plenty of positives the negative in this case being i think mccarthy didnt have a better game than etzebeth ... and then you call saffas touchy

And i stand by that kleyn comment because hes an actual tighthead lock and not an 8 masqueradeing as one. Rysn i lime more than most i just dont think he was an impending lions captain like some did and i think kleynis better as specific aspects of the game ryan was a phenominal light lock as a young player that got forced into a roleset out of desperation for ireland to have that bit th lock and has stagnated a bit with it

It qualifies as dangerous play under the laws, and the severity of the outcome of his dangerous actions deserved a red. He had no business doing what he did, he should have paid for his decision to take out a player in the manner he did off the ball.

My Guess:

South Africa: Team named today at 11:30am.

Willie le Roux; Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe; Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk; Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe; Eben Etzebeth, Franco Mostert; Siya Kolisi (capt), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Evan Roos.

Reps: Malcolm Marx, Steenekamp, Vincent Koch, Moerat, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Grant Williams, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

IRELAND: Team named Thursday?

Jimmy O'Brien or Osborne; Calvin Nash, Gar®y Ringrose, Jamie Osborne or McCloskey, James Lowe* or Stockdale (gulp); Jack Crowley, Conor Murray; Andrew Porter*, Rónan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (capt), Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.

Reps: Herring, Cian Healy, Finlay Bealham, James Ryan, Ryan Bird, Cormac Izuchukwu, Blade, Sam Prendergast.

Score: 28-13*

I'd be shocked if a referee gave a card even if the TMO did call it. Snyman walked the fine line of scragging his arm and immediately following through to tackle Casey. It was a cheap shot to bang up the opposition scrum half, he knew what he was doing but the outcome was completely accidental through contact with the ground.

It should be given as a penalty as he tackled the guy after the ball was gone from an offside position but there was nothing wrong with the actual mechanics of the tackle.

If ryan or mccarthy were as good as you have them in your head, ireland and leinster would win more things. At some point some of these guys have to be overrated compared to public perception and that is the most obvious gap to me by far.

Ryan looked better than mccarthy.. i didn't see a vastly superior performance vs eben.

I'd completely disagree, if you see the tackle it is clear that he slams a vulnerable player backwards flat on his back, that will definitely result in whiplash head off the ground, there was no other way that tackle was going to turn out. And it was late, and the ball was gone, player was not in possession of the ball, the outcome was severe. It ticks all the boxes for dangerous play, should have been reffed properly, that should not be tolerated in the sport.

If ryan or mccarthy were as good as you have them in your head, ireland and leinster would win more things.

Ireland have won the last two Six Nations.

We didn't win the RWC but then again, Ryan got injured and McCarthy hadn't broken into the first XV yet.

By your logic that second rows are the winning and losing of tournaments, it's Beirne and Henderson's fault that we didn't win the RWC. Seems harsh, I have to say.

If slamming a vulnerable player backwards, flat onto his back is the threshold for a dangerous tackle, we're going to have a dozen yellow cards in a game.

If he had the possession of the ball it could be considered a legal tackle. Once a player is not expecting a hit after the ball was passed away it becomes a much more dangerous thing as the player is not prepared for it.