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Match Thread : Irish Wolfhounds V England Saxons Friday 30th Jan 2015
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29-01-2015 5:46pm#1
Irish Independent Park | Kick Off 19:45 | RTE 2 Sky Sports 2
Weather conditions : Dry, Scattered Clouds, 3 Degrees, 80% Humidity, 21 KPH Winds
Introduction
Musgrave Park. Refurbished and renamed to Irish Independent Park hosts the Irish Wolfhounds as they take on the England Saxons in a fixture that was once a passable event in the Irish Rugby Calendar.
Attitudes towards this fixture have changed however due to one important and somewhat new aspect of Irish Rugby. Depth.
Much of this team on paper has the potential to be or has recently been first choice and the permutations regarding who will start next week are going to lead to a tremendous number of yellow cards in various threads in the coming days.
I can only imagine that Joe sat up last night and studied all the possibilities, eventualities and statistics to come up with the absolute best 23 to test combinations, fitness and competition for places. Either that, or he said feck it - what "typical Joe curveball" will most likely mess with heads on boards.ie
One player you would expect to start next week, but may still need a big performance tomorrow is Ian Madigan. Like Tony Ward in the famous 1981 Munster victory over Australia at this very venue, Madigan finds himself at 10 despite a gruelling season to date switching between out-half and centre. With so much rugby played over recent weeks I would expect to see him make way early... but for whom!
He is joined at scrum half by Kieran Marmion who is slowly breaking into the Irish set up and will have a lot to prove given the potential injuries to Murray / Reddan.
All eyes will also be on the returning Sean O'Brien. Nothing else needs to be said here and I am going to cringe the first couple of tackles he makes. He is joined by an all Leinster back row with Conan at 8 who has made a significant breakthrough this year and Dominic Ryan at 6 though I suspect he will be playing in much the same capacity as Peter O'Mahony in the same position.
In the front row Mike Ross who has apparently dropped down the pecking order at Leinster will look to get some momentum back. Henderson at 4 instead of 6 may illustrate Joe's thinking and Luke and Earls look like they are competing for utility centre / back 3 bench spot.Team sheets & Player Ratings
To add some important context to the team sheets I have included player ratings based on the only two metrics that count.
1. Number of European Cup Winners medals
2. Number of times Approached by Toulouse
Toulouse ERC Ireland Position England ERC Toulouse
0 0 Felix Jones 15 Chris Pennell 0 0
0 2 Fergus McFaddan 14 Chris Ashton 0 0
0 1 Keith Earls 13 Elliot Daly 0 0
0 3 Gordon D'Arcy 12 Sam Burgess 0 0
0 2 Luke Fitzgerald 11 Marland Yarde 0 0
0 2 Ian Madigan 10 Henry Slade 0 0
0 0 Kieran Marmion 9 Lee Dickson 0 0
0 0 Jack McGrath 1 Matt Mullan 0 0
0 2 Richardt Strauss 2 Rob Webber 0 0
0 2 Mike Ross 3 Henry Thomas 0 0
0 0 Iain Henderson 4 Matt Garvey 0 0
0 0 Micke McCarthy 5 James Gaskell 0 0
0 0 Dominic Ryan 6 Dave Ewers 0 0
0 3 Sean O'F'ING Brien 7 Matt Kvesic 0 0
0 0 Jack Conan 8 Thomas Waldrom 0 0
0 0 Rob Herring 16 Luke Cowan Dickie 0 0
0 0 Michael Bent 17 Alex Waller 0 0
0 1 Nathan White 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley 0 0
0 0 Robbie Diack 19 Maro Itoje 0 0
0 0 Eoin McKeon 20 Carl Fearns 0 0
0 1 Isaac Boss 21 Joe Simpson 0 0
0 0 Noel Reid 22 Ollie Devoto 0 0
0 0 Craig Gilroy 23 Christian Wade 0 0
Total Total Total Total
0 17 0 0
The difference in experience jumps off the page though one would wonder as to the fundamental quality of players in the absence of any direct approaches from the French side.
It's hard to tell if this is a purely experimental English unit to test out some newer talent or if it is in reaction to the heavy injury toll they are currently suffering. Either way, a reverse of 2013's 14 - 10 loss would be expected given the above team sheets.
Planet Rugby have a brief article on the English team here.
Both sides have plenty of players with plenty to prove so this game should be close enough to test standard, but I can't see anything other than a win for Ireland.36
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