Ireland v Scotland -Aviva Stadium - Saturday 10th March 5pm

prospect · 07-03-2012 2:48pm #1

My proudest moment, starting an international game discussion thread

IRELAND:

15 - Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 - Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 - Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
12 - Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 - Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
10 - Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
9 - Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) CAPTAIN
3 - Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
4 - Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 - Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
6 - Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
7 - Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Replacements:
16 - Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
17 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 - Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht)
19 - Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
20 - Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
21 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 - Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

SCOTLAND:

15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors)
14 Lee Jones (Edinburgh Rugby)
13 Nick De Luca (Edinburgh Rugby)
12 Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors)
11 Sean Lamont (Scarlets)
10 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby)
9 Mike Blair (Edinburgh Rugby)
1 Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh Rugby)
2 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) CAPTAIN
3 Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby)
4 Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors)
5 Jim Hamilton (Gloucester)
6 John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors)
7 Ross Rennie (Edinburgh Rugby)
8 David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby)
Replacements:
16 Scott Lawson (Gloucester)
17 Euan Murray (Newcastle Falcons)
18 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors)
19 Richie Vernon (Sale Sharks)
20 Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors)
21 Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors)
22 Max Evans (Castres)

OFFICIALS:

Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand). Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France) and Greg Garner (England). TMO: Giulio de Santis (Italy)

STATS:

Games played: 126
Games won by Ireland: 56 44.44%
Games won by Scotland: 65 51.59%
Games drawn: 5 3.97%

Most wins in a row for Ireland over Scotland: 9
Most wins in a row for Scotland over Ireland: 12

Largest points for Ireland: 44 44 - 22
Largest points for Scotland: 38 38 - 10
Largest winning margin for Ireland: 30 6 - 36
Largest winning margin for Scotland: 28 38 - 10

Total points for Ireland: 1,308
Total points for Scotland:1,378
Average points for Ireland per game: 10.38
Average points for Scotland per game: 10.94
Average points difference per game between Ireland and Scotland: -0.56

HEAD TO HEAD (LAST 10):

06 Aug 2011 Scotland 10 - 6 Ireland
27 Feb 2011 Scotland 18 - 21 Ireland
20 Mar 2010 Ireland 20 - 23 Scotland
14 Mar 2009 Scotland 15 - 22 Ireland
23 Feb 2008 Ireland 34 - 13 Scotland
11 Aug 2007 Scotland 31 - 21 Ireland
10 Mar 2007 Scotland 18 - 19 Ireland
11 Mar 2006 Ireland 15 - 9 Scotland
12 Feb 2005 Scotland 13 - 40 Ireland
27 Mar 2004 Ireland 37 - 16 Scotland

Local_Chap · 07-03-2012 2:50pm

No Suprises really. Minimum amount of changes as possible

CiaranMT · 07-03-2012 2:57pm

Would have put POM on for Fez myself and shifted SOB to 6.

Ferris has to be taken care of. Every time he goes down I think he's gonna be stretchered off.

Seph503 · 07-03-2012 3:00pm

At least we finally get to see Reddan and Sexton play together for Ireland!:D

petebricquette · 07-03-2012 3:02pm

CiaranMT wrote: »

Would have put POM on for Fez myself and shifted SOB to 6.

Ferris has to be taken care of. Every time he goes down I think he's gonna be stretchered off.

Same with Healy. He looks like he's been on the losing side of a fight with an articulated lorry at the end of every match. Can't wait to see McCarthy and Ryan together though. Serious dynamism in the second row for the last 20 minutes at least.

rugbug86 · 07-03-2012 3:05pm

petebricquette wrote: »

Same with Healy. He looks like he's been on the losing side of a fight with an articulated lorry at the end of every match. Can't wait to see McCarthy and Ryan together though. Serious dynamism in the second row for the last 20 minutes at least.

No guarantee that he won't take off Ryan though - keep the experience in DOC on...

Tox56 · 07-03-2012 3:05pm

All 3 changes made to this team so far have been enforced changes.

Are these players going to play 4 internationals in 4 weeks?

thomond2006 · 07-03-2012 3:06pm

Reddan and Sexton together should be good. However not resting a few players is madness, unless their fitness levels are insane. DOC still starting is really difficult to understand.

The backrow battle should be immense, Rennie and Denton have been great finds for Scotland.

I don't think Laidlaw is the answer at 10, bit of a Morgan Parra situation where IMO he is a far better 9. I think Weir being dropped for Jackson on the bench is very harsh.

Playing De Luca and Morrison together, you may as well start John Hayes and Marcus Horan together in terms of creativity. It's their big achilles heel.

Scotland's pack will put it up to Ireland's but I can see us getting 2 tries and as long as Hogg doesn't get the ball I'd be confident of keeping Scotland tryless.

Podge_irl · 07-03-2012 3:09pm

rugbug86 wrote: »

No guarantee that he won't take off Ryan though - keep the experience in DOC on...

DOC looks like he simply can't last the 80 anymore. Would be amazed he's not taken off.

conf101 · 07-03-2012 4:00pm

thomond2006 wrote: »

Scotland's pack will put it up to Ireland's but I can see us getting 2 tries and as long as Hogg doesn't get the ball I'd be confident of keeping Scotland tryless.

I think he will get the ball though. And can so easily create something from nothing when he has it. He just needs to get it a handful of times and he could score.

I agree with you overall though and think we'll outscore them when it comes to tries. Although we did that against France too...

chris85 · 07-03-2012 4:12pm

I agree with DOC staying in there with POC out injured. He will bring great experience to lineout time. A new 2 and 4 to the starting lineup could be hard to get it going smoothly at lineout time.

part time punk · 07-03-2012 4:55pm

Podge_irl wrote: »

DOC looks like he simply can't last the 80 anymore. Would be amazed he's not taken off.

The 'unseen work' is very tiring don't you know

Quint2010 · 07-03-2012 5:06pm

Surprised there has been so few changes. Kidney will be looking to have this game wrapped up after an hour so he can rest a few players but its a win at all costs scenario obviously. There was no way DOC would be dropped after POC's injury.

buck65 · 07-03-2012 5:36pm

O Callaghan was very solid against France, high work rate, like Sexton was involved in a lot of choke tackles.
Again boards just decides something and continues with it until it's shoved up their holes like Donncha Ryan and Conor Murray did.

leftleg · 07-03-2012 6:03pm

buck65 wrote: »

O Callaghan was very solid against France, high work rate, like Sexton was involved in a lot of choke tackles.
Again boards just decides something and continues with it until it's shoved up their holes like Donncha Ryan and Conor Murray did.

We say get rid of Ryan and you have a strop; we say get rid of DOC and put in Ryan and you have a strop; ffs which is it!!

Tox56 · 07-03-2012 6:10pm

buck65 wrote: »

O Callaghan was very solid against France, high work rate, like Sexton was involved in a lot of choke tackles.
Again boards just decides something and continues with it until it's shoved up their holes like Donncha Ryan and Conor Murray did.

That doesn't even make sense

Big Nelly · 07-03-2012 6:12pm

buck65 wrote: »

O Callaghan was very solid against France, high work rate, like Sexton was involved in a lot of choke tackles.
Again boards just decides something and continues with it until it's shoved up their holes like Donncha Ryan and Conor Murray did.

??????? I don't understand this

Anyway at last.....

Wait for it.....

The HC winning Number 9 and 10.....

Are set to play together for Ireland....need the Ryanair trumpet now

Redden and Sexton together, at last!!!!!!!:D

irishbucsfan · 07-03-2012 6:13pm

Still waiting on Conor Murray to be above average but I was definitely wrong about Ryan. Murray was great defensively at the weekend but I honestly couldn't care less about a scrum halves defensive ability.

wp_rathead · 07-03-2012 6:22pm

I'm surprised Tuohy isn't on the bench instead of Macca, but I'm delighted for McCarthy- he has been a machine for Connacht this season. Fact that DOC and Cullen were called up for sqaud before Tuohy and McCarthy still makes my skin crawl.
That said, DOC has actually played very good rugby in all due respect in our 3 games, but nothing special that the other two couldn't bring

I'm worried about this young Scottish side v an Irish team with no POC or BOD

BoardsMember · 07-03-2012 6:44pm

TOL on the bench. He gives him 2 years to try to put in a good performance as starting SH, then drops him completely from the squad for the RWC. Now he's back, just like that. Ignore the fact that Boss has been playing good rugby, and plays with Sexton at club level, ignore the incredible talent that is Marshall from Ulster. If its not some sort of blind spot for a slow & average Munster SH, I'd like to know what it is that motivates DK's selection policy at SH. I know TOL has loads of experience, but most of his recent experience has been playing extremely poorly in game after game for Ireland.

emmet02 · 07-03-2012 6:52pm

1 Court
2 Best (C)
3 Ross
4 McCarthy
5 Ryan
6 POM
7 Henry
8 Heaslip
9 Reddan
10 Sexton
11 Trimble
12 McFadden
13 Earls
14 Bowe
15 Kearney

16 Cronin
17 Healy
18 Tuohy
19 SOB
20 Marshall
21 ROG
22 D.Kearney / Zebo / Gilroy / O'Halloran

This is not an "experimental" side, but it would certainly give us something to think about. We'd also have enough steel on the bench that if it turned into a dogfight that we'd be able to dig ourselves out. In fact, look at that bench. Just look at it. 16-19 burst holes in players for fun. Vs tired legs, mismatches etc... we'd be laughing.

I expect the team selected to fairly mince Scotland, but we'll learn next to nothing new from it.

sigh : to have a progressive coach.

phog · 07-03-2012 6:59pm

BoardsMember wrote: »

TOL on the bench. He gives him 2 years to try to put in a good performance as starting SH, then drops him completely from the squad for the RWC. Now he's back, just like that. Ignore the fact that Boss has been playing good rugby, and plays with Sexton at club level, ignore the incredible talent that is Marshall from Ulster. If its not some sort of blind spot for a slow & average Munster SH, I'd like to know what it is that motivates DK's selection policy at SH. I know TOL has loads of experience, but most of his recent experience has been playing extremely poorly in game after game for Ireland.

I would think TOL was picked ahead of Boss because as already stated Boss isn't available and TOL was picked ahead of Marshall simply because O'Leary has more experience with the squad and having lost 2 great leaders he's using as many experienced players as he can.

shuffol · 07-03-2012 7:09pm

I think this will be a very close game right to the end, we're a better side on paper but I expect Scotland to be a better side on the pitch, they play more purposeful rugby and will hang onto the ball for long periods, for me the midfield battle will be key as both sides have significant threats out wide, Morrison has given us a few problems in the past.

If we replicate the intensity we played with against France we should have too much for them but thats a big if, we'll definately miss POC in that regard. Not to mention only having a 6 day turnaround. It'll also be another test of the stereotype that our backrow struggles against sides with a genuine openside as Ross Rennie is one of the best around.

Judging by selections so far it looks like Tuohy is possibly 6th choice lock at best, how is this possible?

Cpt_Blackbeard · 07-03-2012 7:10pm

Thats even a conservative selection by Kidney's standards. Must be great for the squad players to know that Kidney will only consider them for a starting berth if injury hits.

The only positive is that hopefully Best and Ferris will be dead on their feet by the time the quarter-final rolls around. Reddan and Sexton will get a chance to stake their claim from the off too. Hopefully we can put in a big performance.

cgpg5 · 07-03-2012 7:51pm

wprathead wrote: »

I'm surprised Tuohy isn't on the bench instead of Macca, but I'm delighted for McCarthy- he has been a machine for Connacht this season. Fact that DOC and Cullen were called up for sqaud before Tuohy and McCarthy still makes my skin crawl.
That said, DOC has actually played very good rugby in all due respect in our 3 games, but nothing special that the other two couldn't bring

I'm worried about this young Scottish side v an Irish team with no POC or BOD

You hit the nail on the head here, whilst Doc has been solid and put in a good graft as ever, there is no evidence that he brings more than Tuohy or McCarthy and imo it is madness not starting one of these at the weekend alongside Ryan. Must be frustrating for these guys seeing a guy who can't make his club side getting the nod ahead of them.

Teferi · 07-03-2012 8:25pm

I am genuinely surprised that TOL is not starting.

In any case, think Declan could have experimented a little here. Taken Fez off at least and let him rest.

CatFromHue · 07-03-2012 11:16pm

emmet02 wrote: »

4 McCarthy
5 Ryan
6 POM
7 Henry
8 Heaslip

I wouldn't be too confident of going up against the Scots with that loose 5. It's an area where they are strong, probably their strongest area to be honest. This will be their fourth 6 Nations game and in these four games they've only made one change to their loose 5 so as a unit they will be very familiar with themselves.

I know what you're getting at but to me that's one change too many. I'd have SOB in there for Henry to strengthen it up.

Grimebox · 08-03-2012 2:49am

phog wrote: »

I would think TOL was picked ahead of Boss because as already stated Boss isn't available and TOL was picked ahead of Marshall simply because O'Leary has more experience with the squad and having lost 2 great leaders he's using as many experienced players as he can.

Does experience actually matter all that much? I think its fairly overrated. Consider Warburton Captaining wales

phog · 08-03-2012 7:15am

Grimebox wrote: »

Does experience actually matter all that much? I think its fairly overrated. Consider Warburton Captaining wales

I think it does. Imho, it's also around the calls and moves, it's a 6 day turn around with probably very little time to be calling up a player that would need more time on the training ground with the team, especially in a position like scrumhalf.

irishbucsfan · 08-03-2012 7:51am

I think experience is very important at 9.

Yet another reason the selection of Murray was baffling.

Zico · 08-03-2012 8:16am

I've never heard of Chris Pollock but I hope he's not tasked with clearing the debt of bad decisions against us this season because I reckon we should win without help.

Ireland v Scotland -Aviva Stadium - Saturday 10th March 5pm

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