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

Bearcat · 08-03-2012 6:59pm

Well we need to blood these guys, the sooner the better. Championship is lost so now is the time. Best of luck to Ryan and O'Mahony.....

Mr.Applepie · 08-03-2012 7:00pm

irishbucsfan wrote: »

While that's true he also has a lot of Ireland A and Churchill Cup experience.

I just don't accept a guy whose around as long as him and has been such a big part of Ulsters H Cup form should be overlooked based on experience for Shane Jennings who isn't exactly the Methuselah of international rugby.

But were we really expecting Kidney to reward form over familiarity?

Personally I think Kidney should be congratulated for not calling up Wallace.... baby steps!

leftleg · 08-03-2012 7:05pm

irishbucsfan wrote: »

O'Mahoney will find it tough going against Scotland. Hopefully the experience will stand to him later on.

Everyone will find it tough going against the Scots; England, France and Wales will testify to that; They are very difficult to breakdown and in our case on certain days just plain better at the game we have tried to play; I really hope Kidney has a good game plan for this one because so far in terms of attack, both teams have been quite weak; we will certainly need to keep the tempo moving and not allow offloads as thats what this team seem to be good at; support and offloads; particularly their backrow;

phog · 08-03-2012 7:21pm

@ThornleyIsRugby tweeted

Shane Jennings in Carton House today. After a brief struggle, Deccie came down and told security that he had invited him

phog · 08-03-2012 7:26pm

I was one of those that proposed a change of one of the backrow but I never wanted it this way and I would always have gone for whoever was being rotated would have been on the bench, that is not an option now. I think we'll all appreciate what SOB does on the field now that he's not there.

Best fo luck to POM on his first start and get well soon to SOB.

irishbucsfan · 08-03-2012 7:53pm

I'm over the Henry thing.

If he's injured he's injured. The fact he has been 23rd man suggests he would have played. Nothing to see here anymore. Kidney is still failing to impress for a 3rd year in a row but this is probably the right call.

Fireball07 · 08-03-2012 8:06pm

Well if Henry is injured, I guess it's fair enough. Jennings is a good player, and I suppose it's his experience that gets him in but he's getting on and I don't think he would ever have made a top international player.

I'd have had Muldoon in there tbh.

andrewdcs · 08-03-2012 11:30pm

So is SOB out with atheletes foot or something?

Or is it like gangrene?

totallegend · 08-03-2012 11:46pm

Fireball07 wrote: »

Well if Henry is injured, I guess it's fair enough. Jennings is a good player, and I suppose it's his experience that gets him in but he's getting on and I don't think he would ever have made a top international player.

I'd have had Muldoon in there tbh.

I've huge time for Muldoon and he definitely deserves more game time for Ireland, but yet another 6 was not what Ireland needed.

PhatPiggins · 08-03-2012 11:52pm

andrewdcs wrote: »

So is SOB out with atheletes foot or something?

Or is it like gangrene?

It must be the latter. With Sean you always think it has to be something that would kill Superman to keep him off the pitch. Itchy toes just doesn't sound right

MungBean · 08-03-2012 11:56pm

I think his foot fell off, he's taking a week out to grow a new one.

PhatPiggins · 09-03-2012 12:06am

MungBean wrote: »

I think his foot fell off, he's taking a week out to grow a new one.

:pac::pac:

A bigger, better, harder foot of course

molloyjh · 09-03-2012 12:08am

MungBean wrote: »

I think his foot fell off, he's taking a week out to grow a new one.

I heard he hacked it off himself with a spoon at the first sign of weakness....

MungBean · 09-03-2012 12:57am

molloyjh wrote: »

I heard he hacked it off himself with a spoon at the first sign of weakness....

MungBean · 09-03-2012 1:01am

^^^ Grew it himself too.

Fireball07 · 09-03-2012 1:47am

totallegend wrote: »

I've huge time for Muldoon and he definitely deserves more game time for Ireland, but yet another 6 was not what Ireland needed.

Hmm...maybe. But I'm sure POM will do a fine job at 7, and Jennings is getting on and can only play there. Muldoon could play all 3 positions in the back row at a push, didn't he play at 7 for a while when O'Connor was injured?

Cpt_Blackbeard · 09-03-2012 2:03am

Delighted for POM actually. SOB's injury doesn't sound too bad and injury appears to be Kidney's only tactic of developing a squad.

Will be interesting to see who POM will pick his first fight with. The lucky Scot will be able to tell the grandkids of how he got in an off the ball scuffle with Peter O'Mahony - the great Munster, Irish, and Lions captain - in his first international start.

totallegend · 09-03-2012 8:56am

Fireball07 wrote: »

Hmm...maybe. But I'm sure POM will do a fine job at 7, and Jennings is getting on and can only play there. Muldoon could play all 3 positions in the back row at a push, didn't he play at 7 for a while when O'Connor was injured?

I'm sure POM will do fine at 7, but in terms of replacements, I still think Jennings was the logical choice once Henry was ruled out.

Even if Muldoon can cover 7, he is still primarily a 6, as are Ferris and POM. I'm not sure how much experience he really has, but certainly McCarthy was being talked about as a "5.5" in the lead-up to the World Cup and of course Ryan has often played at 6. So then you have four guys in the 22 capable of covering at 6, before adding Muldoon into the mix?

ttankk · 09-03-2012 11:47am

i love how people are worrying about how the line out for ireland will hold up against scotland due to o connells absence and the fact that gert smal isnt around ! its absolute nonsence we still have quality in o callaghan and now ryan who should have been starting from the very start and know these lineouts inside out yes scotland have possibly the best up and coming second row in gray and a very effective lineout in general but we will most def finish on top. also chuffed to see peter o mahony getting his chance

ormond lad · 09-03-2012 11:53am

ttankk wrote: »

i love how people are worrying about how the line out for ireland will hold up against scotland due to o connells absence and the fact that gert smal isnt around ! its absolute nonsence we still have quality in o callaghan and now ryan who should have been starting from the very start and know these lineouts inside out yes scotland have possibly the best up and coming second row in gray and a very effective lineout in general but we will most def finish on top. also chuffed to see peter o mahony getting his chance

Paul normally calls the lienouts and is a very good jumper. DOC is usually a 2 jumper and they never give him the resonsibility of calling the lineouts. It says something about DOC that he is the experienced one in the 2nd row and more senior player yet isnt given the responsibility of running the lineout. Yes they know the lineouts very well(its their job to!!) but how often has Donnacha Ryan had to call and run the lineout in a game(not that i dont think DR can do it, hes more than capable) against a very strong and effective lineout

leftleg · 09-03-2012 12:07pm

Its Scotlands 2 opensides Rennie and Barclay that worry me the most; considering we will have a shaky lineout; we well be looking to keep the ball on the pitch as much as possible; these 2 could have a huge bearing on this game

GerM · 09-03-2012 12:20pm

ttankk wrote: »

i love how people are worrying about how the line out for ireland will hold up against scotland due to o connells absence and the fact that gert smal isnt around ! its absolute nonsence we still have quality in o callaghan and now ryan who should have been starting from the very start and know these lineouts inside out yes scotland have possibly the best up and coming second row in gray and a very effective lineout in general but we will most def finish on top. also chuffed to see peter o mahony getting his chance

The difference between POC and the two starting locks is massive. His athleticism in the air and explosiveness from the deck is untouchable in this country. Ryan is decent but isn’t great getting off the deck. DOC isn’t a great jumper. If our line out is to function tomorrow, we’ll have to mix things up and keep Gray clear of the ball. I can see the back row having a busy day in the set piece. I think we’ll see POM taking 3 or 4 catches tomorrow. His lightness, athleticism and good hands will be a major plus. With that said, I don’t see us looking to play a line out game. We know we’ve the beatings of them with the ball in hand and will look to concentrate on that. We don’t need to go from touch to get our scores on the board. Drag them around the pitch and tire out their big front 5. The gaps will appear, the back row and midfield will be dragged in and they’ll defend more narrowly. The space will come.

09-03-2012 12:26pm

POM should be a main contributor to the lineout tomorrow. He's good in the air, and he'll be able to compete fine.

SOB's injury could be a blessing in disguise for the defensive lineout organisation.

CatFromHue · 09-03-2012 12:37pm

While POC is a loss in the lineout all right we will still have 4 jumpers in Ryan, DOC, POM, and Heaslip. When you look through the lineout stats for the 3 games so far the lineout has been shared between the jumpers, almost equally in some cases. Only against Italy did POC take more lineouts than anyone else. Even then it was only 2.

There is no numbers for lineouts lost though.

shuffol · 09-03-2012 12:56pm

GerM wrote: »

The difference between POC and the two starting locks is massive. His athleticism in the air and explosiveness from the deck is untouchable in this country. Ryan is decent but isn’t great getting off the deck. DOC isn’t a great jumper. If our line out is to function tomorrow, we’ll have to mix things up and keep Gray clear of the ball. I can see the back row having a busy day in the set piece. I think we’ll see POM taking 3 or 4 catches tomorrow. His lightness, athleticism and good hands will be a major plus. With that said, I don’t see us looking to play a line out game. We know we’ve the beatings of them with the ball in hand and will look to concentrate on that. We don’t need to go from touch to get our scores on the board. Drag them around the pitch and tire out their big front 5. The gaps will appear, the back row and midfield will be dragged in and they’ll defend more narrowly. The space will come.

But do we have the team to hold onto the ball for long periods, we've lost our strongest ball carrier, neither DOC nor Ryan normally carry a lot of ball either and our midfield doesnt have great distributors. Scotland look well set up to counteract us, their lineout will be strong, they'll be very strong at the breakdown and their front row is one of the best units in the competition and get through a huge amount of work.

Digifriendly · 09-03-2012 12:59pm

Really looking forward to seeing POM start tomorrow. He could nail down a place in the team if he continues to play as he has for Munster. I predict he'll be heading with the Lions down under next year.

leftleg · 09-03-2012 1:00pm

shuffol wrote: »

But do we have the team to hold onto the ball for long periods, we've lost our strongest ball carrier, neither DOC nor Ryan normally carry a lot of ball either and our midfield doesnt have great distributors. Scotland look well set up to counteract us, their lineout will be strong, they'll be very strong at the breakdown and their front row is one of the best units in the competition and get through a huge amount of work.

I thought there front row took an awful pasting against the French at scrum time; so we have an edge there imo;

In open play i dont think they have anything to fear against us;

Basically our front 3 are better but thats about it.

irishbucsfan · 09-03-2012 1:06pm

leftleg wrote: »

shuffol wrote: »

But do we have the team to hold onto the ball for long periods, we've lost our strongest ball carrier, neither DOC nor Ryan normally carry a lot of ball either and our midfield doesnt have great distributors. Scotland look well set up to counteract us, their lineout will be strong, they'll be very strong at the breakdown and their front row is one of the best units in the competition and get through a huge amount of work.

I thought there front row took an awful pasting against the French at scrum time; so we have an edge there imo;

In open play i dont think they have anything to fear against us;

Basically our front 3 are better but thats about it.

Eh? Our back 3 and half backs are comfortably better than theirs.

Also they gave the worst centers in the 6 Nations

leftleg · 09-03-2012 1:09pm

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Eh? Our back 3 and half backs are comfortably better than theirs.

Also they gave the worst centers in the 6 Nations

I absolutely agree with that but this isn't Leinster at HCup time; this Ireland under Kidney.

irishbucsfan · 09-03-2012 1:13pm

leftleg wrote: »

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Eh? Our back 3 and half backs are comfortably better than theirs.

Also they gave the worst centers in the 6 Nations

I absolutely agree with that but this isn't Leinster at HCup time; this Ireland under Kidney.

When Sexton and Reddan have started together in the past we've played well. I anticipate the same this weekend.

Just don't expect it to be rewarded if it happens.

Fireball07 · 09-03-2012 1:16pm

leftleg wrote: »

I thought there front row took an awful pasting against the French at scrum time; so we have an edge there imo;

In open play i dont think they have anything to fear against us;

Basically our front 3 are better but thats about it.

Yeah but they don't beat us anywhere in the backline and I don't think their backrow is actually better than ours. They won't fear us, but we won't fear them either.

leftleg · 09-03-2012 1:19pm

Fireball07 wrote: »

Yeah but they don't beat us anywhere in the backline and I don't think their backrow is actually better than ours. They won't fear us, but we won't fear them either.

Exactly thats why I'm nervous about Scotland; If the lads play out of their skins for a full 80 and beat the daylights out of Scotland, fair play to them, because if you ask me there's more pressure on this team for this game than there was for the one in Paris last week. C'mon Ireland!!

shuffol · 09-03-2012 1:20pm

leftleg wrote: »

I thought there front row took an awful pasting against the French at scrum time; so we have an edge there imo;

In open play i dont think they have anything to fear against us;

Basically our front 3 are better but thats about it.

Scrum wise I think it'll be fairly even but in open play the Scottish front row is very good, they've been fantastic for Edinburgh in the HC this season.

Their centers arent great, particularly De Luca but to be fair neither are ours, Morrison can be a real handful on his day though, in this fixture 2 years ago he gave D'arcy a pretty torrid time.

padraig.od · 09-03-2012 1:27pm

shuffol wrote: »

Scrum wise I think it'll be fairly even but in open play the Scottish front row is very good, they've been fantastic for Edinburgh in the HC this season.

Their centers arent great, particularly De Luca but to be fair neither are ours, Morrison can be a real handful on his day though, in this fixture 2 years ago he gave D'arcy a pretty torrid time.

D'Arcy always struggles against Morrison. Its one of life's little mystery's.

shuffol · 09-03-2012 1:28pm

Fireball07 wrote: »

Yeah but they don't beat us anywhere in the backline and I don't think their backrow is actually better than ours. They won't fear us, but we won't fear them either.

On paper our players look better but this Scottish side is greater than the sum of their parts, they're playing very good rugby without any reward so far, this is a game that they'll really be targetting. Our performance against France was based on intensity and linespeed, we've never been able to repeat that type of performance in the past and we've only a 6 day turnaround minus 2 of our top performers in France. I think there's a lot to suggest that this could be a difficult afternoon for us.

Tox56 · 09-03-2012 2:24pm

Replacements:

16 - Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
17 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 - Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht)
19 - Shane Jennings (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
20 - Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
21 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 - Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

That's a poor bench, even for a provincial team, never mind an international.

padraig.od · 09-03-2012 2:27pm

Tox56 wrote: »

Replacements:

16 - Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
17 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 - Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht)
19 - Shane Jennings (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
20 - Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
21 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 - Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

That's a poor bench, even for a provincial team, never mind an international.

Don't be silly.

MLC61 · 09-03-2012 2:33pm

Digifriendly wrote: »

Really looking forward to seeing POM start tomorrow. He could nail down a place in the team if he continues to play as he has for Munster. I predict he'll be heading with the Lions down under next year.

I'm also looking forward to O'Mahony's start tomorrow, but for a different reason. I have watched him play a couple of times this year for Munster and can't see what the fuss is about. I truly hope to be proven wrong and that he has a great game.

Big Nelly · 09-03-2012 2:55pm

Tox56 wrote: »

Replacements:

16 - Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
17 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 - Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht)
19 - Shane Jennings (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
20 - Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
21 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 - Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

That's a poor bench, even for a provincial team, never mind an international.

Explain? All players but McCarthy are in HC quarters with there respective teams. 3 have won a HC(not sure if O'Leary was part of Munster HC win).

Cronin has been a great impact sub in HC all season for Leinster. Court has done very well for Ulster, not as stong as usual but nowhere near a poor bench

pappyodaniel · 09-03-2012 2:59pm

leftleg wrote: »

I thought there front row took an awful pasting against the French at scrum time; so we have an edge there imo;

I think Euan Murray was at mass that day :pac:

thomond2006 · 09-03-2012 3:03pm

Tox56 wrote: »

Replacements:

16 - Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
17 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 - Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht)
19 - Shane Jennings (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
20 - Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
21 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 - Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

That's a poor bench, even for a provincial team, never mind an international.

All those players would start for Connacht, have to disagree there.

leftleg · 09-03-2012 3:09pm

RTE.ie match preview by Brendan Cole has the following statement;

http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/sixnations/2012/0309/sixnations_ireland_scotland_preview.html

"It should also be a point of pride that Ireland protected the Grand Slam from another team by denying France the win."

We have now officially won the Moral Grand Slam; I'm over the moon; job done; who cares about the Scotland game tmw; we stopped France from getting the grand slam.

I'm beaming with ****ing pride

Irish Rugby journalism at its lowest ebb me thinks

CiaranMT · 09-03-2012 3:11pm

That's really scraping the bottom of the barrel for positives.

Bromium · 09-03-2012 3:11pm

Digifriendly wrote: »

Really looking forward to seeing POM start tomorrow. He could nail down a place in the team if he continues to play as he has for Munster. I predict he'll be heading with the Lions down under next year.

This is really starting to grow legs now are people taking the p**s or is it just good old munster bias. Hope this guy has a good career ahead of him but the way he is being talked about its like the second coming of Jesus. From what I have seen he has shown nothing to get so excited about and seems to be flavour of the month. Its going to take a hell of alot to dislodge SOB out of the squad. All the same hope he does well tomorrow.

marco_polo · 09-03-2012 3:20pm

leftleg wrote: »

RTE.ie match preview by Brendan Cole has the following statement;

http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/sixnations/2012/0309/sixnations_ireland_scotland_preview.html

"It should also be a point of pride that Ireland protected the Grand Slam from another team by denying France the win."

We have now officially won the Moral Grand Slam; I'm over the moon; job done; who cares about the Scotland game tmw; we stopped France from getting the grand slam.

I'm beaming with ****ing pride

Irish Rugby journalism at its lowest ebb me thinks

To be fair to Brendan Cole, he's nearly always that poor.

pappyodaniel · 09-03-2012 3:20pm

Bromium wrote: »

This is really starting to grow legs now are people taking the p**s or is it just good old munster bias. Hope this guy has a good career ahead of him but the way he is being talked about its like the second coming of Jesus. From what I have seen he has shown nothing to get so excited about and seems to be flavour of the month. Its going to take a hell of alot to dislodge SOB out of the squad. All the same hope he does well tomorrow.

Eh I think that was a case of tongue in cheek. People are excited about him because he steps onto the pitch so pumped for games that the odd scuffle is inevitable, yet he still does his job to a very high standard. Kinda like Trevor Brennan used to do.

Relax guy.

Tox56 · 09-03-2012 3:27pm

Big Nelly wrote: »

Explain? All players but McCarthy are in HC quarters with there respective teams. 3 have won a HC(not sure if O'Leary was part of Munster HC win).

Cronin has been a great impact sub in HC all season for Leinster. Court has done very well for Ulster, not as stong as usual but nowhere near a poor bench

I was thinking more in terms of impact, with only Cronin really capable of injecting some pace, like Reddan would have in previous games, or someone like Marshall or Healy do whenever they come off the bench, something Court doesn't really offer, TOL is hot and cold, McCarthy maybe and Jennings unlikely.

Maybe a poor bench was a bit over the top, lack of impact was the word I was looking for. :pac:

MLC61 · 09-03-2012 3:27pm

pappyodaniel wrote: »

Eh I think that was a case of tongue in cheek. People are excited about him because he steps onto the pitch so pumped for games that the odd scuffle is inevitable, yet he still does his job to a very high standard. Kinda like Trevor Brennan used to do.

Relax guy.

So I'm not mistaken - in the couple of games I have seen he has looked like a cross between Alan Quinlan and Trevor Brennan. To be fair, taking the piss hadn't occurred to me, I had assumed that it was all serious. But now that you mention it.....

marco_polo · 09-03-2012 3:28pm

MLC61 wrote: »

I'm also looking forward to O'Mahony's start tomorrow, but for a different reason. I have watched him play a couple of times this year for Munster and can't see what the fuss is about. I truly hope to be proven wrong and that he has a great game.

I am guessing those couple of games weren't the two HEC pool games where he went home with the MOTM awards tucked safely away under his belt.

He is only 22, in his first full season and despite only 15 odd professional starts under his belt has already captained his Province on a few occasions. Sounds like all hype and no substance alright.

Geno1111 · 09-03-2012 3:28pm

Scotland to win by between 6 to 10 points in Ladbrokes are 14/1... First time I've ever placed a bet with Ireland to lose but I have an awful feeling that Scotland will win tomorrow.

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

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