Irish team announced

Harkev

From irishrugby.ie:

Debutant centre Andrew Trimble has come in as an indirect replacement for Anthony Horgan in Ireland's only change for Saturday's permanent tsb International against Australia.

IRELAND TEAM TO PLAY AUSTRALIA (at Lansdowne Road, 2.30pm, Sat, Nov 19):

15 – Geordan Murphy (Leicester), DOB: 19/04/78, Caps: 32
14 – Shane Horgan (Leinster – Lansdowne), 18/07/78, 38
13 – Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster – Lansdowne), 10/02/80, 13
12 – Andrew Trimble (Ulster – Ballymena), 20/10/84, -
11 – Tommy Bowe (Ulster – Belfast Harlequins), 22/02/84, 4
10 – Ronan O'Gara (Munster – Cork Constitution), 07/03/77, 53
9 – Peter Stringer (Munster – Shannon), 13/12/77, 59
1 – Marcus Horan (Munster – Shannon), 07/09/77, 31
2 – Shane Byrne (Saracens), 18/07/71, 39
3 – John Hayes (Munster – Bruff), 02/11/73, 55
4 – Donncha O'Callaghan (Munster – Cork Constitution), 23/03/79, 17
5 – Malcolm O'Kelly (Leinster – St. Mary's College), 19/07/74, 74
6 – Simon Easterby (Llanelli), Captain, 21/07/75, 43
7 – Johnny O'Connor (Wasps), 09/02/80, 8
8 – Denis Leamy (Munster – Cork Constitution), 27/11/81, 4

Replacements:
16 – Rory Best (Ulster – Belfast Harlequins), 15/09/82, 1
17 – Simon Best (Ulster – Belfast Harlequins), 11/02/78, 9
18 – Matt McCullough (Ulster – Ballymena), 09/09/81, 3
19 – Neil Best (Ulster – Belfast Harlequins), 03/04/79, 1
20 – Kieran Campbell (Ulster – Dungannon), 06/07/79, 2
21 – David Humphreys (Ulster – Dungannon), 10/09/71, 70
22 – Girvan Dempsey (Leinster - Terenure College), 02/10/75, 60

RuggieBear

well it's a start

kermitdfrog

Hmmm.. positive step, but not enough. I'm sick of players getting chances to 'prove' themselves - you **** up, you should go. Stringer starting is ridiculous.

On the other hand the faith shown in Trimble is encouraging.

As much as I'd like to see Heaslip playing, the logic behind last weeks backrow still stands, and with two players with 5 or less caps its still a 'new' and progressive backrow.

Would prefer McCullough to start and MOK on the bench, and am suprised Best isn't in for Hayes.

The changes made last week continue and overall the team is new and progressive (Leamy, JOC, DOC, Horan, Trimble, Bowe). No-one is every going to be 100% happy (if nothing else think Best should start over Hayes)

Downtime

Disappointing really - i would have rather him put the bench into the starting XV.

RuggieBear

tbh it's probably to give confidence to Hayes. Oz are probably worse scrumagers than us...just.
He'll just about hold his own and "vindicate" EOS's decision to retain him;)

kermitdfrog

haha!


Anyway, Trimble was the biggest call - it was essential he made that call. Anythign else is personal preference tbh, and I can (just about) live with (still think Hayes and Stringer are bad calls)

RuggieBear

i'm just delighted that Horgan has been dropped and will hopefully never be seen again in the green, unless he is transfered to the Connacht bench

Davei141

Hope the Bests get more than 5 minutes this time.

JuliusFranco

stringer is the only bad call here imo but i can't really see anyone to replace him at the moment
ok, cambell is there but meh...
hopefully o'leary and boss will start to make an impact with munster and ulster soon

would have liked to see kearney feature somewhere, instead of dempsey but can't really complain

i think he had to play MOK. i'm hoping that he'll be a bit sharper this game (remember the scot game in this years 6N - one week after that perforamnce in italy)

JuliusFranco

RuggieBear wrote:

...unless he is transfered to the Connacht bench..

we don't want him:p

Amz

JuliusFranco wrote:

we don't want him:p

I'm surprised anyone does.

Crash

I'll take him.


i need a new skivvy.

Amz

Once you're not expecting things to be done in any reasonable time frame he'd be ok I guess.

Crash

well with the way he tackles he's got perfect form for dusting the delicates around the house.

RuggieBear

Amz wrote:

Once you're not expecting things to be done in any reasonable time frame he'd be ok I guess.

crash_000 wrote:

well with the way he tackles he's got perfect form for dusting the delicates around the house

lol

Snickers Man

One change from a team that got whopped on Saturday.

I dunno.

Australia have a bunch of wusses in their pack. Too many bloody rugby league players. Great runners but ****e at the intricacies of forward play.

An afternoon of 10-man rugby beckons.

Still take Australia to win by 20.

ARGINITE

Still take Australia to win by 20.

I still have plenty of faith in Ireland, they will win by 3.
Would like to see the Eng v All Blacks game but it only seems to be on sky sports 2:(

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

RuggieBear

very quick to his defence Dave.....quicker than he is :v:

I think the team is now absolutely superb and we would have trashed the all blacks if Anto hadn't have played....not.


Shano can't pass...he's got the worst hands ever.

Snickers Man

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Quite agree. He gave it everything. But he's just too slow to make an impact on international rugby.

Amz

I'm not blaming the bad performance solely on Anthony Horgan. He is however far too slow to play on the wing, particularly at international level. I was embarrassed for him.

It's not soley "Eddie's bloody fault", Eddie picked him in the position, yes, but Horgan could have been honest enough to admit that he couldn't hack it there.

We've seen with other players, not neccessarily in Ireland, who have told their coach to drop them 'til they bulk up, or improve their speed etc. in order to play better and improve their game and their team's chances of competing.

ruck-it

Amz wrote:

It's not soley "Eddie's bloody fault", Eddie picked him in the position, yes, but Horgan could have been honest enough to admit that he couldn't hack it there.

actually he can't. He's contracted to the IRFU so he has to play if they ask, same reason that Foley can't tell them to stuff it if they come looking for him again. Anyway who was the alternative, Eddie could have picked Trimble but he was obviously afraid of that so it was then a case of looking for wing replacement of which one of the suggestions I've heard was Kearney. That's patently absurd. The man was burned by no less than John Kelly when Munster met Leinster, that's John Kelly a man who makes A Horgan look like Carl Lewis.

Amz

I'm not saying he should refuse to play, I understand the contractual element, but if he went to Eddie O'Sullivan and said "I don't feel I'm capable of performing at the level expected of me, can you drop me until I pick up the pace" or words to that effect something could maybe be done about it.

Speaking as a winger there are always days when a player like John Kelly will catch you. So to use that as your reasoning for disliking Kearney is a bit absurd. You might want to remove the red tinted glasses for a while.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

RuggieBear

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

He had plenty of options till he picked/reduced his squad!?:D

Trojan

Hmmm ok... (for those who don't know me, I'm hooker for the 3rd B's (fancy way of saying the 5ths))...

Ok, so the manager of, say the Clontarf first team says "Al, we're real stuck with 7/8/9 injured hookers in the club, we need you to start against Mary's".

Do I turn him down, saying I need more time to bulk up, or take the chance? Ok, let's say I was regular on the 3rd A's

Teg Veece

What do you mean Horgan should have said "I don't feel I'm capable of performing at the level expected of me"? I doubt Malcom O'Kelly told Eddie that all he's gonna do all day is inspect rucks and stroll around with hands on hips. Or that last year Reggie pointed out that he was WAY below international level.

Amz

The only reason O'Sullivan was left with no options, but A. Horgan was because he sent players like Rob Kearney back to Leinster.

I'm assuming the main reason people don't have the guts to say that they're not capable of performing to a high enough standard is fear of losing face, or appearing weak in front of others. Probably some desire to appear macho.

Was it Andrew Sheridan who did that with England? I think a lot of people will have even more respect for a player who has the guts to do that and come back and get a place in the squad. I'm fairly sure the team would benefit from honesty like that.

Personally, I'd be happier to play for a team based on my ability and on merit rather than because the team was desperate. I think my performance would be better as a result. Granted I might be more keen to impress, but at the same time I'd be thinkin' "Am I only here because they're desperate? And as soon as the 7/8/9 other players are fit again will I be fecked off back to my own team and forgotten about 'til the next time?"

Anyway, can't think, supposed to be writing an essay ...

Trojan

Amz wrote:

I'm assuming the main reason people don't have the guts to say that they're not capable of performing to a high enough standard is fear of losing face

Disagree. I'd say it's because they want the green jersey.

Amz wrote:

I'd be happier to play for a team based on my ability and on merit rather than because the team was desperate.

That would be nice. But when you're competing for an international jersey?

Amz wrote:

And as soon as the 7/8/9 other players are fit again will I be fecked off back to my own team and forgotten about 'til the next time?

Or maybe I'll keep the place because I played out of my skin!

--

I don't think it's ALL about being macho

RuggieBear

don't forget the match fee?:D

Snickers Man

I see young Mr Trimble is a Theology student.

Can't go wrong with God on your side.

Amazotheamazing

Christ, NZ would have destroyed Kearney, we'd never see him again, he'd be the new Darragh O'Mahony. For all his undoubted ability, he hasn't the experience or the tackling ability for HEC level, let alone international against NZ level. A. Horgan gave it his all, unlike O'Kelly, who seems to view rugby as a non-contact sport.

Harkev

Australia are trying out a brand new front row on Saturday, Fitter uncapped and Holmes with just two caps as a a replacement...

At least they're trying something different after their front row has been destroyed in a match..

I think this would have been a good chance to try out a Best in our front row..

evilhomer

Hayes has to go, we need to give another prop some international experience and where better to give them that then against Oz?

Stringer had a shocker of a game on Saturday and continues to throw daisy cutters and hosptial passes!

Dempsey is still in the squad because he has a wealth of international experience and can come on and do a solid job, no more then that.

I would love to see Campbell getting his chance and a Best too.
We need to start building for the world cup now!

It's a bit of a cop out by O'Sullivan with the selections TBH.