Ireland team to start V England

Diamondmaker

15. Dempsey
14. Horgan
13. BOD
12. Darcy
11. Hickie
10. ROG
9. Boss
8. Leamey
7. Wallace
6. Best
5. POC
4. DOC
3. Hayes
2. Flannery
1. Horan

we seem to ave our full panel to select from so I guess the talking points will be:
Murphy/Dempsey
Trimble/ Hickie
Easterbunny/Best
Boss/Stringer

Otacon

I've heard ROG is a doubt. Any confirmations?

spank_inferno

I'd have murphy in for Girv dempsey
But the rest looks good.
So long as we can front up physicaly we've the creativity to beat england.

Erin Go Brath

I'd pick the same XV as diamond.

Think N. Best deserves his chance, he hasn't let us down once, and his no-nosense, in yer face style of play will be a big plus. Let him loose on the English, I say. Flannery is our top lineout thrower, and was a revelation last year for Irl and Munster. I think Trimble will consider himself unlucky, but should make a sub appearance. Murphy has blown his chance, I feel. I'd give Boss another chance to see what he can do, though I feel EOS might go for experience with Strings.


ROG is not training this week, but will make the game. BOD and Strings are back.
http://www.planet-rugby.com/Story/0,18259,3558_1912588,00.html

Bring on the English!!!!

bugler

I'd have Reddan at 9. I know this won't happen, and I know this puts me in the same bed as George Hook but I don't think Boss is what we are looking for. We've picked Boss because he can break, but he hasn't really made a break of any consequence internationally. That wouldn't automatically rule him out if he was a good passer, but for me he was ponderous yesterday and far too slow to make decisions at times.

He doesn't pass as well as an in-form Stringer, and he can't seem to kick noticeably better than him either.

Reddan is at least competent in all aspects of play, he deserves a shot. If he was at Ulster/Leinster/Munster and an Irish qualified Boss was playing in the GP he would get a shot too.

The pack more or less picks itself - and I think Neil Best has to start. Did ye see him counter-ruck yesterday? Awesome sight.

Horan had an excellent game yesterday. He exceeded expectations at scrum time and was very prominent in the loose, although maybe one kick too many. I've been a big critic in the past of him but credit where credit is due, with Wallace he was a real performer in the pack.

My thoughts are drifting toward Heaslip now. I think he should get a run for at least Italy or Scotland. Whether shifting the back-row around to accommodate Leamy or just leaving him out, we should try a genuine 8 and see how it goes.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

LFC5Times

spank_inferno wrote:

I'd have murphy in for Girv dempsey
But the rest looks good.
So long as we can front up physicaly we've the creativity to beat england.

Murphys missed tackle for the French try has sealed his fate and wont be starting ahead of Girv at fullback.
Girv missed a tackle but didnt lead to a try.

NotWormBoy

Murphy also stopped a 4 on 1 with a try saving interception, which made up for his desperate attempt at a tackle early on. Still undecided on who I'd pick though between him or Dempsey.

jeawan

Erin Go Brath wrote:

I'd pick the same XV as diamond.

Think N. Best deserves his chance, he hasn't let us down once, and his no-nosense, in yer face style of play will be a big plus. Let him loose on the English, I say. Flannery is our top lineout thrower, and was a revelation last year for Irl and Munster. I think Trimble will consider himself unlucky, but should make a sub appearance. Murphy has blown his chance, I feel. I'd give Boss another chance to see what he can do, though I feel EOS might go for experience with Strings.


ROG is not training this week, but will make the game. BOD and Strings are back.
http://www.planet-rugby.com/Story/0,18259,3558_1912588,00.html

Bring on the English!!!!

pretty much agree , murphy didnt have a good game and we need people who put the tackles in Trimble is a good player in my book id liek to see him start , hogan doesn't belong in centre so we lucky BOD is back he is more suited to the wing , stringer i feel get the ball moving faster then boss yet he played quite well on sunday

buck65

N Best has to start, turned over a massive ball yesterday full of aggression that Easterby doesn't have, although Easterby is an intelligent player.
Stringer is ahead of Boss too, the downside to Boss's breaks is , apart from them being obvious, he gets tied down in the ruck or maul with no scrumhalf to dig the ball out and let it go. How many times did we see Rory Best acting as scrumhalf?
Flannery for Best because he is more dynamic in the loose and pinpoint accurate, although Best played well yesterday.
I would rate Dempsey ahead of Murphy now eventhough I didn't before the tournament.
Dempsey
Horgan
O Driscoll
D'arcy
Hickie
O Gara
Stringer
Horan
Flannery
Hayes
O Callaghan
O Connell
Best
Wallace
Leamy

LFC5Times

NotWormBoy wrote:

Murphy also stopped a 4 on 1 with a try saving interception, which made up for his desperate attempt at a tackle early on. Still undecided on who I'd pick though between him or Dempsey.

But Murphy still gave away 7 points and Girv gave nothing away.

Murphy doesnt play well against the big teams like he does against the minnows.
Girvs as safe as houses.

thebaz

I think Boss had a good game yesterday , while his passing isn't as snappy as Stringer , he offers more options, and takes some pressure of O'Gara -- i thought he was one of the pluses yesterday , along with the superb Wallace

Orchard Rebel

The problem at this point is that we still don't know whether O'Driscoll or Stringer will make it, although we all suspect they will.

Eddie being the conservative that he is will probably bring back Stringer and O'Driscoll (for Murphy) and leave it at that. I can't see him making more than two changes, it's just not his style.

Personally, I would bring back Flannery for his lineout throwing but Best scrummaged well yesterday and I suspect O'Sullivan may want him against an awkward English front row.

Best against Easterby is a close call. I would go with Best because he's more dyanmic - something that we may need to counter the English back row, particularly Easter who looks a talent. I suspect O'Sullivan will go with Easterby's greater experience, although I think he got beaten up a bit yesterday.

I'd leave Dempsey at full back. I'm Girv's biggest critic but I thought he had one of his best games for Ireland yesterday and his decision making seemed spot on.

It might be sacrelige to say this but I might think about dropping Hickie and playing Murphy on the left wing, notwithstanding his missed tackle on Ibanez. I just feel that Hickie is not the force he once was and I'd fancy Murphy to take Lewsey on that wing.

Sangre

I would have picked the exact same team as Eddie with the available players.

Only close call would have been Trimble but as of late Hickie is in much better form.

bugler

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Well what do you think he is? He's not a 6 or 7, certainly. I call him genuine because it's his specialised position.

He may not get as involved in the tight as some of the other back-rowers but I think that's something we can afford, given who else makes up our pack. He consistently controls, picks and breaks well from the base of the retreating Leinster scrum, Leamy is weak at this aspect of the role.

Watching Leamy play the last couple of games (and some of Munster's) I just feel he's a 6 doing a fine job at 8. He dropped that shocker of a restart yesterday too, due to a flawed catching technique. Anthony Foley wouldn't have dropped it.

I don't really have an issue with him being played at 8, his Irish account is heavily in credit in this respect. And the last thing Ireland need is another 6, but I'm just playing devil's advocate here. Heaslip may lack the physicality of some, but the Irish pack is not short on that. Leamy lacks finesse in some respects, and I think Heaslip could add an extra dimension to our forward play. He's worth a go for Scotland IMO.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Chucky the tree

I'd have Murphy in at fullback. Hes a better attacking opition. At this stage our only hope of winning the 6 nations is by putting points of the board and hoping england somehow turn the french over. The way the english backs have played they wont be making any breaks with their backs.

The way leamy has played the last 2 games it would be very harsh to drop him.

Stringer and BOD are both training so we'll be grand.

An Tarbh

There only seems to be a couple of places up for grabs in this team, backline picks itself, BOD in, Muprhy benched. It's the Flannery or Best and Easterby or Best places that are up for grabs. I'd go with Flannery and Best, Best again didn't have the best of days with his throwing, we need to work on the opposition lineout as well, don't think we took one French ball throughout the match, correct me if I'm wrong. It's interesting that Jerry is in the Munster squad, would suggest he's closer to starting and Eddie just wants more time under his belt. I think Best brings more physicality and agression which is perfect for this type of match.

GreenHell

Best has to play, we need his aggression against what probably will a powerful English pack. Stringer/Boss is an interesting one. Noticed on more than one occasion ROG seemed to need to check himself on recieving a pass from Boss. On the other hand Boss's sniping runs would keep the English pack honest. Every other postion is straight forward, if BOD is fit, drop murphy move horgan to the wing.

Jury out on who should be hooking, best hasn't played badly yet.

redzerdrog

murphy was terrible on sunday IMO.
I think id stick with Dempsey he is as safe as houses while murphy is as safe as houses in Tallaght:p

Webbs

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Doesn't his inclusion depend on what sort of game Ireland want to play against England. Surely a higher tempo off load game would be the best to play against what is a huge but fairly ponderous English pack.

If you think back a couple of years Wales had a powder puff of a No8 in Michael Owen yet he was a catalyst for a lot of what was good for Wales i.e taking the point of attack away and nullifying more physical packs by his intelligent off loads.

With the excellent Irish back line, I still think there is a tendency from the forwards to take ball into contact too much which may be helped by his inclusion

GreenHell

Heslip v Leamy - Leamy any day of the week. Leamy might not have the speed of Heslip but is a faw more aggressive player all we need now is to teach him how to catch a ball.

LFC5Times

redzerdrog wrote:

murphy was terrible on sunday IMO.
I think id stick with Dempsey he is as safe as houses while murphy is as safe as houses in Tallaght:p

Or as safe as your house with someone from Tallaght in it

Eoin

Best's turnover on Sunday was excellent, but could do that all day if he had been started? I doubt it. He was able to do it because he was fresh off the bench, and the team needed that type of injection.

This is exactly what an impact sub is for, and perhaps this why he should be on the bench, rather than starting.

Maybe it's in the thread about the match itself, but I'm surprised that nobody has commented on EOS' decision to bring him on - this seems the type of call that his critics have been crying out for.

Punchbowl

It might be sacrelige to say this but I might think about dropping Hickie and playing Murphy on the left wing, notwithstanding his missed tackle on Ibanez. I just feel that Hickie is not the force he once was and I'd fancy Murphy to take Lewsey on that wing.

Firstly, Murphy is unstable. Risking him in such an important position would be madness. He might play well, but by god, he probably won't

Hickie is is the form of his life. He's literally all over the pitch lately and I'd bet on him having a stormer against england. True, he missed the tackle for the last try on Sunday but you could say that about most of the team. Let's make the most og him while we still have him

(btw, nice to see the Trimble/Hickie debate over. I can't believe the hype that surrounded him, and after Wales and his run on Sunday (where he got frightened) I think he needs a bit more experience before he could be anywhere near Hickie..The new Kevin Maggs perhaps?)

Conor_8

I think Boss was part of the problem early on against France. His pass was too slow and the French had time to get to ROG or Shaggy before the ball could go wide. Also would question his decision making in 2nd half. Kicked when there was space to run out wide. Maybe needs to get used to such a good backline!

Would probably go for Diamond's side otherwise. Tough break for Easterby, would have brought Best on early v France though. Was his sort of game.