Ireland team to face Italy and Scotland

Chucky the tree

So, will steady eddie actually decided to give some players a bit of game time? I wouldnt bet on it, after all there is still a championship and a Triple crown to be won! :rolleyes:


I'd make at least 6 changes. Boss, Flannery, Best are the straight away obvious ones. Wallace has to come in for O'gara. I'd give MOC a start too. Geordan Murphy should be given a start at full back. Trimble should be given a shout at outside centre too. The experiment of Horgan first centre and D'arcy 2nd didnt work and.

Maybe move jennings into the squad and give heaslip and try at number 8 for Leamy.

Redundo

I expect a strong starting line-up and a few changes made during the match, hopefully giving the fringe players more time on the pitch then regulars.

The problem is that there is some form of a consolation prize, ahem - trophy, available in Scotland so I think EOS will want the 1st choice team involved. Italy then will be on a high in Rome after an away win (plus a game against a ropey Wales to come) so could be a tough bruising game if the flair of D'Arcy and BOD are left out. In other words, expect more of the same selection policy from EOS, with perhaps the replacements brought on in the 50th instead of 60th minute...

What I would like to see is the fringe players starting the game and replaced with 1st choice players if needed. Never going to happen though.

tHE vAGGABOND

I'd make at least 6 changes

...which is why your not the manager

I would be shocked if he made any unenforced changes tbh - one thing about EoS is that he sticks with guys.

Scotland may look rubbish, but if we made a bag load of changes and took them for granted I would be afraid they would turn us over. Scotland always get some form of joy against us..

Chucky the tree

And the reason why Ireland have only won a triple crown despite having one the best teams in the tournament!

who cares if they turn us over? For me having a squad of players who have some international experience heading into the world cup is alot more important then a poxy triple clown.

Heisenberg.

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Snickers Man

Chucky the tree wrote:

the world cup is alot more important then a poxy triple clown.

Triple Crown??? POXY?????

Wash your mouth out sir (or madam).

It's not that long ago that Grand Slams were ho hum because they were rarely won and the Triple Crown was everything. And if we win in a couple of weeks, we will be catching up on Scotland who have won it 10 times. It would be our ninth.

Mind you England and Wales have each won it closer to 20 times.

Chucky the tree

Irish under 19s would of come close to winning the triple crown this year. If scotland, wales and england werent so unbelievable **** the triple crown might be something to celebrate, but as it is, its not something worth bothering about.

Linford

Chucky the tree wrote:

So, will steady eddie actually decided to give some players a bit of game time? I wouldnt bet on it, after all there is still a championship and a Triple crown to be won! :rolleyes:


I'd make at least 6 changes. Boss, Flannery, Best are the straight away obvious ones. Wallace has to come in for O'gara. I'd give MOC a start too. Geordan Murphy should be given a start at full back. Trimble should be given a shout at outside centre too. The experiment of Horgan first centre and D'arcy 2nd didnt work and.

Maybe move jennings into the squad and give heaslip and try at number 8 for Leamy.

The match against Scotland is not an Autumn friendly against the Pacific Islands. The most important thing for Ireland is to try and win the six nations and at the very least beat Scotland.

There is likely to be no changes... Geordan Murphy had his chance and I think Dempsey has ended the debate that should never have been started...

daveirl

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Chucky the tree

So we just shouldnt bother givng new players a chance? What happens if ROG is injuried in the World cup? We just stick Wallace in there with a few A caps under his belt and ask him to beat the french, argies and NZ?

Chucky the tree

In the hope that he does well and gets a bit confidence in an irish jersey. Like it or not, hes our second choice FB and i would be happier with him going into the World cup with a few decent performances under his belt in an irish jersey.

Snickers Man

Chucky the tree wrote:

In the hope that he does well and gets a bit confidence in an irish jersey. Like it or not, hes our second choice FB and i would be happier with him going into the World cup with a few decent performances under his belt in an irish jersey.

I wouldn't experiment with Murphy. We know all about him, his potential and the supposition that his best days may be behind him but he's still only 28 and will almost certainly be in the squad for France.

Much more important to get some of the less experienced players in there. Like Wallace or Heaslip or Jennings. Or even Luke Fitzgerald. Heaslip and Jennings may not make the squad because back row is an area where we have plenty of cover but our lack of depth at out half is frightening and it's criminal that EOS isn't making more effort to shore it up. If O'Gara gets hurt we're in deep doo doo.

Wallace priority number 1 for more exposure.

Chucky the tree

I wouldnt risk Fitzgerald. Until he makes the step up to regular first team leinster players and gets a few heiniken cup games in him, he wont get anywhere near the irish squad.

I'd definitly like to see trimble at 13 with D'arcy.

Sandwich

Snickers Man wrote:

Triple Crown??? POXY?????

Wash your mouth out sir (or madam).

Poxy might be a bit too irreverant, but really the Triple Crown has no meaning any more - just a curiosity from the past for nostalgists and the elderly.

Diamondmaker

Chucky the tree wrote:

And the reason why Ireland have only won a triple crown despite having one the best teams in the tournament!

who cares if they turn us over? For me having a squad of players who have some international experience heading into the world cup is alot more important then a poxy triple clown.

Who cares if we lose? Ill name a few:
EOS,POC,BOD,DOC,ROG, etc etc , me, every fan except you Id guess......

Its still a championship we ae now aiming for 4 out 5 and hoping for a Fr slip up. To sugget what you have is maddness and as another pointed out, glad you are not manager.

The issue of giving fringe players game time is important but unfortunateky it was not done in the past and now is NOT the time to do it.

Its not ideal for the resons you suggest but throwing in piles of new caps for away games to MF and Rome is insane.

Diamondmaker

Chucky the tree wrote:

So we just shouldnt bother givng new players a chance? What happens if ROG is injuried in the World cup? We just stick Wallace in there with a few A caps under his belt and ask him to beat the french, argies and NZ?

Yes!

We have little choice EOS is clearly playing a high risk game. We need certain key players not to get injured to progsess in the WC and that is that. If ROG gets injured unfortunately Wallace has just got to do as you say. Then hell gain experience.

I think ROG, BOD, Darcy, POC, Hayes and Horan are quite irreplaceable. We dint have cover.
Unfortunately we need to win every game before the WC also and hence these guys must play all those games too.
We have no choice at this stage EOS has undertaken an all or nothng selection approach with these key positions in the last few years ( arguably POC is the most expendable from the list re having a good replacement )

The one game we have played recently we could afford to take selection chances in, PacIs we did.

Its too late now for blooding players for Sept. We are playing russian roulette with regards to injuries to the above.
EOS is steady and a low risk taker on the face of it but that steady selection policy has led to it sown high risk scenarios.

daveirl

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Diamondmaker

daveirl wrote:

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Sorry I meant we have to win every 6N game. Chucky suggests its OK to lose to Scotland to blood payers. Its NOT especially as we have the games that you outline.

Yeah Id say the guys will look back on winning a 6N more fondly than lsing a WC SF.

Chucky the tree

Were not going to win a 6 nations though. Its a mighty triple crown yet again for us this year, hurrah! Cant wait for the dvd again. Should be class.

Marshy

Chucky the tree wrote:

Were not going to win a 6 nations though.

Well, I wouldnt be so resigned just yet. It all comes down to France really. They beat england then thats that. But its not a foregone conclusion.

Ireland should play their best side against Italy/Scotland. It may all come down to points difference at the end so it should be a question of putting as many past them as possible.

daveirl

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Chucky the tree

These meaningless matches will be alot tougher then the warm up matches. I prefer for us to have a squad of players who have played competitive matches then have our regulars breeze past italy and scotland.

Also, at least with played a few backs ups the game would be closer and probaly better value for money.

daveirl

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Chucky the tree

i wouldnt say pointless, but they wont gain a huge amount of eperience as none of the teams will be playing at 100%.

We should win by about 15 points, Italy are still a relatively poor side. Good up front, but their backs will struggle against us.

Diamondmaker

Chucky the tree wrote:

Were not going to win a 6 nations though. Its a mighty triple crown yet again for us this year, hurrah! Cant wait for the dvd again. Should be class.

Id hate for you to be managing or Captaining my team.
Yes a 6N is unlikely but possible. Its professional sport, they for the fans, themselves and the jersey have to play to win those 2 games AND by as much as possible to keep that hope alive. Its their job just cos its ginna be hard does not mean they should give up and focus on the next one...
Eng lost the GS 3 years running to much poorer opposition, Fr may yet slip up. They are no where near as consistent a team as the Eng team that slipped up on those 3 occasions with MJ and JW!!!