Who would you most like to see Eddie drop?

Tim Robbins

We all know Eddie has his favourites and many people think his conservative selections will cost Ireland being a world class team. So who would you most like to see him drop?

Linford

How about "none of the above"?

quagmire69

i think easterby should be dropped as his style of play doesnt really suit the irish team (except for lineouts). was very unimpressed with his non show in the only match that mattered this year ( france at croke park ). Not saying he's a bad player, just not good enough. Clearly an eddie fave tho so no chance of him being dropped.

Neil best is a much better option in my opinion.

Think heaslip has alot to offer on the international stage but is gonna have to wait till leamy goes off the boil, which is gonna be a long wait i reckon.

Not a big fan of donnacha or stringer either but nobody better at present. maybe reddan if we get to see more of him in an ireland shirt.

maxi-twist

Stringer,id like to see reddan play more. At least he mixes up play a little. Takes a lot of pressure off the OH in the 22 as he can kick to touch. I dont think ive ever seen stringer kick to touch from the 22,actually the only kick i ever remember him taking was that one that led to the try against munster in the heineken cup 2 years ago.

Cant believe someone voted girve the swerve,he's had a quality season. Really coming into his game at the right time before the world cup. Who do we have to replace him and his experience? Hardly geordan murphy, maybe in a few years once fitzgerald/kearney get a bit more experience but i certainly wouldnt drop him now.

Sandwich

Stringer without a doubt - its not that anything he does is done badly - its what he doesnt do that really hurts the team.

Diamondmaker

Yeah who voted GD? Who else????

Strings has long been a "bore" , we really need a game breaking SH to push us that extra bit. With ROG as a relatively conservative OH and no where near being dropped I feel we need some more options to be prvided by one of the 2 incumbents.

However EOS has left it way too late for this to occur in the RWC.

Linford

Is this going to revert into a Dempsey v Murphy debate and Eaterby v Best debate again, I thought all those argument were settled by the performances of Dempsey and Easterby during this year's six nations.

Its all very well to say that Stringer should be dropped, but is Reddin really better?? Boss was being mentioned as being a better alternative to Stringer this year but after the France game we saw that Stringer style of play is so important to the Irish team, he may not be perfect, and is certainly not a running scrum-half, but he is the best we have at the moment.

daveirl

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marco_polo

Who voted for david wallace? Don't see that Jennings or Glesson have put up much of a compelling case to be given the no 7 slot. I still think one of them ought to be in the RWC squad though, I may be wrong but I get the impression Eddie is not gonna bring any specialist 7 as cover to the world cup.

Sangre

I'd drop Easterby simply because I prefer Neil Best. Great sub to have though.

Stringer isn't going anywhere until a SH can show they've a distribution even half as quick as him.

nacho libre

Two people voted for Dempsey to be dropped

He has put in great displays for Ireland this year. Maybe not the most attack-minded player but brilliant defensively. The fb slot is rightly his.

Anyway, not much point in Eddie dropping any of those players at this stage.

mikedragon32

None of the above.

Turnstiles Murphy for the chop please.

jank

I voted Girven, Murphy is a better full back IMO.
EOS doesnt use him to the fullest of his ability.

Stringer is the best we have at the mo and as daveirl said look at the france match and how slow that ball came back from the breakdowns. He may not be a dawson with his running breaks but his passing is the best there is in Ireland at the mo. Bit of a one trick poney but he plays that trick very well and ireland need his quick distribution for their much vaunted backline
After the WC look at others to prove they can step up

Tim Robbins

jank wrote:

I voted Girven, Murphy is a better full back IMO.
EOS doesnt use him to the fullest of his ability.

Stringer is the best we have at the mo and as daveirl said look at the france match and how slow that ball came back from the breakdowns. He may not be a dawson with his running breaks but his passing is the best there is in Ireland at the mo. Bit of a one trick poney but he plays that trick very well and ireland need his quick distribution for their much vaunted backline
After the WC look at others to prove they can step up

France slowed a lot of our ball down that game, I was at at the match. Also Leamy and Wallace were hanging around the wings in several phases when Ireland needed them to be rucking. This may have been a tactical decision, I assume it was both of those players live for the physical aspects of the game.

If you want fast ball from the breakdown, it's actually far more to do with your rucking speed when you can make a difference of 2 - 5 seconds. The scrum half pass you will get a difference of between 0.1 - 0.3 seconds. The interpretation of the referee is also a bigger variant than difference in time between a pass of Stringer and Boss / Reddan.

In fact Ireland usually play poorly when we don't ruck well.

muboop1

stringer!! no doubt about it! hes just not good enough anymore!

muboop1

muboop1 wrote:

stringer!! no doubt about it! hes just not good enough anymore!

And who would you replace him with?

burnedfaceman

there is nobody i would want eos to drop rather instead i wish he would utilise his bench in games rather than wait to the last few mins for replacements to make an impact

muboop1

Deleted User wrote:

And who would you replace him with?

i just started a thred about this, i want issac boss, mabey redding...but not stringer...gave my reasons in my thred

Pride Fighter

He should drop none of them, they are all playing well. He should drop Geordan Murphy from the squad as he is useless, poor handling/defence and try one of the younger full backs. Murphy has been useless for us the past two seasons and is not fulfilling his potential.

siochain

jank wrote:

I voted Girven, Murphy is a better full back IMO.
EOS doesnt use him to the fullest of his ability.

Girven is better in defence, but murphy is much better going forward.

Ok he had that shocking missed tackle against france, but the ten minutes he was a blood replacement against Wales he was our game breaker. Had a great game against munster. World class attacking full back, if used right.

zAbbo

siochain wrote:

Girven is better in defence, but murphy is much better going forward.

Ok he had that shocking missed tackle against france, but the ten minutes he was a blood replacement against Wales he was our game breaker. Had a great game against munster. World class attacking full back, if used right.

I'd argue we don't need a world class attacking FB when we have the 4 Leinster lads in front of him.

What we need is someone who can defend and is capable under the high ball.

siochain

zabbo wrote:

I'd argue we don't need a world class attacking FB when we have the 4 Leinster lads in front of him.

What we need is someone who can defend and is capable under the high ball.

murphy is very solid under a high ball.

Its horses for courses, in some games GD would suit and others Murphy,

If the Leinster 4 in front are so good and as we have such a good choice of back rowers surely there shouldn't be much to defend !!!

Sandwich

daveirl wrote:

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If I understand your logic correctly - unless a guy has loads of international caps he shouldnt be picked for his country ?

Trojan

Why isn't POC on this list?!

daveirl

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Amz

I think it's hard to really make a call on players who went to Argentina. It was pretty obvious they were all playing for themselves and a place at the World Cup, rather than in an effort to be a better team. While nobody was spectucular I really don't think any of them could have been when there was an element of selfishness amongst their "team-mates".

I don't think I'd drop anyone from the list ahove, I think if Malcolm O'Kelly could be back to full fitness I'd have him in ahead of O'Callaghan, with O'Callaghan on the bench.

Aldini98

Horgan must be dropped. Big stocking.

GreenHell

Esterby probably, but I wouldn't like to see him disappear from the squad. He is a massively solid player but I think we have more dangerous 6's than him. Thats if I had to drop someone.

Our starting 15 is very solid, be hard to drop anyone. Its just disappointing that we have done little to develop players were we have a depth in talent. Whats going to happen when ROG moves on to greener pastures, or the bull, we have one of the oldest backlines in world rugby..

Amazotheamazing

Probably Dempsey, safe as houses but predictable, so damn predictable.

marco_polo

Trojan wrote:

Why isn't POC on this list?!

Ah come on now really? You can't be serious.

marco_polo

GreenHell wrote:

Esterby probably, but I wouldn't like to see him disappear from the squad. He is a massively solid player but I think we have more dangerous 6's than him. Thats if I had to drop someone.

Our starting 15 is very solid, be hard to drop anyone. Its just disappointing that we have done little to develop players were we have a depth in talent. Whats going to happen when ROG moves on to greener pastures, or the bull, we have one of the oldest backlines in world rugby..

I'm not so sure whats underneath the first 15 is quite as strong as we would like to think. The last two years have been about building for the RWC, this has been achieved as we have a strong and settled team now, barring injuries to key players. I believe EOS is not convinced that current backup for some of those key positions is good enough regardless of how much game time they would have gotten up to now.

Also given the fact that the team were going all out to win the championship over the last while, there were really very few opportunities for experimentation. Next years 6Ns is plenty time to start blooding new players for our assault on RWC 2011.

tHE vAGGABOND

What we need is someone who can defend and is capable under the high ball.

Agreed....

We need someone at 15 who is not afraid to tackle..

Murphy has had a shocking season. He was excellent a few seasons back, but like stringer, if we are to do well in the world cup and later in 6 nations we cant pick our team based on reputation or on who good somone used to be several season ago can we?

Tim Robbins

tHE vAGGABOND wrote:

Agreed....

We need someone at 15 who is not afraid to tackle..

Murphy has had a shocking season. He was excellent a few seasons back, but like stringer, if we are to do well in the world cup and later in 6 nations we cant pick our team based on reputation or on who good somone used to be several season ago can we?

So who for full back?
Fitzgerald, Duffy, Kearney?

RonBonJovi

Trojan wrote:

Why isn't POC on this list?!

Because he is one of the best Locks in the world ATM

[Jackass]

I think Murphy is a talented footballer, but I just don't trust him enough at FB. IMO we have enough fire power from 11 - 14 to take a safe option at 15. Also, Girv has his share of important tries for Ireland...it's not as if he's usless going forward, but he's as solid as they come at the back, where as Murphy has had some shocking defensive displays in the past and can be very indesicive. I'd consider him more of a versatile backup.

As for stringer, he's had his ups and downs over the last couple of sesons, but I just think we have other options there that we need to bring in. Reddan is a top-class player, and on club form I think most would rate him above stringer so there's no reason why he wouldn't exceed him at international level. Week in week out he plays against international standard oppisition and nobody is straight up to the pace in their first one or two starts. Fair enough he wasn't spectacular, but I wouldn't have said he was poor either but I'd like to see him start in a warm up game with strings to come on and vice versa and give them both a start in the WC in the early games and that gives a good look at form to decide who starts for the big two group games

Plus, it's about time stringer felt a bit of heat and felt like he had to play for his position, might make him up his game a couple of levels. Nothing wrong with allowing a bit of competition for places in the starting 15 at all.

O'Kelly/O'Callaghan is a tough call too. Both have the experience and ability for this level, but when seperating them you have to look at the pros and cons.

O'Callaghans work rate is better imo and he carrys better around the field. You also have to question O'Kellys fitness to last a full WC campaign from starting. Also, O'Callaghans discipline is very poor and can be a liability. Can cost you 3 or 6 points in a game. In a group as tight as ours and the games as tight as they will be, that's easily giving away a winning margin.

I can't make a call on the back row, there's so many options and it's so tight I don't think I've seen enough of everyone this season to give an answer. I think Leamy has got to be one, but I can't call the other two.

As for the rest of the team...keep the usual suspects and Hickie to retain 11 and Flannery at 2.

quagmire69

if mal is fit and ready, it should be a no-brainer. as much as i like o'callaghan's enthusiasm and energy, he can't stop giving away penalties. He just doesnt think sometimes.

Sin bins are something we cannot afford to happen. Look at the tri nations, some of those games were turned on their heads when one player got sin binned. SA vs NZ (1st game), Aust vs NZ.

i would guess that referees are gonna be extra vigilant at the WC.

Saying all that, i'm not sure mal has enough left in him to perform at the top level. I hope i'm wrong tho. Rotation could be the key, give mal the france game, donnacha the argentina.

Teg Veece

Tim Robbins wrote:

If you want fast ball from the breakdown, it's actually far more to do with your rucking speed when you can make a difference of 2 - 5 seconds. The scrum half pass you will get a difference of between 0.1 - 0.3 seconds. The interpretation of the referee is also a bigger variant than difference in time between a pass of Stringer and Boss / Reddan.

The problem with Boss isn't that it takes him a bit longer to get the ball out, it's that he takes a step before he passes. As soon as he touches the ball, the opposition's defence can blitz forward and so the backline have a lot less room to manuever.
A scrumhalf that takes a step before he passes is like a full back that lets the ball bounce before he catches it.

Saying all that, i'm not sure mal has enough left in him to perform at the top level. I hope i'm wrong tho.

Unfortunately, you're right. I wouldn't even play Mal at provincial level anymore.

remus808

Nick wrote:

decide who starts for the big two group games

Noone other than Stringer will be starting in either of those unless he loses a limb or something. Sad truth..

Sandwich

karmabass wrote:

Noone other than Stringer will be starting in either of those unless he loses a limb or something. Sad truth..

Yes, no doubt that Stringer will start. Eddie's just too cautious not pick him at this stage. Its now too late to change him, and despite being critical of Stringer for years, I think its probably the right thing to do. The last spring tour down under, or from last Autumn was the time to give someone a proper multimatch run in the position - but each time Eddie had his eye on history rather than improving the team for the future. He smelled a long awaited victory away to a Sanza team, and this year the grand slam. He couldnt resist.

Sandwich

Come to think of it. Does Eddie actually drop players anyway (other than ones who are just getting on too much for international rugby) ? Geordan Murphy recently of course, (and there seems to be a bit of personality problem there) but Im struggling to name others.

It used to be said in the old days of cosy selection committees and provinces horse trading that it was harder to play yourself off the team than on to it. Seems even truer today.

Luckycharm

I would like to see Yellow belly turnstyles murphy booted out of the squad
Bar his non defence, Garbajosa style tackling or lack of it. Bar ibanez, has jumped out of the way of Rougerie and Latham in the last couple of seasons for Ireland that is. How many intercepts does he give away? He seems to throw one nearly every game imagine he was playing against the Boks rush defense
How many times in the last couple of seasons has he simply not been able to execute a simple 2 on 1 where he has passed behind the wingers back- did in the AI's a couple of years ago. I kak myself every time I see that showpony lining up for Ireland.

dulpit

Went with Easterby, Ireland have a more than adequate backup in Neil Best... Of the others there, the only other one i would have considered was Girve the Swerve but seen as how Geordan Murphy is clinically inept at playing for Ireland (and girve is quite handy) i skipped him.

Surprised to see Stringer so high, at the moment i can't see anybody else who could replace him full time, in my mind as long as O'Gara plays then Stringer will play, their partnership is too good to break up...

Erin Go Brath

Voted for Easterby to be dropped, mostly because I prefer both Quinlan and Best. We have some good options at 6, if we do drop Easterby it certainly wouldnt be detrimental to our chances.

Strings is a man for the big occasion, wouldn't drop him. Class act in the Heine Final, and not just for the sneaky try either. The partnership with ROG can't be underestimated too.