Ireland team to Play Italy

Downtime

Is this Eddie's starting 15 for the World Cup? (without O'Driscoll)

IRELAND TEAM & REPLACEMENTS (v Italy, Ravenhill, Friday, August 24, kick-off 19:45):
15 - Girvan Dempsey (Terenure College/Leinster)
14 - Geordan Murphy (Leicester)
13 - Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
12 - Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 - Denis Hickie (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
10 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
9 - Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
1 - Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster)
2 - Rory Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
3 - John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
4 - Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 - Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster) (Captain)
6 - Simon Easterby (Llanelli)
7 - Neil Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
8 - Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)

Replacements:
16 - Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
17 - Simon Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
18 - Malcolm O'Kelly (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
19 - Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
20 - Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster)
21 - Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
22 - Brian Carney (Clonakilty/Munster)

High&Low

WC team with exception of 7, 13 and 14

zAbbo

High&Low wrote:

WC team with exception of 7, 13 and 14

Considering the injuries hanging over those players, I'd regard this as our strongest team for the WC.

It looks like Neil Best is the chosen backup openside to Wallace and the backup blindside as well, while Ferris is the backup 8 and 3rd choice blindside?

Would like to see the bench emptied before 60mins.

Trojan

Hmm, hooker... I think our top hooker depends who we're playing - RB for likes of Argies when our scrum's under pressure, Flannery to give us more around the park.

zAbbo

Is Flannery still short of fitness & form ?

By all means use this as a test for the Argies, hence RB starting, but like you say Flannery does offer more in the loose, Perhaps using a mixture of the two in the opening games.

Flannery isn't a bad player to have as an impact sub.

Luckycharm

zabbo wrote:

Is Flannery still short of fitness & form ?

By all means use this as a test for the Argies, hence RB starting, but like you say Flannery does offer more in the loose, Perhaps using a mixture of the two in the opening games.

Flannery isn't a bad player to have as an impact sub.

Think Flannery got shown up in the Scotland game, Rory best is much better in the tight,fringe defence, better tackler, mauler and better in the scrums. He is only a couple of KG lighter then Hayes.Flannery has a better throw and is not a bad backup.

Nukem

Thats good pack - still a little annoyed about this Reddan/Boss thing. He just isnt giving him a chance:mad:

Best,Easterby and Leamy..mmmmmm.......you got brute force with hands and a little bit of go forward grunt. Glad to see it. Lineouts should be good too with DOC and POC.

Should be a warning shot to all in the WC. (me prays they dont look crap)

redmca

Team very much along expected lines. I wonder whether EOS would have played Horgan in the centre if he was fit. Just as well he's unavailable cos he's a great wing and a lousy centre, but Eddie seems to think differently.

Looking forward to seeing Trimble in what is recognised as his natural position. We really need back-up in this area, so here's a chance to show what he can do.

I expect the result to be a lot closer than Rome in March.

Punchbowl

Yeep, not a bad side considering the injuries.. I think Trimble is just short of being international class, but then games like this are what help get you there.

Murphy on the right shlould be interesting. He could well have a stormer

SpAcEd OuT

It will be intresting to see how murphy does on the wing hopefully he can keep up his good form as of late.

An in form Murphy would be an awesome impact sub to have going into the World Cup.

RonBonJovi

Luckycharm wrote:

Think Flannery got shown up in the Scotland game, Rory best is much better in the tight,fringe defence, better tackler, mauler and better in the scrums. He is only a couple of KG lighter then Hayes.Flannery has a better throw and is not a bad backup.

Best is 19kg lighter than Hayes and is only 4kg heavier then Flannery

Funkstard

Very happy to see Trimble in the centre. Expecting big things from this starting team!

kevmy

Luckycharm wrote:

Think Flannery got shown up in the Scotland game, Rory best is much better in the tight,fringe defence, better tackler, mauler and better in the scrums. He is only a couple of KG lighter then Hayes.Flannery has a better throw and is not a bad backup.

Well Best might be a bit better in the scrum I'll give him that but he's a lot worse throwing the darts. IMO lineouts much more important than the scrum in modern game.

I'd also question whether he is a better mauler

Stev_o

Considering his last 3 outings in a Irish jersey havent given us a big reason why he should replace RB. I mean fair play to him to keep on trying time and time again after shoulder reconstruction but i think in fairness to Rory he has proved himself to be our No.1 Hooker he has come on alot and i think he deserves to be starting

Diamondmaker

SpAcEd OuT wrote:

It will be intresting to see how murphy does on the wing hopefully he can keep up his good form as of late.

Im all up for Murphy on the wing over Carney. Itll be great to see what Trimble can do in the centre, hell be relishing this chance.

Provided the injuries to Horgan and BOD allow them play the FRance game or earlier this enforced shuffle may not be all that bad.

Best too needs to get a run out with a more familiar surrounds around him.

Im all for Best as no1 hooker, Flannery has done nothing to ean a place back.

My bet is Hickie to be the man in this game, hell take charge like Vs them in the 6N!

Cant wait to see this team, must be the strongest team we have allowing for injuries and would gain almost unanimouis support from the punters too it seems....

AbusesToilets

Yeah this should be a good game.I'm just hoping Hickie can stay injury free this time around,he's on fire at the mo

accensi0n

I really can't wait to see how this goes.

So happy to see Trimble in the centre. As someone else already said, I really wonder if he would have been put there if Horgan was fit.

Now I just have to find somewhere in Melbourne to watch this.

AbusesToilets

Anyone know if Setanta is showing the Irish games for the world cup in the US? i ask because they haven't shown any of their warm up games.

randomname2005

As far as I know Setanta on Dish Network will be showing them, although it does depend on which package you have

http://linux11744.dn.net/setanta/jsp/RWC_07_NA/RWC_07_NA.htm

R

buck65

sTRINGER VERY DOUBTFUL WITH BACK SPASM

zAbbo

Anyone else heading up tonight ?

Should be a good crowd, and a decent send off to the squad.

Creamy Goodness

anyone know if this on tv?

Sangre

Hopefully Trimble plays well (as I expect him to) in the centre and we never have to witness the travesty of the Horgan/Darcy centre combo again.

Punchbowl

Cremo wrote:

anyone know if this on tv?

RTE2

shmaido

Sangre wrote:

Hopefully Trimble plays well (as I expect him to) in the centre and we never have to witness the travesty of the Horgan/Darcy centre combo again.

agreed, but i heard a quote from EOS himself still insisting that the Horgan/Darcy combo is still his no.2 centre combination...:eek: , I reckon its why we lost the france match

Creamy Goodness

Punchbowl wrote:

RTE2

Thanks, i hope pope and hook are doing the analysis.

will miss them for the world cup.

mr.fancypants

any body else hear that eos mite tryout murphy at flyhalf tonite!!

think itts worth a go considering the reserve 10

Diamondmaker

Absolute disgrace!!!

Try complete travesty at the end, how was that awarded....

Things look grim!

RuggieBear

sweet Jesus that was an awful match.


we are not going to get out of our group

Am I the only one that thought that was a try? Surely it was knocked back.I thought it was the Italian leg that brought it forward or was I seeing things?

RuggieBear

yeah it was a try but it was a ****ing travesty we won the match

scargill

was mentioned there that RTE don't have rights to the RWC, who has the rights ? where can I watch it ? (besides the pub !!)


googled a bit....TV3 is the answer.

AbusesToilets

Fair play to the italians,from the sounds of it they gave a hell of a match.Here's hoping they can beat Scotland and get to the quarters

LostinBlanch

Hmmmmmmmm . . . . . . . what kind of performance was that?

Italy were the better team and were robbed by a terrible decision.

Does anyone know exactly what kind of preparation has been done since the end of the season? Anyone?

I'd like to know because all I have seen over the last couple of games is us going backwards at a rate of knots. World cup me bollix methinks.

Unless we are victims of a massive hoax perpetrated on us (and the rest of the rugby world) and we're just lulling them all into a false sense of security. :rolleyes:

eirebhoy

I've been trying to find 1st try scorer. I think it was Trimble. Had him at 10/1. Anyone confirm the scorer? cheers.

Yeah terrible game but I can still see us getting out of our group in the world cup.Even though our backs were terrible we only let in 2 tries.One of which was a bit of bad luck.We'll be no match for France but I still think we may just beat Argentina.The backs were closed down the second they got the ball.Two steps and they were tackled.Lets just hope the addition of Horgan and O Driscoll will help get them back into shape

Creamy Goodness

eirebhoy wrote:

I've been trying to find 1st try scorer. I think it was Trimble. Had him at 10/1. Anyone confirm the scorer? cheers.

it was trimble.

absolute shambles of a match

LostinBlanch

eirebhoy wrote:

I've been trying to find 1st try scorer. I think it was Trimble. Had him at 10/1. Anyone confirm the scorer? cheers.

It was him, enjoy your winnings. I wouldn't put the on Ireland to do much in France if that's the kind of performance we can expect.

Yeah Trimble.Good bet

GerryHatTrick

yeah Trimble got first try

In a way I'm not too downbeat about the performance, the last three games we used the excuse that it wasn't the first team, now surely the lads will have to give themselves a good kick up th hole!

Most worrying thing for me was Horans scrummaging! Woeful at times!

Jello

What. A. Disaster.

How we managed to win that I don't know.

Really feel sorry for the Italians.

scargill wrote:

was mentioned there that RTE don't have rights to the RWC, who has the rights ? where can I watch it ? (besides the pub !!)

TV3 will show all the Irish games, the opening match, two quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final.

Between ITV 1, 2, 3 + 4 all the matches will be shown too.

Setanta Sports will also show all the games.

Stev_o

Didnt deserve to win at all. Should have been a try at the end in my view knocked on and even if it wasnt o gara had no control of it.

BUT. The thing that really annoys me is this.Italy dumped their sub's benched 20 minutes to go the team was utterly changed the forwards and the backs. The backs had 2 scrumhalfs one playing out of position and 1 outhalf at center playing out of position and we still didnt manage to make use out of it? I mean we are supposed to be credited to the best midfield in the world and yet we cant even beat two out of position players??? Its mad

RuggieBear

ireland is half the team when BOD doesn't play.

Stev_o

RuggieBear wrote:

ireland is half the team when BOD doesn't play.

So why didnt we beat the Scots then?

Granted when BOD is form yeah your statement is true but at the moment i doubt it is

SpAcEd OuT

What a disgrace of a performance. This team needs a hell of a lot more match practice, we are nowhere near ready for the World Cup.

If Italy can do this to us one can only imagine what France and Argentina will do to us, theres not a hope we are going to beat France and now Argentina look increasingly more likely to possibly beat us. Either way theres not a hope we are going to reach the semis, not a hope in hell.

D'arcy was the only player out there tonight that played to near his full potential.

Horan was shocking, Stringer had a few hospital passes, Best lost us lineouts, O'Connol was a shadow of the player he usually is, Hickie was very poor, cost us a try by not passing, nearly cost us another try with his long pass and kicking was poor. I could actually go on all day so I think i'll leave it, the only performance I was anywhere near satisfied with was D'arcys

TarfHead

SpAcEd OuT wrote:

If Italy can do this to us one can only imagine what France and Argentina will do to us, theres not a hope we are going to beat France and now Argentina look increasingly more likely to possibly beat us. Either way theres not a hope we are going to reach the semis, not a hope in hell.

I'm sorry to say that I agree. What is more is I was of that opinion before tonight's game.

France look, based on their 2 games against England, way ahead of us on all counts. On form Ireland are a threat. As of now, they'll be lucky to play NZ in Cardiff and ship 30+ points before they wake up. Just like 4 years ago.

Pity ..

johnnyboy4711

a flippin shambles!
lucky to get out of our pool if you ask me!
france on home soil thats the bet!
my two cents!
j

nacho libre

RuggieBear wrote:

ireland is half the team when BOD doesn't play.

on the basis of that performance from the back row forwards he won't be seeing enough of the ball to make a difference.

Laslo

Eh... can we all just accept the fact that we're not a good team and move on please? There is no hope for the RWC. I just wish we could accept this now and try not to delude ourselves that there's some sort of glory coming our way. Average at best. Poor at worst.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Stev_o

Considering thats just the way it is with the modern game. Look at New Zealand's win against SA at Durban a bad spill by a forward and Leon runs the pitch, nothing pretty nothing fancy, you take what your given and so fourth.

Surprised no one has yet to mention David Bortolussi great drop goal :P