Changes to starting 15 for us to stand a chance in Paris?

athtrasna

Other than the management change most rugby fans are craving..what changes should be made to XV for Paris next Sat.

Heaslip and M. O'Driscoll surely have to start. Bowe made a great case for himself last night, maybe move Murphy into the Centre and Bowe on the wing given D'Arcy's injury?

razorblunt

Trimble in the center, Bowe on the wing, Heaslip, Jackman and Micko in. Luke Fitzgerald on the bench as well as Jennings.

Caldwell had a good A game as well maybe a move to the bench for MOK.

Stev_o

Horgan into Centre, Murphy dropped, Kearney to go to the wing.

Thats what EOS will do

Funkstard

What I'd like (but probably wouldn't make much of a difference - problems here aren't entirely coming from the standard of the players): Trimble in centre, Jackman & Heaslip starting, Bowe on the wing. I'd be happy with Murphy/Kearney on the wing too but Bowe is the form winger in Ireland and that has to be recognised above all else.

What will happen: Horgan in centre, *maybe* Jackman & Heaslip starting, same back three. Also, Eddie might put Horgan on the wing and Trimble in the centre. Maybe.

Erin Go Brath

Changes i'd propose:

Jackman in for Best
Heaslip in for Easterby (Leamy positional move to 6)
Kearney in for Darcy (Forced change, Trimble postional move to centre)

Mick OD to come on for big mal after 50-60 mins, Buckley for Hayes aswell after an hour or so.

bleg

jackman in, sheahan in, best out of 22
heaslip at 8, leamy to 6, quinlan on bench.
bowe on wing, kearney on the other.
trimble in for injured darcy

bugler

1. Horan 2 Jackman 3 Hayes

4 DOC 5 Cullen
6 Leamy/Quinlan 7 Wallace
8 Heaslip
9 Reddan

10 ROG

11. Bowe 12 BOD 13 Trimble 14. Kearney.

15 Dempsey

Risky playing green wingers, but the alternatives....

Size=everything

1. Horan
2. Jackman
3. Hayes [With Buckley getting some gametime]
4. MOD
5. Cullen
6. Leamy [With Jennings getting some gametime]
7. Wallace [With Gleeson getting some gametime]
8. Heaslip

9. Redden
10. O'Gara
11. Bowe
12. Trimble
13. BOD
14. Kearney [with Fitzgerald getting some gametime]
15.Dempsey/Murphy

Podge_irl

He's not going to have two backrows on the bench never mind two opensides (quite rightly, cause it'd be stupid). Trimble would have to play OC, not IC, and why in God's name you'd drop DOC is beyond me.

1. Horan
2. Jackman
3. Hayes
4. DOC
5. MOK
6. Leamy
7. Wallace
8. Heaslip

9. Redden
10. O'Gara
11. Bowe
12. BOD
13. Trimble
14. Kearney
15.Dempsey

16. Best
17. Buckley (to come on earlier)
18. MOD/Cullen
19. Quinlan
20. Stringer
21. Wallace (unfortunately)
22. Murphy

Size=everything

Podge_irl wrote: »

He's not going to have two backrows on the bench never mind two opensides (quite rightly, cause it'd be stupid). Trimble would have to play OC, not IC, and why in God's name you'd drop DOC is beyond me.

Not stupid I would merely like to see the two of them on the field to see wat they can do the over reliance on munster players is not gud imo.

mistake with trimble at IC and BOD at OC meant to put it the other way

why wud I drop DOC... maybe cus i think cullen and MOD deserve to be there ahead of him...leaders and playin better.

Podge_irl

RickyHatton wrote: »

Not stupid I would merely like to see the two of them on the field to see wat they can do the over reliance on munster players is not gud imo.

But then you're either going to have no lock replacement or you're going to go with a 5-2 split, which is generally done to facilitate 3 front row forwards rather than 2 back row. As to the over-reliance on Munster players, Leamy and Quinlan are both better sixes than Jennings (who is really a seven) - giving someone else a game there just to avoid "over-reliance" on Munster players doesn't make sense to me, I don't even see why its a problem.

why wud I drop DOC... maybe cus i think cullen and MOD deserve to be there ahead of him...leaders and playin better.

I don't particularly think MOD is a great leader, though obviously Cullen is. I don't particularly think MOD is international class either. DOC had a run of very fine games coming into this one and did nothing wrong against Italy. MOK possibly should have been subbed earlier, but other than that I thought the locks were fine. The lineout was better with Jackman on.

dc69

1. Horan
2. Jackman
3. Hayes(buckley)sub
4. DOC
5. Cullen
6. Leamy
7. Wallace
8. Heaslip

9. Redden
10. O'Gara
11. Bowe
12. Trimble(move to 14 at kearney/fitz sub)
13. Bod
14. Kearney(fitzgerald 12)sub
15.Murphy(dempsey)sub

16. Best
17. Buckley
18. MOD
19. Quinlan
20. Stringer
21. Fitzgerald
22. Dempsey

If he plays that team and uses the bench effectively,then we have a chance.also we have to give some of the youn guns a chance,if kearney plays then fitz should play as i dont think kearney is that much ahead of him,buckley defo has to come on after 55 mins i think

madds

1. Horan
2. Jackman
3. Hayes
4. DOC
5. Cullen
6. Leamy
7. Wallace
8. Heaslip

9. Reddan
10. O'Gara
11. Kearney
12. Trimble
13. BOD
14. Horgan
15. Dempsey

16. Best
17. Buckley
18. MOK
19. Easterby
20. Stringer
21. Murphy
22. Bowe

Ball carriers are required so Jackman and Heaslip are drafted in.

MOK won't recover in time for the French match, so Leo comes in for him. Cullen deserves to be there on merit actually.

Shaggy returns at the expense of Murphy who drops to the bench.

Kearney's left boot will be called on quite a lot defensively in Paris so he's a shoe-in.

Bowe added to the bench.

toomevara

madds wrote: »

Shaggy returns at the expense of Murphy who drops to the bench.

Madness, was out of his depth against the saxons on Friday night, the french will eat him alive...miles off the pace of international rugby at the moment...

Nukem

Drop MOK completely, draft Cullen or Caldwell. MOD isnt an impact sub so I reckon MOD to start with DOC and bring Caldwell on the same time as Buckley. Two big counter ruckers like that could make a right mess of things for the French.

Trimble in the outside center for sure,live off BOD offload with Murphy and Bowe on the wings. Drop Easterby completely as well, Heaslip to start at 8 and Jennings to emergey with 20mins to go. Keep them cheese eating surrender monkeys guessing:D

On the France display today we will get slaughtered. They will suck us in and spread the ball wide or put it behind the backs with grubbers, so we have nothing to lose.

Crash

Not so sure why people are putting caldwell over cullen - he looked good in the A game, but not absolutely amazing. Cullen still pips him imo.

team i'd put out:

1. Horan
2. Jackman
3. Hayes
4. DOC
5. Cullen
6. Leamy
7. Wallace
8. Heaslip

9. Reddan
10. O'Gara
11. Kearney
12. Trimble
13. BOD
14. Bowe
15. Murphy

16. Best
17. Buckley
18. MOK
19. Quinlan
20. Stringer
21. Fitz
22. Dempsey

midsomermurdere

Horan
Jackman
Buckley
Cullen
O'Callaghan
Leamy
Wallace
Heaslip
Reddan
O'Gara
Bowe
Trimble
O'Driscoll
Kearney
Murphy

Hayes
Best
Jennings
Quinlan
Stringer
Wallace
Dempsey

raven136

murphy to full back,kearney on one wing,bowe on the other.
cullen,jackman and heaslip in

will this happen?highly unlikely with steady eddie,but will it make a difference as our style of play is so predictable my toddler knows what way we are going to play.

The french did ok with 11 changes to a semi final team eh?food for thought eddie

remus808

Well TBH, short of a few All Blacks suddenly declaring for Ireland we're ****ed next weekend.

That said, In terms of damage limitation I'd be aiming to select as defensively sound a backline as possible, as those french backs are looking postively lethal. Then select a big,strong pack to grind down their 8, try to get dominance at the set-piece (8 man shove on their scrum for example). IMO our only hopes of surviving depend on tactics like this. If we dont shore up our game big-time we will be cut to ribbons. Changes to our tactics will be more important than any personnel changes.

It's got to be Dempsy at FB. I'm a huge Murphy fan BUT The french back 3 are their key strength and against that you can't pick anyone but Girve The Unswerving. He may not be a turnstile anymore, but I still wouldn't trust Murphy against the likes of Clerc and Heymans.

On the wings, we're in major trouble thanks to the aformentioned. I would pick Horgan for his defensive strength and then perhaps Bowe. The likes of Kearney, Fitzgerland and Trimble shouldn't be even getting a look-in at the wing for this game, as they will be ruthlessly shown up.

Trimble & BOD in the centre. Not much to say here. Strong defensively.

The ROG/Reddan axis is key to how we survive. They marshalled the Italy game excellently and we will be depending on them again to keep us above water.

In the forwards, We really need to be going for brute force. Tight 5 will be key. For this reason I'd stick with Best (Im not a fan of his and a huge Jackman supporter but IMO Best better in the tight) and Hayes (cornerstone of the scrum) to start, with Horan there as theres simply noone else. Jackman and Buckley to come on after 55-60 minutes to try turn the screw. Maybe even consider having a 2nd prop on the bench

Cullen and O'Kelly in the 2nd row, with O'Callaghan in as an impact just after half-time. contest everything and try rattle the young french jumpers.

Back-row will also be key as we need to be slowing down as much ball as possible to prevent the french freeing their OB's. However I really cant visualise a suitable back-row, bizarrely it's a problem area for Ireland despite the abundance of talent at provincial levels. Definitely need a new combination anyway

Personally I'l be afraid to watch come Saturday

redmca

The pack has been dominated by Munster players for many seasons and the question is often posed as to why they don't seem to deliver for Ireland.

2 things come to mind. First, in their match against Wasps, Munster made bits of the Wasps lineout by contesting their ball. There seemed very little of this (contesting Italy's throw-ins) in Saturday's match.
Second, and much more important, Munster have had great pack leaders, Galwey, O'Connell (less so), and currently the ageless Foley. In the absence of POC, there are 4 or 5 players competing for 2 starting places at lock. The Irish pack has NO leader at present. On that basis, Cullen should be brought in and made pack leader. I would have DOC as his partner. Add to this, Jackman & Heaslip to start and we have the makings of a pack that will give the French a run for their money.

There are many competing options for the 11, 14, 15 jerseys but these are of less importance. Rugby has not changed in that games are won and lost up front.

bugler

France will have refined their team for next week. Their starting TH (Julien Brugnaut) was awful, and will do well to be capped again anytime soon. As soon as he went off for Mas the scrums went from being in Scotland's favour to being dominated by France.

They might look at a different partner for Nallet in the second row too.

I don't see any hope for us. We'll be beaten comfortably.

bleg

doubt nallet will be replaced, he's the captain and he had a good game

bleg

redmca wrote: »

First, in their match against Wasps, Munster made bits of the Wasps lineout by contesting their ball. There seemed very little of this (contesting Italy's throw-ins) in Saturday's match.

I think it's eddie's policy not to compete at the lineout and instead try to stop any maul.

bugler

doubt nallet will be replaced, he's the captain and he had a good game

A different "partner for"Nallet, I said. They had some skinny young lad in there, probably didn't help with the scrums. Oh to have that sort of luxury though.

bugler

The pack has been dominated by Munster players for many seasons and the question is often posed as to why they don't seem to deliver for Ireland.

They delivered fine until the Italy game at Ravenhill last year.

There's no mystery to it all in one sense. EOS is a failed coach, has failed to halt the slide in a team that was performing very well (and whose players are still performing well in different jerseys), and seems completely bereft of ideas as to how to turn it around.

is_that_so

Watching the game yesterday I thought that the lineout was the only area that the French looked a bit weak. With the confidence booster of a win against Scotland I fear we are going to end up in damage limitation mode and ultimately on the end of a serious hiding. I can see it going to 30+.

So I'd be inclined to go with Leamy and Heaslip at least, maybe Gleeson as well just to hassle the half backs. I think Jackman is a better option than Best who looked out of it. I'd also agree with Shaggy in the middle even though Trimble did well enough. I could nearly see our plan being an O'Gara pinging game but that won't hold them off for long.
When you look at the bench who have we got?
The French had Szarzewski, Mas, Bonnaire, Skrela and Rougerie on the bench, any of whom we'd be delighted to put on the pitch.

Rattlehead_ie

When is the Vs France Squad and Team announced this week?

dub_skav

Honest question here. Why does everybody seem to think that to facilitate Heaslip it should be Easterby that gets dropped?
I thouht Easterby played much better than Leamy on Saturday - his rather unlucky yellow card aside.

Rattlehead_ie

unlucky yellow card???
Thats the one thing that annoyed me about Ryle Nugent going on about consistency of Refereeing. About 10 mins before Easterby was sent off, referee turned round to BOD and said "Thats the 3 or 4th time he has done that, next time its yellow / thats the last time" something to that effect. He was clearly warned and pointed out. Later BOD remarked about the Italian hand in ruck, referee said that he didnt see it, then later warned the Italians. nothing wrong with that.

Killme00

dub_skav wrote: »

his rather unlucky yellow card aside.

LMAO

marco_polo

dub_skav wrote: »

Honest question here. Why does everybody seem to think that to facilitate Heaslip it should be Easterby that gets dropped?
I thouht Easterby played much better than Leamy on Saturday - his rather unlucky yellow card aside.

Fouth offense is stupidity, luck has nothing to do with it. I though Leamy had a decent game on Satuday without setting the world alight, a move to his proper position of 6 would do him the world of good.

tHE vAGGABOND

After watching france yesterday, if we go out with green wingers we are dead - plain and simple! Haymens and Clerc were outstanding.

We need good, dedicated wingers - Bowe and Shaggy

If shaggy is not fit, then Murphy is next best option I think [I know Murphy is a 15, and not fast - but he has the best defence of the other folks available IMHO]

Rattlehead_ie

tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »

has the best defence of the other folks available IMHO]

Agreed about Haymens and Clerc but Murphy? was it not Murphy that didnt tackle in the last minutes of Croke Park last year? He doesnt have a good history with the French if I remember correctly

Snickers Man

madds wrote: »

1. Horan
2. Jackman
3. Hayes
4. DOC
5. Cullen
6. Leamy
7. Wallace
8. Heaslip

9. Reddan
10. O'Gara
11. Kearney
12. Trimble
13. BOD
14. Horgan
15. Dempsey

16. Best
17. Buckley
18. MOK
19. Easterby
20. Stringer
21. Murphy
22. Bowe

Ball carriers are required so Jackman and Heaslip are drafted in.

MOK won't recover in time for the French match, so Leo comes in for him. Cullen deserves to be there on merit actually.

Shaggy returns at the expense of Murphy who drops to the bench.

Kearney's left boot will be called on quite a lot defensively in Paris so he's a shoe-in.

Bowe added to the bench.

Only changes I would make to that are on the bench. M O'Driscoll for O'Kelly and Quinlan or Jennings for Easterby.

bugler

I thouht Easterby played much better than Leamy on Saturday - his rather unlucky yellow card aside.

I literally don't know what to type.

dub_skav

Apologies for the "unlucky" Easterby comments. I was at the match and haven't watched any TV replays, so I didn't hear him getting warned.

I did think he turned over more ball and looked more useful than Leamy though

old boy

jackman will start, we do not need wingers on saturday, defencive back are required, slow down the french try and contain them, stop them scoring, upset them, in 2 words negative creatitivy,

chris85

1. Horan
2. Jackman
3. Hayes
4. DOC
5. MOD
6. Leamy
7. Wallace
8. Heaslip
9. Redden
10. O'Gara
11. Horgan
12. BOD
13. Trimble
14. Kearney
15.Dempsey

Trimble has to go on the outside, he has not got enough bulk to play inside.

Jackman had better start or I am after EOS Best cannot throw at all

Jackman hardly set the world alight with his throwing.

Rattlehead_ie

What I would LIKE to see

1. Horan
2. Jackman
3. Hayes
4. DOC
5. Cullen
6. Leamy
7. Jennings
8. Heaslip

9. Reddan [CAPTAIN]
10. O'Gara
11. Kearney
12. Trimble
13. BOD
14. Bowe
15. Murphy

16. Best
17. Buckley
18. MOK
19. Wallace
20. Stringer
21. Dempsey
22. Bowe

1]Balance in the backrow is wrong. No 7 should be a ball winner at 50/50's first and a ball carrier 2nd – Wallace is the other way round. Easterby =no hands. So heaslip carries and disrupts, leamy hits/carries, Jennings competes @ 50/50, scraps on ground.

2]Hard on Dempsey but Murphy deserves another chance – he is more attack minded and you will have difficulty 2nd guessing what he does next – not so Dempsey.

3] I'll probably get slatted for the Redden choice, but from what I've noticed in games BOD is not talking to his team, he is not energetic and has AT THE MOMENT not got the flare that he once had to raise the team. Redden I believe has the mindset at the moment, plus the position of No 9 to have an effect on both forwards and backs.

bugler

I did think he turned over more ball and looked more useful than Leamy though

I didn't see him do anything, or turn over anything. Looking at the stats on test rugby,

Easterby: Line Breaks: 0, Turn Overs 0, Go Forward Ball 1, Tackles 5, Lineout Takes 3, Penalties Conceded 4 (I knew it was 3...but 4!)

Leamy: Line Breaks: 2, Turn Overs 1, Go Forward Ball 5, Tackles 4, Lineout Takes 0, Penalties Conceded 0

Wallace: Line Breaks: 4, Turn Overs 0, Go Forward Ball 4, Tackles 7, Lineout Takes 3 (all snaffles over the top I'd imagine, don't remember him jumping), Penalties Conceded 0

Wallace and Leamy's stats compare relatively favourably with the other back rows from all games this weekend.

NB: Test Rugby seem to come up with lower tackle stats for players than other sources.

Henry Ford III

Best, MOK, Easterbunny, and Dempsey should all get a day off.

Knowing "Steady Eddie" however 1 or 2 changes are all that are likely.

chris85

Rattlehead_ie wrote: »

3] I'll probably get slatted for the Redden choice, but from what I've noticed in games BOD is not talking to his team, he is not energetic and has AT THE MOMENT not got the flare that he once had to raise the team. Redden I believe has the mindset at the moment, plus the position of No 9 to have an effect on both forwards and backs.

You cant make a relatively new player a captain so quick. He needs to have the confidence of all the players which takes a bit more time. Just because he is in the half backs does not matter. Need a leader and Reddan is not there long enough to be bossing th players around.

I agree that BOD is lacking in his leadership skills but whats wrong with O'Gara as captain. He has the confidence of all the players, is in good frame of mind and knows how to get players where they should be

Rattlehead_ie

chris85 wrote: »

You cant make a relatively new player a captain so quick. He needs to have the confidence of all the players which takes a bit more time. Just because he is in the half backs does not matter. Need a leader and Reddan is not there long enough to be bossing th players around.

I agree that BOD is lacking in his leadership skills but whats wrong with O'Gara as captain. He has the confidence of all the players, is in good frame of mind and knows how to get players where they should be

I do understand about a relatively new player, but one of my other reasons for this choice was due to the rumored issues between Leinster V Munster players and what this would be would a hopefully kick up the ass for the players who did have any issue. that being said it could also mess things up completely but redden is a player that a lot of the players on the Irish Squad have respect for even the Munster players who would of course be die hard in the Stringer camp. But taking the disagreement issue aside yes the I would have RoG as AYE AYE CAPTAIN!

youcancallmeal

I thought the team was supposed to be announced today at lunch time? Whats goin on?

marco_polo

I would like to see the following:


1. Horan
2. Jackman
3. Hayes

4. DOC
5. MOD

6. Leamy
7. Jennings
8. Heaslip

9. Reddan
10. O'Gara (C)

11. Kearney
12. BOD
13. Trimble
14. Bowe
15. Murphy

16. Best
17. Buckley
18. Cullen
19. Quinlan
20. Stringer
21. Wallace
22. Horgan


Would not be two bothered with Cullen instead of MOD, or with Dempsey in the side, but Bowe, Heaslip and Jackman must start.

Zzippy

youcancallme>al wrote: »

I thought the team was supposed to be announced today at lunch time? Whats goin on?

Thought it was normally announced on the Tuesday...?

dub_skav

bugler wrote: »

I didn't see him do anything, or turn over anything. Looking at the stats on test rugby,

Easterby: Line Breaks: 0, Turn Overs 0, Go Forward Ball 1, Tackles 5, Lineout Takes 3, Penalties Conceded 4 (I knew it was 3...but 4!)

Leamy: Line Breaks: 2, Turn Overs 1, Go Forward Ball 5, Tackles 4, Lineout Takes 0, Penalties Conceded 0

Wallace: Line Breaks: 4, Turn Overs 0, Go Forward Ball 4, Tackles 7, Lineout Takes 3 (all snaffles over the top I'd imagine, don't remember him jumping), Penalties Conceded 0

Wallace and Leamy's stats compare relatively favourably with the other back rows from all games this weekend.

NB: Test Rugby seem to come up with lower tackle stats for players than other sources.

Point taken, I was completely wrong about Easterby. I suppose my point really should have been that I didn't think Leamy set the world alight either.

My ideal backrow would be Wallace 6, Gleeson (or Jennings) 7 & Heaslip 8. That gives you a real 7 to win/slow down ball and also frees Wallace up for more ball carrying which he did superbly on saturday.

Podge_irl

Rattlehead_ie wrote: »

2]Hard on Dempsey but Murphy deserves another chance – he is more attack minded and you will have difficulty 2nd guessing what he does next – not so Dempsey.

And precisely how many in total does he deserve? The man has consistently failed to deliver on the international stage since he broke his legs. He's slow, defensively frail, makes shocking mistakes with unacceptable regularity and loses the ball in contact all the damn time.

figs86

eh no i wouldnt say you have to play mick o driscoll - far from it

1. Hayes - drop horan who didnt really feature and stick both of our monsters in the front row
2. Jackman
3. Buckley - 134kg, 21 stone, 6 '5'', worth a run i think!
4. Leo Cullen
5. Bob Casey
6. Leamy
7. Gleeson
8. Heaslip

9. Reddan
10. Rog
11. Denis hickie would walk on to this team - ehh Tommy Bowe
12. Shaggy if fit
13. Drico
14. Rob Kearney
15. Girv the Swerve

16. R Best i suppose - cmon flannerys appeal!
17. Horan
18. Donncha O ' C
19. David Wallace
20. Strings
21. Geordan - to come on at out half as well as 12-15 if necessary
22. A N Other - fitzgerald i suppose would scrape it, maybe gavin duffy

dc69

figs86 wrote: »

3. Buckley - 134kg, 21 stone, 6 '5'', worth a run i think!

scrumaging is 70% skill ,30% weight ,in saying that though i agree he deserves a shot