France v Ireland 4 pm

mike65

Ireland: Dempsey; Murphy, B O'Driscoll (capt), Trimble, Kearney; O'Gara, Reddan; Horan, Jackman, Hayes, O'Callaghan, O'Kelly, Leamy, D Wallace, Heaslip.
Replacements: Best, Buckley, M O'Driscoll, Easterby, Stringer, P Wallace, Horgan.

France: Heymans; Rougerie, Marty, Traille, Clerc; Skrela, Elissalde; Mas, Szarzewski, Faure, Mela, Nallet, Ouedraogo, Dusautoir, Bonnaire.Replacements: Servat, Brugnaut, Jacquet, Picamoles, Parra, Trinh-Duc, Floch.

Anyone see beyond a home win?

Mike.

latenia

France by 23-27 points

purple'n'gold

mike65 wrote: »

Ireland: Dempsey; Murphy, B O'Driscoll (capt), Trimble, Kearney; O'Gara, Reddan; Horan, Jackman, Hayes, O'Callaghan, O'Kelly, Leamy, D Wallace, Heaslip.
Replacements: Best, Buckley, M O'Driscoll, Easterby, Stringer, P Wallace, Horgan.

France: Heymans; Rougerie, Marty, Traille, Clerc; Skrela, Elissalde; Mas, Szarzewski, Faure, Mela, Nallet, Ouedraogo, Dusautoir, Bonnaire.Replacements: Servat, Brugnaut, Jacquet, Picamoles, Parra, Trinh-Duc, Floch.

Anyone see beyond a home win?

Mike.

Unfortunately no, France by a comfortable margin.

redzerdrog

i think ireland +13 in the hcp betting is a great bet. i dont think there will be as much in it as people think

bleg

france by 12

jprender

Ireland to win 18-13

EdgarAllenPoo

France by 8. Everyone (including me) expects France to run rings around Ireland but if Ireland can starve France of the ball and avoid pointless kicking and chasing they may have a chance. If at all possible I favour keeping the ball up the jumper and putting ROG in positon to try for drop goals. Three or four of them and it'll take the steam out of the French and Ireland and build from there. Oh and for the love of Tom Cruise cut down on the handling errors and penalties.

Ponster

France by 20 (and they I'll buy you all a pint thanks to PaddyPower !)

Y2J_MUFC

A wise man would say France by 10-15....but I will say Ireland by 6. Due a performance!!!

mikser

Ireland at 11/2 to win the game is better value than Ireland +13 in the handicap. If we can get within 2 converted tries, on a good day it could go in our favour.

France were lucky against Scotland, very ragged in areas (they dropped a lot of balls), their team is changing a lot, their scrum was weak and they are cocky.

There are really only two selections issues in the Irish team ... should there be an open sided wing forward (as everyone is on about) a la Keith Gleeson and should Geordan Murphy be at full-back with maybe Tommy Bowe on the wing.

Personally, I'll take the team as it is. They were breaking lines last week, they just weren't clinical in the finish. They have a great blend of experience and newbees. Our scrum is strong ad own lineout will be good with Jackman throwing - he has ben good for Leinster this year. It is a running team and if they can frustrate the French for the first half and take their chances, this is the Grand Slam year.

Lots of IFs, but as I say at 11/2 the value is in the Irish win, not the handicap. A small bit at 18s on the Grand Slam could be advisable too - they'll be 3 to 1 or less if they win today.

Good Luck Ireland.

Sherifu

Ireland to win based on nothing but hope. O'Gara to keep them close until the end, then we'll see what happens.

Jackz

Ireland to win by 4.

Chucky the tree

Allez Blues!


France by 20 hopefully.

zAbbo

Mixed emotions, Want us to win, but if an embarrassing loss meant Goodbye Eddie, I'd take that.

Junior

Best of luck lads ... can't see past a french win - I hope for our sakes we get a performance, but I would just prefer to get hammered and be done with EOS. Rough I know but short term pain for long term gain.

iFight

France by 15-20. Should be a good game either way. I quite like seeing Kearney out on the wing.

Junior

Jesus that Anthem was brutal !

Scobius90

jaysus but that was **** rendition of irelands call

jamieh

Jesus lads.....that rendition of Ireland's Call was shocking!!

Jackz

fuppin hell the "Anthems" sound muck.

is_that_so

No music? La Marseillaise sounds way better. France by 20+

Rowley Birkin QC

At least I'll get one laugh out of this game. A stunning bit of commentary, Hamilton-esque even.:D

BBC Commentator wrote:

Here we have two teams, one oozing and dripping with confidence and flair and the other.....not.

randomer

I don't ever remember hearing anthems a capella! It sounded very strange.

wingnut

Wonder what the story was with the anthems. Was hardly planned.

gadaven

both of them !

randomer

Just to get my prediction in. Ireland by two points.

Sherifu

Solid start.

is_that_so

rkm wrote: »

Solid start.

You were saying?

randomer

At least I have Rougerie in my fantasy team.

Rockee

He's fluffed it! Still dont think itll make us tighten up though.

Chucky the tree

should of had that, bad miss.

Jackz

Fockin fock, **** defense from trimble.

zAbbo

Watch how Ryle consistently calls JB Ellisalde by his full name

Sherifu

is_that_so wrote: »

You were saying?

*clears throat*
Shocking missed tackles tbh. Lucky they held it up.

randomer

rkm wrote: »

*clears throat*
Shocking missed tackles tbh. Lucky they held it up.

Redden didn't even get a hand on him.

Jackz

Picture just got better, and sound ****.

iFight

Live stream anywhere?

Stev_o

Is it me or are the camera work very very shoddy??

O'Gara must have been listening to Stuart Barnes about Rougiere's weakness in turning.


Lastly this looks fairly scary sh*t that France are running at a tempo that we wont be able to match. So in EOS terms "get the football and circle the wagon!"

Rockee

We've been in the French 22 longer than 30 seconds?? :eek:

randomer

Trimble is looking good in the centre. He seems to add a lot that I haven't seen from D'Arcy in a long time.

Huge tackle on Redden. Ouchie!

Jackz

Nice piece of play, don't go to pieces at the point you could spit on the line.

is_that_so

Yikes we can play !

Trimble is having a great game so far at center.

Stev_o

Is it me or is O'Driscoll now afraid to take on the man, he could of got through there if he didnt switch pass to Trimble.

Weird start tbh from both sides = a good match ^^

Sherifu

is_that_so wrote: »

Yikes we can play !

Almost magic!

brianc123

I see the Rugby Team went to France this week

is_that_so

Had to be him .:(

Chucky the tree

Lovely stuff!

Jackz

What a load of crap, Reddan was taken out.

jdivision

Clerc try

Sherifu

Damn.