Replacement for BOD

marco_syco

Just wondering what everyones thoughts are on likely replacements for BOD in the Ireland set up, short term and long?
Its hard to see past Shaggy for the England game but what about longer term.
Personally I think O'Driscoll's a bit knackered, has lost his pace and his confidence to run with the ball and really only offers a poor kicking option. He is of course still titanic in defense but with his persistant injury problems his time seems to be numbered.
BOD will probly still be the presumptive 13 next 6 nations without injury but say he is unavailable, who can fill his boots? Personally, I'd love to see the likes of Luke Fitzgerald and Eoin O'Malley getting some game time for leinster in the centre but these are longer term options, any ideas???

p.s. anyone else grudgingly hoping england thump us so EOS gets the sack?

pfkf1

marco_syco wrote: »

Just wondering what everyones thoughts are on likely replacements for BOD in the Ireland set up, short term and long?
Its hard to see past Shaggy for the England game but what about longer term.
Personally I think O'Driscoll's a bit knackered, has lost his pace and his confidence to run with the ball and really only offers a poor kicking option. He is of course still titanic in defense but with his persistant injury problems his time seems to be numbered.
BOD will probly still be the presumptive 13 next 6 nations without injury but say he is unavailable, who can fill his boots? Personally, I'd love to see the likes of Luke Fitzgerald and Eoin O'Malley getting some game time for leinster in the centre but these are longer term options, any ideas???

p.s. anyone else grudgingly hoping england thump us so EOS gets the sack?

While I agree with you RE: O Driscoll, he will be in the team until the next rugby world cup in New Zealand, where he will retire, I agree that he has lost a yard of pace, and over the past 2 years has been injured an awful lot of the time.

I also think that FitzGerald will be one of the replacements, amongst others.

As regards your last point, I never hope England at anything, I hope that Ireland Stuff the English next week, as I do every game, but especially against the English as it would make it 5 in a row.

O Sullivan is finished regardless of what happens next week, he should have won the Grand Slam the last 2 years he has never won anything, the best man for the Job is Jake White, a proven winner.

Laslo

Luke Fitzgerald does look promising. I feel sorry for BOD a bit. The expectation on him is huge and I'm sure he'll be wondering where it all went wrong sooner rather than later.

As for being beaten next week - ideally I'd like us to stuff England but for EOS to get his marching orders anyway. Typically Irish though, he'll probably hang on in there for another few years with his sound bites and primitive excuses.

jayteecork

Could the IRFU afford Jake White?
World Cup winning coaches do not come cheap.

Santa Claus

jayteecork wrote: »

Could the IRFU afford Jake White?
World Cup winning coaches do not come cheap.

Well if Denis O'Brien can help the FAI pay Trapatoni's salary then maybe Tony O'Reilly could help the IRFU pay for Jake !

Chucky the tree

I hope england cream us, like i have hoped every other team has. Unfortunatly England are stuck with a coach as bad as ours, so chances are slim.

razorblunt

O'Driscoll needs the captaincy taken off him so he can concentrate on what made him the best center in the world. Can't look any further than Horgan to fill the gap, but it's a shame Barry Murphy doesnt seem to have recaptured his form pre-injury. Kieran Lewis is another that's stalling behind Mafi and Tipoki that needs some game time.

andrewh5

The only player I saw on Saturday giving any kind of direction to the players was ROG. It is high time he is given a chance at the captaincy to see if he can motivate the team.

O'Sullivan should go and go now!

burnedfaceman

jake white would not touch the irish job with a barge pole, hes a legend in s.africa and is on a highly paid job as a representative of a big sa firm, he has stated his interest in coaching the lions but that a relatively short term position and i cant see him uprooting to coach a six nations side.

O driscoll is a shadow of his former self of late and it has been shown time and time again shaggy is not an international centre. IMO trimble should play in his natural position of 13 and you may laugh aloud but paddy wallace should start at 12 were he has some form in that position. This wont happen as o sullivan will be too focused on trying to save his own skin. Gavin Duffy is another option too but again pigs will fly before o sullivan takes a risk!

zAbbo

Short term (as in Eddies last game), he'll go Shaggy at 12, Trimble at 13. With Kearney & Bowe on the wing and Dempsey/Murphy at FB.

If it was me, I'd put Paddy Wallace at 12, Trimble at 13, with Bowe & Shaggy on the wings, and keep Rob Kearney at FB.

Long term, we desperately need to see if Luke Fitzgerald can make it at 13, his only chance at game time there is to uproot BOD at club & country.

marco_syco

burnedfaceman wrote: »

jake white would not touch the irish job with a barge pole, hes a legend in s.africa and is on a highly paid job as a representative of a big sa firm, he has stated his interest in coaching the lions but that a relatively short term position and i cant see him uprooting to coach a six nations side.

As said before though a nice hefty wad of cash being thrown at him from an irish rugby legend could sort that out!

and I just hope your all correct that eddys gonna go regardless of the result next week, im not too sure

Disagree that we'll see BOD at 13 in 2 years time, that uprooting someone spoke of might happen a bit sooner than expected as Luke Fitzgerald looks more accomplished every game

anonymous_joe

Did anyone read that Gerry Thornley piece a couple of weeks ago where he advocated sending players out on loan á la football.

He suggested lads like O'Malley and a whole host of others who are languishing on the various benches a million miles from first team rugby. Either that or shove 'em back down to AIL level, there's still a high level of performance down there.

razorblunt

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Did anyone read that Gerry Thornley piece a couple of weeks ago where he advocated sending players out on loan á la football.

He suggested lads like O'Malley and a whole host of others who are languishing on the various benches a million miles from first team rugby. Either that or shove 'em back down to AIL level, there's still a high level of performance down there.

It makes sense, I can't understand why players are left languishing in the reserves at Munster and Leinster, send them to Connaught at the very least.

Another idea might be to form links with Super 14 teams, didn't John Hayes and Peter Clohessy spend a year in New Zealand and came back all the better for it?

anonymous_joe

I think Murphy did too.

Not sure if Irish players would be good enough for Super 14's though, and they're notoriously small-minded about nationalities over there (so are we, this isn't an attack ) - look at New Zealand refusing to let people who leave play for the All Blacks. Would they really welcome young Irish lads who want to stay for a year then go home and play well for Leinster/Munster, etc?

a_bomb

I wouldnt rule BOD out of the next world cup! He may have lost a yard of pace! he could possibly be moved into 12 where he would not get exposed!! Also if he lost a small amount of weight (muscle) that would give him the extra yard of pace needed to play at 13! Provided he stays injury free I think he will defo b in the next world cup!!

Also Ireland are not getting the quick ball they used to 2 or 3 years ago which results in static play which makes BOD and whoever plays 12 sluggish at the best!!

I would like to see O'Gara as captain, he did well as Munster captain when O,Connell was injured

E.O'S will not get the sack the IRFU will have to pay off his contract, which I really cant seee them doing!! Even though I would love to see him gone!!!!

prospect

Curious to see what reaction this gets,

I'd like to see Reddan have a go at Captain for a few reasons, firstly the psycological impact of having a neweer play lead the team. A new leaf and all that. We have to draw a line under ROG, BOD, POC Horgan etc as the older half of the squad.

Stev_o

razorblunt wrote: »

It makes sense, I can't understand why players are left languishing in the reserves at Munster and Leinster, send them to Connaught at the very least.

Another idea might be to form links with Super 14 teams, didn't John Hayes and Peter Clohessy spend a year in New Zealand and came back all the better for it?

They went when they were young lads i think heading out there in their early 20's then coming back from it. And the Super 14 teams have a policy of just playing players who can play for their country.

Problem with loaning people to other provinces is that it will screw up their teams completely their would be out cry if lets say Paddy Wallace was sent to Munster to take over from ROG for a x amount of games.

Sadly the standard of the AIL means that we cant send players waiting on the bench to go play and thus get the experience they require as it will be never the same as provincial style rugby. But dont forget their is always provincial A games aswell.

So then we are stuck in the situation where the only realistic solution is to offer them to either GP teams or T14 teams. There are alot of Irish qualified players playing in GP teams and i think it is a half decent solution but not a full one.

Sangre

Chucky the tree wrote: »

I hope england cream us, like i have hoped every other team has. Unfortunatly England are stuck with a coach as bad as ours, so chances are slim.

Chucky, do you actually enjoy watching rugby? Seriously.

simonrooneyzaga

Fitzgerald has to have an extended run at 13 in the magners league and have played there at heineken cup level before he can be considered internationally at 13..

he hasnt had an extended run in that position since 5th year in school for gods sake! I do agree however that he is a great prospect to eventually replace the BOD'ster.

Hopefully Cheika will pick him at 13 for the magners league run in and we'll see how it goes from there.

This situation could be similar to the way D'arcy was discovered as a centre, which changed the way most international teams looked at inside centre for a while.. Even england picked Robinson there to see would he have the same impact darce did! hopefully fitzo will strive in the same way at 13!

Stev_o

Tbh i think Earls is the future at OC sadly that future isnt coming soon enough

simonrooneyzaga

prospect wrote: »

Curious to see what reaction this gets,

I'd like to see Reddan have a go at Captain for a few reasons, firstly the psycological impact of having a neweer play lead the team. A new leaf and all that. We have to draw a line under ROG, BOD, POC Horgan etc as the older half of the squad.

Players ahead of Reddan for captaincy...

BOD
POC
ROG
Girv
Donnacha

... like he just doesnt have a hope! hes got under 10 caps!

simonrooneyzaga

Stev_o wrote: »

Tbh i think Earls is the future at OC sadly that future isnt coming soon enough

Earls is a shocking tackler at winger so good luck to him at outside centre! Earls has the attacking flair but not the complete game to make it at an international level... maybe not even provincial.

Chucky the tree

Sangre wrote: »

Chucky, do you actually enjoy watching rugby? Seriously.

Of course. I've really enjoyed this year's championship. The world cup was a pleasure too watch aswell.

Sangre

because we did crap in both?

Chucky the tree

Sangre wrote: »

because we did crap in both?

I didnt really care about Ireland in the WC, was a non-factor. But our crapness has given me reason too be happy in this 6 nations, if we beat england it will have been a bad championship though.

Sangre

why?

Chucky the tree

Sangre wrote: »

why?

Only reason why EOS will get the sack.