Ireland A vs. England Saxons, friday 6th Feb 7.30

Crash

Ireland 'A' Team to Play England Saxons
3 February 2009
11:57 am
3 February 2009, 11:57 am
By Editor
The Ireland 'A' team to play the England Saxons in Donnybrook on Friday has been named. The team contains a number of uncapped players and will be captained by Bob Casey.

Ireland Coach Declan Kidney today announced the Ireland 'A' side to play the England Saxons (Donnybrook, Friday February 6th, 7:35 p.m.) Bob Casey will again Captain the side having done so last season during the Churchill Cup. Casey is one of a number of capped players named in the team. Scrum half Eoin Reddan with Andrew Trimble and Gavin Duffy are the capped players in the back line while Shane Jennings and Neil Best bring their experience to bear up front.
Leinster's Jonathan Sexton will partner Reddan in the half backs with Darren Cave, Mark McCrea and Keith Matthews completing the backline.
In the front row Cian Healy , Sean Cronin and Mike Ross will pack down together backed up by Casey and Ryan Caldwell while Connacht skipper John Muldoon completes the back row alongside Best and Jennings.
Tickets for this game are available on www.ticketmaster.ie
IRELAND 'A' Team (v England Saxons, 'A' International Match, Donnybrook, Friday, February 6, kick-off 7.35pm):
15 - Gavin Duffy (Galwegians - Connacht)
14 - Andrew Trimble (Ballymena - Ulster)
13 - Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins - Ulster)*
12 - Keith Matthews (Buccaneers - Connacht)*
11 - Mark McCrea (Malone -Ulster)*
10 - Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College - Leinster)*
9 - Eoin Reddan (Wasps)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf - Leinster)*
2 - Sean Cronin (Buccaneers -Connacht)*
3 - Mike Ross (Harlequins)*
4 - Bob Casey (London Irish) Captain
5 - Ryan Caldwell (Dungannon - Ulster)*
6 - Neil Best (Northampton)
7 - Shane Jennings (St. Mary's College - Leinster)
8 - John Muldoon (Galwegians - Connacht)*
Replacements:
16 - John Fogarty (Leinster)*

17 - John Andress (Exeter)*

18 - Donnacha Ryan (Shannon - Munster)

19 - Sean O’Brien (Clontarf - Leinster)*

20 - Isaac Boss (Ballymena - Ulster)
21 - Ian Humphreys (Ballymena - Ulster)*
22 - Barry Murphy (U.L. Bohemians -Munster)

Moncti48

Humphs for sexton and i would have been happy with that team. be interesting to see how he does against danny c.

Otherwise another strong line up

Podge_irl

Sexton is an odd call, but perhaps Kidney seems more in him then Chieka. He's certainly worth a shot with a decent scrum-half to see how he gets on. Hell of a good squad though, I'd say its one of the strongest packs put out recently, will really give England A a game.

jam_on_toast

would like to have seen humphries start.
Calling up McCrae as a late replacement for dowling instead of J. Murphy is my only other complaint.

sm.org

jam_on_toast wrote: »

would like to have seen humphries start.
Calling up McCrae as a late replacement for dowling instead of J. Murphy is my only other complaint.

I think fair play to Kidney for showing a bit of faith in Sexton when everyone else seems to have written him off.

The constant cry's for Johnne Murphy always amuse me. How many have watched him play a full game and not just the highlights of his tries against Treviso? The guy cant tackle , he makes ROG look like Jerry Collins.

Noopti

Should be a good game. Some good players lining up on both sides.

anonymous_joe

sm.org wrote: »

I think fair play to Kidney for showing a bit of faith in Sexton when everyone else seems to have written him off.

The constant cry's for Johnne Murphy always amuse me. How many have watched him play a full game and not just the highlights of his tries against Treviso? The guy cant tackle , he makes ROG look like Jerry Collins.

I think Johne Murphy's popularity is almost a moral stance. It would be the ultimate sign of an Ireland coach willing to look at players who play anywhere, and pick them on form, not name.

And for the record, someone who can't tackle but who can score tries would be great on the bench given how often we find ourselves lacking impact players. :P

Podge_irl

anonymous_joe wrote: »

I think Johne Murphy's popularity is almost a moral stance. It would be the ultimate sign of an Ireland coach willing to look at players who play anywhere, and pick them on form, not name.

In fairness, how many people have heard of Andress? Yet he's on the bench.

Diom

I like the team but would have swapped the starting and sub half backs. Backrow looks very strong, but I'd like to see SOB on for Jennings sharpish enough. We all know what Jennings can and, more importantly, cannot do.

My only worry is that B.Murphy is the only back up we have for the back line.

Podge_irl

Diom wrote: »

I like the team but would have swapped the starting and sub half backs. Backrow looks very strong, but I'd like to see SOB on for Jennings sharpish enough. We all know what Jennings can and, more importantly, cannot do.

My only worry is that B.Murphy is the only back up we have for the back line.

Its normal enough to only have one outside back on the bench. Boss can cover the back 5 in an emergency anyway.

Zzippy

Cannot understand how Sexton is starting this game. He's only 3rd choice OH for his province, even Nacewa is considered better than him. Joke tbh, Humphreys should be 10 with Keatley on the bench, we have to develop an alternative for ROG and Sexton isn't it.
On the plus side, I hope Muldoon has a big game, great to see him get some recognition. Also glad to see Casey in there, IMO he should be on the bench for the French game instead of MOK, here's hoping he plays well and shows the selectors why he should be in the main squad.

Diom

Podge_irl wrote: »

Its normal enough to only have one outside back on the bench. Boss can cover the back 5 in an emergency anyway.

I suppose you're right about only having one normally, but I more saying "Barry Murphy" than only having one. He's decent enough in the center, but I'd rather have had an FB option on the bench, because Duffy can cover center, but who would go FB?
You're right about popping Boss onto the wing or something, but still...

anonymous_joe

Podge_irl wrote: »

In fairness, how many people have heard of Andress? Yet he's on the bench.

That's a fair point.

The reason the Murphy thing irks me is that the one thing Irish rugby is lacking terribly at the moment is a finisher. I mean, Murphy's defense isn't great, and Leicester never pick him when they need to grind results out, but he's a superb finisher. Not having someone who can do that in the A squad let alone the main squad is verging on farcical. Tommy Bowe and Luke Fitzgerald are our only two decent finishers (at the moment) in the backs and both have spent hte season in the centre.

D.S.

It's a stong team imo...looking forward to seeing this game Friday..

Robbo

Zzippy wrote: »

Cannot understand how Sexton is starting this game. He's only 3rd choice OH for his province, even Nacewa is considered better than him. Joke tbh, Humphreys should be 10 with Keatley on the bench, we have to develop an alternative for ROG and Sexton isn't it.
On the plus side, I hope Muldoon has a big game, great to see him get some recognition. Also glad to see Casey in there, IMO he should be on the bench for the French game instead of MOK, here's hoping he plays well and shows the selectors why he should be in the main squad.

I was told that GBFM are reporting that Keatley is or was training with the rest of them.

Crash

GBFM - Galway Bay FM?

Podge_irl

Diom wrote: »

I suppose you're right about only having one normally, but I more saying "Barry Murphy" than only having one. He's decent enough in the center, but I'd rather have had an FB option on the bench, because Duffy can cover center, but who would go FB?
You're right about popping Boss onto the wing or something, but still...

Boss has played full back in the S14.

Robbo

Going Waterforward wrote: »

GBFM - Galway Bay FM?

Yes. As I've said before here, Brett Wilkinson is also supposed to be up with the squad as well.

Stev_o

sm.org wrote: »

The constant cry's for Johnne Murphy always amuse me. How many have watched him play a full game and not just the highlights of his tries against Treviso? The guy cant tackle , he makes ROG look like Jerry Collins.

Wingers dont get alot of attention from teams and wouldnt be as exposed as a number 10 and while Murphy sometimes has made a hash of things (and other times its just he's against a better player ala Foden on the outside your not going to stop him) his commitment is higher then any other Leicester player in their squad! I watch Leicester play alot and he was their only bright last year when they imploded. Did you watch the EDF final vs Hairsprays??? Murphy was Tigers only player who gave a 100% never gave up and could always be counted on while the rest of his team mates gave up.

He's in the form of his life, he's scoring tries and he's making breaks. Mark McCrea cost Ulster their against Edinburgh with two absolutely blindy mistakes resulting in two tries. Why does he Ulster's 3rd choice winger deserves to start over Leicester's top try scorer?

Diom

Podge_irl wrote: »

Boss has played full back in the S14.

Didn't know that. That's makes it me a bit less nervous.

As for Keatley being up with the squad... that's good. I'd heard that Brett was up there, but hadn't heard that Keatley was given the same opportunity. Happy about that.

Leslie91

Anyone know if they will be taking cash at the gates?. I hate having to give ticketmaster money for nothing. And no I cannot get down to the Spar during the week as I don't live in Dublin.

[Jackass]

Leslie91 wrote: »

Anyone know if they will be taking cash at the gates?. I hate having to give ticketmaster money for nothing. And no I cannot get down to the Spar during the week as I don't live in Dublin.

Yup, cash is taken at the gates. Get there early to avoid disapointment. (doubt it will be a sell out, but with crowd numbers this year accross the board, you never know)

Chucky the tree

Hopefully the weather wont spoil it. I was nearly looking forward to this match more then the France one up until I saw the line up.