hooker for AI's

bamboozle

with announcement Flannery is out for 4 weeks, who we will see start the Autumn internationals, revert to an old hand in Jackman or go with the future in Cronin or Dennis Fogarty

much as i'd love to see Jackman start i'd go with Cronin.

OldJay

bamboozle wrote: »

with announcement Flannery is out for 4 weeks, who we will see start the Autumn internationals

Jerry Flannery

andrewdcs

Flannery will be back non? I'd go with Cronin but not sure if his throwing is up to the mark, so I'd be working on protecting that somehow i.e throwing the front jumper 10 feet in the air. Cronin is quick isn't he? More of a Jackman mould than a Flannery if you will.

Best injury was/is/will be a massive massive blow to Ireland. Hope his recovery is going well.

anonymous_joe

Behind Flannery would have to be Jackman? Behind him would have to be Kyriacou. Then Cronin.

zenmonk

Would like to see Cronin get a go. Jackman won't do.

murphym7

If Flannery won't be fit, it would be Jackman I'd say. Cronin won;t get a start but will get game time.

Beanmachine

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Behind Flannery would have to be Jackman? Behind him would have to be Kyriacou. Then Cronin.

Is Kyriacou not english? He represented England U21's before

Stev_o

If Kyriacou qualified then he's 1st choice in my books, he is the form Hooker in the country. Jackman isn't anywhere on the list of viable hookers he's not international standard.

twinytwo

against the saffers our lineout needs to be at its best if we want a chance of winning... without either flannery or best at hooker i cant see that happening

andrewdcs

twinytwo wrote: »

against the saffers our lineout needs to be at its best if we want a chance of winning... without either flannery or best at hooker i cant see that happening

Couldn't agree more. Watching Oz smack them around they played a lot of rugby (Australia/NZ in over playing shocker!) attacked from deep and dragged them around the park. Ireland have the mobility talent in the backrow and backs to do that. In this case I'm thinking Jackman. We can't get into a territorial game, that's their game, they own it. We've gotta beat them out wide on the deck.

Having said that, you do need a ball in your hands. . what to do, what to do....

How is Cronins scrummaging? really don't know much about him, other than that he's west'o'shannon at the behest of the IRFU. I've heard tell he's pacy. Any "youtube" vids / articles about? Google is not my friend today.

conf101

Whoever plays in the AIs Jackman needs to be kept far far away from an Irish jersey, his throwing is woeful!!

anonymous_joe

Beanmachine wrote: »

Is Kyriacou not english? He represented England U21's before

Only 7s, A's and full international caps count afaik.

theKramer

If Flannery is not gonna be playing it will probably Cronin as he played in the Churchill Cup during the summer, so seems to be further up the pecking order at the moment in comparison to the others......

Podge_irl

Flannery will start, but I'd have Kyriacou on the bench. He's the best hooker playing at the moment.

RuggieBear

yeah cronin has looked good anytime i've seen him.

I have alot of time for Jackman but he would want to improve his throwing (and his durability) considerably to challenge at international level.

haven't seen Kyriacou play since his time in munster so i can't really comment on him.

bleg

It'll be one of the Fogartys if Flannery's not back. Probably Dennis.

Stev_o

bleg wrote: »

It'll be one of the Fogartys if Flannery's not back. Probably Dennis.

Neither are up for it, not even HC standard yet.

siltirocker

Without doubt its goig to Cronin, has been in all the training squads since summer and started and played unreal in CC. Although probably not as good Kyriacou is def. in marvellous form as is Denis and John Fogarty. Jackman is unfortunately done in my eyes.

Risteard

Flannery will be back I think. Then I'd have Kyriacou. Then Cronin. Close between them though. But if his throwing improves and he becomes consistent with it, then Denis Fogerty would be in with a shot.

Jackman isn't getting that much gametime with Leinster so I don't think he'd be close to starting.

MarVeL

If we think Kyriacou is a good 'un might be worth seeing if he can play in the AIs. Planet Rugby has talk of him as a potential English replacement for this year as well

OldJay

MarVeL wrote: »

If we think Kyriacou is a good 'un might be worth seeing if he can play in the AIs.

I don't think he has been resident here long enough yet.

Podge_irl

He's qualfied through ancestry so its fine (think its his grandmother or something).

Amazotheamazing

Podge_irl wrote: »

He's qualfied through ancestry so its fine (think its his grandmother or something).

His mother or grandmother is from Sligo. Remember Kidney saying he was Irish qualified back when he was with Munster.

Would go with either Cronin or Kyriacou.

[Jackass]

I'd probably like to see Cronin.

It pains me to say it, but Jackmans set piece has only gotten worse over the last year.

He was superb the year Leinster won the Magners League and even won the Irish jersey, but preformed poorly and has never really recovered.

I like the guy so much as a player, but even at Leinster level now he's a bit of a liability.

Leinster's Fogarty bro is no better either.

Podge_irl

[Jackass] wrote: »

Leinster's Fogarty bro is no better either.

Disturbingly, I think he's slightly better in the lineout than his Munster brother. If either of them start/bench for Ireland we're in trouble though. I think Cronin and Kyriacou are the next two logical options after JF, its just a question of which. AK is clearly in better form, but Cronin has experience/history in the Irish squads so we'll see.

gavkm27

Cronin did'nt start the last 2 games for Connacht(which they won) so i don't know what sort of form he is in,but again thats bradleys selection...
He had an amazing Churchill Cup,so i'd imagine Kidney will keep the faith

Robbo

gavkm27 wrote: »

Cronin did'nt start the last 2 games for Connacht(which they won) so i don't know what sort of form he is in,but again thats bradleys selection...
He had an amazing Churchill Cup,so i'd imagine Kidney will keep the faith

He was to start tonight but I presume there was a late injury as he was shifted to the bench just before kick off. He didn't come on. The game against Madrid last week was a turkey shoot so there was no point in him being started. Otherwise his form is immense, the lineouts been working well since Upton got a handle on things and his play in the loose is more like a decent inside center.

It sickens me that he'll probably be gone back to Munster next summer, I think he offers more around the park than any other Irish (or quasi-Greek) hooker these days.

Amazotheamazing

Robbo wrote: »

He was to start tonight but I presume there was a late injury as he was shifted to the bench just before kick off. He didn't come on. The game against Madrid last week was a turkey shoot so there was no point in him being started. Otherwise his form is immense, the lineouts been working well since Upton got a handle on things and his play in the loose is more like a decent inside center.

It sickens me that he'll probably be gone back to Munster next summer, I think he offers more around the park than any other Irish (or quasi-Greek) hooker these days.

Yeah, imagine him wanting to go to Munster, the team who he played underage for and who's Academy he went to. Disturbing really.

Zzippy

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Yeah, imagine him wanting to go to Munster, the team who he played underage for and who's Academy he went to. Disturbing really.

I think Robbo was emphasising we will miss a player of his calibre, since we can't hold on to good players due to insufficient funding and not being able to offer HEC rugby, yet. And if he hadn't had Connacht to go to, he would either be playing abroad, or more likely playing AIL, and that would definitely not be good for his development. Its interesting how many of the Irish hookers mentioned in this thread have spent time at Connacht - Flannery, Jackman, Fogarty, Cronin. Who's to say any of them would have come through as senior players without a team like Connacht to take them on and develop them? No need to be so precious about Munster or Leinster and their well-funded academies, they did let him go in fairness. No one here begrudged Munster Flannery or Warwick, we just wish we could hold on to players like that.

siltirocker

Well according to the RTE pundits the Fogarty brothers are the only options if Flannery isn't there.
:rolleyes:

leeroybrown

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Yeah, imagine him wanting to go to Munster, the team who he played underage for and who's Academy he went to. Disturbing really.

...and we Connacht supporters who've been watching him play great rugby since he arrived in the province will be devastated to see him go.

I'd like to seem him get a start. His throwing isn't as good as Flannery's, but whose is! He's very mobile and as Robbo says he's got the skills of a decent inside centre if he spots a gap. He was one of our better attacking assets last season. I'm not enough of an expert on the dark arts of the front row to be conclusive but I'd say that it may be a slight weakness as I think our scrum is slightly more stable when our second choice hooker Flavin is on the pitch.

PhatPiggins

Hookers who cant throw a ball straight should be no where near an international set up. I cant understand how a professional sportsman cant address a correctable weakness in his game.

Denis Forgarty is the player who frustrates me the most in Irish rugby. Great around the park, good in the tight but a 60% lineout thrower. There's just no excuse for it.

To be honest I'm not convinced that his brothers throwing is that mcuh better. Leinster win a lot of uncontested ball but the jumpers seem to be taking a lot of it at head height which is asking for trouble when you come up against a good defensive lineout like London Irish.

I haven't seen enough of Cronin to comment.