Ireland V. Italy, Sat Feb 6th. Croke Park. 14:30.*Mod Warning Post no. 296*

WeeBushy

IRELAND Team & Replacements (v Italy, RBS 6 Nations Championship, Croke Park, Saturday February 6th, 2:30 p.m):

15 - Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 - Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 - Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
12 - Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 - Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
10 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
9 - Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 - Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
3 - John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
4 - Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 - Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
6 - Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
7 - David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

Replacements:
16 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
17 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 - Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)
19 - Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
20 - Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 - Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
22 - Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)

Unavailable due to injury:
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)

The biggest surprise is McLaughlin starting, but with Ferris injured he is the in form 6 in Ireland. Very excited to see him play for Ireland, he really deserves this chance.

Pity that Sexton is injured... the question of who is first choice will have to be postponed for a week.

Tough call between Trimble and Earls, but the fact that Trimble has been playing on the wing all season tipped it for him I'd say.

Looking forward to the return of international rugby. Bring on Italy!

Edit: Oops, didn't see all the talk on the 6N thread..

Crash

Thats grand - better to split off match threads at this point.

thomond2006

I want Juvenal!

chupacabra

Delighted for McLaughlin, what a rise this lad has had this season, hope he has a huge game.

andrewdcs

Just posted in broad 6n thread so won't repeat, really really looking forward to this.

Anyone a view on Italy this season? They went backwards last and I can't see whats going to turn that around, whereas I get the strong feeling that Scotland and England have gone forwards, Wales are dangerous as ever and France are my fav. for the Slam, (after Ireland of course).

Really don't think they'll pick up anything, which is a shame considering some of the performances they've put in over the years, they need into the Magners.

onlyrocknroll

I'm not too surprised about McLaughlin, with Ferris and Leamy out he's the best choice. Good luck to him, it'd be great to see him make his mark.

Tough choice at 11, but Trimble has definitely merited a chance with the way he's being playing this season. I think he could surprise those that have only being watching Munster and Ulster with a stand out performance.

I'm a bit nervous about the options at Hooker. If Flannery gets injured early on (not entirely unlikely given his luck and the fact that it's Italy) can we be sure that Best has close to a full game's international rugby in him? I'm delighted to see him back but I'd rather see Fogarty on the bench.

toomevara

Italy are really going to struggle. They'll be tough, obdurate and mean up front, but beyond their pack they've got little or nothing. Latest news is that their 10, Craig Gower, is struggling with a knee injury. Mallet's going to announce the team on Thursday.

Podge_irl

If Gower is out than Italy really are in deep trouble. It's so disheartening to see them put in powerful performances only to have their half-backs to be completely incapable of using any decent ball received.

toomevara

Podge_irl wrote: »

If Gower is out than Italy really are in deep trouble. It's so disheartening to see them put in powerful performances only to have their half-backs to be completely incapable of using any decent ball received.

That's it in a nutshell...not exactly shaping up like a vintage 6N encounter, but on the plus side, and without being patronising/condescending to the Italians, it gives us a chance to blow out the cobwebs...(as long as the injury toll isn't too high)....

Zzippy

onlyrocknroll wrote: »

I'm a bit nervous about the options at Hooker. If Flannery gets injured early on (not entirely unlikely given his luck and the fact that it's Italy) can we be sure that Best has close to a full game's international rugby in him? I'm delighted to see him back but I'd rather see Fogarty on the bench.

Same here. Bradley was quoted as saying he took Best off at alf time on Sunday as he was pretty tired, and didn't think he would be considered for the full squad for a couple of weeks yet. Seeing as its Italy and we should be on top I would think Cronin would be the safer bet in terms of fitness, and why not take the opportunity to give him some experience? We know what a fit Best can do and how good he is...

profitius

Ireland should win by at least 10. If the scrums get badly eaten again we could be in for a longer afternoon then expected but Italy still won't win.


Sean Cronin must feel sick gtting injured at this time.

eyeball kid

profitius wrote: »

Sean Cronin must feel sick gtting injured at this time.

Was Cronin injured? Didn't hear anything about that.

profitius

eyeball kid wrote: »

Was Cronin injured? Didn't hear anything about that.

He's not in the A squad so h must be. He got injured playing for Connacht a few weeks ago and it must not have healed.

Judgement Day

Still can't understand why TOL got the start ahead of Reddan. Is it just me or does anyone else think TOL has been terrible since his injury, whereas Reddan has shown flashes of brilliance for Leinster and in general has been playing the better rugby? Anyway, roll on Saturday!!

C'MON IRELAND!

phog

Judgement Day wrote: »

Still can't understand why TOL got the start ahead of Reddan. Is it just me or does anyone else think TOL has been terrible since his injury, whereas Reddan has shown flashes of brilliance for Leinster and in general has been playing the better rugby? Anyway, roll on Saturday!!

C'MON IRELAND!

He's had a few brain farts too iirc. I though Boss would have either made the team or the bench, I was surprised to see both Reddan and O'Leary make it.

thomond2006

Apart from Boss, the team selection is correct imo.

anonymous_joe

thomond2006 wrote: »

Apart from Boss, the team selection is correct imo.

In fairness, while I agree it's harsh on the New Zealander, the O'Leary/O'Gara axis has been fairly successful for Ireland and Munster. So there's no doubt in my mind that it's the best half-back pairing we could have at the moment.

Podge_irl

Judgement Day wrote: »

Still can't understand why TOL got the start ahead of Reddan. Is it just me or does anyone else think TOL has been terrible since his injury, whereas Reddan has shown flashes of brilliance for Leinster and in general has been playing the better rugby? Anyway, roll on Saturday!!

C'MON IRELAND!

If anyone should be ahead off TOL it should be Boss. I don't trust Reddan at all.

Robbo

profitius wrote: »

He's not in the A squad so h must be. He got injured playing for Connacht a few weeks ago and it must not have healed.

He went over his ankle in Madrid on the 23rd but was in the squad and sat out the first day. Not too sure what was the case from there on.

ForeverYoung90

Hopefully O'Gara will put in another stellar performance to nail down his no.10 spot for the forseeable future.

France for the Championship! 6/4

Colm_OReilly

Yeah saw those odds yesterday, Ireland at 9/4 iirc.

As for Rog/Sexton, I'd think that Sexton should/will get some game time against the French.

twinytwo

ForeverYoung90 wrote: »

Hopefully O'Gara will put in another stellar performance to nail down his no.10 spot for the forseeable future.

France for the Championship! 6/4

Im sure Drico will have something to say about that

GisforGrenade

Honestly I would have Boss over Reddan any day but its a moot point when you have Tomas O'Leary about, Boss at the moment takes far too long to get the ball out and the opposition know exactly where the attack will come from. Reddan to be honest has never impressed.

Magic Eight Ball

Jesus, how long has it been since Trimble last started a game?
Hopefully he impresses.

DonkeyPokerTour

twinytwo wrote: »

Im sure Drico will have something to say about that

Hopefully something along the lines of knowing not to put tomatoes in a fruit salad . I wounder who'll give quote of the championship this year. Didn't Heaslip say something about Being on top of someone or something last year?

The really interesting decision was made for Kidney this time around, but the other question is, if sexton had started, would he have started reddan with him? He started the two together vs Fiji but then it was TOL and Sexton for SA.

Could be a long day for Best if Flannery gets injured early.

stephen_n

Judgement Day wrote: »

Still can't understand why TOL got the start ahead of Reddan. Is it just me or does anyone else think TOL has been terrible since his injury, whereas Reddan has shown flashes of brilliance for Leinster and in general has been playing the better rugby? Anyway, roll on Saturday!!

C'MON IRELAND!

and flashes of extreme stupidity, he hasn't really got consistency yet with Leinster and is capeable of making stupid choices when his pack is going backwards. Mind you TOL's box kicking is atrocious and he hasn't looked confident when the Munster pack weren't going forward. As there is a good chance that our pack isn't going to be on top on Saturday neither would be in ideal form!

Crash

DonkeyPokerTour wrote: »

Hopefully something along the lines of knowing not to put tomatoes in a fruit salad . I wounder who'll give quote of the championship this year. Didn't Heaslip say something about Being on top of someone or something last year?

I believe it was something about Rob Kearney showing him some of his moves in the bedroom (they were sharing) when someone asked where Heaslip learned the wonderful sidestep for the try against France

andrewdcs

re: cover on the bench, for this game I think we're light at 10 and 2.
Wallace I like as a skillful link man / very canny but given an injury to ROG shuffle to 10 and he's had how long at top level recently?
Similarly Best, superb hooker but again, in the past few weeks since return how much time has he had under live fire? Flannery and ROG have to do the 80.

I think we should win comfortably on the score board, given Italy have problems of their own and confidence appears to be at a low ebb, but I can't help feeling a more audacious selection might have been tried. Who are the 'A's taking?

I'm a Leinster man, and really admired Reddan at Wasps, (some wonderful stringer like breaks, all too few and far between) but have to say he's a "2 step" pass man at times, whether its as directed (to draw a line up to make space) or he's a second or two of the pace, I'm not sure about him at all. Boss to Leinster!

thomond2006

Italy:
(15 - 9) Luke McLean; Kaine Robertson, Gonzalo Canale, Gonzalo Garcia, Mirco Bergamasco; Craig Gower, Tito Tebaldi;

(8 -1) Alessandro Zanni, Mauro Bergamasco, Josh Sole; Quintin Geldenhuys, Carlo Antonio Del Fava; Martin Castrogiovanni, Leonardo Ghiraldini (capt), Salvatore Perugini

Replacements: Fabio Ongaro, Matias Aguero, Marco Bortolami, Paul Derbyshire, Simon Piccone, Riccardo Bocchino, Andrea Masi

Gower is fit.

Very good front row.

danthefan

Trevor Coulahan wrote: »

Jesus, how long has it been since Trimble last started a game?
Hopefully he impresses.

2008 6N, where he started every game I think.

patmac

This is on BBCHD.

Riskymove

DOC is out due to injury, leo to come in and ryan in on the bench

I dont think it will make too much difference for this game

toomevara

Nearly that time...Interesting to see Justin Marshall on the BBC commentary team.

laugh

Haha, McGuirk doesn't think much of Stephen Jones either.

thomond2006

lol, we've started an RTÉ vendetta against Stephen Jones.

DonkeyPokerTour

Tom McGuirk with a contender for quote of the year

Hook quotes Stephen Jones as saying "The Team with the worst scrum in the world cannot win the Grand Slam"

McGuirk replys with something along the lines of:
"That comes from the paper with the worst Rugby Journalist in the world"

Quality

Sherifu

LOL He probably deserves it.

That_Guy

Any idea when Sexton is due to return? Love watching him play.

toomevara

DonkeyPokerTour wrote: »

Hook quotes Stephen Jones as saying "The Team with the worst scrum in the world cannot win the Grand Slam"

Jaysis, pardon my French folks but what a colossal twollix...how can anyone call themselves a rugby pundit and come out with that? One word Stephen, me old mate...Australia....no scrum to speak off for a decade (although changing now) and up there with the best in spite of it. Dominance in the scrum does not mean what it once did...

jayteecorktemp

lol@ "Mullet Man" Shane Byrne's stats coming up while Conor O'Shea was talking.

jayteecorktemp

Did Rory Best just slap that old guy on the ass and give him a wry smile or was that my imagination?

That_Guy

I've never seen those flames before. The IRFU really splashed out.

That_Guy

Has that announcer's voice over the PA not broken yet?

bleg

Pointless procession.

That_Guy

I love Mary's pep talk to the Italian's.

"Welcome to Ireland"

"Have a good game"

"Good luck"

jayteecorktemp

That_Guy wrote: »

I love Mary's pep talk to the Italian's.

"Welcome to Ireland"

"Have a good game"

"Good luck"

lol, what would you expect her to say?

That_Guy

jayteecorktemp wrote: »

lol, what would you expect her to say?

"You'll never win the 6 nations. Mwahhahahahaha"

CHD

G'wan Ireland

That_Guy

I've heard Ireland's Call so many times and it never fails to make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

COME ON IRELAND

That_Guy

Ah Bowe. Could've done better I think.

CHD

That_Guy wrote: »

I've heard Ireland's Call so many times and it never fails to make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

COME ON IRELAND

Ive heard it too much. Stick to the Anthem!