Ireland Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread

phone2000

irishbucsfan wrote: »

You don't know that they haven't entered his consciousness. Of course they did. He has made the decision to start Zebo.

Madigan and Keatley would be very poor selections at 15 (they can't get up the field vertically, I don't think they'd suit what I think we're going to try to do).

Craig Gilroy hasn't started at 15 for Ulster. He's in the exact same camp as Zebo there. His kicking game is one of his flaws IMO, last year some of his kicking was very dodgy.

I have no idea about Henshaw. It's very hard to say how he'd compare. Maybe he'd be able for it, maybe not. He's extremely inexperienced and I haven't seen much of him.

I'd like to see Niall Morris involved. Definitely. Unfortunately he's overseas. I think if he was still with Leinster he'd be starting for Ireland this weekend.


Where is your source saying that no one else entered Kidneys consciousness? Seems a bit unrealistic to me.

Agreed, regular starter for a decent Leicester Team, the only issue might be that he's playing left/right wing at the moment. Natural full back though, surely worth a call up for the Fiji game?

Fireball07

irishbucsfan wrote: »

But which Saffer is going to be able to exploit him? If Steyn was starting I'd be worried about that, but he's not.

If either Pienaar or Lambie see big spaces in behind, I'm sure they are well capable of putting the ball in the right place and their back 3 all have enough pace to cause damage.

.ak

It'll do no harm, learning his graft from Murphy, but I hope at some point Morris moves to a team more orientated with running rugby soon. He gets a little lost at Leicester imo.

meh, very happy to give Zebo a lot of leeway for positional issues defensively.

Going to hope to see him taking some nice lines going forward tbh.

He's not a FB now, but it might work out eventually. There's a lot to his game that can be really impressive at FB (broken game reading, pace, lines from deep etc). If he scores a few more than he concedes that's grand in my book. He'll tighten the defensive side of stuff with time.

geekington

Good point, never played full back so not good the best idea of what if required positionally!

Thank God it looks like it will be dry, I just feel that it will really benefit the game and at least allow us to utilise some of our skill sets rather than just playnig the conditions!

irishbucsfan

irishbucsfan wrote: »

But which Saffer is going to be able to exploit him? If Steyn was starting I'd be worried about that, but he's not.

listen to the interview with SA coach on Off the Ball last night.

He said "kick" about 14 times in 40 seconds. Lambie is being picked to kick.

bilston

Zebo could be an inspired selection at 15. He has all the attributes for it anyway. What we don't know is his positional sense. Hopefully Bowe and Trimble keep him right. Bowe in particular needs to take on a leadership role in the backline now with BOD and Kearney missing.

Thornley on OfftheBall is poison.

What has happened to him!?

goreyguy

Thornley has lost the plot, he will defend Kidney to the end.

justsomebloke

Not sure if it's been said but the Team announcement should be stramed live here from 12.45. i.e. just in time to spoil your lunch appetite

Heroditas

I'm really looking forward to this game now - a real glimpse into what the Ireland team could look like in a couple of years (apart from SOB, Ferris, Kearney, Best etc missing).
It'll be good to see how the new lads perform against one of the traditional powerhouses of world rugby.
Decent crowd, 5.30pm kick off, November in Palindrome, new international season .... once the anthems play I hope everyone in the stadium gets behind the team and roars their collective head off for them.

What's not to like?

irishbucsfan

Deleted User wrote: »

listen to the interview with SA coach on Off the Ball last night.

He said "kick" about 14 times in 40 seconds. Lambie is being picked to kick.

What do you think of Lambie's kicking game?

Fireball07

Heroditas wrote: »

I'm really looking forward to this game now - a real glimpse into what the Ireland team could look like in a couple of years (apart from SOB, Ferris, Kearney, Best etc missing).
It'll be good to see how the new lads perform against one of the traditional powerhouses of world rugby.
Decent crowd, 5.30pm kick off, November in Palindrome, new international season .... once the anthems play I hope everyone in the stadium gets behind the team and roars their collective head off for them.

What's not to like?

Agreed, the nervous excitement is starting to kick in... can't wait now!

Teferi

Just saw this on Twitter.

@BEARdublin wrote:

Great news JimBob @jamieheaslip

‏

I assume that means Heaslip is captain.

irishbucsfan

irishbucsfan wrote: »

What do you think of Lambie's kicking game?

solid. Think we'll see an element of the "Sexton under Kidney" about it. Where someone's playing a game that they're not fully confident in or happy to play to.

He's not a ROG/Parks/Steyn kind of guy, but he can find a gap if needs be.

irishbucsfan

Deleted User wrote: »

solid. Think we'll see an element of the "Sexton under Kidney" about it. Where someone's playing a game that they're not fully confident in or happy to play to.

He's not a ROG/Parks/Steyn kind of guy, but he can find a gap if needs be.

Except his kicking game isn't as good as Sextons even before you apply that model to it. It's a genuine concern for Saffer fans. I have seen nothing from his kicking game that makes me worried. Then you add international pressure, you consider there's no Habana to chase... Sexton is far better at it IMO. And then you look at Kirchener... It's a real weakness of theirs. If Meyer goes down that route we'll win it.

I'm not even slightly worried about Lambie or Kirchener's kicking games. Pienaar has me pretty worried though to be honest. And he'll know all about Zebo too. Still I think it's our best use of the resources available to us. A vast improvement on the 6N selections.

totallegend

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Where is your source saying that no one else entered Kidneys consciousness? Seems a bit unrealistic to me.

My source is a Star Trek-style mind-meld that I had with Kidney there this morning. Is that good enough?

Like, are we not allowed any bit of poetic licence or mild exaggeration any more without pedantic nit picking through every sentence?

irishbucsfan

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Except his kicking game isn't as good as Sextons even before you apply that model to it. It's a genuine concern for Saffer fans. I have seen nothing from his kicking game that makes me worried. Then you add international pressure, you consider there's no Habana to chase... Sexton is far better at it IMO. And then you look at Kirchener... It's a real weakness of theirs. If Meyer goes down that route we'll win it.

I'm not even slightly worried about Lambie or Kirchener's kicking games. Pienaar has me pretty worried though to be honest. And he'll know all about Zebo too. Still I think it's our best use of the resources available to us. A vast improvement on the 6N selections.

I'm not worried about it either. Nor did I say so.

I'm just aware that they're going to kick an awful lot. And that's going to put a pretty green full back in the centre of the camera a lot. Regardless of whether they have a 'regular-corner flag finder ' or not, you cannot say that our FB isn't going to be receiving a lot of ball directly from their opposition.

I've also said that I'm perfectly happy to give Zebo a lot of leeway on his positioning. Defensively, if he's 60% I'll be happy. Hopefully he can bring the A game going forward too.

irishbucsfan

totallegend wrote: »

My source is a Star Trek-style mind-meld that I had with Kidney there this morning. Is that good enough?

Like, are we not allowed any bit of poetic licence or mild exaggeration any more without pedantic nit picking through every sentence?

Youre right, its not hurting anyone. Its contributing to an annoying trend on here though. Kidney makes enough errors to not have to invent new ones all by yourself! This place is already unbearably negative during the international windows.

Fair enough, I was only asking because I thought you were referring to something he said.

Fishooks12

irishbucsfan wrote: »

This place is already unbearably negative during the international windows.

+1 On this

I'm genuinely steering clear of the match thread because I know well that any player playing an a contentious position is going be scrutinized to a ridiculous levels

There will genuinely be people waiting with glee for a Murray/Zebo/Darcy error

goreyguy

wont be waiting long for an error from murray

Fishooks12

goreyguy wrote: »

wont be waiting long for an error from murray

Thanks for proving my point :rolleyes:

totallegend

Fishooks12 wrote: »

There will genuinely be people waiting with glee for a Murray/Zebo/Darcy error

Equally there will be people waiting for Murray/Zebo/Darcy to play well not for the benefit of the team but so they can rub it in the faces of those people who questioned the selections.

Erm, was the announcement not supposed to have happened at 12.30?

Edit: nope, 12.45 http://www.irishrugby.ie/ireland/27665.php

JustinDee

totallegend wrote: »

Erm, was the announcement not supposed to have happened at 12.30?

Was moved and notified yesterday to 12.45.

Fireball07

totallegend wrote: »

Equally there will be people waiting for Murray/Zebo/Darcy to play well not for the benefit of the team but so they can rub it in the faces of those people who questioned the selections.

Erm, was the announcement not supposed to have happened at 12.30?

12.45


I hope they all play well, so we can all rub it in each other's faces

Fishooks12

totallegend wrote: »

Equally there will be people waiting for Murray/Zebo/Darcy to play well not for the benefit of the team but so they can rub it in the faces of those people who questioned the selections.

Erm, was the announcement not supposed to have happened at 12.30?

nothing wrong with questioning selections, but coming out with crap like "Won't be waiting long for an error from Murray" more or less proves my point that there is a few posters who get some sort of sad satisfaction out of seeing Irish players mess up

Thanos

Jamie captain anyway

Fireball07

Thanos wrote: »

Jamie captain anyway

Good choice.

Tox56

ROG on the bench

Fishooks12

bar ROG on the bench I'm really happy with that selection! Roll on Saturday!