Ireland Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread

Higher

You have to remember muscle weights twice as much as fat. Nonu is more bulky but SBW has lean muscle.

1.Healy
2.Best
3.Ross
4.Ryan
5.O'Connell
6.Ferris
7.O'Brien
8.Heaslip
9.Marshall
10.Sexton
11.Fitzgerald
12.D'arcy
13.Cave
14.Bowe
15.Kearney

16.Cronin
17.McGrath (Outrageous call but he covers both sides and Court isn't ever going to be more than decent, this kid could be)
18.Touhy
19.Henry
20.Reddan
21.Madigan
22.Earls

ray jay

Higher wrote: »

You have to remember muscle weights twice as much as fat. Nonu is more bulky but SBW has lean muscle.

Muscle is 15% more dense than fat. Nonu is 3 inches shorter and slightly heavier, it's no surprise he looks bulkier.

Brendan97

Higher wrote: »

You have to remember muscle weights twice as much as fat. Nonu is more bulky but SBW has lean muscle.

1.Healy
2.Best
3.Ross
4.Ryan Should be Tuohy
5.O'Connell
6.Ferris
7.O'Brien
8.Heaslip
9.Marshall Should be on the bench
10.Sexton
11.Fitzgerald
12.D'arcy
13.Cave
14.Bowe
15.Kearney

16.Cronin
17.McGrath (Outrageous call but he covers both sides and Court isn't ever going to be more than decent, this kid could be) No, Just No!
18.Touhy should be playing
19.Henry
20.Reddan should be playing
21.Madigan should be o'gara
22.Earls

There you go

dtpc191991

I hear Fitz has been ruled out of the six nations. =(

thomond2006

dtpc191991 wrote: »

I hear Fitz has been ruled out of the six nations. =(

Disaster for him if true, he would have definitely seen some action in a green jersey.

totallegend

dtpc191991 wrote: »

I hear Fitz has been ruled out of the six nations. =(

Balls.

Source?

Clegg

Nothing has been confirmed about a long term injury for Fitz. It was in the papers yesterday that he tweaked a muscle so was out for the Glasgow match. If its confirmed that Fitz has a bad injury then we can worry. To worry right now when we know nothing is pointless.

If Fitz is out for the 6 Nations then that will be a blow. However,Trimbles form has been every bit as good as Lukes this season. If we were picking the starting XV for the 6 Nations right now then it I'd have absolutely no worries about Trimble starting.

I wouldn't have Earls anywhere near the 22. He's shown that he's not a quality 13 and thats where all his games have been since he returned from injury. He's low in confidence and we've seen that it takes 3/4 matches to play himself beck into form on the wing. Earls is a liability right now.

Brendan97

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNzpBJzCOGI

dtpc191991

totallegend wrote: »

Balls.

Source?

There is talk over on the Leinster forum on this site that Fitzgerald has an injury to his neck that will put him out of the Heiniken Cup until April. =S

GerM

At this point in time, my 22 would be as follows:

1. Healy
2. Best
3. Ross
4. Ryan
5. POC
6. Ferris
7. SOB
8. Heaslip
9. Murray
10. Sexton
11. Trimble
12. D'Arcy
13. Cave
14. Bowe
15. Kearney

16. Cronin 17. Court 18. Tuohy 19. Henry 20. Reddan 21. ROG 22. McFadden

I think the pack picks itself generally. The only contentious spot is who partners POC. Ryan showed the intensity, mobility and control yesterday that is required and deserves a chance. Tuohy is in the mix and provides a good injection of pace and aggression from the bench. Toner is very close to that bench spot too for me as he provides something different. He guarantees line out ball and has fantastic hands. DOC should be nowhere near the 22.

The back line is tough. Murray is in there on default. Reddan has probably been better overall this season but today's performance was very poor and form is paramount. Sexton is a no brainer assuming he's fit. Darce is in by default and he is probably still the best 12 we have simply due to lack of options. McFadden is a possibility there but today showed that, defensively, he can still be attacked. Cave at 13 is a no brainer for me. Trimble and Bowe for the wings as they're both in form and can pop up and involve themselves all over the back line. Kearney is a no brainer.

McFadden on the bench as he can cover several positions and gives a good kicking option if needed. Fitzgerald hasn't played in the guts of a month so I think he's not going to get the nod unless he gets 80 minutes next week and plays very well. Earls is way off the boil at the moment. Let him get his confidence back with Munster (ON THE WING!!) and we could see him back and doing what we know he can do by the end of the 6N in green.

gally74

Is Cronin closer after today, Trimble has to get a wing,

irishbucsfan

Form is paramount, so you pick Murray!? Baffling!

Brendan97

GerM wrote: »

At this point in time, my 22 would be as follows:

1. Healy
2. Best
3. Ross
4. Ryan
5. POC
6. Ferris
7. SOB
8. Heaslip
9. Murray
10. Sexton
11. Trimble
12. D'Arcy
13. Cave
14. Bowe
15. Kearney

16. Cronin 17. Court 18. Tuohy 19. Henry 20. Reddan 21. ROG 22. McFadden

I think the pack picks itself generally. The only contentious spot is who partners POC. Ryan showed the intensity, mobility and control yesterday that is required and deserves a chance. Tuohy is in the mix and provides a good injection of pace and aggression from the bench. Toner is very close to that bench spot too for me as he provides something different. He guarantees line out ball and has fantastic hands. DOC should be nowhere near the 22.

What I can't get over is that just because ryan plays with poc with munster people automatically assume that he would be a better option even though other locks have played better, tuohy has played way better imo

Benny Cake

There is very little between Murray & Reddan regarding the Irish 9 position. This weekends rugby has done little to separate them. Both were poor and were outshone by their respective replacements. If I was picking a team in the morning I would start Murray. My reasoning is that he is playing behind a mediocre back row and is servicing a struggling back line. Put him in the Leinster side (which, lets face it, is basically the same as the Irish side) and he will have far cleaner ball and more options either side of him.

Benny Cake

Brendan97 wrote: »

What I can't get over is that just because ryan plays with poc with munster people automatically assume that he would be a better option even though other locks have played better, tuohy has played way better imo

Who made that assumption? Ryan was unreal yesterday & will make the Irish side on merit...

GerM

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Form is paramount, so you pick Murray!? Baffling!

Reddan was awful today. Lacked control and kicked terribly. Murray has been mediocre overall with some decent games. Reddan has had some great games and one or two stinkers. It's a tight call, neither have stamped their authority on the jersey.

GerM

Brendan97 wrote: »

What I can't get over is that just because ryan plays with poc with munster people automatically assume that he would be a better option even though other locks have played better, tuohy has played way better imo

We're not all Munster people, just call it as we see it and Ryan was superb yesterday. It's an extremely tight call but he has experience playing alongside POC and within the Irish set up so gets the nod. Tuohy deserves recognition and should get caps in the 6N.

Brendan97

Benny Cake wrote: »

Who made that assumption? Ryan was unreal yesterday & will make the Irish side on merit...

But if you watch Munster & Ulster play it isn't hard to see who has been more consistent and played better (providing you're unbiased)

Tox56

Brendan97 wrote: »

But if you watch Munster & Ulster play it isn't hard to see who has been more consistent and played better (providing you're unbiased)

How their teams are playing is irrelivant to how they are playing.

shuffol

Just looking at the stats from the game today and Mcfadden is down for making 5 tackles and missing 3 which sounds about right from what I saw, D'arcy on the other hand made 13 and missed none.

Cant see how Mcfadden can be considered for the 12 jersey, D'arcy is certainly beyond the peak of his powers and ought to have been under more pressure to keep his jersey at this stage, it'd be great if some young gun was playing out of his skin and taking the HC by storm but no such player exists at the moment, therefore as far as Irelands concerned D'arcys still the man for the job. I wouldnt rule out Paddy Wallace making an appearance by the end of the 6N if Cave manages to break into the side, Going by Fridays game he's still playing very well. Big test for him next week though.

Benny Cake

Tox56 wrote: »

How their teams are playing is irrelivant to how they are playing.

Well said....

Cpt_Blackbeard

Clegg wrote: »

Nothing has been confirmed about a long term injury for Fitz. It was in the papers yesterday that he tweaked a muscle so was out for the Glasgow match. If its confirmed that Fitz has a bad injury then we can worry. To worry right now when we know nothing is pointless.

If Fitz is out for the 6 Nations then that will be a blow. However,Trimbles form has been every bit as good as Lukes this season. If we were picking the starting XV for the 6 Nations right now then it I'd have absolutely no worries about Trimble starting.

I wouldn't have Earls anywhere near the 22. He's shown that he's not a quality 13 and thats where all his games have been since he returned from injury. He's low in confidence and we've seen that it takes 3/4 matches to play himself beck into form on the wing. Earls is a liability right now.

Earls has played 2 full games in the last ~3months if memory serves. He was very good last week and apparently very poor this week. Its waaay too early to be discounting him.

People conveniently forget that he went into last years 6N playing 13. He was moved to the wing in the 6N and ended up as our best back in the tournament. He was then left out on the wing for the rest of the season.

irishbucsfan

GerM wrote: »

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Form is paramount, so you pick Murray!? Baffling!

Reddan was awful today. Lacked control and kicked terribly. Murray has been mediocre overall with some decent games. Reddan has had some great games and one or two stinkers. It's a tight call, neither have stamped their authority on the jersey.

He wasn't good at the base today. He was kicking in situations where he wouldn't normally because of Sextons knock, so I wouldkt worry about that.

I can't think of another bad game from him though, and if one bad game costs you your place then ROG should be starting as well.

Murray has been consistently mediocre. If TOL makes you look slow you're doing something wrong. He should not be playing for Ireland yet.

Brendan97

Tox56 wrote: »

How their teams are playing is irrelivant to how they are playing.

Benny Cake wrote: »

Well said....

Brendan97 wrote: »

But if you watch Munster & Ulster play it isn't hard to see who has been more consistent and played better (providing you're unbiased)

Who, in reference to tuohy and ryan not ulster and munster

GerM

irishbucsfan wrote: »

He wasn't good at the base today. He was kicking in situations where he wouldn't normally because of Sextons knock, so I wouldkt worry about that.

I can't think of another bad game from him though, and if one bad game costs you your place then ROG should be starting as well.

Murray has been consistently mediocre. If TOL makes you look slow you're doing something wrong. He should not be playing for Ireland yet.

As I said, it's a tight call. I'd have no issue with Reddan starting and, on the basis of their provincial partnership, it probably makes sense. But today's performance, the week of the squad announcement, was the worst of any performance from either Murray or Reddan. Murray has generally been mediocre but has had a couple of good games. At home to Llanelli for example where he was MOTM. Going on this weekend's form, Reddan was the worse player.

.ak

GerM wrote: »

At this point in time, my 22 would be as follows:

1. Healy
2. Best
3. Ross
4. Ryan
5. POC
6. Ferris
7. SOB
8. Heaslip
9. Murray
10. Sexton
11. Trimble
12. D'Arcy
13. Cave
14. Bowe
15. Kearney

16. Cronin 17. Court 18. Tuohy 19. Henry 20. Reddan 21. ROG 22. McFadden

I like that team, except I'd defo have Reddan on instead of Murray. Reddan wasn't great today, far from it, but I wouldn't start a team with Murray at the moment. I'd also put Fitz in ahead of Trimble just for his recent strike rate - but it would depend on who we're playing. They both pretty good defensive units but Trimble has the edge in getting the ball forward in tight situations. So, for Wales I'd play Fitz, and for France I'd play Trimble etc.

.ak

GerM wrote: »

As I said, it's a tight call. I'd have no issue with Reddan starting and, on the basis of their provincial partnership, it probably makes sense. But today's performance, the week of the squad announcement, was the worst of any performance from either Murray or Reddan. Murray has generally been mediocre but has had a couple of good games. At home to Llanelli for example where he was MOTM. Going on this weekend's form, Reddan was the worse player.

Yeah but he really didn't deserve that MoTM tbh. There were far better Munster players that day, and it seemed to be one of those Sky sports MoTM when they give it to the person who throws himself into the most rucks. Not very clever from a SH, he went off battered and because of it killed a lot of ball.

Brendan97

1.Healy
2.Best
3.Ross
4.Tuohy
5.POC
6.Ferris
7.SOB
8.Heaslip
9.Reddan
10.Sexton
11.Trimble
12.McFadden
13.Cave
14.Bowe
15.Kearney

Clegg

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Earls has played 2 full games in the last ~3months if memory serves. He was very good last week and apparently very poor this week. Its waaay too early to be discounting him.

People conveniently forget that he went into last years 6N playing 13. He was moved to the wing in the 6N and ended up as our best back in the tournament. He was then left out on the wing for the rest of the season.

Earls went ok against Treviso last week but he was nothing special. Right now he's the 4th best Irish wing and the 3rd best centre. The Castres match showed the problems that he has in his game right now.

Why should Earls form from last season matter? Right now he's not in form and there is only 1 more competitive fixture before the 6 Nations. If he does well against Northampton then he should be considered but theres players in the Irish squad that have been in good form all season that deserve their place in front of him.

irishbucsfan

If Kidney is dumb enough to dismiss Reddan because of today (and he could be) and he picks Murray in the very poor form that he's in, I'll be very disappointed.