My Ireland team to face the All Blacks

Conero

To be honest even I was surprised by some of the selections I made, but I generally think it's a solid team given the players we presently have available. Those excluded is largely becasue they are unavailable through injury or were not included in the 34 man squad for the series. So here it is:

15 Rob Kearney
14 Luke Fitzgerald
13 Brian O'Driscoll
12 Gordon D'Arcy
11 Tommy Bowe
10 Jonny Sexton
9 Peter Stringer
1 Cian Healy
2 Rory Best
3 Tom Court
4 Donnacha Ryan
5 Devin Toner
6 Sean O'Brien
7 Stephen Ferris
8 Jamie Heaslip

Subs:
John Hayes
Sean Cronin
Donnacha O'Callaghan
David Wallace
Eoin Reddan
Ronan O'Gara
Keith Earls


If available, I probably would have included O'Connell, Casey, Leo Cullen and Geordan Murphy in the 22. I believe this line up leaves us with a strong and experienced bench to fall back on which is something we missed in the previous games. Any comments much welcomed

Judgement Day

Deckchairs and Titanic comes to mind.

PS Welcome to the Boards.

brianthebard

Boss doesn't even make the subs, is he injured?

lologram

No Mike Ross, but plenty of room for John Hayes?


Is that you Declan?

danthefan

Conero wrote: »

Subs:
John Hayes

Fail.

Conero

lologram wrote: »

No Mike Ross, but plenty of room for John Hayes?


Is that you Declan?

Yeah, I get your point, and believe me I was considering it to. It's just to me, while undoubtedly Mike Ross should be a replacement for Hayes in the long run (and should definitely DEFINITELY start against Los Pumas) the Bull just has that international pedigree we might need against the all blacks. Correct me if I'm wrong, but has Mike Ross ever started a test for Ireland?

Don't be so harsh on the bull; he's been a magnificent servent of Irish rugby, as cliched as that is to say.

chupacabra

I would go with the following.

15. Luke Fitz
14. Tommy Bowe
13. BOD
12. D'Arcy
11. Earls
10. Sexton
9. Boss (Stringer will be mutilated if picked)

1. Healy
2. Best
3. Ross :rolleyes:
4. DOC
5. Toner
6. Ferris
7. SOB
8. Heaslip

16. Cronin
17. Court
18. Ryan
19. Wallace
20. Stringer
21. ROG
22. Kearney/Trimble

Podge_irl

Conero wrote: »

the Bull just has that international pedigree we might need against the all blacks.

Em.....no.

P_1

Would probably go with

15. Murphy
14. Bowe
13. O'Driscoll
12. D'Arcy
11. Fitzgerald
10. Sexton
9. Stringer
8. Heaslip
7. O'Brien
6. Ferris
5. Toner
4. O'Callaghan
3. Ross
2. Cronin
1. Court

16. Best
17. Healy
18. Cullen
19. Leamy
20. Boss
21. O'Gara
22. Earls

Having said that I cannnot see anything other than New Zealand doing us prison style

stephen_n

1. Healy
2. Cronin
3. Ross
4. Toner (would prefer Cullen but assume he is not fit)
5. DOC
6. Ferris
7. Wallace (SOB is the future but Wally has more experience)
8. heaslip

9. Stringer
10. Sexton
11. Fitzgerald
12. BOD
13. Bowe
14. Earls
15. Dempsey

16. Best
17. Court
18. Ryan/toner
19. SOB
20. Boss
21. ROG
22. Kearney

lologram

Conero wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but has Mike Ross ever started a test for Ireland?

Don't be so harsh on the bull; he's been a magnificent servent of Irish rugby, as cliched as that is to say.

Ross has. He has 2 caps, one as a starter.

I wouldn't describe the posters here as 'harsh' on John Hayes. Pretty much everyone (definitely including myself) has thanked him for his service to the team, at one stage or another.

But at the same time, the massive consensus is that he's completely past it and shouldn't be playing. It's been discussed ad nauseam; he just isn't up to it. He'll get absolutely mullered by Tony Woodcock at the weekend, if Kidney selects him. Woodcock himself was given a hard time by Dan Cole in the England game last week, so that's how much Hayes is not up to it.

Ps welcome to boards

CouchSmart

pithater1 wrote: »

Would probably go with

15. Murphy
14. Bowe
13. O'Driscoll
12. D'Arcy
11. Fitzgerald
10. Sexton
9. Stringer
8. Heaslip
7. O'Brien
6. Ferris
5. Toner
4. O'Callaghan
3. Ross
2. Cronin
1. Court

16. Best
17. Healy
18. Cullen
19. Leamy
20. Boss
21. O'Gara
22. Earls

Having said that I cannnot see anything other than New Zealand doing us prison style

Not just picking on you but I don't really get this whole Court over Healy thing. Personally I don't think it's even a close call. I really don't see where it's coming from?

Username37

stephen_n wrote: »

1. Healy
2. Cronin
3. Ross
4. Toner (would prefer Cullen but assume he is not fit)
5. DOC
6. Ferris
7. Wallace (SOB is the future but Wally has more experience)
8. heaslip

9. Stringer
10. Sexton
11. Fitzgerald
12. BOD
13. Bowe
14. Earls
15. Dempsey

16. Best
17. Court
18. Ryan/toner
19. SOB
20. Boss
21. ROG
22. Kearney

You must really dislike the option of Murphy if you want to call Girven out of retirement!

P_1

CouchSmart wrote: »

Not just picking on you but I don't really get this whole Court over Healy thing. Personally I don't think it's even a close call. I really don't see where it's coming from?

Well I was thinking in terms of who will have the greater impact off the bench. Bringing Healy on after 60 mins to run at a tired defence might have something going for us.

Username37

pithater1 wrote: »

Well I was thinking in terms of who will have the greater impact off the bench. Bringing Healy on after 60 mins to run at a tired defence might have something going for us.

I think you should pick the best team to start no matter what. Considering Ross isn't considered then Healy and Court should be our two starting props because that is the best front row available to us, its nonsense to leave a better player out for impact reasons.

LowOdour

i havent seen enough of ross to say how good he is, but im suprised at the amount of people that looking for some so inexperinced to start such a big match. He must be better than i thought

Morf

LowOdour wrote: »

i havent seen enough of ross to say how good he is, but im suprised at the amount of people that looking for some so inexperinced to start such a big match. He must be better than i thought

No it's just Hayes is currently as poor as everyone thinks.

Podge_irl

LowOdour wrote: »

i havent seen enough of ross to say how good he is, but im suprised at the amount of people that looking for some so inexperinced to start such a big match. He must be better than i thought

He can actually scrum...

outwest

id go for

court
croinin
ross
cullen
toner
muldoon
wallace
heaslip

stringer
sexton

wallace
bowe

luke
earls
murphy. or even duffy.

bench. best healy( even tho i think he not international standard yet. would maybe like to see wilkonson) doc sob redden rog duffy( cover fullback and centre)

bod dropped because he either injured or playing poorly, he has been one of our worst players to in the 2 games.

muldoon because leamy and ferris have both been poor when they got there chances. muldoon was good in the summer and did well so far this season.

play this team or any team either way were going to get hammered by new zealand. kidney has ignored the new rules. give me eddie any day over kidney, were been could of lost of 7 game in a row to samoa. were gonig to get destroyed in the 6 nations. england and france in the aviva, on current form we will get destoryed.

CouchSmart

outwest wrote: »

healy( even tho i think he not international standard yet. would maybe like to see wilkonson)

Is this a joke? Fair enough you can argue Healy mightn't be international standard but he's so far ahead of Wilkinson it's not even funny.

Username37

outwest wrote: »

id go for

court
croinin
ross
cullen
toner
muldoon
wallace
heaslip

stringer
sexton

wallace
bowe

luke
earls
murphy. or even duffy.

bench. best healy( even tho i think he not international standard yet. would maybe like to see wilkonson) doc sob redden rog duffy( cover fullback and centre)

bod dropped because he either injured or playing poorly, he has been one of our worst players to in the 2 games.

muldoon because leamy and ferris have both been poor when they got there chances. muldoon was good in the summer and did well so far this season.

play this team or any team either way were going to get hammered by new zealand. kidney has ignored the new rules. give me eddie any day over kidney, were been could of lost of 7 game in a row to samoa. were gonig to get destroyed in the 6 nations. england and france in the aviva, on current form we will get destoryed.

Duffy isn't considered due to injury.

Ferris was actually one of the few players who played ok against South Africa.

You don't think Healy is international standard and then you say you want to put Wilkinson there :rolleyes:

How could you put Wallace ahead of D'arcy after his performance yesterday?

How on earth was O'Driscoll the worst player against South Africa? He never even got the ball Also against Samoa I think you can safely say that John Hayes and Ronan O'Gara were worse.

Bogsnorkler

Username37 wrote: »

Duffy isn't considered due to injury.

Ferris was actually one of the few players who played ok against South Africa.

You don't think Healy is international standard and then you say you want to put Wilkinson there :rolleyes:

How could you put Wallace ahead of D'arcy after his performance yesterday?

How on earth was O'Driscoll the worst player against South Africa? He never even got the ball Also against Samoa I think you can safely say that John Hayes and Ronan O'Gara were worse.

Thought ROG was better than BOD the last day. Made a few headwrecking errors but i was happy enough with him. He's made the call between himself and Sexton closer, although i cannot understand why String Sexton combo haven't been tried yet........

Username37

Bogsnorkler wrote: »

Thought ROG was better than BOD the last day. Made a few headwrecking errors but i was happy enough with him. He's made the call between himself and Sexton closer, although i cannot understand why String Sexton combo haven't been tried yet........

Made a lot of errors actually. Whatever about O'Driscoll being quiet at least he wasn't making mistakes and dropping balls on the Ireland try line! Personally I felt O'Gara's performances widened the gap in favour of Sexton after he'd narrowed it in his cameo against South Africa. He made so many mistakes against Samoa. Considering the abuse Sexton got for a restart error and a missed conversion you'd wonder why O'Gara didn't get the same amount of abuse considering he made so many errors yesterday. Off the top of my head he had two kicks blocked down, missed touch consistently (including from a penalty), couldn't execute a simple pass that would have been a try for Ireland, dropped a pass straight at his chest on the Irish try line and more. Those mistakes would have killed us against New Zealand. Also he couldn't get the backline going at all. His loop was very poorly executed. Sexton couldn't use the backs because of the conditions but O'Gara wouldn't use the backs because he plays an outdated game. We kick against New Zealand and we will be slaugtered.

amiable

Was this thread started cos people think Kidney is doing a bad job?

Judgement Day

amiable wrote: »

Was this thread started cos people think Kidney is doing a bad job?

Nah, it was started to provide a new thread to slag off ROG.

wixfjord

Username37 wrote: »

Made a lot of errors actually. Whatever about O'Driscoll being quiet at least he wasn't making mistakes and dropping balls on the Ireland try line! Personally I felt O'Gara's performances widened the gap in favour of Sexton after he'd narrowed it in his cameo against South Africa. He made so many mistakes against Samoa. Considering the abuse Sexton got for a restart error and a missed conversion you'd wonder why O'Gara didn't get the same amount of abuse considering he made so many errors yesterday. Off the top of my head he had two kicks blocked down, missed touch consistently (including from a penalty), couldn't execute a simple pass that would have been a try for Ireland, dropped a pass straight at his chest on the Irish try line and more. Those mistakes would have killed us against New Zealand. Also he couldn't get the backline going at all. His loop was very poorly executed. Sexton couldn't use the backs because of the conditions but O'Gara wouldn't use the backs because he plays an outdated game. We kick against New Zealand and we will be slaugtered.

**** me you havent half got an agenda have you?!

Username37

wixfjord wrote: »

**** me you havent half got an agenda have you?!

You've got me, I do.

I want the best players picked and I want to win. One poster said O'Gara played well and I stated that he didn't because he made lots of mistakes. I then pointed out the mistakes and stated that against New Zealand we can't play O'Gara's game.

Don't be so precious.

Username37

Judgement Day wrote: »

Nah, it was started to provide a new thread to slag off ROG.

Pointing out mistakes O'Gara made is now slagging off ROG?
Why is it that you can point out mistakes Hayes or Brian O'Driscoll made but the very mention that O'Gara made a couple of errors himself then suddenly you have an agenda and are slagging ROG. Quess what, O'Gara made more mistakes yesterday than any other player. He kicked well and took a nice try but he was poor and I don't think I should feel almost intimidated to point that out on this forum(people stating I have an agenda and am slagging ROG in the hope that a mod will ban me or tell me to refrain from posting on this thread)

For me personally the 10 issue is going to be THE biggest factor in how the game will go. It is the most important selection so why should it be ignored to appease people who can't rationally discuss rugby without trying to silence an opinion they disagree with?

amiable

Username37 wrote: »

Pointing out mistakes O'Gara made is now slagging off ROG?
Why is it that you can point out mistakes Hayes or Brian O'Driscoll made but the very mention that O'Gara made a couple of errors himself then suddenly you have an agenda and are slagging ROG. Quess what, O'Gara made more mistakes yesterday than any other player. He kicked well and took a nice try but he was poor and I don't think I should feel almost intimidated to point that out on this forum(people stating I have an agenda and am slagging ROG in the hope that a mod will ban me or tell me to refrain from posting on this thread)

For me personally the 10 issue is going to be THE biggest factor in how the game will go. It is the most important selection so why should it be ignored to appease people who can't rationally discuss rugby without trying to silence an opinion they disagree with?

So is Sexton the solution in your opinion?

Judgement Day

The use of the usually denotes a throwaway remark or a bit of fun. Some people here need to lighten up and be thankful that it won't be them facing down the Haka next Saturday.

PS - I think you would find it hard to find a post by me slagging off either BOD or John Hayes on Boards.

subfreq

court
cronin
ross
cullen (if he wasn't injured it would have been Buckley)
toner
Ferris
wallace
heaslip

stringer
sexton

BOD
bowe

Kearney
Earls
15 - Fitz

wixfjord

Username37 wrote: »

Pointing out mistakes O'Gara made is now slagging off ROG?
Why is it that you can point out mistakes Hayes or Brian O'Driscoll made but the very mention that O'Gara made a couple of errors himself then suddenly you have an agenda and are slagging ROG. Quess what, O'Gara made more mistakes yesterday than any other player. He kicked well and took a nice try but he was poor and I don't think I should feel almost intimidated to point that out on this forum(people stating I have an agenda and am slagging ROG in the hope that a mod will ban me or tell me to refrain from posting on this thread)

For me personally the 10 issue is going to be THE biggest factor in how the game will go. It is the most important selection so why should it be ignored to appease people who can't rationally discuss rugby without trying to silence an opinion they disagree with?

First of all, I dont appreciate being told Im trying to get someone banned, so take that out please.

I agree with your point, and ROG was poor yesterday. However, you seem to feel the need to mention it in every single thread, and it ruins the forum, so tone it down a bit there will ye? Ramming your views down peoples throats, no matter that they are correct to the unbiased eye does nothing for either the forum, or the argument.

Also, the agenda I was referring to was of the provincial variety, not the ROG Sexton debate.

Ian_K

1.Healy 2.Best 3.Court
4.DOC 5.Cullen
6.Leamy 8.Heaslip 7.Ferris
9.Stringer 10.Sexton
12.Darcy 13.BOD
11.Earls 15.Murphy 14.Bowe

16.Ross 17.Cronin 18.Toner 19.Wallace 20.Boss 21.ROG 22.Fitz

fullback4glin

Conero wrote: »

To be honest even I was surprised by some of the selections I made, but I generally think it's a solid team given the players we presently have available. Those excluded is largely becasue they are unavailable through injury or were not included in the 34 man squad for the series. So here it is:

15 Rob Kearney
14 Luke Fitzgerald
13 Brian O'Driscoll
12 Gordon D'Arcy
11 Tommy Bowe
10 Jonny Sexton
9 Peter Stringer
1 Cian Healy
2 Rory Best
3 Tom Court
4 Donnacha Ryan
5 Devin Toner
6 Sean O'Brien
7 Stephen Ferris
8 Jamie Heaslip

Subs:
John Hayes
Sean Cronin
Donnacha O'Callaghan
David Wallace
Eoin Reddan
Ronan O'Gara
Keith Earls


If available, I probably would have included O'Connell, Casey, Leo Cullen and Geordan Murphy in the 22. I believe this line up leaves us with a strong and experienced bench to fall back on which is something we missed in the previous games. Any comments much welcomed

On what grounds are you starting Ryan over DOC?

tolosenc

1. Healy; 2. Cronin; 3. Ross; 4. Cullen; 5. Toner; 6. Ferris; 7. O'Brien; 8. Heaslip; 9. Stringer; 10. Sexton; 11. Trimble; 12. O'Driscoll; 13. Bowe; 14. Kearney; 15. Fitzgerald - 16. Best; 17. Court; 18. O'Callaghan; 19. Leamy; 20. Boss; 21. Wallace; 22. Murphy.

fullback4glin

Ian_K wrote: »

1.Healy 2.Best 3.Court
4.DOC 5.Cullen
6.Leamy 8.Heaslip 7.Ferris
9.Stringer 10.Sexton
12.Darcy 13.BOD
11.Earls 15.Murphy 14.Bowe

16.Ross 17.Cronin 18.Toner 19.Wallace 20.Boss 21.ROG 22.Fitz

Luke Fitz has been one of the only decent players in the tests so far, has to start for me.

irishbucsfan

Ian_K wrote: »

1.Healy 2.Best 3.Court
4.DOC 5.Cullen
6.Leamy 8.Heaslip 7.Ferris
9.Stringer 10.Sexton
12.Darcy 13.BOD
11.Earls 15.Murphy 14.Bowe

16.Ross 17.Cronin 18.Toner 19.Wallace 20.Boss 21.ROG 22.Fitz

I agree with your team 100% apart from dropping Fitz...

He's been (along with arguably Ferris) our best player in this series!

I'd actually quite like to see Leamy and Ferris together, but also would have no problem with Wallace starting at 7, he's a class act and showed it against SA

outwest

Username37 wrote: »

Duffy isn't considered due to injury.

Ferris was actually one of the few players who played ok against South Africa.

You don't think Healy is international standard and then you say you want to put Wilkinson there :rolleyes: we might as well see if he is or isnt, might as well see if he up to this level or not.

How could you put Wallace ahead of D'arcy after his performance yesterday? because wallace and sexton might be the 10 12 at the rwc. need to give them game time.

How on earth was O'Driscoll the worst player against South Africa? He never even got the ball Also against Samoa I think you can safely say that John Hayes and Ronan O'Gara were worse.

o gara contributed to the game bod hasnt in either. so bod didnt have a bad game because he didnt get the ball , so if hayes never got the ball he would had a good game, the he never got the ball is a poor attempt to say bod didnt have a poor game did u see what he did when he did havethe ball yesterday. sweet **** all.

fullback4glin

outwest wrote: »

o gara contributed to the game bod hasnt in either. so bod didnt have a bad game because he didnt get the ball , so if hayes never got the ball he would had a good game, the he never got the ball is a poor attempt to say bod didnt have a poor game did u see what he did when he did havethe ball yesterday. sweet **** all.

Stop being so bold :pac:

fullback4glin

tolosenc wrote: »

1. Healy; 2. Cronin; 3. Ross; 4. Cullen; 5. Toner; 6. Ferris; 7. O'Brien; 8. Heaslip; 9. Stringer; 10. Sexton; 11. Trimble; 12. O'Driscoll; 13. Bowe; 14. Kearney; 15. Fitzgerald - 16. Best; 17. Court; 18. O'Callaghan; 19. Leamy; 20. Boss; 21. Wallace; 22. Murphy.

Does Cullen genuinely deserve to start ahead of DOC?

irishbucsfan

outwest wrote: »

id go for

court
croinin
ross
cullen
toner
muldoon
wallace
heaslip

stringer
sexton

wallace
bowe

luke
earls
murphy. or even duffy.

bench. best healy( even tho i think he not international standard yet. would maybe like to see wilkonson) doc sob redden rog duffy( cover fullback and centre)

bod dropped because he either injured or playing poorly, he has been one of our worst players to in the 2 games.

muldoon because leamy and ferris have both been poor when they got there chances. muldoon was good in the summer and did well so far this season.

play this team or any team either way were going to get hammered by new zealand. kidney has ignored the new rules. give me eddie any day over kidney, were been could of lost of 7 game in a row to samoa. were gonig to get destroyed in the 6 nations. england and france in the aviva, on current form we will get destoryed.

I know you're a Connacht fan and all, but Muldoon and Cronin should be absolutely nowhere near the starting 15.

In fairness to Muldoon he doesn't have a hope in hell with Ferris and Leamy there. He hasn't been given a shot. Cronin was shown up against Samoa.

Also, BOD is the best player we have by a mile, and he hasn't been that poor. His poor form have been down to Reddan's abysmal performance against SA and ROG's complete inability to move a backline in any direction against Samoa. Anyway, BOD hasn't been his attacking self for years now, that's not why he's in the team.

bamboozle

fullback4glin wrote: »

Does Cullen genuinely deserve to start ahead of DOC?

if we want parity in the lineout then we'd need a shrewd lineout operator like Cullen or a fit POC to try disect and attack the AB lineout.
but with Kidney in charge i could never see Cullen selected ahead of DOC.

outwest

fullback4glin wrote: »

Does Cullen genuinely deserve to start ahead of DOC?

ya, because cullen is a better player at present

outwest

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I know you're a Connacht fan and all, but Muldoon and Cronin should be absolutely nowhere near the starting 15.

In fairness to Muldoon he doesn't have a hope in hell with Ferris and Leamy there. He hasn't been given a shot. Cronin was shown up against Samoa.

Also, BOD is the best player we have by a mile, and he hasn't been that poor. His poor form have been down to Reddan's abysmal performance against SA and ROG's complete inability to move a backline in any direction against Samoa. Anyway, BOD hasn't been his attacking self for years now, that's not why he's in the team.

croinin did very well with the lineout, if flan is still out then croinin is the best choice.

muldoon did very well in the summer. he got injured. he should get another chance. leamy played very poorly yesterday.

bod was the best player we had. the are numerous players better then bod. heaslip and bowe are ireland best players.

bamboozle

i wont bother giving the team i'd pick as players such as Ross, Cullen, SOB, Casey have zero chance of being selected under Kidney for this game.

i hope Kidney appreciates that we have 2 players who, if selected, will be unmercifully targeted by the AB's, Murphy and ROG, we cant afford for either to start this game as they will be targetted physically and badly exposed.

my best hope for the game based on Kidneys favourites would be
healy best court
doc tonar
leamy heaslip ferris (anyone at 7 but wallace after his limp performance v SA)
stringer sexton
fitz darcy bod bowe
kearney

i just hope that Hayes, MOD and Donnacha Ryan are not involved but would be suprised if Kidney selects 2 in the starting lineup.

Username37

outwest wrote: »

o gara contributed to the game bod hasnt in either. so bod didnt have a bad game because he didnt get the ball , so if hayes never got the ball he would had a good game, the he never got the ball is a poor attempt to say bod didnt have a poor game did u see what he did when he did havethe ball yesterday. sweet **** all.

To be perfectly honest I can never really understand what you write.

I take issue with you saying O'Driscoll was the WORST player in the last two games. Against South Africa I think you can quite easily say that Mick O'Driscoll and Reddan were worse and Wallace did just as little as Brian O'Driscoll. Against Samoa, Hayes was poor because he was atrocious in the scrum nothing to do with whether he got the ball or not. I don't disagree that O'Driscoll was poor against Samoa but he was not the worst player. That most definitely went to Hayes and in my opinion, O'Gara. I would also say the entire backrow performed worse than O'Driscoll as well.

thehighground

bamboozle wrote: »

if we want parity in the lineout then we'd need a shrewd lineout operator like Cullen or a fit POC to try disect and attack the AB lineout.
but with Kidney in charge i could never see Cullen selected ahead of DOC.

I was listening to Emmet Byrne (former Leinster & Ireland prop) today on Newstalk. He thought Hayes should start because of his experience.

I think there must be an issue with Leo's fitness (& Earls) for them not to be really involved so far. Leo had a shoulder op I think - not the best way to be getting fit playing the Islanders/Kiwis. I hope Earls is rested if it means he will be fit for the rest of the season.

All of you who are worried about ROG's defense - I wouldn't worry. They usually go for the new kid on the block. I'd say Luke Fitzgerald is still recovering from the last going over he got.

Re ROG & kicking. Last time Ireland met New Zealand - ROG took 3 more kick than Dan Carter.

Here are the stats: http://www.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/match/103843.html

It should be noted that BOD made one tackle and missed 2. ROG made 6 and missed 2 also. Kearney made 6 & missed 3. Sean Cronin 14/2 & DOC 12/2 put in the most tackles.

Previous AB game in Croke Park stats: Luke at inside centre had a terrible day. David Wallace was top defender that day.

http://www.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/match/25747.html

one of our best outings against the ABs was in Wellington in '08. Leamy had a fantastic game at 6. Paddy Wallace scored a try. Of course we had Fla & Poc starting. The final score was 21-11 to the ABs.

CouchSmart

thehighground wrote: »

I was listening to Emmet Byrne (former Leinster & Ireland prop) today on Newstalk. He thought Hayes should start because of his experience.

I think there must be an issue with Leo's fitness (& Earls) for them not to be really involved so far. Leo had a shoulder op I think - not the best way to be getting fit playing the Islanders/Kiwis. I hope Earls is rested if it means he will be fit for the rest of the season.

All of you who are worried about ROG's defense - I wouldn't worry. They usually go for the new kid on the block. I'd say Luke Fitzgerald is still recovering from the last going over he got.

Re ROG & kicking. Last time Ireland met New Zealand - ROG took 3 more kick than Dan Carter.

Here are the stats: http://www.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/match/103843.html

It should be noted that BOD made one tackle and missed 2. ROG made 6 and missed 2 also. Kearney made 6 & missed 3. Sean Cronin 14/2 & DOC 12/2 put in the most tackles.

Previous AB game in Croke Park stats: Luke at inside centre had a terrible day. David Wallace was top defender that day.

http://www.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/match/25747.html

one of our best outings against the ABs was in Wellington in '08. Leamy had a fantastic game at 6. Paddy Wallace scored a try. Of course we had Fla & Poc starting. The final score was 21-11 to the ABs.

Thanks. Some vitally important stats from 2 years ago. We're lucky none of our players get better or worse, they just stay the same.

thehighground

CouchSmart wrote: »

Thanks. Some vitally important stats from 2 years ago. We're lucky none of our players get better or worse, they just stay the same.

Some posters seem very worried about O'Gara's defense so I just want to highlight it that it shouldn't be our biggest worry. Also, some people think ROG just kicks the ball and these stats show that ROG doesn't kick a lot more than Dan Carter, who I would guess everyone thinks is the best outhalf in the world.

Username37

thehighground wrote: »

I was listening to Emmet Byrne (former Leinster & Ireland prop) today on Newstalk. He thought Hayes should start because of his experience.

Evidently Emmet Byrne is wrong. All of Hayes' experience wasn't enough against the might of the Samoan front row now was it?

I think there must be an issue with Leo's fitness (& Earls) for them not to be really involved so far. Leo had a shoulder op I think - not the best way to be getting fit playing the Islanders/Kiwis. I hope Earls is rested if it means he will be fit for the rest of the season.

Cullen is fully fit. Leinster wouldn't play him if his shoulder was dodgy. Earls is still in the Irish 22s in case you didn't notice, Cullen is not even afforded that opportunity. This isn't a coincidence, remember when Cullen was completely dropped as soon as O'Callaghan came back in the 6 Nations? Ireland went from stealing lineouts to getting destroyed in the lineout against Scotland. Kidney for whatever reason, dislikes Cullen. Its a bad joke that O'Driscoll and Ryan are ahead of him just like its a joke that John Hayes is ahead of Mike Ross.

All of you who are worried about ROG's defense - I wouldn't worry. They usually go for the new kid on the block. I'd say Luke Fitzgerald is still recovering from the last going over he got.

More provincial sniping. No suprises there from you. You are like a record player. I've actually lost count how many times you seem to bring that up from 2 years ago when Fitzgerald was 21, inexperienced and playing against Nonu. Now all we need is for you to mention Heaslip's red card again....

Re ROG & kicking. Last time Ireland met New Zealand - ROG took 3 more kick than Dan Carter.

O'Gara has also been consistently run over for tries every time we play New Zealand.

It should be noted that BOD made one tackle and missed 2. ROG made 6 and missed 2 also. Kearney made 6 & missed 3. Sean Cronin 14/2 & DOC 12/2 put in the most tackles.

Still doesn't change the fact that he is consistently ran over for actual tries against New Zealand. I mean how many times do we have to see it?

Previous AB game in Croke Park stats: Luke at inside centre had a terrible day. David Wallace was top defender that day.

http://www.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/match/25747.html

Oh wow, hes back to Fitzgerald again....and 2 years ago.....from the game where O'Gara missed a tackle and Nonu scored a vital try....

one of our best outings against the ABs was in Wellington in '08. Leamy had a fantastic game at 6. Paddy Wallace scored a try. Of course we had Fla & Poc starting. The final score was 21-11 to the ABs.

And this is relevant how? That was 2 years ago, Leamy isn't even a top class international 6 anymore, O'Connell has been poor since the start of the Lions tour oh yeah and hes injured and Flannery is injured as well.

CouchSmart

thehighground wrote: »

Some posters seem very worried about O'Gara's defense so I just want to highlight it that it shouldn't be our biggest worry. Also, some people think ROG just kicks the ball and these stats show that ROG doesn't kick a lot more than Dan Carter, who I would guess everyone thinks is the best outhalf in the world.

It was a different game back then, kicking was more important. Those facts also don't differentiate the type of kick. Was it a chip and chase? Dink over the top? Kick to the corner? In the last few games Carter has even started to do little kick passes, but these go down as kicks. Stats don't always tell the full story. I don't particularly want to talk about ROG or his defense.