Ireland Player of the World Cup

Tigerandahalf

So we might as well create one of these.
What do you think?

cgpg5

Has to be SOB imo with Healy, Ross and Ferris pushing close.

Best was brilliant too, our best player yesterday by a distance

irishbucsfan

Rory Best for me.

Interesting that they're all forwards

B0X

Yeah Rory Best, excellent in every game.

funky penguin

Rory, definitely. Didn't realise how much we needed him til he went down against Italy. Like a switch being turned off, my brain just said 'oh ****'.

totallegend

Best

Tigerandahalf

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Rory Best for me.

Interesting that they're all forwards

I thought that myself when creating the poll, but I didn't think anyone of them stood out. The 'other' option is there of course. Trimble deserves a mention. I think he wasn't used enough in this World Cup. He looked in super form. Every time he touched the ball he did something positive. Bowe or himself should have been moved to inside centre. It would have been a risk but worth it.
Rory Best was the big surprise..funny how he seemed to play better once Flannery was removed from the equation.

A.Partridge

Rory Best, without a doubt.

Phonehead

Simply the Best, he delivered consistently far more than I thought he was capable of.

Bogsnorkler

Best, unreal. He was everywhere, taking and rucking and was always good with the ball in play and from the lineout

freyners

ferris

got back to his best again..showing the form he had pre lions and early in the lions tour. Immense in his ball carrying and a rock in defence

If he and best keep up their form and stay injury free, ulster are in line for a huge season

Tigerandahalf

freyners wrote: »

ferris

got back to his best again..showing the form he had pre lions and early in the lions tour. Immense in his ball carrying and a rock in defence

If he and best keep up their form and stay injury free, ulster are in line for a huge season

I heard Conor O'Shea mention again that Ferris should be considered for the 2nd row. Some have said his knee wouldn't cope with the impact of landing on the ground all the time. But I wonder. You could have a right serious pack then.

TheHopeful

Voted for O' Brien. Best would be a close 2nd.

The backs were fairly average overall, but Earls deserves a mention. He's there to score tries, and he got 5.

cgpg5

TheHopeful wrote: »

Voted for O' Brien. Best would be a close 2nd.

The backs were fairly average overall, but Earls deserves a mention. He's there to score tries, and he got 5.

He's also there to defend. Maybe a tad harsh, but I thought his defending was particularly poor yesterday.

freyners

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I heard Conor O'Shea mention again that Ferris should be considered for the 2nd row. Some have said his knee wouldn't cope with the impact of landing on the ground all the time. But I wonder. You could have a right serious pack then.

i think ferris for 2nd row is a dud personally...put him in the tight five and he has to spend more time in rucks and exerting more energy in the scrum, and his strength is with ball in hand.

Hes a world class six lets keep him there

we still have the likes of touhy, nagle, toner (who is showing serious improvement) and ryan in that position..we have a good stock of second row options in the future

MungBean

Rory Best, only player consistently excellent in every game. I personally never thought he had it in him, didnt rate him too highly after the warm ups but he's come out as the stand out Irish player. Will be over shadowed by O'Brien unfortunately. I think all round Ferris and Best were better than O'Brien. No mean feat let me tell you.

Phonehead

TheHopeful wrote: »

but Earls deserves a mention. He's there to score tries, and he got 5.

Earls needs to learn to defend, this is not tag rugby.

munsternumber1

Best played very well yesterday and was by far one of our better players but over the whole tournament I would have to give it to Ferris, its true Trimble should have got more game time possibly at 12 because I dont think he has the speed for international wing.

Tigerandahalf

I can see your point there. You still need the workhorse to clear out the rucks. And perhaps bending down to do that all the time may not do his knee any good. It may be irrelevant anyway as the cartilage in his knee is meant to be almost completely gone and he may not play much more rugby. It was actually a surprise that he made it through so many games as his career has been interrupted by injury. However I think too many of the 2nd rows in Ireland lack bulk. They are all bean poles.

Kayless

Healy but Best really surprised me

Best played the best rugby of his professional career in the last 6 weeks. SOB is still on an upswing, but nobody stepped up above what they can do anywhere close to Rory.

We feared with Flannery out we'd lose dynamism, instead we saw consistent performances that Flannery couldn't even dream of.

Rory has tattooed that #2 jersey on his back.

Samich

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I can see your point there. You still need the workhorse to clear out the rucks. And perhaps bending down to do that all the time may not do his knee any good. It may be irrelevant anyway as the cartilage in his knee is meant to be almost completely gone and he may not play much more rugby. It was actually a surprise that he made it through so many games as his career has been interrupted by injury. However I think too many of the 2nd rows in Ireland lack bulk. They are all bean poles.

Hmmm I think the modern day game is moving away from the big men and moving towards guys who can run with the ball and offload and keep it alive, just look at the NZ front row, they are as slim as anything, couldn't believe it when I seen their first game how lean they were.

Tigerandahalf

Ya I voted Best just ahead of SOB and Ferris. He provided the one thing that the others and Ire itself lacked and that was consistency of performance. SOB is fantastic going forward but if we are going backwards he can be a bit anonymous. He's not a great tackler as such. However, he is a real asset and I think we can genuinely call him a world class player. I hope he avoids injury and maintains his form as he could be a super player. It will be interesting to see how long he will keep his great pace as some players with his body type lose their pace in their late 20s. The one great thing about him too is that he attacks space outside or inside the player not just driving over the player. This should help his body in the long term as well.

.ak

I really hope we don't turn into a national team that's known for their forwards... Hopefully Gaffney's replacement balances the team sheets.

tolosenc

SOB, and although he astonished many down south, I've seen him play better on many occasions.

Ferris and Best are up there. And to think that 2 of the 3 wouldn't have started but for injury.

Ardillaun

Phonehead wrote: »

Simply the Best, he delivered consistently far more than I thought he was capable of.

Exactly. Can't be dogmatic that he was No. 1 on performance, although I would give it to him, but defo on Most Improved - he was unrecognisably good in every match, even against Wales. His pace in tackling backs was shocking. On this form, he's still definitely better than Strauss overall given his genuine front row ballast and just needs to keep it up.