Irish XV of Round 1

porterbelly

Team of Week between irish teams?

1. Court (Wilkinson worth a mention)
2. Best (Flavin 12 tackles by half time, Cronin made a good impact)
3. Afoa
4. McCarthy (Him and Swift were excellent)
5. Tuohy (O Connell played well but I think Tuohy shades it)
6. Ferris (Led from the front as usual)
7. Henry (Stepped up to the mark, hopefully he can maintain it)
8. Muldoon (No no8 stood out and Muldoon deserved a place in the team for outshining Robshaw and Fa'asavalu)
9. Reddan (Upped the pace when he came on, no other candidate)
10.ROG (Sexton worth a mention)
11.Nacewa (Solid game, O'Halloran played well also)
12.Wallace (Good game up against a strong midfield, good performance from McSharry)
13. Griffin (Great performance)
14. Howelett (Super try and a couple of good breaks)
15. Duffy (Class act last night, should never be underestimated. Best kicking game of any Irish full back)


Obviously top heavy with Ulster and Connacht players. Munster were solid and got out of jail really, Leinster only really got a grip on the game when Reddan and Cronin came on and the Montpellier pack started to tire. Ulster dug it out with a gutsy display and a great performance up front, particularly from the front row. Connacht surprised many with their display and certainly showed that they belong at this level and with a bit more craft could have dug it out.

matthew8

Nacewa had his worst game in years today, yet he's the only Leinster starter included. WTF? I think Sexton should be included, because I'm not sure if anyone noticed but he scored in the last minute too.

porterbelly

matthew8 wrote: »

Nacewa had his worst game in years today, yet he's the only Leinster starter included. WTF? I think Sexton should be included, because I'm not sure if anyone noticed but he scored in the last minute too.

Leinster were poor til Reddan and Cronin came on and the Montpellier pack ran out of gas. No standout performances. ROG was better overall than Sexton

TheJims

porterbelly wrote: »

11.Nacewa (Solid game, O'Halloran played well also)

Necewa played 14, and also didnt have a good match, dont know how u figured him for the best 11 of the 4 provinces???

matthew8

porterbelly wrote: »

Leinster were poor til Reddan and Cronin came on and the Montpellier pack ran out of gas. No standout performances. ROG was better overall than Sexton

Sexton was Leinster's most dangerous back, kicked the ball to the corner inside their 10 I don't know how many times, and kicked his goals, apart from one which seemed to go over but the touchjudges wouldn't give it.

Fishooks12

Ya Nacewa was awful today, don't know how you picked him

O Gara gets the nod at ten but Sexton was very good too

Podge_irl

Nacewa was very poor today.

Would have Sexton ahead of ROG. His excellent drop aside he wasn't spectacular.

Dunno how you have a bacrow without O'Mahoney in it.

bleg

matthew8 wrote: »

Nacewa had his worst game in years today, yet he's the only Leinster starter included. WTF? I think Sexton should be included, because I'm not sure if anyone noticed but he scored in the last minute too.

My out half's final minute kick was better than yours!

porterbelly

TheJims wrote: »

Necewa played 14, and also didnt have a good match, dont know how u figured him for the best 11 of the 4 provinces???

11/14 who gives a rats.

I couldn't choose another wing, didn't want to choose O halloran because I'd be accused of being completely Connacht biased.

wixfjord

bleg wrote: »

My out half's final minute kick was better than yours!

In fairness Sexton's all round game was better today.
ROG was quiet enough other than that kick.

porterbelly

Podge_irl wrote: »

Nacewa was very poor today.

Would have Sexton ahead of ROG. His excellent drop aside he wasn't spectacular.

Dunno how you have a bacrow without O'Mahoney in it.

Ferris was excellent, henry had his best game in 2 years and Muldoon had a huge game, outshining Easter, Robshaw and Fa'asavalu

Fishooks12

Podge_irl wrote: »

Nacewa was very poor today.

Would have Sexton ahead of ROG. His excellent drop aside he wasn't spectacular.
.

He eased the the huge pressure off Munster on several occasions with 5 or 6 pin point kicks

I thought it was vintage O'Gara tbh

wixfjord

Nacewa had probably one of his worst games ever in a Leinster shirt.
Luke Fitz was brilliant though.

Podge_irl

I missed a chunk of the first half so fair enough. Guess it was pretty 50/50 anyway.

Fishooks12

porterbelly wrote: »

I couldn't choose another wing, didn't want to choose O halloran because I'd be accused of being completely Connacht biased.

But why choose Necewa when he was probably the worst winger of all the four provinces this weekend

Quality player but had a stinker today

Hagz

1. Tom Court (Wilkinson played well also, but Court was great in the scrum for Ulster)
2. Rory Best
3. John Afoa
4. Mike McCarthy (was a bit dirty but was everywhere)
5. Paul O'Connell
6. Stephen Ferris
7. Chris Henry (Fantastic performance)
8. Peter O'Mahony
9. Paul Marshall (Easily the best 9 of all the provinces in Round 1, very snappy play.)
10. Jonathan Sexton (Was Leinster's best back, pinned back Montpellier, ran well with the ball and kicked his points)
11. Luke Fitzgerald (Really promising play, looks to be coming into good form)
12. Dave McSharry
13. Eoin Griffin (Both Connacht centres were awesome, especially considering their inexperience)
14. Doug Howlett (Key player in Munster's win)
15. Gavin Duffy

Hype710

15 Duffy
14 Howlett
13 Griffin
12 Mafi
11 Fitzgerald
10 Sexton
9 Murray (no standouts)
8 O' Mahony
7 Henry
6 Ferris
5 McCarthy
4 Tuohy
3 Afoa
2 Cronin (great impact bar the poor pass)
1 Wilkinson

Fishooks12

wixfjord wrote: »

Nacewa had probably one of his worst games ever in a Leinster shirt.
Luke Fitz was brilliant though.

+1

It was great seeing Luke play like that again, great for Ireland if he keeps it up

Podge_irl

Odd that potentially the best result (draw away in France) has the fewest stand-out performances.

porterbelly

Podge_irl wrote: »

Odd that potentially the best result (draw away in France) has the fewest stand-out performances.

Leinster and their players have certain standards which they're expected to meet. They didn't really meet these for 60 minutes so that's my reason for not including more of their players.

Fishooks12

Podge_irl wrote: »

Odd that potentially the best result (draw away in France) has the fewest stand-out performances.

Ulsters win was probably bigger

Leinster are champions and it was Montpelier first HC game

matthew8

Podge_irl wrote: »

Odd that potentially the best result (draw away in France) has the fewest stand-out performances.

I felt that Munster's game was 50:50 going into it, but Leinster's was a fair bit in our favour. Best result of the weekend was Ulster beating Clermont. I also think that Connacht didn't play as well as people say they did. They just exceeded expectations.

roycon

sorry are you taking the piss. ogara played poorly except for the drop goal. i actually believe some people would put him in the team if he wasnt even playing. i humph scored all of ulsters points and sexton didnt put a foot wrong. get some perspective mate

Fishooks12

roycon wrote: »

sorry are you taking the piss. ogara played poorly except for the drop goal. i actually believe some people would put him in the team if he wasnt even playing. i humph scored all of ulsters points and sexton didnt put a foot wrong. get some perspective mate

If you think O Gara played poorly maybe you should get some perspective

How many times did he ease the pressure on his struggling pack with a quality touch find to pin the Saints back, not to mention the balls it took to slot the DG

All three out-halves had very good games today. Very hard to pick one of the three but saying O Gara played poor makes you sound delusional

GerM

Fishooks12 wrote: »

If you think O Gara played poorly maybe you should get some perspective

How many times did he ease the pressure on his struggling pack with a quality touch find to pin the Saints back, not to mention the balls it took to slot the DG

All three out-halves had very good games today. Very hard to pick one of the three but saying O Gara played poor makes you sound delusional

He wasn't poor but he wasn't great. A few lovely touchfinders but he also stuck one well out on the full putting his team back under pressure, missed a handy penalty by some distance and missed a couple of tackles. Joined the line and threw some iffy passes during the final phases when he needed to stay back and pull the strings. Did it when it mattered as usual but I wouldn't have him as the best ten this weekend by an Irish pivot.

Fishooks12

GerM wrote: »

He wasn't poor but he wasn't great. A few lovely touchfinders but he also stuck one well out on the full putting his team back under pressure, missed a handy penalty by some distance and missed a couple of tackles. Joined the line and threw some iffy passes during the final phases when he needed to stay back and pull the strings. Did it when it mattered as usual but I wouldn't have him as the best ten this weekend by an Irish pivot.

He was far from perfect alright but Sexton threw a few sloppy passes and missed a simple enough penalty too. i was meerly pointing out to positives to show that ROG definitely wasn't poor today

Humphries probably had the best all round game of the three

thomond2006

1. ROG
2. ROG
3. ROG
4. ROG
5. ROG
6. ROG
7. ROG
8. ROG
9. ROG
10. ROG
11. ROG
12. ROG
13. ROG
14. ROG
15. ROG

Hagz

Fishooks12 wrote: »

He was far from perfect alright but Sexton threw a few sloppy passes and missed a simple enough penalty too. i was meerly pointing out to positives to show that ROG definitely wasn't poor today

Humphries probably had the best all round game of the three

Disagree re Humphreys. He had some quite embarrassing moments and an all round poor 1st half. He was good in the second and showed great gas to be in support for the try, but it was far from one of his best performances. I think the fact that Leinster drew is making it hard for you to agree that Sexton was the best, but I really don't see how he wasn't. He was Leinster's best player today and did everything you want from him. Good game management behind a beaten pack, strong kicking form the tee and kicked beautifully to the corners. Was a threat with ball in hand too. Nothing one-eyed about it.

Annabella1

Mcfadden didnt do it today...Barnes/Griffin not finished article....Fitz not playing 13.
Any ideas on outside centre for Ireland?

porterbelly

Annabella1 wrote: »

Mcfadden didnt do it today...Barnes/Griffin not finished article....Fitz not playing 13.
Any ideas on outside centre for Ireland?

Bowe for now, Griffin in future.

bleg

Annabella1 wrote: »

Mcfadden didnt do it today...Barnes/Griffin not finished article....Fitz not playing 13.
Any ideas on outside centre for Ireland?

O'Leary

matthew8

Annabella1 wrote: »

Mcfadden didnt do it today...Barnes/Griffin not finished article....Fitz not playing 13.
Any ideas on outside centre for Ireland?

McFadden wasn't bad at all today, and he's a very good player in general.

Typh

Considering the context and the circumstances of any of the OH's play, I would say O'Gara at 10, much to the dismay of some apparently. Was impressed with Fitzgerald and O'Mahoney, not a bad weekend for the provinces.

padraig.od

matthew8 wrote: »

McFadden wasn't bad at all today, and he's a very good player in general.

He's at sea in defence, his positioning etc.

MyKeyG

matthew8 wrote: »

Sexton was Leinster's most dangerous back, kicked the ball to the corner inside their 10 I don't know how many times, and kicked his goals, apart from one which seemed to go over but the touchjudges wouldn't give it.

Because it didn't go over:rolleyes:

GerM

padraig.od wrote: »

He's at sea in defence, his positioning etc.

Caught the highlights on TG4 there. He fell off one or two tackles which was very unlike him. I harbour hopes for him being a 13 but he really needs to show something in the next couple of weeks or they should start looking more at EOM or moving Fitz infield. He'll always be able to fill in at 13 and do a job for his side but I'm beginning to think he's never going to be at the standard required to play outside centre in a team that has ambitions of winning the HEC.

.ak

15. Duffy
14. Howlett
13. Griffen
12. Wallace (... ugh, I KNOW ... otherwise Downey!)
11. Fitzy
10. Sexton (Thanks ROG for that DG, absolute magic and steely nerves, but Sexton kept Leinster from sinking single-handedly at times so he edges it)
09. Redden
08. POM (just to fit him in)
07. Henry
06. Ferris
05. Touhy
04. Ryan (Very impressed, lead the pack for the first Munster try)
03. Botha
02. Best
01. Court

Mentions:
Adam D'Arcy, Humphries, POC, McCarthy, Marshall (who didn't make it in the XV because I found he brainfarted from time to time), Strauss, Cronin, Trimble, Murphy...


Villians:
Nacewa (think this is the first time I've ever seen him have a shocker), O'Donoghue (looked lethargic, slow, uninterested and out of shape), G. D'Arcy, Cullen...

As a Leinster fan disappointed we fell far from the mark, but atleast it gives us something to work on.

bleg

Howlett was pure class tonight

.ak

GerM wrote: »

Caught the highlights on TG4 there. He fell off one or two tackles which was very unlike him. I harbour hopes for him being a 13 but he really needs to show something in the next couple of weeks or they should start looking more at EOM or moving Fitz infield. He'll always be able to fill in at 13 and do a job for his side but I'm beginning to think he's never going to be at the standard required to play outside centre in a team that has ambitions of winning the HEC.

Give him time. I'll guarantee you'll be happy we have him there in a few months from now... If you're not happy I'll refund your money.

Podge_irl

porterbelly wrote: »

Leinster and their players have certain standards which they're expected to meet. They didn't really meet these for 60 minutes so that's my reason for not including more of their players.

I'm not disagreeing. I think they were on a whole quite poor.

.ak

.. also the entire team missed most of their one on one tackles. It was surprising. It was like the defensive system was thrown out today. D'Arcy slipped off more tackles then McFadden did. Infact McFadden made quite a few important tackles, often tidying up D'Arcy's leftovers. Try and catch the full match if ye can.

danthefan

The only Leinster players I would even consider in a team of the week would be Sexton and Fitz and maybe Kearney. Not arsed doing a whole team but Chris Henry would definitely be in, probably POM, Best, Ferris, Griffin would be others who spring to mind.

profitius

Annabella1 wrote: »

Mcfadden didnt do it today...Barnes/Griffin not finished article....Fitz not playing 13.
Any ideas on outside centre for Ireland?

Barnes is not the finished article but I think Griffin looks good enough already for the 13 jersey. Darren Cave also looks like a useful player. He might lack a bit of pace but he wouldn't let the side down.

DDC1990

Artymyev is a shoe in for number 11.

Stopped a sure try 4m's from the line, gave Munster super field position on a number of occasions. Won munster a penalty at the start of the 2nd half.

irishbucsfan

GerM wrote: »

He fell off one or two tackles which was very unlike him.

Wouldn't say it's unlike him at all actually. The whole reason he was shifted in to 12 in the first place.

irishbucsfan

Based on this weekend I'd have Griffen in the Irish squad for sure. Of course given the team he plays for it's unlikely.

freyners

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Based on this weekend I'd have Griffen in the Irish squad for sure. Of course given the team he plays for it's unlikely.

well the detractors cant rely on their..he might look good in the league..but what about the HC argument:D

PhatPiggins

porterbelly wrote: »

Bowe for now, Griffin in future.

Bowe as a decent 13 is an urban myth. Ever seen him play 2 good games in a row there? Or even one for that matter

NickDrake

McFadden had a stinker.

tolosenc

iHumph was the best 10, I reckon. Nacewa was awful.

Also, did anyone spot Sexton single handedly brining down Gorgodze and one of the Montpellier props at the same time? I dread to think what condition ROG would be in after that.

Typh

Subtle dig detected...