France V Ireland – Stade de France, Paris. Sunday 4th March 15:00 RTE2 & BBC2

leftleg

irishbucsfan wrote: »

First ever game in the aviva.

Reddan does not play all home games. Boss does not play all away games.

Yeah i remember it now Boss had a great game; IM a huge Boss fan; this is what he can do if given a gap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly5CDsBEOrU

jm08

irishbucsfan wrote: »

First ever game in the aviva.

Reddan does not play all home games. Boss does not play all away games.

Nope. 2nd LvM game in the aviva. boss started the frst one as well.

your right too about boss not starting all away games and reddan all home games. its genereally down to the opposition . against hard phsycial teams like munster & most french teams, he starts boss.

by the way, he nearly always rotates them at about the 50/55 minute.

leftleg

jm08 wrote: »

he nearly always rotates them at about the 50/55 minute.

unlike somebody else up untill last week

jm08

leftleg wrote: »

unlike somebody else up untill last week

gwan, admit you got it wrong . you'll feel better when you face up to that.

chris85

leftleg wrote: »

Yeah i remember it now Boss had a great game; IM a huge Boss fan; this is what he can do if given a gap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly5CDsBEOrU

Sorry Boss didnt too a lot there. He played a part in a move. He two other players took the ball after him and worked the gap.

I am a fan of Boss but thats not a prime example.

leftleg

jm08 wrote: »

gwan, admit you got it wrong . you'll feel better when you face up to that.

fitz

Fireball07 wrote: »

Tbqh POM ahead of Henry is not ridicolous. The form of both players has been excellent in the HC, POM has probably been Munster's best player behind POC and they did win 6 games.

It is ridiculous, given that Henry has played far more at 7 than POM.
We don't need cover at 6, we need it at 7.
If either of Ferris or Heaslip had to come of, we move SOB in to replace them, and bring on the bench back-row at 7.
With Ryan on the bench, we also have extra cover at 6.
Henry makes a far more sensible bench option.

jm08

leftleg wrote: »

far more beneficial if you admitted to yourself that you don't know it all than offering unearned congratulations to me ! why congratulate me for you getting it wrong

anyway thanks for the congrats

leftleg

Farrelly alert

Half-backs

Eoin Reddan was pushing hard for the scrum-half slot, but Conor Murray's quality is not in question and, if he gets good ball to work with, the Patrickswell man can dominate Morgan Parra and mix it with the French back-row.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/six-nations/irish-news/i-never-see-it-as-just-picking-the-same-team-kidney-3036705.html

Fishooks12

leftleg wrote: »

Farrelly alert

Half-backs

Eoin Reddan was pushing hard for the scrum-half slot, but Conor Murray's quality is not in question and, if he gets good ball to work with, the Patrickswell man can dominate Morgan Parra and mix it with the French back-row.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/six-nations/irish-news/i-never-see-it-as-just-picking-the-same-team-kidney-3036705.html

Christ almighty that man gets paid to write about rugby

GETS PAID TO WRITE ABOUT RUGBY


So many things wrong with that sentence that I can't even begin to deconstruct it

"quality not in question" is the most baffling though, and I'm a fan of Murray

Seph503

leftleg wrote: »

Farrelly alert

Half-backs

Eoin Reddan was pushing hard for the scrum-half slot, but Conor Murray's quality is not in question and, if he gets good ball to work with, the Patrickswell man can dominate Morgan Parra and mix it with the French back-row.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/six-nations/irish-news/i-never-see-it-as-just-picking-the-same-team-kidney-3036705.html

The dominating Parra is equally incredible.

leftleg

We all have to get paid but its his absolute wretched impartiality that gets my goat; just like Thornley on Newstalk; when asked about dubious Kidney selections; he absolutely wont at any time say tin any way that Kidney has it wrong;

Its like poor Alex boy in A Clockwork Orange; Thornley id programmed not to say anything bad about Kidney and Farrelly just permanently sets off troll alerts with every piece. Bad journalism.

Seph503

leftleg wrote: »

We all have to get paid but its his absolute wretched impartiality that gets my goat; just like Thornley on Newstalk; when asked about dubious Kidney selections; he absolutely wont at any time say tin any way that Kidney has it wrong;

Its like poor Alex boy in A Clockwork Orange; Thornley id programmed not to say anything bad about Kidney and Farrelly just permanently sets off troll alerts with every piece. Bad journalism.

I don't recall an occassion where Thornley has criticised and/or questioned Kidney. Sure if he did that he wouldn't get to announce the team before everyone else!!

leftleg

It seems that word of Hughs antics has already spread around.

I think i brought this up on boards a while ago after reading one of his wonderful little diatribs in the indo. Anyways others obviously felt the same.

http://www.balls.ie/2012/02/24/hugh-farrelly-to-internet-leave-tony-mcgahan-alone/

Fishooks12

Thornley is a top class journalist and he obviously knows the game inside out too

But I think he's too close to management to voice his critique properly

leftleg

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Thornley is a top class journalist and he obviously knows the game inside out too

But I think he's too close to management to voice his critique properly

Yep its much the same as Horgan on the panel; interesting to listen too but impartial due to his ties with players.

Also Kidney and his coaching.

Either way there is absolutely no excuse for some of his horrendous comments to get printed.

chris85

We have people that can mix it up with the backrow of France already, as in our own backrow who are well able.

Murray's decision making better improve this week. He was slow and unsure. He takes on too much ball himself. Again we have players to carry the ball all day (Healy, SOB, Heaslip, Ferris) so he doesnt need to run it so much. I understand we need to test their defence but doing it so often is not required.

CatFromHue

Deleted User wrote: »

doesn't get much easier than Clermont away alright

So Ian Whitten and Paddy Wallace should be starting for Ireland then

andrewdcs

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Thornley is a top class journalist and he obviously knows the game inside out too

But I think he's too close to management to voice his critique properly

At the risk of being 'arch' I think this typifies society in general though.
Once you get too close to the establishment of any structure, even to critique it, you tend to end up embedded within it....

Fireball07

fitz wrote: »

It is ridiculous, given that Henry has played far more at 7 than POM.
We don't need cover at 6, we need it at 7.
If either of Ferris or Heaslip had to come of, we move SOB in to replace them, and bring on the bench back-row at 7.
With Ryan on the bench, we also have extra cover at 6.
Henry makes a far more sensible bench option.

I disagree. I know Henry has played more there, but POM is also perfectly capable of playing extremely well there. Plus there's a 5-year age gap and POM has potential to be a genuinely top player. I'd have liked to see them both get a run tbh, but saying it is ridiculous is way over the top.

jm08

andrewdcs wrote: »

At the risk of being 'arch' I think this typifies society in general though.
Once you get too close to the establishment of any structure, even to critique it, you tend to end up embedded within it....

Getting close to the establishment is another way of saying 'having more information' or having a better understanding of the situation. Lets face it, he sees and hears more than anyone on here ever will.

thornley wasn't afraid of offending the irfu about their new policy on foreign players. he was very criticial of them and it.

fitz

Fireball07 wrote: »

I disagree. I know Henry has played more there, but POM is also perfectly capable of playing extremely well there. Plus there's a 5-year age gap and POM has potential to be a genuinely top player. I'd have liked to see them both get a run tbh, but saying it is ridiculous is way over the top.

Again, we're back to the whole experience thing.
If it doesn't matter that Henry has more experience there, why aren't superior but less experience players selected in other positions?

There's an inconsistency in selection criteria and standards applied to players available, and more often than not, Munster players get the nod.
I used to think that the Munster bias claims were a bit tin-foil hat brigade, but it's hard to argue against.

irishbucsfan

Fireball07 wrote: »

fitz wrote: »

It is ridiculous, given that Henry has played far more at 7 than POM.
We don't need cover at 6, we need it at 7.
If either of Ferris or Heaslip had to come of, we move SOB in to replace them, and bring on the bench back-row at 7.
With Ryan on the bench, we also have extra cover at 6.
Henry makes a far more sensible bench option.

I disagree. I know Henry has played more there, but POM is also perfectly capable of playing extremely well there. Plus there's a 5-year age gap and POM has potential to be a genuinely top player. I'd have liked to see them both get a run tbh, but saying it is ridiculous is way over the top.

Henry is far far better at the breakdown though and that is what people were complaining was the problem with the team.

I think it is ridiculous to say O'Mahoney is as good as Henry right now. I understand O'Mahoney has received much hype but he is not technically as good and that is absolutely key. His faults lie in the areas that will affect him most as a test 7.

Once O'Mahoney fills out a bit he will be the clear better player between the two. But that is over a season away.

leftleg

jm08 wrote: »

Getting close to the establishment is another way of saying 'having more information' or having a better understanding of the situation. Lets face it, he sees and hears more than anyone on here ever will.

thornley wasn't afraid of offending the irfu about their new policy on foreign players. he was very criticial of them and it.

OK Gerry; we were wrong; your a great journalist

Fireball07

fitz wrote: »

Again, we're back to the whole experience thing.
If it doesn't matter that Henry has more experience there, why aren't superior but less experience players selected in other positions?

There's an inconsistency in selection criteria and standards applied to players available, and more often than not, Munster players get the nod.
I used to think that the Munster bias claims were a bit tin-foil hat brigade, but it's hard to argue against.

I'm not going to argue that Kidney isn't inconsistent in his selections. But I also would say that if I was picking the team, I'd have POM on the bench in my absolute strongest team.

As for Munster bias...I'm not convinced that's entirely true. A lot of those selections are pretty marginal- and the main thing with Kidney is that once he has chosen someone, he doesn't tend to let them go.

Fishooks12

jm08 wrote: »

Getting close to the establishment is another way of saying 'having more information' or having a better understanding of the situation. Lets face it, he sees and hears more than anyone on here ever will.

thornley wasn't afraid of offending the irfu about their new policy on foreign players. he was very criticial of them and it.

The IRFU is a body of people

I think Thornley has a personal relationship with Kidney, so as a result he's reluctant to criticize him directly

leftleg

Fireball07 wrote: »

I'm not going to argue that Kidney isn't inconsistent in his selections. But I also would say that if I was picking the team, I'd have POM on the bench in my absolute strongest team.

As for Munster bias...I'm not convinced that's entirely true. A lot of those selections are pretty marginal- and the main thing with Kidney is that once he has chosen someone, he doesn't tend to let them go.

Just ask TOL

jm08

chris85 wrote: »

We have people that can mix it up with the backrow of France already, as in our own backrow who are well able.

Murray's decision making better improve this week. He was slow and unsure. He takes on too much ball himself. Again we have players to carry the ball all day (Healy, SOB, Heaslip, Ferris) so he doesnt need to run it so much. I understand we need to test their defence but doing it so often is not required.

pretty much every commentator have criticised the pack for their lack of intensity and there were no big carries from sean o'brien or heaslip which you would normally get.

Fishooks12

leftleg wrote: »

Or indirectly or ever; infact i question whether Thornley is a robot designed by Kidney like awesomo from South Park

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a-5XeJ1iXM

He does critique the way the team play a lot so it's unfair to say he doesn't do it indirectly

leftleg

Fishooks12 wrote: »

The IRFU is a body of people

I think Thornley has a personal relationship with Kidney, so as a result he's reluctant to criticize him directly

Or indirectly or ever; infact i question whether Thornley is a robot designed by Kidney like awesomo from South Park

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a-5XeJ1iXM

The similarities are creepy