Ireland Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread III

bilston

phog wrote: »

The cost of not having semifinals in the Aviva was discussed in the Munster thread last night. Rather drag that off topic I thought I'd post this here.


Bruising Euro battles leave provinces and Schmidt with selection crisis

Presumably they don't budget for these things, and anyway the extra prize money for the 6Ns must surely offset that €1.5m?

former legend

bilston wrote: »

Presumably they don't budget for these things, and anyway the extra prize money for the 6Ns must surely offset that €1.5m?

Think they assume one quarter finalist per season and anything above that is a bonus. It's really more of a "lost opportunity" than a "loss".

fitz

former legend wrote: »

Think they assume one quarter finalist per season and anything above that is a bonus. It's really more of a "lost opportunity" than a "loss".

Bet Sexton's €400k contract is looking like better value than they thought now though....
You'd have to think that if he was still at Leinster, we'd have had a home quarter final (even more revenue) and a much better chance of turning over Toulon.

bleg

fitz wrote: »

Bet Sexton's €400k contract is looking like better value than they thought now though....
You'd have to think that if he was still at Leinster, we'd have had a home quarter final (even more revenue) and a much better chance of turning over Toulon.

Or Leinster could have lost by more.

Or Sexton could have gotten injured and been unavailable for the season.

former legend

fitz wrote: »

Bet Sexton's €400k contract is looking like better value than they thought now though....
You'd have to think that if he was still at Leinster, we'd have had a home quarter final (even more revenue) and a much better chance of turning over Toulon.

Here's Gerry Thornley's take on it:
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/heineken-cup/seminal-story-of-mercurial-sexton-exposes-penny-wise-but-pound-foolish-leinster-1.1753401

Yet another example of a headline totally dissociated from the actual article though.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

Is CJ Stander IQ'd in time for the world cup?

awec

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

Is CJ Stander IQ'd in time for the world cup?

No.

He won't be eligible until October 2015.

He signed in January 2012 but didn't join until the end of the S15 season.

Buer

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

Is CJ Stander IQ'd in time for the world cup?

1. No

2. Steady on.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

Buer wrote: »

1. No

2. Steady on.

MOTM in a HC quarter! Irish guy puts in that performance and there'll would be lots of talk of him heading on for Irish honors (see TOD last year!)

Buer

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

MOTM in a HC quarter! Irish guy puts in that performance and there'll would be lots of talk of him heading on for Irish honors (see TOD last year!)

Ah, I know. I was hugely impressed and wanted him as MOTM before it was announced. He gave a real all round display as good as anything that we could have expected from POM and I don't mean that in a way that belittles POM.

With that all said, it's one performance and he is still yet to start a HEC game (which should change in the next few weeks). It would be a huge development for him to get to go to the RWC when we took 5 back row players last time. So if we assume Heaslip, SOB, Henry, POM and Ferris are the ones likely to go, he'll have to get ahead of one of them before we even consider Ruddock, Murphy, TOD etc.

Riskymove

Buer wrote: »

With that all said, it's one performance and he is still yet to start a HEC game (which should change in the next few weeks).

such limited HEC time didn't really affect other selections so why him?

.ak

Riskymove wrote: »

such limited HEC time didn't really affect other selections so why him?

I suppose cuz the RWC is very different, and because of who he has been behind.

Tox56

Riskymove wrote: »

such limited HEC time didn't really affect other selections so why him?

Well for context Rhys Ruddock has been outstanding all season in Stander's position at H cup level and below and he barely got a look in for Ireland even with SOB, POM and Ferris injured

awec

What's Stander's preferred position? 8?

Kayless

phog wrote: »

The cost of not having semifinals in the Aviva was discussed in the Munster thread last night. Rather drag that off topic I thought I'd post this here.


Bruising Euro battles leave provinces and Schmidt with selection crisis

Ireland winning the 6 Nations was worth 4 Million in prize money (could be more) so the IRFU will not be at a loss but as someone else pointed out it is more of a lost opportunity, still if Munster were to win the H-Cup I'm sure some of that money would offset the hurt felt in Dublin 4 last weekend.

IMO the 6 Nations took it's toll on the players (as we have seen from the injuries). I'm not sure any country has even won both competition, however I would say we have come close over the last few years. 6 H-cup wins (Ireland), 3 H-cup runners up, 4 triple crowns, 1 Six Nations Grand Slam and 1 Six Nations championship is not a bad turn around for the IRFU, we must be doing something right.

Riskymove

Tox56 wrote: »

Well for context Rhys Ruddock has been outstanding all season in Stander's position at H cup level and below and he barely got a look in for Ireland even with SOB, POM and Ferris injured

I'm not suggesting Stander would automatically be chosen ahead of such people but am saying that limited HEC experience isn't necessarily a deal breaker to the current coach

It's a year away and I see no reason why he couldn't be considered at the time

Riskymove

Kayless wrote: »

I'm not sure any country has even won both competition,

you haven't a great memory given we haven't won that many 6N!!!

rockbeast

Riskymove wrote: »

I'm not suggesting Stander would automatically be chosen ahead of such people but am saying that limited HEC experience isn't necessarily a deal breaker to the current coach

It's a year away and I see no reason why he couldn't be considered at the time

Don't think he can play for us until the week of the tournament?

That would be a reason surely?

Tox56

Riskymove wrote: »

I'm not suggesting Stander would automatically be chosen ahead of such people but am saying that limited HEC experience isn't necessarily a deal breaker to the current coach

It's a year away and I see no reason why he couldn't be considered at the time

Well he won't be qualified for a start, and of course when he qualifies he could be in the frame just as any one of a number of backrowers could be. And when I say any number I mean it, the competition in the backrow is pretty insane

Riskymove

rockbeast wrote: »

Don't he can play for us until the week of the tournament?

That would be a reason surely?

I'm talking generally once he's qualified
but then again if we had a few injuries and he was available then maybe

molloyjh

Riskymove wrote: »

I'm not suggesting Stander would automatically be chosen ahead of such people but am saying that limited HEC experience isn't necessarily a deal breaker to the current coach

It's a year away and I see no reason why he couldn't be considered at the time

Other than the fact he won't be eligible of course.

EDIT: Just saw the above reply. Either the way the point is he was very good, but it's only one game. Let's wait to see how he goes over the next while. He hasn't been hugely impressive in general. If that changes then he's obviously an option once he's IQ.

Riskymove

molloyjh wrote: »

Other than the fact he won't be eligible of course.

as I say I am talking generally about HEC time as a criteria to consider a player

rockbeast

Riskymove wrote: »

I'm talking generally once he's qualified
but then again if we had a few injuries and he was available then maybe

"when we get to that point, we'll see where we are"

Eoin

Kayless wrote: »

I'm not sure any country has even won both competition, however I would say we have come close over the last few years.

As in winning both the 6N and HEC in the same season?

Edited due to lack of my reading ability:

2000 England / Leicester
2001 England / Leicester
2009 Ireland / Leinster

Kayless

Eoin wrote: »

As in winning both the 6N and HEC in the same season?

2000 England / Leicester
2001 England / Leicester
2003 England / Wasps
2004 France / Toulouse
2009 Ireland / Leinster

Well to be fair I only start watching Ireland in 2009 and the provinces in 2010 though I take your point.

Heroditas

Eoin wrote: »

As in winning both the 6N and HEC in the same season?

2000 England / Leicester
2001 England / Leicester
2003 England / Wasps
2004 France / Toulouse
2009 Ireland / Leinster

Wasps won in 2004 and Toulouse in 2003.

Eoin

Kayless wrote: »

Well to be fair I only start watching Ireland in 2009 and the provinces in 2010 though I take your point.

I wasn't really making a point, I was just curious. Plus as you can see from the post below, I can't even read wikipedia properly.

Heroditas wrote: »

Wasps won in 2004 and Toulouse in 2003.

Whoops! You're dead right, have corrected my post.

Heroditas

It certainly does show that it's quite an achievement for a club/province to win the HEC and their own nation to win the 6N in the same year in the last decade.
It's always going to happen with the current format due to the limited number of nations taking part in the HEC and 6N - if you have a very strong club team made up of players predominantly from that nation, then it follows that many of those players will also be in the international set-up, thus leading to more high-profile games and increasing the risk of injury or niggles or just being plain exhausted come this part of the season for the players in question.

Of course, I could also be talking a load of nonsense!

Swiwi.

awec wrote: »

No.

He won't be eligible until October 2015.

He signed in January 2012 but didn't join until the end of the S15 season.

Just in time for the final, so :pac:

former legend

Eoin wrote: »

As in winning both the 6N and HEC in the same season?

Edited due to lack of my reading ability:

2000 England / Leicester
2001 England / Leicester
2009 Ireland / Leinster

It would be funny if Munster won the HC the same year as an Ireland team dominated by Leinster won the 6N, with Leinster having won the same year Ireland won the GS with a heap of Munster guys.