Ireland Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread III

jacothelad

Rigor Mortis wrote: »

to be fair to PJ i dont think kicking is an issue. I do think though having an option at 10, 12 and 15 in Madigan makes a very strong case for inclusion over Jackson though.

Madigan is an outstanding 10 but an indifferent 12 and 15. Just because a guy wears the shirt doesn't mean he's any good in that position. Kidney often moved Sexton in to 12 to get ROG on. He took off a great 12 and replaced him with an inferior one and moved out a better 10 and replaced him with an inferior one. It didn't work then, it wouldn't work now. We need to get away from this nonsense. If Madigan is the better 10 then he should be on the bench. If Jackson is the better 10 he should be on the bench.

The Pheasant2

dr.kenneth noisewater wrote: »

Tough break on him again after the last couple seasons.

Yeah he's been really unfortunate with injuries

CatFromHue

I'd much prefer either of McFadden moving to 12 or Fitzgerald or D.Kearney moving to 15 than Madigan moving to either of those spots myself.

jacothelad

CatFromHue wrote: »

I'd much prefer either of McFadden moving to 12 or Fitzgerald or D.Kearney moving to 15 than Madigan moving to either of those spots myself.

I agree BUT.........You've seen Fitz at 15.....:eek::eek::eek:?

Tox56

We are fine for cover with 22. Jackson 23. McFadden

10 injured = Jackson

12 injured = McFadden/Sexton to 12 (either better than Madigan imo)

13 injured = Eek, hopefully Fitzgerald is fit, but Madigan wouldn't make a difference here anyway

Winger injured = McFadden

Fullback injured = Dave K (certainly better than Madigan)

thomond2006

Tox56 wrote: »

We are fine for cover with 22. Jackson 23. McFadden

10 injured = Jackson

12 injured = McFadden/Sexton to 12 (either better than Madigan imo)

13 injured = Eek, hopefully Fitzgerald is fit, but Madigan wouldn't make a difference here anyway

Winger injured = McFadden

Fullback injured = Dave K (certainly better than Madigan)

Epidemic in the squad = NOC

Woody1997

thomond2006 wrote: »

Epidemic in the squad = NOC

I saw he tweeted earlier saying his sister is on "The Voice" this year. Is he still playing at all?

its_phil

Woody1997 wrote: »

I saw he tweeted earlier saying his sister is on "The Voice" this year. Is he still playing at all?

He's at Jersey or Esher IIRC?

jacothelad

Woody1997 wrote: »

I saw he tweeted earlier saying his sister is on "The Voice" this year. Is he still playing at all?

Plays for Jersey in the Championship.

who_me

jacothelad wrote: »

Jackson took all the kicks for Ulster in every game he played up to the Munster, Montpellier and Tigers games. He is as much first choice kicker at Ulster as is Pienaar. Pienaar was away with S.A.until the first ERC game. Jackson kicked in the first 4 ERC games. This patronising rubbish about taking the pressure off him at Ulster is bilge and tired bilge at that. Actually Madigan being a better kicker is a more valid reason to bench than Pienaar kicking in a 3 games out of the 18 that Ulster have played so far this season. Pienaar can kick long range goals that very few can. He is on average no better a kicker than Jackson apart from distance. There is little between the two young lads. Jackson seems to run a back line and bring in others better. Madigan is more likely to do the unexpected. Toss of a coin.

I don't particularly care why he's not kicking. I'd just want any player in our 23 to be playing in position at provincial level, fulfilling the roles of that position in all the pressure games. The best preparation for him kicking a must-score penalty in a 6N Test is to be doing the same every week for Ulster.

When's the last time he was the kicker in a match, December? I don't see why it's contentious to be a little concerned by that. No one's doubting his talent.

bilston

who_me wrote: »

I don't particularly care why he's not kicking. I'd just want any player in our 23 to be playing in position at provincial level, fulfilling the roles of that position in all the pressure games. The best preparation for him kicking a must-score penalty in a 6N Test is to be doing the same every week for Ulster.

When's the last time he was the kicker in a match, December? I don't see why it's contentious to be a little concerned by that. No one's doubting his talent.

Jackson might not be kicking in every single game but he starts them as first choice!

eire4

The Pheasant2 wrote: »

It's one of his lower abdominal muscles, and without giving anything away I can confirm he'll be out for Scotland and most probably Wales

That is a real blow. Fitzgerald has been in very good form and I really was sure he was going to get a try Sunday.

mystic86

so has Pope been given the boot by RTE?! Or is it just this weekend he isn't appearing, or whats going on?!

Orlaw3136

The Pheasant2 wrote: »

It's one of his lower abdominal muscles, and without giving anything away I can confirm he'll be out for Scotland and most probably Wales

Keeeeerist that's miserable. What does the bloke have to do to get a few months injury free ? He'll be missed too.

Morf

The Pheasant2 wrote: »

It's one of his lower abdominal muscles, and without giving anything away I can confirm he'll be out for Scotland and most probably Wales

How much more can you realistically give away?

His hydration levels? White blood cell count?

I'll wait for the team sheet tomorrow. Too many of these posts appear before big games.

awec

Before the squad announcement later today which I'm sure is going to cause a few points of discussion I am reminding people about the no tolerance for muppetry that is in place. Please read and re-read the notice posted at the top of the forum.

Any talk of provincial bias, or Schmidt having to prove he's not biased, or any other mind numbing provincial crap will see you infracted/banned.

Over the top criticisms of players or over the top gushing over players to the point where it's clear you are aiming to get a reaction will see you get the boot.

Remember that this is a discussion forum, you should be able to back up what you say. Even if it's just your opinion. "Player X is twice as good as Player Y" is a nothing statement and will only raise suspicions that you are trying to get people to react.

Yamanoto

Given what Thornley's got wind of, I'm sure things will be lively come the morrow.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/luke-marshall-andrew-trimble-and-chris-henry-set-to-start-for-ireland-against-scotland-1.1674155

POSSIBLE IRELAND XV (to face Scotland); Rob Kearney (Leinster); Andrew Trimble (Ulster), Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster), Luke Marshall (Ulster), Dave Kearney (Leinster); Johnny Sexton (Racing Metro) , Conor Murray (Munster); Cian Healy (Leinster) , Rory Best (Ulster), Mike Ross (Leinster), Devin Toner (Leinster), Paul O’Connell (Munster, capt), Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Chris Henry (Ulster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: Jack McGrath, Sean Cronin, Marty Moore, Dan Tuohy, Tommy O’Donnell, Isaac Boss, Paddy Jackson, Fergus McFadden.

Hagz

Exactly what I expected other than Tuohy on the bench.

CatFromHue

Yamanoto wrote: »

Given what Thornley's got wind of, I'm sure things will be lively come the morrow.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/luke-marshall-andrew-trimble-and-chris-henry-set-to-start-for-ireland-against-scotland-1.1674155

The team looks good.

Yamanoto

Quite looking forward to seeing TO'D & Marty Moore getting a run out.

molloyjh

CatFromHue wrote: »

The team looks good.

Yeah can't see anyone having any issue with that squad tbh. There really isn't anything to get worked up over there is there?

former legend

Gerry isn't as accurate as he used to be when he was Kidney's press secretary but if that's right then there won't be too many complaints.

Tough on D'Arcy maybe but a tight call whichever way it goes.

Tox56

former legend wrote: »

Gerry isn't as accurate as he used to be when he was Kidney's press secretary but if that's right then there won't be too many complaints.

Tough on D'Arcy maybe but a tight call whichever way it goes.

I'd guess Marshall starting against Scotland means Darce will start against Wales

former legend

Tox56 wrote: »

I'd guess Marshall starting against Scotland means Darce will start against Wales

I'm not sure. I'd expect D'Arcy to come back in at some stage but I think we might see a fair bit of continuity over the first two games with more of a shake up for round three.

Clearlier

jacothelad wrote: »

I agree BUT.........You've seen Fitz at 15.....:eek::eek::eek:?

There's no doubt that he was a disaster at fullback for Ireland a couple of seasons back. He was having problems in all positions at that stage though in particular with over running passes.

When he first broke into the Leinster team he played a slew of games at fullback and looked very, very good albeit against mostly limited opposition. I'm not sure that I particularly want to see him playing fullback again but I don't think that it's beyond the bounds of possibility that it was general reading of the game that was the problem rather than the position itself.

Just saying that if he did get shoved into fullback for some reason it might not be quite the disaster everybody would fear.

former legend

Clearlier wrote: »

There's no doubt that he was a disaster at fullback for Ireland a couple of seasons back. He was having problems in all positions at that stage though in particular with over running passes.

When he first broke into the Leinster team he played a slew of games at fullback and looked very, very good albeit against mostly limited opposition. I'm not sure that I particularly want to see him playing fullback again but I don't think that it's beyond the bounds of possibility that it was general reading of the game that was the problem rather than the position itself.

Just saying that if he did get shoved into fullback for some reason it might not be quite the disaster everybody would fear.

This, this and this again.

The guy was a superstar at full-back when he was at underage level. Not just in a "that guy will play for Ireland" kind of way, but in a "that guy is going down as an all-time great" kind of way. At full-back.

Now, obviously being a star at underage is no guarantee of anything (cf: Andrew Conway) but when Fitzgerald came on to the pro scene he had first Girvan Dempsey, then Rob Kearney, then Isa Nacewa in his way for the full-back jersey. So he moved to the wing and lo and behold, he was pretty good there too.

Then came the 2011 Six Nations; he had a pretty bad couple of games at full-back having not played there for years and suddenly he's a joke, that he should never be let near the full-back jersey again, etc etc.

It's ill-informed and it's pretty annoying. He has all the skills to play FB, he has more experience there than most and I'd back him to slot in there if needed, more than I would for any of the other back-three players we have.

Rant over. For now.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

former legend wrote: »

This, this and this again.

The guy was a superstar at full-back when he was at underage level. Not just in a "that guy will play for Ireland" kind of way, but in a "that guy is going down as an all-time great" kind of way. At full-back.

Now, obviously being a star at underage is no guarantee of anything (cf: Andrew Conway) but when Fitzgerald came on to the pro scene he had first Girvan Dempsey, then Rob Kearney, then Isa Nacewa in his way for the full-back jersey. So he moved to the wing and lo and behold, he was pretty good there too.

Then came the 2011 Six Nations; he had a pretty bad couple of games at full-back having not played there for years and suddenly he's a joke, that he should never be let near the full-back jersey again, etc etc.

It's ill-informed and it's pretty annoying. He has all the skills to play FB, he has more experience there than most and I'd back him to slot in there if needed, more than I would for any of the other back-three players we have.

Rant over. For now.

So because he was really good there as a 17 year old he would suddenly be grand to slip back in there for Ireland despite having looked at sea in the position the last time he played there at test level?

I just don't think he's a 15 and I'd have D Kearney and Zebo ahead of him for Ireland if push came to shove

CatFromHue

My comment yesterday was that I'd prefer to have Fitz or D. Kearney fill in at 15 ahead of Madigan.

Madigan would only go there if there was an injury, which would be the same for Fitz or D.K.

former legend

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

So because he was really good there as a 17 year old he would suddenly be grand to slip back in there for Ireland despite having looked at sea in the position the last time he played there at test level?

No, I'm saying he has the skills and ability to do it and that one or two bad games does not mean anything. If we based our opinions on small numbers of performances, no-one would ever be good enough for international rugby.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

I just don't think he's a 15 and I'd have D Kearney and Zebo ahead of him for Ireland if push came to shove

The Zebo thing is what does my head in most, tbh. Two games in his entire career, one a forward-dominated meat-grinder of a match and the other a canter in the park, is somehow a basis for thinking he's an option at FB at international level.

It's just bad logic, that's all.

Bridge93

who_me wrote: »

I don't doubt his ability/technique. But when the kicking duties are taken from him for the crunch pool ties (regardless of the reason, even if it's to "let him focus on his game" etc.), it leaves a big unknown. I wouldn't want him being brought on in a tight 6N game with a championship/Grand Slam at stake when he hasn't had kicking duties in all the HEC pool games.

IMO, the constant pressure of taking those kicks would make him a better player.

Owen Farrell doesn't always kick for Saracens, should he not be picked at 10 by England? Jackson will be fine and had proven he'll be fine.