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Italy vs Ireland, 11th Feb 2017, Stadium Olympico, 2:25 (Irish Time), RTÉ 2
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10-02-2017 10:31pm#1It has not been an easy week. So before even announcing the teams, lets get some music in here. Flower of Scotland in Edinburgh is a treat, but it's this beauty in Rome that brings a smile to my face.Italy|Ireland
01: Andrea Lovotti|01: Cian Healy
02: Leondardo Ghiraldini|02: Rory Best (c)
03: Lorenzo Cittadini|03: Tadgh Furligind
04: Marco Fuser|04: Donnacha Ryan
05: Dries Van Schalwyk|05: Devin Toner
06: Maxime Mbanda|06: CJ Stander
07: Simone Favaro|07: Sean O Brien
08: Sergio Parisse|08: Jamie Heaslip
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09: Edoardo Gori|09: Conor Murray
10: Carlo Canna|10: Paddy Jackson
11: Giovanbattista Venditti|11: Keith Earls
12: Luke McLean|12: Robbie Henshaw
13: Tommaso Benvenuti|13: Garry Ringrose
14: Angelo Esposito|14: Simon Zebo
15: Edoardo Padovani|15: Rob Kearney
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16: Ornel Gega|16: Niall Scannell
17: Sami Panico|17: Jack McGrath
18: Dario Chistolini|18: John Ryan
19: George Biagi|19: Ultan Dillane
20: Braam Steyn|20: Josh Van Der Flier
21: Giorgio Bronzini|21: Kieran Marmion
22: Tommy Allan|22: Ian Keatley
23: Michele Campagnaro|23: Craig Gilroy
The news today is that Rory isn't the best, suffering the captains runs and missing the captains run. However serging forward evergreen was Italian captain Sergio Parisse. He had been a doubt early in the week, but has recovered to join an exciting Italian backrow, that includes a young Zebre lad called Maxime Mbando. I'm singling the 23 year old out because his achievement slipped under the radar slightly (in fact I only found out because my OH put him in her fantasy team) - last week he made 26 tackles missing just 2. Only Jonny Gray (27-2) achieved a higher total. But Italy only made about 160 tackles in total, that is 100 less than Scotland. It means he made about 1 in 6 tackles for his team, and I'd say his tackle count per minute spent defending was huge.
Parisse rolled back the years last week. There are some players you can never write off. BOD never slowed down, POC arguably got better right till the end, and Parisse is firmly in that bracket. Just look at the way he picks off this scrum, stays relevant and has the awareness to pick off the ricochet. He sets up this Italian try. (My gif creator went spaz)
Italy have pace outside too. No Sarto (sadly, what a legend). But look at Padovani counter off this poor North clearance. He looks up, sees half a gap and cuts them to pieces. That break is just as impressive as what Hogg did to Ireland last year. Wales just had some cover in behind. And who is there to support, well who else?
As always Italy have a grizzled pack, disappointing halfbacks and probably only half a tank of gas, but I reject anyone who says that Italy have gone nowhere. There are some genuinely exciting players in this Italy team. It is a puzzle that Conor O Shea has left the most exciting of them on the bench. Ulster fans know what Campagnaro can do, and I hope we get a chance to see him.
So Ireland? Well it's been a tough week. A few days ago I did a post in thread where my tone was fairly harsh on the Irish 15 from last week. I want to take that back. Not a single player last week played to the level we expect of them - which is exact;y why we shouldn't overreact and drop any. Go through the Irish team from 1-15 and you can find something they all did to a very high level.
McGrath, munched their scrum. Best 17 tackles none missed. Furlong, defenders beaten. Henderson took his try. Toner went 15 for 1 tackling. Stander forced two Scots to mark him for the whole game. O Brien made line breaks and turnovers. Heaslip carried in space looked for an offload and got unlucky. Murray passed accurately and made good decision. Paddy Jackson lifted the team with line breaks and put in some neat short kicks. Henshaw carried when no one else would. Ringrose went 12-1 in a challenging defensive channel. Earls scored a wonderful try from Zebo throwing a wonderful ****ing pass and Kearney beat defenders and made breaks.
The one thing I would like to see is a bit of trust in the subs. Niall Scannell, Kieran Marmion, and Ian Keatley got nothing last week. It's 2017, we don't play rugby like that anymore. If Rory is actually sick this week then Niall makes his debut with the weight of the world on his shoulders and the nagging feeling in the back of his head that the coach might not trust him. Marmion's last outing in green was 40 stunning minutes out of position, but wasn't enough to earn him 5 minutes at the end of a game where his skillset was probably perfect for snatching us the try. Subs continue to frustrate me about Joe, but there is little else I'd change.
I said from the start that I thought Ryan would have played last week if he was fit (call me naive but I still believe the camp announcements) and so it is no surprise for me to see him in. I am glad to see Healy being used to rest McGrath - I'd like to see Stander and O'Brien used in the same way with Van Der Flier at 7, but we know Stander brings so much, and last week O Brien was superb. Below I have his two line breaks sandwiching a proper old style jackal. Seanie had 12 tackles and the better part of 40 metres run. Unfortunately the Gif was like the main himself, too large for Giphy, so it's a video in the link.
https://giant.gfycat.com/InsidiousPlumpBlackfootedferret.webm
I thought our backs were decent too. I think we could have kicked more to try and stop the Scottish rush, but there were some stunning moments. Zebo's pass to Earls was risk free, we had the advantage. It was a real beauty and I'd rather that than a drop goal or a spurious cross kick. My moment of the match was this break from Kearney. That's Huw Jones he swats aside, before side stepping Hogg 1v1 and Maitland does well to get his back leg. If Hogg did to him, what he does to Hogg here, there'd be hell to pay on this forum. It doesn't come to anything, but perhaps shows that Rob has been freed to play a new way. I hope he continues in that vein.
We could analyse defensive frailties all day, and perhaps we were a little too forensic in the early part of the week. The guys seemed to have their heads somewhere else in the first half, and had too much to do in the second, that isn't important anymore.
We know these guys have more to offer from 1-15.
We know Conor Murray is the best scrum half in the world and didn't show it.
We know Heaslip and Kearney can make this offloads stick this week.
We know Paddy Jackson behind a winning pack is a marvelous outhalf.
Tomorrow is the best opportunity they have to prove that. We should be relishing seeing 15 talented internationals with a bit of fire burning in them. Most of the Irish first team didn't play against Canada, so in reality this is probably the easiest run out they've had since they played Italy last year. It could have been a non event, but you can be damn sure they'll be treating this like Soldier Field.
A bonus point tomorrow and our championship is back on track. Lets win this thing, and make non grandslam championships feel as disposable as Triple Crowns did under Eddie
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The spread is 23, I am going to back Ireland to beat it.23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLZr51Ozo4UComments
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Who is going to get man of the match today? Try scorer markets are fairly poor so need to make cash another way 🙈 Gary Ringrose 11/1 after getting a bit of stick last week, a half decent performance might get him over the line 👀
Kearney.
The entertainment value around here next week would be a greater reward than bookies money!
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When get his squad place ahead of Cronin and Strauss, well you can expect that Scannell has something to add to the team. Indeed, this is probably the best game for him to get his chance. If I could get to a bookies I'd lay money on him getting a try; you read it here first 0
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Cronin is injured. Hamstring went in the game against Montpellier.Losty Dublin wrote: »When get his squad place ahead of Cronin and Strauss, well you can expect that Scannell has something to add to the team. Indeed, this is probably the best game for him to get his chance. If I could get to a bookies I'd lay money on him getting a try; you read it here first0 -
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CMOTDibbler wrote: »Cronin is injured. Hamstring went in the game against Montpellier.
He's a Hooker. Hookers don't need hang strings 0 -
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Losty Dublin wrote: »He's a Hooker. Hookers don't need hang strings
When you're a line breaking hooker you do.0 -
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