Ireland Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread VIII - ** MOD NOTE POST #4781 **

sydthebeat

Well I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that we will record our best ever victory against France away.

.ak

Interested Observer wrote: »

This would apply even more-so if it was Scotland or Wales. Any away game is going to be a harder start than a home game. France are a rabble. We should be beating them and beating them well.

On paper you’re correct correct, but despite France being absolute poison over the last few years they always seem to raise it against us. We’ve never had an easy game in Paris despite their downfall.

ionadnapokot

.ak wrote: »

On paper you’re correct correct, but despite France being absolute poison over the last few years they always seem to raise it against us. We’ve never had an easy game in Paris despite their downfall.

Exactly.
I was disappointed to see Novès get the boot because I was confident we would have enough to beat his French team.
Now the players Laporte/Brunel is going to pick are going to be buoyed by the new regime and playing for their WC spots.
And I think we can expect the usual:
1. The unexpected!
2. First 20 will be frantic

But I’d say of all the 6n coaches JS is best equipped to take on this new French team.

Tigerandahalf

Well folks what players have impressed for the 6 Nations?

Conan has played quite well but will Stander start at 8 I wonder.

I'd still prefer Jack McGrath to be our starting LH prop especially away to France in the 1st game.

I thought Shane Delahunt did well for Connacht at hooker and Larmour of course has been fabulous to watch but hasn't been tested defensively yet - high balls, tackling and choosing when to clear kick or run.

Squidgy Black

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Well folks what players have impressed for the 6 Nations?

Conan has played quite well but will Stander start at 8 I wonder.

I'd still prefer Jack McGrath to be our starting LH prop especially away to France in the 1st game.

I thought Shane Delahunt did well for Connacht at hooker and Larmour of course has been fabulous to watch but hasn't been tested defensively yet - high balls, tackling and choosing when to clear kick or run.

VdF and Leavy are asking serious questions about the legacy backrow of POM, Stander and SOB, both POM and Stander have been fairly anonymous over the past few weeks.

Larmour is exciting but too early to be anywhere near the 23, would be good to have him in camp however and get him exposed.

Ringrose tonight looked like he's getting back to form, however Bundee has being really strong so there'll certainly be a battle there for 13.

Earls tonight certainly sticking his hand up and showing he's still one of our strongest wingers.

Buer

sydthebeat wrote: »

Well I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that we will record our best ever victory against France away.

That would be a whopping 8 point win.

Bridge93

Earls plays if fit I think. Conway the only person remotely close to overtaking him currently

Stheno

Squidgy Black wrote: »

VdF and Leavy are asking serious questions about the legacy backrow of POM, Stander and SOB, both POM and Stander have been fairly anonymous over the past few weeks.

Larmour is exciting but too early to be anywhere near the 23, would be good to have him in camp however and get him exposed.

Ringrose tonight looked like he's getting back to form, however Bundee has being really strong so there'll certainly be a battle there for 13.

Earls tonight certainly sticking his hand up and showing he's still one of our strongest wingers.

vdf and leavy for me

LostArt

Think McFadden might make the wider squad...

Clegg

After the most recent interprovincial fixtures the squad seems pretty obvious.

Healy
Cronin
Furlong
Toner
Henderson
Leavy
VdF
Conan
McGrath
Sexton
Larmour
Henshaw
Ringrose
McFadden
Kearney

Tracey
McGrath
Porter
Ryan
Deegan
Murray
Byrne
Stockdale

Bridge93

FairPlay jack Conan

Clegg

Bridge93 wrote: »

FairPlay jack Conan

Fine.

Deegan it is.

Buer

LostArt wrote: »

Think McFadden might make the wider squad...

Given that guys like DK, Adam Byrne and Sweetnam won caps in November, I reckon he's going to be more than just in the wider squad. An injury or two and he's in the 23, I reckon.

Stockdale, Earls, RK and Conway are probably in the 23 right now. An injury to one of those and I could see McFadden being in the 23 based on the last 5 weeks. He has certainly moved ahead of those named above through both fitness and form.

The big curveball is Larmour. Will Schimidt bring someone like him based on so little? I doubt it but he has a good shot of being in the squad.

ionadnapokot

Stheno wrote: »

vdf and leavy for me

On form I’d go with:
POM VdF SOB
Leavy on bench

In realty Stander is ahead of Leavy because of Nov Int. & start with VdF on bench.

CJ has definitely lost that explosive power in last 6 months. Suffering from all those blockbuster 80min performances.

Stheno

Buer wrote: »

The big curveball is Larmour. Will Schimidt bring someone like him based on so little? I doubt it but he has a good shot of being in the squad.

James Ryan?

Buer

ionadnapokot wrote: »

CJ has definitely lost that explosive power in last 6 months. Suffering from all those blockbuster 80min performances.

I think there's a significant element of him being a known quantity now. Billy Vunipola went through the same thing. He was just a big carrying lump when he came on the scene but people knew to hit him hard and early and he'd be eliminated. His game developed and he became someone who could win turnovers, offload at will and link play.

Stander is in the same boat now. He needs to vary his style. Teams know to chop him down and do so before he gets up a head of steam and his attacking game is largely nullified. But he still sucks in defenders due to his physicality. But he can be a better player than he already is if he can develop an offload.

Buer

Stheno wrote: »

James Ryan?

At this stage, I don't see that as a curveball. He played against SA and Argentina in November. It's a straight shoot out between him and Dillane for the 20 jersey in the 6N.

Dillane has stepped up brilliantly and right now, I'd rather he gets the nod and Ryan gets to finally put a run of games together for Leinster and work on his game and conditioning. Ryan is going to be a big player for Ireland but I don't think there's any need to bludgeon his body before its ready when Dillane is playing great stuff.

stephen_n

Buer wrote: »

At this stage, I don't see that as a curveball. He played against SA and Argentina in November. It's a straight shoot out between him and Dillane for the 20 jersey in the 6N.

Dillane has stepped up brilliantly and right now, I'd rather he gets the nod and Ryan gets to finally put a run of games together for Leinster and work on his game and conditioning. Ryan is going to be a big player for Ireland but I don't think there's any need to bludgeon his body before its ready when Dillane is playing great stuff.

Think that means bringing Larmour in as a relative unknown at this level, like James Ryan was.

Big difference between 6N and a summer tour though.

Stheno

stephen_n wrote: »

Think that means bringing Larmour in as a relative unknown at this level, like James Ryan was.

Big difference between 6N and a summer tour though.

I did and id suggest it only for e.g. the Italy game

probably miles off

ionadnapokot

Buer wrote: »

I think there's a significant element of him being a known quantity now. Billy Vunipola went through the same thing. He was just a big carrying lump when he came on the scene but people knew to hit him hard and early and he'd be eliminated. His game developed and he became someone who could win turnovers, offload at will and link play.

Stander is in the same boat now. He needs to vary his style. Teams know to chop him down and do so before he gets up a head of steam and his attacking game is largely nullified. But he still sucks in defenders due to his physicality. But he can be a better player than he already is if he can develop an offload.

Agree with that too.
& even though he was heroic v Wales the Irish backrow have been smashed by them consistently.
I’d like to see the rangier backrows like VdF & Leavy v the Welsh

stephen_n

Think he might make the wider squad, but unless there’s big injury crisis, or exceptional circumstances, like Joey in Chicago. We won’t see him till Australia in the summer.

Bridge93

The way the Welsh are going they're going to be calling their u20 backrow in for a go by the end of the month. They're losing backrows at an crazy rate.

Think they're missing Warburton, Lydiate, Moriarty, Faletau and Baker?

They'll likely be picking from Navidi, Tipuric, Griffiths, Shingler, Davies, Turnbull and Ellis Jenkins, although he's only played one game this season with injury too

ionadnapokot

Bridge93 wrote: »

The way the Welsh are going they're going to be calling their u20 backrow in for a go by the end of the month. They're losing backrows at an crazy rate.

Think they're missing Warburton, Lydiate, Moriarty, Faletau and Baker?

They'll likely be picking from Navidi, Tipuric, Griffiths, Shingler, Davies, Turnbull and Ellis Jenkins, although he's only played one game this season with injury too

mad. & Warburton is actually going to miss a match v Ireland!!
& perhaps there mightn’t be the need to have an alternative to CJ but they always smother our ball carriers and suck us in.
I’m hoping with Aki at 12 and a faster wider approach Ireland will try and go around the Welsh wall this year.

Clegg

Henshaw is playing brilliantly so the big question for me is who partners him. Ringrose hasn't hit top form since returning from injury but he's still playing well. Ali has been decent in the interpros and played well in November. Toss up between those two I think. Don't think McCloskey gets a look in. He's a decent player but the others are just better.

thomond2006

The back three selection is going to be fascinating. Earls is a Schmidt favourite but Conway has been in phenomenal form. Stockdale isn't going anywhere out of that lineup either.

Squidgy Black

thomond2006 wrote: »

The back three selection is going to be fascinating. Earls is a Schmidt favourite but Conway has been in phenomenal form. Stockdale isn't going anywhere out of that lineup either.

Rob Kearney is also back firing on all cylinders and put in some great performances.

thomond2006

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Rob Kearney is also back firing on all cylinders and put in some great performances.

I'm taking Rob Kearney at 15 as a given.

Jump_In_Jack

Prediction for 6N squad, the players likely to be cut after the first week are marked with ( - )
1. Healy/McGrath/ - Kilcoyne
2. Best/Cronin/*McCartney
3. Furlong/Archer/Porter
4. Henderson/Dillane/ - Holland
5. Toner/J Ryan/ - Roux
6. O'Mahony/Leavy/ - O'Donoghue
7. O'Brien/Van der Flier/ - Reidy
8. Stander/Conan/ - Deegan
9. Murray/Cooney/Marmion
10. Sexton/Keatley/ - Byrne
11. Stockdale/Earls/ - Healy
12. Aki/McCloskey/ - T Farrell
13. Henshaw/C Farrell/ - Ringrose
14. Conway/McFadden/ - Gilroy
15. Kearney/O'Halloran/ - Larmour

*Wishful thinking, probably Herring or Tracy.

Squidgy Black

Jump_In_Jack wrote: »

Prediction for 6N squad, the players likely to be cut after the first week are marked with ( - )
1. Healy/McGrath/ - Kilcoyne
2. Best/Cronin/*McCartney
3. Furlong/Archer/Porter
4. Henderson/Dillane/ - Holland
5. Toner/J Ryan/ - Roux
6. O'Mahony/Leavy/ - O'Donoghue
7. O'Brien/Van der Flier/ - Reidy
8. Stander/Conan/ - Deegan
9. Murray/Cooney/Marmion
10. Sexton/Keatley/ - Byrne
11. Stockdale/Earls/ - Healy
12. Aki/McCloskey/ - T Farrell
13. Henshaw/C Farrell/ - Ringrose
14. Conway/McFadden/ - Gilroy
15. Kearney/O'Halloran/ - Larmour

*Wishful thinking, probably Herring or Tracy.

Missing Carbery at 10, back in training so should be fit by then. I think it'll be a shoot out between Byrne and Keatley for the 3rd spot. Also don't see Chris Farrell being selected over Ringrose.

Jump_In_Jack

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Missing Carbery at 10, back in training so should be fit by then. I think it'll be a shoot out between Byrne and Keatley for the 3rd spot. Also don't see Chris Farrell being selected over Ringrose.

It depends if Schmidt wants to take a punt on guys that haven't shown any form and have been injured most of the season, I'd doubt it on both counts.