Ireland Team Talk X: The Long Hard Road to a Semi. MOD WARNING POSTS #1, #1474, #5707

MaybeMaybe

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Ross Byrne apparently able to cover 15 even though he's never played a minute there, not even just at senior level but never played there at schools or underage.

I vaguely recall him playing there when Carbery came on to replace the starting 15. More of an emergency type situation though, never named to start there

thomond2006

Earls would surely be pressed into 15 in an emergency before Byrne?

arsebiscuits1

Ha the depth chart is a bit mad.

I had a few words with your man over on Reddit.

Fair play to him for going to the effort to compile this - He is a Scottish fan according to his flair.

But he started insisting that Aki had covered 10 this season and Healy had covered 3 at some point and "went to dig up the games"

Haven't heard back.

Other than the chart is fairly accurate except for having Aki over Robbie at 12 IMO

mfceiling

Nobody else disappointed that he has Jacobean Spindrift in ahead of Johnny?

mystic86

New Ireland gear being launched on 12th of July.

bilston

mystic86 wrote: »

New Ireland gear being launched on 12th of July.

Jacobean Spindrift won't be happy if it's orange

stephen_n

mystic86 wrote: »

New Ireland gear being launched on 12th of July.

Let’s hope it’s considerably better than the last offering, which looked like a cheap Penney’s knock of that someone spilled tomato sauce on. Easily the worst Irish jersey ever.

jacothelad

mystic86 wrote: »

New Ireland gear being launched on 12th of July.

Will it have a sash motif.......:D:D:D:D:D

bilston

jacothelad wrote: »

Will it have a sash motif.......:D:D:D:D:D

Oi...I already made that joke, albeit a much deeper version of it

jacothelad

jacothelad wrote: »

Will it have a sash motif.......:D:D:D:D:D

bilston wrote: »

Oi...I already made that joke, albeit a much deeper version of it

I suppose if SOB designed the jersey it would have a slash motif.....:D

Mr Tickle

jacothelad wrote: »

I suppose if SOB designed the jersey it would have a slash motif.....:D

Former Observer

The sooner they lose that shimmering ****e the better.

PMC83

Whatever happened to the wolfhounds /Ireland A?

thomond2006

PMC83 wrote: »

Whatever happened to the wolfhounds /Ireland A?

Those games disappeared quietly.

clsmooth

thomond2006 wrote: »

Those games disappeared quietly.

They were a waste of time. Some pretty tasty lineups around Kidneys time, but they’d never gel and the game would be rubbish. Usually against Scotland A.

Squidgy Black

The Guardian wrote a piece about it last year, same thing in England, they disappeared off the radar altogether in favour of larger training squads:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2018/feb/07/six-nations-saxons-wolfhounds-rugby-union

thomond2006

clsmooth wrote: »

They were a waste of time. Some pretty tasty lineups around Kidneys time, but they’d never gel and the game would be rubbish. Usually against Scotland A.

A Pro14 round after HEC 5&6 has effectively replaced the weekend set aside for the A game.

The Lost Sheep

PMC83 wrote: »

Whatever happened to the wolfhounds /Ireland A?

Some countries got rid of them for costs and it went down to just 1 game and then gradually just replaced by pro14 games and then extra training camps

Squidgy Black wrote: »

The Guardian wrote a piece about it last year, same thing in England, they disappeared off the radar altogether in favour of larger training squads:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2018/feb/07/six-nations-saxons-wolfhounds-rugby-union

Shame as were great for moving games around country getting players into extended squad and look at in international set up who otherwise might have to wait a while

thomond2006

Midweek games during summer and November tours were quietly forgotten about too.

Squidgy Black

Last Wolfhounds match day squad from January 2015:

Rob Herring
Richardt Strauss
Michael Bent
Jack McGrath
Mike Ross
Nathan White
Robbie Diack
Iain Henderson
Mike McCarthy
Seán O'Brien
Dominic Ryan
Jack Conan
Eoin McKeon
Isaac Boss
Kieran Marmion
Ian Madigan
Gordon D'Arcy
Keith Earls
Noel Reid
Luke Fitzgerald
Craig Gilroy
Fergus McFadden
Felix Jones

Conan, White and McKeon all got their first international caps from that game,

accensi0n

2015?


Huh, yeah that's right according to Wikipedia. That seems more like a squad from like 8 years ago.

Former Former

The Wolfhounds were of questionable value anyway. That game in 2015 was an awful match IIRC.

kingofthekong

Wouldve liked Ireland to schedule in a few games with the Barbarians every now and then, and just stack the Irish team with up and comers ..a team like:


1. Eric O'sullivan
2. Ronan Kelleher
3. Marty Moore
4. Jack Dunne / Thornbury
5. Wycherly
6. Deegan
7. Paul Boyle / Jack O'donoghue
8. Caelan Doris
9. Calelon Blade
10. Bill Johnston / Harry Byrne
11. Robert Balacoune / Lyttle
12. Conor O'brien
13. Tom Farrell / Goggin / Arnold
14. Conor Nash
15. TOH / Keenan

Granted the Barbarians may absolutely batter them so maybe isn't the right call, but would be good to see which guys are close to being ready to step up , who needs more work etc

thomond2006

Maybe there's more value in a tournament style (Churchill Cup, JWC) than these one off games.

Squidgy Black

thomond2006 wrote: »

Maybe there's more value in a tournament style (Churchill Cup, JWC) than these one off games.

Emerging Ireland was probably the closest we had to that, with the Tbilisi cup.

Former Observer

accensi0n wrote: »

2015?


Huh, yeah that's right according to Wikipedia. That seems more like a squad from like 8 years ago.

Was at that match. Seem to remember SOB getting injured as he warmed up. Ah some things never change.

Exclamation Marc

Former Observer wrote: »

Was at that match. Seem to remember SOB getting injured as he warmed up. Ah some things never change.

He's nothing if not consistent

bilston

The one off A games were dreadful. The players couldn't play themselves into the senior set up but they could certainly play themselves out. It always felt a bit negative to me.

The Churchill Cup was different, it was useful. The players spent a bit of time together and the rugby was decent. Some good players emerged on those tours. The likes of Sexton, Earls, Cronin, Healy, Heaslip and Kearney all played in it.

E mac

Mike Catt joining the Irish setup after the World Cup. Did not see that coming.

Exclamation Marc

E mac wrote: »

Mike Catt joining the Irish setup after the World Cup. Did not see that coming.

My favourite Mike Catt fact is that his wife's name is Ali Catt.

Didn't see that appointment coming given he has been Italy's attack coach for three years with arguably little success.