Ireland Team Talk XI: Team of nervoUS MOD warning Post 1

sydthebeat

sydthebeat wrote: »

What are you on about??

Aki is the literally the smallest of a choice of Henshaw, Farrell or Mc Closky.
Each of the others would have offered at least as strong a ball carry option.

Its not at all unusual to have a 12 that can truck it up hard to get front foot, you make it sound like its some kind of new departure.

Interesting comment but I'm not sure I agree with you.

I think Henshaw is the best defender of the bunch, probably best in the air and the best distributor.

McClosky is very strong going forward in terms of winning collisions, has a nice offload but is a bit weaker in defence and his passing is only ok.

Aki probably the most balanced. Destructive carrier similar to McCloskey but good at picking lines and beating defenders. He's a very strong tackler and holds his width and shape in defence. He's not as good a distributor as Henshaw however.

Given the opposition Aki makes plenty of sense. We're going to run over Scotland.

Podge_irl

Podge_irl wrote: »

Also, lest it be forgotten, Ireland were actually pretty good against Scotland in the RWC.

In hindsight that had a lot more to do with Scotland being contemptibly ****.

stephen_n

Squidgy Black wrote: »

In the case that one of the back three get injured I'd say he'll go to fullback and they'll shift Larmour to the wing.

Or into 13 with Ringrose to the wing.

Clegg

Really looking forward to seeing how Doris copes at test level. He made the transition from U20 to Pro effortlessly. It's been a very rapid ascent, but his performances show he deserves to be there.

Larbre34

He was never going to change 8 or 10 of the XXIII at once. Cooney will get his chance, so will Kelleher and we can assume Deegan and Chris and the rest will start a game at some point.

If Doris is pulling up trees in training then kudos to Andy for starting him. Delighted for Conway too.

Personally I expect Scotland to be muck, major trouble at t'mill and all that. We'll only learn what this Irish team is really like when they're under the pump in London or Paris.

arsebiscuits1

Clegg wrote: »

Really looking forward to seeing how Doris copes at test level. He made the transition from U20 to Pro effortlessly. It's been a very rapid ascent, but his performances show he deserves to be there.

Said it before about Doris. But he's got the best top 2" of any other player I've seen this year. Consistently making the right decisions as the right time. I think it's his sheer intelligence that will see him thrive

lawrencesummers

Eod100 wrote: »

Only 2 players different from starting same game last year. Best and POM, so really 1 different with Best retired. https://twitter.com/rpetty80/status/1222151447485337600?s=19

That only tells one story, player availability feeds into it, AFAIR toner wasn’t available last year, Not sure henshaw was either and overall the 23 is a lot different. You can’t look at it with tunnel vision.

Wegians89

Would much prefer to see Dillane and Deegan/Jod in the 19/20 jerseys but can see potential reasons for being cautions with bench options in Farrell first game, a loss would have a terrible reaction.

On bundees selection at 12, think its worth mentioning that he’s joint top on the turnover charts with 7 in the champions cup this season and marmions try against Montpellier demonstrated his attacking capabilities. He mightn’t be the best passer out of all the options but he’s still a cracking player.

VayNiice

I'm happy with that starting XV, although I feel for Cooney being left out.

Given how ulster's lineout has been and that Hendo has been calling the irish lineout too for the past year Im really hoping they run smoothly. otherwise we'll have to hear all about "you know who" and his lineout jumping ability being left out.

prawnsambo

Some insight to the selections via Murray Kinsella

whatawaster

prawnsambo wrote: »

Some insight to the selections via Murray Kinsella

that's understandable from POM. No doubt delighted to have made the 23 against all expectations.

Not a surprising selection to be honest. Only a couple of players missing out on the 23. The game now is about the 23 not just the 15. It was never going to be a clean slate team first up, hold that for the summer tour onwards. I am disappointed that Cooney hasn’t started but it’s a long way from the Pro14 to playing international, plus he will have his 20-30 mins to get up to the speed. Every international has said the same about the massive jump, so why people on here choose to ignore those with the knowledge is beyond me.

Interested Observer

Decent team, average enough bench. Cooney in for Murray would have been better, and I hope he gets on some time earlier than the 78th minute.

I don't think a single journalist got it right which is fascinating tbh, the team leaked early pretty much every single match with Schmidt.

aloooof

Interested Observer wrote: »

Decent team, average enough bench. Cooney in for Murray would have been better, and I hope he gets on some time earlier than the 78th minute.

I don't think a single journalist got it right which is fascinating tbh, the team leaked early pretty much every single match with Schmidt.

Rob Kearney must've been the mole.

moritz1234

prawnsambo wrote: »

Some insight to the selections via Murray Kinsella

PoM is a leader and a team player, not one bit surprised. Others (and we know who they are up in Leinster) would have the toys outta the pram.

prawnsambo

aloooof wrote: »

Rob Kearney must've been the mole.

sydthebeat

Deleted User wrote: »

Interesting comment but I'm not sure I agree with you.

I think Henshaw is the best defender of the bunch, probably best in the air and the best distributor.

McClosky is very strong going forward in terms of winning collisions, has a nice offload but is a bit weaker in defence and his passing is only ok.

Aki probably the most balanced. Destructive carrier similar to McCloskey but good at picking lines and beating defenders. He's a very strong tackler and holds his width and shape in defence. He's not as good a distributor as Henshaw however.

Given the opposition Aki makes plenty of sense. We're going to run over Scotland.

nobody mentioned anyones defense or ball playing ability.

I was questioning the assertion that Farrell picked Aki for his bulk and hard carrying ability.
I made the point that if he wanted a hard runner he could have easily picked bigger guys

all your post above does is agree with my point.

molloyjh

moritz1234 wrote: »

PoM is a leader and a team player, not one bit surprised. Others (and we know who they are up in Leinster) would have the toys outta the pram.

Cop on. Just that,only that. Cop on.

Eod100

Mad stats: https://twitter.com/SimonGleave/status/1222168920162893827?s=19

Eod100

aloooof wrote: »

It's versus the RWC team but that overlooks injuries, for Earls and Kearney for example. There's a decent amount of change in the team, imo, so that's a bit of a misleading stat.

Ah ok. Ah yeah stats will only go ap far, context important of course

sydthebeat

Eod100 wrote: »

Only 2 players different from starting same game last year. Best and POM, so really 1 different with Best retired. https://twitter.com/rpetty80/status/1222151447485337600?s=19

he could just as easily pointed to the fact that there are 7 changes from the team that started against Scotland in last years 6 Nations

Podge_irl

Interested Observer wrote: »

Decent team, average enough bench. Cooney in for Murray would have been better, and I hope he gets on some time earlier than the 78th minute.

I don't think a single journalist got it right which is fascinating tbh, the team leaked early pretty much every single match with Schmidt.

Easier to guess from watching training come Thursday then on Tuesday.

Eod100

Eod100 wrote: »

Mad stats: https://twitter.com/SimonGleave/status/1222168920162893827?s=19

Is it? Murray was arguably the best scrum half in the world for almost 5 years. Easily the best scrum half in ireland for longer.

dub_skav

Have to say, I'm outraged #justicefordave

Seriously though, happy enough to see some change. See how the newer fellas get on, Herring with first chance to grab the vacant 2 jersey and I think Doris will kick on and stay put.

AbusesToilets

In a surprise to no-one , conservatism continues to reign. I'll be pleasantly shocked if our style of play shows much evolution from the WC. More likely case of doing the same thing, but harder. At least Scotland should be an easy lay up of a game to start out.

aloooof

AbusesToilets wrote: »

In a surprise to no-one , conservatism continues to reign. I'll be pleasantly shocked if our style of play shows much evolution from the WC. More likely case of doing the same thing, but harder. At least Scotland should be an easy lay up of a game to start out.

There are 5 changes to the starting 15 versus NZ. A full 33% of the team is different. What were you expecting??

I see some are already trying to pass the "conservative Joe" moniker to Andy...

moritz1234

aloooof wrote: »

There are 5 changes to the starting 15 versus NZ. A full 33% of the team is different. What were you expecting??

I see some are already trying to pass the "conservative Joe" moniker to Andy...

And the best performer against the AB, PoM dropped.

odyboody

moritz1234 wrote: »

And the best performer against the AB, PoM dropped.

If you were able to say the best performer since the game against AB you might have a point.
Team should be picked on form not reputation and those grounds Murry shouldnt be playing and neither should Sexton.

mun1

A lot of disappointed people on here today.

Good balance of youth and experience, hopefully will run Scotland ragged.
Would liked to have seen Cooney given a start, hopefully he gets a serious amount of minutes and not 10 at when game is all but over.

AbusesToilets

aloooof wrote: »

There are 5 changes to the starting 15 versus NZ. A full 33% of the team is different. What were you expecting??

I see some are already trying to pass the "conservative Joe" moniker to Andy...

Players who are not in form, picked ahead of players who were. Contrast that to say France, where a load of experienced heads were dropped in favor of guys tearing it up this season. Plus ça change indeed