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

Panda Killa

Skipped a few pages, just in case I didn't Spot it here..... Mako Vunipola definitely out as he's travelling home

jacothelad

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I was listening to Wood all this 6 nations. most of the time he is talking about POM on the bench and having him to close out the game. Not to start...

Even one I listened to this morning he mentioned it again

That isn't really sensible. POM isn't great at adding to the attack or the best equipped to withstand a siege on the line.

jacothelad

prawnsambo wrote: »

What ever happened to chalk and cheese?

No one ever heard of sn effin' cheese bastard.:D:D:D:D:D

yerrahbah

Cian Tracey predicting an unchanged side to face England.

bilston

yerrahbah wrote: »

Cian Tracey predicting an unchanged side to face England.

No surprises if confirmed. The question will be whether Doris returns to the squad with Deegan dropping out?

Former Former

yerrahbah wrote: »

Cian Tracey predicting an unchanged side to face England.

Gerry Thornley too but I think they're both speculating rather than working on inside info.

In fairness, POM has earned the right to start again, as has Murray. And Conway's performance against Wales put paid to any prospect of Earls coming back in.

Hopefully we'll see rotation for Italy but unchanged side this week sounds good to me.

bilston

Former Former wrote: »

Gerry Thornley too but I think they're both speculating rather than working on inside info.

In fairness, POM has earned the right to start again, as has Murray. And Conway's performance against Wales put paid to any prospect of Earls coming back in.

Hopefully we'll see rotation for Italy but unchanged side this week sounds good to me.

There may not even be that many changes against Italy. Bearing in mind there are 3 weeks between the England and France games, Farrell may want to keep the machine well oiled.

lawrencesummers

I would start earls and Conway. Stockdale hasn’t shown form in a long time.

Bridge93

lawrencesummers wrote: »

I would start earls and Conway. Stockdale hasn’t shown form in a long time.

Stockdale has done well since coming back from the World Cup l. Not close to as prolific as he was but far from out of form. Certainly shown more this year than earls has. 40 decent minutes in a different position is not enough form for me to see earls start. If he does I’m sure he’ll be fine but I wouldn’t be changing the back 3

AbusesToilets

Former Former wrote: »

Gerry Thornley too but I think they're both speculating rather than working on inside info.

In fairness, POM has earned the right to start again, as has Murray. And Conway's performance against Wales put paid to any prospect of Earls coming back in.

Hopefully we'll see rotation for Italy but unchanged side this week sounds good to me.

I wouldn't say POM has shown anything special that demands selection, certainly as it pertains to starting over Doris. I expect him to, but that's just how selection goes

connachta

Unused players released again for their provinces? Please.

bilston

lawrencesummers wrote: »

I would start earls and Conway. Stockdale hasn’t shown form in a long time.

Stockdale played well against Wales, he is under a bit of pressure though.

ionadnapokot

bilston wrote: »

Stockdale played well against Wales, he is under a bit of pressure though.

With that left foot alone he is worth his spot at 11.

I really hope he can develop his aerial skills. It would make the opposition allot more wary in how to defend against him.

Yeah_Right

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

What 4 changes would you make?

Might be an argument for Killer for Healy but I think Sinckler would have an absolute field day with him.

Herring has been excellent I thought.

Might be a case for Toner starting. But Hendy has been very effective.

Doris coming in would be a likely one.

Other than that it's as you were. Murray justified his selection IMO and so did the rest of the back line

I would look at Kelleher for Herring, Porter for Furlong, Toner for Henderson, Doris for POM, Cooney for Murray and Addison for Earl's. Not change all of them but some of them.

Former Former

AbusesToilets wrote: »

I wouldn't say POM has shown anything special that demands selection, certainly as it pertains to starting over Doris. I expect him to, but that's just how selection goes

I didn't say he's demanding selection, but he's certainly done nothing to deserve to be dropped.

connachta

connachta wrote: »

Unused players released again for their provinces? Please.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/pro14/connacht-seek-dillane-s-release-from-irish-camp-for-edinburgh-clash-1.4177648


It confirmed who I had in mind..

arsebiscuits1

Yeah_Right wrote: »

I would look at Kelleher for Herring, Porter for Furlong, Toner for Henderson, Doris for POM, Cooney for Murray and Addison for Earl's. Not change all of them but some of them.

I still don't think Addison is fit. Even if he is I don't think Twickenham is a good spot for your first minutes in god knows how long. Probably a better 23 than Earls though.

Kelleher at his best definitely offers more than Herring can. But Herring has been excellent so far. Darts have been great and around the park he's been effective.

Furlong has been excellent so far though. As powerful as Porter is, he wouldn't have scored that try that Tadgh did last week. It was unbelievable.

I can see your logic on Dev for Henderson. Hendy has been quietly effective but probably not hitting the highs you'd expect of him. Would Dev bring more though?

ionadnapokot

Good article from D'Arcy today. Well worth a read. His best in a long time.
Talking about how hard it is to win in Twickenham and citing the win in 2010 and the 2012 horror show. (3.Court, 12. D'Orce, 13.Keets)
..........
"Paul O’Connell and Brian O’Driscoll were not part of the squad that travelled. Also, Mike Ross left the field in agony before half-time as the English scrum, Alex Corbisiero in particular, tortured Tom Court, a loosehead forced to tighthead before law changes allowed two props on the bench.

Miles away from the scrum disintegrations, I found myself trapped in a self-inflicted torture chamber. I’ve always loved going into battle alongside Earlsey but we struggled to cope with the directness of an Owen Farrell, Brad Barritt, Manu Tuilagi midfield.

Deccie showed decency to give an explanation for yanking me off eight minutes into the second half, but we both knew I hadn’t done my job. It doesn’t matter what type of ball a number 12 is getting, he or she must eke out the hard yards. Sure, Sexton hardly had this spacious platform but I failed to squeeze the necessary inches past Farrell and Barritt.

Also, against that centre pairing, you tackle around the boot laces or you may as well be wake boarding.

At one stage, when Barritt, with Tuilagi behind him, drove myself and Johnny into our own 22, I could hear Nigel Owens screaming “release 12”. Our defence was fractured so I took the executive decision to give them three rather than seven points. Manu gave me a good long pat on the ceann as Farrell lined up a penalty that made it 9-3 on 33 minutes. Considering the downpour and miserable look on the faces of the Irish forwards, it felt like 30-3.

We kept going but so did they.

Look back to better days and you’ll always find a flawless set piece."
......................

ionadnapokot

And it appears Tuilagi will be fit now.
https://www.the42.ie/manu-tuilagi-injury-5012814-Feb2020/
Not ideal. He's such a game changer.
Aki and Henshaw are probably the best centre partnership to handle him and Farrell.

....
The Leinster centre was enjoying a storming game at the time and has since followed and passed all the return-to-play protocols, resuming training last week in Cork. Henshaw and Aki were at the centre of Connacht’s Pro12 triumph in 2016 but, in a green jersey of a different shade, they have started just eight matches as Ireland’s midfield axis and only three in the Six Nations: against France and Italy in 2018 and the game against Wales last Saturday week.

It’s been a while since Henshaw lined out against England in a Six Nations game because of injury and circumstance, three years to be precise (2017), having previously played in 2015 and 2016. He missed out on Ireland’s Grand Slam triumph at Twickenham in 2018, unlike Aki, who was part of Ireland’s midfield that day and again at the Aviva stadium last season.

The last two games with England, we’ve had a bit of a spanking so we need to focus on ourselves
England head coach Eddie Jones has added a fit-again Manu Tuilagi – he damaged a groin early on in the defeat to France and missed the Scotland match – and Henry Slade to the centre options for Sunday’s game that include captain Owen Farrell and Jonathan Joseph.

No stranger
Tuilagi is no stranger to Aki, the pair having first met on the field over a decade ago when Aki, on a scholarship to Truro College, came up against the English centre, who was playing on the wing that day for John Cleveland College. He said: “We have to make sure we bring our ‘A’ game. Henry and Manu are world-class players.

“Manu is a big man, a strong man. He plays a big part in the way they play, Owen Farrell and George Ford too, [controlling] the game. Manu is a massive threat, Henry Slade too. The last two games with them [England], we’ve had a bit of a spanking so we need to focus on ourselves.”

Throughout the 20 minutes or so conversation, there is a recurring tone and theme to the sentiments expressed by the Irish midfield. The emphasis this week and last has been insular to a large degree, focusing on what Ireland need to get right at Twickenham and exploring the avenues to best realise that ambition.

The other aspect is working in units in terms of position, something that Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has stressed to improve the collective. Aki elaborated: “I think it’s just the relationship, all of us as centres have a good connection between us as a group.

..........................................
“We know each other very well. He texts me non-stop anyway, so I can’t get away from him even if I wanted to [laughs]. I think the good thing about it is that whenever we’re on the field, we know each other inside out, we know what we’re capable of doing and we read each other really well.”

Henshaw was then asked about the method of communication in the heat of a match: hand signals, shouting or key words? He replied: “A bit of everything, really. When your heart rate is up to 180 or whatever it is in the game, and you’re out of breath, it’s hard to scream so it’s a bit of being able to adapt by sight and by [the way] that you’ve trained.”

The progression from Ireland’s performance against Scotland to the display against Wales will need to be replicated in terms of improvement if they’re to be successful at Twickenham on Sunday. Recent games against England have confirmed that absolute necessity of getting off to a good start, because they’ve endured the flip side in the last two matches, last season’s Six Nations and the World Cup warm-up in London.
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/robbie-henshaw-and-bundee-aki-to-lead-from-the-centre-1.4177770

jacothelad

ionadnapokot wrote: »

Good article from D'Arcy today. Well worth a read. His best in a long time.
Talking about how hard it is to win in Twickenham and citing the win in 2010 and the 2012 horror show. (3.Court, 12. D'Orce, 13.Keets)
..........
"Paul O’Connell and Brian O’Driscoll were not part of the squad that travelled. Also, Mike Ross left the field in agony before half-time as the English scrum, Alex Corbisiero in particular, tortured Tom Court, a loosehead forced to tighthead before law changes allowed two props on the bench.

"
......................

That is inaccurate. You could have the bench filled with props if you wanted. France nearly always had two sub props then. It was a selection decision only. The two props eventually became mandatory for safety reasons. Corbisiero spent the day at right angles to the scrum. Nigel didn't bother applying the laws.

ionadnapokot

Correct. But Bent didnt arrive until October!

irelandrover

ionadnapokot wrote: »

A

It’s been a while since Henshaw lined out against England in a Six Nations game because of injury and circumstance, three years to be precise (2017), having previously played in 2015 and 2016. He missed out on Ireland’s Grand Slam triumph at Twickenham in 2018, unlike Aki, who was part of Ireland’s midfield that day and again at the Aviva stadium last season.

Thats just lazy reporting. Henshaw played last year.

aloooof

irelandrover wrote: »

Thats just lazy reporting. Henshaw played last year.

How is it lazy? He specifically mentions "in the 6 Nations", so it's accurate.

irelandrover

aloooof wrote: »

How is it lazy? He specifically mentions "in the 6 Nations", so it's accurate.

He played in the six nations

aloooof

aloooof wrote: »

How is it lazy? He specifically mentions "in the 6 Nations", so it's accurate.

He started at fullback last year.

aloooof

irelandrover wrote: »

He played in the six nations

Ah I see, at FB. Fair enough so.

lawrencesummers

Deleted User wrote: »

He started at fullback last year.

He started, but it’s a stretch to say that he played rugby that day.

Clegg

I see we've scrubbed the Henshaw at 15 experiment out of our brains.

Eod100

Is team out tomorrow instead of Tuesday so this week?

accensi0n

Eod100 wrote: »

Is team out tomorrow instead of Tuesday so this week?

Sixnationsrugby.com says today.