Donnielighto wrote: » Left out the word team, took me a sec to figure that one out looking at it. Corrected now. I thought Cooney and blade were on better form than Murray and McGrath from Christmas onwards, would have liked to have seen one of those getting tried out. Not to say they should have started but we had more than 3 sh available.
Yeah_Right wrote: » A lot of people are calling for Ireland to play a more expansive game moving the ball at pace. I don't think that the current Irish players have the skills to do this. Look at the handling in the last game and the whole RWC. Simple passes were being dropped or poorly thrown. Ball security was poor. Its something that needs to be taught and worked on earlier. International level is too late. It needs to be drilled into players at a much younger age and then worked on and improved at every level through out there career. Same with off-loading. It needs to be instinctive and not a thought process. I have never been involved with rugby at any level in Ireland so I am speculating that skills training doesn't get a lot of focus. Maybe it does and the players are just really crap at it. I remember doing skills games and drills as part of our warm up for every training and a lot of times doing a handling drill at the end of training when we were knackered to make sure that our standards stayed high even when exhausted. It took Pat Lam 3 years (I think) to get the Connacht players skills to the level that they could execute his game plan and he was working with them every day. There's no way an international coach can do that.
Shefwedfan wrote: » Marmion??? You do realize he never played after the NZ win due to injury and he was only available for the Wales game and came on in that..... Also not sure what you mean about "9 on the form doesn't always mean the form 9", as I asked when was Marmion playing to show he was the form 9 in Ireland?
Donnielighto wrote: » 9 on the form doesn't always mean the form 9. He should have got starts in decent games in the 6n
Shefwedfan wrote: » And he has played what since? People complain about not picking players in form....then Joe drops a player and people complain. Since the NZ match Marmion spent a huge portion of it on injury list, when he returned he even struggled to get into the Connacht team. McGrath was playing regular with Lesinter and got to 2 finals. Playing in both and winning the pro 14. Would he not be the form 9 apart from Murray?
blinding wrote: » Leaving him at home was a mistake .
Interested Observer wrote: » Marmion started the game in Nov where we beat NZ and he was left at home.
blinding wrote: » Murray did not come good and there was no viable alternative .
blinding wrote: » Well , I think so . He should have been given his chance with Leinster .
Shefwedfan wrote: » This is your post best you can come up with then is 3 players and two of those where in the match day squad????
ClanofLams wrote: » Had O’Mahony and Stockdale/Earls done enough to justify selection on form over the last four months? Was Larmour playing better than Kearney? Schmidt is the best coach Ireland have ever had. But it seems like on this board only two extremes are allowed, he was a total failure or an infallible genius. The truth usually lies between extremes.
Professor Genius wrote: » I knew there was something wrong with their psyche when Stander was bawling like a giant baba after getting MOTM for the Scotland game. It a pool win against a poor team. Reminded me of Madigan being an emotional mess after French game in 2015. It’s not normal.
Shefwedfan wrote: » Is Marmion any better to McGrath? that is bigger question....
blinding wrote: » Marmion should have been moved to Leinster to get higher level playing time . McGrath was not good enough to put pressure on Murray .
Burkie1203 wrote: » Standers wife whinging about the media criticism of how crap the team performed.
Former Former wrote: » Fringe players thinking they should be in the team is hardly a shocking revelation or a damning indictment of Schmidt. Ask Jack McGrath or Devin Toner how being an absolute stalwart of Joe's teams for five and a half years worked out for them. Ask James Ryan or Andrew Porter if Joe is afraid to give young guys a shot. The players who deserved to be picked got picked. Those who didn't, not so much. A bad player does not become a good player just because the other guys aren't performing. Whatever happened in Japan, it wasn't a selection issue.
ClanofLams wrote: » Larmour, Conway, Ruddock. Kearney wasn’t playing bad but Larmour looked much better.
ClanofLams wrote: » What Ireland needs most is a coach picking on form. Schmidt done an excellent job overall but he fell into that terrible habit of certain players becoming undroppable, Murray should have been dropped for at least one game this year. Sexton on the pitch for 72 mins in Cardiff playing like an absolute drain, etc Murray Kinsella writes today that the feeling among fringe players in the squad was they would never get past those established no matter what they did, terrible place for a squad to be in.
Former Former wrote: » Fringe players thinking they should be in the team is hardly a shocking revelation or a damning indictment of Schmidt. Ask Jack McGrath or Devin Toner how being an absolute stalwart of Joe's teams for five and a half years worked out for them. Ask James Ryan or Andrew Porter if Joe is afraid to give young guys a shot. Ask Kieran Marmion if a pecking order is set in stone. Ask... well, you see where I'm going with this. The players who deserved to be picked got picked. Those who didn't, not so much. A bad player does not become a good player just because the other guys aren't performing. Whatever happened in Japan, it wasn't a selection issue.
JJJackal wrote: » Marmion is a connacht player Cooney wasnt starting for connacht enough and moved to ulster Leinster have McGrath, JGP
is_that_so wrote: » Ryan is probably too young for that just yet but apart from Murray or maybe Stander can't think of another option at present. As for the others I'd agree on Henderson and Stockdale. Henshaw is injury prone and I'm not sure what skills you imagine Healy needs to develop.