kilcoyne, kelleher, furlong
beirne, henderson
doris, VDF, coombes
JGP and Byrne or Sexton and casey
Balacoune Aki Hume Conway
Keenan
Porter Bealhem Herring Ryan O Mahoney Zebo and the half back pairing that isnt starting
For the first test i would try mix up the provincial pairing. the leinster front row gets a lot of opportunity to play together, giving Killer time in that front row is more beneficial than porter. Its why Coombes is starting ahead of Conan, the backup half back should pair with the starting half back, they need to learn to play together, what ever pair starts against Japan id start the other against NZ. O Mahoney on the bench as then the entire back row is covered.
my preferred starting team
porter kelleher furlong
henderson ryan
doris conan VDF
JGP H Byrne
Zebo aki ringrose Bloucoune
bench: Killer bealham herring beirne Baird murray sexton larmour
I think it's crazy to start Sexton this weekend.
Give him 30 minutes off the bench and he'll be more than sharp enough for next week.
We beat Japan with Joey at 10 in the summer without our Lions. We can beat them with Joey at 10 with our Lions.
This is a perfect opportunity for Farrell to give his no.2 a run in a settled team against a good side.
Beirne not in the team is quite baffling considering he was one of our best players last season
As for Herring starting, jesus christ.
Anyone following Welsh rugby for the last 3 years knows Basham is a class player and would shine at test level. The only thing holding him back till now was his size
Basham looks a cracking player from that game to be fair
No one learns by putting the kids out to be slaughtered by the all blacks. Did Wales learn anything last weekend when they shipped 54 points?
We can learn lots about seasoned pros when they face they all blacks.
So putting your best team out to face the Abs is still very much squad development
Ireland using an AI match against Japan for squad development.... yayyy!
...for a meaningless match against NZ the following week... booo!
Again, it's not a leaked team, it's not a probable team, it's Murray Kinsella thinking out loud. Relax the cacks.
What's your team to start against Japan?
I’m not the only one bringing up though, every message about the situation from me has been in response to someone else making the point.
I sure as hell hope he’s wrong, if this isn’t a game to look at other options the when is? This was put up on Monday and I doubt the team would be known this early in the week so that’s my only bit of hope but if this is the team I’ll be extremely disappointed.
No one else will though, maybe if it was someone other than NZL but there is no chance Sexton wouldn’t be playing if he was fit versus NZL, he definitely wouldn’t want to. I’ve no issue us going back to what is considered our best team against NZL whatsoever but against Japan it’s just a waste of 80 minutes as we’ll learn nothing from it and if anything the only outcome out of it could be negative if we struggle as weather we like it or not the Irish players subconsciously will have an eye on NZL whereas younger players with a point to prove will be more dangerous for Japan.
Honestly, if you don't want to hear about it then stop bringing it up every few pages.
This is a possible team. I don't think kinsella has the same contacts he used to and has got a few teams wrong recently as far as I remember.
I'll be disappointed if sexton starts against Japan and NZ, but maybe another player wil get the NZ game. Carberry already got the start against Japan in the summer.
Christ on a bike talk about uninspiring and safe…
Also from this point on I don’t want to hear a dicky bird about the situation at 10, if this is the work being done to fix the problem then I’ll have no sympathy when it inevitably blows up in our face like it’s done every RWC cycle.
Except I don’t see Scotland and Wales who play in the same league having the same problem. We aren’t exactly getting the best out of our resources are we and we seemingly have given up trying to get the best out of the players at our disposal also which is a tad worrying, the only resource we seem to be getting the best out of is the excuse pile.
Yeah, I understand Farrell being conservative and picking his ideal team with the ABs coming right up but still, I’d be disappointed if we don’t get 1 or 2 of Casey, Frawley, Baloucoune, HB, Carbery, Coombes, etc starting with Sexton on the bench.
I think it's bonkers if Sexton starts. Surely he can bench? He most likely will get the nod v NZ. What will we learn about Carberry or HB, if they are warming the bench! This serves no purpose. Either Carberry or HB should start this match. Sexton can come in from the bench if needed.
V Japan, I would definitely play more of the young players. The result doesn't affect anything!
To be fair Herring has been good for Ulster this season. I would still pick Kelleher who despite the odd lineout wobble offers a lot more dynamism, but of course coaches will be looking for all sorts of things when it comes to selection.
As for Murray Kinsella's selection. It is a "possible XV", and therefore I reckon is more guesswork than anything, but we'll see.
Didn't think Coombes misses too many tackles (haven't looked at stats so maybe he does).
Not sure what else he can do to put his hand up - jackals, good hands, workrate and has a ridiculous try scoring record.
There's a lot of competition in the backrow granted
I was pointing out they are currently in a similar position in that they both offer a huge amount going forward but are not strong defenders. Hence putting them in against the best attacking team in the world(NZ) is taking a huge risk.
I don’t see how you figure that, tbh. For starters, Coombes is 23, Lowe is 29; they’re at very different points in their international careers.
And Lowe has been given plenty of opportunities by Farrell, and was dropped. Again, a very different situation to Coombes.
Think Coombes is in a similar position to Lowe, great going forward but in the big matches misses a lot of tackles. Would be a risk playing him against NZ. Saying that he's plenty of time to work on it before the world cup as ball in hand he's quality.
Anonymous? Most pundits were of the opinion that he was unlucky to miss out. He was our best player last year. If he's missed out it's a poor selection.
Haven't watched a huge amount of Ulster this season but presume Herring must be going well to be (possibly) ahead of Kelleher who I think has been terrific.
Would be genuinely surprised to see Zebo start, not due to a lack of ability or talent - just haven't rated him in a while and didn't think much of his moaning about Ireland selection on social media albeit I doubt that's much of a factor for Farrell.
Couple of other calls here or there, Coombes could possibly feel a bit hard done by.
Ah grand, same thing really, presume he has contacts in camp that tell him what it's looking like. If it was his own choice team he would have said.
To be clear, that is a "possible" team, not the "probable" team.
Where's the guy from last year who had the dip on Murray being injured for the French 6N game? Would love insight like that again (and the craic that followed)
I don’t think any of the journos have any insights tbh. It’s all just them making best guesses. The selection for this weekend will absolutely have to be done with a view to NZ. Who is going to be in that 23 and who can just slot straight in vs who needs game time first etc. This groups hasn’t been together in over 7 months so most, if not all, of next weeks 23 will be involved this weekend.
Few interesting selections to discuss in that. Herring over Porter, JGP over Murray, Ryan/Doris over Beirne (depending how you look at it), Zebo and Balacoune over Earls, etc.
Have Tracey or Thornley come out with anything?
Well he plays nz about 4 times in the next 8 months..
Will be interesting to see his record next July
Lack of imagination there if that's the team. Would be better to try integrate 2 or 3 younger players with some more senior people beside them..
I'd like to see zebo earn his starting Jersey back. Although handy to have a left foot kicking option at the back.
Why not have a look at frawley 12. We known the blunt force aki can offer us. With his poor tackle technique the last thing he needs is quick nippy lads running at him. We don't need another red card.
Herring at hooker really? Would be a step backwards and doubtful given kelleher has been up for media duty this weekend.
I'm not even going to mention the scrumhalf. Murrays main reason given for starting him is no based on ability but is conor murrays lack of game time. Surely the best way to rectify that would be to start conor murray before Nz come to town the following week.
We’ll see, I suppose. Wouldn’t be the first time a pundit got it wrong. But Farrell clearly rates Doris very highly too.
Fwiw, I think he’s been good in the last 2 games, even if Munster themselves have been awful.
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