I was thinking the same but I think Marseille is a reduced capacity to Paris so tickets could be hard to come by.
If selecting the Irish team at this stage I would pick Crowley to start, R Byrne to bench, and if feeling sentimental at most have Sexton as a break glass option in the squad, otherwise I'd take Harry Byrne, Carbery or Frawley instead of him. He doesn't offer much more than R Byrne at this stage and Crowley is a big step up on all of them.
It’s a nice enough city, bit on the expensive side but you wouldn’t expect less given where it is. Stadium is relatively central too which helps.
yeah 14,000 less seats for what could be a GS decider. The tickets will be like gold dust I’d imagine.
thanks
i bit the bullet and booked accommodation this morning. The Friday night kick off is great. We'll make a long weekend out of it.
is this another 'whoosh' moment?
No, that's the way I see it. It might take a while for others to see it too.
we've only 5 more months of sexton as a rugby player.
the provincial bitchiness can start in earnest then
It's not even good bait.
Anyway, that Rapport article on Sexton's alleged tirade at Peyper is incredibly vague. Supposedly the referee was too far away to hear what Sexton said, but in pictures and the video they claim to have, he's definitely within earshot.
And South African journalists are the only ones to have this footage, despite all the Irish, English and French reporters there? All a bit dodgy.
Sexton could still have said it, but neither the video nor the way the report is phrased leads me to think it's anywhere near as certain as they're making out.
Watched the video, Sexton spends at most 2 secs in proximity to the ref group. Storm in a teacup. I'd say WR might be leery of exposing themselves and the refs to more scrutiny, given the shambles of reffing seen.
Do you mean you'd pick Crowley to start if Sexton isn't available? Surely that's what you really meant!
The rugby season in Ireland is over now, provincial rivalry is on hold til after the RWC, I couldn't care less what colour jersey the players wear during the season, whern it comes to selecting the best players to win a world cup, the only thing that matters is who do you select to win it.
nah, its provincial.. but its ok, its your opinion.
Crowley will make the squad thankfully, as he offers a point of difference. After that its between him and the other pretenders to fight for the 21 shirt
Yeah, it's pretty much halfway between the Aviva and Stade de France. Tickets for the SA game sole out in the time it took me to find my wallet last year so these will probably be snapped up unless I can get some through my club.
its between him and the other pretenders to fight for the 21 shirt
This is it. It's great to see Crowley playing well but the auditions only start now. Ross Byrne was going very well until the LAR game and tbh, he didn't really play badly in that either. I'd say the pecking order is still exactly the same as it was, but Crowley will be brimming with confidence.
And it's bananas to say that Sexton won't be first choice if fit, he's still light years ahead of any of them.
That's simply made up BS. Sexton is not the player he was in years gone by, that is even worse provincialism.
Ah Jack. Sexton isnt the player he was but is still well above the alternatives and it isnt close
He's not the player he was, no.
But he's still way better than any of the alternatives.
If you genuinely think a fit Sexton won't be starting in the RWC, I don't know what to tell you.
I disagree, I just hope we don't waste an opportunity on an injury prone and diminished player out of sentimentality.
He's far ahead of the alternatives. He has had injury issues no-one will disagree with that. but he isnt diminished and is far better than the alternatives.
Which in itself is an issue for Ireland, we all saw in Munster how hard it was to find a replacement for ROG. Hopefully one or more of the current/future crop can step up.
Has a summer tour for 2024 been set? I think we could be off to Argentina.
We're going to South Africa
Six months ago Sexton was named in the World Rugby team of 2022. Since then he captained Ireland to a Grand Slam.
The least you could do when taking the piss is pick out a player that hasn't obviously been brilliant for the last year.
Sexton is clearly coming to the end of his career and his body doesn't hold up as well as it used to. But he's the best 10 in the world.
Mad that this could even be questioned. Think he'd walk into any international team bar France.
Ouch! Should be a great series. I hope they organize another emerging tour. Seriously good opportunity to give the tykes a run out.
I don’t see how anyone can watch ross byrne play and crowley play and think its likely that byrne holds onto the job much longer than the world cup. Maybe one more six nations? Crowley just has more upside and has already performed in big games. Byrne is probably the better choice for the world cup.
I’d still say Harry Byrne has a chance. Frawley is obviously liked by irish management. Prendergast hasn’t really played but i guess he has a shot too.
I think if Crowley played for Leinster, he would be the absolute favourite to start for ireland (if sexton was out) by an absolute mile. Most of the backs being leinster players and ireland playing a system way closer to leinster than munster is a big advantage to R Byrne in the short term. He knows the plays and the players intimately.
I'd prefer to see Murray start with JGP on the bench.
Murray has had a great finish to the season. Reacted really well to being dropped by Munster. Has shown, given the proper game plan he can play with speed. Kicks better than JGP, tackles better than JGP, defensively superior than JGP. Up against the bigger pack that SA will bring to the world cup I can see Murray starting like he did in November.
In the south africa game last year, we played murray and box kicked contestable way more than usual as i think we were concerned about kicking long to their back 3. JGP was just back from injury so maybe that was the deciding factor, but its possible that murray gets picked for tactical reasons regardless vs south africa.
I don’t see how anyone can watch ross byrne play and crowley play and think its likely that byrne holds onto the job much longer than the world cup.
The World Cup is all that matters for the next six months. We can worry about the 6N come January.
The 'system' argument is a load of bollocks. Crowley was in the squad in November, he was in the 6N squad, he'll be named in the training squad tomorrow. He's absolutely fine with the 'system'.
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