You read it wrong alright.
Henshaw is second choice 13. My point was even though I presume Henshaw is first choice 12 they may spread the starts around so Aki may start against England.
I’d disagree that Henderson starts ahead of Beirne two matches in a row. Particularly when he will have gotten a start already this weekend and Beirne only off the bench. Unless something happens in the match that Beirne comes on early. It will be interesting which two locks start against South Africa.
On route to Dublin, first rugby match since 2018. Is what it is in terms of time selection and 8pm start but everyone playing today will be stake a claim for a World Cup place
One thing about these Summer Series games is that we have a horrendous win record
Stockers is back
Blade has played himself off the plane
Stockdale was awful for that try!
Stockdale was poor for the try but collectively we seemed very narrow in defence at the time but he should have gone lower in that tackle.
Stockade saw a lot of ball and went looking for it to his credit, but he made a lot of mistakes, bundled into touch having run 15 metres towards the sideline, a couple of turnovers, that tackle. etc. I don't see him being capped again.
Yeah I felt a glimmer of excitement when he caught a box kick from casey in the first half, and thought "ok Jacob, that's the first box ticked"
But I don't really think he ticked many other boxes. Nor Earls for that matter.
Not that Earls made bad errors, but neither of them made me feel like they should be bumped up the pecking order.
I think Earls hitting 100 will be a big plus for the team morale, so much of rugby team performance edge is psychological.
Of course he'll be capped again
I don’t know if there were any sweeping conclusions to take from that game. I thought Crowley and Casey looked good as a pairing. I was very intrigued by crowley as a second playmaker at 15 but he is too raw there defensively.
Thought Henderson, Baird, Doris, McCloskey all shone.
edit: on the next game, i really think coombes is probably starting. Seems to be they wanted to try Doris at 7. Then, they’ll change it up and go something like Prendergast, Coombes, JdF with a more experienced front five in front.
Well if it was straight shoot off between Stockdale and Earls it's Stockdale 1- 0 Earls.
Earls showed all the intelligence, pattern and intuition you'd expect from a 99 caper, but none of the X factor. The difference. The reason to be above the rest. His best attribute to date is he's a slower JOB.
he should get to 100, off the bench versus England or Samoa, but my god does he need a Worldly to get himself on the plane.
Earls is a good reflection of how far Ireland have come. Even at his peak, he's just not good enough for what Ireland have become.
He wouldn't have gotten remotely close to 100 caps for almost any other top tier nation.
That second sentence is utter garbage.
both sentences are garbage
How so? I'm not Irish, so I wouldn't be viewing with any provincial bias. I just don't think he would have established himself as a stalwart winger (or even been selected in some cases) for the likes of NZ/Aus/SA/Eng/Fra.
He's been solid enough, but he doesn't have the strike rate of a top winger, and he wouldn't stand out defensively or under the high ball. I guess you could say he's dependable, and that has its benefits.
Just my opinion, of course.
Earls will travel. Farrell is a fan of what he brings to the group and, simply, we don't have enough alternative options to leave him out. He's fortunate that's the case though as his play in 2023 has not been good enough to be in the Irish squad. If Conway was fit and had game time this year, I'd imagine Earls would be in trouble.
But there's very few who would begrudge him the 100 for the career he has had.
Yes Henshaw is 2nd choice 13 and 3rd choice 12
He can get his 100 cap in the warm up
I wouldn't bring him. Stockdale has more upside to be honest. But I do think Farrell will bring him as he seems to rate Earls around the squad etc.
Impossible not to love Earls, particularly from a human perspective. I do think there would be a hint of sentiment if he makes squad. It will be a tight call, but if it comes down to a straight choice between him and Stockdale, I think you have to go with younger stronger athlete. We are talking about the squad at this stage, Lowe and Hansen will be starters, but who is next best in line in case of an injury? This is question Andy must ponder.
One of the Sunday papers is reporting Sexton will play a training game against Portugal team this week.
would love to watch it.
What could possibly go wrong
’‘The war by the shore’
I reckon 30 spots are banked
Porter, Healy, Kilcoyne, Furlong, Bealham, O'Toole
Sheehan, Kelleher, Herring
Ryan, Henderson, Beirne
O'Mahony, Baird, Van Der Flier, Doris, Conan
Gibson Park, Casey, Murray
Sexton, Crowley, Byrne
Henshaw, Ringrose, Aki
Lowe, Hansen, Keenan, O'Brien
In my opinion that leaves a second row spot, a back row and an outside back.
McCarthy took a huge step forward last night, Treadwell will presumably get his right of reply, but I make McCarthy favourite for the second row spot.
Coombes should probably get the final back row spot, but I'm a big fan of Prendergast's and he showed some nice touches last night. I suppose Baird is 100% either, but he has a decent bit of experience now and his versatility should stand to him.
The final back spot is anyone's guess. I think it's a bit early for Nash and Osborne, so it's probably between McCloskey, Frawley, Earls and Stockdale. I've always thought McCloskey's lack of versatility would cost him, Frawley brings just that, but then Crowley and O'Brien already have it. Earls would bring good experience and is the sort of guy you want around the squad, but does he bring enough on the pitch these days. Stockdale made a high profile mistake last night, but that aside went well and is an out and out winger which we don't have after Lowe and Hansen. I think it's between Earls and Stockdale and I honestly can't call it.
I don’t think it’s a choice between Stockdale and Earls. It’s Earls v Nash.
Stockdale only got a run in the hope that he can regain confidence and as a break glass option if anything happens to Lowe.
Unfortunately Ireland will be exposed against decent teams if they have to rely on Stockdale or Earls. Just plain awful attempts at tackling.
& Earls at 13! No….Just stop. it’s not fair on him.
Earls is going to travel and I’m fairly certain will win his 100th cap v Romania.
I don't see anything particularly controversial about that. Earls would not be in any top 10 team now and there weren't many times in his career where he was better than the wingers from other top nations. He might have got 50 for Scotland and a good few of Italy.
Winger has always been an area of great weakness for Ireland. Our starting pair are imports and it's rare that we've had two top-end wingers at once. The number of caps Dave Kearney, Andrew Trimble etc. got shows how 'solid', 'dependable' and 'industrious' are key to getting Irish caps rather than being fast, elusive or a good finisher as preferred by other teams.
NZ is an extreme example with the way wingers are discarded after a few errors or once they hit their late 20s but there aren't many sides with wide players in their 30s with 100 caps.
Sexton to play a game v Portugal behind closed doors
I hope this doesn't come back to bite us in the butt.
I think it’s Stockdale’s positional sense that is his weakness at times. It’s almost he loses concentration in context of play around him. I don’t think it’s his tackling ability. He wasn’t in a position to make the tackle, given the skill of opposite finisher. For example, where Earls got outmuscled for Italian try, Stockdale would have stopped that try, nobody is going to run through him or over him. I could be wrong, be Nash would be a massive gamble. You are effectively picking the cover for Lowe as I said in my previous post.
Im sure SMcC 4 will travel. Farrell likes a centre at 23. I’m equally sure Stockdale isn’t going as long as Lowe and JOB are in the squad.
18 forwards and 15 backs
3 OHs, 4 Centres, 4 Back-three are all guaranteed slots = 11 players
2 or 3 SH TBC
That’s 13 definite slots. Plus the assumption of a third SH = 14 players
with Earls the likely 15 player
Decision if they want Frawley versatility v 3rd SH.
I think 3rd SH makes more sense considering Murray’s age and the tough run of games starting v Tonga.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://we.vanillicon.com/v2/e7ef1946e92d84157dc464ad6c3ddaab.svg)
