I doubt Aki will want to miss a big tour like that but I can see value in resting him, it’s been a long season
zebos started one game at 13 previously ;)
No harm in the context of developing back-ups.
Equally I'd be ok with them leaving Aki at home - Given his age and the amount of Rugby he has played giving him the summer off would be good for him.
Any combo of Henshaw, Ringrose , McCloskey and now Osbourne is fine..
SOB has played centre before, but Zebo never has.
Presume you mean Daly; iirc he played centre at underage level, but he's only ever started 1 game at centre for Munster than was that in 2018. He's clearly a winger who can also cover FB now.
I have a feelings, can't say why :-) , that Keenan is carrying a serious injry from the 6 nations. Leinster are nursing him from game to game, I think if they lost today he would have been out for the season
But I could see him not going to SA
Didn't Munster not have two centres playing on the wing last week? if the French lad does leave would they not play some of them at centre?
Would they be better at looking at other positions, from an Ireland point of view it's not really a weak area at the moment and lots of good young centres around
Neil Fissler of Rugbypass reporting that Munster and the IRFU are looking at Dan Kelly and Piers O'Connor, both Irish qualified.
I think your right. We should be rotating players in semi regularly in general
I understand people potentially believing there is a case that POM is better than those other options still but I cant see any argument that he is so far ahead of them and so valuable that he is worth having to adjust your whole bench strategy around his clear limitations.
It's not like this is news to Farrell all the same. VDF and Doris are both very capable of going the full 80 I guess is the line of thinking.
I think he has played a good role as an intermediate captain. He has lofted the trophy but it's very much time to just move on.
Biggest issue with POM is that he really hamstrings the bench. He cant last 80 minutes unless in an absolute emergency so everything else has to be built around that fact.
I said it months ago that my opinion is that he'll travel as a tour captain but someone else will captain one or both games with him benching or left out altogether.
like I’m sorry but Ahern, Prendergast, Baird are all much better blindside flankers than O’Mahony at this stage. Can’t see him keeping captaincy if he can’t perform. Time we call a spade a spade.
what a shitshow
I am ambivalent about the SA tour - but I can't say I would be thrilled if POM was still captain next year.
Personally I'd be looking to probably Doris to captain the team moving forward, but the reality is as we speak O'Mahony is the Ireland captain so I suspect he will tour SA and that is hardly a disgrace! But yes it would certainly be a good tour for the names mentioned above to be on.
papers saying Munster contract topped up by IRFU
Press release says "Munster Rugby and the IRFU are pleased to confirm…"
Whenever it's a central contract, IRFU are named first.
It doesn't say , but I think that in itself suggests that it's a Provincial contract only.
is this an IRFU dual contract?
Another year at Munster for POM
If he goes another year and isn't injured - they will hardly leave the captain at home?
It’ll be a disgrace if POM travels. It’s a slap in the face to Baird, Ahern, Prendergast who are all better modern 6’s. I’ve always seen Timoney as more of an 8, but I guess he could play 7 too. We’ve insane depth at open side, its hard to believe.
I hope an Emerging Ireland side is selected. Imagine how triggered the Saffers would be.
Couldn't care less in the the greater scheme of things if we win or loose those games.
The second 7 could be Timoney, Connors, Penny or Hodnett.
If we're only playing two matches, I'd bet that the second 7 will be Doris. I assume you're omitting POM for retirement reasons but if he stays another year, he'll travel ahead of Prendergast.
I hope we get some sort of Wolfhounds game organised.
I’d say back row is going to be:
6) Baird and Prendergast
7) Van der Flier and 1 more
8) Doris and Conan
I’d go with Timoney.
Of the other 3 I’d say Hodnett is the outside bet, as he hasn’t had a chance yet.
I don’t have any strong opinions between Connors or Penny, both would do a good job if called upon. For the outside backs I'd say Osborne may be behind Larmour if O'Brien were injured, but Osborne would be a suitable injury replacement for any of the centres. I don't really see him as anything other than a centre personally, he could be a great 12, better creator/distributor than Henshaw, not sure he has the pace you'd want for an outside centre or back three at international level.
Will Connors is a 6ft5 grappler and a chop tackler, who can play 6 and 7. He has been capped for Ireland before and has started in two important Heineken cup games this year (including this weekend vs LAR). In my books he is way ahead of Hodnett on the Irish squad. Penny young URC player of the year and has high try scoring stats, he is also ahead of Hodnett. Osbourne goes if Jimmy O’Brien is injured, he is the most talented hybrid player in Ireland (capable of playing winger, fullback, 12, 13).
I think so, South Africa have a busy schedule with Wales June 22nd, Ireland July 6th & 13th, and Portugal July 20th, a few weeks off and then into the Rugby Championship away against Australia August 10th.
I think they wanted to keep it as a mini-tour as their players needed some bit of a break after the World Cup campaign.
Although they could nearly field two completely separate teams I suppose for the Wales and Portugal matches compared to the Irish matches.
Hookers sheahan kelleher and Stewart
As great as herring is, he has two younger starters ahead of him. Time to move on
The provinces name a 30 man squad for their tours to SA for the URC. I assume Farrell would have bring a larger squad as they wouldn't be like a provincial squad training together, week in, week out.
Is it just the two games in and out, no A games or warm ups?
My guess is:
if Ryan injured I think Ahern would go.
Baird would go as a 6.
Penny and Connors wouldn’t be selected, Timoney probably would, or maybe Hodnett instead.
Sam Prendergast won’t be selected.
I think there’s a good chance Larmour won’t go unless O’Brien will still be injured by then.
Osborne won’t be selected.
Frawley will go as the utility back.
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