all.rugby have him starting more games at 13 than at 12.
But yeah, it was a promising showing from him. Hopefully he's good to go next week and he starts at fullback again.
Huge sample size alright, one grand game 😂
Aki hadn't played in two months, maybe not surprising he was off the pace.
Like to see Osborne or Frawley at 12 next week. Aki was poor yesterday.
Jessie Kriel played a stormer. Watched it back and was really impressed by him. The book centers are like back rows. Physical and dynamic. Our centers were poor, I thought.
McCarthy
Yeah, I think this is accurate. Match stats say that Nash had 2 carries and 2 passes, vs 6 carries and 8 passes for Lowe. Hansen's involvements are normally much closer to Lowe's.
Nash is a very good winger but Hansen is great at popping up everywhere and making things happen, and I think he's a huge loss.
Hansen's absence is a big loss to the dynamism of this team,every yard gained now is a hard yard in his absence.
If this series teaches us anything, it's that we might have a solid backup for Keenen. Jamie Osborne has played the majority of his pro rugby at inside centre, but the relative lack of familiarity with that position didn't seem to bother him yesterday.
He was solid under the high ball, made a few decent cover tackles and took his try well. I'd like to see him get more involved in attack. He has an excellent pass off either hand and is also very good at offloading out of contact. Yesterday we struggled to build much in attack due to the Boks suffocating pressure in the first half. But if Osborne gets a chance at 15 next week I hope we'll see more possession and a greater chance for him to influence the game.
Would also say some of the stats look a little unreliable having watched the game back - i.e POM is down for 1 missed tackle total, but there’s a sequence currently on Murray Kinsella’s instagram account where he misses two tackles on DDA in the space of around 10 seconds.
Usually ESPN Scrum are quite good, but they haven’t posted yet. These numbers are from Irish Rugby, under the ‘Performance’ section.
Where do you get the match stats these days?
Third highest yardage amongst starters in the pack, but it was an underwhelming 11m off 6 carries. Only Sheehan (28m off 8 carries) and Doris (42m off 15 carries) had decent numbers amongst the starters, while Kelleher (38m off 8 carries) and Baird (30m off 3 carries) had good numbers.
POM (3m off 2 carries) and Furlong (3m off 5 carries) were poorest, but both starting centres also had poor numbers and so did Calvin Nash (who the game really seemed to just pass by yesterday).
Mccarthy id say. I dont think he made many yards yest though id be interested to see the stats
Who is? Quote or say Who you're referring to dub…
Sgreed! He's athletic and strong and makes yards but, he's raw.
Wouldn't the failings be on P.O.C? That's his job?
I don't think Beirnes is suited to hard yards/ crash ball. He's better picking running lines and soft shoulders. Boks shut him down fairly well. Big Joe gives up a lot of silly plays/errors. Still, he gets over the gainline.
Watching the highlights again I can't understand why the neck roll on kelleher while he (accidentally) hooked the ball back while on the floor (i.e being pulled out of the ruck by his head) wasn't looked at. Leading up to the disallowed try. Maybe TS analytics can highlight..lol.
Farrell seemed pissed the Casey incident wasn't looked at. Disappointed Snyman didn't have the decency to check on his recent teammate either. 7 footer planting a tiny 9 into the hard surface. Big Willy Skelton always a top bloke for checking the damage he'd wrought
Slimani or whatever is name is blocks no one of importance.
Barrett will keep osborne out of 23s for important games. Obviously the latter is worse.
Because barrett is a much better player than Ngatai. And i like ngatai.
In terms Henshaw isn’t a better player than Barrett? Not so sure about that, Henshaw is class and just had injuries at the wrong time. Henshaw has shown on form and fit he is one of the best centres in the World
When Leinster signed Ngatai I didn’t see as much discussion about it, it went unnoticed as did the signing of Tomane…not sure why this is on the Ireland thread, barrett is taking the NIQ centre slot in Leinster which has been a slot for years because of the commitment of the Irish players to Ireland
Can we retire it as a concept, because this is the best example of it.
It really isn't. It's the worst example of it.
IRFU don't want NIQs coming in and blocking the development of potential Irish test players. They are concerned about a lad playing 25 games a season for three years and keeping out young Irish guys. If Henshaw, Ringrose or Keenan benches for a European knock-out game or two, the impact on Ireland is zero, and the guy won't be here long enough to hold any developing players back.
I'd say Ala'alaatoa being replaced by Slimani is a far more egregious example of it tbh, or any number of Munster centres over the years.
Not sure there is any point whatsoever in starting Blade, it'll be Murray I'm almost certain.
Sheehan will be out next week based on viewing, he couldn’t run at one stage and turned around to pass, good back up options
I had doubts over Casey but he had a good game, no chance he is available next week so does Farrell start Blade with Murray off bench which worked well or try start Murray?
Team for next week:
Can't win the series and I feel this selection is bedding in a few for the future with enough of the frontliners to make it meaningful for their development.
The only people he could beat out of those 23s already make ireland squads.
I'd give serious thought to McCloskey over Aki anyway. Jager may as well be on the bench if our scrum is going to get minced that badly with Bealham on.
I'm not really sure it is the best example of it, but I've never used it as a concept anyway so it's meaningless to me. If Osborne doesn't make 23s for Leinster he isn't going to be in the mix for Ireland next year and we can worry about that then. Though it would mean that Keenan is available anyway.
Because alot of barrett's utility is playmaking and he has played a ton at 12/15. Its got to be one of those spots. Keenan at least would be a really good winger. Henshaw can't play anywhere else. Barrett is clearly a better player than henshaw and not better than keenan, but its tricky. Again, if its not a big deal to block a literal ireland starter level player from even being in 23s for all the big games of one year, then blocking doesn't exist. Can we retire it as a concept, because this is the best example of it.
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