Beirne had a brilliant game against Leinster, he will be fine.
Pretty hyperbolic, imo Clegg. Crowley was excellent against Ospreys and good against Leinster, the better 10 on the field that day against his direct opposition, imo. Beirne has shown time and again he’s world class. He was excellent against Leinster this season too.
Be interesting to see how Baird and Prendergast get on in camp, I haven't seen much from Baird to suggest he warrants a spot in the 23 so far.
Think a lot depends on where Farrell chooses to play Beirne. But there is a pretty reasonable argument that Izuchkuwu could be ahead for now - I don't think Prendergast has had an amazing start to the season.
Assuming POM doesn’t make it back for the NZ game and with Conan out, I’d be astonished if Baird isn’t in the 23.
I agree. He's not played much though. Baird is an athlete and I would say the most athletic 2nd row available.
Crowley has been poor. Beirne has been average, but both have credit.
Crowley has had 1 or 2 forgettable moments v the stormers, other than that he's been good this season.
Re Beirne....he's been v consistent for Munster this year & excellent v leinster, average he certainly isnt/wasn't this season so far
I’d like to see Crowley’s penalty kicks to touch get much closer to the corner flag - he has left the forwards with lots of work to do on several occasions (at both club and country). The place kicking should be fixable. Could just be confidence.
As a Munster & Irish fan who has seen a lot of Crowley play both live and on TV that's not something that I've noticed or see as an issue for him.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2024/1031/1478361-kelleher-boost-for-ireland-ahead-of-new-zealand-visit/
Potentially great news here
in the croke park game i think he was the better of the 10s, despite one shocker of a conversion
frawleys getting better but some of his kicking can be pretty aimless imo
I think Prendergast is already a better 10 than Frawley, and ought to be backed as such. Frawley could be a brilliant 12, wish they would just let him play there.
SP has looked decent against lower quality opposition imo, im not on his hype train quite yet though
i agree frawley is probably best suited elsewhere
I think Prendergast potentially has the best distribution game as a 10 of the three main guys in the Irish squad, but I wouldn't have him ahead of Crowley or Frawley on any other key metrics just yet.
What I'm really encouraged about is how composed and mature he was following his game against the Lions last week - he wasn't like a 21-year-old gushing at just being given the chance to start, he was sharply critical of some errors in his own performance.
The rumours from the squad and even ex-players are that he has a superb attitude, a great capacity to learn and a brilliant work ethic, and I think even season over season there are visible improvements to aspects of his game. It's hugely encouraging and if he keeps improving at that rate, I think he absolutely has the potential to be the #1 Irish 10 before too long (and I'm saying that as someone who is a big fan of the two other guys as well).
He makes the game look easy, gives himself so much time on the ball, which I've always thought is a hallmark of great players. He probably isn't as explosive of a player as the other two, but I think he is/ will prove to be the best at controlling the attack and unlocking defenses.
His rave reviews are almost as good as Harry Byrne's were.
Deep, deep insight there.
The obsession with Harry Byrne continues
Gosh,I'm so terribly sorry. You wouldn't think "maybe we should avoid getting carried away" would really have to be something we have to remind ourselves, but there you are.
Who's getting carried away?
People saying he's got very high potential and the capacity to potentially be the #1 Irish 10 within the next few years is hardly an outlandish statement. He already seems to be the #3 out half in the pecking order for Ireland based on the last two squads.
Of the two guys ahead of him - they're both really good rugby players, but neither is anything close to the finished article as a 10 either right now.
Getting carried away is suggesting Finn Smith is a potential Lion just because he looked good in Thomond park that one time!
Suggesting Prendergast has a very high ceiling isnt getting carried away, the dog on the street knows this. What it comes down to now is Prendergast living up to the billing.
Lets pretend that's what you were doing, sure pal.
People wouldn’t be upset if they genuinely thought it was just overblown hype. They’re only worried because he might actually be a very good player.
Why? What do you think I was doing?
Why the hell would I be worried that he'll be a great player? Presumably he'll play for the national team I support, Ireland? Sounds good to me.
I'm just pointing out that we've heard it all before, multiple times. Sometimes it's true, more often it's not. I referenced the hype Harry Byrne got as a note of caution. I've lost count of how many times Graham bloody Henry and whatever he said about Byrne got bandied about on here, and that's exactly what the posts above reminded me of.
Let's move on.
Graham Henry made that comment about Joey Carbery back in the day. It was BOD who overly bigged up Harry tbh.
Happy to be corrected.
About Carbery. Bloody hell.
let’s move on, says the guy who brought Harry Byrne into the conversation completely out of the blue just to start a row. Moving on is exactly what you should do.
Btw Graham Henry was talking about Carbery. Eight years ago. Eight.
But no, it’s the rest of us who need to move on.
Why would it start a row to mention Byrne? What would the row be? What would we be arguing about? What would the actual fight be about? "Oh my God - he mentioned Harry Byrne- FIGHT!"
I'm an Ulster supporter. There's no provincial element to it - neither Aidan Morgan nor Jake Flannery are getting anywhere near the Ireland jersey.
There's posters here getting very carried away with their self-righteous, back of a napkin, pop psychology.
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