The day I got mine there wasn't. Very few.
Yeah, this is what I would say too. Nash was very solid in the shirt and showed he can do it at that level, but he just likes that very slight spark that Hansen has.
I agree he is, but it’s questionable if we needed specific lock cover when we’ve three in the pack. I think the fact Baird has missed a lot of time / form hasn’t been great was the bigger factor, and didn’t see him springing Izuchukwu for a debut here in this game.
Hopefully Henderson goes well when he gets on though.
Who is covering 8 on the bench
It's an awful conservative bench with no ball carrying option to come on for the back row
No one. But you generally can't cover an entire backrow from the bench and Doris isn't leaving the pitch unless he loses a leg.
If Henderson comes on at 6 he is most definitely a ball carrying option in the backrow. But I'm not sure what else you'd suggest?
Yeah, this is where we rely on Conan.
To be fair, Izuchukwu would certainly be a bigger carrying threat than POM coming on at 6 and I hope we see him there against Argentina. But it was never likely against the ABs and I understand why.
Henderson has been so brainless with penalties of late, really not thrilled to see him on the bench
Coombes, Deegan, Prendergast, Izuchukwu, McCann... We've no shortage of them, just decided not to pick any.
He's a little fortunate to be on the bench.
One very good game for Ireland, maybe two, both against Scotland, in the last 3 years.
His performance against SA in the world cup is what Ireland want.
didn't he give away a penalty at the end of that game?
Had completely discounted Henderson. Glad he's showing enough to make this matchday 23. Would have preferred Prendergast or Izuchukwu plus Baird instead of POM. Henshaw not fully fit ?. Surprised also to see Herring included, super player but match fit ?. Had reckoned on Heffernan on the bench. Mobility will be key in the last 30mins in what is going to be an attritional game.
Must be the oldest bench we have ever selected bar Osbourne at 22. Frawley and o toole are 26 with low cap numbers but the other 6 are all over 32.
Farrell was never going to rotate too much for the NZ game but hopefully we get a look at a few younger, less experienced players over the next 3 games if they have put their hand up in training.
Interesting to hear nz coach Jason Holland say Ireland doesn't have many superstar players on the Ian smith show. Fairly disrespectful by the ex Munster man
You need to put it in context
You failed to mention he said ireland are a pretty complete team with an awesome 23.
Re superstars he is correct, we dont have a Dupont, B'oD was the last true superstar we had imo.
So what team has superstars if Ireland don't
So you don't think Keenan, Doris and Sheehan are top of the tree?
I would have said Sexton was a superstar of world rugby.
I'd agree with what Holland was saying. The Irish team don't seem to have an X factor player who can't dominate or turn a game. They've got very good players who work hard, play well together and can collectively dominate. I think Hansen is the closest to it but his body of work at international level is possibly too small. Sheahan could possibly be that sort of player but he's not in the side Stockdale looked like he was going to be a superstar but injuries and form stopped him.
Being too literal taking it as a jibe, I think it more likely that the original quote was highlighting a team where no one player stuck out, that if marked out of it the rest of the team wouldn't be able to trouble a defence. Basically that there was no obvious weakness for them to target.
France..Dupont, Penaud at times.
NZ...B Barrett in previous form
Not as many "Superstars" as we would think
Ireland have many v good players & collectively it makes us what we are,but not superstars in the global sense
Top class players absolutely....superstars...no
Jgp is supposed to be the second best 9 in the world maybe the Uruguay 9 is better. Aki is a superstar he was up for world player of the year. jvf won it. Beirne is one of the best players in the game look at Munster without him. Doris is probably the best 8 in the world. Hanson is probably a superstar. If Eddie jones said Ireland had no superstars everyone would be saying it is disrespectful and it is. Just because Holland has Munster links people will downplay it
Doris, Furlong, Sheehan, JVP, Hansen, Aki, Keenan are all Superstars of rugby
I would even say a few more like Henshaw/Ryan/Healy etc would be close to them as well
Sexton of course was our mega star who retired and Paulie before him, BOD etc
Munster links...you are really grasping at this now, you took one quote of what he said out of context, you didn't get a unanimous " isn't that shameful outa him" response....stop digging
If jones had said it I would say the same....taken outa context
Diff of opinion with regards to what are great players & superstars at present.
You've rattled of 7 of the irish team as superstars...none are a Dupont level superstar.
Superstar is banded about a bit too loosely as well imo
No one in world rugby is a Dupont level superstar. That is clearly an absurd level. There is no universe where Sexton was not a superstar either.
Anyway, I agree with the general point that he is just trying to say Ireland don't rely on a single player.
"none are a DuPont" Correct
But Ireland is the number 1 team in the World, we have managed to stay number 1 in the World for longer than any NH team ever. The only country which has stayed longer is NZ
In the World of rugby the players I listed out are Superstars.
DuPont is a level above everyone else but that doesn't mean everyone else isnt a superstar
his point is valid. Rugby doesn’t have any superstars at the mo and Dupont hasn’t played an international in nearly 2 years so he might as well be retired. Ireland have several players who are top 2 or 3 in the world in their position but the don’t rise to superstar level. SA are double World Cup winners and even they don’t have any truly outstanding generational type players. Maybe Kolbe but would you put him on a level with Habana or Lomu or even Blanco? BB had a few years where he was a superstar, BoD maybe similar, but these payers are rare and we are in a period wheee there aren’t really any.
Define superstar?
Its one of the dumbest and subjective arguments ive ever seen so I would like to know what I'm fighting before stating my opinion.
players who transcend the game and are known beyond it. Pretty obvious.there aren’t any today imo.
I'm absolutely certain that is not what Holland meant because that has zero relevance to the actual game on the pitch.
Also basically no one in rugby has ever been known "beyond the game" except maybe Jonah Lomu. It's not a remotely useful definition.
