Georgia have done themselves no favours in their bid to join the 6N some day.
I'd expected they'd at least have a decent crowd for a home game
Decent win for Ireland but Georgia were very poor. Even though they are a Tier 2 team, it’s surprising nonetheless to see a professional team not playing with modern attacking structure.
The irony of this post is that it’s as much an example of the issue with the discussion as those that you’re criticising.
Prendergast has never been so far ahead of Crowley that “it became clear he is our number 1 option”.
Ireland had a professional 2nd half, controlled and job done.
Georgia moaning about not being in the 6N… No longer ! Shocking
Coombes was excellent. The pick of the forwards and a MOTM contender. Carried and tackled all day as usual and got us over the gainline against a big Georgian pack. Won a turnover on the deck and also stopped a Georgian try. His passing was good too and he had two lovely offloads, one of which was the catalyst for Casey's score. Safe as a house on their restarts as well which weren't a given in the conditions.
Yep, thought Coombes was excellent especially in the first half. Timoney was equally good with Baird very close to both. Izzy didn't go as well as I'd hoped. TO'Bs tries got him MOTM.
Baird took 11 of our own lineouts and stole 3 Georgia lineouts. Not really sure I've seen someone take 14 lineouts in a game before.
I'd say he's only an injury away from a Lions call up. His last 3 performances between Leinster and Ireland have been very encouraging. You'd hope it has finally clicked for him in his head as has all the physical tools to be an elite forward.
Does anyone know what the craic is with Caspar Gabriel and when he's Irish eligible? Also, for anyone who has watched him, how good is he?
Not sure on the eligibility, thought he'd be clear for the u20s but seemingly not.
I've seen him a few times and he's impressive. Totally different to the other outhalves we have, very physical and loves to carry to the line. Probably takes a bit to much on himself. Decent boot and good defender.
No one is fully clear on Gabriel's eligibility because a) he was a student and b) he went home to Austria during Covid for a period. He's definitely not eligible yet, worst case scenario is that he would still be 4 years away but I believe the IRFU are working on it behind the scenes. Had hoped to have him for the JWC, but obviously that hasn't happened.
I'd imagine Farrell would love to have him at the moment. Think he's playing much better than any of his peers currently.
I'm wondering how Ireland would get on if they were in France's shoes this summer. France sending a weakened squad makes me think Ireland could have lined up some Tests against the All Blacks even with 16 or whatever the number is away with the Lions. And they'd have had a more legitimate reason for first choice players being unavailable. I haven't made a list of all the absent French frontliners, but it's probably close enough in number to the number of Ireland Lions players.
To bolster the squad against stiffer opposition Ireland could have selected a handful of more experienced players - a last hurrah for POM and Murray perhaps (Healy probably wouldn't have been necessary with Boyle, Milne and McCarthy good loosehead options). And if selecting for the here and now maybe Thomas Farrell would have made the cut. Others like Herring and Henshaw would possibly have made it back from injury too for a more prestigious series.
Some of the Ireland players with the Lions are poaches - Aki, Lowe, JGP - so them being unavailable would give a truer reflection of what the representative team should look like anyway. Irish rugby didn't create those players. And soon enough project players will largely be a thing of the past, so Ireland have to get used to standing on their own two feet without them.
I feel Ireland tours to tier two nations during Lions tours are a bit of a relic of when Ireland were a less good team. They're one of the big boys now, and who they face should reflect that. England usually tour Argentina during Lions tours. Ireland could take a step up and face bigger teams in the future - playing Australia during a Lions tour of NZ, for example.
But maybe two and three test tours down South will be a thing of the past once this new Nations Cup or whatever it's called comes in. I don't really know the details.
The depth in France - a country with 30 fully professional teams - and Ireland is not anywhere near on the same plane. There is a reason the SAANAR nations are all playing non-Lions teams.
I was surprised he wasnt at the JWC as i heard a Terenure lad saying he would be eligible this summer. I would say it will be 2026 at the latest. He can still play for Leinster i thought or is he classed as an NIQ so can only play in non-senior games.
NIQs can play in any game? Regardless, the NIQ designation is entirely an internal IRFU policy so they can designate him however they feel like.
The Terenure lad doesn't know, because nobody knows for sure at the moment. There was certainly a hope he would be eligible by now but clearly he isn't.
YeYeah That's what I thought. I thought they could have 5 total NIQ with one of them being a on a pathway to being Irish qualified. Leinster only has 3 NIQ for next year. Gabriel could be an NIQ on the pathway to Irish qualification.
Got around to seeing the Georgia game this evening.
I believe for a player to qualify under residency, its 5 years in country after they turn 18.
I think your over estimating how good a second string Ireland would really be. When we won the NZ tour our best team was playing at it's absolute peak. In more recent years Ireland A teams have been thrashed by England away and at home in the RDS by an Abs 15.
Moving away from touring the tier two counties during Lions years would be absolutely terrible for the game. If anything we should see more of it.
I thought so too, but Fabian Holland (age 22) is able to play for NZ so there must be some other angle
It was one of those days and games where a player was going to find it hard to shine, I didn't think the pecking order was going to change over the summer tours anyway but looking at the game on Saturday confirmed that. I thought Casey was MotM but you can see why they went for O'Brien. Sam mixed the poor and the good, the big no no from me was that he should never have put his foot in touch nor be that close to the line especially when no defender was in reach of him. We were rather lucky that the TMO called back two of their trys, it could have made a very different game of it had they scored them.
Poor Stockdale got a terrible injury, not having much luck either.
True. And both him and Anton Segner played NZ u20s.
Ok, I have no idea how residency qualification works for players that move as teenagers.
In August, World Rugby announced a change to Regulation 8 for national team eligibility that stated: “From August 1, 2024, any player with a genuine, close, credible and established link to a union is no longer required to complete 60 months [five years] of unbroken residency in the relevant country right up to the first time that player represents the union.“Under the revised approach ‘rugby registration” over a 60-month period will need to be demonstrated via registration with a rugby body, including a national union or club.“
In August, World Rugby announced a change to Regulation 8 for national team eligibility that stated: “From August 1, 2024, any player with a genuine, close, credible and established link to a union is no longer required to complete 60 months [five years] of unbroken residency in the relevant country right up to the first time that player represents the union.
“Under the revised approach ‘rugby registration” over a 60-month period will need to be demonstrated via registration with a rugby body, including a national union or club.“
From
https://www.thepost.co.nz/sport/350441206/highlanders-lock-fabian-holland-jumps-all-blacks-frame-after-world-rugby#:~:text=He%20was%20not%20expected%20to,has%20dramatically%20changed%20the%20picture.
Thanks. It makes it clear the 5 year rule doesn't apply anymore but its vague on what the qualifying criteria is. It seems that as long as they've been playing during their residency, then they become eligible.
I was pretty disappointed with the two locks too. They're both players that I like but it seemed like neither really made a big impact. Aherne came on and made three good carries that I noticed. and just seemed more aggressive. He probably deserves a start this week. Henderson might be alongside him then with Murray and Izuchuckwu competing for the bench spot.
Henderson is probably on the way out of Irish squads so we need one of those three to claim his place.
I'd imagine Crowley would have been on sooner if not for the Stockdale injury. Hopefully he gets the start this week now.
That makes much more sense.
Izuchukwu hasn't kicked on the way I'd hoped. Right now he reminds me a bit of Ryan Baird from a few seasons ago. He's an athletic freak that can make the big play, but if that doesn't pan out he's sort of just there. Will make tackles and a few ok carries. But won't have the impact you'd hope.
Baird appears to have improved a lot over the last 18 months or so in that regard. He's far more involved at the lineout and his tackle and ruck work is far more aggressive. Hopefully Izuchukwu follows suit.
Baird is playing extremely well at the minute, but the competition we thought there'd be for POM's jersey doesn't appear to have materialised. Nobody else has performed well enough other than the Leinster man. Cian Prendergast might be an option, but we don't know as he hasn't been well enough to make a start.
should help with casper gabriel as well, should he develop to test level.
Its situations like his, where he went home for a few weeks during covid, thus breaking his residency, which this amendment seems to try to deal with.
