How would you know who he was if I didn't mention him? I think you'll find I did mention him.
You're claiming Dan Kelly is a cert to start 12 at the RWC based on one game for Munster against Leinster.
Nobody else here is making any such assertions about any other player.
I'm not saying Kelly won't be the starting 12, but to say anyone is a cert at this stage, based on one game, is bordering on ridiculous.
Just for clarity Kelly had nearly played 100 times for Leicester, starting the vast majority of those games at 12
He's also played to CC level
I get what you are saying re Paddy Mc, yes Kelly has roughly the same minutes as Paddy Mc this season but he is not starting from the same base in his carrier as Mccarthy
That's fine and that's a better argument to make than to talk about how 'huge' he was against Leinster, which is what the OP said. Even at that, nobody can say anyone is a cert at this stage. I'm not trying to knock Kelly here as I like him as a rugby player and he could very well be the starting 12 come 2027. However, to call it a cert 2 years out (and based on one game against Leinster, which the OP was doing) is ridiculous carry on.
Paddy McCarthy was only brought up because Shooter McGavin is trying to deflect from how silly the original post was.
I actually thought you were a better quality poster than to chime in with that
I hadn't seen the injury update from Murray Kinsella's twitter account
Hopefully this is the reason Ahern wasn't selected.
Would be nice if our national team coach did press conferences to explain his selections…
One stat you left out was that he got capped once for England and never again, eventually moving on four years later.
Now maybe Borthwick and Eddie Jones couldn’t see what they had on their hands, just like Farrell can’t, or maybe we should chill a bit until we see some more of Kelly.
??
Where do you think Murray Kinsella got his information?
Have you got the link to that press conference?
...
From the previous page.
There was a snippet from the press conference on one of the radio stations today, Andy was asked about & spoke on Tom Farrell's selection for his first cap
YouTube > IrishRugby
To be fair, there was a period there where they would drop the team without doing a press conference. It was a bit weird. (or maybe I am thinking of squads).
He may be 30 but he has far less mileage on the clock than VDF if you think about Test caps, summer tours, playing knockout rugby for province at the tail end of the season. He has a big advantage in that he has size, could be useful against bigger teams having a powerful 112kg man playing 7.
Honestly what the **** is Farrell at? Playing slow as milk churning Henshaw, him and Aki's legs are gone and both should be left out of the team, are bench is compromised having to accommodate them. Hugh Gavin, Kelly etc need to be given a chance and consistent gametime. I don't know what the coaches are seeing but Henshaw was bad last season as well, can't pass when running at pace, no creativity and his slowness is so visible that his strong defensive game is gone and teams will exploit it.
Do we really need to play Porter again? This is the perfect game to start other players and feed some into the Australia game. We're far too conservative with selection, the joke of playing Healy/O'Mahony last season still irritates me.
I remember the Ward-Campbell debate back in the mists of time. That was a bit different in that Ward had already raised the bar considerably.
Quoting my post from a couple of weeks ago because I thought at the time that Boyle was being done a disservice but now I think he has been screwed. He hasn't played in a month already and will be completely cold if thrown in against Aus or SA. He most likely won't be involved in those games, outside of Farrell's hand being forced by injury, so would go 7 weeks without a game. That's not how you develop props.
I know people will say being part of the squad is great experience but that's not the kind of experience he needs. As a young LHP, he needs to be playing, game time anywhere would be better than holding tackle bags as third choice.
On the rest of the team, Osborne being wasted at 15 again. Delighted for Tom Farrell but he's not a long term option, I'd prefer to see Hume/Postlewaite involved as I think they could take the jersey from Ringrose.
Yes v Canada.
I'm not advocating him as a cert in WC just pointing it out he has a body of work done...not just the club minutes he has played here, therefore if he goes well its not inconceivable he could slot straight in.
Thats a v different scenario to comparing him to the minutes paddy mc has
Oh dear
Andy Farrell said in his press conference yesterday (Murray Kinsella has it in a piece on the squad today) that Ryan Baird has bulked up to around 120kg this season (his playing weight last season was listed at 112kg).
That's huge size to put on, and it looks very much like he's retained his speed and explosiveness.
There's a strong argument he's the very best pure athlete in Irish rugby IMO; his issue in the past was games could pass him by and he just didn't seem to have the requisite rugby IQ to reach the next level. Something seemed to click for him at the back end of last season, and he's carried that good form into this season. Excited to see him keep going now.
Think he had 2 lineout steals last weekend, he still had the spring to get up off the ground. Really hope he doesn't lose that. 120kg is absolutely massive.
Nearly 19 stone in old money. Good grief.
Farrell was also asked about Stockdale's return from the wilderness, he made a couple of references to Stockdale maturing and "having a word with himself", thought that was interesting.
It's actually pretty informative if people give it ten minutes of their time instead of just defaulting to slagging Farrell off.
That's great work if true.
I wouldn't expect him to maintain the sane explosiveness or quickness if he's bulked up thet much. I certainly wouldn't expect him to be as explosive for as long in matches either. But that extra muscle will bring great benefits in other parts of his game. Swings and roundabouts.
He doesn't look like he's lost much pace or agility, but he certainly made a big impact last weekend so good on him.
Stockdale played in the Autumn last year, so he was back in the fold at that point to some degree at least, and (typically) got injured again. I think people seem to have forgotten that.
I could see him becoming an important player for us in the medium-term, he's a good age profile and I've been very impressed by his work-rate, and especially his tackle technique. (There's been a few occasions over the few matches this season where he's chopped guys down, stopping them dead).
He responded well to that first lineout mis-fire to be fair, which seems like it was called on him. He needs to put a run of games like this together, imo to really grab hold of that 6 jersey.
mod edit
What the actual f*ck are you talking about?
I don't need to Google Dan Kelly. I judge my rugby players on actually watching them and not just reading off the internet.
You made the ridiculous claim that he's a cert to start at 12 at the World Cup in 2 years time and you cited one game against Leinster as your evidence, and then you started harping on about Paddy McCarthy as a deflection tactic because you seem to be of the opinion that others are making the same claims when they are not.
"Up in arms" - ah, so now you're putting words in my mouth. Nobody is up in arms. It a stupid statement to make and I was having a discussion with others about it. You're the one who seems to want to make it into something it's not.
As for saying it's 'very hard to take anything you say seriously' - you must be talking to yourself there mate, because this started with you making a ridiculous claim that Dan Kelly is a 'cert' to start at 12 at the next World Cup in 2 years time based on just one game.
