Ireland V Australia. Saturday 15th Nov. Build up thread

Wilson in his post match interview after the argentina test in reference to the final 20 minutes:

“There's a lot of belief there we could get the job done and 'Rabs' [James O’Connor] was a real calm voice there in the end, telling us what to do and everyone just listened to him and did that."

Honestly, the biggest positive was that he came on for Tane — who’d been a bit of a liability. JOC steadied things.

Not sure what way Schmidt lines them up this weekend. JOC started and played the full 80 against South Africa and they won. Then benched for three straight? Age and playing abroad definitely count against him.

A bit fearful of this weekend in fairness, I also think with ikitau coming in will be another massive boost.

yep… incredible set of fixtures.. they should be purring by now..

My view is that we should be starting the team we think is going to start the first match of the next world cup. As close as possible including subs…

We have already guartaneaed or top seeding in the next RWC as of last week… We have only 19 matches (I think) to the next RWC. 10 of them are 6 Nations which pay us more money that the RWC, so financially we can't risk that much on those games…

Prizemoney for RWC 2023

Six Nations 2025 Prize Money (Estimated)

The stakes are high, and the rewards are even higher. Here’s the breakdown of the 2025 prize pot:

• Winners: £6.5m
• Runners-up: £3.5m
• Third Place: £2.5m
• Fourth Place: £2m
• Fifth Place: £1.5m
• Sixth Place: £1m

Grand Slam Bonus: A cool £1 million awaits any nation that wins all five games, as Ireland did in 2023. If no one claims the Grand Slam, the extra cash is evenly split among the teams. This what pays for IRish rugby.

So you get as much for coming third in 6 Nations as getting the final of the RWC… And the 6 Nations is every year.

This is why we have really only 9 games to play with until we pick the RWC squad and then warm up games… So we need to prep now..

Whether it means anything or not, Sam Prendergast, Aki and Clarkson were on media duty yesterday.

Please say Cian Prendergast is also on the bench? Ian Henderson offers nothing at this level

It’s the Henshaw at 13 selection that frustrates me most there.

I’m not as down on him as some, and thought he was decent last weekend (especially defensively), but whatever he might still have to offer at 12, he just isn’t a viable option at 13 IMO.

Jude Postlethwaite was never going to happen (but it’s the pick I’d have loved to see), but thought Farrell might have gotten another chance.

Answer is why?

We can play our best teams against Boks and 6 Nations…

In fairness they are giving the front rows chances and getting them in there… We have an issue with the ages of our Inside Centres, Ringrose is our only experienced 13.

We loose next to nothing if we loose the game and we have limited opportunities to bring guys through… We could starting two centres that won't make the RWC against the Aussies…

n

i don’t disagree w your general point about rotation, but there’s no chance losing to Oz sees us dropping out of the top 6 for WC, and it’s unlikely to see us even drop in rankings. Rankings are meaningless anyway, except for WC seeding.

I think Crowley is a better player, but to be fair to SP he did play well when he came on last week. If they are going to give both players reasonable opportunities including off the bench then I am ok with that, but I also worry about defense against South Africa.

What worries me is that they are very different types of players and to get the most out of them you need to have players around them that suit the game plan.