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

Confidence and gametime, it doesn't require evidence to prove an opinion.

You asked “when have we travelled to Aus/Nz/SA and left a raft of first team players behind” - we don’t do this for a variety of reasons:

A. What would be the point? We’d get hammered.
B. It would do nothing for the confidence of the players involved

C. We’d stop being invited in time for those tours if that’s how we used them, as there isn’t much for the hosting team to sell tickets on.

We did send a pretty highly rotated squad to South Africa in 2016 I think, but I think if we sent the squad we sent to Georgia to NZ or SA they’d ship 50 points.

I'm quite happy with that team selection, looks like Doris is being primed to be the backup no.7. That's down to others not forcing their way into selection contention. It's a bit of a worry all the same, we've heaps of good 6/8 players but only one real option at 7.

Also glad to see we've moved on from Henderson. Great servant to Irish rugby but his time has passed. We're looking thin at 2nd row though, it appears as if Baird is the back up lock to the main pair. Will mean he will be playing 80 mins quite frequently. He's well able for it at least.

Henshaw at 13 is somewhat unavoidable, it's either him or Tom Farrell. Ringrose is not available. It's probably our weakest position going forward.

Not sure about Hansen at FB. His defence was appalling on the wing in the 6N just gone. But he will be a threat on kick return.

Aki in the 23 jersey needs to stop. He was brutal vs. NZ. And only plays 1 position. That should have been JOB for this game. It means that Crowley is likely to come on at 15 in this game unless Stu McC goes off injured. And worse, both Aki at 12 and Henshaw at 13 to finish the game out is a frightening prospect, we'd be badly caught for pace in midfield.

This team is in flux unfortunately, at least thats happening now and not in 2 years time.

Edit: Gus McC should have gotten the 16 jersey too. Ronan Kelleher hasn't helped our lineout woes at all of late.

…or Beauden Barrett's kicking in the same game…

Yes it is an obvious point, but nobody is trying to dress up Prendergast's weaknesses and using it to make his performance sound better than it actually is.

The post being responded to was trying to make Crowley out to have played better than he did against New Zealand. That's the difference here. His kicking from hand was absolutely appalling.

I'll reiterate my previous point that the two are bang average at the moment for top tier 1 test rugby, and the sooner we can all accept that, instead of having this pissing contest any time one or the other are picked, the better.

The post being responded to was trying to make Crowley out to have played better than he did against New Zealand. That's the difference here. 

The post you're talking about says the following.

Crowley was not "very poor" in that NZ game - he was average at worst

It's hardly claiming he played exceptionally, even if you disagree. And the poster I responded to was banging on about "AIL levels".

Now, which of those claims is more reasonable? That's the real difference here.

There was about a 5 minute spell in the first half where he put a kick out on the full, then missed touch with a penalty, then pulled off his trademark move of bombing and up-and-under about 20m too long into their 22, you'd have needed Usain Bolt on the field to have any chance at a chase, but as it was it's just an easy mark as it went so long. He did that a couple more times in the game as well. Not to mention the grubbers that you highlight. His kicking from hand was, indeed, appalling.

I think Ahern could put his hand up here, it's a shame he was ruled-out thru injury vs Japan, and he fits that mould of being able to cover lock and 6 which is useful. He's really improved his tight work recently, for me, and could be an obvious asset with the lineout issues we're having.

with Ahern & EdEd, Munster have an exciting future in those positions (if they can remain fit for a decent length of time)