I do think its a bit unfair to heap it all on Porter. I do agree in that he isnt helping himself with 'the pictures' (technique: elbow, angle)
Sheehan has to shoulder a bit of the blame. As do the TH and Locks but mostly this is a coaching issue carried over from the provinces and we aren't seeing an improvement when they are with Ireland.
Looking at the scrums v England. Genge getting away with murder (again) coming in on Furlong. Essentially getting away with what Porter is continually getting penalised for!
In recent years Ireland have started the 6N very well compared to other teams before things level out towards the final round or 2.
It was often pointed out that this was in large part because the sizable contingent from Leinster were used to playing together and the club vs country playing style weren't a million miles removed from each other.
So it's perfectly logical to "blame" (he's responsible for winning games with Leinster only) JN for our lack lustre start this year as the 2 systems are no longer interchangeable.
The return to form against England is probably due to time spent running reps of the AF system
I'd love to see Porter move back to tighthead. His issues regarding the picture he shows (his bind & stepping out) would be removed from scrummaging at 3. It might force him to scrummage straight and use his huge power. He played at tighthead recently and said it felt easy but very taxing on the legs. He has huge stamina so I'd imagine he adjust fairly quickly.
I dunno, what teams in this highly competitive championship are going to be playing 4 different no.10s in rotation across the 5 games? That's not a realistic expectation. Jack and Sam will share the minutes and rightly so. Better to have the 2 front runners dividing the playing responsibilities between them rather than diluting it across 4 players.
I expect Wales to pick Nicky Smith at LHP and go after our scrum for the first 50-60 mins. They've played Rhys Carré in the last 2 games for his carrying but I expect that to change. Smith is a very good scrummager.
Harry is the only 10 to be sent back to his province. The chances of him being anywhere for Wales are slim and it just doesn't make sense. Jack and Sam are the two frontrunners and Frawley is the squad cover.
But that fits the anti-nienaber narrative, by the way i'm not so sure AF deserves all the credit. Rightly or wrongly he'll he judged on 2 RWC performances in 2023 and 2027 much like schmidt was previously.
That’s what I would do. Keep the ball away from Ireland’s backs, make it a scrummaging contest and hope for a card.
We need somebody to own the 10 jersey. Neither of the two you mention seem capable of that so giving others a chance to stake their claim is a good idea.
Ah look, we do not have an outstanding ten at the moment but we do have 2-4 very capable guys who can do a satisfactory job depending on form and the game we are playing. Crowley on Saturday did grand, a few mistakes that didn’t cost us dearly and a lot of stuff that kept us moving in right right areas and decent decisions. Competition for that spot will give us the best out of that group, maybe one of them will pull ahead but for the moment none clearly the incumbent.
Last year Clarkson had a bad day at the office, i think it was his first start but has improved since, it's not relevant this year as Furlong will likely to start. I would be looking for changes elsewhere in the team to play Wales but not in the front row although he could start Kellegher.
When a team and bench perform so well, is it not a just reward to select the same again for the next match, except for any injuries?
So, the only change might be Lowe out, so O’Brien to start and Stockdale 23.
Personally I would rotate starters and benchers a bit, to start Kelleher, Bealham, Timoney and Conan.
Freshens up the team a bit while rewarding most of the performers from last weekend.
I’d have an urge to bring in Izuchukwu for Beirne just to see what he can do, Beirne has nothing to prove at this stage against Wales, and Izuchukwu looked assured and composed against Italy, so would be good to see if he can reproduce that level again.
Stuart McCloskey has been our best player this championship so far in my humble opinion, but, would it be worth saving him for Scotland and bringing in Aki for the Wales match? I don’t know, I’d be going 100% for the Scotland match, so if could rest a few front-liners v Wales it would stand us in good stead for the last round where we should be going for a Triple Crown and possibly even a Championship if Scotland or England could catch France on the hop!
Wales is the perfect game to integrate a few players into the 23 to get them game time in an important match. Guys like Izuchukwu, Bryne, Doak, Poatlewaithe, Ward could all potentially be given a chance without weakening the team.
You ask if things should be left the same after a great performance and the suggestion I get is that you are in favour of that and I am too.
You then go on to say there should be changes. So which is it, reward everybody who played great or make changes?
I don't know mccloskey personally, but I'd be fairly certain he would tell farrell to fxgk off if he decided to rest for wales. He's done enough resting the past 10 years. He should go till he stops.
If anything I'd leave either farrell or postlewaite at 23 and take mccloskey off after game is won.
Aki is a empty vessel at this stage. I'd probably prefer to see henshaw in the squad ahead of him.
Andy Farrell offered £1.2m pa package from Saracens post World Cup apparently from Ruaidhri O’Connor
That sounds like crazy money
I dont follow rugby super closely - but question for ye, has Aki ever played as well for Ireland as McCloskey has the past few games? Or even Henshaw or Ringrose for that matter.
He has been absolutely outstanding.
I meant Andy Farrell could select pretty much the same 23 and we couldn’t really complain,
But, if I were in charge I would be tempted to mix around the 23 and maybe bring in one or two and rest one or two.
There’s only one rest week so it will be a bit more gruelling than other years.
My expectation is that the usual team will be selected and again against Scotland except for injuries.
I think there’s more scope than usual to rotate due to there being one less rest week, and Wales should be the easiest team to beat while we are playing at home.
Aki was player of the tournament at the RWC2023.
Henshaw and Ringrose have had purple patches, though it's hard to recall either of them being especially excellent in the last three years or so.
Definitely Big Stu's time now though.
Short answer - yes.
McCloskey has been outstanding but that should not detract from the achievements of Aki, Henshaw or Ringrose.
Tbh, Crowley's last 2 performances are as close as we've seen to someone owning the jersey in a long time. He deserves to to be backed and start the next 2 games at a minimum, imo.
There's rewarding players who played well last time, but it's also the Wales game which is surely earmarked as the game to give gametime to fringe players.
They can afford to experiment more against Wales than Scotland. So I expect some rotations, but I wouldn't see them as droppings.
He deserves to own the 10 jersey for sure, but both he and Sam remain flawed and there isn'ta whole lot between them. Look back at the full game in Twickenham, there was a lot of both good and bad from Crowley. The fact that we were dominant in collisions, were clinical with try scoring and hige defence in the first 20 mins or so had a huge amount to do with how we all feel about his performance.
It was far from a perfect performance from Crowley, but I think it's fair to say it was also very encouraging, and showed a level of improvement at the things that he's normally criticised for not providing.
Jack was good against England. But the main thing he did was just let JGP cook. He didn't do anything especially impressive himself. He just kept the attack flowing. With Sam's poor performance Jack deserves to retain the starting spot. But I don't think there was anything in his performance to say that he is now the owner of the 10 jersey. He still had some poor kicks, missed a bunch of tackles and threw an intercept. Besides the 2 props he was probably out performed by every other Irish player on the pitch.
Besides the 2 props he was probably out performed by every other Irish player on the pitch.
Even if we grant you this, it's all relative; another (more positive) way of framing this would be saying "Jack's 8 out of 10 performance was eclipsed by all the 9+ out of 10 performances".
Such were the performances elsewhere, it doesn't really cap his performance.
But I don't think there was anything in his performance to say that he is now the owner of the 10 jersey.
Fundamentally disagree with this tbh, particularly when you consider Sam's form, for example.
I wasn't trying to be very negative on Jack's performance. Like I said, he played well. But I think with the performance of every other player around him I think Sam/Harry/Frawley could have had a similar game.
Considering Sam's form is why I said Jack deserves to retain the jersey for the remainder of the competition. I just don't think there was anything in the performance to put the question to bed of who is Ireland's starting 10 leading up to the World Cup.
there is a massive gulf between Crowley and Prendergast. Stop with the nonsense talk
I'd prefer Harry Byrne to both of them.
As for this gap you mention. If you are basing it solely on Prendergast's last two games then yes there is a gap but prior to that there was nothing between them. It was simply a case of whether you wanted a good defensive out-half, Crowley, or offensive one, Prendergast.
Neither of them are good enough and imo never will be.
Byrne is not the answer either but for me he's more balanced, not as good defensively as Crowley or offensively as Prendergast but I think he's a safer bet.
