England v Ireland St Patricks Day 2012

teednab-el wrote: »

They had 2 NIQ,s? Still not all Irish right?

2 isn't "a lot"

[Quote=[Jackass];77647010]Tom Court
Leo Cullen
Gordon D'Arcy
Denis Hurley
Shane Jennings
Mike McCarthy
Donnacha O'Callaghan
Ronan O'Gara
Tomas O'Leary
Paddy Wallace
(add Wallace etc. who were not involved through injury to that list...dare I say O'Driscoll also, just to move us on, and the man hasn't got much rugby left in him, maybe one more season...)

These are all players who were in the Irish squad for this six nations. Some are not good enough any more, some were never good enough, and some are still good, but are too old and it's time to move on and build for the future.

None of the above players should be involved in international rugby again and should just focus on their provincial / club rugby.

Declan Kidney needs to do the honourable thing, and take responsability and pass on the tourch, no hard feelings.

A core squad needs to be built, with caution to the wind, and start young players, focus international camp coaching on them, and get them up to speed. Munster have shown that intensive coaching can get a lot out of perhaps not the most naturally gifted players, but you can teach a lot in rugby, and Axel Foley has done a great job at this in particular, and guys like Zebo has been focused on as he has something you can't teach, blistering pace, and he's learning the rest as he goes along and improving.

The squad to focus on:

Loose Head: Healy, Wilkinson, McGrath
Hooker: Best, Cronin, Strauss, Varley, Sherry
Tight Head: Ross, Hagan, Archer
Second Row: O'Connell, Ryan, Toner, Caldwell, Tuhoy, Nagle, Flanagan
Blind Side: Ferris, Ruddock, McLoughlin
Open Side: O'Brien, O'Mahony, Dom Ryan
Number 8: Heaslip, Henry
Scrum Half: Reddan, Boss, Paul Marshall, Murray, Luke McGrath
Out-Half: Sexton, Madigan, Keatley, Jackson
Centre: McFadden, O'Malley, Macken, Cave, Griffen, Spence, Whitten, Luke Marshall
Wing: Earls, Trimble, Bowe, Zebo, D. Kearney, Fitzgerald, Gilroy, O'Halloran, Carr
Full-Back: Rob Kearney, F. Jones, Conway

I know some of these players are yet to produce much at PRO12 level, but we need to get them in training camp, guys like Luke McGrath, or Nagle, Flanagan, Archer etc., but we need to identify the most promising players in the country, from an early age, and really try and refine their skills, that's not to say they'll start or even be in a match day 22, at least not until their ready, but we need to throw some lads in the deep end, and really go for broke and try and build a brand new team around the bones of the past.

We have such a cynical view of youth and international rugby in this country, but guys who do it at domestic level in England, Wales and France always excell and make that step up to international level. The gap between domestic and intenrational level isn't what it used to be, and if you can shine at that level you deserve a chance at the next level.

Some people might think names on that list are madness, but I'd look for wholesale changes, and really go on a hiding to nothing in New Zealand, and throw some lads in and make them fight for a place, and put the older lads out to pasture now.....it's over, their chance has come and gone, after over a decade of chances in some cases, and their time has now passed.

I'd certainly look to build a new squad and get them used to system and ready to step in, and it will help them to develop at their clubs too. But most importantly, I'd get an impartial, ambitious, Southern Hemisphere coach....I wont make a suggestion, as I never heard of Schmidt before he became Leinster coach, so I do believe those superb coaches are out there, it's not my job to find them, but they are out there.[/Quote]


Why this idea is so far out it might actually be of benefit to the national team!!

Given the games we have left and our position in the rankings in a world cup seeding year. I'm not overly optimistic anything is going to change any time soon. I dont expect any results either. Probably be lucky to remain in the top 8th.