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Ireland Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread IV

RoundBox11

Pairing Luke Marshall with Cave in the centre and Payne at fullback could be really good for the wolfhounds backline. They should know each other inside out. Then Gilroy could be on one wing.

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Clearlier

awec wrote: »

Here's the source btw: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/31327141

A wee bit of an Ulster bias in his analysis!

Micky Dolenz

Utah_Saint wrote: »

Former Ireland and Lions player Stephen Ferris:

"What England did at the Millennium Stadium was to beat Wales at their own game...Everyone likes to see England lose but I like to see Warren Gatland lose even more."

God i miss big Ferris....!

Did he really say that?

I dislike Gatland to my core and I can't pinpoint why.

awec

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Did he really say that?

I dislike Gatland to my core and I can't pinpoint why.

Yea he really said it.

errlloyd

thomond2006 wrote: »

Ferris has some kind of beef with Gatland?

Ferris has pretty much every kind of beef.

dtpc191991

I'm beginning to quite like Ferris as a sports journalist. At least he has the guile to be critical and give his honest opinion even if it totally constrasts the popular view or, in the case of the above Gatty comment, his view isn't PC.

Micky Dolenz

awec wrote: »

Yea he really said it.

Ha, that's deadly.

thomond2006

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Ha, that's deadly.

I suppose what's Gatland going to do, pick a fight with him? :pac:

b.gud

thomond2006 wrote: »

I suppose what's Gatland going to do, pick a fight with him? :pac:

I'd pay to see that fight

bilston

Clearlier wrote: »

A wee bit of an Ulster bias in his analysis!

Nothing wrong with that! He was probably being interviewed by BBC NI which would explain any focus on Ulster players.

Anyway Cave has been excellent for Ulster at 13, not sure about form centre in Europe mind, but that comment is probably a nod towards his performance against Leicester. I'm not sure too many other centres have scored more than 5 tries in Europe this season. If Cave had done that playing for Leinster or Munster the southern media would have gone into overdrive!! Ferris is just fighting his man's corner, and more power to him.

phog

On the subject of kicking as part of your game plan

Apologies to romantics, but the data shows the kicking game works ...
When I joined Saracens, one of the first things I did was to show that the coaches’ intuitions about what was the most effective style of rugby was supported by the data: on the whole, teams that use a kicking game more tend to be more successful.

rrpc

phog wrote: »

On the subject of kicking as part of your game plan

That was the article that Murray Kinsella referenced.

Morf

Deleted User wrote: »

The article was good (which I credited in my original post) save for the bad science (which I debunked and explained in my original post).
Again, maybe others feel it's nit picking, but personally, I don't like bad science creeping into analytics and reserve the right to debunk/call bull**** when it needs doing. That's how science works.

Is boards.ie rugby forum a valid platform for analytical peer review now? :P

total former

Nice piece on Joe Schmidt if you want something to read over lunch:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-union/31312194

Awesomeness

Trimble ruled out for the rest of the season. Thats a big blow fir him

vienne86

Awesomeness wrote: »

Trimble ruled out for the rest of the season. Thats a big blow fir him

Ah no - big blow for Ulster too. Gutted for the guy. Out for a season because of a broken toe? Who would have thought that?

bilston

Crap for Trimble, crap for Ulster and potentially crap for Ireland if iy affects his chances of making the WC.

ionadnapóca

bad news all round. he really did have a smashing 6N last year.
his injury got me thinking though about Irelands wingers and who possesses the greatest pace.
Would I be correct in saying Trimble would be the fastest over 90/100m and Earls from 0-40m? (Straight line speed)
Followed by: 90/100m McFadden? 0-40m Zebo?

davegrohl48

ionadnapokot wrote: »

bad news all round. he really did have a smashing 6N last year.
his injury got me thinking though about Irelands wingers and who possesses the greatest pace.
Would I be correct in saying Trimble would be the fastest over 90/100m and Earls from 0-40m? (Straight line speed)
Followed by: 90/100m McFadden? 0-40m Zebo?

Zebo you would imagine is quickest over all of those distances. Earls is quick over 40 as well, but I doubt he has the stride length to be impressive 40 - 100.
Zebo has a long sprinters stride.

MattD

I'll back Sean Cronin over 40m all day...

But Zebo definitely accelerates quickly with that stride. Would have considered him and Ferg to be the speedsters in the squad.

ionadnapóca

MattD wrote: »

I'll back Sean Cronin over 40m all day...

players must hold onto the ball!

MJohnston

Long term at this point, but if you were bringing a tourist to one of the home August internationals, which would you get tickets for?

Buer

MJohnston wrote: »

Long term at this point, but if you were bringing a tourist to one of the home August internationals, which would you get tickets for?

Any of them. The interest in them was extremely lukewarm last time and there was no difficulty getting tickets. Granted, we had just had a mediocre 6N but it's the height of summer, people are away and interest isn't really there. Neither home game last time (France and England) were sell outs.

If you're on the ball, I'm sure you'll pick up some in a public sale without too much difficulty.

dub_skav

MJohnston wrote: »

Long term at this point, but if you were bringing a tourist to one of the home August internationals, which would you get tickets for?

Just make sure you don't get your seats at the wrong end of the red carpet this time

MJohnston

Buer wrote: »

Any of them. The interest in them was extremely lukewarm last time and there was no difficulty getting tickets. Granted, we had just had a mediocre 6N but it's the height of summer, people are away and interest isn't really there. Neither home game last time (France and England) were sell outs.

If you're on the ball, I'm sure you'll pick up some in a public sale without too much difficulty.

I have a Supporters Club presale code, just trying to predict whether Wales or Scotland will be the more interesting team to play come August

I'm presuming that with the WC on the horizon, the teams will be more substantial than with regular friendlies.

Clearlier

MJohnston wrote: »

I have a Supporters Club presale code, just trying to predict whether Wales or Scotland will be the more interesting team to play come August I'm presuming that with the WC on the horizon, the teams will be more substantial than with regular friendlies.

I'd be more interested in watching the Scotland game as they're more likely to pose interesting problems than the Welsh who will try to be fitter and stronger.

durkadurka

I would guess the teams will get stronger as the games go on.

vienne86

I have one of those supporters club codes as well. My gut feeling is that tickets won't be that hard to come by, and anyway I don't feel like committing to going to a match at this stage.

shuffol

So with Heaslip seemingly ruled out for a while what do people see as the most likely backrow for the England game.
Henderson to 6 and POM to 8 or a straight swap with Murphy.

I'd go with the former myself, the Irish pack struggled with the physicality of France and for the 2nd game in a row a lack of ball carrying ability was an issue.

Pudsy33

I'd like to see Henderson too but I'll be very shocked if it's anything other then 6 POM 7 SOB 8 Murphy

matthew8

Given he gave Murphy a game against England last year and he's in good form I'd be surprised if Murphy doesn't start.