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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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total former

thomond2006 wrote: »

Earls and Fitzgerald have both put their hand up. I'd be happy with either to displace Payne.

A couple more performances from D'Arcy like last night and he might come into the frame, maybe shift Henshaw to 13.

Not advocating dropping Payne but would like to see a couple more combinations tried.

thomond2006

I've said previously that I would pick Earls ahead of Zebo on the wing but Zebo has played well for Ireland so far so I hope he isn't displaced. Zebo's abilities in the air also suit the current gameplan which involves a lot of kick chases.

irishbucsfan

thomond2006 wrote: »

Earls and Fitzgerald have both put their hand up. I'd be happy with either to displace Payne.

They're both such great players. Overall I'm just happy to have them back and fit. I'd have Earls in that 23 jersey myself (I still worry about Fitz' fitness).

thomond2006

Earls and Fitzgerald have both put their hand up. I'd be happy with either to displace Payne.

Morf

bilston wrote: »

Go over to the weather forum and they'll tell you anything over 5 days is fantasy island forecasting.

Chaos theory.

bilston

dtpc191991 wrote: »

Long range forecasts predicting light rain and sunny spells on the Sunday of the England game. I know these things aren't very accurate this far put but the BBC are normally pretty good at it.

Go over to the weather forum and they'll tell you anything over 5 days is fantasy island forecasting.

I'm not sure what suits us best to be honest. The wet might suit their big pack, but then their backs are looking sharp so maybe a dry track will suit them too.

dtpc191991

Long range forecasts predicting light rain and sunny spells on the Sunday of the England game. I know these things aren't very accurate this far put but the BBC are normally pretty good at it.

stephen_n

Typical Francis, a reasonable piece of analysis completely overshadowed by a load of BS. Clearly chasing the following of those who think Basteraud tried to headbutt Sexton :rolleyes: Basteraud was definitely guilty of leading with the elbow a couple of times during the game but any suggestion that he deliberately targeted Sextons head is just total crap. Kind of ironic since Franno would never have been known as a particularly clean player.

.ak

Both the tackler and the carrier can dictate a lot of things. One thing I've always took from training is my coach telling me to 'take contact on your terms', be it as a defender or the carrier it rings true. As a carrier I'll always try to get my head and shoulders lower then theirs, keeping the ball away from the tackle and leading with the shoulder. Protects your head and the ball.

rrpc

total former wrote: »

I don't think 'Yeah_Right' was criticising Sexton for making the tackles or for being macho, just for his technique. The point is that Neil Francis was blaming Bastareaud for charging into Sexton when the fault actually lies with Sexton for going in too high.

Overall, I'd say the above post is 100% wrong in literally every point it makes.

Not sure why the ball carrier should be criticised for going in too high. Bastereaud was the tackler in that instance, does he not dictate the height of the tackle?

.ak

It would seem that way, yes.

rrpc

.ak wrote: »

Yeah but they wouldn't get anything done. They'd just been on a constant roll over.

Are you talking to yourself?

.ak

Yeah but they wouldn't get anything done. They'd just been on a constant roll over.

.ak

There was no medical person, I thought that much was clear.

BoardsMember

Neil Frances wrote:

On Saturday night somebody in the medical/psychology field made a point to me about the clash of heads between Sexton and Bastareaud in the 44th minute which drew blood. This was one of four dangerous contacts between the players.

The point was that Bastareaud had closed his eyes two to three feet before his head hit Sexton's. The issue here is that at that distance it is too soon to be a reflex action - a blink reflex happens at about six inches. The inference being that at two or three feet out you already knew what you were about to do.

This is wrong on so many levels.

What you were about to do - this is such a prejudiced was to look at it. What was about to happen is a more even minded evaluation.

They clashed heads because Johnny's head was not in the right place to avoid clashing, Bastareaud did nothing to contribute to it happening except run at Johnny with his head on his shoulders.

Bastareaud likely saw a big hit coming, or maybe he even saw the clash coming, and that's why he closed his eyes. It's completely irrelevant when he closed them, or whether it was a reflex or not.

Besides, distance has nothing to do with reflex, it's speed & distance. Who was this tulip of a doctor/psychology person.

Francis is indeed an attention tart.

ionadnapóca

shuffol wrote: »

I was surprised Sexton's failure to pass there didn't get more attention after the game, that was a far more certain score than the pass to Payne off the maul later in the game.

Had to be down to his rustiness. Bit of confidence required to pass it out off his weaker side in that situation perhaps? Bit more game time and he should be ready to rumble v Eng. In last years game he shipped a knock to the head (oops!) early in the 2nd half, I think headbutted Robshaws back! Immediately kicked a touch finder penalty 10 yards, then through a forward pass and kicked out on the full after Englands try. Admittedly he kicked a good penalty in between all of that. But he made a good few errors in the 2nd half, at some point he had banjaxed his thumb.
Hopefully he goes well at the wkend and he will be back flinging the passes out to Henshaw & Payne to.....

.ak

Nobody is criticising Sexton for making the tackles. He's probably the best defending outhalf in NH, the issue is his technique is awful and we've seen why you shouldn't tackle like that - your head is very vulnerable.

total former

TommyOM wrote: »

Jesus wept so Sexton gets criticized for actually making the tackles? We had an outhalf for Ireland for years who used to sit down before impact or not even attempt the tackles and it was a huge weakness for Ireland. Now we get an outhalf who is up there with Wilkinson in his pomp in tackling and hes criticized for trying to be 'macho'

We have an outhalf for the first time ever that could be considered the best in the world and some people still aren't happy. Honestly I think whatever Sexton does over his career he will still have detractors. While people on this board were saying Sexton was middling last week, newspapers were giving him 10/10s and the French media were saying he was the best player on the pitch. Some people have a bitter attitude towards the guy because he took the jersey from O'Gara when he came onto the scene (not saying you display that attitude by the way) and thats never going to change.

I don't think 'Yeah_Right' was criticising Sexton for making the tackles or for being macho, just for his technique. The point is that Neil Francis was blaming Bastareaud for charging into Sexton when the fault actually lies with Sexton for going in too high.

Overall, I'd say the above post is 100% wrong in literally every point it makes.

TommyOM

Yeah_Right wrote: »

IMO Sexton has this tough guy ego that makes him want to take on monster ball carriers like Basteraud even though he has support coming in from both sides. It's a bit of a macho thing. The problem is, his technique is awful!! Firstly, don't go high on big, strong bast**ds. Secondly, get your head out of the way of big, strong, hard running c**ts.

Sorry, I nearly forgot... Franno is talking a load of ****e.

Jesus wept so Sexton gets criticized for actually making the tackles? We had an outhalf for Ireland for years who used to sit down before impact or not even attempt the tackles and it was a huge weakness for Ireland. Now we get an outhalf who is up there with Wilkinson in his pomp in tackling and hes criticized for trying to be 'macho'

We have an outhalf for the first time ever that could be considered the best in the world and some people still aren't happy. Honestly I think whatever Sexton does over his career he will still have detractors. While people on this board were saying Sexton was middling last week, newspapers were giving him 10/10s and the French media were saying he was the best player on the pitch. Some people have a bitter attitude towards the guy because he took the jersey from O'Gara when he came onto the scene (not saying you display that attitude by the way) and thats never going to change.

rrpc

thomond2006 wrote: »

Nobody will convince me that Bastareaud wanted to target Sexton's head. Aside from the obvious reasons, Bastareaud himself is actually a good character.

Exactly. People like to portray him as some sort of brute when he's actually a genuinely nice guy.

The 'reflex blink' argument is nonsense. Some players close their eyes instinctively before they make a tackle and not as a reflex. There's no way you could make that judgment without first examining footage of a number of tackles by the player. Very lazy and just wrong.

To be fair to Frano, some of the other stuff he wrote in that article was spot on. He even did some work all by himself!

thomond2006

Nobody will convince me that Bastareaud wanted to target Sexton's head. Aside from the obvious reasons, Bastareaud himself is actually a good character.

dub_skav

"Our game is going down the toilet and those charged with its governance stand by handing out toilet paper."

Well at least Franno is doing his part by providing more toilet paper.

[Deleted User]

shuffol wrote: »

I was surprised Sexton's failure to pass there didn't get more attention after the game, that was a far more certain score than the pass to Payne off the maul later in the game.

It got plenty of attention as our best chance. There's no debate since it was so clear cut and Zebo wasn't involved.

Yeah_Right

Tox56 wrote: »

The ego thing is true but it goes both ways, having his mental strength and confidence goes a long way to making him a brilliant 10

You are right. I just wish he would learn a better technique for tackling.

Tox56

Yeah_Right wrote: »

IMO Sexton has this tough guy ego that makes him want to take on monster ball carriers like Basteraud even though he has support coming in from both sides. It's a bit of a macho thing. The problem is, his technique is awful!! Firstly, don't go high on big, strong bast**ds. Secondly, get your head out of the way of big, strong, hard running c**ts.

The ego thing is true but it goes both ways, having his mental strength and confidence goes a long way to making him a brilliant 10

Yeah_Right

IMO Sexton has this tough guy ego that makes him want to take on monster ball carriers like Basteraud even though he has support coming in from both sides. It's a bit of a macho thing. The problem is, his technique is awful!! Firstly, don't go high on big, strong bast**ds. Secondly, get your head out of the way of big, strong, hard running c**ts.

Sorry, I nearly forgot... Franno is talking a load of ****e.

shuffol

I was surprised Sexton's failure to pass there didn't get more attention after the game, that was a far more certain score than the pass to Payne off the maul later in the game.

CatFromHue

Tox56 wrote: »

I don't particularly disagree that he needs to improve his technique, but the only time he actually did have a bad time in the French game was pure bad luck, not technique

The time he got knocked out in Paris is that same as 2 of the tackles he made last weekend.

So you could argue it's pure luck that he didn't get knocked out again.

If that makes sense?

CatFromHue

It must be a right pain to have to sit behind someone wearing a giant Leprechaun hat

Tox56

Oregano_State wrote: »

I don't agree.

If you're gonna consistently tackle 110kg centres with your head on the wrong side, you're going to have a bad time.

I don't particularly disagree that he needs to improve his technique, but the only time he actually did have a bad time in the French game was pure bad luck, not technique