Ireland Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread IV

smiley_face · 03-09-2015 9:49pm

Assuming 12 Henshaw, 13 Payne and 15 R Kearney as the 1st choice;
The formations where Luke Fitzgerald is 11 or 23:

11 LF + 14 DK/TB/KE + 23 DK/TB/KE

11 DK + 14 TB/KE + 23 LF

Same as for Zebo, except Zebo covers 15 as a straight swap, but Fitzgerald would have to swap with Payne to cover fullback.

exiledelbows · 03-09-2015 11:51pm

Ireland are going to be in the home dressing room on Saturday apparently. England have lost the dressing room (and Jersey) toss to Fiji so they're in the away one on Saturday to 'get used to it'.

The Rape of Lucretia · 04-09-2015 12:01am

exiledelbows wrote: »

Ireland are going to be in the home dressing room on Saturday apparently. England have lost the dressing room (and Jersey) toss to Fiji so they're in the away one on Saturday to 'get used to it'.

Good catch by Lancaster that. So easy to get wrong. Fiji surely would have turned them over if they hadnt got the dressing room practice in in this game. Feel its advantage England now though and they will beat Fiji easily.

LorMal · 04-09-2015 12:02am

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

There surely is. The same one as for Earls on the bench:
In the Rob injury situation, Paynser to fullback, and Earlsie or Geraldsie in to 13.

Who?

sydthebeat · 04-09-2015 12:03am

I thought all the home and away stuff was based on seedings

duckysauce · 04-09-2015 12:08am

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Good catch by Lancaster that. So easy to get wrong. Fiji surely would have turned them over if they hadnt got the dressing room practice in in this game. Feel its advantage England now though and they will beat Fiji easily.

why will they beat Fiji easily

The Rape of Lucretia · 04-09-2015 12:13am

duckysauce wrote: »

why will they beat Fiji easily

Perfectly nailed dressing room strategy.
Its Schmidty level thinking from Lancs. Impressive.

duckysauce · 04-09-2015 12:22am

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Perfectly nailed dressing room strategy.
Its Schmidty level thinking from Lancs. Impressive.

what are you ****ting on about ?

stephen_n · 04-09-2015 7:06am

duckysauce wrote: »

what are you ****ting on about ?

Hopefully it's sarcasm.

vienne86 · 04-09-2015 8:44am

Shane Horgan was on RTE this morning - reckons what we really need to see in action tomorrow is the combinations - back row 3, front row, centre partnership, half backs.......good point.

smiley_face · 04-09-2015 9:01am

vienne86 wrote: »

Shane Horgan was on RTE this morning - reckons what we really need to see in action tomorrow is the combinations - back row 3, front row, centre partnership, half backs.......good point.

Heard on he radio this morning reporting that Zebo is replacing Rob Kearney because Rob picked up an injury.

Dcully · 04-09-2015 9:09am

Is the game on live TV anywhere folks?

rrpc · 04-09-2015 9:12am

Dcully wrote: »

Is the game on live TV anywhere folks?

Sky I suspect. All the other matches were.

04-09-2015 9:14am

It's on SKY - am sticking up a match thread now.

Awesomeness · 04-09-2015 9:32am

smiley_face wrote: »

Heard on he radio this morning reporting that Zebo is replacing Rob Kearney because Rob picked up an injury.

Irish rugby replied to a comment on its facebook page yesterday saying rob trainer and was available for selection but Joe wanted to give zebo more time there

04-09-2015 9:55am

vienne86 wrote: »

Shane Horgan was on RTE this morning - reckons what we really need to see in action tomorrow is the combinations - back row 3, front row, centre partnership, half backs.......good point.

At the end of the day, it's a game of two halves

smiley_face · 04-09-2015 9:56am

I see a lot of people assuming that Payne will go to fullback if Cave comes on.
Was that stated by Joe Schmidt or any of the Irish Management team at some stage?
What's the probability of Henshaw moving to 13 and Cave going to 12?
Or, Henshaw himself going to 15?
It was mentioned here by another poster that Cave and Payne at 12 and 13 are a very good combination as they play together for the same club, just like the D'Arcy and BOD combination.
Also saw a mention that Bowe could be tried at fullback if needed, and he has played well there for Ulster in the past, plus his GAA past would stand to him there fielding the ball, much like it does for Rob Kearney and Simon Zebo.

Flipper22 · 04-09-2015 10:38am

vienne86 wrote: »

Shane Horgan was on RTE this morning - reckons what we really need to see in action tomorrow is the combinations - back row 3, front row, centre partnership, half backs.......good point.

Very good point indeed. Important to see how the second row gels too, and the new look back three, and how all the combinations gel together.... so basically, how good the Irish rugby team is at playing rugby.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 04-09-2015 11:04am

I've been away this week and couldn't get in on any of the discussion once the squad was announced so apologies for possibly/probably going over old ground but I have to say I'm pretty surprised at Trimble being left out completely. The logic of it makes little sense to me when you consider the inclusion of Fitz and Earls who both picked up knocks at the weekend and aren't included in the squad for the weekend to play England. I know the forwards are a different discussion but Cian Healy is still not fit to play and yet they're willing to take the risk there that he might be able to play one match if we're lucky. Zebo seems to have gotten in purely on the fact that he can kind of fill in at FB if necessary, Madigan is the same, he can kind of play a few positions.... actually bar Dave Kearney who I think played his way onto the plane all of the names that were on the will they/won't they list have made the team because they can fill in in a pinch at another position, which I suppose is sensible.

Anyway... it's done now. No use complaining although I kind of hope Trimble is on fine form for Ulster now these next few weeks.

Also, although we'll never know, I think it would be interesting to see who would have made up the final few places if we'd had a tougher group.

pickarooney · 04-09-2015 1:30pm

I assumed Mike McCarthy was injured as he hasn't even been mentioned all summer let alone included in any squads, yet he's lining out for Leinster this weekend.

Has his stock fallen that badly?

errlloyd · 04-09-2015 1:33pm

pickarooney wrote: »

I assumed Mike McCarthy was injured as he hasn't even been mentioned all summer let alone included in any squads, yet he's lining out for Leinster this weekend.

Has his stock fallen that badly?

Yeah, I think it has really. Shame, he was an absolute beast when he burst onto the scene, won MOM against South Africa etc. That bad stamp he got, he hasn't quite returned from it.

irishbucsfan · 04-09-2015 1:51pm

errlloyd wrote: »

Yeah, I think it has really. Shame, he was an absolute beast when he burst onto the scene, won MOM against South Africa etc. That bad stamp he got, he hasn't quite returned from it.

He's also nearly 34, not like there's much point in involving him for development purposes. Not good enough to play against top teams and not young enough to keep around the squad for any other reason when there's the likes of Foley and Henderson around.

I don't think he was a ton better before either, he made a few errors even in those South Africa games.

EDIT: There was of course that hit he put in on Etzebeth that was a big highlight for him in that game, always worth linking to that!

Trabejo · 04-09-2015 5:48pm

Am I mad to believe that POM hasn't been all that great and should be behind Henderson at 6?

bilston · 04-09-2015 5:54pm

Trabejo wrote: »

Am I mad to believe that POM hasn't been all that great and should be behind Henderson at 6?

Schmidt hasn't played Henderson at 6 for Ireland since the 2014 6Ns. I honestly don't think Hendy is on his radar for 6 at the minute.

Let's be honest once POC rides off into the sunset Henderson will be straight into the No.5 jersey.

smiley_face · 04-09-2015 6:49pm

bilston wrote: »

Schmidt hasn't played Henderson at 6 for Ireland since the 2014 6Ns. I honestly don't think Hendy is on his radar for 6 at the minute.

Let's be honest once POC rides off into the sunset Henderson will be straight into the No.5 jersey.

Henderson played at 6 when he replaced Peter O'Mahony for 15 minutes at end of Italy match in 6 Nations 2015.

bilston · 04-09-2015 10:42pm

smiley_face wrote: »

Henderson played at 6 when he replaced Peter O'Mahony for 15 minutes at end of Italy match in 6 Nations 2015.

Good point, he made a good break in the he build up to TOD's try IIRC.

b.gud · 05-09-2015 8:14pm

If anyone here lives near or will be passing by Carton house in the next week can you give Tommy Bowe a big kick in the knee so we can get Trimble in the squad. Thanks

thomas anderson. · 05-09-2015 9:58pm

Can they still swap out players?

irishbucsfan · 05-09-2015 9:59pm

thomas anderson. wrote: »

Can they still swap out players?

If the players are injured, yes.

Clegg · 05-09-2015 10:37pm

I've seen little bits of set piece play to suggest we have some stuff held back in reserve for the World Cup so that isn't really an issue for me. What's more concerning is the general flatness in our attacking alignment. A lot of ball is just shuffled side to side with no penetration. And we were stretched so badly by England multiple times in that game. We defended so narrowly that they should really have won by 20 had they not bombed a few opportunities.

Accuracy at the breakdown, kicking, solid set piece and game intensity are our main strengths and we've built a winning formula on the back of it. So it's a bit worrying that we're going into the tournament looking weak in all those areas. I know we're not looking to hit top form right now but rather 4/5 weeks from now, but you'd hoped to see Ireland looking a bit better than this.

Sexton still looks off the pace and only really has two games to put himself right before the French clash. Passes aren't sticking like they should for him. He's not been completely poor though. Solid in defence, some decent kicking mixed with the bad and his running game is still threatenng. Still a fair bit to go before he's anywherw approaching his best. I've no idea what's happened to Bowe. Has to be the worst most of us have ever seen him play. Looked so slow in the first half and fumbled anything that came his way. Is Trimble were fit he'd be starting ahead of his Ulster teammate.

Ireland Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread IV

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