Unimaginative, disappointing and conservative selection.
Thats astonishing, 'cos anytime iâve seen Leinster play this season heâs been poor or not playing at all.
Anyway, fellas canât be praising Trap for his selection methods and criticizing DK when they are very very similar. I understand both their approaches, and while i have been frustrated by both at times, its hard to argue too much. You canât drop en-bloc for one poor performance nearly 4 months ago. The best players are generally still the best players. Shane Jennings is not one of them IMO though.
Iâd be surprised if Trap didnât make changes if Ireland had a shocker of a summer kev (though qualifying for Euros is big achievement in itself). Trap doesnât continue to pick players who havenât done it for Ireland the way Kidney does. All very well sticking with tried and trusted when results back it up but that hasnât been the case with us for a long time now. Thankfully Trap has had results to back up his relative conservatism. In fact could understand but not agree with his conservatism pre WC but now is very time when it is clear that some of old guard should be moving on (OâCallaghan, Dâarcy for instance).
Chewy Iâd be surprised if he changes the pecking order after the game in January. How Tuohy doesnât get a spot is beyond me but not alltogether surprising. Same for Gilroyâs exclusion from either squad. D Kearney, Zebo and Hurley all ahead of him!!!
Fitzgerald can feel hard done by too. Iâve been a big fan of Kidneyâs but this is all quite disheartening.
I actually had presumed Marshall was in Wolfhounds squad but he isnât either. He should be way ahead of Boss and OâLeary. Madigan ahead of Humps is a strange one too. Jennings ahead of Henry in main squad just doesnât make sense.
Kidney seems content to pick players who have been holding tackle bags all year.
Whatâs a wolfhound squad?
larry, Kidney via this squad selection has outed himself as a partitionist prick. Much like Paul OâConnell who tells us on TV ads to only buy milk from farmers based in the 26 counties.
Larry your being a bit biased there. POM should be ahead of Jennings in main squad. Marshall should be in the Wolfhounds ahead of TOL, but not Boss. Boss has being playing very well this year and while Marshall is a solid player, he is not ahead of Boss yet. Madigan and Humps is a 50-50 call. Now Tuohy not being there is a disgrace alright.
POM in neither squad is bizarre considering he has captained Munster, and been one of their best players all season. Would have dropped Wallace, Jennings, DOC from main squad. Chewie is right though plenty fellas will get a game in the A match for a chance to impress. Fitz, tuohy in particular.
Kidney is in a slight bind though in that the seedings for next WC are being decided at end of summer. Top 4 ranking sides in world at that point will be seeded 1 thus will likely avoid having a SH team in the pool with them at next competition. Stupid fucking decision really and no reason they need to do it now. Means we need to win as many games as we can between now and then and with 3 tests in NZ in summer the chances need to be taken now
Aw, aw, awoooooooooooh!
Yeah exclusion of POM is bizarre also. I donât really buy that excuse dan and to be honest I think purely from results point of view weâd be better off giving likes of Tuohy a go. He is clearly playing better than others selected ahead of him. I think squad could have benefited from fresh blood too. Even if some of new guys werenât to start thereâd have been greater edge to training etc if they were to be included. As it is looks too much like a closed shop and I wouldnât be as confident as you that pecking order will change.
Same with Wolfhounds selction too. What is to be learned from having OâLeary in there. Heâs a million miles away from form required and not as if he is going to learn anything from being there whereas Marshall would have benefited from being at least in that squad.
Anto Iâd have rated Marshall ahead of Boss in Bossâ last year with Ulster. I think both have improved significantly in last couple of years but Marshall is form nine in the country for me. Agree that wasnât much in Humps selection.
Whatâs a wolfhounds squad?
Simon Zebo called up to the 6 Nations training squad after Luke left out due to having treatment on his ongoing injury problems.
Iâm intrigued as to this also.
James Coughlin has been called up the Ireland training squad.
As have Jack McGrath, Craig Gilroy and Fionn Carr
Edit - didnât realise they may have already been in one of the squads. This 3 squad thing has me confused.
Didnt see those names, have they just called up every rugby player who can walk upright and hasnt got Senior Cup games coming up?
Cant access it, but thanks all the same.
Cocklinn got the call up to replace Cullen? Seems bizarre enough as he doesnât play in the second row at all.
Its ok, Leo wasnt going to play there either.