Just called up to make up the numbers Iâd say. Itâs the 30 man squad that will be announced Monday that counts. This match the weekend will be a good chance for a few, that could make that squad. Boss, EOM, Tuohy and Henry have a good chance.
Leo is doing the right thing going for the operation. He stood no chance of making the matchday 22. At least he will be back for the Heineken cup 1/4 final which is important.
Priestland and Gethin Jenkins are both out of the opening game against Ireland
Very good news for Ireland and Roberts is a major doubt as well.
Is Anto talking to himeself on this thread ?
Who did we get in the draw for this yearâs competition?
6 nations>?
It was a relief just to qualify , the tournament is just a bonus.
We are still none-the-wiser on what a wolfhound squad is.
What the fuck is a wolfhound squad ye cunts?
It is the Irish second string side or A side. The equivalent to the Irish B team in soccer
Irish b team ?? you mean the shillelaghies ??
The reason B internationals died away was due to a lack of brand recognition*, i think you would find that if the rugby equilavents had stuck with the name Ireland A nobody would know much about them, just look at how much talk their has been about the Wolfhiounds since the squad was named
*And cunts like Chris Sutton
Good piece with Alan Quinlan in The Irish Times today - mainly about being on the fringes of the international set up and dealing with it:
FROM THE BLINDSIDE: But I suppose thatâs the life of any player who lives on the fringe of the squad, although I did pick up a medal for the Grand Slam win in 2009
WAY BACK in the mists of time, you used to find out whether or not you were in the latest Ireland squad by checking it out on teletext. Youâd be there with your remote control trying to find the right page number, waiting for it to come up, scanning down it to see could you find your name.
Things are different now obviously â generally youâll get a text from the team manager informing you of your selection and telling you to assemble at such-and-such a hotel on such-and-such a date. But the one thing that never changes is the sense of anticipation.
Itâs a nervous time and you can beat yourself up waiting for the nod. You donât know what people are saying or thinking. Obviously some guys know theyâre going to be picked but that group is still small enough each time a squad is announced. For everyone else, itâs a time when you just donât know. You might be in, you might not. You might have been in the last few squads but you might still only be 75 per cent sure youâll make it. Youâre never certain.
For most of my Ireland career, I was in the group that just didnât know. There was probably a two-year period in and around the 2003 World Cup where I was confident of being named each time there was a squad announcement.
After I got injured at the World Cup, I lost ground and other guys came in ahead of me. From that point on, I was one of the ones who would always be on tenterhooks. The news gets gradually worse as the years go by. If the guy who comes in for you when youâre injured makes a big impression â as Simon Easterby did in my case â then itâs the team announcement that has you nervous. Youâre still making the squads but youâre worried about making the 15.
After a while, youâre worried about making the match-day 22. Soon enough, itâs the pre-tournament get-togethers and the summer tours. Youâre always hoping but youâre always worried. It plays on your mind. Youâre nervous but youâre excited too. Each announcement becomes a target. You tell yourself youâll go all out to make it into the Six Nations squad and sure anything can happen once youâre there.
You convince yourself youâre only an injury away from being a regular. That might be true or it might not but it keeps you going. And you have to keep going. Youâre no use to anybody if you let it weigh on you too heavily.
In the lead-up to the 2005 Six Nations, I was doing everything I could to get back into the Ireland team. Iâd missed the previous year through injury but Iâd gone on the summer tour to South Africa. I made it into the 30-man squad for the Six Nations and we were to be told on a Monday night who would be named in the match-day 22. Simon, Denis Leamy and Anthony Foley would be in the team but I really thought Iâd done enough to make it onto the bench.
Eddie OâSullivan rang me before the announcement to tell me I wasnât going to get in and that Eric Miller was going to be the replacement backrow.
Iâd come close but I hadnât made it. I was actually annoyed with myself afterwards for getting into the frame of mind where I thought I had it. I had let myself look forward to the Six Nations because it had been two years since Iâd played in one. But when you donât make it into the match-day 22 for the first game, itâs generally a case of the manager saying: âThis is my team for the rest of the competition unless thereâs an injury.â
That particular one was very hard to take, mainly because Iâd got my hopes up. I didnât know it then but I would never actually get to play another game in the Six Nations. I hung around on the fringes of Ireland squads for the rest of my career without ever getting the nod. I still went on tours and made the squad for the 2007 World Cup but I couldnât force my way into the team. Thatâs a lot of squad announcements and a lot of sleepless nights spent wondering.
What made it that little bit worse in 2005 was that I was still part of the 30-man squad so I spent the whole tournament being right there in amongst it all. That can be a killer. Youâre there for training on a Monday and a Tuesday and then youâre done for the week while the guys youâve been training with get ready for the match at the weekend. You can have the best attitude in the world but youâll still find it hard to stay motivated because you know itâs pointless. You can try your hardest to be in good form but youâre still filled with envy.
I always told myself I was happier to be there than not be there. That it was better to be the fifth-choice backrower in the country and be only an injury away from getting a game than being 10th choice and not even be involved at all. But there were definitely times when I had to convince myself that this was true because when you get that close, youâre able to see what youâre missing. There were times I thought Iâd be far better off not being in with a shout at all. It wouldnât hurt as much.
But you canât be thinking that way. Or if you are, you canât show it. Those weeks were tough but you had to front up and train away as if it had taken nothing out of you. You join up with the team on Sunday and train hard on Monday, hoping thereâll be a change but knowing there most likely wonât be. Then the team is named on the Tuesday morning before you get on the bus to go training. So you basically have the length of the bus journey to stop feeling sorry for yourself.
The immediate aftermath of that squad announcement is a delicate time for everybody. Everybody in that circle is fighting their own little battles and some of them have just had a victory and some have just had a defeat.
There are always little handshakes going on and guys catching each otherâs eye to say well done. But everything is done kind of quietly and under the radar because for everyone who has made it, thereâs another guy who hasnât. If you congratulate someone too loudly, youâre only rubbing it in the face of the player heâs in ahead of.
Leaving camp on the Tuesday night was always very tough. You didnât want to do the whole saying-goodbye routine with everyone because you didnât want to be a nuisance about the place. And anyway youâd be back up on Sunday to go again for the next match. But it killed me to get into the car and head for Limerick because I knew I was leaving a little bit of my Ireland career behind each time.
I really loved playing for Ireland and for those few years I was just touching it without holding onto it. You definitely miss it more the closer it is.
Later on, I was 23rd man all the way through the season when Ireland won the Grand Slam and I didnât feel nearly as bad about it. I suppose you get older and you get calmer and youâre able to see the woods for the trees. I knew in 2009 that I just wasnât quite at the same level as the guys who were ahead of me. By now it was Stephen Ferris, David Wallace and Jamie Heaslip, with Leamy on the bench. I was able to accept it better. I was near the end of my career and was basically delighted to be involved.
It was probably because I had stopped wondering. I knew the reality. When Eric was named on the bench ahead of me in 2005, it was a 50-50 call that was in doubt right up until Eddie rang me. But this time around, I knew there was no hope of a game unless somebody got injured. So I was able to relax a bit more.
In saying that, I do remember that the closer the team got to that Grand Slam, the more restless I got being on the periphery. The routine had changed a bit under Declan Kidney â you still headed off on Tuesday night but you came back on Wednesday for training Thursday morning. You felt every bit of tension and excitement even though you werenât going to be part of it on the day.
That was especially true the week of the last match against Wales. I got it into my head that I was going to go hell-for-leather in training even though there wasnât a hope of forcing my way into the team. There was a few of us on the fringes who were tired of holding the pads and having guys run through us and over us. I did a bit of fairly enthusiastic counter-rucking on David Wallace at one stage, which didnât go down well. Wally got up and had a go at me and next thing you know, the pair of us were standing there throwing slaps at each other.
I probably should have known better at that age but what can you do? Youâre still dying to be involved, youâre still just looking to be given that one chance to show the coach heâs made the wrong call â even when you accept that heâs made the right one.
Between one thing and another, I felt I had an unfulfilled Ireland career and I always thought that if a few things had gone differently I would have won more caps and contributed more. But I suppose thatâs the life of any player who lives on the fringe of the squad.
In the end, I actually got a medal out of that season. All 30 players in the Grand Slam squad were given one and I remember being pushed into the team celebration photo on the podium the day we beat Wales. I felt a bit of a fraud, like I hadnât earned it.
And of course, you can never be let away with anything. Later that summer, the squad met up in Castletroy for the official Grand Slam photo and I was one of the ones asked along. No sooner had I arrived than I ran into Marcus Horan and John Hayes. The two boys made a big show of coming over to me with puzzled faces. âWhat are you doing here Quinny? Sure you didnât play a game . . .â Bastards.
Ireland Aâs
Duffy
D Kearney
EOM
Spence
Zebo
Keatley
Boss
Wilkinson
Varley
Archer
Tuohy
McCarthy
Muldoon
Henry ©
Ruddock
Sherry
Loughney
Toner
McLaughlin
TOL
Madigan
Den Hurley
Ah, the auld Wolfhounds. Lovely.
Knew a man of your rugby standing would know mate. Its a decent side, as Iâm sure you know, lots of good young talent coming through, especially in the backline. Toner will never make it though.
We all dream of a team of Muldoons âŠ
Are sky sports whowing the Saxons v the Wolfhounds tomorrow?
Yes.
England Saxons vs Ireland Wolfhounds, Sat 28 January 4:30pm; Live on Sky Sports