it appears the wheels have fallen off the banwagon
If our resident rugby expert Ball ox was still here he’d have all the answers.
Go Yankees.
therock67 wrote:
On the Last Word tonight Neil Francis said that there are reasons for Hickie’s retirement that haven’t been disclosed yet but they will be revealed after the world cup. Anyone know what those reasons are? And do they have any relevance to his non-selection?
Apparently the reson is that Hickie doesn’t get on with Cheika at all and refuses to be coached by him anymore. He’s settled in Dublin and doesn’t want to leave so he waited until it was clear that Cheika wouldn’t be leaving in the summer and then announced he’s giving up.
Not that interesting.
French XV for Friday:
Poitrenaud - Clerc, Marty, Traille, Heymans - Michalak, Elissalde - Dusautoir, Bonnaire, Betsen - Thion, Chabal - De Villiers, Ibanez (cap.), Milloud.
Remplacements: Szarzewski, Poux, Nallet, Nyanga, Beauxis, Jauzion, Rougerie.
I don’t think that’s too frightening a team. Poitrenaud isn’t a great full back, though he is better than Heymans there. Clerc is decent but he’s not very big and he’s not much of a kicker. No Jauzion in the centres which gives us a big edge there. Michalak could be great or awful.
Front row is very good but the second row aren’t super. They’ll be a bit more abrasive than the Irish which is worrying but we should have a big advantage in the lineout, especially with Harinordorquy not figuring in the back row. And I don’t think that’s a brilliant back row either. Betsen has lost form over the last couple of seasons.
Some rumours that Fats sent onto me: (he can’t get on here to post himself).
Drico had a go at the munster forwards, Stringer and Hickie in the dressing
room after the match Saturday.
This was after he did his usual interviews and after Paulie had tried to
rally the troops, and it didn’t go down well, particularly his scathing
attack on Hickie.
Leinster Munster divide is evident
Drico insisted on redden being picked ahead of Eddies choice Boss - what
are they paying Eddie to do if BOD if picking the team?
Hickie and Quinlan not speaking - Quinlans fianc is an ex of Hickies
Wallace is on painkillers to play but has told EOS he’s not right and can’t
sidestep - Eddie doesn’t want to know
Leamy was diagnosed by Liam Hennessy as a borderline diabetic but Eddie
won’t let him either take medicine as you have to declare before the world
cup or rest.
O Gara is in charge of the dress code when they’re going out but lost the
plot on Sunday night when some players slagged him over the Newbridge
cufflinks he had given to the squad. (They all have to donate a present to
the squad). That ended up with O gara refusing to go out and going back to
the hotel.
Mal and Donnacha had a blazing row in training yesterday - not the usual
training dustup. Quinlan and Easterby also had a few pops at each other.
Before the Georgia game the 2nd 15 beat the starting 15, 32-20 in a 40
minute game
O Donovan not happy as EOS has got extra 4 years
This is all on top of the gambling debt rumours.
What is the source/sources for those rumours? Some of them seem quite heard to believe.
i blame the posh schools for failing these people
larryduff wrote:
What is the source/sources for those rumours? Some of them seem quite heard to believe.
Emails that originated from random people I’ve never heard of.
I’ve kind of missed the boat on the Irish team selection but anyway. EOS stands indicted in terms of his preparations for the tournament. The performances meant his Plan A went out the window and he had no Plan B to fall back on. He couldn’t not do anything though, so he’s used Stringer as his shock value change (thank god he went for Reddan) and taken the opportunity to vindictively punish Murphy for his poor performances on the bench.
The woeful shows from the pack go unpunished. Simon Easterby must be his secret paramour.
Pretty happy with the French team. The only way I can see is winning this game is if we stay with them for the first twenty minutes, the crowd start getting on their back and they flake out. Michalak makes this more likely as does Poitreneaud who is eminently targetable under high balls.
Listening to Matt Williams on Newstalk there and he was quite good - he’s impressing me as a pundit these days. Anyway he wasn’t too dis-spirited about our prospects but he was in a bit of disbelief that Quinlan or Best haven’t had a chance yet.
I’m swinging back towards optimism. I think we’ve missed a chance with Murphy on the bench (but I’m not sure I’d have started him ahead of Trimble) and I’d certainly have changed something in the back row but the more I look at France’s record recently the more their form doesn’t stack up. They ran in a handsome score against Namibia but we could have too if we’d held onto the ball a bit better and we were never likely to post big totals against the minnows. France’s one test was Argentina and it’s hard to illustrate just how bad they were that night. The two wins against England don’t look so impressive now either.
I’ve backed us at 11/2.
therock67 wrote:
Listening to Matt Williams on Newstalk there and he was quite good - he’s impressing me as a pundit these days. Anyway he wasn’t too dis-spirited about our prospects but he was in a bit of disbelief that Quinlan or Best haven’t had a chance yet.
I’m swinging back towards optimism. I think we’ve missed a chance with Murphy on the bench (but I’m not sure I’d have started him ahead of Trimble) and I’d certainly have changed something in the back row but the more I look at France’s record recently the more their form doesn’t stack up. They ran in a handsome score against Namibia but we could have too if we’d held onto ball a bit better and we were never likely to post big totals against the minnows. France’s one test was Argentina and it’s hard to illustrate just how bad they were that night. The two wins against England don’t look so impressive now either.
I’ve backed us at 11/2.
I think Best certainly should be starting. He brings a drive to our game that nobody else can (don’t think Quinlan is near the player Best is by the way). He didn’t have a good build up to the World Cup (even though somehow the Beeb named him man of the match against Italy) but many of our problems at the breakdown would be solved by his sheer physicality. Where did you get Ireland at 11/2 rock?
Betfair. They’re a best price of 5/1 there now.
Why were we never going to put a big score up against the minnows?
France will beat us all ends up. I expect them to win by 25+ points.
Because we never hammer teams like that and even Leinster and Munster always struggle to put together big scores against Italian opposition in the ERC.
In the last 6 Nations our worst display was against the weakest team - Scotland.
We’re meant to have one of the best back lines in the world.
True but if they don’t get decent ball it doesn’t matter much.
I think you’re overly optimistic there rock. It’s not a bad price in a two horse race but I think we’re nearly unbackable at this stage. I hope I’m wrong, but if they get a couple of scores early doors it could get really ugly and Bandage’s prediction could be spot on.
Now that I think about it, all of EOS’ backline choices (if we disregard the Ulster quotient argument) are built around defence. Hickie missed a bad tackle at the end of the Georgia game and with both Trimble and Horgan on the wings we’re very strong if not pacey. Murphy is also defensively shakey.
Looks like we’re going for the nil all.
ROG would get some odds on nil all!
On a head to head:
Poitrenaud v Dempsey - I’d give it to Dempsey. Poitreneaud is very unreliable and though he’s a better runner I’d prefer the solidity of Dempsey
Clerc v Trimble - Clerc quite easily. Trimble isn’t a winger and looked nervous any time he has played there.
Marty v O’Driscoll - O’Driscoll by a mile. Marty is a good tackler, that’s about it. O’Driscoll is a good tackler, rucker, passer and runner.
Traille v D’Arcy - D’Arcy. Again Traille is big on defence and he’s a great kicker but as an attacking force he isn’t in D’Arcy’s league
Heymans v Horgan - Even. Horgan has the strength, Heymans has the pace. They’re at similar levels for general footballing skills
Michalak v O’Gara - O’Gara shades it for me. Michalak doesn’t look in any better form than when he lost his place. O’Gara hasn’t been brilliant but he’ll have a new scrum half and hopefully a better gameplan (i.e. kick the corners because we don’t expect to win by 50)
Elissade v Reddan - Elissade on experience and he’s obviously a more proven quantity. Looking forward to Reddan though.
Milloud v Hayes - Milloud I presume
Ibanez v Flannery - Ibanez but he won’t last 80 and Flannery will be raring to go. Could be a great battle
De Villiers v Horan - De Villiers by a fair bit
Thion v O’Connell - O’Connell. Not in the form of his life but he’s a far better player
Chabal v O’Callaghan - Chabal, but only because O’Callaghan is playing so poorly. I don’t understand the attraction with Chabal.
Dusatouir v Wallace - Don’t know much about Dusatouir so I’ll call it even
Betsen v Easterby - Betsen is playing crap. Easterby is playing worse so Betsen gets the nod but I’d fancy Best.
Bonnaire v Leamy - Leamy’s in poor form but Bonnaire is a bit flairy for me. I’d prefer Leamy in my team.
Totals: France 7, Ireland 6
Disappointed the Ulster quotient argument has even been suggested on this forum. Its a ridiculous suggestion. I saw the front of the Irish Independent today and Trevor Brennan was calling to bring back the anthem and passion. Makes little or no difference to me what anthem is played to be honest. The fact that it is a 32 county team makes a huge difference though. We never seemed to have a problem when the anthem wasn’t played before so I don’t think it would make any difference to our performance.
Why are you disappointed? It’s a valid theory and it’s even mentioned in the Guardian today, albeit by George Hook. I don’t think it was the deciding factor but there was plenty of speculation (on Setanta even) that once R Best dropped out that Trimble or N Best would have to play. And that’s the case.
I do admit I’m struggling to figure out why exactly Hickie was dropped for Trimble.
therock67 wrote:
Why are you disappointed? It’s a valid theory and it’s even mentioned in the Guardian today, albeit by George Hook. I don’t think it was the deciding factor but there was plenty of speculation (on Setanta even) that once R Best dropped out that Trimble or N Best would have to play. And that’s the case.
I do admit I’m struggling to figure out why exactly Hickie was dropped for Trimble.
What makes the theory valid? I don’t for one second believe that EO’S felt he had to put in an Ulster player because R Best was dropped. I am quite sure there have been occassions when there has been no Ulster representative on the team over last few years. Ulster rugby is traditionally very strong and so there has been a strong representation from the province. If you are struggling to figure out why Hickie was dropped for Trimble you must be getting a migraine trying to fathom why Neil Best isn’t playing. A far worse decision imo. If Horgan was dropped for Trimble would you be struggling? Trimble is a very good rugby player who should be starting in the backline imo. He has a combination of pass and strength. A questionable decision to drop Hickie doesn’t mean there is an agenda. Quite frankly I found the whole thing silly before. Now that you have informed me that George Hook mentioned it I find it laughable.