Six Nations 2009

Sport
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Poor Paddy, thought he was doing OK again, was just coming into the game as well with ROG gone off.

I saw that Kidney put him back on for a few seconds instead of Stringer. Not sure of the rule but I think that because Stringer was his blood sub, if PW couldnt come back on Stringer would have had to stay on? Anyone know this for sure?

If that is the case it was pretty sharp out of Kidney to put him back on for a minute so he could sub Darcy in instead. They must have known he couldnt play on the state of his face!

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Overall happy with the result in light of the average performance. Italy were dogged up front. ROG was shite again, got involved in plenty niggles as usual.

Every time an Irish player gave away a penalty that Castrogiavanni was in with a little head pat or something, fair annoying Id say.

Thought TOL was alright myself, he was slow getting the ball away alright but did well on the ball, including one savage break. They should have brought Stringer on about 10 mins earlier though to speed up the game when Italy started to tire. Its easy say he should have started but he would have been under the same pressure as TOL at the breakdown and mightnt have been as physically capable of dealing with it, he looked good when he came on but all the heavy lifting was well over at that stage.

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Jesus ye are fair clannish down there right enough!

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Stringer is from Cork as well, I can hardly be accused of favouring one over the other!

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Ireland coach Declan Kidney has announced an enlarged 36-man squad ahead of the RBS 6 Nations Game against England next Saturday.

The match day squad from the Italy game have been joined with members of the A team who beat Scotland A last Friday night in the RDS to give a split of 17 backs and 19 forwards in the panel.

Kidney will choose his team and replacements next Tuesday ahead of the Croke Park clash.

Ireland squad to face England at Croke Park on Saturday, 28 February in the RBS Six Nations Championship:

Tommy Bowe, Darren Cave, Girvan Dempsey Gordon D’Arcy, Keith Earls, Luke Fitzgerald, Shane Horgan, Robert Kearney, Geordan Murphy, Eoin Reddan, Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara, Tomas O’Leary, Jonthan Sexton, Peter Stringer, Andrew Trimble, Paddy Wallace

Rory Best, Tony Buckley, Bob Casey, Ryan Caldwell, Tom Court, Stephen Ferris, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Marcus Horan, Bernard Jackman, Shane Jennings, Denis Leamy, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Mick O’Driscoll, Alan Quinlan, David Wallace.

Wonder will he make changes, presume Darcy will start at 12, will paddy wallace drop to the bench or out of the 22 altogether…Tony Buckley might get the substitute prop place…

Frnace v Wales Friday night should be a good game

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Isn’t Buckley out after last night?
Couple of Ireland players on a serious bender last night in Cork, hardly right the week before playing the old enemy. I wouldn’t deny the lads a few pints, but going on the absolute lash a week before England isn’t on IMO. I won’t name them, but there was a heavy 1st squad contingent out till the early hours this morning.

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[quote=“caoimhaoin”]Isn’t Buckley out after last night?
Couple of Ireland players on a serious bender last night in Cork, hardly right the week before playing the old enemy. I wouldn’t deny the lads a few pints, but going on the absolute lash a week before England isn’t on IMO. I won’t name them, but there was a heavy 1st squad contingent out till the early hours this morning.[/quote]

Ah go on Kev, name and shame!!

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I won’t, but it should be pretty easy to deduct.
All i can say is Peter Stringer was not one of them.:smiley:

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Gavin Henson could make his first Test match appearance for almost a year when Wales continue their RBS 6 Nations campaign against France on Friday night.

Ospreys star Henson will travel to Paris after recovering from a calf muscle strain which sidelined him for the victories over Scotland and England.

He has failed to break up the all-Cardiff Blues centre pairing of Tom Shanklin and Jamie Roberts though, and will be among the replacements at Stade de France.

Henson, who last played international rugby when Wales clinched last season’s Six Nations title by beating France in Cardiff, takes over from Ospreys colleague Andrew Bishop on the bench.

And his selection comes less than a week after Henson and three of his Wales colleagues - Andy Powell, Jonathan Thomas and Rhys Thomas - were rebuked by head coach Warren Gatland and team manager Alan Phillips.

All four players apologised after what the Welsh Rugby Union termed ‘varying degrees of regrettable conduct’ while they were out in Cardiff celebrating the win over England last Sunday.

Gatland has made a solitary change in the starting line-up, welcoming back wing Shane Williams, as Wales seek a record-equalling ninth successive Six Nations victory.

Williams, scorer of 45 tries in 62 Tests, has shaken off an ankle injury which meant he missed the England game, reclaiming the number 11 shirt from Mark Jones.

‘A fit Shane Williams is a player any coach would want in their side so it was a natural decision for him to come in for Mark Jones, with no disrespect to Mark who did a good job for us against England,’ Gatland said.

'France are one of the top sides in the championship and they are always going to be tough opposition, especially at home, and this is a must-win game for them if they are to keep their title hopes alive.

'We also know how tough it will be for them with a short six-day turnaround for many of their players who have featured in domestic rugby this weekend.

‘We had a similar experience ourselves in between the Scotland and England games and found it hard going, so that is something we must try to take advantage of.’

England’s record run of Six Nations successes came between 2002 and 2004, while the French reeled off nine wins between 2003 and 2005, both countries claiming Grand Slams in the process.

Wales team to play France in the RBS 6 Nations Championship on Friday, February 27, 8pm:
L Byrne (Ospreys); L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Scarlets), M Phillips (Ospreys); G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), M Rees (Scarlets), A Jones (Ospreys), I Gough (Ospreys), A-W Jones (Ospreys), R Jones (Ospreys, capt), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), A Powell (Cardiff Blues).

Replacements: H Bennett (Ospreys), J Yapp (Cardiff Blues), L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), D Jones (Scarlets), D Peel (Sale Sharks), J Hook (Ospreys), G Henson (Ospreys).

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I am only after realising that Malcolm O Kelly wasn’t named in that 36 man training squad…Could this be the end of his international career?

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A model pro like Malcolm O’Kelly shamefully gets cut from the squad, while players elsewhere in the country are out on the piss. Sickening.

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[quote=“caoimhaoin”]I won’t, but it should be pretty easy to deduct.
All i can say is Peter Stringer was not one of them.:D[/quote]

ROG out playing the field again. Jesus you would think that clown would learn.

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He could have been there, they all were in Cork Bandage after all.:wink:

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Big Mal must be injured or something
There’s no call for him to be dropped like that
Mick O Driscoll and Bob Casey in ahead of him- are you kidding me?

WBY

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[quote=“W.B. Yeats”]Big Mal must be injured or something
There’s no call for him to be dropped like that
Mick O Driscoll and Bob Casey in ahead of him- are you kidding me?

WBY[/quote]

Mick O Driscoll is better than O’ Kelly at this stage. I’d have Donnacha Ryan instead of any of them though.

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Really?
If there’s 20 min left on Saturday and O’Connell or O’Callaghan get injured would you really prefer Mick to Mal?
I wouldn’t

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I would agree Kev, O Driscoll and O Kelly and even Casey for that matter are good players but are not up to international level any more, O Kelly is too old and wouldn’t last more than 20 minutes, O Driscoll hasn’t looked up to the physicality while Casey is just too slow…Kidney would be as well off putting the likes of Ryan or Caldwell and seeing hwo they go as at least they have scope for improvement

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[quote=“W.B. Yeats”]Really?
If there’s 20 min left on Saturday and O’Connell or O’Callaghan get injured would you really prefer Mick to Mal?
I wouldn’t[/quote]

Ya, at this stage i would, i forgot about caldwell, but i’d still pick O’ Driscoll. For one main reason above others, he would know the calls, and is more comfortable with the other two lads. As Puke says, they should be looking elsewhere. Mal O’ Kelly is way way off International standard now.
You may think i’m biased, but having watched alot of games this year i think we are in a bit of trouble in the 2nd row in general(well for back up anyway, we have two excellent players, then a huge drop down to the next level), and you might as well keep a Munster guy there if its a tight call. Continuity is important in tight calls.

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[quote=“W.B. Yeats”]Big Mal must be injured or something
There’s no call for him to be dropped like that
Mick O Driscoll and Bob Casey in ahead of him- are you kidding me?

WBY[/quote]

A ridiculously and disagracefully biased decision. But what do you expect from a former Leinster coach who was negotiating to return to Munster the week of an important Leinster European Cup tie? Sickening.

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[quote=“caoimhaoin”]Ya, at this stage i would, i forgot about caldwell, but i’d still pick O’ Driscoll. For one main reason above others, he would know the calls, and is more comfortable with the other two lads. As Puke says, they should be looking elsewhere. Mal O’ Kelly is way way off International standard now.
You may think i’m biased, but having watched alot of games this year i think we are in a bit of trouble in the 2nd row in general(well for back up anyway, we have two excellent players, then a huge drop down to the next level), and you might as well keep a Munster guy there if its a tight call. Continuity is important in tight calls.[/quote]

Don’t know about that-
I’d go with Leo Cullen before the lads ye’ve mentioned and I think Trevor Hogan would be well up there as in all likelihood is Damien Browne

Toner looks like he could do with filling out a lot and getting more aggressive but he’s only young

WBY