dont think there is any chance Earls will start in the centre myself
Has done nothing wrong when picked at 12 for Ireland down under against none other than Oz and NZ. Credit where its due.
[quote=“dancarter”]Ah he did well on the summer tour to be fair. Hes worth a go anyways.
Fucking awesome French team, wasnt expecting it to be thiis strong!!
France: Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Julien Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), Florian Fritz, Yannick Jauzion, Maxime Medard (all Toulouse); Lionel Beauxis (Stade Francais), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres); Lionel Faure (Sale), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Benoit Lecouls (Toulouse), Sebastien Chabal (Sale), Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).
Replacements: Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin), Benoit Baby (Clermont-Auvergne), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse).[/quote]
A fair few aging stars in there Dan. Good enough look to the backs, but i wouldn’t be getting overly worried about their pack really.
I thought he was good in one game against NZ, nothing special other than that. He’s simply too small. But thats just my take.
[quote=“dancarter”]Ah he did well on the summer tour to be fair. Hes worth a go anyways.
Fucking awesome French team, wasnt expecting it to be thiis strong!!
France: Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Julien Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), Florian Fritz, Yannick Jauzion, Maxime Medard (all Toulouse); Lionel Beauxis (Stade Francais), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres); Lionel Faure (Sale), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Benoit Lecouls (Toulouse), Sebastien Chabal (Sale), Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).
Replacements: Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin), Benoit Baby (Clermont-Auvergne), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse).[/quote]
Good looking French team on paper, but you could toss in question marks over the following imo.
Poitrenaud,
Fritz,
Jauzion (was great, not anymore, still decent mind you)
Szarzewski
Chabal
Harinorduquy
Still, like you said, better looking side than I had anticipated.
He’s 1 inch taller than Brian O’Driscoll!
You could argue both sides of it but you’re probably right They’ve brought Jennings back and he’s gone backwards. They persist in keeping Cameron Jowitt. They’ve persisted in not using Irish props and have no depth at all at Hooker.
Cullen, Elsom and Heaslip are the only 3 of the 8 that I’d class as playing anywhere close to a required standard. Jackman is grand in open play but his lineouts still let him down. I’d prefer to see a gamble on the likes of Healy and Sean O’Brien and even give more game time to Hogan or Toner.
All the talk in the media at the weekend was about the captaincy debate, with plenty of comment claiming O’Connell should have been chosen for the role. Ireland should have closed ranks and got on with it but there was O’Connell in the Sindo giving a feature interview and keeping the debate going. Disrespectful to his captain - what an utter cunt.
Did you read the interview Bandage?
I did. I couldn’t believe it to be honest. He’s gone down even further in my estimation.
let it go puke.
your obviosuly hoping the rest of us didnt, spoofer. Stick to the soccerball
And over a stone lighter:p
here we go, wallace in at 12, gowan kidney do it your own way boy!
RELAND (v France): Kearney, Bowe, O’Driscoll, P Wallace, Fitzgerald, O’Gara, O’Leary, Horan, Flannery, Hayes, O’Callaghan, O’Connell, Ferris, D Wallace, Heaslip.
Get in there, gd’man Paddy!
Wallace in Ireland midfield role
Ireland: R Kearney; T Bowe, B O’Driscoll, capt, P Wallace, L Fitzgerald; R O’Gara, T O’Leary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, S Ferris, D Wallace, J Heaslip.
Replacements: R Best, T Court, M O’Kelly, D Leamy, P Stringer, G D’Arcy, G Murphy.
[quote=“HBV*”]here we go, wallace in at 12, gowan kidney do it your own way boy!
RELAND (v France): Kearney, Bowe, O’Driscoll, P Wallace, Fitzgerald, O’Gara, O’Leary, Horan, Flannery, Hayes, O’Callaghan, O’Connell, Ferris, D Wallace, Heaslip.[/quote]
You heard it here first folks…!
My team except for Heaslip as it turns out.
Fair play to Kidney made a few tough choices there…
[quote=“Mac”]You could argue both sides of it but you’re probably right They’ve brought Jennings back and he’s gone backwards. They persist in keeping Cameron Jowitt. They’ve persisted in not using Irish props and have no depth at all at Hooker.
Cullen, Elsom and Heaslip are the only 3 of the 8 that I’d class as playing anywhere close to a required standard. Jackman is grand in open play but his lineouts still let him down. I’d prefer to see a gamble on the likes of Healy and Sean O’Brien and even give more game time to Hogan or Toner.[/quote]
Absolutely. Have my doubtd about Toner and Hogan, but the other two should play every big game if possible, fuck these imports. There is a need for a couple, but only if they are genuine class and will bring on younger irish players. Thats probably what makes Cullen even ore of a disapointment in Munster, he didn’t do much to bring on players, where as Tipoki is supposed to be brilliant from that point of view.
The English natioal team is fucked because of the English Premiership, i hope we don’t get that bad.