Casey is the best Irish second row out there at the moment and has been for some time. Bullied and disrupted no less a team than the European Champions, including Leo Cullen, twice this season. A superb scrummager, lineout man and leader, Casey has what it takes to be a Martin Johnson figure for this Irish team. At barely 32 in October 2011 he should be at his peak by the time of he next World Cup. The way he has been treated over the the years by O’Sullivan and now Kidney is an Irish sporting scandal.
However Leo Cullen is certainly an improvement on O’Callaghan who clearly isn’t up to it at this level.
Gatland will ride it out with a good performance in a defeat I reckon. They are away in Twickenham with 2 world class players in Phillips & Jenkins out. Welsh public may well forgive a narrow defeat if they hammer Scotland the following week. If they don’t perform against the Scots though I reckon he’s fcuked ok.
Johnson on the other hand will be slaughtered… :lol:
Seriously though, I hope it all goes well for Leo this weekend, its a huge opportunity for him and he’s paid his dues. One mans loss is another mans gain and all that.
mac - i think this thorny subject comes up every year but there are only 4 nations playing in thos tournament- any chance you could sort this out :blink:
Wallace is a far better kicker and passer than Darcy. I would say they both have a good step and are both sound defensively. I have played rugby yes caoimhaoin. In fact my family and I have a rich heritage in the sport. Thanks for asking. Also while I may not agree with every decision Kidney makes I do rate him and to be perfectly frank I don’t see how anyone could be anything other than impressed with his record. That said I think we are entitled to question his decisions like all coaches.
I noticed you’ve up your rate of shite talking recently Sid. Is it the continued absence of ncc or what that has you filling this vacum?
Bob Casey is a good club player and a nice guy, nothing more. Cullen is good back up, but i still believe isn’t as good as Donnacha Ryan is, but has way more experience. Ryan is now subbing for tomorrow. Right decision. He’s still a little headless at times, but is a super player in my estimation.
So you think DK is an excellent manager, yet you’d disagree with him playing D’Arcy over Wallace. Using kicking as an argument is quite ridiculous, mainly for the fact that i have never ever seen D’Arcy kick, so i couldn’t judge him. Kicking is not an important factor for a 12 anyway, if it is a handy tool to have in the bag. Wallace is a better passer, but thats it, i don’t think he is sound defensively either, and is too weak for International rugby.
Wallace would have been a good corner forward for Antrim or Tyrone or wherever he’s from, and he is a very good rugby player, just not an International one.
Bob Casey has been treated disgracefully by successive Irish managements. He’d walk onto the England team. It’s very sad to see Bob get the same kind treatment so unfairly dished out to Trevor Brennan in the past. He deserves so much better.
Kev is right on this
Both are very different players but D’arcy brings much more to the field than Wallace.
d’arcy is a game breaker, a savage defender and an extra back row on the ground
Wallace is a decent distributor and an ok kicker but he’s not in D’arcy’s league to be honest
Ryan is a good player alright, suffers a bit for his versatility but has serious aggression in his game and has good ball skills for a forward…With the likes of him, Earls and O’Brien to come off the bench we finally seem to have a few impact players on the bench for the first time in a few years…Is Cronin the replacement hooker, would like to see him get a bit of game time at the weekend as he looks a decent player in the making as well
So at least you agree with me. We also agree that he is the best second row forward the English Premiership. As I said earlier he is only 30 and for a player who doesn’t rely on speed could conceivably have another five or six years left taking up to to 2015 never mind 2011. So any talk of “make way for the younger lads” is a total red herring. He has never gotten a fair chance simply because he plays in a rival league. In an ideal world Bob would be he natural successor to Big Mal at Leinster. Hopefully Joe Schmidt will realise this. It would be great to see Bob come home.
I agree that he would get on the English team, he is the form lock in England(along with his clubmate kennedy) and that he probably deserves more caps than he has, when you consider that Mal has around 100 and Micko has nearly 20, but he isn’t much of an improvement on either of them all the same…If he was the man for the job then Kidney would have him involved in the 22, simple as in my mind…
