They were both far more subtle than Sid.
When Cipriani comes back Johnson will be gone. Shocking waste of a player so talented and terrible player management. Id like to see what the likes of Kidney would make of him if they got hold of him for a few seasons. Still one of the best prospects in world rugby for me. A joy to watch but an absolute bell end of a young fella by the look of it.
Have this game sky plussed looking forward to seeing it now. Seen Macken a few times this season and he is excellent. Hope he will start getting some game time with Leinster but hard to see it with BOD and McFadden in the reckoning.
Good to have you back mate.
Some good points there Dan. O’Driscoll has had to kick an abnormal amount for a 13 for Ireland over the years because the likes of Maggs/Horgan/D’Arcy don’t offer that option inside. But it’s not a natural game to have so much ball kicked from that far out and there are far better angles open to the first centre to kick blind or open.
D’Arcy is really about a power edge over Wallace. He has good feet too but it’s the explosiveness in attack and in defence that makes him more effective. Wallace is a fine defender in terms of angles of running and commitment etc, he’s just not physically as powerful as D’Arcy so he’s more of a stopper than a hitter.
Think it’s hugely useful to have the alternatives though. And particularly when Sexton is playing. ROG won’t run so having D’Arcy there is useful but when Sexton plays you don’t need an exclusive running threat at 12 - you can afford another playmaker because there’s a running threat inside (and at 9 these days).
He has a blog on the times or RTE website too and he’s a complete whingebag on it.
Had the horn for Quinlan, saying he should be playing.
Gway ya fookin clown ya. You won’t last long as an analyst if you’re a gobshite.
Why would it be questionable?
Read it, absolute rubbish to be fair, so wasn’t expecting much from him last night but I was pleasantly surprised with him as a co commentator. Still dont get why its questionable, no more so than RTÉ trying Victor for a while etc. Shur have a crack and see how he goes.
No one will be better than Ralph though…
Pikeman has lost the fucking plot completely over the last few weeks. Some Munster lad must have rode your bird lad because you are badly down on all things Munster this week!!! Deep in the hate is the love 
Never heard anyone really ragging on Frankie before. A thorough alright sort I would have thought.
If Manuel is any bit true to form he will come on saying it is a disgrace that RTE have a drug cheat as a pundit/analyst…
I still think the time he was caught out over on the farmyard a few years ago about Dallaglio before the Munster Wasps match was one of the funniest rugby threads going
I’m just bumping this for later.
Eh? I’ve always been down on Munster Rugby-the world’s elite tossers.
Here you are Dan-
"In the forwards, the big news is at blindside with Kevin McLaughlin getting the call ahead of Shane Jennings, Sean O’Brien and most surprisingly Alan Quinlan. It was only last summer that Ian McGeechan selected Quinlan for the Lions Tour and since then there has been no indication of his form slipping, as was evident from his man of the match display against Northampton only 11 days ago.
If it is because of age that Quinlan is not being picked, then it is strange that Hayes is older than Quinlan and still getting the nod in the frontrow. I have heard from the Leinster boys that McLaughlin has what it takes to be a top class international – but I don’t think that justifies Quinlan’s omission."
A serious serious horn for the scumbag Quinlan.
Comparing Quinlan to Hayes predicament too, when everyone knows there’s no alternative option to Haye’s position.
Oh dear oh dear.
Frankie boy, you are indeed a gobshite.
A skill set in rugby… You crack me up Tom, u really do.
from rte.ie
The newly-named Ireland Wolfhounds ran in five tries to complete a hard-earned 34-19 victory over Scotland ‘A’ at Ravenhill tonight.
Early scores from captain Chris Henry and Fergus McFadden, allied to three successful kicks from Ian Humphreys, pushed the hosts into a 17-0 break lead.
Man-of-the-match Henry was hugely influential for Michael Bradley’s charges who had lock Devin Toner sin-binned after the restart.
Scotland ‘A’ closed the gap with three tries but touchdowns from McFadden, Isaac Boss and Johne Murphy sealed the result.
In front of a 2,746-strong crowd, impressive individual displays from Henry, centre McFadden, full-back Gavin Duffy and lock Ryan Caldwell helped the ‘A’ side bounce back from last weekend’s defeat to England Saxons.
The Irish made most of the early running and quickly got on the scoreboard after flanker Shane Jennings broke a Scottish attack down. Prop Tony Buckley charged forward impressively and a neat dummy from Darren Cave set up his Ulster team-mate Henry for a run-in under the posts.
Humphreys added the conversion and Scotland ‘A’ were left frustrated when they had a try ruled out for a forward pass from John Houston, a late replacement for hamstring injury victim Simon Danielli.
Euan Murray caused problems for the hosts in the scrum but the Wolfhounds rallied and had the better of the closing ten minutes of the first half. The Irish cranked things up with a superb break involving nine players but a forward pass from Humphreys to Ian Dowling brought the attack to a premature end.
Back on the attack, Toner secured possession and Humphreys, Cave and Duffy passed well before the latter sent McFadden diving over for the score, with Humphreys adding the extras.
The Wolfhounds lost the services of Toner, three minutes into the second half, after he became entangled with Jim Hamilton and Scotland ‘A’ seized their opportunity to put points on the board.
The visitors mauled forward with great intent and the Irish defensive line eventually broke when James Eddie nipped over for an unconverted try. The Wolfhounds immediately got back on the try trail, though, as Duffy made a terrific break out of his own half and teed up McFadden for his second of the night.
Scotland ‘A’ also threatened out wide and replacement Mark Robertson was able to finish off some good work by Nick De Luca to touch down and keep his side in the hunt.
Ruaridh Jackson converted to close the gap to 24-12 but again the Wolfhounds responded in impressive fashion. Winger Murphy glided through on an excellent run and released replacement scrum half Boss for the hosts’ fourth try.
The margin was down to 10 points when referee Pascal Gauzere awarded the Scots a penalty try, after the Ireland Wolfhounds scrum had wilted under immense pressure and within a minute, prop Marcus Horan was sin-binned for persistent infringing in the scrum.
But Bradley’s men held on for a deserved win, tagging on a fifth a final try in injury-time - the late score rewarding Murphy for an energetic display on the right wing.
IRELAND WOLFHOUNDS: Gavin Duffy; Johne Murphy, Darren Cave, Fergus McFadden, Ian Dowling; Ian Humphreys, Peter Stringer; Marcus Horan, Sean Cronin, Tony Buckley, Ryan Caldwell, Devin Toner, Dan Tuohy, Shane Jennings, Chris Henry (capt).
Replacements used: Keith Matthews for McFadden (57 mins), Mike Ross for Buckley, Nigel Brady for Cronin, Isaac Boss for Stringer (all 63), Ian Keatley for Humphreys, Niall Ronan for Jennings (both 67), Ed O’Donoghue for Toner (76).
SCOTLAND ‘A’: Jim Thompson; Nikki Walker, Ben Cairns, Nick De Luca, John Houston; Ruaridh Jackson, Mike Blair (capt); Jon Welsh, Dougie Hall, Euan Murray, Scott MacLeod, Jim Hamilton, James Eddie, Roddy Grant, Scott Gray.
Replacements used: Craig Hamilton for MacLeod, Greig Laidlaw for Blair, Kyle Traynor for Welsh (all 57 mins), Mark Robertson for Walker (63), Rob Dewey for De Luca, Andrew Kelly for Hall (both 67), Fraser McKenzie for Jackson (74).
Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France)
Clear forward pass by O’Gara at the start of that move.
A couple of examples yet again, after Leo Cullen’s line out grab, of Tomás O’Leary simply being way too slow and indecisive at the base of rucks. Somebody should tell him we actually have decent backs who thrive on quick ball.
Well in fairness to Frankie he did head butt a supporter over in london after the england game 10 years ago. He will always be Frankie Headbutt to me
The Kearnivore’s mind wasn’t on the game at all there - he was probably trying to work out which of his mates he was going to spew his pint over in Coppers tonight.
Jaysus O’Leary is fair slow, he telegraphs everything he is doing aswell.
That performance was reminiscent of the late Eddie O’Sullivan era. Third time in a row Ireland have beaten Italy at home with a deeply unimpressive performance.
Fuck it anyway, Hamilton and Keys commentating…I am seriously contemplating switching over to the BBC…Hopefully they have Eddie Butler and Brian Moores commentating