Larry we are only allowed one starting Ulster player on the team Kidney obviously felt that best was the man he wanted.
There’s no point playing Wallace anyway as his face starts bleeding if it rubs off grass never mind getting pummelled by a French Centre all day long.
wallace has never played with both heaslip at 8 and o’brien at 6 in the same team.
Going on your logic the whole Ulster front row should be played as well so.
You’d play an inferior player just because he plays with other players in a club team?
Very odd logic.
Bottom line, if Jennings was up to it he would have been making this team regularly for a while now.
Sexton is a far far better player than ROG now. Thought Sexton played v well last weekend considering the efforts the man inside him and the two men outside him made to make him look foolish. If those lads had done there jobs we would have had another few tries and Sexton would have been hailed for pulling the strings. Fantastic situation to be in to be able to bring on ROG in those circumstances in fairness. I think even ROG realises his place in the pecking order now. Sexton actually kicked v v well for territory when required too.
Would agree that Jennings isnt International class at all. Looks good in a great pack but thats it, as I have said many times on here, up til now his best form has been in more or less the 03 English WC winning pack when he was with Tigers. If a 7 wouldnt look good playing in that pack, at club level, with one of the dominant clubs in Europe, he would be at nothing. Hes riding on Heaslip and O Briens coat tails now. Saying all of that, I would have no massive complaint if the Leinster back row were picked en masse because Wallace looks like hes slightly at the wrong side of the hill.
If Trimble were fit last week he would have started, would be v poor form IMO to drop any of the back three after last weekend, they all did fine and would have been a big confidence boost to be picked again. I said it about 6 weeks ago that I thought McFadden was the bolter for the WC and Il stick with that.
There is no doubt Sexton is the better player physically, and has been for some time, but he isn’t making the best decisions in my opinion. Its one thing to kick well (technically etc) but another to choose when to kick or pass or run. A little bit of a one trick pony too with the wrap move. Mind you ROG was the same for with his show and go for a long time.
Maybe the outside players weren’t making him look good, but he needs to make decisions that these lads are not doing it today and i need to do something else. Like a QB will in NFL. Think that part of the game ROG is still streets ahead.
Jaysus, ROG scored a simple tap over drop goal a few yards out in front of the posts and now he’s all of a sudden a great lad!!!
Geroutofit.
ROG should be nowhere near starting on that team and I’m glad to see him continuously dropped as I have been advocating for years now.
Sexton is used to playing with a scrum half who gives him quick ball and not some fella who lets the opposition get completely set up and gives their defence a phone call in advance to tell them where he’s going to pass to.
O’Leary is a big injury doubt for Sunday…Stringer has been called up
Best news I’ve heard all week (once it’s true and not a normal Puke ballhop)
Its true that Stringer has been called up
Wouold you prefer Reddan or Stringer?
Personally i like the option of having Stringer coming on if we are still in the game and stretching things.
in fairness Kev, one of them is a one-trick pony and it ain’t jonny.
we’re just lucky ROG is very good at what he does.
when your 9, 12 and 13 are playing badly there’s very little you can do.
to continue your NFL analogy, when your centre, running back and best receiver are all having an off day, you’re forced to move out of the pocket.
apparently that wrap around is an off-the-cuff thing, and it makes sense in so far as it allows him to get the ball wide quickly with limited involvement from the 2 misfiring centres.
i’d be more worried about front row, back row and 9 than i would be about the out half.
I’d start with Reddan as bringing it back your combination comment, you’ll have a Leinster 8-9-10-12-13 who will know how each other play inside out. When you put an unknown in the middle of that it causes problems.
While not where we want them quite yet, i think the Front row is heading the right way. The refereeing of Irish teams lately has been very dodgy, there is a massive dislike of Irish players within refereeing circles.
Don’t think i’d be worrying too much about back row either. We are probably as good as we can be for now, if that ain’ty good enough it ain’t good enough.
What? Care to elaborate on this one?
Ah come on, Munster and now Ireland are having huge problems with Poite & Pearson. The perception of the scrum has cost both teams, even if at times its been justified. Its a massive debate all over the rugby media Mac, have you not heard ot being discussed. The SH ref’s have had many problems with Ireland, but some conspiricy theorists believe this has to do with the way Irish refs SH teams.
What you have said above is not even related to your first sweeping statement. Are you saying that refs have problems with the Irish scrum or that there’s a massive dislike of Irish players within refereeing circles?
Of course it is, its directly related. Poite enjoys penalising Ireland and in particularly Munster players, he is the centre of the scrum issue right now.
Both, there is definitely a dislike personally and on the pitch of a number of Munster players (O’ Connell, Leamy, O’ Gara in particular). Thye scrum is somewhat related, as it was Munster that first started to get in trouble and is so high profile, but it seems it is contuinuing onto the Irish games.
You’re a gas card I’ll give you that. You’ll be telling us you were drinking with Paddy O’Brien down in the local next :rolleyes:
:rolleyes:
What the hell are you on about, nothing i have said i in any way extrodinary, and is in fact widely discussed. The perception of the Munster & Irish scrum is a major issue, and personality clashes between certain players and referees are there for all to see.