But Touhy’s time will come Kev, our four most proven/experienced lockes are all fully fit and were all going to make the squad in this case…If Touhy himself hadn’t been injured last november he could well have forced himself up the pecking order after a decent summer tour but unfortunately for him it didn’t happen and he will have to wait for his chance again…He is still relatively young 24 or there abouts and looked a very good player in the making but he was never going to get in ahead of the other 4 this side of the WC barring injury…
PO’C has started one game in 11 months Lar. MO’D has been Munster best 2nd row anyway for this season, but quite a bit too. It’s DO’C i’d have off that before anyone.
I agree with Shadow, Mac Fadden should be ahead of Wallace too.
That is poor selection imo. If someone is clearly playing better for country and club then they should be selected. Tuohy had a better summer tour than the other locks and has been far superior in past few months. Not picking him is poor selection.
I’d have Wallace in squad any day. He had a superb game on Saturday and has been very effective in getting our outside backs going(Australia, Maori etc). Wouldn’t have picked Horgan.
maybe but I suppose the management have more confidence/faith in the other four at this moment in time…I am sure Gert Smal has plenty of input into the pack selection so it is hardly Kidney being far too loyal to the older lads…
Wallace did do well Larry, but MacFadden is a better player and in better form. Yu can’t have it one way for one Ulster guy and another for another.
Both Tuohy and Wallace are in very good form. I’d pick McFadden too at the expense of Horgan. Don’t see how that doesn’t add up kev.
I’m saying i’d have MacFadden ahead of any of them except BO’D, D’Arcy included.
Puke - I agree Touhy will get his chance, but why do Ireland have to wait forever to put fellas in. Other countries tend not to hang around, the French and Aussies in particular.
The non-selection of Toner and McFadden is completely baffling but then we’ve come to expect that from this coach.
At least he’s dispensed with Tomás O’Leary, albeit 18 months or so too late. His erratic passing and ponderous play at the base of rucks is very lamentable and he’ll never be international class.
Interesting decision on O’Leary anyway.
Seemed to me that he put an awful lot into his passing a few years ago and really worked on it to get it to a poor but borderline acceptable standard. (Initially he looked absolutely dreadful as a scrum half I thought). The presumption was that his passing would continue to improve as he put more into it but that hasn’t happened certainly. In fact he’s probably a worse passer now than he was before.
He has physicality and pace but so did Bergamasco when Italy tried him at scrum half. If you can’t clear a ruck quickly you really will struggle and this Irish backline really needs that type of quick ball - though I guess any backline would like it.
Very surprised McFadden isn’t in the squad- actually a baffling decision, he needs game time in an irish jersey and he is the form back in the country, he should have been one of the first names on the squad list
Also the omission of either of To’L and Boss is surprising- Reddan/Stringer play too similar a game,
McCarthy’s inclusion is very odd as is Ruddock’s
You’d wonder is he giving some of the A lads a run out as a means of giving game time and that they will come back into contention later
Frankly I don’t know what Kidney is up to
Most of the fringe lads in the main squad are normally just glorified tackle bags, makes some degree of sense to let players stay getting games in ML and with wolfhounds (I fucking hate that name btw) rather than have them stand around holding bags and standing on scrummaging machines all day. Its been said that TOL will be in the squad by the time the French game comes around.
McFadden is a great utility player. Obviously he’s best at Centre but he’s passable on the wing PLUS he’s a place kicker (scored all Leinster’s points in a match against Edinborough last season if I remember correctly). If nothing else that make’s him worth a bench spot for the flexibility.
Stringer is still one of the quickest to get the ball out of the ruck, if he was physically bigger he’d still be #1. Boss is slower but he does give you better D and better carrying, almost like an extra forward sometimes.
Wales don’t look to be in the best of shape going into the Six Nations…Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins both being out pretty much takes away their scrum, Shanklin and Bishop are both gone as well meaning that it looks as though Henson may well be back in the side as well
No harm from an Irish perspective to have props dropping out of other teams. In theory we should improve with Ross and Court in the squad and Healy generally acquits himself reasonably well but he gets blown away every now and then.
Just watched the Breakdown on Setanta. I was willing to give Neil Francis some time previously but the cunt has obviously lost it now. He expects TOL to start against Italy and said Kidney would be mad to start Mike Ross cos Buckley gives you so much more. Apparently there’s only a few vital scrums in every game so it’s worth taking the risk cos Buckley gives you more around the park!
He more or less said the opposite recently. He’s a fucking tard looking for some limelight.
If we had a really decent front row i’d fancy us for a semi final at worst at WC. But we don’t seem to want to play our best scrummaggers, so i don’t fancy us at all. Its fucking huge, the scrum. To say anything else is just simple.
Agreed, all you have to do is look at the Aussies, 6-15 they are pretty much on the same level as the all blacks but don’t have a functioning scrum or a real dominant second row…What is a middling enough English side have bullied them off the park the last few times they have played due to the advantage they gained in the scrum…whether Court & Ross will hold their own against the likes of Sheridan & Cole or Mas & Domingo is anyones guess but with a player like Heaslip at 8 it would give us a huge attacking platform if we could just secure our own ball without going backwards at the scrum…
We need to win primary possession at the breakdown, maybe take it through a few phases to try and draw their deeper lying players, then we can kick in behind them and crucify them in the lineout
We need to sort out the scrum if only to stop the opposition targetting us there, how many points did Toulon get from penalties at the scrum last weekend?
If we can hold our own at scrumtime it gives the back row and our backs an opportunity to attack wherever they choose. Franno isn’t wrong in that there are fewer scrums now so its not the platform it once was but a good scrum is a powerful weapon.
I’d go with Healy, Cronin and Ross, Leo and PO’C (reluctantly) first up to see how they pan out, Best, McCourt, Toner/Tuohy on the bench would give you decent cover, A decent front 5 is critical
Could be wrong but I believe that 8 subs are permitted in the 6 nations this year, allowing cover for both sides of the scrum…Buckley may well be a terrible scrummager but has the ability to be a very good impact player if this is the case