He broke his jaw, came back and played quite decently against Munster in the Magners semi final. Heās played 2 games since breaking it, one good, one poor, when the entire side were as poor as him. O Gara was quite poor against Leinster in his last game of the season (apart from a match Friday night against a scratch side). Iām not following your form guide here to be honest.
Regardless, the point is, it was a chance to start Sexton on a foreign tour against a weakened NZ outfit to give him a taste for it. They have made the easy and safe call. IMO, if Sexton is fit (and hes on the bench so I dont see why he isnt) its the wrong call.
OāGara didnāt look good on Friday night. Lost count of the amount of times he got run over in the tackle. NZ will run straight through him on Saturday. Ireland will be lucky to keep within 15 points of them.
Irish backline should still be strong enough and Murphy on the bench is a good option. Glad to see Trimble getting a chance again, I thought heād been doing well for Ireland before Earls took over.
Props and second row are an obvious concern but will be interesting to see how the backrows compare. They have a few players who wouldnāt be standouts in an Irish province playing for them but surrounded by class half backs and the likes of McCaw then theyāll be able to raise their game youād expect.
Mac if ROg scored 3 tries next saturday you wouldnāt praise him. Everybody runs at ROG, but there is no way he was run over on friday night. He kicked well and was a huge part in a cracking try.
He is the better man for NZ, Sexton should get his chance against Oz, who he is possibly more suited to.
New Zealand have a few inexperienced players and will be rusty so we have a chanceā¦Great to see Cronin and Muldoon get a chanceā¦OāGara Sexton is much of a muchness, no doubt Sexton will start v Australiaā¦Heaslip and Bowe are the best players in the world in their given positions IMHO at this moment in time, donāt think we will win but will give a decent account of ourselves and get within 10 points
Kev, if ROG scores 3 tries Iāll be the first on here to say I was wrong. And yes, he got run over at least 3 times in the second half on Friday night. Watch the video back wearing your unbiased glasses.
Iād play Sexton ahead of perennial failure on the big stage, Ronan OāGara.
As an aside, youāre the most boring poster on here. But your āknowingā tone on every topic adds inadvertent humour that makes it somewhat more bearable.
Handicap is thirteen. If Ferris was availiable Iād seriously fancy our chances. Not as confident about our backs as others with Darcy and BOD partnership performing very poorly recently. That said think this NZ team isnāt anywhere near as invincible as others so will be getting up on Saturday morning in expectant mood that we can at least be in with a shout.
Iād agree on DāArcy anyway Larry. Heās been in brutal form, and though he was very good for 20 minutes against the Ospreys, it was only after a desperate performance for the first hour and heās been far from impressive all season. He needs replacing for province and country IMO.
Has Trimble featured in the centre for Ulster at all?
Very occasionally and he hasnāt been great there.Paddy Wallace should be an option ahead of Darcy and Trimble imo. More skillful player than either and a good kicking game to boot!
[quote=ālarryduff, post: 469183ā]
Very occasionally and he hasnāt been great there.Paddy Wallace should be an option ahead of Darcy and Trimble imo. More skillful player than either and a good kicking game to boot!
[/quote]
Wonderful pun Larry.
Yeah Iād give Wallace a run ahead of Trimble at 12 ahead of both of them at the moment, just wondering whoāll play 12 if DāArcy gets injured.