[quote=“The Puke”]that england team is average enough alright but it has a bit of potential…johnson has been unlucky with injuries also…tom croft at 6 for them will be 6 for the lions next summer…
i reckon that we could well win the 6 nations next year as the english and french are both still in transition and we have both of them at home…[/quote]
Now when did i hear that before?
But your right, we still have a very good squad. England have potential alright, but i just don’t see them fullfilling it. Your right about Croft, he is top notch.
It’s an average enough standard at the moment for International teams in the NH.
We have a nice set of backs, top class out half, 3 dodgy scrum halves, serious “potential” in back row, super 2nd row and a dodgy front row. To win Grand Slams etc you can’t have passengers, i think we have at the moment. I judging these guys at the highest level. All of them are fine club players, but it is a serious step up.
I’m really looking forward to how Jennings gets on against McCaw
[quote=“caoimhaoin”]I’ve seen him maybe 20 times, plenty with Con and about 4-5 times with Quins, i really think he is muck. He is a decent scummager, but you need more than that these days. He’s no1st choice at Quins, but neither is Buckley i suppose, but who’s a stronger squad, Munster or Quins?
We’re never going to agree on this fella, sorry i’m already blinded by his total crapness at Cork Con.[/quote]
to be fair he was a 20+ stone amateur at Con, agreed he was poor there, I saw him a good few times there as well…but he was top class for Quins last year, did he even make the premiership team of the year?
Fair play to him if you ask me, was going nowhere at Con and by all accounts engineered the deal to quins himself.
hey dan, how is flutey eligable to play for england and yet mafi isn’t eligable to play for ireland…considering flutey has played at petty much every level bar test match for new zeaand, he definately played for the maori’s and all the way up underage
Surprised Earls is starting, I really believe its far too early for him to be getting a cap. I’m also uncertain that fullback is his best position. HAving said that its only Canada.
Earls and Fitzgerald both need time before they turn into the real deal either at Provincial or International level, having said that I’d be delighted if I’m shown to be talking through my hole
Yeah surprised by the quicker than expected call up for Earls but there’s enough experience in that team to dispose of Canada and he’s able to blood a couple of lads without disrupting partnerships too much.
Interesting Bandage, I heard Jim Glennon saying that you put your worst tackler at fullback which was why he said it was Kearney’s ideal position as his defence is suspect, ultimately you’d have to think that the next 18months should see him nail it down as Girve and Geordan move out of rugby
but the problem is we have very few international class wingers mac…horgan is a shadow of the player he was, trimble has shown on numerous occasions he isn’t a winger, earls is a centre/full back but not a winger, while i am a bg fan of dowling I think he would be muredered against the all blacks on the wing…
I reckon geordan murphy will be full back against the all blacks…
Well lads we are just over 24 hours away from a new era in Irish rugby…anyone heading along to it…There still seems to be a few tickets floating around handy enough…Hopefully it goes well and we win it comfortably
Prediction:
Ireland 45 (earls and fitzgerald to score)
Canada 10
as for the other games:
All Blacks to beat scotland by around 20-25 points
England to make hard work of pacific islan and win by around 20 points
Wales to get within 10 of south africa
The spread with the bookies is 33 or so isn’t it? Too big to be betting on really because you don’t know how much they’ll push to beat a margin they won’t be striving for.
Fairly looking forward to the game though - even when things got stale under Eddie O’Sullivan there was rarely a dull or uninteresting match. The new blood on the team and on the sideline makes the next few weeks a cracking prospect.
I’d largely agree on your assessment of the other games but fancy the All Blacks to push on and beat the Scots by more. Think they’ll put it up to them for a while but they’ll capitulate eventually and New Zealand are a great side for hammering away at opponents even when they’ve the match comfortably won.