The IRISH RUGBY thread

[Walter Cronc]

Who is the Last genuinely youthful player to play for Ireland . Citing youth as an excuse for marshall is a Bit rich . hes 22  thats older than George north or stuart Hogg
Mcfadden is 27 so is  Toner these are hardly risks more like pee or get off the pot for them

i was going to point to Donncha Ryan as an example of a young player who took his chance when presented. But when I looked up the facts, firstly he is already 29. He was capped in November 2008 but as far as the 6N is concerned he made no appearances in 2009, only made two appearances as a sub in 2010, didn't appear in 2011 and when he made his 1st 6N start in 2012, he was MOTM.

I know earlier on this thread, a few years ago, I was defending Donncha O'Callaghan's selection for a while, but there is a happy medium somewhere.

Looking at the age profile of the current starters it can only end in tears.

There is no point in wholesale changes for the All Blacks, but certainly a few undroppables need to be demoted to focus the minds. I would start with putting Heaslip on the bench and would leave Reddan out of the squad altogether.

Surely the 4 provinces can offer one young scrum half with some potential? But, just as an example, if you look at Leinster Johhny Cooney (23) is number 3 behind Reddan & Boss, while the promising Luke McGrath (20) is behind Cooney. How is McGrath supposed to be developed?

The number 2 scrum halves at Ulster and Munster are Paul Marshall (28) and Duncan Williams (27) who aren't going to do much internationally given their ages.

Thankfully Conor Murray broke through when he did.

You have omitted the form scrum half on the Irish scene at the moment - Kieran Marmion.

I thought he was Welsh but if he wants to play for Ireland, you are right he should be considered.

Born in Wales but he has represented Ireland since schoolboy. Really rate Mc Grath. Stuart Olding anothing very promising player is out for the season after hurting his knee for Ulster A on Friday past.

The Welsh provinces have suffered since the player exodus to France but it has given lots of opportunities to younger players. Dan Biggar is the prime example at the Ospreys. Perhaps this could be the case with Ireland in the next couple of years.

[stephenite]

Shows the talent of the Australian Squad when James O Connor had his contact terminated,(through no fault of his own) and not miss him. Awesome player. He might settle down a bit playing for London Irish.

What do you mean through no fault of his own? The guy had several warnings about poor behaviour, got booted by his club

[anglocelt39]

Shows the talent of the Australian Squad when James O Connor had his contact terminated,(through no fault of his own) and not miss him. Awesome player. He might settle down a bit playing for London Irish.

What do you mean through no fault of his own? The guy had several warnings about poor behaviour, got booted by his club

Some effort by the Aussies to get 12 guys carpeted for a night out in Dublin considering neither O'Connor or Beale were available for that razzle and Cooper didn't even feature in the list of offenders. This vice captaincy thing has seriously gone to his head.

[rodney trotter]

Shows the talent of the Australian Squad when James O Connor had his contact terminated,(through no fault of his own) and not miss him. Awesome player. He might settle down a bit playing for London Irish.

What do you mean through no fault of his own? The guy had several warnings about poor behaviour, got booted by his club

A wrong way of saying it, meant he brought it on himself before he was eventually let go. Happened 3 or 4 times this year. Although he did start in the 3 lions test games.

Won't be selected while playing in England in anyway. might get his head sorted and a move back to Australia before 2015 WC.

[trileacman]

Shows the talent of the Australian Squad when James O Connor had his contact terminated,(through no fault of his own) and not miss him. Awesome player. He might settle down a bit playing for London Irish.

I thought it was because of all the drinking, no?

[rodney trotter]

Shows the talent of the Australian Squad when James O Connor had his contact terminated,(through no fault of his own) and not miss him. Awesome player. He might settle down a bit playing for London Irish.

I thought it was because of all the drinking, no?

More or less yeah. That's why I cleared what I meant in the previous post

[trileacman]

Maybe it's just me but I always thought rugby had a slighter older age bracket when compared to soccer or GAA. I mean in GAA/Soccer anyone over 22 is no longer considered young or a rookie, whilst the 30 age limit represents the cut off for "veterans". In Rugby I'd always have considered rugby to be 2 or 3 years older than that, especially in the forwards where the demands are very different. I'd say Ritchie McCaw has only hit his peak in the last 3-4 years and the likes of O'Connell, O'Kelly, Bull, Dallaglio, Robinson all entered their peak when they crossed 30.

And while we're discussing the two, James O'Connor is a prime example of why rushing in young blood isn't all its cracked up to be. Hook and Cipriani are other examples of exceptional talent being pissed up the wall and ending up as European journeymen. These lads were talked up by a fawning media, simply because they were young and introduced to international rugby far too early, when a continued run in club sides and summer tours would have served them better.

[whitegoodman]

I don't know what match some where watching but I thought Marshall and Ferg were the two best players Ireland had.

I'd love Ireland to be a bit more like the welsh and give the younger lads a chance.  I think after Sunday BOD should call it a day internationally and concentrate on winning something with Leinster in his last season. He just ant up to it anymore and he doesn't want to be remembered for performances like he produced at the weekend.

It wont happen but I'd love to see Moore, Tuohy, Henderson, O Donnell, Marmion, Marshall, Zebo and Gilroy play central roles by the time the six nations comes about. I would have added Olding to that list as he is a great talent but he has just suffered a bad injury which will keep him out for he rest of he season.

Ross, McCarthy, Redden, Darcy and BOD should be consigned to international retirement.
Heaslip, Bowe and Kearney should be told to get their act together or face the chop.

Healy
Best
Moore
O Connell
Henderson
O Brien
O Donnell
O Mahony
Murray
Sexton
Zebo
Marshall
Cave
Gilroy
Kearney

A team with some experience which should be capable of winning games yet with an eye on the world cup in two years time.  Cave is in there because there is no one else until Payne becomes eligible in the summer.

[muppet]

I don't know what match some where watching but I thought Marshall and Ferg were the two best players Ireland had.

I'd love Ireland to be a bit more like the welsh and give the younger lads a chance.  I think after Sunday BOD should call it a day internationally and concentrate on winning something with Leinster in his last season. He just ant up to it anymore and he doesn't want to be remembered for performances like he produced at the weekend.

It wont happen but I'd love to see Moore, Tuohy, Henderson, O Donnell, Marmion, Marshall, Zebo and Gilroy play central roles by the time the six nations comes about. I would have added Olding to that list as he is a great talent but he has just suffered a bad injury which will keep him out for he rest of he season.

Ross, McCarthy, Redden, Darcy and BOD should be consigned to international retirement.
Heaslip, Bowe and Kearney should be told to get their act together or face the chop.

Healy
Best
Moore
O Connell
Henderson
O Brien
O Donnell
O Mahony
Murray
Sexton
Zebo
Marshall
Cave
Gilroy
Kearney

A team with some experience which should be capable of winning games yet with an eye on the world cup in two years time.  Cave is in there because there is no one else until Payne becomes eligible in the summer.

I'd keep Donncha Ryan but otherwise an interesting team.

[whitegoodman]

Long term it looks like Ryan and Henderson with Tuohy as backup.  I don't see what McCarthy brings and out side of line out I don't see what Toner brings and what he offers in the line out you lose out in the scrum and loose.

[Syferus]

McCarthy is better than Toner, who even in line-outs doesn't really deliver the degree needed to make up for his deficiencies in the loose. Ryan-POD the obvious 1-2 pairing, though.

What's possessed AIG for them to think flooding Irish tv with adverts highlighting their support of our country's opponents is a good idea? Some of the stupidest marketing I've seen in a long time.

[rosnarun]

McCarthy is better than Toner, who even in line-outs doesn't really deliver the degree needed to make up for his deficiencies in the loose. Ryan-POD the obvious 1-2 pairing, though.

What's possessed AIG for them to think flooding Irish tv with adverts highlighting their support of our country's opponents? Some of the stupidest marketing I've seen in a long time.

Are  not 'theallblacks' (c) the worlds team like Brasil 1970  doesn't everyone love them?

[deiseach]

What's possessed AIG for them to think flooding Irish tv with adverts highlighting their support of our country's opponents? Some of the stupidest marketing I've seen in a long time.

Croppies lie down.

[Lar Naparka]

McCarthy is better than Toner, who even in line-outs doesn't really deliver the degree needed to make up for his deficiencies in the loose. Ryan-POD the obvious 1-2 pairing, though.

What's possessed AIG for them to think flooding Irish tv with adverts highlighting their support of our country's opponents? Some of the stupidest marketing I've seen in a long time.

Bums on seats is the object of the exercise.
There can't be any man, woman or monkey in all of Ireland, as David Brady might say, who doesn't know about the game now.
At the same time, there could be a bit of reverse psychology involved here.
The more the All Blacks are hyped up, the more our lads will feel under pressure to stand up to them and not be disgraced. (If you can follow my meaning. )

[AZOffaly]

Lads Paul O'Connell needs to be rested/dropped from that team. The man is physically unable to move around anymore. He looks absolutely beat up. I saw him there at Thomond Park a few weeks ago and it was actually painful watching him just walking out onto the pitch. He needs to be left play with Munster only for a while and see can he make it back. Let Toner and Donacha Ryan be the locks.