The IRISH RUGBY thread

Started by Donnellys Hollow, October 27, 2009, 05:26:16 PM

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Celt_Man

Six Nations related - fairly funny too!!


Powell drives his way into police trouble


Wales forward Andy Powell was arrested after driving a golf buggy towards a motorway hours after defeating Scotland in a thrilling Six Nations match, sources revealed on Sunday.

Back row forward Powell, 28, was arrested with another 28-year-old man at a service station near junction 34 of the M4 motorway, close to the spa hotel in the Vale of Glamorgan where the Wales team were staying.

Inspector Tony McAlinden, of South Wales Police, said: 'I can confirm that two 28-year-old males were arrested on suspicion of taking and driving away a golf cart.

'One of the males subsequently failed a breathalyser.'

The identity of the other man is not known and police would not confirm who failed the breathalyser. The men did not drive the buggy on to the motorway.

Both men are from the Brecon area of mid Wales, police said.

The four-star Vale Hotel, Golf and Spa Resort in Hensol is the official hotel used by the Wales squad where they train and host press conferences.

The Welsh Rugby Union issued the following statement: 'The WRU is aware of a Police investigation into an incident involving the player Andy Powell and is monitoring its progress.

'The national squad views matters of player conduct extremely seriously. Members of the national squad management will formally speak to the player before any futher statement is issued.

'The WRU has advised the player on the opportunities he can consider for legal representation at this stage.'
GAA Board Six Nations Fantasy Champion 2010

Celt_Man

And as expected he gets booted into touch from the squad....


Shamed Powell dumped from Welsh squad


Wales have dropped Andy Powell from their 35-man RBS 6 Nations squad with immediate effect.

Powell is due to appear in court next month charged with drink-driving after he was arrested with a golf buggy at motorway services.

Back row forward Powell, 28, was arrested early yesterday, hours after his team beat Scotland 31-24 at the Millennium Stadium.

Wales decided that Powell should be suspended from the squad for 'behaviour contrary to the squad's code of conduct'.

He was detained with another 28-year-old man at the service station near junction 33 of the M4 motorway, close to the spa hotel in the Vale of Glamorgan where his team were staying.

South Wales Police said Powell was charged with 'driving a mechanically propelled vehicle whilst unfit through drink'.

Alan Phillips, Wales' team manager, admitted his behaviour was unacceptable and gave no indication of when he would return to the squad.

'We take matters of player conduct extremely seriously and have been happy with the professionalism and discipline of this squad in general terms,' said Phillips.

'Andy knows he has misbehaved and is apologetic, but he also knows that he must take responsibility for his own actions and accept the repercussions.

'This kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated in a professional, elite sporting environment and we have acted quickly and incisively in order to leave no ambiguity over the dim view we take of this situation.

'The player has made his private apologies to the Welsh management team as well as apologising in a public statement and we have also asked him to apologise to the Vale Resort Hotel, before asking him to leave the squad.

'We will now leave the South Wales Police service to conclude the matter and we will be making no further public statements at this time.'

Wales have declined to call up a replacement for Powell, who has won 14 caps for his country and toured with the British Lions squad to South Africa.

He has played regional rugby for Cardiff Blues since 2005, after joining from the Llanelli Scarlets. He has also played for Beziers, Leicester and Newport.

He is due to appear at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on March 2.
GAA Board Six Nations Fantasy Champion 2010

lynchbhoy

Quote from: Dinny Breen on February 14, 2010, 12:52:34 PM
Luck had no part in that game, 3 positions are key in the modern game, Tight-head, scrum-half and out-half. In those three positions we were very poor. After the Italy game it was the right thing to start O'Gara it was the wrong decision to leave him on after 40 mins and I know Kearney's injury would have had a influence in that (The bench selection was completely off, one subsitution should not result in three changes to a team).

If it was me a would cull Hayes and O'Gara now completely from the squad, no room for sentiment and we will not win another 6 nations with either of those two in the side not to mention World Cups. Talking of World Cups I would use the remaing three games, the summer tour and autumn international to build a squad that can go and try and win the World Cup next year. It will be a harsh learning curve but the rewards could be massive. We have nothing to lose.

Getting back to the game, I talked previously about rugby intelligence and how Ireland had the edge, I suppose what didn't come into my reckoning was how stupid Cian Healy and Jerry Flannery are, Healy will never be the brightest that's just genetic but wtf was Flannery at, they shifted the whole dynamic of that game in France's favour, instead of making France chase the game, they gifted them the lead. France are front-runners, they don't like chasing games, the other moment of madness was O'Leary before half-time - any score before half-time is a good score - puts the tidiest seed of doubt in the oppositions mind and gives your our side a liitle belief.

Overall France deserved that margin of victory and I had a lot of man love for Harinordoquy, favourite French player since Olivier Magne.

My team to start against England

Horan
Best
Court
Ryan
O'Connell
Ferris
O'Brien
Heaslip
Reddan
Sexton
Trimble
Wallace
O'Driscoll
Bowe
Kearney
would agree with that and I was thinking of a team almost exactly on those lines
only question would be ryan at second row...
..........

Hound

Don't know how anyone could pick Wallace ahead of D'arcy.

Ryan needs to replace O'Callaghan at Munster before he becomes first choice for Ireland. My current ranking at lock is 1.O'Connell, 2. Casey, 3. Cullen, 4. O'Callaghan, 5. Ryan. But Casey is not getting a look in, so I'd definitely stick with Cullen who has been doing well.

To me, our scrum seemed to struggle more when Court was in. Albeit he'll only improve with games. I'd probably alternate Healy and Horan, playing Healy against the really strong front rows and Horan against the average ones.

Dinny Breen

QuoteDon't know how anyone could pick Wallace ahead of D'arcy.

Because he's a better footballer than D'Arcy, D'Arcy is one dimensional, he has quick feet and stays on them long enough to give the backrow a target, he can't disribute and and he can't off-load. I'd never play O'Gara and Wallace but I think Sexton and Wallace have a nice blend, a 1st and 2nd 5/8.

Also Ryan is a better all round player than O'Callagahan, O'Callaghan is a road sweeper and every team needs them but with a WC in mind I'd blood Ryan now now. He should have left Munster a long time ago.
#newbridgeornowhere

screenexile

The great Wallace/D'Arcy debate!!

This time last year I'd have been a D'Arcy man every time but I'm starting to come round to Wallace. Yes D'Arcy is a blood and thunder Centre going head on at lads trying to make the hard yards and hard tackles which does tend to please the crowd but Wallace is a much more clever and skillfull player with some neat kicks and a good range of passing and offloading in the tackle which can sometimes create something out of nothing.

In my opinion both of them have their merits but I'd nearly use them in different situations. D'Arcy against Wales, Italy, England with maybe perceived weaker defences. Then I'd go with Wallace against the tighter ones like Scotland and France and look for him to do something different to get you into the game. Many arguments for both I'd say though.

trileacman

Quote from: Dinny Breen on February 15, 2010, 04:43:15 PM
QuoteDon't know how anyone could pick Wallace ahead of D'arcy.

Because he's a better footballer than D'Arcy, D'Arcy is one dimensional, he has quick feet and stays on them long enough to give the backrow a target, he can't disribute and and he can't off-load. I'd never play O'Gara and Wallace but I think Sexton and Wallace have a nice blend, a 1st and 2nd 5/8.

Also Ryan is a better all round player than O'Callagahan, O'Callaghan is a road sweeper and every team needs them but with a WC in mind I'd blood Ryan now now. He should have left Munster a long time ago.
Nice urgency!!  :D
Agreed with the comment about O'Gara Wallace. Wallace gets the best out of a back line I believe. I think our back 3 + BOD can cause problems and is a real threat. We are not Italy or England who are limited by what they can do out wide. We need a 12 who can help open the game up for us to exploit.
Fantasy Rugby World Cup Champion 2011,
Fantasy 6 Nations Champion 2014

trileacman

#487
Quote from: screenexile on February 15, 2010, 04:52:27 PM
The great Wallace/D'Arcy debate!!

This time last year I'd have been a D'Arcy man every time but I'm starting to come round to Wallace. Yes D'Arcy is a blood and thunder Centre going head on at lads trying to make the hard yards and hard tackles which does tend to please the crowd but Wallace is a much more clever and skillfull player with some neat kicks and a good range of passing and offloading in the tackle which can sometimes create something out of nothing.

In my opinion both of them have their merits but I'd nearly use them in different situations. D'Arcy against Wales, Italy, England with maybe perceived weaker defences. Then I'd go with Wallace against the tighter ones like Scotland and France and look for him to do something different to get you into the game. Many arguments for both I'd say though.
I had the opposite thinking last year about it but I never consider horses for courses.
My reasoning was that O Leary could, to a certain degree, cover both O'Gara and Wallace's defensive lapses whilst the O'Gara Wallace combination had the ability to unlock defence with good distrubution.
The flipside was a Stringer/Rog combination allowed us to spread it quick as well but Wallace couldn't be accomodated in such a weak defence an Darcy was required to beef it up. In effect it was a choice between playing Stringer and Darcy or O'leary and Wallace. Of course that has changed now but you could propose that Reddan is the new stringer.

Edit: I meant " but I never considered it as horses for courses"
Fantasy Rugby World Cup Champion 2011,
Fantasy 6 Nations Champion 2014

Olaf

Quote from: Dinny Breen on February 15, 2010, 04:43:15 PM
QuoteDon't know how anyone could pick Wallace ahead of D'arcy.

Because he's a better footballer than D'Arcy, D'Arcy is one dimensional, he has quick feet and stays on them long enough to give the backrow a target, he can't disribute and and he can't off-load. I'd never play O'Gara and Wallace but I think Sexton and Wallace have a nice blend, a 1st and 2nd 5/8.



There is merit in that argument and Wallace is a good footballer with a good defence (contrary to what some believe).

However D'arcy is a better attacking option and is just that bit more incisive.

Dinny Breen

Yea I'd agree with horses for courses, International Rugby is about your squad and how you utilise it, that was an EOS failing and I hope Kidney doesn't fall into that trap.
#newbridgeornowhere

Aaron Boone

The Triple Crown is still out there to be won:

England 23 times (last 03)
Wales 19 (last 08)
Ireland 10 (last 09)
Scotland 10 (last 1990 :-\)

 

Hound

While Wallace did nothing wrong on Saturday, I thought our back line looked a lot stronger when D'arcy was in at 12, but that may have been down to making 3 changes when Kearney went off.

What about full back if Kearney doesn't make it, and let's assume Geordan Murphy isn't fit enough either?

IMO Earls has proven time and again that he's not up to being a full back at Heineken Cup level, never mind international level.
Of course there is nobody else who has proven to be. Pity Felix Jones has been injured so much this year as he has lots of potential. Personally, I don't think Gavin Duffy is good enough.

Would any of Wallace, D'arcy, Sexton, Bowe be realistic options?  Playing any of them v England would be a gamble of course, but less of a gamble that throwing Earls in there again. My inclination would be to go for Sexton.

Capt Pat

Quote from: screenexile on February 15, 2010, 02:08:16 PM
Was disappointed in the match. Save the lineout we were pretty much destroyed in every facet.

For a team with such superiority in the lineout AND France using the blitz, why did Ireland not utilise O'Gara as one of the best tactical kickers in the game and kick for touch the whole game. It was the only way we could survive. Also the lack of chip kicks annoyed me as well when it was evident the Scottish got a bit of success from it last week.


[/quot

Spot on. I have no idea why we played the way we did after going a few points down when plan A was working so well. It was luck and indiscipline that caused us to be 14 points down.

By the way the French or Parra would not have scored a try when Healy tugged him back. He was about to be tackled by the full back and would probably not have got a pass away. It was bloody stupird and costly.


Capt Pat

In relation to Wallace v Darcy and Cullen v O'Callaghan. All these lads are roughly speaking the same age and are coming to the end of their careers. wallace and O'Callaghan were on the under 19 world cup winning team with O'Driscoll. Wallace never really delivered on his potential and just hung around the Ulster set up going nowhere. O'Callaghan and darcy so were automatic selections in the Irish team for the best part of the last decade and rightly so given their abilities and the level of competition for places in centre and second row(bob casey excluded from that contest).

There has never really been any doubt that O'Callaghan and darcy were streets ahead of Cullen and Wallace. Now things have changed a little , Cullen and Wallace have mature a bit and are still hungry for Ireland caps. This won't change the fact that O'Callaghan and Darcy are in a different class to the 2 pretenders if they still have the motivation and are match fitness. You can't write them off just yet and need to think about what you are doing dropping them for mutton dressed up as lamb.

I would hope there are younger players coming through who it might be worth while giving game time to in the rest of the championship. At centre there are players like Cave from Ulster, Macken from Leinster who might well be up to it. In the second row there is Donnacha Ryand and Devin Toner. If it is of the future we are thinking then these players would be the ones I would be looking to.

ha ha derry

I know i,m going to get laughed at again but O Leary is not the man for scrum half. At ruck time he,s usually stuck at the bottom pretending to be a back row forward, so providing slow ball. Then there,s his box kicking  :-\.
Reddan is not yer man either unless Ireland play an orangutang at out half.
Peter Stringer is aggressive, quick hands and gets the out half playing up on the line where he should be to bring the rest of the backs on to the ball at pace.