The IRISH RUGBY thread

[orangeman]

A big challenge ahead for Ireland in Twickenham this weekend - question : why are Ireland favourites ( if only slight ) for this game

[Rossie11]

Earls is the lucky one for me. Horgan should be in there ahead of him.
Crazy that he didnt even make the bench given his form this season and his past
form V England

[GalwayBayBoy]

A big challenge ahead for Ireland in Twickenham this weekend - question : why are Ireland favourites ( if only slight ) for this game

Well they have beaten England 5 out of the last 6 times with many of the same players and are current Grand Slam holders for a few more weeks anyway. England do have home advantage though so you could probably call it evens.

[Celt_Man]

Cannot understand how O'Leary is still on that team. Good luck to Sexton receiving ball from him.

Odds are the scum will be a better platform than last time out so that should improve the service to O'Leary firstly so we'll see how that works out then to Sexton

[screenexile]

A big challenge ahead for Ireland in Twickenham this weekend - question : why are Ireland favourites ( if only slight ) for this game

Ireland are GS Champions and comparing England's form with Ireland's this past year would have Ireland probably big favourites. However, given that it's Twickenham and Ireland's poor performance against France Ireland are still favourites but only slightly. Plus Ireland have only lost once in the last 5 years or something.

[mackers]

Cannot understand how O'Leary is still on that team. Good luck to Sexton receiving ball from him.

Odds are the scum will be a better platform than last time out so that should improve the service to O'Leary firstly so we'll see how that works out then to Sexton

That may be the case but he needs to get the ball away quicker to Sexton from rucks, he takes a f**king age to get the ball away. There's no point having an out half who will stand flat and draw defences if the scrum half won't give him quick ball. I presume he's picked because he's more physical than Reddan which will be important against a back English back row.

[magpie seanie]

Cannot understand how O'Leary is still on that team. Good luck to Sexton receiving ball from him.

Odds are the scum will be a better platform than last time out so that should improve the service to O'Leary firstly so we'll see how that works out then to Sexton

That may be the case but he needs to get the ball away quicker to Sexton from rucks, he takes a f**king age to get the ball away. There's no point having an out half who will stand flat and draw defences if the scrum half won't give him quick ball. I presume he's picked because he's more physical than Reddan which will be important against a back English back row.

If he doesn't get the ball away quicker Sexton will be killed. O'Gara didn't sit deep just cos he felt like it. Reddan or even Stringer should have been picked to give Sexton a better chance of playing well.

[Main Street]

A big day for Sexton and well deserved. He has a cultured finesse look about him, not unlike Tony Ward in his day.

Beating England in Twickenham is much more important than beating them in Dublin. This one is for all the Irish in exile.

[Dinny Breen]

Pray to the heavens that neither Hayes or Healy get injured early doors.

[Bord na Mona man]

Logical enough selection. England will be trying to play a power game and won't be too concerned with getting it wide. So O'Leary will be kept busy tackling back row forwards. Reddan being smaller and lighter would be vulnerable.
Give O'Callaghan the start and see if he is up to pace of the game. Bring on Cullen if he isn't.

[trileacman]

Pray to the heavens that neither Hayes or Healy get injured early doors.

Oddly enough injury to one of them would be disasterous but injury to both would be a godsend as we could throw on an extra back row, get the best from tony buckleys game (ball in hand) and completely negate the effectiveness of any of the English front row.

The Rugby World council need to sort this out soon. The quicker we get to full 15 subs the better. it's now inevitable.

[Capt Pat]

15 subs???

It is right for the props to have at 2 replacements maybe even 3 but anyone can play any other position on the team.

[trileacman]

15 subs???

It is right for the props to have at 2 replacements maybe even 3 but anyone can play any other position on the team.

What's your point here? Paddy Wallace can play second row? Denis Leamy can play scrum half? POC can play on the wing? BOD could play out-half and we could still aspire to win?

[thewobbler]

I don't see why they would want to increase the number of replacements available.

The last 20 mins of one-sided games turns into a complete mess as it is when both managers empty their benches.

Throw in the financial side of it too. 15 replacements maybe isn't such a big issue for Ireland, but if the likes of Connacht had to cart another 8 bodies across Europe for all their away fixtures, that would add a considerable hole in their finances.


Trileacman, the point Pat was making is that if both your lock-forwards get crocked, then you've one on the bench, and someone from the back-row can fill in. This might necessitate a winger/centre coming into the back-row, but it's do-able. If you want to continue covering off disaster scenerios such as when everyone who can kick a ball gets hurt at once, meaning there's no cover for fly-half, well you might has well have 30 men on the bench then.

[lynchbhoy]

Logical enough selection. England will be trying to play a power game and won't be too concerned with getting it wide. So O'Leary will be kept busy tackling back row forwards. Reddan being smaller and lighter would be vulnerable.
Give O'Callaghan the start and see if he is up to pace of the game. Bring on Cullen if he isn't.

Reddan faced that kind of game week in week out when playing at wasps and did very well at it too
People didnt say that stringer was too small and he is even smaller than redden.

I agree with Magpie - Sexton will risk his life by being paired with one trick pony OLeary

cullen v unlucky to be dropped. Ogara is too to be honest - though I'm happy trying out sexton.
england will be no pushovers.