The IRISH RUGBY thread

[seafoid]

They must beat Italy

[johnnycool]

They must beat Italy

With that team, yes. If they'd went with an experimental half back pairing in prep for the WC then you could have lived with a loss.

Beirne is some man for stealing ball. He'll need to do the same in Rome.

Earls had to go, he's offering nothing at the minute.

[GetOverTheBar]

They must beat Italy

With that team, yes. If they'd went with an experimental half back pairing in prep for the WC then you could have lived with a loss.

Beirne is some man for stealing ball. He'll need to do the same in Rome.

Earls had to go, he's offering nothing at the minute.

About 5 years

[thewobbler]

They must beat Italy

With that team, yes. If they'd went with an experimental half back pairing in prep for the WC then you could have lived with a loss.

Beirne is some man for stealing ball. He'll need to do the same in Rome.

Earls had to go, he's offering nothing at the minute.

About 5 years

About 10 years.

[whitegoodman]

And yet he is still on the bench.

If ever the likes of Shane Daly was going to get game time it would 20 mins away to Italy.  Why not start Casey with the reassurance of having Sexton beside him and if things are going right then bring Park on.  Cooney must have looked at Farrell the wrong way as he is easily the best scrum half in Ireland at the minute.

What did Ruddock do wrong the last day that warranted being dropped completely from the squad ?  On the other hand how many tries does Lowe have to cause for him to get dropped from the squad ?

[bannside]

Cooneys omission the standout for me. Class act who is consistently overlooked.

[Gmac]

Earls has Ireland's second most try's scored , when you think about Irish rugby it's not about flair wingers it's running after box kicks all day .

[thewobbler]

Earls has Ireland's second most try's scored , when you think about Irish rugby it's not about flair wingers it's running after box kicks all day .

And as mentioned before, this is a statistical anomaly. He has an outstanding scoring record against tier 3 nations, a mediocre scoring record against tier 2 nations, and he has never counted against tier 1 nations. His tryscoring feats are owed more to being somehow continually picked for over a decade in top class Irish teams when they faced cannon fodder.

[JoG2]

Earls has Ireland's second most try's scored , when you think about Irish rugby it's not about flair wingers it's running after box kicks all day .

And as mentioned before, this is a statistical anomaly. He has an outstanding scoring record against tier 3 nations, a mediocre scoring record against tier 2 nations, and he has never counted against tier 1 nations. His tryscoring feats are owed more to being somehow continually picked for over a decade in top class Irish teams when they faced cannon fodder.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/nov/26/ireland-australia-autumn-internationals-match-report

[Estimator]

Earls has Ireland's second most try's scored , when you think about Irish rugby it's not about flair wingers it's running after box kicks all day .

And as mentioned before, this is a statistical anomaly. He has an outstanding scoring record against tier 3 nations, a mediocre scoring record against tier 2 nations, and he has never counted against tier 1 nations. His tryscoring feats are owed more to being somehow continually picked for over a decade in top class Irish teams when they faced cannon fodder.

1/4 of his international tries were against Italy.
11 games v England - 1 try
11 games v France - 1 try
6 games v Australia - 1 try

0 tries v Argentina (4games), New Zealand (6games), South Africa (5games)

[thewobbler]

Earls has Ireland's second most try's scored , when you think about Irish rugby it's not about flair wingers it's running after box kicks all day .

And as mentioned before, this is a statistical anomaly. He has an outstanding scoring record against tier 3 nations, a mediocre scoring record against tier 2 nations, and he has never counted against tier 1 nations. His tryscoring feats are owed more to being somehow continually picked for over a decade in top class Irish teams when they faced cannon fodder.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/nov/26/ireland-australia-autumn-internationals-match-report

Believe it or not, you're adding substance to my point.

[seafoid]

Earls has Ireland's second most try's scored , when you think about Irish rugby it's not about flair wingers it's running after box kicks all day .

And as mentioned before, this is a statistical anomaly. He has an outstanding scoring record against tier 3 nations, a mediocre scoring record against tier 2 nations, and he has never counted against tier 1 nations. His tryscoring feats are owed more to being somehow continually picked for over a decade in top class Irish teams when they faced cannon fodder.

1/4 of his international tries were against Italy.
11 games v England - 1 try
11 games v France - 1 try
6 games v Australia - 1 try

0 tries v Argentina (4games), New Zealand (6games), South Africa (5games)

Wikipedia

Ireland's record try scorer is O'Driscoll, who has 46 tries in his 133 appearances.[5] Keith Earls (32), Tommy Bowe (30), Denis Hickie (29) and Shane Horgan (21) complete the top 5 Irish try scorers.


Who scores the rest of the tries , apartt from.Stockdale ?

[johnnycool]

Earls has Ireland's second most try's scored , when you think about Irish rugby it's not about flair wingers it's running after box kicks all day .

And as mentioned before, this is a statistical anomaly. He has an outstanding scoring record against tier 3 nations, a mediocre scoring record against tier 2 nations, and he has never counted against tier 1 nations. His tryscoring feats are owed more to being somehow continually picked for over a decade in top class Irish teams when they faced cannon fodder.

1/4 of his international tries were against Italy.
11 games v England - 1 try
11 games v France - 1 try
6 games v Australia - 1 try

0 tries v Argentina (4games), New Zealand (6games), South Africa (5games)

Wikipedia

Ireland's record try scorer is O'Driscoll, who has 46 tries in his 133 appearances.[5] Keith Earls (32), Tommy Bowe (30), Denis Hickie (29) and Shane Horgan (21) complete the top 5 Irish try scorers.


Who scores the rest of the tries , apartt from.Stockdale ?

Gordon Hamilton scored loads of trys. I've seen them on TV lots of the time.   

[Estimator]

Aside from those mentioned Dempsey, Murphy, Mullin and Trimble make up the rest of the top 10. Scoring averages are v poor though. Only two players above 0.4 - Hickie (0.47) & Stockdale (0.57).

In comparison with England, their Top 7 are all above 0.5 with the exception of Guscott .46. Only one of their top '11' is below 0.4.

But when you look at the length of their respective international careers.
Irelands top try scorers: 8 have had 10+ years at international rugby.
England top try scorers: only 2 had 10+ years.

[GetOverTheBar]

Keith Earls has 17 tries against Canada/Fiji/Russia/Romania/Japan/Italy.

You can only play what is in front of you of course, but it's fair to say he's a bit of a stat padder against the weaker tiers.

He had great potential - going on the 2009 Lions tour was an example of that but as an International Rugby finisher, he wouldn't get into most of the Tier 1 squads, let alone teams these days.

He's escaped criticism over the years for being 'steady'. He is a good player...we are similar to Wales I suppose, is he near George North or Josh Adams? Light years away for me and the new kid on the block Rees-Zammit looks the real deal too (with time to tell).