Ireland V New Zealand thread ***Team page 9***

[munster#1]

the ireland team will be and should be.
1. healy
2. best
3. court
4. DOC
5. ryan
6. ferris (but maybe leamy has a shot)
7 wally
8. heaslip
9. stringer
10. ROG
11. trimble
12. darce
13. bod
14. bowe
15. fitz (imo he deserves this shot, he showed great promise and kearney is out of form)

ross, cronin, toner, leamy, reddan, sexton, earls/kearney

[ronk]

Interesting that Reddan appears to be getting a 2nd chance. Boss to play on Friday.

[Broken Wing]

GT thinks:
Healy
Best
Court
DO'C
Toner
Ferris/Leamy
Wally
Jamie
Stringer
Sexton
Luke
D'Arcy
BO'D
Bowe
Rob

I think NZ by 50+ no matter who starts or gets sprung from the bench with 3.5 minutes to go.

[ronk]

GT thinks:
Healy
Best
Court
DO'C
Toner
Ferris/Leamy
Wally
Jamie
Stringer
Sexton
Luke
D'Arcy
BO'D
Bowe
Rob

I think NZ by 50+ no matter who starts or gets sprung from the bench with 3.5 minutes to go.

That's 5 first choice (some by narrow margins) players missing through injury: Flannery, Buckley, O'Connell, Cullen, O'Leary.

[munster#1]

GT thinks:
Healy
Best
Court
DO'C
Toner
Ferris/Leamy
Wally
Jamie
Stringer
Sexton
Luke
D'Arcy
BO'D
Bowe
Rob

I think NZ by 50+ no matter who starts or gets sprung from the bench with 3.5 minutes to go.

That's 5 first choice (some by narrow margins) players missing through injury: Flannery, Buckley, O'Connell, Cullen, O'Leary.

i would love to see flannery and POC back. they are really missed, imo none of the current hookers are anywhere near flannery's level

[The Doc]

So far in the AI's I think Leamy has impressed more than Ferris or O'Brien. I'd be tempted to start him at 6. But the problem in the back row is that without an out and out 7 to compete against McCaw and get stuck into the bottom of rucks, our other two BR's have to do a lot more grunt work at the cost of ball carrying & general open field play.

[slum]

To be honest it doesn't really matter what team we put out. So far as NZ are concerned they're not really up against 15 men in green shirts. They're playing against 15 guys back home who want their shot in an All Black jersey.

Also given DK's complete inability to extract any sort of performance from his players (despite numerous turnip claims on this site that he is the best person at doing this) or put a game plan together this is not going to be pretty from an Irish perspective.

[munster#1]

So far in the AI's I think Leamy has impressed more than Ferris or O'Brien. I'd be tempted to start him at 6. But the problem in the back row is that without an out and out 7 to compete against McCaw and get stuck into the bottom of rucks, our other two BR's have to do a lot more grunt work at the cost of ball carrying & general open field play.

i agree re leamy, he has not been top class but the best of a bad bunch.
with the new rules wally is the model 7, for the same reason i believe SOB has passed out jennings in the ireland pecking order

[slum]

So far in the AI's I think Leamy has impressed more than Ferris or O'Brien. I'd be tempted to start him at 6. But the problem in the back row is that without an out and out 7 to compete against McCaw and get stuck into the bottom of rucks, our other two BR's have to do a lot more grunt work at the cost of ball carrying & general open field play.

i agree re leamy, he has not been top class but the best of a bad bunch.
with the new rules wally is the model 7, for the same reason i believe SOB has passed out jennings in the ireland pecking order

i disagree re rule changes: pocock and mccaw have been ever present in their respetive teams. Pocock is worth at least 4 turnovers per game. Given how hard it is to get the ball back nowadays a fetcher style openside is more valuable than ever. Not that we have a world class at our disposal.

I agree about Leamy though; he did seem to put in a reasonable days days work on saturday.

[munster#1]

So far in the AI's I think Leamy has impressed more than Ferris or O'Brien. I'd be tempted to start him at 6. But the problem in the back row is that without an out and out 7 to compete against McCaw and get stuck into the bottom of rucks, our other two BR's have to do a lot more grunt work at the cost of ball carrying & general open field play.

i agree re leamy, he has not been top class but the best of a bad bunch.
with the new rules wally is the model 7, for the same reason i believe SOB has passed out jennings in the ireland pecking order

i disagree re rule changes: pocock and mccaw have been ever present in their respetive teams. Pocock is worth at least 4 turnovers per game. Given how hard it is to get the ball back nowadays a fetcher style openside is more valuable than ever. Not that we have a world class at our disposal.

I agree about Leamy though; he did seem to put in a reasonable days days work on saturday.

i would like to see where you got the stats for these turn overs? i would be surpised if they averaged 2 per game since the rule change, and they are the best of the best at this particular part of the game

[The Doc]

i would like to see where you got the stats for these turn overs? i would be surpised if they averaged 2 per game since the rule change, and they are the best of the best at this particular part of the game

Actually I believe he is right - was listening to analysis from down under (it was also mentioned on RTE but I just discount that) to the effect that a pure number 7 has been critical in the later part of teh Super 14 and during the Tri Nations. McCaw and Pocock have been getting all the plaudits for stealing ball but the important thing is that they have also been involved in the open play.

It seems to be part of the reason why the "alternative" 7 (akin to Wallace) hasn't been making the cut in the SH this year - I know he is out this year but the comment being made was that the likes of Brussow would struggle to make it.

For Leinster the pairing has been Jennings and O'Brien (at 6) - Jennings doing a lot of the ground work which has allowed Heaslip & O'Brien freedom to be more active - which they haven't been as obvious at for the AI's.

Having said that - I'm not suggesting Wallace not be selected or anything. He brings a lot and is in good form - but it just means you give up some of what Heaslip can bring.

[Logorrhea]

I think Pocock had two turnovers against Wales inside the first 20 minutes. Not sure how he did after that but he was all over the Welsh at the start.

[ronk]

I think Pocock had two turnovers against Wales inside the first 20 minutes. Not sure how he did after that but he was all over the Welsh at the start.

It's not just about turnovers though. Tying in players at the breakdown and slowing down ball are probably more important, and would be far more important if it weren't for the occasional decisive counter attacks off clean turnovers.

The best groundhogs are as important at securing their own quick ball as slowing down the opposition ball.

[gleesonisgod]

I think Ferris was the stand out player of a badly beaten pack against South Africa and deserves his start against the All Blacks.

[slum]

I think Pocock had two turnovers against Wales inside the first 20 minutes. Not sure how he did after that but he was all over the Welsh at the start.

It's not just about turnovers though. Tying in players at the breakdown and slowing down ball are probably more important, and would be far more important if it weren't for the occasional decisive counter attacks off clean turnovers.

The best groundhogs are as important at securing their own quick ball as slowing down the opposition ball.

yeah - one goes hand in hand with the other. It comes down to instinct.

I think it was Woods who pointed out during the Wales - Oz match that the welsh players started obstructing Pocock from getting to the breakdown. they were all conscious of where he was and would immediately run in front of him or across him whenever a tackle was made. not legal of course, but certainly 1 way of dealing with the problem.

[BlueArmyOriginal]

Agree with whoever above said that you could name the 10 who'll be sent home now if you wanted. Not too sure it matters seeing as we could probably pick a half back partnership of Chuck Norris and Superman and still have our asses handed to us. Anyway here goes.
Team that should be picked:
1 Healy
2 Cronin
3 Court
4 DOC
5 Toner
6 Leamy (Very tough call between him and Ferris)
7 SOB
8 Heaslip
9 Stringer
10 Sexton
11 Earls
12 Darcy
13 BOD
14 Bowe
15 Fitz
16. Best 17.Ross 18.Ryan 19.Wallace 20.Reddan 21.ROG 22.Kearney

Team that probably will be picked:
1 Healy
2 Best
3 Court
4 DOC
5 MOD
6 Ferris
7 Wallace
8 Heaslip
9 Stringer
10 O'Gara
11 Fitz
12 Darcy
13 BOD
14 Bowe
15 Kearney
16.Cronin 17.Hayes 18.Ryan 19.SOB 20.Reddan 21.Sexton 22.Murphy

[Armchair]

GT thinks:
Healy
Best
Court
DO'C
Toner
Ferris/Leamy
Wally
Jamie
Stringer
Sexton
Luke
D'Arcy
BO'D
Bowe
Rob

I think NZ by 50+ no matter who starts or gets sprung from the bench with 3.5 minutes to go.

That's 5 first choice (some by narrow margins) players missing through injury: Flannery, Buckley, O'Connell, Cullen, O'Leary.

Cullen has never been first choice!

[slum]

Team that should be picked:
1 Healy
2 Cronin
3 Court
4 DOC
5 Toner
6 Leamy (Very tough call between him and Ferris)
7 SOB
8 Heaslip
9 Stringer
10 Sexton
11 Earls
12 Darcy
13 BOD
14 Bowe
15 Fitz
16. Best 17.Ross 18.Ryan 19.Wallace 20.Reddan 21.ROG 22.Kearney

I'd have trimble ahead of earls for this one. He did pretty well down there.



Personally though; I'd like the following team to be selected

1. Horan
2. Varley
3. Hayes
4. DOC
5. MOD
6. D Ryan
7. Wallace
8. Leamy
9. Stringer
10. ROG
11. i dunno, Zebo maybe?
12. J Murphy
13. Earls
14. Hurley
15. A. Foley


all leinster players could be returned to our province then to play some rugby...

[dipper]

Here's the team I would pick:

1. Healy
2. Cronin
3. Court
4. DOC
5. Toner
6. Ferris
7. Wallace
8. Heaslip
9. Stringer
10.Sexton
11.Fitz
12.D'Arcy
13.BOD
14.Bowe
15.Kearney

16. Ross
17. Best
18. Ryan
19. O'Brien
20. Reddan
21. ROG
22. Earls

I would have Cullen on the bench ahead of Ryan but he's not in the squad! I'd be open to the idea of Fitz playing fullback and moving Kearney to the bench with Earls or Trimble playing on the wing.

[Degz]

Anyone who has SoB down to start this one obviously wasn't watching the Samoa game. He was very poor in fairness, unbelievably upright in contact (a real pity cos he has been in outstanding form). Wally is a shoe in at seven in my book