This is FUrlong erasure. And Porter and Kelleher who aren't farmers but are big beasts. I'd include Doris too fwiwTMC wrote: ↑July 8th, 2022, 11:42 amIMHO Hume looks good for Ulster because he plays outside McCloskey, who makes him look like a superstar. McCloskey consistently gets his hands free in contact but physically ties up the defence giving Hume the space & the ball to do the flash stuff and he has the pace if given space, but the hard work all done inside him. McCloskey has superb hands in contact and his offloading skills are up there with any other Irish 12. Rarely fails to get over the gainline. In many ways his playing style is tailor made for how Ireland are looking to play. Have posted before would love to see McCloskey get a chance at 12 inside Henshaw against meaningful opposition.hugonaut wrote: ↑July 7th, 2022, 7:58 pm He only got nine minutes against Japan this time last year, and the game against the USA was a washout – Zebre would have put 40 or 50 points on the Eagles. I was happy that the fixture was organised and went ahead, but from an Irish perspective its value as a test match was next to worthless. Everyone looked good that game, but it's like looking good against the Southern Queens. For example, Farrell has put James Hume into two Six Nations matchday squads and a Maori game since then [on the back of good Ulster form] and Hume was useless in the first two when put into the game in comfortable positions, and was mediocre in the third before getting injured.
Re Woody and Farmers, think he is driving at the fact without Henderson we don't have any real animal forwards. Still remember him going through Etzebeth a few years back. Warmed the cockles. We just don't produce many forwards like that. Where is the nasty barsteward in our pack this weekend? Bar POM there are no real street fighters, lots of technically good athletes but no scary ones. Games are won and lost up front, we need a couple more genuinely hard forwards, don't care where they come from, they could be hairdressers for all I care. Think Coombes and McCarthy might bring that to the table if given the chance.
https://twitter.com/ballsdotie/status/1 ... rLkwE4e_zw
His form has fallen off a bit at the end of the season and it's been his longest season after the concussion disruptions. IIRC he was someone Woodie singled out for "never taking a step back" despite in mistakes in the France game.
Yeah I remember that re Etzebeth, Toner won his only MOTM in that first game IIRC. There's a reason Toner won it and we could have really used that at the weekend. Dev too has his own dark side as Coombes recently discovered.
Not something you said but I'm going to tag it on here because I've seen it brought up. Some pundits seem to want more niggle or on the edge play. The Barrat "tackle off the ball" on VdF leading up to the Savea try is an example. And yeah sure great if you can get away with it but it's 50/50 as Dan Leavy will attest after he had a try chalked off vs Clermont in 2017. Maybe pushing your luck when you go 21-5 down away from home isn't the best option as Ryan discovered And it's not like we're angels at the breakdown, ask opposition fans. Like Munster fans will piss and moan about Leinster getting away with all sorts. Dev on Coombes is a bad example but they're not always wrong.
