The UAFC

I’d go potentially something like this: Porter Sheehan bealham McCarthy Ryan Baird Doris VdF Jgp Crowley Mccloskey henshaw Lowe Frawley Nash Loughman Kelleher TOT Henderson Conan Murray Byrne Ringrose Overall wales lack a decent pack, decent backrow but underpowered front 5, hence a 5/3 split. Lough...

I wouldn’t play Keenan v wales, absolutely no chances taken with him. Wales don’t have the kicking game to really hurt Ire (ie territory wise pinning them back etc), or the pack to put the squeeze on frankly. I genuinely can’t see a realistic way wales would set up to beat Ire. He’s a super fit lad,...

Re 6ns standards it’s been crap, in fact a really poor watch. I think wales are in real trouble they don’t have a good front 5. Yes it’s a rebuild but I actually think they may have to go down the Scot route and find some saffers or argies re props. Eng issue is borthwick, his philosophy is conserva...

I have to say I was expecting this to be a tougher tournament for Ireland - 3 potentially tough games to go, but you have to say Ireland look a cut above so far. Farrell seems to be a phenomenal coach, in fact the whole ticket just seem to be absolutely on it. It seems like whatever Irish team gets...

Great stuff by the wee fella doing the singing. Did that fat mascot not want to be there or something? Brown-nose Lowe gave his medal to Farrell's son. He really should have given it to the wee lad who was the de facto MOTM in the eyes of the public. First time we've "won" the anthems sin...

A few thoughts in no real order: Stu was excellent, very mature performance, didn’t force anything. Super solid in defence, without being destructive. Dovetailed with henshaw and Crowley superbly in midfield. Beautiful passing, with a couple of sumptuous offloads added in which didn’t “feel” risky o...

The number 1 priority for TOT is to be rock solid come scrum time. The rest of his game is pretty decent overall. Furlongs fitness is becoming an issue for Ire. Bealham could be no1 shortly with that in mind, but the backup needs to be a good scrummager. If TOT can’t do it Jaeger will be become a se...

You’d have to say DH would be in a very strong position, to carte Blanche anything to do with UR. UR has been mismanaged, and in no position of strength to not go along with anything DH suggests. Make no mistake no UR representation in an Ire 23 is an absolute disgrace. When it was mentioned and spo...

Lowes kicking actually was not superb he was lucky that the French return of non touch kicks was extremely poor . If you are kicking for touch make touch but kicking long without close followup can frequently be extremely dangerous since it gives away possession and if the return is fast you can be...

Irish lineout performed brilliantly, neutralising fr kicking game. Had it gone badly with a scrum under pressure we could’ve been pulled into a slow set piece fr arm wrestle. We simply kept the ball or kicked in field, lowes boot was superb tonight. We simply ran them around and kept the fr crowd ou...

Ewers signed a 2yr deal, can’t see him leaving unless he wanted to leave. Petrie may well be sniffing getting back to Scotland. I think there’ll be serious consideration now given to recontracting players. Surprised re Marshall but maybe time for postlewaite to push through. As much as the coaching ...

https://www.balls.ie/rugby/tom-otoole-l ... and-586063

Hopefully they were told to get back in their box, snide.

Maybe under “cost cutting” may force UR to make the decisions around players they could’ve made previously. Going forward there could be a painful few seasons, but a coach with experience of improving/bring through pups will be a must, as the squad profile changes. The entire coaching set up will gr...

Bearing in mind the paucity in quality of 10 options at UR and the financial position being responsible re non contract offer…..there should be a few guys getting worried. Average performers or injury prone players on decent contracts should be vulnerable you’d imagine. The coaching set up will be o...

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/2024/01/29/munster-line-up-move-for-ulster-outhalf-billy-burns/ Potentially off to Munster, but more importantly no contract renewal on the cards at UR. That’s a surprise for me. Whereby there’s the same old, “hands off a D4 10” on the FB comments, could well b...