Ireland v Wales

[Mac]

32 man panel announced today has seen 4 changes to the senior squad.
Includes Dan Tougy & Chris Henry.

The Ireland management have named a 32 man squad as preparations reach their final stages for Ireland's opening game of the 2012 RBS 6 Nations against Wales on Sunday, February 5th.
The majority of the squad that trained in the Limerick camp last week have been retained.
There are call ups for O2 Ireland Wolfhound players Denis Hurley, Dan Tuohy, Chris Henry and Rhys Ruddock, all of whom have been capped previously for Ireland.

David Kearney, Eoin O'Malley, Peter O'Mahony, Simon Zebo, and Brett Wilkinson are the uncapped players who make the step to join up with the senior Ireland squad this week.

Ireland Squad
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)
Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Shane Jennings (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
David Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster)*
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)*
Eoin O'Malley (Old Belvedere/Leinster)*
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
Rhys Ruddock (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
Brett Wilkinson (Galwegians/Connacht)*
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)*

*Denotes uncapped player

http://www.irishrugby.ie/ireland/25479.php

[Tom]

If it wasn't for his 1 Fiji cap, Isa could have been in there instead of Hurley!

Is Felix Jones back for Munster yet?

[Setanta]

No clues on centres or starting O/H. Can't see any changes in the pack; perhaps O'Mahoney/Henry on the bench. All the questions in the backs; I do hope he'll play Earls on the wing; might mean AT on the bench if Bowe is not in the centre, which would be grossly unfair.

[rocky]

Anyone know when the team will be announced?

[rocky]

Sorry, see from the Beeb website it's Wednesday, presumably at lunchtime.

[Ulster throw in]

Gilroy must have done a bad job at holding tackle bags......

think Declan O'Sullivan may have forgotten to remove his rose coloured bifocals..

[Article]

DK is under big pressure...first game up in 6Ns against a team that dumped us out of RWC (with superior play and tactics) and robbed us last season by skullduggery, he's got a full deck to pick from (more or less the MIghty BOD and David Wallace), half welsh team cried off , he's playing at home with 3 out of 4 provinces going well in HEC !!!! Its a must win for HIm or he'll be under severe PP

[HwoodMike2umate]

West Stand Upper Tier Block 524

Anyone near us?

Paid £40 - i thought not bad until i saw that ticket says on it Euro 40

[Setanta]

Ok, thought about it; it won't be, but how's about
Murray, O'Gara, Earls, Sexton, Bowe, Trimble, Kearney
with Reddan, D'arcy, McFadden on the bench?

[ColinM]

Probably too big a risk to start our only two flyhalves Setanta.

After watching the Wolfhounds, I'm inclined to think Paddy is still our 3rd fly half

[darkside lightside]

DK is under big pressure...first game up in 6Ns against a team that dumped us out of RWC (with superior play and tactics) and robbed us last season by skullduggery, he's got a full deck to pick from (more or less the MIghty BOD and David Wallace), half welsh team cried off , he's playing at home with 3 out of 4 provinces going well in HEC !!!! Its a must win for HIm or he'll be under severe PP

yes Declan '40%' Kidney needs to up his game and arrest the slide in Ireland's fortunes - no excuses, Leinster & Munster 1 & 2 qualifiers in the HEC, 1 & 3 respectively in the league, Ulster in there as well, no injuries to speak of. Amazingly Ireland only 3rd or 4th favourites to win the title - hardly a ringing endorsement for the nous of old DOS.

Happily I think we'll have a good tournament - having seen off the prospect of having Schmidt or someone of similar stature coming in to shake up Ireland's lamentable attacking play (apparently criticised by many of the players during the world cup), it'll be interesting to see what Kiss (the only member of the current coaching ticket I'd be sad to lose) can bring. He's a smart guy and certainly has the respect of the players, and has done sterling work on the defensive side.

It's a pity that Cave wasn't around to shore up the 13 spot (although no doubt Mr 40% would have gone with Earls anyway), but Wales are not all that, we should be putting them to the sword.

Looking at the other sides, as usual the only other team that looks like it could be scary is France; Scotland will be a handful, who knows how England will do under Lancaster (bottom line is they don't have that many great players), Wales are over-rated, Italy the usual. Ireland should win the championship and be targeting a Grand Slam. Anything less than a close second to France will be an utter failure.

[BaggyTrousers]

Great too see the 6Ns back again so some may display their barely concealed hopes of failure. in the vain hope that they may be apparently vindicated in the previous rantings.

Looking forward to the first of the usual rantings against Kidney on Monday morning - win or lose.

As for the inevitable explosion of outrage when the team is selected - I can barely contain my excitement.

[petey11]

As always I like to keep my expectations for Ireland's 6 nations hidden even to myself ( I know, it's difficut) but I'll be heading to Dublin this weekend feeling pretty optimistic about how we'll fare against the Welsh.
God knows we owe them one and I think it'll be sweet, sweet revenge this year as we have the squad to go all the way.......on paper. The trouble is that we've had that level of squad for years on paper ( some of the players for centuries it seems) and it all too often fails to translate onto the pitch. Lets hope they can 'click' this year in the same way Ulster have recently 'clicked' as a side.

Anyway, happy times ahead and much, much Guinness

[Snipe Watson]

Great too see the 6Ns back again so some may display their barely concealed hopes of failure. in the vain hope that they may be apparently vindicated in the previous rantings.

Looking forward to the first of the usual rantings against Kidney on Monday morning - win or lose.

As for the inevitable explosion of outrage when the team is selected - I can barely contain my excitement.

You really are a connoisseur of the finer things this board has to offer.

[Ulster throw in]

Great too see the 6Ns back again so some may display their barely concealed hopes of failure. in the vain hope that they may be apparently vindicated in the previous rantings.

Looking forward to the first of the usual rantings against Kidney on Monday morning - win or lose.

As for the inevitable explosion of outrage when the team is selected - I can barely contain my excitement.

In fairness people are entitled to share their view or opinion...in much the same way you seem to do in very holistic fashion day and daily!