Ireland Training Squad for Limerick

[notj]

Only centrally contracted players included, but that looks pretty much like the AI squad minus Tommy Bowe, Geordan Murphy and maybe Neil Best.

[bogboy]

WK

Humpreys will never never play for Ireland take that as read

only two of those named could make it Whitten and Cave and the one with the hard task is Cave who will find McFadden and Earls harder to shift in the pecking order

Earls benefits from having a Munster Rugby Father and attitude
and McFadden has the boot for penalties

Fitzgerald benefits from his leinster Rugby Father

[ColinM]

WK

Humpreys will never never play for Ireland take that as read

only two of those named could make it Whitten and Cave and the one with the hard task is Cave who will find McFadden and Earls harder to shift in the pecking order

Earls benefits from having a Munster Rugby Father and attitude
and McFadden has the boot for penalties

Fitzgerald benefits from his leinster Rugby Father

Re Humph - desperate times may call for his inclusion in the future, so never is a stron word.

Re Fitzgerald and Earls, dont be so bitter

[WhiteKnightoftheWeld]

Humpreys will never never play for Ireland take that as read

Humpreys might not - never heard of him i must confess

Humphreys may well.

1) kidney picks the team, not you. a verdict from someone who is overly fond of the return key when typing doesn't carry a whole lot of weight in my eyes.
2) he's the starting fly-half for an irish province. where he ranks in the pecking order is clear enough at present - ROG is the man with sexton the young gun snapping at his heels. after that keatley or o'connor, but o'connor can count himself out unless he gets the start at provincial level first.

i am expecting big things of humph this season based on what i saw in pre-season - namely a desire to make tackles. he didnt hide on the wing, he didnt stand back and let players waltz on through. he made the hits and he chased down men to cover. forget the dragons game, he didnt have a sniff to do anything with. he's a playmaker who can make things happen around him. when a spark of magic is needed i'd have him ahead of any other irish flyhalf.

one injury to ROG or sexton. a poor run of form by sexton. that is all it will take. on form i expect him to oust keatley who offers little more than a solid place kick. on his day i also rate humph higher than sexton on his, the only problem is that sexton plays for leinster and played a big role in winning the heiny.

[ColinM]

a verdict from someone who is overly fond of the return key when typing doesn't carry a whole lot of weight in my eyes.

Genius

[notj]

Did Fitzgeralds and Earls' parentage get them onto the Lions Tour as well

[bogboy]

Wk

Does it really look like Kidney rates Humpreys whether he starts for an Irish province counts for very little . Sexton possibly had fewer games for Leinster than IH had for Ulster and yet was chosen to go to the Churchill Cup NoC had fewer games for Ulster than IH yet gets picked for the Churchill. Keating Sexton and NoC are all younger than Humphreys and are picked ahead of him Sexton at the strat of last season was playing rubbish at leinster and was picked for the Irish bench and you still think Kidney rates him please don't insult my intelligence and ignore facts.

Kidney has a similiar opinion as myself as to the benefits of Humphreys skills and the level of Rugby he can play at before the negatives of his game outweight the positives

no team can afford to play a player who has to be protected from being tackled or from making tackles or acts like a fish out of water . Ulster are not exposing Humphreys to a tackling game he tackle assists which is not the same as tackling.
I am on record when IH was signed for Ulster that I did not rate him and I have seen very little todate to make me change my opinion if he had been a prospect he would never have returned but would be playing for leicester.

Its not bitterness colin to state the obvious Irish rugby has a hierarchy of influence which can assist certain players when all things are equal and in some cases it is the parental family influence that motivates the players to achive in the first place
"Me Da was a good player and I want to be better "

[WhiteKnightoftheWeld]

Wk

Does it really look like Kidney rates Humpreys whether he starts for an Irish province counts for very little . Sexton possibly had fewer games for Leinster than IH had for Ulster and yet was chosen to go to the Churchill Cup NoC had fewer games for Ulster than IH yet gets picked for the Churchill. Keating Sexton and NoC are all younger than Humphreys and are picked ahead of him Sexton at the strat of last season was playing rubbish at leinster and was picked for the Irish bench and you still think Kidney rates him please don't insult my intelligence and ignore facts.

Kidney has a similiar opinion as myself as to the benefits of Humphreys skills and the level of Rugby he can play at before the negatives of his game outweight the positives

no team can afford to play a player who has to be protected from being tackled or from making tackles or acts like a fish out of water . Ulster are not exposing Humphreys to a tackling game he tackle assists which is not the same as tackling.
I am on record when IH was signed for Ulster that I did not rate him and I have seen very little todate to make me change my opinion if he had been a prospect he would never have returned but would be playing for leicester.

who is this humpreys you keep banging on about? and re: insulting your intelligence - show some more better grammar skills and I'll willing oblige...

sexton - yes he's ahead in the pecking order. i've said as much already. however until contepomi got injured he was never going to take the shirt. 2 good games in a semi and a final later and bingo. i'm also not alone in being surprised that sexton was called up for 6Ns. im not surprised that paddy was prefered as a back-up than sexton - for sexton it was only about experience. at athat time humph was in the As - and expected a few games there until it got too cold for england.

if you read what i said, you'll note that i also placed keatley and NOC ahead of him in the pecking order, based on last year's international selection.

i'll reserve judgement on humphs defensive ability until i see him exposed a bit more this year. i fully expect this to have come on leaps and bounds due to McLs influence, and because he will have noted what happened last season when it let him and the team down. from what i saw against newcastle, the show he put on vs leinster last season will never be repeated. it should also be noted that ROG does not have an overly solid defence, neither does any of the other potential 10s. the difference at leinster and munster is that their backs do a better job of minimising exposure through the middle channels.

all of your points are based on last season and what's gone on before - my points and arguments are based on what i expect this season.

humph has spent a lot of time - too long - as a back up without seeing regular top flight game time week in week out. another season at ulster will develop his game management skills. this and an improvement in defence - i dont believe that keatley or NOC will come close to comparison.

sexton has the difficult second season, and im not full of confidence that he'll do better this time around.

Its not bitterness colin to state the obvious Irish rugby has a hierarchy of influence which can assist certain players when all things are equal and in some cases it is the parental family influence that motivates the players to achive in the first place
"Me Da was a good player and I want to be better "

the only point that makes sense there is that a young luke fitz started playing rugby because his dad did. possibly it helped him out at junior level if his dad was a figure around the club - but luke is talented enough anyway to get to where he has done without his dad having a say in team selection. the rest is rubbish - if you think anyone's there on anything other than merit and ability you're bonkers. i'd love to hear one example from you in recent times - that you have any basis for fact - where a player in the irish set-up got there ahead of a better peer, because of parental influence. can you? if you can't, please do let this one go

[WhiteKnightoftheWeld]

and i dont appreciate you copying my avatar - your's looks awfully like that belonging to the whiteknightoftheweld...

[bogboy]

If you can't tackle before the age of 26 you never will and no coach can give you what you haven't got he was coached at school ,by Bester at quins I assume a few coaches at Leicester and Matt what makes you think Brimac will succeed where others failed.

NoC has 5 Ireland A caps Humphreys has two 1 in 2007 and one in 2009 The 2007 cap was against the Saxons at Ravenhill
and I think he was substituted that night and it was his preformance in that game which made me dubious of his worth to Ulster playing behind a beaten pack.

Since this all started because I said IH would never play for Ireland XV I still stand on that prediction.

[Bruce]

Where else would you get this amount of entertainment for free? Priceless !

[WhiteKnightoftheWeld]

thankyouverymuchimhereallnight

exceptwhenimplayingworldofwarcraftgettinghooked

[semi mental]

no team can afford to play a player who has to be protected from being tackled or from making tackles.

isn't this exactly what munster and ireland have been doing with o'gara for years?

surely then humph could slip rightly into the ireland 10 shirt. they have the system already in place.

[bogboy]

Not quite to the same extent and they have a mature backrow who have matured doing it

not a bunch a group of players playing together in their first season

Let me put in one good word about IH

If Ulster / Ireland were playing 7s his would be the first name on my team sheet because players don't try to run through you or over in 7s but round you which suits the his style of tackle and tackling ability plus he has the pace skills and vision suitable for that game.

But the 15 man game is a shade to physical for him

[Jackie Brown]

I blame BOss, he's crap at the moment. He is a serious limiting factor on Humphreys game. If he can't get the ball he can't be expected to do anything with it. I was half tempted to get on a plane, fly to Cardiff, get the train/bus to Newport, walk onto the pitch at Rodney Parade and bloody pass the ball myself! I could probably have done it quicker!!!