Ireland v. New Zealand

[Rooster]

I see Skymarshall has borne the brunt of the blame for the Cooper try.

You surprised ? I am as thought they would blame PJ

[BaggyTrousers]

More to the point where's 1F?

Anti-g jogging. At this stage no news is good news. If you hear anything it's because he's broken down.

Fat Nick sounded confident about Stevie on Tuesday night. Then again .................

[scrum5]

I see Skymarshall has borne the brunt of the blame for the Cooper try.

I'm fine with that, drop him immediately, and bring back Darcy, Ireland's loss Ulster's gain seriously though anyone who thinks Luke should have tackled Cooper while Madigan stopped to comb his hair is a ConorGeorgeNiallCrozierWarrenGatland......

[BaggyTrousers]

I see Skymarshall has borne the brunt of the blame for the Cooper try.

I'm fine with that, drop him immediately, and bring back Darcy, Ireland's loss Ulster's gain seriously though anyone who thinks Luke should have tackled Cooper while Madigan stopped to comb his hair is a ConorGeorgeNiallCrozierWarrenGatland......

Blaming Marshall for not tackling Madigan's direct opponent A tad bizarre, mind you to me it looked as if both were a bit like rabbits in headlights.

Point was made on RTE that the line speed of Ireland's defence was too slow all match. O'Shea said that is how JS likes his team to play it but in his opinion that style doesn't work against big men at high level.

[bazzaj]

Thats a great point Baggy.
For me that is where BOD reinvented himself with his defence on wider channels with his decisions on whether to shoot or stick and pick off an isolated attacker.
His reading of the game allowed him to make the right decision.
We have to develop a similar intelligence in defence knowing what system to play according what they are doing.
We are nowhere near good enough collectively for that yet.

Against a team like the All blacks I think the last thing we can do is stand off them and Ireland always play better with a rush defence and a quick line speed as we are not physical enough to invite them on to us.
Standing off the likes of Nonu is pretty much like a red rag to to a bull.
Sure they will work out a rush or blitz with the chips over or long skip out wide but we need to pressurise them and intensify our game to cut them at source which we dont do when we have a passive defence in place.

Someone else made the point about the back rows involvement which is key.
If we over commit at the breakdown it will be a simple case of numbers and they will pick us off no matter what defence is in place.
This again is reading of the game and playing what is in front something that can only be done in game play.
Similarly if we are not aggresive in contact it all counts for nothing.
I only hope that this week is not too much of a learning curve.

[Russ]

Our 13 is too slow for a blitz defence.

[Shan]

One thing is for sure, the undroppables won't be dropped. The worst players in this series thus far have been Ross, BOD and Bowe. All three of those will be selected for the NZ game. Until we have a situation where all underperforming players are dropped we will have a problem. None of these three are capable at the moment of even facing an understrength Samoa. That is enough for me to drop them. POC isn't too far ahead of them but we don't exactly have any other options there if we want to try and compete.

I would bring in Fitzpatrick for Ross. He has performed well against NZ before. He is a better player than Ross using any criteria. His only issue is with his wellbeing. Also apart from the fact that Ross cannot scrummage very well he also was directly at fault for one Aussie try when he fell off the first tackle which allowed the move to continue.

Bring in Dave Kearney on the wing. Of course I forgot, it is better to have a player who is anonymous v Samoa and who is directly at fault for 2 Aussie tries than an ineperienced guy who scored 2 tries v Samoa.

Bring in either Cave or Darcy at 13. Darcy's defence would be very useful here but Cave and Marshall together would be good to see. I would like to see that given a chance in the 6N if not in this game.

Tuohy has to be brought into this game. We need his skill and agression. If Toner is not persevered with in terms of the bench I'd prefer to see DOC there. Even now he is at least 3 times as good as McCarthy and Toner together.

Heaslip should be sidelined allowing SOB to go to 6 with POM at 8. In the absence of Henry I'd just bite the bullet and throw Jennings in there at 7. At least it would give the balance which is needed. Of course never will it be allowed to happen that the guy on the biggest IRFU contract will be sidelined. So the same backrow will be selected next week which makes it difficult for any of them to shine. We have to get a 7 on the field but that will upset the bean counters so it cannot happen.

Reddan should be nowehere near this squad. Murray to start. Boss on the bench. Again not ideal but Boss has been in good form.

Jackson must start. Simple as that.

McFadden should keep his place. Overall he has been Ireland's best player in this series thus far. Jackson would probably be vying for that accolade if he hadn't been scandalously left out in the Australia game, as I said last week he shouldn't have been.

Kearney to retain his place, partly on the basis there is nobody else capable who is currently available.

Madigan on the bench.


Healy, Best, Fitz, Tuohy, POC, SOB, Jennings, POM, Murray, Jackson, D. Kearney, Marshall, Darcy/Cave, McFadden, Kearney.

Repl: McGrath, Varley, Archer, DOC, Heaslip, Boss, Madigan, Earls if fit and if not then I'd probably consider Trimble or just stick Bowe in there as he can cover a few positions.


I know Archer isn't really ready for this, if he ever will be, but all props have to suffer in the beginning. I know Varley isn't really in contention but he should be.

[Snipe Watson]

I see Skymarshall has borne the brunt of the blame for the Cooper try.

Who is blaming him? Babbling Brook?

[Russ]

I see Skymarshall has borne the brunt of the blame for the Cooper try.

Who is blaming him? Babbling Brook?

Aye they were blaming him, and now he's come out and accepted all blame to the BBC.

[Red]

One thing is for sure, the undroppables won't be dropped. The worst players in this series thus far have been Ross, BOD and Bowe. All three of those will be selected for the NZ game. Until we have a situation where all underperforming players are dropped we will have a problem. None of these three are capable at the moment of even facing an understrength Samoa. That is enough for me to drop them. POC isn't too far ahead of them but we don't exactly have any other options there if we want to try and compete.

I would bring in Fitzpatrick for Ross. He has performed well against NZ before. He is a better player than Ross using any criteria. His only issue is with his wellbeing. Also apart from the fact that Ross cannot scrummage very well he also was directly at fault for one Aussie try when he fell off the first tackle which allowed the move to continue.

Bring in Dave Kearney on the wing. Of course I forgot, it is better to have a player who is anonymous v Samoa and who is directly at fault for 2 Aussie tries than an ineperienced guy who scored 2 tries v Samoa.

Bring in either Cave or Darcy at 13. Darcy's defence would be very useful here but Cave and Marshall together would be good to see. I would like to see that given a chance in the 6N if not in this game.

Tuohy has to be brought into this game. We need his skill and agression. If Toner is not persevered with in terms of the bench I'd prefer to see DOC there. Even now he is at least 3 times as good as McCarthy and Toner together.

Heaslip should be sidelined allowing SOB to go to 6 with POM at 8. In the absence of Henry I'd just bite the bullet and throw Jennings in there at 7. At least it would give the balance which is needed. Of course never will it be allowed to happen that the guy on the biggest IRFU contract will be sidelined. So the same backrow will be selected next week which makes it difficult for any of them to shine. We have to get a 7 on the field but that will upset the bean counters so it cannot happen.

Reddan should be nowehere near this squad. Murray to start. Boss on the bench. Again not ideal but Boss has been in good form.

Jackson must start. Simple as that.

McFadden should keep his place. Overall he has been Ireland's best player in this series thus far. Jackson would probably be vying for that accolade if he hadn't been scandalously left out in the Australia game, as I said last week he shouldn't have been.

Kearney to retain his place, partly on the basis there is nobody else capable who is currently available.

Madigan on the bench.


Healy, Best, Fitz, Tuohy, POC, SOB, Jennings, POM, Murray, Jackson, D. Kearney, Marshall, Darcy/Cave, McFadden, Kearney.

Repl: McGrath, Varley, Archer, DOC, Heaslip, Boss, Madigan, Earls if fit and if not then I'd probably consider Trimble or just stick Bowe in there as he can cover a few positions.


I know Archer isn't really ready for this, if he ever will be, but all props have to suffer in the beginning. I know Varley isn't really in contention but he should be.

I think I agree with basically all of this, apart from Bowe being one of the worst of the series.

Heaslip is a world class player, in need of a world class kick up the Brennan. He's needed this for a few years now. A balanced backrow is more important than crowbarring in egos to the 1st XV.

Basically we're going to get humped, why not try and get some useful experience out of it.

[Russ]

Heaslip is an 8 who cannot play the role of an 8 Ireland need. Cheerio

SOB is a 6 playing 7. Shambles.

Bowe at least was trying on Saturday as opposed to last week, he's just woefully short of form and dare I say it, fitness.

BOD must go
Kearney must go, play with 14 if needs be.
Ross must go.

Toner is utter rubbish, McCarthy is a joke to Ireland.

[Shan]

Bowe at least was trying on Saturday as opposed to last week, he's just woefully short of form and dare I say it, fitness.

I'd agree he was trying this week but he is way off the pace. He was never the world's greatest tackler but he always did enough. Saturday he wasn't able to tackle at all and more worryingly his defensive positioning was not anywhere near being on the radar. I'd agree he is very likely short of fitness. In that regard he has something in common with POC. It pains me to see these two great players not being able to impose themselves on the game as we have become accustomed to seeing them do.

BOD is probably in the same boat in terms of fitness but I think he is done for at that stage. Even a Warren Gatland like Warren Gatland has to be right sometimes. I get the feeling that BOD is frustated by his own waining powers. He certainly does not look happy and his moaning at being temporarily called ashore is pretty telling for me.

[Russ]

We had to endure 2 years of RADGE playing past his best.

Now we've had a full year of BOD and a few months.

Know when to go. BOD will not have a problem earning money afterwards if that is what he is worried about.

POC however might struggle for a pundit's role. D'Crozier has no personality and no hope, that's maybe why he is still hanging around.

What else can fat Ross do?

[Cap'n Grumpy]

I see Skymarshall has borne the brunt of the blame for the Cooper try.

Who is blaming him?

Luke Marshall is blaming him ...... the gatland!

[AndyB]

Of course Marshall was to blame. Jackson, Court or Trimble weren't playing.