I'm not surprised Ron'n, only experts such as myself "know" these things, others can only wonder.rumncoke wrote:Baggy not to sure as to whether a change in the backrow would have altered the Scottish result though it may have altered the result against Wales.
But changing the back row would do little to change the fact that irish Centres created little in attack and the Irish defence was vulnerable out wide, which in my view were the to big weaknesses in the Irish team.
Help Ron'n. it's my middle name & you've been helped.
For clarity, with all player fit, my Ireland back row would be O'Mahony , Vander Flier & Heaslip (just about still) & Stander to cover them all.
As for the Irish centres, towards the end of the 6Ns I believe Ringrust was beginning to show that he is definitely worth persevering with, started to look better defensively and make the odd linebreak. Henshaw is a muscular lump but much more than that, it's easy to forget that with Ringpiece beside him, that he's still getting to grips with test rugby himself.
You also need for factor in Ron'n that Schmidt uses d'Loop extensively and surprisingly teams still find it difficult to defend especially if you get someone with Girrid's rugby brain running the right lines off it to befuddle defenders. So it is actually a rarity in Schmidt's plan when a straightforward passing move through normal channels happens. He has other uses for his centres, they are not a real strike option in plan Joe, rather there to follow Janny the Loop's loops, tackle and kick chase.