irelandfan123
Bench Player
Yeah but at Humps has a running bone in his body and could provide a spark for the irish backline, sad he is never gunna get capped when his bro was such a ledge
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Ireland's flyhalf versus Scotland?
- Thread starter snoopy snoopy dog dog
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I spotted Davy Humphries and Eric Elwood both in the football boot section of SportsDirect earlier today...
Make of that what you will.
:lol:
What's Jackie Kyle up to these days?
There's not a way in hell Steenson will get the nod. If they're not going to bring over Andress when picking between a chronically unfit Fitzpatrick and Michael Bent-over, they're not going to bring in Steenson with three prospects and RADGE! available.
I think it might be Jackson actually. Leaves me mildly concerned considering the rust levels, but he is more Kidney's sort of fly-half, and you know the defence coach would be pressing for him. Someone on PR posted up compiled HEC stats for the Irish fly-halves, Jackson's tackle stats read like a flanker's.
I'd go with any of the 3 but ROG, they are all better at running, kicking, tackling, directing a game. passing and most importantly they give a **** unlike the ROG of today.
I'd prefer to see Madagin but Jackson and Keatly are fine by me they all have strengths and weakness, I'd just like to see the Irish backline outside him.
I'd prefer to see Madagin but Jackson and Keatly are fine by me they all have strengths and weakness, I'd just like to see the Irish backline outside him.
Zed
Bench Player
Looks like he's got some serious gas! But what's his kicking (place & out of hand) like?
Is this even a question? It's Kidney!
ROG to start, Paddy Wallace on the bench.
ROG to start, Paddy Wallace on the bench.
Michael Bradley will be your next manager and RADGE! shall play until he's 41.
Irish Indo reporting that ROG has been told to get game time with Munster this week ready for a start against Scotland!
In my opinion this is the last straw. Start O'Gara and unless it pays off big time, his contract should not be extended (it shouldn't be extended anyway but you get my point)
The problem with Ireland in the last 4 years has been short sightedness and if ROG is picked, that would be the culmination of Kidney's inadequate player selection.
In my opinion it has to be Madigan and Jackson. I would start Madigan as I think he appears to be more prepared.
In my opinion this is the last straw. Start O'Gara and unless it pays off big time, his contract should not be extended (it shouldn't be extended anyway but you get my point)
The problem with Ireland in the last 4 years has been short sightedness and if ROG is picked, that would be the culmination of Kidney's inadequate player selection.
In my opinion it has to be Madigan and Jackson. I would start Madigan as I think he appears to be more prepared.
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I disagree. You should pick your best players as often as possible and try to win every game. This kind of thinking has emerged due to the World Cup, and I admit that I once kind of thought in a similar manner, but you've got to realize two things:
1) We're not going to win a World Cup. If we could win 2 6 Nations Championships in a four year period and have a shitty World Cup that'd be awesome. Much better than getting to a World Cup Semi Final in any case.
2) Players need less time to acclimatize than people make out. How long did it take Tim Visser to look good on the international stage. Same for people like Tuilagi, North, and many more.
All of that said, ROG is clearly the wrong choice. Not because he's older, but because he's awful. Madigan is the form player. He should get picked.
I think you're misinterpreting me. At what point did I mention ROG's age to be an issue?
My point on Kindey being short sighted is his inability to look beyond player reputation and "safe" option regardless of form. I'm not saying all of Kidney's decision are wrong. For example, Zebo's selection at fullback was a risk with good results. AHowever overall Kidney fail to recognise the context of the squad. What message is being sent throughout Ireland by the constant selection of Murray or O'Gara and Earls regardless of performance?
One of the main problems for Kidney is also this notion of acclimatisation which actually furthers my point of short sightedness. Kidney takes far to long to cap players. Take for example Gilroy, he had been on the scene consistently outperforming his competitors for around 2 years before even getting close to a cap. How long is it going to take him to cap Jackson or Madigan?
One of the key reasons for a success in 2009 was Kidney's ability to keep players on their toes. The likes of Leamy and Stringer were given game time and starts against Scotland meaning a natural squad developed. As it turned out this was incredibly useful as Ferris injured himself against Wales meaning a fresh and up to date Leamy could naturally come in and do a key job. Compare that to now. On Sunday Sexton got injured and we brought on a player who hadn't played rugby for nearly a month and does not fit to Ireland's game plan. I will concede that in some position such as replacement tighthead, Kidney has little choice, but in my opinion Kidney's short sightedness has limitted our national squad to what appears to be nothing more than some core players performing in consistently with little structure and no positive player rotation or selection policy.
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Ah right, I thought you meant not looking to the future as in we should always be picking younger players, even if they're not as good as the incumbent just because they'll be at the next WC. It's more of a conservatism than lack of foresight imo.
Yeah I suppose it is more conservatism. Either way surely the selection of ROG will be the nail in the coffin....
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And certainly not inconceivable...
Big Ewis
Hall of Fame
ooooooohhhhhhhh......mmmmm !!.....
....oh sorry, don't mind me !! I just got chills from the tension building there.
Please, please, carry on !...
I mean...it would be "interesting" *wink* to see what Scotland can do against Ireland, mmm? wouldn't it ? I mean Scotland could really fight back, careful now !...:whistle3:
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Sad thing is I think if O'Gara plays we will lose to Scotland and it won't be like last time where the players decided not to show up on the day it will be because we actually won't be able to. If ROG is starting Scotland can keep their very back three deep and send a shooter or two at him and kill off any chance of being pinned back or getting caught on the outside.
Madigan on the other hand is a very unpredictable player and it would be hard to organize a defence with him playing.
Jackson is better than O'Gara but I think that he has been overrated a bit and isn't as good as people are saying. It was even backed up when Ulster dropped him to the bench to play Marshall and Pienaar against Castres and had Pienaar not played like **** he may not have been a HEC starter for the rest of the season and maybe next season too.
10. Madigan
22. Jackson
Madigan on the other hand is a very unpredictable player and it would be hard to organize a defence with him playing.
Jackson is better than O'Gara but I think that he has been overrated a bit and isn't as good as people are saying. It was even backed up when Ulster dropped him to the bench to play Marshall and Pienaar against Castres and had Pienaar not played like **** he may not have been a HEC starter for the rest of the season and maybe next season too.
10. Madigan
22. Jackson
Kid had an ankle injury, wasn't at full fitness and I think he missed a few training sessions that week (although less than expected). Might have had something to do with it. Maybe if we'd seen a stormer from Wee P/St P, he'd have spent more time on the bench, but Jackson came the closest to a stormer out of the three.
If I'm honest, I'm beginning to get mildly worried by the number of injuries Jackson's picking up - but that's by the by.
We are never going to win a World Cup until we actually start to believe we can and plan on that basis.
We are in a somewhat unique position, while rugby is not our main game (unlike NZ), a large part of our population do play Gaelic football, which goes a long way to developing the handling/kicking skills required for rugby. Hence why we should be able to punch above our weight on the international scene. The population of NZ is ~4.5 million. The population of Ireland is 4.5 + 1.8 ~ 6.3 million. No reason why we shouldn't be looking to develop our talent pool to a level necessary to seriously challenge for the world cup.
Right now, given I am expecting a Radge/Mincer combo for 10, Scotland are firm favourites in my eyes!
