[2016 RBS Six Nations] Round 5: Ireland vs. Scotland (19/03/2016)

[Amiga500]

Venue: Aviva Stadium
Time: 17:00 GMT
​

 

[Amiga500]

Irish team named already. Joe has decided to go for an adventerous bench.


1. Marcus Horan
2. Keith Wood
3. Paul Wallace
4. Willie John McBride
5. Malcolm O'Kelly
6. Phillip Matthews
7. Nigel Carr
8. Axel

9. Peter Stringer
10. Eric Elwood
11. Simon Geoghegan
12. Rob Henderson
13. Some fella called O'Driscoll
14. Shaggy
15. Swerve


16. The Mullet
17. The Claw
18. The Bull
19. #Stakhanov
20. Tomás O
21. Davy Humphries
22. Fergus McFadden
23. Joe thinks the 23 man squad is too adventurous - you might have to have some kid here. Its lower risk to stick to 22 grizzled warriors who'll be f__ked after 30 mins... but at least they'll have vast experience of being f__ked.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Jonny Gray and Denton out of the fixture.

I expect to see an unchanged 23, wouldn't mind seeing a change at 17, 18 and maybe give a start to Dillane.

I can't see our home record going here, 7-10 point win.

 

[Amiga500]

I posted "my" team as a joke...

But Jesus H f**king christ, even Murray Kinsella is at it:

[h=1]Schmidt ponders changes but Ireland XV may be unchanged for Scotland[/h] [h=2]The temptation is there to experiment, but Ireland require victory on Saturday.

[/h]
http://www.the42.ie/ireland-scotland-changes-xv-six-nations-2016-2661346-Mar2016/


Need a win? Why do they need a win? Do they need a win now more than the summer? Or what about the Autumn internationals? I suppose we'll be needing a win now.

F**king apologists justifying playing fellas that are gonna be done in a couple of years, slap bang in the RWC cycle.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Getting a top 8 ranking is more important to this World Cup than any development we can and could have done in these last two championship games. With us ranked 7th and Scotland 9th it is an extremely important game.

 

[Peat]

Don't think you're being fair there. The knock in confidence and the increased pressure that would come from losing to Scotland at home would be pretty big and it's a credible threat imo. It's also worth two places in the 6N table; this is probably the single most lucrative match for Ireland to win they'll have all year.

I continue to maintain that the current team is the wrong way for Ireland to win the next game, but I don't think there's any question that a win is really needed and is not guaranteed.

 

[Groundhog]

Yeah a bit more understanding if he goes for a strong team this week, but I'm sure I'll still hate a few choices.

 

[corny]

I posted "my" team as a joke...

But Jesus H f**king christ, even Murray Kinsella is at it:

[/h]
http://www.the42.ie/ireland-scotland-changes-xv-six-nations-2016-2661346-Mar2016/


Need a win? Why do they need a win? Do they need a win now more than the summer? Or what about the Autumn internationals? I suppose we'll be needing a win now.

F**king apologists justifying playing fellas that are gonna be done in a couple of years, slap bang in the RWC cycle.

Jesus I give up. This preoccupation with youth and world cups is exasperating. Its a test match not an Irish academy session.

 

[munstermuffin]

People talk about ranking but effectively the summer can hurt us more than this game.
If we win we gain nothing in ranking points. Yes we have to win but the key is what way we approach it. If it's back to conservative style it'll be big step back but also may play in to Scottish hands. Other factors will be Scots are probably on a bigger high and Cotter is probably the best man to read Schmidt and vice versa so who'll win that chess battle.
Also Best a big doubt it seems

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

People talk about ranking but effectively the summer can hurt us more than this game.
If we win we gain nothing in ranking points. Yes we have to win but the key is what way we approach it. If it's back to conservative style it'll be big step back but also may play in to Scottish hands. Other factors will be Scots are probably on a bigger high and Cotter is probably the best man to read Schmidt and vice versa so who'll win that chess battle.
Also Best a big doubt it seems

Keeping it tight would definitely be in our best interest against Scotland. They have better. Guys out wide and their backline is ticking nicely. We'll suffocate their attack and play the percentages when we have the ball.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I think Scotland will have the flair but the Irish game revolves around strangling a team, destroying any ability to play interesting rugby and slowly chipping away at them. I'm not sure the Scots will be able to fight through that to come out on top. It would be nice for the Scots to win though, I don't think they have won 3 games since the 5 nations.

 

[Amiga500]

Jesus I give up. This preoccupation with youth and world cups is exasperating. Its a test match not an Irish academy session.

Aye. Sure you can't play the form players in their right positions if it means deselecting (1)old heads who know how to lose gallantly or (2)personal favourites who must have some very compromising photos or something.


Is Cian Healy deserving of a squad place? If so, based on what?
Is Nathan White the first choice 3 with Ross out? [why was Furlong benching when he can scrummage all right and shockingly actually run around the pitch?]
Is Donnacha Ryan? [albeit played well, but no form going in]
Is Devin Toner? [can't ruck, won't ruck]
Is Henshaw at 12? [where he doesn't play for Connacht]
Is Payne at 13? [hasn't started there for us this season]
Is Trimble? [poor form for Ulster]
Is Kearney? [awful form for Leinster]
Is Zebo? [awful form for Munster]
Fergus McFadden? What the f__k!?! Is he selected as he's experience warming the Leinster bench?!?

Test matches are supposed to mean your best players, not your most experienced ones.


Joe stumbled his way along until Italy hobbled into town. Yay, we beat them and we're brill again. No... no we're very far from brill and I expect Scotland to bring us down to earth at the weekend.
But its all right, 'cos we'll lose with guys that have experience of how to lose.



If O'Mahony were fit, would we have seen Stander? No, probably not [maybe a cameo off the bench].
If O'Brien were fit, would we have seen Van Der Flier? [No]
If Payne were fit, we wouldn't have seen McCloskey.
If Kearney were fit, we wouldn't have even had Simon "positional sense of a daddy long legs on speed" Zebo at 15.
If Reddan were fit, we wouldn't have seen Marmion.

It all adds up to stagnation. Real bad stagnation. Scotland have selected new players, looking good. So have England, looking very good. Us? Nah, too high risk, we'll only throw in fellas when the experienced alternative is in a f__king moon-boot.

 

[munstermuffin]

I think as Alpha said they're better out wide but what'll hurt Scotland is they just don't have that killer instinct you need away from home. I think we will play it tight but if our kicking is poor then we are open to being punished. We will try strangle them but risks are we don't kill and leave them in which means that it's a game of concentration for full 80

 

[g6mcg]

I think Scotland will have the flair but the Irish game revolves around strangling a team, destroying any ability to play interesting rugby and slowly chipping away at them. I'm not sure the Scots will be able to fight through that to come out on top. It would be nice for the Scots to win though, I don't think they have won 3 games since the 5 nations.

2006, *****.

Completely agree Scotland unlikely to break the Irish stranglehold. Loss of Jonny Gray a major blow - by far our best tight five forward, and our second row resources aren't looking great.

 

[Peat]

2006, *****.

Completely agree Scotland unlikely to break the Irish stranglehold. Loss of Jonny Gray a major blow - by far our best tight five forward, and our second row resources aren't looking great.

Is Gilchrist injured again?

If it wasn't for the Scottish ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, I'd back them for this.

 

[g6mcg]

Yup, out for the rest of the season. Broke his arm fairly soon after coming back from the groin injury he sustained in first game of world cup. Barely played since autumn 14 (another arm break), so I'm increasingly pessimistic about him returning to previous levels.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Neither team has anything to lose.
This should be a wide open cracker of a game.

 

[munstermuffin]

Same 23 for Ireland is the rumour.

 

[Saint4805]

Imagine Swinson will come in for J Gray but am a bit concerned we will miss the latter badly.
Strauss should keep his place given that we're light on ball carriers having lost in JG and Denton.
Was pleasantly surprised with how well Horne did at 10 and so if Russell doesn't make it Horne is capable of deputising. In fact Horne's superior physicality could be tailor made for this game. Finn needs to bulk up IMO.

 

[g6mcg]

Swinson set to fulfil the Jim Hamilton shaped hole, we've missed a penalty machine in the row.

Still think Horne plays like a centre at ten (great observation, I know), but maybe that's an effective way to use our abundance of centres! I wonder if we could teach some of them to hook...