Irish Rugby - The Party Years

[Leonormous Boozer]

Boring Joe's gone and now we have he heart-stopping, pants-dropping, house-rocking, earth-quaking, booty-shaking, Viagra-taking, love-making, beard-growing, teenage-fathering, legendary Andy Farrell here to tear his own first born son a new one for spelling it Owen and not Eoin. And with European domination underway it's time to start shouting about it.

Don't think there's much point selecting "with an eye to 2023", Paddy Jackson, Stuart Olding and Donncha Ryan are good examples of players who'd have probably made Japan a better place (strictly in rugby terms for two of them) who played rugby in 2016 and you could maybe add Heaslip and Madigan to that too. 4 years is too long to plan anything with as many moving parts as an international rugby team has so let's just start winning and drinking again!

That said, the team went stale in 2019 and a good way to aid the reconstruction is a few new faces and there's plenty of young men to choose from. I don't think there's any need to hesitate in bringing Ronan Kelleher, Jeremy Loughman, Max Deegan, Caolan Doris and Rob Lyttle into the squad, these guys are doing well in problem areas for the team and at worst they'll light a fire up a few guys arses. I think sexy Rob is now injury cover for Larmour and Addison, Keith Earls should make way for Conway (disappointing no one is really stepping up here otherwise) and it's probably time to start beefing up the backrow which has gone from being the best in the world in 2018 to the weakest combination we have.

I think 12 could be problematic for us, no one has looked better than Joe Tomane for a province so far this year and if Bundee announces he's off to France or Japan before the six nations he's not an option. Henshaw is the most likely option but along with literally any possible 12, he's looked fairly meh for a while now. I know it's something Ireland have never been keen on but imagine if rather than looking to the other side of the world or over to mean uncle England for ideas we looked just a wee bit south, there's a young 10/12 hybrid with a fairly iconic surname and the exact same dimensions as Joey Carbery tearing **** up at 12 for Toulouse outside an assured 10, this would be extreme party behaviour with JC coming back from injury though.

Halfbacks are a pain to think about, Sexton immediately looked like the best 10 in Ireland again this weekend in his 50mins, if he's fit he starts, and Cooney is the only guy really putting it up to Murray. It'd be nice if McGrath or Blade could make the jump too but we're not massively impressive here at all.

Let the good times roll, Andy's bringing sexy back.

 

[MikeTheNative]

I'm interested to see how, if any different, the team plays under Farrell. Ireland unfortunately picked up some bad form in the 6 nations then just carried it through to the world cup and Joe was unable to turn the tide. I think 10 is your biggest issue going forward, Sexton is world class but the next ones simply aren't (not saying they could be in the future though).

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I'm interested to see how, if any different, the team plays under Farrell. Ireland unfortunately picked up some bad form in the 6 nations then just carried it through to the world cup and Joe was unable to turn the tide. I think 10 is your biggest issue going forward, Sexton is world class but the next ones simply aren't (not saying they could be in the future though).

I think we'll be forced to develop a new gameplan because of the 10 "problem". We can't continue to build a game around Sexton's ability to control it, he's on the wain and unless Dan Leavy makes a recovery rivalling that of Jesus Christ we don't have the backrow to do it.

I don't think there's much to worry about at 10 though, firstly Joey Carbery is very good and has just been managed terribly the past 12 months, and also 20 year old Harry Byrne at Leinster has been getting games for Leinster and looking great too, they'll be fighting for the jersey before long unless Carbery changes position. After that Ross Byrne and Jack Carty are good Heineken cup level players and are good third choice options. Carty is the oldest of these guys at 27, R Byrne and JC 24. 10 might not be the focal point of our team which will be a first for Ireland in the pro era* but that is probably no bad thing.

*Humphreys > ROG > Sexton these guys probably have about 75% of minutes at 10 since 1996 which is nothing short of mental.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Irish Rugby - The Carty Years

Make it so!

 

[profitius]

Irish Rugby - The Carty Years

Make it so!

The Sexton tears.
The Furlong ears.
The Schmidt fears.
The POM sneers.
The front row rears.
The party poopers.
The party clowns.
Andy Farrell frowns.

 

[Amiga500]

Speaking from up north in the soon* to be no-longer 6 counties...

No point planning with Rob Lyttle, the poor guy can't keep fit. Another 2 months out apparently. Rob Balacoune (he of the Munster 1st minute assassination) may be useful - but he's not there yet.

Jame Hume in the centre might be worth a look in a year or two, but he's not there yet either.

Up front, Eric O'Sullivan is the obvious candidate. Extremely impressive. Speed, engine, hands, holding up a scrum, the young man has the lot. By the time Jack McGrath is fit again, he'll be almost certainly a distant 2nd choice up here.

Stephen McBurney maybe next season. He needs to push on or it'll pass him by.

Other than that... cupboard is fairly bare up here - no standout youngsters you'd look at and think "definite future international".


'Suppose considering a slightly older player - McCloskey at 12 I think has been hard done by Joe - particularly given our (Ireland's) options there - maybe Andy will bring him in and have a look.


*assuming the English are actually stupid enough to vote in that buffoon Johnson.



[and as I said elsewhere, we need a 12 or 15 that can act as a 2nd 5/8ths. Its too predictable when everything goes off 9 & 10]

 

[Leinster Fan]

Henshaw is the most likely option but along with literally any possible 12, he's looked fairly meh for a while now.

Have to say I'd disagree with this, he was bad in Japan (probably due to the fact that he clearly wasn't match fit but Joe's hand was forced) but other than that he's been very good on the rare occasion he actually makes it to the pitch. Would have said he was probably Leinster's best back at the buisness end of last season, before that (if you ignore the game where he was played miles out of position) all he's had in the last two or three years is the Oz tour where both he and Aki were very poor in thefirst test and then got way better for the other games and a bunch of European games for Leinster where he was almost always good. I just think it's odd that his stock (among fans if not coaches) has fallen so drastically over the last while despite him barely playing and being mostly excellent when he has played (in my opinion).

That all said, McCloskey is worth a look, would definitely have him ahead of Aki.

 

[TRF_heineken]

I think we'll be forced to develop a new gameplan because of the 10 "problem". We can't continue to build a game around Sexton's ability to control it, he's on the wain and unless Dan Leavy makes a recovery rivalling that of Jesus Christ we don't have the backrow to do it.

I don't think there's much to worry about at 10 though, firstly Joey Carbery is very good and has just been managed terribly the past 12 months, and also 20 year old Harry Byrne at Leinster has been getting games for Leinster and looking great too, they'll be fighting for the jersey before long unless Carbery changes position. After that Ross Byrne and Jack Carty are good Heineken cup level players and are good third choice options. Carty is the oldest of these guys at 27, R Byrne and JC 24. 10 might not be the focal point of our team which will be a first for Ireland in the pro era* but that is probably no bad thing.

*Humphreys > ROG > Sexton these guys probably have about 75% of minutes at 10 since 1996 which is nothing short of mental.

Well, you could always revert back to the "off nine, off nine, off nine" tactic again. And what happened to JJ Hanrahan?? He was brilliant at the u/20 WC. Or has he not been able to make the step up?

The Sexton tears.
The Furlong ears.
The Schmidt fears.
The POM sneers.
The front row rears.
The party poopers.
The party clowns.
Andy Farrell frowns.

You forgot about the :
Guinness Beers
Stander Jeers

 

[Amiga500]

Well, you could always revert back to the "off nine, off nine, off nine" tactic again. And what happened to JJ Hanrahan?? He was brilliant at the u/20 WC. Or has he not been able to make the step up?

JJ wanted to play more at 10 earlier.

Munster didn't want to play him there enough at that point in time.

JJ got bad advice and went to Northampton.

4 wasted years and he's now back - but will never fully recover to reach what his ultimate potential was IMO.

 

[profitius]

JJ wanted to play more at 10 earlier.

Munster didn't want to play him there enough at that point in time.

JJ got bad advice and went to Northampton.

4 wasted years and he's now back - but will never fully recover to reach what his ultimate potential was IMO.

Indeed. Northampton and Munster were the 2 worst fits for JJ. He has great passing and is very fast. His kicking is poor though which is why those teams were a bad fit.


Having said that, he's been great so far this season. Larkhsm is getting the best out of him and he's clearly ahead of Bleyendaal at this stage. Maybe he might live up to his potential after all.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

My 9s rn.

9. Coronet 21. Fetish (JGP)

 

[Groundhog]

My 9s rn.

9. Coronet 21. Fetish (JGP)

Shame you beefed this gag with a subhuman auto-correct

 

[Leinster Fan]

So a Six Nations squad, picked almost entirely on form (after the last year how many players actually still have credit in the bank?), if they're playing well get them in, otherwise they should play better rugby.

LH: Healy, O'Sullivan, Ed Byrne (no idea what the injury situation with Loughman and Kilcoyne is down in Munster, either or both of them could/should easily make it in if they get back, would he surprised if I still wanted Byrne involved come February)
Hooker: Kelleher, Scannell, Herring
Tighthead: Porter, Furlong, Moore/Bealham
Lock: Ryan, Henderson, Beirne, beyond that no idea
Backrow: Ruddock, O'Mahony, Stander, Murphy, Doris, Deegan, Van Der Flier (if Connors does well over Christmas I'd have him in as well)
Scrumhalf: Cooney, Blade, Marmion (if he gets hack to fitness)
Outhalf: Sexton, Byrne, Burns (if Carbery isn't back), maybe Fitzgerald, I don't know
Centre: Henshaw, McCloskey, Ringrose, Farrell, Aki?, maybe Marshall?, Addison on the off-chance he isn't injured
Back Three: Larmour, Haley, Conway, Stockdale, potentially Kearney, maybe Earls, someone should put their hand up over Christmas and warrant inclusion here

Can't say I all that much thought in to this so no doubt there's an awful of nonsense in here.

 

[Groundhog]

To be fair if we're picking on form Rory Scannell has been one of our best players. Tom Farrell elevates Connacht (wasn't sure which Farrell you had). Hanrahan has been very good too drop goal aside. Young Sprout is on top form too when compared to carry anyway

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Outhalf: Burns

The absolute state of Irish rugby

 

[munstermuffin]

From Munster.

Haley for sure is deserving and is the form 15 this season. Larmour deserves to start but when I say form 15 Haley is best by a distance this season. Factor in larmour hasn't played much 15 this season yet but is ahead.

Rory Scannell is playing superb stuff and on form so deserves spot but not a starter.

Conway is flying it and deserves a startsta spot.

Chris Farrell is deserving.

CJ deserves to be starting based on form and can go 6 or 8.

POM is deserving of spot in squad but feel a bench option is where he is now best utilised at this level.

Tadgh Beirne should be in squad too. Earls I say with caution. Still good enough and an option but I suppose it is based on our planning.

Lastly Kilcoyne for sure based on his form up to injury and fact noone is flying in this 1 jersey. He's still 1 of our best 1s.

Don't think I forgot anyone

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

The absolute state of Irish rugby

I think Carty and Hanrahan are probably doing more, but yeah, grim reading!

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Something I'd look for, and Leinster probably need to take the lead on, is Tadhg Furlong switching to loosehead. Andrew Porter has taken massive strides at 3 over the last 6-8 months and is now neck and neck with Furlong. Cian Healy isn't getting any younger and I'm not wholly convinced by Ed Byrne or Peter Dooley at the highest level. Ireland's best options are all in their 30s (Healy, Kilcoyne and McGrath).

Both Ireland and Leinster have a lot of options at 3 which is why I'd propose this move.

 

[munstermuffin]

Something I'd look for, and Leinster probably need to take the lead on, is Tadhg Furlong switching to loosehead. Andrew Porter has taken massive strides at 3 over the last 6-8 months and is now neck and neck with Furlong. Cian Healy isn't getting any younger and I'm not wholly convinced by Ed Byrne or Peter Dooley at the highest level. Ireland's best options are all in their 30s (Healy, Kilcoyne and McGrath).

Both Ireland and Leinster have a lot of options at 3 which is why I'd propose this move.

Would Porter not make more sense as he has dabbled his game more recently there lately

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Would Porter not make more sense as he has dabbled his game more recently there lately

He possibly would. Seeing his rapid development as a 3, I'd leave him there and let him keep growing as a player. Furlong is better around the field and moving him to the slightly less physically pressurized propping position might free him up to make an even greater impact.