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Irish Rugby - The Party Years

Ruddock, Scannell, McCloskey all a bit unlucky. Relatively non divisive for an Irish squad selection though. Need to decide what type of bias Farrell has and then accuse him of it.
 
Groundhog said:
Ruddock, Scannell, McCloskey all a bit unlucky. Relatively non divisive for an Irish squad selection though. Need to decide what type of bias Farrell has and then accuse him of it.
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With Addison and Burns I'm saying he has an English bias.

Ruddock is really the only non-selection that annoys me.
 
Think Ruddock can be a bit miffed, he's been playing better than O'Mahony, but I can see the value in keeping POM around and Deegan, Doris and O'Donoghue all needed to be in. McCloskey is probably raging right now but at the same time there's an argument that Henshaw and Aki are just better players, simple as that and neither are out of form.

Tom O'Toole is the weird one for me, I'd have expected him in the development player bracket. Not convinced he's developed enough yet but I'm willing to trust the coaches on this and they clearly rate him highly. None of the guys he's been picked ahead of are particularly inspiring either really. Same with Heffernan, can't say I've seen anything special but again Andy is obviously a fan which is fair enough.
 
It's some rise for Heffernan given he played a number of games for Buccs last year.
 
To be fair no player left out has been hard done by and players in did it on form.

I'm no fan of Dave Kearney but like Jack O'Donoghue, Ronan Kelliher and Dorris or Deegan. All are there by pulling finger out and taking the opportunity. Lads in development bracket all deserve to be part of it too
 
If selecting on form, I find the inclusion of Peter O'Mahony and CJ Stander over Rhys Ruddock odd.

Dave Heffernan is another strange call given he's older than Niall Scannell and not as good a player.

Fair play to Billy Burns. He's having the season Jack Carty had 12 months ago. Deserves his selection.

Stuart McCloskey is unlucky but he's in a competitive position.

Will Connors is a development player and he's older than Caelan Doris and Max Deegan.

Delighted for Ultan Dillane who I think has the raw materials to be a top player if he gets a run of games.
 
Leinster Fan said:
Think Ruddock can be a bit miffed, he's been playing better than O'Mahony, but I can see the value in keeping POM around and Deegan, Doris and O'Donoghue all needed to be in. McCloskey is probably raging right now but at the same time there's an argument that Henshaw and Aki are just better players, simple as that and neither are out of form.

Tom O'Toole is the weird one for me, I'd have expected him in the development player bracket. Not convinced he's developed enough yet but I'm willing to trust the coaches on this and they clearly rate him highly. None of the guys he's been picked ahead of are particularly inspiring either really. Same with Heffernan, can't say I've seen anything special but again Andy is obviously a fan which is fair enough.
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Henshaw has done nowt for a few seasons now. I can only presume it's something to do with defence that has himself and Aki ahead of McCloskey.


I'm not that surprised by Scannell and Ruddock. I am surprised by Heffernan though. His throwing it awful.
 
Do we reckon it's two 6s, 7s and 8s? And if so are the 6s Pom and CJ or Pom and Doris? If it's the former and we don't get the same backrow as the world cup I'd be a happy bro.
 
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profitius said:
Henshaw has done nowt for a few seasons now. I can only presume it's something to do with defence that has himself and Aki ahead of McCloskey.


I'm not that surprised by Scannell and Ruddock. I am surprised by Heffernan though. His throwing it awful.
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I'd have to disagree really. He was absolutely brilliant for Leinster when he finally got fit and the end of last season and has been decent to excellent for Leineter this year. Maybe not as flash as McCloskey but definitely a better defender. That's not to say McCloskey hasn't been unlucky, but either of the other two 12s would have been equally unlucky to miss out.
 
snoopy snoopy dog dog said:
If selecting on form, I find the inclusion of Peter O'Mahony and CJ Stander over Rhys Ruddock odd.

Dave Heffernan is another strange call given he's older than Niall Scannell and not as good a player.

Fair play to Billy Burns. He's having the season Jack Carty had 12 months ago. Deserves his selection.

Stuart McCloskey is unlucky but he's in a competitive position.

Will Connors is a development player and he's older than Caelan Doris and Max Deegan.

Delighted for Ultan Dillane who I think has the raw materials to be a top player if he gets a run of games.
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CJ in superb form. Stats show it and is a better 6 than Rhys. POM you have argument but says more about Ruddock not taking grasp in same way as Leinsters other lads in backrow. Think he can't feel hard done at all.
 
I think Rhys is unlucky but it's a fair call. The younger (or less capped/established might he a better way to put it) three all played their way in, Josh was always there as comfortably the best 7, if you ditch Stander/POM the backrow options are very very light on experience.
 
I would not despair that much were I an Irish fan. Ireland's younger and second/third-string players are certainly more formidable than most of what Wales and Scotland have to offer. Moreover, given Wales' injuries, the incredibly poor form of the Ospreys and Scotland's poor form at the World Cup, I expect Ireland to be above both countries in the forthcoming 6N, even if they don't win it as such.

More generally, why is it that Ireland - at least at club/provincial level, if not so much at Test level - does rather better than Wales nowadays? If you look at the two countries' age-grade teams, there's not a lot of difference between them, with both being generally mid-range in terms of JWC and U20 6N performances and results. (As opposed to England, who are frequent JWC finalists and U20 6N winners, or Scotland, who are mostly quite poor and have just been relegated from the JWC to the Junior World Trophy).
 
Tooting Carmen said:
I would not despair that much were I an Irish fan. Ireland's younger and second/third-string players are certainly more formidable than most of what Wales and Scotland have to offer. Moreover, given Wales' injuries, the incredibly poor form of the Ospreys and Scotland's poor form at the World Cup, I expect Ireland to be above both countries in the forthcoming 6N, even if they don't win it as such.

More generally, why is it that Ireland - at least at club/provincial level, if not so much at Test level - does rather better than Wales nowadays? If you look at the two countries' age-grade teams, there's not a lot of difference between them, with both being generally mid-range in terms of JWC and U20 6N performances and results. (As opposed to England, who are frequent JWC finalists and U20 6N winners, or Scotland, who are mostly quite poor and have just been relegated from the JWC to the Junior World Trophy).
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I'd say the main difference is that the provinces are better organised, better structured organisations that have bigger budgets and more fans than the Welsh counterparts.
 
Leinster Fan said:
I'd say the main difference is that the provinces are better organised, better structured organisations that have bigger budgets and more fans than the Welsh counterparts.
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And have been around much longer and have real history and tradition behind them compared to the Welsh regions. But is the success of the Irish provinces the cause of Irish rugby being perhaps better organised and managed than Welsh rugby, or a consequence of it?
 
snoopy snoopy dog dog said:
You and I have drastically different perceptions of superb form!
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Maybe but CJs stats defensively and carries has been excellent. And well if watching M7nster it would be clear to see. Himself and Dave Kilcoyne were only 2 making hard yards. In a poor performing team. So not sure what you hudge it on but maybe it does differ. As I said point is more if you were judging it on POM and Stander being as bad as you rate. Says more on Rhys that he couldn't get in where a coach clearly opened chances to all contenders and it's not seen as a poor call or unlucky call by majority.
 
Very interesting debate on an English podcast about 6Nations. On Irish squad.
It was all balanced but few points.

1. If Ireland have a bad 6Nations will that force Sexton out of it as a 1 season poor record captain.

2. Is Sexton picked because he is a clear starter when it shows he has no competition despite being on the decline with injury, age and mixed form.

3. Will a poor campaign make this very much a huge 6 Nations for all it's worth.

Intersting was when they looked at 12 polls across the 6 countries most seen it
1. England
2. France
3. Wales
4. Ireland
5. Scotland
6. Italy
 
munstermuffin said:
Very interesting debate on an English podcast about 6Nations. On Irish squad.
It was all balanced but few points.

1. If Ireland have a bad 6Nations will that force Sexton out of it as a 1 season poor record captain.

2. Is Sexton picked because he is a clear starter when it shows he has no competition despite being on the decline with injury, age and mixed form.

3. Will a poor campaign make this very much a huge 6 Nations for all it's worth.

Intersting was when they looked at 12 polls across the 6 countries most seen it
1. England
2. France
3. Wales
4. Ireland
5. Scotland
6. Italy
Click to expand...
What's the podcast? I'm looking for some 6N content.
 

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