Italy v Ireland

[Peat]

So durbutter believes it will be a fermenting pile of rancid excrement, bates believes it'll be the next best thing since sliced bread... think I'm leaning towards durbutter's position here.

 

[Conal]

how is o'leary at the moment?

 

[durbutter]

Still learning to pass

 

[munstermuffin]

O'Leary is a physical 9 and not a passing player but we have to pick horses for courses

 

[Feicarsinn]

Disagree, a Nine's first duty should always be good delivery. Everything else is a bonus. Stringer to play every major game up till the world cup.

 

[King_D'Arcy]

Disagree, a Nine's first duty should always be good delivery. Everything else is a bonus. Stringer to play every major game up till the world cup.

Agreed!

My opinion is same for props. He should be able to hold up in a scrum. If he can barge through defenses and all thats grand but 1st priority is good in the scrum

 

[munstermuffin]

I agree with ye I'm just saying that is how O'Leary is viewed.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

The Toulon v Munster thread is in danger of being hijacked. Here's my Ireland squad on form (with a notable exception):

Bowe, Horgan, O'Driscoll, D'arcy, McFadden, Sexton, help; Healy, Cronin, Ross, Cullen, O'Connell, Ferris, O'Brien, Heaslip
Subs: Varley, Court, Tuohy, D.Wallace, help, O'Gara, Earls

 

[Feicarsinn]

I thought Reddan played quite well the other day....

 

[Peat]

Has Flinger lost form?

I am genuinely tempted to suggest Peter Stringer and Paul Marshall should be Ireland's top two scrum-halfs and thats not a wind-up. Obviously they won't on account of being on the bench (and the haywire radar of Marshall's) but it would get you nice quick service.

Is the choice between Reddan and O'Leary?

 

[Feicarsinn]

And Boss I suppose. Stringer/Boss would be a decent set of options to have. We'd definitely have the ability to vary our play then.

 

[Logorrhea]

The Toulon v Munster thread is in danger of being hijacked. Here's my Ireland squad on form (with a notable exception):

Bowe, Horgan, O'Driscoll, D'arcy, McFadden, Sexton, help; Healy, Cronin, Ross, Cullen, O'Connell, Ferris, O'Brien, Heaslip
Subs: Varley, Court, Tuohy, D.Wallace, help, O'Gara, Earls

I'd bring Touhy in ahead of Cullen (lets give him a run), with Cullen on the bench.

At scrumhalf I'd like to see another option but we dont really have one yet. Reddan and Boss would be my preferred combination, but thats more a sign of how bad things actually are. I'd imagine it'll be Reddan starting with O'Leary on the bench.

 

[DorceOutSide]

will be interesting to see if irish can put club form (leinster not munster ) into national form. ireland should destroy them

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Jamie Heaslip, Shane Horgan and John Hayes have all been ruled out according to RTE. Could be a chance for Sean O'Brien, Fergus McFadden and Mike Ross. I'd start O'Brien at 8 and keep David Wallace at 7. McFadden deserves his shot ahead of Luke Fitzgerald.

 

[Conal]

hayes ruled out! praise jesus
i think trf should start a fund to buy some cattle for john hayes as a bribe to get him to retire i reckon i towuld work

ferris is likley to injure himself aswell so ruddock might get a run or mabey even mike mc carthy
is mccarthy any good? i have never noticed him before

 

[coonor]

Injuries are starting to build. Atleast the players ruled out at the moment (bar Heaslip) are ones that can be replaced especially for the Italy game. Hopefully Bowe and Ferris are ok. Hayes being injured probably helps Ireland. Feel sorry for Horgan as I thought he had been playing very well. Is it me or do Ireland always have alot of injuries in one position e.g in the backrow last summer, in the back 3 this year. Lucky we don't have England or France first.

 

[munstermuffin]

Hayes and Trimble ruled out we might be forced to play a back 3 of Earls Bowe and Luke Fitz. I think things are looking up for us. If Heaslip out it ok sure Sean O Brien is on fire and well I expect him at 8 with Wallace and Ferris.
Was talking to a player involved and it seems Reddan is going to be 9

 

[TRF_Olyy]

If Bowe is out for this match that's 3 wings gone, all who probably would've featured in the 22, youch!

Hopefully Tony Buckley is called up to replace John Hayes/starts against England
He's like a poor mans Sheridan, so would be interesting to see him go up against the real one

 

[Conal]

i dont want to imagine it

however i would be intrested to see buckley and sheridan have a proper fight proper clash of ***ans

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

My starting XV and bench with Trimble, Horgan, Heaslip and Hayes ruled out (not that Hayes should have figured anyway):

Fitzgerald, Bowe, O'Driscoll, D'arcy, McFadden, Sexton, Michael Bradley; Healy, Cronin, Ross, Cullen, O'Connell, Ferris, Wallace, O'Brien. Subs: Best, Court, Tuohy, Leamy, Rob Saunders, O'Gara, Earls

Fitzgerald gets my choice at 15 because he's going to the World Cup as emergency 3rd option there. His current form doesn't merit a place in the team. We're ****** at scrum half. Stringer deserves the spot and Reddan is next best but too similar to Stringer. Perhaps selecting Stringer and Boss is the right way to go. Earls will be picked ahead of McFadden but the Leinster player is the form choice. Maybe Kidney could be bold in his selection and pick McFadden at 12 and Earls on the wing.