RBS 6 Nations - Ireland vs Wales - (05/02/2012 -15:00)

[Draggs]

Lydiate should be back next week. He was missed somewhat today, although Ryan had a good game aswell. Ryan will probably have to move up, which means we're very thin on the ground at lock with three players missing. Should we bring Shingler onto the bench as backrow/second row cover? Or should Lou Reed be on the bench?

Shingler on the bench depends on second row.
If Warburton is fit we could potentially play him 6 and Tipuric 7. I'd rather a natural 6, which would be Lydiate if fit (Ryan to SR). I am not sure how well Lou Reed could cover off the bench. I'd rather shift one of Lydiate/Shingler to second row if needed. My choice 4 Evans, 5 Jones, 6 Lydiate, 8 Faletau, 7 Warburton; 18 Shingler, 19 Tipuric. Call up Day if the Turks are OK with it.

Also, a Lions back three of North, Halfpenny, Kearney would be absolutely immense.

 

[SelimNiai]

Scotland at home a concern? Really, do disrespect meant to our Scottish friends but I don't see that game a problem. Not complacent but we have a good record at home against them. Plus, player-to-player there aren't many Scotland edge

 

[welshglory]

I think Ireland needs a playmaker in the midfield. They've got enough carriers in the backrow, where as we are the opposite.

 

[wlshby09]

Who the hell gave man of the match to Phillips? It's got to be North! Bow your head in shame Bradley, that was disgusting play, probably shouldn't play again in the 6N, even if his ban isn't that long he should be dropped in my opinion, even though he was one of our best performers. I still don't feel very confident in the Wales backline, outside Priestland we have no real distributers, especially when Hook came on, Roberts, Davies, North and Cuthbert are there for the crash ball, and I don't think Hook passed the ball once! If only Henson was on form.

 

[big ginger 8]

On the booing yes it's wrong but if you'd been there it would have been hard not to get sucked in and there had been pockets of Welsh fans making noise during kicks still wrong of course.

Welsh deserved it but we should have won it not from our own performance but the position we were in with 5 minutes to go and obviously some dodgy reffing decisions and there was a bit earlier in the game where I felt a Welshman should have been carded though we did get a penalty from it.

Thought for us I thought basically the whole pack did actually play pretty well surprisingly so in DO'C's case. SO'B made a few of his runs for the first time in a while. While O'Connell and Heaslip in particular were immense. The thing is Kearney was our only back to play really well though D'arcy had his best performance for a while.

Fair play to Wales.

Also that Welsh backline is freaklishy big and skillful.

 

[dullonien]

Faletau was quieter that I expected. Looking for a big game from him next week. Going for the championship win is important, but I also think it's important for us to continue to improve our strength in depth. Tday showed how important having a quality backup is, with Tipuric slotting in nicely. I feel it would be a mistake not to blood Beck at some point, as he's in blistering form. What about getting Henson back involved?

I think Gatland needs to tread dalicately with Cuthbert. Should he get another chance next week against lesser oppositon (no offense intended), or should he be left out because of that one defensive lapse? He doesn't make a good bench option.

Edit. Just one point about the Irish back-row. I know it keeps coming up, but they just don't work well together. All three were good today (although Ferris was much quieter than I was expecting), but all three play a similar game, and the balance is simply wrong. I know the temptation with those three is to shoe-horn them into the same team, but it doesn't always work. It worked better today than in the WC qf (maybe Lydiate's absense helped a little there), but they are all 6/8's really. Not sure what can be done though, with no-one really pushing hard as an out and out 7 in Ireland at present.

 

[welshglory]

Who the hell gave man of the match to Phillips? It's got to be North! Bow your head in shame Bradley, that was disgusting play, probably shouldn't play again in the 6N, even if his ban isn't that long he should be dropped in my opinion, even though he was one of our best performers. I still don't feel very confident in the Wales backline, outside Priestland we have no real distributers, especially when Hook came on, Roberts, Davies, North and Cuthbert are there for the crash ball, and I don't think Hook passed the ball once! If only Henson was on form.

Really? i thought Hook passed the ball well when he had to. He was playing at fullback too remember that.

 

[Rhondda Rudie]

With regards to the booing we in Wales could certainly learn from Irish and English crowds.Fans of Munster,Gloucester and Leicester are as passionate as anyone but opposition goalkickers usually kick in silence at their home grounds.It used to be like that here when I was a kid.Don't know where we went wrong.

 

[dullonien]

Really? i thought Hook passed the ball well when he had to. He was playing at fullback too remember that.

I have no idea where Hook was playing after coming on. He seemed to spend alot of time at 10/12 with Roberts spending alot of time on the wing. I think there was alot of switching going on there, and it seemed to work. I don't think Hook was great when he came on. Got involved alot, but also got caught in possetion too often for my liking.

 

[big ginger 8]

Faletau was quieter that I expected. Looking for a big game from him next week. Going for the championship win is important, but I also think it's important for us to continue to improve our strength in depth. Tday showed how important having a quality backup is, with Tipuric slotting in nicely. I feel it would be a mistake not to blood Beck at some point, as he's in blistering form. What about getting Henson back involved?

I think Gatland needs to tread dalicately with Cuthbert. Should he get another chance next week against lesser oppositon (no offense intended), or should he be left out because of that one defensive lapse? He doesn't make a good bench option.

Edit. Just one point about the Irish back-row. I know it keeps coming up, but they just don't work well together. All three were good today (although Ferris was much quieter than I was expecting), but all three play a similar game, and the balance is simply wrong. I know the temptation with those three is to shoe-horn them into the same team, but it doesn't always work. It worked better today than in the WC qf (maybe Lydiate's absense helped a little there), but they are all 6/8's really. Not sure what can be done though, with no-one really pushing hard as an out and out 7 in Ireland at present.

That is the main problem. Some people think O'Mahony is a 7 I'm not so sure, Jennings is a 7 but he's not up to it at international level, personally I think Dominic Ryan would be the best option but unfortunately he's been injured basically the whole season. Maybe we should try O'Mahony at 7 but it would be unfair to just chuck him in against the French.

 

[dullonien]

Also gotta admit big ginger 8 that Healy proved me wrong somewhat today. He help up well in the scrums, and was busy around the pitch. Only mistake I really remember from him was spilling the ball once.

 

[big ginger 8]

Also gotta admit big ginger 8 that Healy proved me wrong somewhat today. He help up well in the scrums, and was busy around the pitch. Only mistake I really remember from him was spilling the ball once.

At least you can admit when you're wrong apparently I have real problem doing it. You're not the only person I've seen underrate him though I probably do overrate him there's a happy middle. Though he will just keep getting better only 24 already has 20 caps and since experience is so key for props imagine him in his prime when he's around 30.

 

[rich05ard]

Of course it was a penalty but I agree that it shouldn't have resulted in a yellow card. I feel that Wales deserved their win - very condident and composed. Most unlike Wales as they generally take a pounding in Dublin and usually go into headless chicken mode. Also reassuring that they have found some more players who can clearly cope with this level of rugby.

 

[Dicey]

Very proud of our young dragons today . Not many including the pundits gave us much chance today.
Question for the Cardiff RFC fans out there ...do you guys practice the spear tackle in training
All credit to both teams for putting on an excellent show.

 

[coonor]

Wales won because they play a style that they understand and suits them...... Ireland do not.

Heaslip and Murray had very good games but we lacked direction and what happened to our near impenetrable defence?

Wales use space very well and our such good footballers. I think we had the upper hand in the set piece but didn't make use of it and we seem unable to create space and change the point of attack. Where are all the inside balls and changes of running angles used by Ulster and Leinster?

 

[Rhyer]

At least you can admit when you're wrong apparently I have real problem doing it. You're not the only person I've seen underrate him though I probably do overrate him there's a happy middle. Though he will just keep getting better only 24 already has 20 caps and since experience is so key for props imagine him in his prime when he's around 30.

Cian Healy is huge! Looks like he's on steroids but he isn't. That guy is so strong and he just pushed his way around the park today. There seems to be a real problem though with European loose forwards and their ''brain implosions''. Sam Warburton and Stephen Ferris I'm looking at you two.

Interesting game although I thought Ireland deserved to win it, last penalty and resulting yellow card was rather controversial.

That is the main problem. Some people think O'Mahony is a 7 I'm not so sure, Jennings is a 7 but he's not up to it at international level, personally I think Dominic Ryan would be the best option but unfortunately he's been injured basically the whole season. Maybe we should try O'Mahony at 7 but it would be unfair to just chuck him in against the French.

Really? I like O'Brien, Heaslip and Ferris. I'm not that clued into Irish rugby so maybe you could enlighten me as to why you don't think they work well together because individually they're beastly.

 

[TPenn]

Really? I like O'Brien, Heaslip and Ferris. I'm not that clued into Irish rugby so maybe you could enlighten me as to why you don't think they work well together because individually they're beastly.

That's the point though, they're all great players but Ferris and O'Brien in particular are pretty much the same player. You look at the Welsh back row where you have the contrast between the likes of Ryan Jones and Sam Warburton. That balance is crucial.

 

[big ginger 8]

Cian Healy is huge! Looks like he's on steroids but he isn't. That guy is so strong and he just pushed his way around the park today. There seems to be a real problem though with European loose forwards and their ''brain implosions''. Sam Warburton and Stephen Ferris I'm looking at you two.

Interesting game although I thought Ireland deserved to win it, last penalty and resulting yellow card was rather controversial.

Yeah Healy was a shot putter in school actually light enough for a prop pretty much all muscle though.

Really? I like O'Brien, Heaslip and Ferris. I'm not that clued into Irish rugby so maybe you could enlighten me as to why you don't think they work well together because individually they're beastly.

All three of them are brilliant worldclass individuals but their not that balanced with no proper openside fetcher. This is the match where they will probably be showed up the most as Wales are masters of the chop tackle and have an amazing 7 in Warburton and Tipuric was really good as well. They should work well against England, Italy and Scotland though. However to compete against the real top tier of teams (no offense to those listed) we probably need a proper 7. If we beat New Zealand in the summer with that backrow I'll eat my words.

 

[Saintjay]

The BBC cut short a good debate yesterday. With the theory that modern rugby is about taking young players and trying to bulk them up and make them beasts. Using Scotland as the example there is more focus on the gym than rugby skills. Passing, taking the ball into contact etc.

Wales seem to have the balance of big players with skill. The game needs more than massive ball carrying monsters imo.

 

[Saintjay]

I was not pointing out a single player. I think the bbc crew had a valid point that to much focus is being put on players size rather than simples skills like passing etc.