[Six Nations 2018] - Ireland

[Groundhog]

Carberry Ringrose would be pretty lightweight and not what we need. Aki Ringrose has the balance Ilike in a centre partnership. Aki has flown under the radar, but he's doing everything asked of him for Ireland so far. Reigned in his game in the ways he's had to,but he's tenacious.

 

[dunney77]

9) Murray
10) Sexton
12) Henshaw
13) Ringrose
15) Carberry
11) Stockdale
14) Larmour

A simply beautiful future

 

[munstermuffin]

9) Murray
10) Sexton
12) Henshaw
13) Ringrose
15) Carberry
11) Stockdale
14) Larmour

A simply beautiful future

Not sure on future when you exclude Earls but include Sexton who's much older.
Hopefully Larmour regains mojo fast. Leo Cullen mentioned, whilst Italy game will benefit him long term, has knocked him a bit.

Ireland post 2019 will be interesting as IRFU admit it will be harder to keep players

 

[HenryHoneyBalls]

Would be a major mistake if he does. 1. He's no gametime there. 2. He's not experienced there. 3. Ringrose offers more coming in. 4. It'd go against everything Schmidt believes defensively

Yeah I'm pretty sure Ringrose will start. It would be more likely that Sexton would go to 12 and Carbery 10 if Ringrose got injured.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Not sure on future when you exclude Earls but include Sexton who's much older.
Hopefully Larmour regains mojo fast. Leo Cullen mentioned, whilst Italy game will benefit him long term, has knocked him a bit.

Ireland post 2019 will be interesting as IRFU admit it will be harder to keep players

Where did Leo Cullen say that out of interest? Haven't read it anywhere.

 

[mosfeldt]

9) Murray
10) Sexton
12) Henshaw
13) Ringrose
15) Carberry
11) Stockdale
14) Larmour

A simply beautiful future

I was more thinking

9) Murray
10) Carberry
11) Stockdale
12) Henshaw
13) Ringrose
14) Wootton (? )
15) Larmour

Yes siree. On top of a pack of

1) ???
2) Scannell
3) Furlong
4) Beirne/Ryan
5) Henderson
6) POM
7) Leavy/VdF
8) Conan

Things are looking good.

 

[munstermuffin]

Where did Leo Cullen say that out of interest? Haven't read it anywhere.

On his briefing before Scarlets game. Before it was cancelled.

 

[Leinster Fan]

1) ???

At loosehead Ed Byrne is looking good at Leinster after finally emerging from years of injury hell but at 24 if he can become an international standard player stuck behind Healy and McGrath I don't know. You'd have to assume that given the talent that's after emerging at tighthead there are promising looseheads coming through though.

 

[Groundhog]

Liam O'Connor looked very good before injury early in the season for us too at loosehead. Think he'll make the grade if healthy.

 

[profitius]

Not sure on future when you exclude Earls but include Sexton who's much older.
Hopefully Larmour regains mojo fast. Leo Cullen mentioned, whilst Italy game will benefit him long term, has knocked him a bit.

Ireland post 2019 will be interesting as IRFU admit it will be harder to keep players

I'd say it was the hype. I saw him play a few weeks ago and he was trying to score a wonder try every time he got the ball. Thats just a young player being too keen to impress.

 

[Leinster Fan]

I'd say it was the hype. I saw him play a few weeks ago and he was trying to score a wonder try every time he got the ball. Thats just a young player being too keen to impress.

Very true. Against the Scarlets he looked as if the hype had gotten to him and he looked like he was desperate to make up for the defensive errors against Italy by scoring a 90m try when in reality what would have impressed people most would be almost more like Kearney - just sensible in possession, solid defensively and under the high ball. No one's doubting his attacking abilities but he needs to work on his defence, positioning etc before completely proving himself. If he does that there's the Irish 15 jersey for the next 10+ years.

 

[munstermuffin]

I'd say it was the hype. I saw him play a few weeks ago and he was trying to score a wonder try every time he got the ball. Thats just a young player being too keen to impress.

I said exact same and Cullen seemed to think the same. He was flying it and going well then all hype centred in due to 6Nations and well he was put down as a world class player before even getting to Pro14 comfort consistently. Don't get me wrong I agree with him being there but don't force it let him become world class naturally

 

[Groundhog]

Step back is good for Larmour for a bit. He'll be a superstar, but going from a relatively unknown player to an international within a season is not normal development for a player. He is trying a bit too hard to make things happen for now and would benefit from some time with his province, focusing on the core competencies of his positions, defence and just being direct when needed. Dirt trackers are the price you must pay for entry to heaven: A starting spot on the future reigning World Cup champion Irish team.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Jesus, talk about a jerk reaction. He was far from bad against the Scarlets and made came on at centre to score a try against the Kings. Anyone with a bit of sense knew to take the articles claiming that he was ready to be a world beater with a pinch of salt. He's already a world class attacking talent with ball in hand, he needs to learn when and how to use this talent most effectively and improve his one on one tackling and lateral movement in defence, the Ireland cap has not had a negative effect on him short or long term in my opinion.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Jesus, talk about a jerk reaction. He was far from bad against the Scarlets and made came on at centre to score a try against the Kings. Anyone with a bit of sense knew to take the articles claiming that he was ready to be a world beater with a pinch of salt. He's already a world class attacking talent with ball in hand, he needs to learn when and how to use this talent most effectively and improve his one on one tackling and lateral movement in defence, the Ireland cap has not had a negative effect on him short or long term in my opinion.

I don't think anyone thinks that he's been particularly poor, more that too much pressure has been placed on him by the media and that he's ended up trying to justify that instead of just playing his natural game. He's only 20 and given how quickly he went from relative obscurity to a media obsession it was always going to be difficult for him. The try he got against the Kings will do his confidence a lot of good.

The cap against Italy will stand to him massively in the long term, it showed which areas of his game need work and but it also had a brilliant bit of footwork that would have lead to a try if Carbery hadn't thrown the intercept. The fact that he was on the wing where I think he looks less comfortable than fullback or centre didn't help either.

He's got a bright future and Schmidt is clearly a believer as he was brought through a lot quicker than Carbery or Ringrose who Schmidt also likes. There was too much hype and predictably there was something of a backlash after the Italy game but we've got an awful culture in this country of being overly critical of young players after they make a mistake instead of accepting that that's reality. He'll be a great player and he's already arguably our most dangerous plater with the ball in hand and he's surrounded by smart and intelligent people at Leinster and Ireland who'll identify and work on his weaknesses. As I said he'll probably be our starting 15 for 10+ years.

 

[munstermuffin]

Don't think anyone is saying he has been poor alpha just hat he isn't at that level just yet. He will be but needs more time with Leinster too to get used to the bigger games and that. Yes the Italy game will stand to him but he is not at the required level just yet. And that ok he will just doesn't need the hype or pressure to distract him.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

My thoughts on Jordan Larmour are that if you have a potential world class talent and a short window in which to prepare him for the 2019 World Cup, you have to blood him. Nine months ago, Andrew Porter, James Ryan and (less so) Jacob Stockdale weren't ready for international rugby. They were given a chance last summer and look at them now.

Larmour is worth persevering with and learning on the job. I suspect he'll see a lot of game time on the Australia tour this summer where he'll be out of the spotlight more so than during the 6 Nations. There's no point in waiting longer.

 

[munstermuffin]

My thoughts on Jordan Larmour are that if you have a potential world class talent and a short window in which to prepare him for the 2019 World Cup, you have to blood him. Nine months ago, Andrew Porter, James Ryan and (less so) Jacob Stockdale weren't ready for international rugby. They were given a chance last summer and look at them now.

Larmour is worth persevering with and learning on the job. I suspect he'll see a lot of game time on the Australia tour this summer where he'll be out of the spotlight more so than during the 6 Nations. There's no point in waiting longer.

I think nobody is disagreeing with that Snoop. It wasn't Schmidt or Cullen hyping this kid. It was media. And yes he will be worldclass and yes he should be involved but the media all focused on him like he was a seasoned worldclass player. He is not used to that and all of a sudden he tried to force things because he was much more aware all eyes were on him and he didn't flow naturally. But he will see time in summer and well hype will die a bit as he did get capped just it wasn't fair on him in a way.

 

[corny]

Three 6 Nations in five years for Schmidt. Up to second in the world too. Great achievement.

Still.....it'll be deflating if we lose next week.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Worthy champions. A much better organised union behind the scenes than Wales and Scotland and better on the field, particularly at the key moments. Don't let anyone tell you that it's not an achievement to beat the French and English unions with the resources at their disposal, just because they haven't been all that great at this tournament. If you don't bottle it at Twickenham next week I'll almost be pencilling you in for a top two finish at the RWC

...

in Pool A.