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<blockquote data-quote="gingergenius" data-source="post: 251751">for the first time in my life, ever: COME ON WALES! I can&#039;t have another pesky celtic team getting a grand slam.Basically, Ireland have looked distinctly average apart from the French game; as I see it they&#039;ve got a quality pack playing with what is potentially a quality backline, but one that looks very boring atm.They have plenty of scrum half options, but only Stringer is on form and he&#039;s limited.O&#039;Gara is the one and only 10, and he&#039;s looked dreadful. He&#039;s the most experienced 10 in world rugby and he&#039;s still missing simple kicks.The back 3 has fantastic potential but has thus far failed to deliver. Bowe is capable of nice touches, but he&#039;ll never open a good defence up as he lacks pace, and his offloads have gone nowhere recently. Fitzgerald looks like a very nice player, picking great angles and with good speed; he needs to be used more than he is currently. Kearney is very overrated and so far in the 6N has offered nothing but solid defensive work, even if he is capable of more.The centres aren&#039;t sorted as well. O&#039;Driscoll is a world class centre, in his best form as captain and carrying the backline (the main points scoring unit in a rugby team.) But inside, Wallace has looked decent defensively but not great going forward; D&#039;Arcy is a lovely player but I fear he&#039;s still got to properly regain form following his injuries.So, predictions:The scrums should be evens. Ireland should rule the lineout. And Wallace vs Williams will be the key battle.If Wallace comes out on top then I can see the Irish pack heavily dominant, and then it will be down to O&#039;Driscoll (perhaps even O&#039;Gara!) to put points on the board and win the Grand Slam.If Williams spoils all the Irish quick ball then I can see Wales edging it because they certainly have the ability to break down defences and score tries.21-15 to Wales.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="gingergenius, post: 251751"] for the first time in my life, ever: COME ON WALES! I can't have [i]another[/i] pesky celtic team getting a grand slam. Basically, Ireland have looked distinctly average apart from the French game; as I see it they've got a quality pack playing with what is potentially a quality backline, but one that looks very boring atm. They have plenty of scrum half options, but only Stringer is on form and he's limited. O'Gara is the one and only 10, and he's looked dreadful. He's the most experienced 10 in world rugby and he's still missing simple kicks. The back 3 has fantastic potential but has thus far failed to deliver. Bowe is capable of nice touches, but he'll never open a good defence up as he lacks pace, and his offloads have gone nowhere recently. Fitzgerald looks like a very nice player, picking great angles and with good speed; he needs to be used more than he is currently. Kearney is very overrated and so far in the 6N has offered nothing but solid defensive work, even if he is capable of more. The centres aren't sorted as well. O'Driscoll is a world class centre, in his best form as captain and carrying the backline (the main points scoring unit in a rugby team.) But inside, Wallace has looked decent defensively but not great going forward; D'Arcy is a lovely player but I fear he's still got to properly regain form following his injuries. So, predictions: The scrums should be evens. Ireland should rule the lineout. And Wallace vs Williams will be the key battle. If Wallace comes out on top then I can see the Irish pack heavily dominant, and then it will be down to O'Driscoll (perhaps even O'Gara!) to put points on the board and win the Grand Slam. If Williams spoils all the Irish quick ball then I can see Wales edging it because they certainly have the ability to break down defences and score tries. 21-15 to Wales. [/QUOTE]

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