A back line of RH, JS, GR, BA, KE outside JS and CM is Warrenball? It as a FB and 3/4 line others would dream of having behind the best halfbacks. The issue for Saturday is who wins most possessions, lineout steals and turnovers and gives away fewer penalties. Both packs look good. The battle between them should be decisive. If we have opacity of possession or more we will win.
If this is not just a stop gap because Kearney and Conway are not ready and Henshaw is seen as a 15, it not make sense that three of our 15’s play for Leinster. Henshaw might usefully return to Connacht next season. Then each of the three Larmour, Conway and Henshaw could be compared playing against it each other.
Zebo will likely never again play for Ireland because his face does not fit. He was already dropped in his last season at Munster. Will be interesting if in a year’s time he could be considered when Farrell will have taken over although as a defence coach he might have similar doubts as Schmidt about his defensive ability and reliability. The one exile we could use is Donncadh Ryan given that Henderson is out. But Ryan is probably ruled to make it look like a no exiles policy.
Ferris has a point in suggesting Larmour would be a better stand-in for Kearney.
Henshaw can play both 12 and 13 and could be relied on in either but Aki and Ringrose might be the better combo. Picking Henshaw at 15 would be like playing with three centres. Hope Larmour gets some game time.
Great to see Benetton so competitive.
While they might think of buying a few RoI capped players the presence of MN and RK at Forest will not in itself increase the supply of Irish players in the Premier League or Championship. For whatever reason we are not producing players of their ability or others like Liam Brady and Johnny Giles. It might be that we have to accept that with a small population and a shambles of a domestic game we only produce top players once in a while
Roy is actually a good pundit because he is honest and tells it like it is and does not care who he offends. Not sure that he is a good manager though. He has complained that today’s players are spoiled, over paid and not always professional when like the ManU players basically downed tools on Mourinho because they did not like how he told them to play. He might be right about this but that attitude will not help him to motivate players he cannot identify with or respect.
Indeed the GAA happy to rent Crocker as the bedpan shaped Aviva was being built. Once the contract with Aviva that forces Ireland to play there ends, Ireland would usefully play big games in Croker. It is water under the bridge now but I wondered why the IRFU did not sell Lansdowne Road. Prices were high and it was the prime star of real estate in D4. They could have used the proceeds to build a much larger stadium outside the centre where the cost of land was cheaper. Alternatively they could have cemented a deal with the GAA for the big games and used the money for the various academies for the provincial teams or maybe more importantly the AIL clubs as they are the bedrock.
I agree with Donal on this - I find I often agree with his analysis.
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Contraption