Northern Hemisphere Rugby Season 14/15

[mxyzptlk]

BOD's apparently been having unofficial one on one training sessions with a certain Irish player. A fair few people are touting its Henshaw. If this is the case its likes Payne will be on the bench as utility (if R. Kearney recovers from injury that is, or else he'll likely start at 15) with Henshaw coming in at 13.

Thats probably the best option, Payne is quite average as a 13 (even if quite a talented fullback), particularly in distribution. Henshaw on the other hand has the potential to really fulfill Irelands centre issues.

Source?

I wouldn't mind seeing Henshaw grow into 13 and Payne at 15. Payne would be deadly off the bench, or as a replacement if/when Kearney goes down injured. That also leaves Madigan fewer choices of where to play, and he can concentrate more on 12. (And if Payne eventually beat Kearney out for the starting fullback position, Kearney would also be handy coming in off the bench.)

 

[KevinO]

That may have been Dallaglio, but your point about Pommie co-commentators is true—and Ben Kay was certainly in full moan in Bath v. Toulouse.

By contrast Will Greenwood is OK.

Incidentally I did a blog on some of the matches yesterday but ran out of time to watch and report on all of them:

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/european-rugby-champions-cup-round-two/

And you were right mizzie: the Munster win was sweet.
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Pretty sure Munster played in Limerick not Dublin, good read.

 

[mxyzptlk]

Pretty sure Munster played in Limerick not Dublin, good read.

Lunster.

 

[BabyBlueElephant]

Source?

I wouldn't mind seeing Henshaw grow into 13 and Payne at 15. Payne would be deadly off the bench, or as a replacement if/when Kearney goes down injured. That also leaves Madigan fewer choices of where to play, and he can concentrate more on 12. (And if Payne eventually beat Kearney out for the starting fullback position, Kearney would also be handy coming in off the bench.)

Read it on another forum (boards.ie). I forget if the poster had a source but usually its fairly reliable compared to other forums for trustworthyness.

 

[Lee Grant]

Pretty sure Munster played in Limerick not Dublin, good read.

Geez I need some Irish editors.

Thanks

PS Munster home game in Dublin - that's actually funny.
.

 

[BabyBlueElephant]

Bowe reportedly out of the SA game after sustaining concussion. If true thats SA and probably Georgia too that he's out of.

 

[the plastic paddy]

One of our posters over on Munsterfans has started doing excellent previews of our matches and I was wondering if anyone fancied giving an Aus perspective in the lead up to the game against Ireland? It is a great way to get the discussion going.

 

[Biffo]

Ben Te'O starts at outside centre for Leinster on Friday night (local time).

 

[the plastic paddy]

James Cronin out for the AIs, hopefully back for the games against Clermont in December.

 

[BabyBlueElephant]

White out for 16 weeks too. Huge loss for Connacht. Irelands prop crisis continues.

 

[JSRF10]

Ireland have a serious propping crisis, it will be good to see what our depth is like ahead of the World Cup but I fear it will be costly against South Africa. Either Archer or Ah You will have to step up big time. Makes the debate about the 13 jersey pale into insignificance really.

 

[Hawko]

Ireland have a serious propping crisis, it will be good to see what our depth is like ahead of the World Cup but I fear it will be costly against South Africa. Either Archer or Ah You will have to step up big time. Makes the debate about the 13 jersey pale into insignificance really.

I wouldn't be too concerned with the SA scrum. Just on scrummaging, and with the best players available the form guide with the Rugby Championship was:

1. Argentina: When they get to the NH there are going to be some hugely surprised NH teams. Their scrum was an absolute standout and dished up all three scrums at some stage of their opponents.
2. Australia: Their first pick front row was better than NZ and SA and held the Argies scrum most of the time. It went downhill fairly quickly once the subs came on.
3. NZ: Struggled against Argentina but had parity most of the time with Australia and SA.
4. SA: Struggled big-time with Argentina but mostly had parity against Aus and NZ. Usually had at least one disastrous scrum per game.

This EOYT series will be extremely interesting to see how the SH:NH teams aim up in set piece work and in general play.

 

[JSRF10]

Our scrum was solid in the 6 Nations but similar to the wallabies it did go to pieces once our first choice tighthead went off. Toss hasn't played in nearly a month so even if the Saffer scrum wasn't great I'm not confident

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[mxyzptlk]

Ben Te'O starts at outside centre for Leinster on Friday night (local time).

And 20 minutes in, he's off with an injured wrist.

Matt O'Connor's antipodean recruits haven't fared too well, injury-wise -- Lote Tuqiri was perpetually injured and unfit. Kane Douglas has been the most durable so far, but he went off with a knock 30 minutes into the Edinburgh game.

 

[GunnerDownUnder]

B

And 20 minutes in, he's off with an injured wrist.

Matt O'Connor's antipodean recruits haven't fared too well, injury-wise -- Lote Tuqiri was perpetually injured and unfit. Kane Douglas has been the most durable so far, but he went off with a knock 30 minutes into the Edinburgh game.

broken arm both bones so out for season

 

[qwerty51]

How did he do it?

 

[mxyzptlk]

B
broken arm both bones so out for season

I think we were really hoping for... more. He has a two-year contract, so let's see how this goes.

I wonder if the rucks in union are just more than a few weeks training can prep a league convert for, even a seasoned pro like Te'o. Maybe Te'o could have done with a few more Leinster A games to figure that ruck thing out.
I don't want to make this a rugby vs league thing, but maybe rugby's reached a point where leaguies shouldn't just assume they can jump in and succeed because they dominated in their code. (Leaguies? Leagies? Legumes?) Aside from Brad Thorn -- who is also becoming more injury-prone in his older age -- the league converts who seem to succeed are the ones whose skill set keeps them on the wing or somewhere in the backs and generally out of contact. And I say that as someone who was really hoping for the best for Te'o at Leinster. The only recent exception might be Sonny Bill, but he also built up slowly and is an exceptional athlete. Let's see if Slammin' Sam becomes more delicate once he switches codes.

 

[JSRF10]

In fairness to SBW it took him a couple of years when he initially switched to get to an international class level. His spell with Toulon was very average. It takes a long time to adjust IMO unless your a back 3 player which involves a lot of skills a loig player would have ie running lines and one on one tackles

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[mxyzptlk]

In fairness to SBW it took him a couple of years when he initially switched to get to an international class level. His spell with Toulon was very average. It takes a long time to adjust IMO unless your a back 3 player which involves a lot of skills a loig player would have ie running lines and one on one tackles

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That's what I was referring to when I said

but he also built up slowly and is an exceptional athlete.

It took him a while to work up to starting on a club side, and no one expected him to immediately thrive when he switched (as far as I know). But maybe because of him, Folau, Thorn, and past players like Jason Robinson (and maybe Jonathan Davies), the expectations on converts might be too high. But even those players had to grow into the game.

All I'm saying is one Leinster A game probably wasn't enough to ready him, even for a game against Edinburgh.

 

[Highlander35]

Nah. If ever there was a game to start someone in, its a home game, before an international break, against a crap side, made even crappier by missing 20 players.