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Ireland Vs Samoa

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macg101

Guest
hey folks now that the dust has settled, what would be your Irish team for the Samoa game with a view to the All Blacks the following week.. I would be thinking of...

15 Fitzgerald
14 Johne Murphy
11 Trimble/ Carr
13 Earls
12 Wallace
10 Sexton
9 Stringer
8 Leamy
7 O Brien
6 Ferris
5 Ryan
4 O Callaghan
3 Ross
2 Cronin
1 Healy

Give or take a few I reckon Kidney might go with something like the above..
 
Lee Grant

Lee Grant

John Eales (66)
Staff member
It would be good to see Carr get a run - he's an exciting player. I like J.Murphy now that he's at Munster; he didn't take my eye as much when he played for Leicester.

I guess Deccie will start everybody whose original non-selection for the starting team against the Boks was close, like O'Brien, but how many 1st stringers [not counting Peter :D ] will he start, do you think? You have 5 there IIRR - is that about right to play Samoa?
 
M

macg101

Guest
Lee Grant said:
It would be good to see Carr get a run - he's an exciting player. I like J.Murphy now that he's at Munster; he didn't take my eye as much when he played for Leicester.

I guess Deccie will start everybody whose original non-selection for the starting team against the Boks was close, like O'Brien, but how many 1st stringers [not counting Peter :D ] will he start, do you think? You have 5 there IIRR - is that about right to play Samoa?
Click to expand...

I reckon maybe 5, but I have my doubts Kidney is a hard man to predict on the second games, what I would like to see is maybe 3 or 4 pushing to get in for the New Zealand game on the back of Samoa. There are a few spots up for grabs now, maybe 9, 10, 15 if Kearney is out long term, 7, 5, 3and 2. so its a bit up in the air... looking forward to a bit of redemption and hopefully the rain will hold up so our backline can move!
 
Thomond78

Thomond78

Colin Windon (37)
Sweet Jesus, NOT Healy!

See if Court can play LH. If he can, the jerseys his, pro tem.

Agreed on Fitzgerald at full-back. At the moment, ROG has to be given the chance to start against the ABs. Wunderkind is starting to show a nasty trend to freeze at test level.
 
Lee Grant

Lee Grant

John Eales (66)
Staff member
Good point - see if Court is as versatile as they say and can hold his own as LHP against some Samoan bruisers.
 
M

macg101

Guest
ye i thought putting in sexton there for the Samoan game might give him a chance to prove himself (again) before the NZ test, otherwise O Gara is a cert, so is the Slinger.

Agreed bout Healy but I reckon he needs as many games as possible at this level, he will come good... Courts never done a tap wrong for Ireland in fairness so I def wouldnt mind seeing him in there as you said!

Id nearly take that midfield over the other two at this point, everytime Wallace plays i get more impressed by the way he moves the back line! G. Murphy might also be an option for the NZ test, his defence is as good or as bad for that matter as Kearneys and is porbably a better counter attacker in terms of bringing others into the play, heard Matt Williams say something like our back 3 counter attack some 20 times against SA and didnt pass once, or something rediculous like that! We seems to be quite shit at re-aligning!
 
Thomond78

Thomond78

Colin Windon (37)
Healy, quite simply, needs to develop some backbone. Or at least decent para-spinal muscles. Because he bends on every engage, and a bendy loosehead is no use to anyone.

He will come good, I have no problem in saying that. But now? No, sorry, he's not up to it. Even Ladyfans.com are admitting he was the worse of the two props on Saturday, and the root of the problems.

I think Fitzgerald to FB is definitely the way to go. Kearney has been on gash form of late.

Leamy will be interesting. He's being given his chance to play against the ABs - at 6 or 8. Heaslip is being given a warning, here...
 
L

Logorrhea

Stan Wickham (3)
Team announced. Hayes is playing 3 which is just weird if you ask me. What has Ross got to do?

As for the rest no complaints, but I would have preferred to see BOD and Heaslip take a break.

15 - Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster)
14 - Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 - Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
12 - Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
11 - Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
10 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
9 - Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
1 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
2 - Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
3 - John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
4 - Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 - Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
6 - Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
7 - Sean O'Brien (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

Sexton will start against the AB's regardless of what O'Gara does in this game. As will Stringer (please god).
 
Lee Grant

Lee Grant

John Eales (66)
Staff member
FFS why aren't they giving Drico a rest?

Is this Toner's first test? I saw him for Irish schools in Oz in 2004 with a fairly useful fullback by the name of Rob Kearney. He was 6ft 8ins then and I believe he has put on a couple more inches. He's put in some good games for Leinster this year, something I hadn't noticed before, and has deserved his chance against a lesser team.

I wouldn't write ROG off for starting against the Blacks especially if the weather is expected to be the same as it was against the Boks. I thought ROG made a big difference when he came on in the wet, though to be fair he had Stringer to pass the ball to him.

Cronin for Best was a no brainer and O'Brien and Leamy deserve a turn.

It's good that Court is getting a chance to start at LHP to show his versatility, as T78 mentioned the other day. Let's watch this space.

Hayes, who blew out 37 candles the other day is a bit of a surprise, when Ross is playing well in the games I have seen this year. Ross isn't getting any younger either and one thought that this was his chance to get another cap.

Am looking forward to watching Fitzgerald at fullback but wouldn't have minded Earls getting a chance there either - if he is fit.
 
en_force_er

en_force_er

Geoff Shaw (53)
That is a strong team. Are Samoa playing their best as well?

I saw their random one off test against Japan and they had a solid 22 with a heap of ITM Cup and Shute Shield/Hospital Cup players. The deal was there were 10-15, I forget, tour spots and the rest of the team for their tour squad would be made up of players playing in Europe.

Kahn Fotuali'i was one of them, which is terrific for Samoa because I wouldn't be at all disappointed to see him running around in green and gold.
 
M

macg101

Guest
en_force_er said:
That is a strong team. Are Samoa playing their best as well?

I saw their random one off test against Japan and they had a solid 22 with a heap of ITM Cup and Shute Shield/Hospital Cup players. The deal was there were 10-15, I forget, tour spots and the rest of the team for their tour squad would be made up of players playing in Europe.

Kahn Fotuali'i was one of them, which is terrific for Samoa because I wouldn't be at all disappointed to see him running around in green and gold.
Click to expand...

Connaught 26 - Samoa 22 GET IN THERE CONNAUGHT!!
 
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