Official Irish Rugby thread 2018/2019

[Coogee]

Leinster side for PRO 14 opener tomorrow night in Cardiff

Leinster Rugby (caps in brackets)
15. Dave Kearney (122)
14. Adam Byrne (3
13. Rory O’Loughlin (42)
12. Joe Tomane (0)
11. Barry Daly (27)
10. Ross Byrne (49)
9. Luke McGrath (95)
1. Peter Dooley (47)
2. James Tracy (66)
3. Michael Bent (106)
4. Ross Molony (64)
5. Scott Fardy (22)
6. Josh Murphy (9)
7. Rhys Ruddock (142) CAPTAIN
8. Caelan Doris (1)
16. Bryan Byrne (26)
17. Ed Byrne (23)
18. Andrew Porter (30)
19. Mick Kearney (35)
20. Max Deegan (21)
21. Jamison Gibson-Park (51)
22. Noel Reid (100)
23. Fergus McFadden (169)

big season for daly and byrne..they have been around for a few seaosns now and need to push on and make a stake for a wing spot in the world cup squad

also will be interesting to see how Byrne goes in the 10 shirt.

big season ahead for McGrath also who has plenty of competition from Cooney and Marmion for the back up scrum half spot for Ireland

Of that starting pack I don't see too many of them being in the mix come world cup squad selection apart from Ruddock and of course Porter and possibly Deegan on the bench

[Coogee]

Connacht, Ulster and munster sides all named tomorrow as they play Saturday

[SunshineSupporter]

ESPN agrees three-year deal to screen the Pro14 in America

http://www.the42.ie/espn-pro14-tv-ri...12647-Aug2018/

[nelly sham]

Not sure what to make of the Premier coverage, commentators are noisy, but aren't they always?

Big chat around that lad Doris at 8 for Leinster, bit of a mixed bag for him tonight.

[nelly sham]

Big win for Leinster at the death away to Cardiff especially when some Welsh journalists were complaining about their team that was sent out.

[How bad boy]

Great come back in fairness. Really good sign of a team to win ugly from behind away from home this early in the season.

Incredible level of stupidity by Scott Fardy for that try before half time.

[nelly sham]

A strange one alright from Fardy, not what you'd want as a player to be an established head in a team like this.

[Coogee]

Ulster team to play Scarlets, Guinness PRO14, Saturday 1st September, Kingspan Stadium (5.15pm):

(15-9): W Addison; C Gilroy, D Cave, S McCloskey, H Speight; B Burns, J Cooney;
(1-: A Warwick, J Andrew, T O'Toole, A O'Connor (captain), I Henderson, M Coetzee, S Reidy, N Timoney;

Replacements (16-23): A McBurney, E O'Sullivan, R Kane, K Treadwell, C Henry, D Shanahan, A Curtis, A Kernohan.

would like to see Gilroy hit some form again this season as I think he is a class act

stockdale obviously in joes plans for the world cup...seems mccloskey and marshall are well down the pecking order for Ireland

will be interesting to see how cooney goes this season as there is probably very little between him, McGrath and marmion for the back up scrum half spot

up front apart form Best and Henderson I don't see any other forwards pushing for Irish selection

[Coogee]

Connacht side for today

(15-9) Tiernan O’Halloran, Cian Kelleher, Kyle Godwin, Tom Farrell, Matt Healy, Jack Carty, Caolin Blade, (1- Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham, Ultan Dillane, James Cannon, Paul Boyle, Jarrad Butler, Eoin McKeon.
Replacements (16-23): Shane Delahunt, Peter McCabe, Conor Carey, Quinn Roux, Cillian Gallagher, James Mitchell, Craig Ronaldson, Niyi Adeolokun.

hoping o Halloran has a big season although no matter how well he plays I don't think Joe can see beyond Kearney which is a shame

would also like the see healy and adeolokun get a run in the autumn internationals

aki not back yet for another week or two

Dillane needs a big season if he wants the make the trip to Japan as ight now its Henderson, Ryan, toner and beirne ahead of him...

[nelly sham]

Cooney has to start in November surely? He can't continue to be overlooked?

Connacht lost by a point but can consider themselves unlucky, Hogg clearly carried the ball over his goal line with seconds to go and the ref gave a drop out rather than a scrum pretty much under the posts. Ref was pretty poor all games.