The Official Irish Rugby Thread

[How bad boy]

Jones has carved out a decent coaching career for himself at such a young age. Must be well thought of!

Far as I know, he's the only Irish coach who has won a world cup. Don't believe there's anyone else

 

[Meridian]

Jones has carved out a decent coaching career for himself at such a young age. Must be well thought of!

He must be indeed, could we have a future Munster Head Coach in him I wonder ?

 

[Macawrig]

no harm to let him recover now and get to the world cup with no extra miles on the clock

Byrne and his brother to see out the season for Leinster which could include some big games

Hopefully Crowley is put in at 10 for Munster for the few games they have left

Time to prepare P45 for Carberry he’s contributing nothing barely going thru the motions. Such an energy difference whenever Casey + Crowley come in

 

[nelly sham]

I'm still on the fence about Jones. We all know JvG hampered things but the basics were still awful.
The SA backline still seem to follow the bash up the middle and then let the wingers go mad.

It will definitely be interesting to see what he does with England though.

 

[Coogee]

Leinster side for today

O brien at 13 will be interesting. Strange to see him there in such a big game and not henshaw with Frawley at 12

Considering they are missing the like of Ringrose, Osborne, Sexton, Kelliher & Doris its still a fair strong 23


15. Hugo Keenan (51)
14. Jordan Larmour (86)
13. Jimmy O’Brien (66)
12. Robbie Henshaw (73)
11. James Lowe (69)
10. Ross Byrne (143)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (122)
1. Andrew Porter (103)
2. Dan Sheehan (41)
3. Tadhg Furlong (129)
4. Ross Molony (158)
5. James Ryan (69) CAPTAIN
6. Ryan Baird (48)
7. Josh van der Flier (124)
8. Jack Conan (127)

16. John McKee (15)
17. Cian Healy (259)
18. Michael Ala’alatoa (42)
19. Jason Jenkins (12)
20. Scott Penny (53)
21. Luke McGrath (190)
22. Harry Byrne (46)
23. Ciarán Frawley (62)

 

[Coogee]

Ulster side for today

Full strength backline I suppose

Farrell will be looking to see if Stockdale has anything left to offer at the top level and then you have the likes of Larmour and Balacoune looking to impress too

Henderson a huge loss for Ulster

Ulster: Michael Lowry; Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, Nathan Doak; Rory Sutherland, Rob Herring, Tom O’Toole; Alan O’Connor (capt), Kieran Treadwell; Dave McCann, Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen.

Replacements: Tom Stewart, Eric O’Sullivan, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Harry Sheridan, Marcus Rea, John Cooney, Stewart Moore, Ben Moxham.

 

[TheOutdoorThreadmill]

Leinster home q/f next week v Leicester

 

[Coogee]

brutal game due to the conditions

Leinster power up front was the difference

Leicester will be a tougher test but id expect Leinster to handle them

 

[nelly sham]

I wonder will Leicester go with the bold strategy of benching Wiese to make him angry like they did against Edinburgh?


Stockdale is done at this level. Was on the wane anyway but injuries have seriously put paid to him.

 

[Coogee]

yeah id agree. He is finished at international level. I think the likes of Balacoune & Larmour will be the back up wings to Lowe/Hansen at the world cup. Conway would have been in the mix but he will be concentrating on getting back to start a new season at Munster

O Brien will probably be a bench player as he can cover Wing/Full back and at a push centre