Rugby Union 2010

[tetsujin1979]

Skippy, Crocodile Dundee, The Bushwackers - your boys took a hell of a beating!

[joeSoap]

Just heard the team from a mate at HQ, and to say I'm shocked is an understatement.

Kearney; Bowe, BOD, D'Arcy, Fitzgerald; Sexton, Reddan; Healy, Best, Court; O'Callaghan, O'Driscoll; Ferris, Wallace, Heaslip. Bench: Cronin, Hayes, Toner, Leamy, Stringer, O'Gara and AN Other who I presume will be Earls.

Baffling me in particular are the selections of Kearney, Reddan and O'Driscoll. And possibly that of D'Arcy...

I cant see why Kearney is being retained at full back. He is so one dimensional, can't pass on the run and is woefully off form. Earls, Murphy or Fitzgerald are all better options. Play him on the wing instead perhaps? Reddans selection could cost us the game. I am amazed at this selection and as for Mick O'Driscoll up against that All Black front five....heaven help us.

[Charlie Darwin]

Who else could play instead of D'Arcy? He's the only centre we have capable of solid defence against Nonu/Williams and Smith. Reddan and O'Driscoll are disappointing and, I think, wrong selections but Kearney is the right call for me (though I'd have been happy with Murphy).

[joeSoap]

Who else could play instead of D'Arcy? He's the only centre we have capable of solid defence against Nonu/Williams and Smith.

You make it sound that D'Arcy is a really solid defender? I haven't seen this in well over two seasons and between injury, and a loss of form and confidence he hasn't been himself at all.

The purpose of these internationals is to try and test new ideas and blood players to see how they will fare in the six nations and world cup. This has not been done. I really worry about the six nations and world cup to be honest, given that the players we really rely on will be a year older and by then it looks like our problems in the scrum definitely will not be solved, we have no tangible back up for O'Connell, Reddan is a woeful scrum half and we have a full back who cant pass the ball.

[Schumi]

A perplexing team. How can the lineout that failed spectacularly against South Africa be put in again against New Zealand? Why can't Sexton and Stringer play together? Reddan isn't up to it but only gets dropped when O'Gara starts.

[Charlie Darwin]

You make it sound that D'Arcy is a really solid defender? I haven't seen this in well over two seasons and between injury, and a loss of form and confidence he hasn't been himself at all.

He's not been great but he's always solid. I doubt we'd have seen the gaping hole that Tuilagi ran through had D'Arcy been there. Plus Wallace has this habit of getting injured in high-intensity games.

[OneRedArmy]

Who else could play instead of D'Arcy? He's the only centre we have capable of solid defence against Nonu/Williams and Smith. Reddan and O'Driscoll are disappointing and, I think, wrong selections but Kearney is the right call for me (though I'd have been happy with Murphy).

You play BOD at 12 and Earls at 13. Plays to each of their strengths. Sexton much better defender than O'Gara so that compensates. But if our mindset going in is picking the best defender in each position then we deserve to get hammered.

I pretty much agree with Joe Soap's comments.

[bluemovie]

A perplexing team. How can the lineout that failed spectacularly against South Africa be put in again against New Zealand? Why can't Sexton and Stringer play together? Reddan isn't up to it but only gets dropped when O'Gara starts.

Exactly. I can't understand why we can only have the Leinster pairing or the Munster pair. This is surely last chance saloon for Reddan. He was terrible the last day. If he doesn't perform on Saturday, he should be down to about fourth choice scrum half. I could definitely see the lineout being obliterated again on Saturday until Toner comes on. Hopefully Court improves a lot too. Bad feeling about all this.

[Charlie Darwin]

You play BOD at 12 and Earls at 13. Plays to each of their strengths. Sexton much better defender than O'Gara so that compensates. But if our mindset going in is picking the best defender in each position then we deserve to get hammered.

I pretty much agree with Joe Soap's comments.

I'd say you pick the players with the best all-round game and in my opinion that is still D'Arcy and O'Driscoll. I'd like to see a BOD/Earls combination but Argentina is probably the game to try it (you're right though - it won't happen).

[joeSoap]

Theres a total lack of ambition in this selection. It smacks of 'going with the tried and tested' and really isn't going to get us anywhere. If you're playing players with the best all round game then Reddan should be nowhere near this squad, O'Gara should start ahead of Sexton and Murphy is a vastly more complete footballer than Kearney. It's typical old Ireland...conservative and trying to save face rather than letting guys cut their teeth and make mistakes against the big boys. How else are they going to learn? If I had to select my side for this game with whats available to me it would go along these lines: Luke Fitzgerald; Bowe, Earls, O'Driscoll, Kearney; Sexton, Stringer; Court, Best, Ross; O'Callaghan, Cullen; Ferris, O'Brien, Heaslip.

I really believe Sexton would gain so much experience having played with Stringer. To me, O'Gara still represents the better option because of his way better temperament but getting superior quality ball will greatly help Sextons decision making.

[Charlie Darwin]

I agree in general but how is picking Sexton ahead of O'Gara conservative? I'm not sure what's going on with Cullen but I'd have thought he'd be fit enough to play a test by now. Certainly with Ryan having disgraced himself and O'Driscoll having a poor one against SA he'd have to have a serious shout.

I think Stringer should be the starting SH on merit but I think Reddan is more of a running threat and we need that bit of unpredictability against the ABs.

[Schumi]

The only running Reddan seems to do is sideways before he passes the ball.

[SwanVsDalton]

I've fairly sure I'm going to be screaming 'STOP THE CRAB! PASS!!!' throughout the match because of Reddan.

[Real ale Madrid]

I agree with much of what's posted but Kidney's explaination put forward in the Press Conference of giving these lads another go seems like a good idea to me. Remember we've never beaten the AB's so there's really is no pressure to get a result, but playing a very simple game plan we have given them numerous good games down there so if we can transform that sort of form to our home turf then surely we should get even closer.

The message Kidney seems to be saying to his players is - look lads I kind of messed things up the last time, so I'm taking the hit for that one. This time were going to make this game plan much simpler and its up to you lads to execute it. I expect Ireland to try and keep NZ pinned in thier own half and try to work something off set pieces if given the opportunity.

Personally I wouldn't have Reddan or M O'D anywhere near an Irish shirt, but I think DK has kept them in there as a message of solidarity to the rest. If we can simplify our game plan and improve in the lineout ( our scrum has no chance of improvement ) then I think we can put up a much better show.

I was always a glass half full type of person anyway, and it's up to the players now to perform.

With our backs to the wall and expectations at zero - i think the players will step up, we have enough talent to do it.

[Mr A]

I think the scrum will be better.. that's a stronger front row than against South Africa. It's not great mind you, but better.

[Macy]

I think the scrum will be better.. that's a stronger front row than against South Africa. It's not great mind you, but better.

Agree, Court is a better scrummager than Buckley. Still would've preferred Ross to be given a chance given his form. He's a must start against the puma's anyway - there's simply no point rolling out Hayes for that one, surely?

It's disappointing that Kidney is slipping into exactly the same faults as O'Sullivan. My only hope is that we're going stale now, so still have time to recover ahead of the championship and world cup.

[bennocelt]

Anyone watch the Wales game yesterday on the beeb? The commentating was shocking, shocking!!! Jonathan Davies, who always grates, saying that Fiji wud probably have a national holiday if they get the draw with Wales- WTF, they beat them in the last world cup!!!!! And both him and the commentator waiting for the drop goal from Fiji. When was the last time one seen Fiji winning a game like this, they nearly always go for the try.
Wales are going to be annihilated by NZ

[Jofspring]

Personally i think it sends more of a message to the on form guys that Kidney will pick a certain set of players and stick with them no matter how well you perform. D'Arcy has done nothing in recent years and how are we going to know who will be our best pairing come the world cup. For ball winning in the lineout alone Toner should be in ahead of O Driscoll. If Nagle gets more game time with Munster and continues to perform the way he did against Australia then Mick might start find it hard even getting into the Munster team. I like MOD but i think Toner is a much better option. I know we still have the six nations to come but does anyone honestly think Kidney is going to experiment here. Doubt it. That leaves very little time to try new players. The team picked for today may step up today and play out of their skins but in the long term we will learn nothing from this game. Whether it be a narrow loss, a heavy loss or by some miracle a win.

What happens if the World Cup comes around next year and Brian O Driscoll is out or D'Arcy, O Connell, Buckley, Flannery etc... are injured. I wouldn't like to be coming up against Australia or New Zealand in a World Cup with a team of players that have had no experience against top teams at International level or players that are off form. Best (never thought he was a good hooker), MOD (Works hard but not a great lineout option), D'Arcy (off form for a while now), Court (Struggled against the Samoans to an extent), Hayes (also struggled and i'd say he would liked to have retired by now), Buckley (looked promising for a while but has started to struggle in the scrums again), Reddan (his distribution against South Africa was very poor and he seemed to be going sidewards and taking an age to make a decision giving SA a chance to close down our backs). Earls, Toner, Stringer and Ross at the very least should be in the team today.

Over the last three years Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, France, Wales and even Scotland have all tried new up and coming players on a regular basis at International level. Results may have been poor sometimes but this will stand to them come the world cup. Ireland i feel will just be full of more excuses come World Cup time.

[Jofspring]

Certainly with Ryan having disgraced himself

Surely your not talking about his citing are you? A nothing incident if you ask me. He jumps over the player who is lying in the way. He catches him alright but the player gets straight back up. The samoan should never have been in the position he was in the first place and Ryan was running to join the ruck. 3 week suspension was very harsh. Especially considering Mealamu got two weeks for a diving headbutt on Lewis Moody.

Ryan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J0hqduFCvc

Mealamu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yE2K...eature=related

[Charlie Darwin]

Well the Mealamu ban was a pathetic capitulation on the part of the disciplinary committe/IRB. It's one of those odd situations where every kiwi bar the ones actively involved in the team could see it was a clear act of thuggery yet the authorities still bowed to the pressure.

Ryan made a very deliberate movement and put his boot through the man. I have some sympathy because the referee was letting their players lie offside the whole game (except more of that this evening) but we've had so many problems with ill-discipline in big games in the past and his actions have made our second row options even weaker for this game.

On a related note, I watched Leo Cullen yesterday and he clearly does look some way short of full fitness. Let's hope he's back at 100% to compete for a spot in the Six Nations next year.