six nations

im disappointed kidney didnt start mcfadden centre we really need to find new centres and earls misses too many tackles for me hopefully he will improve here roberts will be big test on sunday,
otherwise im happy enough with the team felt ryan might be worth his place aswell.
wales missing a few top players should win this one

As great a servant as he was and is fro Munster I don't think DOC should be starting. Kidney's notoriously conservative outlook has got the better of him again. McFadden and earls is a bit either or, both could play. However since he picked Sexton at 10 it is no surprise that he picked Earls at 13 if you get my drift.

Wales are fecked with injury and Ireland at home should beat them. The one big advantage they have is Roberts who could run all over our centers if given the right ball. As a whole the tournament is Frances to lose. New coach who is not mentally challenged when it comes to Rugby and a serious group of players to pick from.

Best we can hop for I think is a triple crown which if we do land could land Kidney the Lions job for 2013.

It also worked out well Kildare Saturday evening, Rugby Sunday afternoon. Herself better not have any plans because she'll be disappointed.

I would think Kidney wanted to play a more expansive game, which is why Sexton is playing as well, and he wanted to play Trimble too. Anyway, you get your way as Earls is injured so McFadden, a superior tackler, is in. I would have liked McFadden and Earls myself.

Agree on O'Callaghan, I would have gone with Ryan although to be fair, since being dropped, he has been very good.

Hopeful of victory but so many of these games are one-score jobs, you can't predict with confidence. But with their injuries, we should win.

Expect the Jocks to beat England.

why ya say that ogie ya really think they will beat england? i dont think england will run away with it but they should have enough to get them over the line.

I did, I thought England were really ripe for the taking but Jocks had no cutting edge at all.

The Ireland game was really, really disappointing. They blew it again

agree ogie gatland tactically has kidney bet but i have to say i thought the last penalty was borderline penalty having brought him to ground

I'd agree, he didn't let him go like Warburton did in the World Cup. And he didn't dump him, like was done on Ryan.

But having established the winning position, I think the players out on the field blew it. It's the tries were the killer, and Paulie's failure to get the ball out the line when we had the massive overlap (although I give the Welsh tackler credit for the latter).

Very disappointing though

i`d be worried about us in the centre, size wise we are too small i know i said i prefer mcfadden to earls as he tackles well but look what happened mcfadden on wales second try also on there third try our middle pair both couldnt stop norde the general size of centres now are bigger davies rougherie tuilaigi roberts these guys are as big as our back row, what would ya tink of pulling one of the lads from the back row like o`brein or ferris and let jennings or o`mahony fill in?
i believe ferris would really strenghten us defensively in the centre and let o`brein back to his favourite number 6 and jennings or o`mahony would do as good at number 7

I think with the patterns of international rugby, they might be exposed. O'Brien would probably be the better option too. It's not a mad idea, and David Wallace often played in the backs for Munster, but I just think they'd be exposed internationally. It shows how critical O'Driscoll is defensively though. I think D'Arcy should finally be dropped though. Creatively, Bowe in the centre could be very exciting but he wasn't great in the tackling department on Saturday and it wouldn't be Earls' strength either. Trimble started off as a centre.

trimble would be the best tackler and prob stronger than our backs but i still think he too small for the size of the natural centres now imagine we had got new zeland with sonny bill and ma`a nonu i still think ogie we need at least one really big strong centre, ferris would be my choice as roberts and the likes would think twice about running into him at full speed hes built like a sh*t house and neither ferris or o`brein are natural number 7s this move could really benefit us.
what you think rex?

McFadden should be played at 12, Gordon D'arcy as great as servant as he is, should step aside and let new talent through...

Earls should only be played on the wing, he is a lethal finisher and won't be caught out defensively as often here either.

As for number 13 until Drico is back....Trimble? Bowe?

Throw caution to the wind.............. 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 11 & 15 respectively Eoin Reddan, Ronan O'Gara, Jonathan Sexton, Tommy Bowe, Trimble, Earls & Geordan Murphy.

Ireland need to learn from Scotlands off loading, quick rucking, high tempo game. Leinster play the same type of game why not the national squad and young Hogg reminds me of BOD 10 years ago.

That's it... Ireland lacked pace off the rucks against Italy until Reddan appeared. Murray has potential but thought he was too slow on Sat. Will Kidney keep faith with him??

Was there on Sat. and the atmosphere was dead...

Do we have any chance of winning in Paris?

Yes, if he plays Donnacha Ryan, Eoin Reddan and allows the backs to play.

Unchanged for Paris... Let's hope Murray has had a good week to analysis things... Won't get away with slow play and box kicks all day...


15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 1 Cian Healy, 2 Rory Best, 3 Mike Ross, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Stephen Ferris, 7 Sean O'Brien, 8 Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 Peter O'Mahony, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Fergus McFadden.

i agree bigfullback when reddan came on last week the ball came so much quicker and sexton is lethal with quick ball, i still wouldn`t drop murray but really hope he learned ffrom last week.

big game for our smallish centres and our out of form back row, if we perform in these positions we can get a result over there but if not we could be looking at a hammering

Its all the makings of a strange game.... Its a win for Ireland by 4 or 5 points or a 20 odd point drubbing...... I have a strange feeling we might just sneak this one.....

Good to see a bit of a fight back in the Ireland team. Under a lot of pressure in the 2nd half but held out for the point. Very disappointed in Trimble. Don't know what's going on with him when he pulls on a green jersey but he's not as half as committed to the tackle as he is in an Ulster jersey.. Murray did well and looks like medial ligaments from what I saw. Sexton was brilliant in his wrap ups of the French allowing a few turn over scrums. Bowe at his snappy self and a great read for his first try. Serious catch by Kearney late in the 2nd half. Eddie Butler on BBC said it was catch of the tournament. Plenty of positives and hopefully they can carry it into the Scotish game...

Kearney back to brilliant form and Ferris too. I thought CB's description of the out-of-form back row was harsh on him, he was excellent against Italy and decent enough against Wales. He is, after all, the reason Sean O'Brien is being played out of position. Could get a rest against Saturday, with O'Mahony coming in and O'Brien going to 6... he's had a lot of knee problems over the years.

Who'll be captain now, Best? At least Ryan will get in now though I would have liked to have seen him in there with his Paulie. I've a feeling Reddan would always have started this game anyway. T Bowe and the boys will relish the quick ball and Reddan's relative lack of physique won't be as much of a factor against the Jocks.

In the cold light of day Kidney is a problem. You have 2 main clubs that fill the Welsh team, the Cardiff Blues and the Scarletts. Leinster, Munster & Ulster can and have beaten these teams comfortably. It has nothing to do with the size of the player because backs regularly have to face and tackle larger forwards every day. Yet Wales are Grand Slam contenders and we have zilch. It comes down to tactics and team selection.

Donnacha O'Callaghan cannot get a start on the Munster team due to Donnacha Ryan, yet O'Callaghan is Irish first choice?? The best team in the country is Leinster but for years Leinster forwards couldn't get a look in and it was only through injury that they did. The majority of the backs play for Leinster but he plays a Munster style game. Axel Foley is another example of his thinking.

Let the team pick itself and let the team play to their strengths.

ogie i wasnt highlighting ferris he was prob the best of the back rows in the first 2 games but even at that his ratings for them matchs would be no more than 6/10 he hadn`t put in a performance like the french game, in the welsh game our back row was beaten and in the italy game they weren setting high standards for themselves so i dont think my description was harsh on him he surely wasnt in form like he was against france.
i mentioned two positions that needed to perform better in and we did and we got a result.
the centres were good but in fairness every time rougherie got the ball he was targeted particulary by sexton, the time sexton and ferris held rougherie up and forced the turnover was just brilliant.
scotland wont be easy we`l need another big performance to win this, poc will be huge loss.

time to give new blood a go