Mike Ross ruled out of World Cup with Back Injury!!!

How gutting would that be if it were true

We really are dependent on him aren't we? Can't wait for Hagan, Fitzpatrick and Archer to be our reserves to him.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stag you shouldn't do that there's probably Irish posters on here with heart conditions!

You Fudger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who in Mike Ross??

A cruel cruel trick to play...

Pretty crappy trick to play, I'm afraid. Not impressed.

I didn't fall for it,ever since you pulled the Gavin Henson going to Munster trick I've viewed your threads with a bit more suspicion.

As to the content,yeah we're totally lost without him.In every other position there is someone who is capable of playing international and not looking totally out of place.At TH prop we have Buckley and then Hayes would be called up as back up.It's a shocking state of affairs and a situation we can't allow develop again.

Ahhh....I had visions of the Bull making one more appearance for us at a RWC

Taffineastbourne wrote:Who in Mike Ross??

The only TH prop in Ireland!!!

My heart skipped a beat reading that!! Never do that again for Gods sake!

[quote="Fergal"]Ahhh....I had visions of the Bull making one more appearance for us at a RWC[/quote]

The perfect send off that would be him running into the corner and scoring a winning try in the final

Irish Curry wrote:My heart skipped a beat reading that!! Never do that again for Gods sake!

Fergal wrote:Ahhh....I had visions of the Bull making one more appearance for us at a RWC

The perfect send off that would be him running into the corner and scoring a winning try in the final

Now that would be a fitting send off......

Fergal wrote:

Irish Curry wrote:My heart skipped a beat reading that!! Never do that again for Gods sake!

Fergal wrote:Ahhh....I had visions of the Bull making one more appearance for us at a RWC

The perfect send off that would be him running into the corner and scoring a winning try in the final

Now that would be a fitting send off......

The Bull running would be a fitting stand off, the other bits are just the icing

Come on people, it's the last day of the win a Russia RWC top today, so get your entry in here, it will only take you 30 seconds...

https://www.606v2.com/t11894-win-a-signed-rwc-jersey

I didn't believe it Stag. If that was true I would have seen people running aimlessly down the street outside, screaming.

Ok the title was for shock value but who do we see backing up and replacing Mike Ross in future. Ross isn't a spring chicken.

Jamie Hagan (24), Stephen Archer (23), Tony Buckley (30) and Declan Fitzpatrick (28)

Which ones likely to be firstly backup to Ross in 2012 Six Nations and who will replace him for Ireland.

I don't rate any of them particularly highly, I think we may well end up with Court and Buckley in the next Six Nations. I would rather we gave some gametime to Hagan though, than Buckley. Hagan would probably get a stuffing if he played test rugby now, but that's not exactly saying Buckley would fare much better in the scrums.

I hope that now Hagan is at Leinster, and will have the benefit of scrum coaching and training with a higher calibre of prop he will develop. Connacht wasn't the right place for him to develop his potential; sad but true. They aren't a good scrummaging side. They can hold their own, but they aren't great.

I will be watching Archer tonight with interest. I think Adam Macklin at Ulster has a lot of potential, but won't get enough gametime with others ahead of him in the pecking order. He'll come through in a few years time. Jerry Cronin has come on in leaps and bounds but shows no sign of being international class really.

Fitzpatrick is a good bet, a good operator in the scrums and has gotten better with age. However, he needs to improve his fitness if he is to have much chance.

What about our exile John Andress - basically treading the same path Mike Ross did.

Should we consider him?

I think Archer could make the step up personally in a few years.

23 years of age, 11 Magners games under his belt, Hayes & Buckley are gone, gets to learn from Botha who is injury prone and won't stop him getting many games.

I think he'll have a big season.

Yes, we should. He can scrummage and is a better tighthead than Court. It was the IRFU and Ulster who messed up getting him back here anyway; when that deal fell through we brought in Afoa which was a great signing, but pretty bad for the national side. IRFU shot themselves in the foot.

red_stag wrote:Ok the title was for shock value but who do we see backing up and replacing Mike Ross in future. Ross isn't a spring chicken.

Jamie Hagan (24), Stephen Archer (23), Tony Buckley (30) and Declan Fitzpatrick (28)

Which ones likely to be firstly backup to Ross in 2012 Six Nations and who will replace him for Ireland.

Mike Ross is not 32 yet! Hagan and Archer hopefully as Fitzpatrick ain't an intl prop.

Red Slag you're a cnut. I had to change me underbags after reading the title.

I just though we needed a nice little jolt and the titled fitted the bill well I'll be paying for your doctors bills!!

I know Ross isn't 32 yet. But my question was two fold.

1) Who will be backup in 6 Nations 2012

2) Who will replace Ross in Ireland team when Ross is gone.

I think Hagan and Archer are the front runners. Interesting that Connacht's Ah You (try scorer today BTW) is labled as a "Special project". Not sure what that means, but I think Connacht already have Nikora as a project player so maybe the IRFU are happy to bend their own rules when it comes to tightheads. I guess that shows the panic the idea of a poor pool of props can cause.

Grey, I know that Ah You is thought of very highly by some. I've heard a fair few journalists refer to him as potentially the first successful project player.

He's a big lump, but blows hot and cold I think. We already have that with Buckley!

I reckon it will be Archer really he could be just like Healy. On the other hand who's to say Ross wont keep going to 35 or something like that I mean who thought Hayes would have gone on as long as he has/is.

For the Six Nations it will be Court on the bench for his appearent "Verstillity"

But hasn't Hayes gone on as long as he has because of necessity? If Ross is still our first choice international tighthead at 35 it'll probably be more to a lack of alternatives.

Yes that was probably a factor but his performences didn't really dip much until a year or two ago.

I agree with the annoyance of the bench prop having to cover both sides curry. I would like the Six Nations to be played with two props on the bench. Of course, would probably be to our disadvantage but so be it.

Court is pretty much the only guy who can play both sides around right now, they are a rare commodity. Court has suffered for it as he's a much better loosehead. You can't just play at being a tighthead, you really need to be there week in week out. I think we've seen that Court doesn't get quite enough gametime at tighthead to play really well there.

I'd be astounded if Ross continued internationally to John Hayes age.

Not a particularly fit bloke, I don't think he offers as much about the field as others.

If Hagan or Archer develop a scrum game (with Greg Feek, BJ Botha and Mike Ross teaching them) I'd back them to oust him. I'd say by the Lions Tour of 2013 Hagan will just be coming into the Irish #3 shirt with Archer backing him up. I'd imagine Healy and McAllister will be our options on the other side.

I'm not sure it would be much of a disadvantage to us if Archer or/and Hagan come through in which case it wouldn't be so bad. I'm not really sure why they see him as a tighthead because he's just not he's just a loosehead who is slightly better then other looseheads at tighthead and visa-versa.

Btw Notch do you think Court will get much time at TH this year or will it be much the same story as other years?

I agree; his best form has always come when hes been allowed to concentrate on loosehead. Whenever he is asked to switch week to week, or moved during games, his form generally suffers. A victim of his own versatility? I think so, to a certain extent, although he wouldn't have nearly as many caps if not for the fact he's a good bench option. He's certainly a better tighthead than Buckley is a loosehead anyway

The IRFU insist he gets a minimum amount of gametime at tighthead. Same with Paddy Wallace and outhalf although that may change after the RWC. Especially with younger players coming through at 10 in Ulster.

I'd say IRFU will stop the Paddy Wallace at 10 thing now. More than likely we'll see ROG-Sexton battling away for another while with Keatley as backup.

Yeah, hopefully so. I mean, if Humphreys gets injured it makes sense for us to move Wallace in if it's a big Heineken Cup game but there's not much point in playing him there in the Pro12 is there? Not with two young lads who need gametime to improve.

You don't need 3 established 10s in the two years after the RWC. Just in the run-up its important to develop cover for the RWC squad.

You reckon in three years I'll be on here complaining about the IRFU edict moving Luke Marshall to 10 occasionally?

More than likely they'll be demanding Spence play 12, 13, 11, 14 or insisting Dan Tuohy can cover backrow.

[quote="red_stag"]I'd be astounded if Ross continued internationally to John Hayes age.[/quote]

So would I but I think he could keep going for a few years yet at leinster at least. It will be more interressing to see how long ROG lasts, his kicking range doesn't seem as long anymore and at 34 thats not going to reverse. His body mightn't last to long either with the amount of hits he takes. That said I could be proved wrong but a year is I think he has left really.

greybeard wrote:I think Hagan and Archer are the front runners. Interesting that Connacht's Ah You (try scorer today BTW) is labled as a "Special project". Not sure what that means, but I think Connacht already have Nikora as a project player so maybe the IRFU are happy to bend their own rules when it comes to tightheads. I guess that shows the panic the idea of a poor pool of props can cause.

No rule bending needed. You can have 5 NIQs and a "Project player" The 6th player MUST be a "project player", but that does not mean that the rest can not be IQ too after 3 years. All 6 players could be "project players" if you like. You can play AIL for 3 years and become IQ also.