My Irish Six Nations Squad

First topic message reminder :

With little over a month to go before the games get under way, Declan Kidney is in camp with some of the squad this week already reviewing the RWC and planning ahead to the six nations.

God willing he has decided on a method of attacking the opposition other than launching Ferris, SOB and Healy at the oppositions defence. There are a lot of things Ireland are good at (like defence, lineout, the breakdown) but we really need to become a modern team in regards to attack. We are still very set in our 2009 ways, with forwards being clumsy and not having the skills to play a high tempo game and the backs rarely breaking the line and not running enough dummy lines.

One would assume the squad will be named in the next 3 weeks or so, that in mind I felt I'd give the squad a bash myself and make a concious effort to do a few things:

a) do well in the competition
b) reward form
c) encourage attacking rugby
d) blood some players [be it as starting for the first time or being included in the squad for the first time}

Bold+underlined=starting player
Underlined=bench
Italic=part of 30 man squad
anything else=extended squad


Props:
Healy-Ross-Court-Buckley-McAllister-Hagan
Healy and Ross are the obvious starters and with only one prop spot on the bench makes sense to put Court there. Buckley in there to cover TH. McAllister and Hagan have been doing ok this season and are young fellas we need to expose to this level of rugby and thus I'd want them in the training squad and then being released back to their provinces when/where possible.

Hookers:
Best-Cronin-Varley-Sherry
This is the logical choice as there is quite a gap in class between each of these players save Varley-Sherry but Sherry has been injured for some time.

Locks:
O'Connell-Ryan-O'Callaghan-Toner-Cullen-Tuohy
I think that Ryan has now surpassed O'Callaghan and should be considered a starter in the Irish team. I think Cullen has played very poorly since he returned from the RWC and that Toner has played very well and thus I would reward form and keep Toner in the 30 man squad.

Backrow:
Ferris-O'Brien-Heaslip-O'Mahoney-Jennings-McLaughlin-Ronan
I would continue with our RWC starting backrow as SOB seems to have been developing into a 7 more over the past 2 months or so. I would bring in Peter O'Mahoney as he has been playing better than most around him regardless of experience he also covers the entire backrow.

Scrumhalves:
Murray-Reddan-Boss-Marshall
I'd continue with the order of our RWC 9's however I think the gap between Boss and Reddan has closed considerably. Marshall beat TOL to the extended squad as I believe Marshall has been on fire and that TOL is a good athlete but a poor scrumhalf.

Flyhalves:
Sexton-O'Gara-Madigan-Keatley
I went for Sexton over O'Gara due to Sexton's better form as of late and also due to his attacking talent. I went for Madigan over keatley as Keatley is blowing hot and cold as of late and Madigan is in unbelievable form with ball in hand.

Centres:
McFadden-Darcy-Cave-O'Malley
I went for McFadden to start ahead of Darcy for a number of reasons but mainly due to how ineffective Darcy is in attack now, he can't break the gainline, rarely makes huge barging runs, his decision making is too slow and often poor. I'd play McFadden at 12 and Bowe at 13 due to his fantastic lines of running, physicality, support play and offloading and his ability to break the line while still being defensively solid and able to distribute. Earls I feel is an out and out winger, lacks the vision and distribution to be a centre, just my opinion though.

Back 3:
Kearney-Earls-Trimble-Bowe-Fitzgerald-Carr
Bowe is in as a winger but will play 13. Kearney at 15 with earls or Fitzgerald covering in Jones' absence. Fitzgerald gets 11 as he has been in very good form since the RWC. Trimble in also as Earls is not starting on the wing currently and Trimble is also playing very well at the moment IMO. Carr to be an extended squad player if his injury isn't too bad.


There ya have it:

Healy-Best-Ross
Ryan-O'Connell
Ferris-Heaslip-O'Brien
Murray-Sexton
McFadden-Bowe
Fitzgerald-Kearney-Trimble

Court-Cronin-O'Callaghan-O'Mahony-Reddan-O'Gara-Earls

I believe that team has a bit more attacking guile and creativity than it did in the RWC (excluding BOD of course). I think if the coaches can coach this team to attack and certain players play almost 'off the ball' this could be quite a slick and skillful team.

Dummy runners are crucial.
Backs running from depth at speed are crucial.
Forwards and backs attacking as one is crucial.
Our rock solid lineout and defence are crucial as is continuing our good work at the breakdown.

We need to blood some players more also, I'd like to see Cronin, Toner, O'Mahoney, Madigan and O'Malley getting some game time even if it is just 20 minutes against Italy or Scotland.

What do others think?
Is this the right squad?
Should Ryan be ahead of O'Callaghan?
Does Toner warrant Cullen's exclusion?
Does POM have what it takes to step up?
Does Marshall's good form warrant leaving TOL out?
Who would you pick Madigan or Keatley?
Does Darcy offer anything anymore worth keeping?
Who is the right call at 13?

Notch wrote:No problem with Fitzgeralds pace this season whatsoever.

I should have said for an international class winger. Then again, the same thing has been said about Bowe for years.

red_stag wrote:Leinster are probabky the best attacking team in Europe

......

I do think Darcy is past it

......

Darcy is a nailed on starter for the best attacking team in Europe

Yes Stag. And it's not a head scratcher at all. Leinster are the best attacking team in Europe. It's how they attack as a team. How the forwards link with the backs. How the outhalf gets multiple touches on the ball and creates space. How the wingers and the fullback make things happen.

And yet at the same time, D'arcy is past it. He's not as good as he was. And there might be better options for the green 12 jersey. How is that difficult to comprehend?

Its very difficult explaining attacking rugby to a Munster fan. Everyone knows that. Specially Kidney.

And Billy, I am still sore with him after the RWC. That will abate when we beat the AB's. The Munster Managers bit was a WUM.

Here's hoping he's learned from his mistakes. He's big enough and smart enough to do so. EOS never did.

Believe

TBH I agree with Gibson in a way. I don't mean in the slagging off Munster parts, but it is extremely frustrating to have such poor back-line play with no creativity and non-existant attack, when you have the amount of talent Ireland have across the back-line. Honestly it is baffling that when it comes to playing for Ireland, the attacking instincts of half the players just fade.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Notch wrote:No problem with Fitzgeralds pace this season whatsoever.

I should have said for an international class winger. Then again, the same thing has been said about Bowe for years.

Okay, no problem with Fitzs pace for an international class winger this season whatsoever. Seriously, you see him against Bath? He is looking fit and fast.

Fitzgerald was electric against Bath and is the form winger in the country.....and Tommy Bowe does not lack pace!!

I did, and was very impressed with his tries. He finished them beautifully and shown real skill. The thing is will he be able to carry that on to the international game? His pace and finishing ability have been lacking in the past for Ireland. I still think he would be best suited to 13. I guess we will see this 6 nations as I am very sure he will be starting at 11. Infact I am almost certain the team will be:

Murray - Sexton
D'Arcy - Earls
Fitzgerald - Kearney - Bowe

roddersm wrote:Fitzgerald was electric against Bath and is the form winger in the country.....and Tommy Bowe does not lack pace!!

I agree, I am pointing out it has been said in the past however. He proved his doubters wrong of course! I am hoping to be proved wrong by Fitz if he does start at 11.

I said earlier this season that Fitzgerald does actually look quicker. It's probably just more sharpness and less mistakes making me think that he's faster. I think a player like Fitzgerald will always make mistakes though. It's the way he plays. He takes risks. Last year the mistakes had reached intolerably high levels and he was getting the basics all wrong. His return to form has been great to see.

Rory's point about Fitzy making a good outside centre is interesting. Because he is very talented. And we do need a successor to BOD. But I'm not sure another move of position would be good for him. He's doing very well on the wing. A permanent move to centre would have to be done successfully at Leinster before Kidney should consider picking him there.

I'm just not sure about the 13 jersey. I think Bowe would be best. But he is a bit off form and he's not playing there for Ospreys. Spence and Griffen are to raw and need a season or two more of provincial rugby to polish their all round game. Cave is good but is not internationally experienced. We don't know yet if he'd be up to test level. He should be tried in the summer if not the 6 Nations. Earls might be the best option at the moment, even though I'd like him on the wing.

You can't exactly pin all the blame on our attack on Deccie. There's a reason you have a backs coach. He shouldn't have hired Gaffney in the first place but Gaffney carries the burden after that.

McFadden, although a 12 imo - is another option to play at 13. I hope he at least gets game time at 12 in the 6-N. To me, he is in direct competition with Darcy, at province and country levels. Its either or.

I hope Deccie starts slowly changing the guard in this 6-N. What happens at Leinster with those 2 - will settle it.

Thomond wrote:You can't exactly pin all the blame on our attack on Deccie. There's a reason you have a backs coach. He shouldn't have hired Gaffney in the first place but Gaffney carries the burden after that.

I agree up to point T. But, he chose Gaffney when Leinster were glad to get rid of him. He made the call and is responsible.

Really concerned about a forwards coach being left with dual responsibilities. Its smacks of an IRFU make do.

Defence coach Gibbo. Kiss got it didn't he?

I read they were sharing it no?

Also, with Gaffney out of the way, maybe Deccie will be more hands-on in this role. May work. Less clutter.

Gibbo,

As I said yesterday, IMO Kidney must take full responsibility for hiring Gaffney. Thats his job. Personnell recruitment. He isn't a coach. Its always been his job to surround himself with the right coaches, man manage the players and pick the team.

He got it wrong with Gaffney. But he has been changing the guard since he took over. He took over in 2008 and built a winning team in 2009.

He gave debuts after that to Cian Healy, Mike Ross, Sean O'Brien, Conor Murray, Jonathan Sexton, Keith Earls and these people all became integral parts of his team. He phased out Marcus Horan, John Hayes, Tomas O'Leary, Shane Horgan and yet showed enough guile to recognise that sometimes an older player has a role to play. He didn't play Sexton blindly in every match and insisted that there was competition within the squad. Contrary to what others say I think he has done wonders for both Sexton and ROG as players.

However he has not done enough at centre. He has clearly been grooming Earls for the 13 shirt. It is at 12 where least change has occurred surprisingly.

Gibson wrote:I read they were sharing it no?

Also, with Gaffney out of the way, maybe Deccie will be more hands-on in this role. May work. Less clutter.

Im not sure Deccie is capable of being a hands on coach. He has always know his limit and he is really a Director of Rugby rather than a Head Coach.

Murray - Sexton
D'Arcy - Earls
Fitzgerald - Kearney - Bowe

Two seriously out of form players there.

I may be the only one here but i was really hoping that EOS was made an offer to be backs coach. I wasnt a great fan of his as Irelands manager but as a backs coach i thought that he was excellent.

You're right Billy. His backs moves were excellent. Look at Wales in Dublin 2002.

eirebilly wrote:I may be the only one here but i was really hoping that EOS was made an offer to be backs coach. I wasnt a great fan of his as Irelands manager but as a backs coach i thought that he was excellent.

You know, thats a good call. We played our best attacking rugby under him. And - he's free.

Couldnt see those 2 working together however. Dont they have History?

By all accounts Eddie is the type of guy who isn't happy to be an assistant. Total control!!!

I think that there is a bit of history between them Gibbo and as Stag says Eddie likes total control.

Its just a huge shame that there cant be an offer put on the table and some sort of compromise worked out as I still rate Declan as manager and believe that Eddie would get this amazing amount of talent that Ireland have in the backs playing well. I honestly believe that it would be a winning partnership.

They had a "great partnership" before. Deccie left after a season and a half to go to DRAGONS?????? Thats how much he wanted out.

Anyway Eddie is off to the Ospreys.

head coach accountable for level of performance and overall game plan im afraid. gaffney is not a great backs coach for sure but kidney appointed him. from watching how we try to play i would say that gert smal has more of kidneys ear than the others

steady eddie was an innovative backs coach for sure but a bit of a b0llix. not sure how we would fit in.

Glas a du wrote:

Murray - Sexton
D'Arcy - Earls
Fitzgerald - Kearney - Bowe

Two seriously out of form players there.

I'm assuming you mean Bowe and D'Arcy? Bowe always performs for Ireland, he will start I am sure.

I am not saying this is the team I would pick. This is who I think is going to get picked however.

did Bowe really perform at the RWC. Not a criticism but the only thing I can recall was his intercept against oz. I agree though prior to this year Bowe would have started but starting a guy who is quite badly off form when you have experienced internationals playing better is detrimental to team spirit and shouldnt be countenanced. There needs to be some degree of a meritocracy

Have you checked this out, contains a link i found on Planet Rugby's website

https://www.606v2.com/t21201-irish-imports-might-cause-problems-for-national-effort

Standulstermen wrote:did Bowe really perform at the RWC. Not a criticism but the only thing I can recall was his intercept against oz. I agree though prior to this year Bowe would have started but starting a guy who is quite badly off form when you have experienced internationals playing better is detrimental to team spirit and shouldnt be countenanced. There needs to be some degree of a meritocracy

To be fair, I thought Bowe was one of our only threats in the backline during the RWC. Bowe gave us some much needed go forward ball, however that wasn't enough. Our backs in general were pretty terrible. I think Bowe should start, and if he is not performing for Ireland, then yes he must be dropped.

Gibson wrote:

Thomond wrote:You can't exactly pin all the blame on our attack on Deccie. There's a reason you have a backs coach. He shouldn't have hired Gaffney in the first place but Gaffney carries the burden after that.

I agree up to point T. But, he chose Gaffney when Leinster were glad to get rid of him. He made the call and is responsible.

Really concerned about a forwards coach being left with dual responsibilities. Its smacks of an IRFU make do.

Rewriting history there Gibbo. Its well known that Gaffney was brought in to the Ireland set up because he was the Leinster backs coach to reassure the Leinster players & supporters and head off some of their non-stop bitching about Kidney being made head coach.

You do realise that Munster had Gaffney as head coach for a couple of years - no one was sorry he moved on even though he is was very popular and well liked as a person.

Oh, and Les Kiss isn't a forwards coach. Gert Smal is Ireland's forwards coach. Do try and keep up.

Gibson wrote:

eirebilly wrote:I may be the only one here but i was really hoping that EOS was made an offer to be backs coach. I wasnt a great fan of his as Irelands manager but as a backs coach i thought that he was excellent.

You know, thats a good call. We played our best attacking rugby under him. And - he's free.

Couldnt see those 2 working together however. Dont they have History?

Eddie was Gatland's assistant and Eddie knifed Gatland in the back. Then Kidney was made Eddie's assistant and Eddie was paranoid that Kidney would do to him what he had done to Gatland. From what I gather, Eddie alienated Kidney - gave him no responsibility. Kidney was offered a job 'upstairs' in the IRFU, but declined it.

I don't think anyone would be too happy to have Eddie as their assistant after that.

Eddie was a knifer
Gaffney was a useless nice man.
Gatland was a man more sinned against than sinning.
Eddie was paranoid
The players let the coach down
Gaffney let the coach down
Eddie let the coach down
Less Kiss isn't Smal

It is said with such conviction that I almost believe I'm wrong for disagreeing with most of it....

.................but the Coach; The Coach is the only one above reproach. The Coach is impervious to the meaning of 'wrong'. No matter what the coaching issue, no matter how fondly we debate the entire complex topic of coaching, The Coach is never wrong, Has never been wrong, Will never be wrong.

Sin é wrote:

Gibson wrote:

Thomond wrote:You can't exactly pin all the blame on our attack on Deccie. There's a reason you have a backs coach. He shouldn't have hired Gaffney in the first place but Gaffney carries the burden after that.

I agree up to point T. But, he chose Gaffney when Leinster were glad to get rid of him. He made the call and is responsible.

Really concerned about a forwards coach being left with dual responsibilities. Its smacks of an IRFU make do.

Rewriting history there Gibbo. Its well known that Gaffney was brought in to the Ireland set up because he was the Leinster backs coach to reassure the Leinster players & supporters and head off some of their non-stop bitching about Kidney being made head coach.

You do realise that Munster had Gaffney as head coach for a couple of years - no one was sorry he moved on even though he is was very popular and well liked as a person.

Oh, and Les Kiss isn't a forwards coach. Gert Smal is Ireland's forwards coach. Do try and keep up.

Sin,
I never said he was. I said I thought I read they were sharing the responsiblity between them. Please read carefully.

As for rewriting history, we wanted rid of Gaffney. He was killing us. Then he went on to kill Ireland's attacking potential.

P.S.We got rid of a failing Kidney too. Munster was the only place for his style. And in fairness, he won 2 x HC's with it.

Not in a style acceptable at Leinster though.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Standulstermen wrote:did Bowe really perform at the RWC. Not a criticism but the only thing I can recall was his intercept against oz. I agree though prior to this year Bowe would have started but starting a guy who is quite badly off form when you have experienced internationals playing better is detrimental to team spirit and shouldnt be countenanced. There needs to be some degree of a meritocracy

To be fair, I thought Bowe was one of our only threats in the backline during the RWC. Bowe gave us some much needed go forward ball, however that wasn't enough. Our backs in general were pretty terrible. I think Bowe should start, and if he is not performing for Ireland, then yes he must be dropped.

I thought Bowe was our best back at the RWC and by a distance. Two tries against the USA despite a poor game, 1 assist against Italy and another wrongly disallowed and an outstanding game against Australia. Like most of the side struggled against Wales but I thought overall he was our only back who looked up to scratch, bar Kearney perhaps.

Sin é wrote:

Gibson wrote:

eirebilly wrote:I may be the only one here but i was really hoping that EOS was made an offer to be backs coach. I wasnt a great fan of his as Irelands manager but as a backs coach i thought that he was excellent.

You know, thats a good call. We played our best attacking rugby under him. And - he's free.

Couldnt see those 2 working together however. Dont they have History?

Eddie was Gatland's assistant and Eddie knifed Gatland in the back. Then Kidney was made Eddie's assistant and Eddie was paranoid that Kidney would do to him what he had done to Gatland. From what I gather, Eddie alienated Kidney - gave him no responsibility. Kidney was offered a job 'upstairs' in the IRFU, but declined it.

I don't think anyone would be too happy to have Eddie as their assistant after that.

Maybe its time the IRFU actually went out and hired a coach who knows what they are doing rather than replacing each failed coach with their even inferior assistant.

Mind you if Kiss was to Knife Kidney in the back then we might actually see some progress......

Rodders, would you not say that Kidney has done better than O'Sullivan, who in turn achieved more than Gatland.

red_stag wrote:Rodders, would you not say that Kidney has done better than O'Sullivan, who in turn achieved more than Gatland.

No I certainly wouldn't.

I would say that Eddie did the best job overall but Gatland set the foundation by investing in youth and raising the bar after a decade of mediocrity. Kidney won a GS of the back of the work of his predecessors and is now in the process of dismantling all their good work and reverting us back to rugby minnows with his outdated and negative approach.

Gibson wrote:
P.S.We got rid of a failing Kidney too. Munster was the only place for his style. And in fairness, he won 2 x HC's with it.

Not in a style acceptable at Leinster though.

Fair play for you to admit that he won 2 HC's but whats with the pun against the style? Winning matches is important. For the record, i do love to watch Leinster and have an affinity with them being that i schooled at St Mary's but i also really appreciate Munster's style.

A lot has also been said about DK inheriting EOS's side, in some ways that is correct but EOS could only take Ireland so far and DK has taken them further whilst also phasing out some of the older players and bringing in some of the promicing youth. SOB and Ferris to name but two, i would be suprised if EOS had looked at them as early as DK did.

DK is a good manager and if Ireland got themselves a good backs coach then we will see just how good Ireland could be.

Do you think that if Ireland had played the 'Leinster' style that they would have beaten the Aussies at the RWC?

roddersm wrote:

red_stag wrote:Rodders, would you not say that Kidney has done better than O'Sullivan, who in turn achieved more than Gatland.

No I certainly wouldn't.

I would say that Eddie did the best job overall but Gatland set the foundation by investing in youth and raising the bar after a decade of mediocrity. Kidney won a GS of the back of the work of his predecessors and is now in the process of dismantling all their good work and reverting us back to rugby minnows with his outdated and negative approach.

Sorry rodders but what? What exactly has DK done thats so wrong? The only thing that i can fault him on is his selection of backs coach.

eirebilly wrote:
A lot has also been said about DK inheriting EOS's side, in some ways that is correct but EOS could only take Ireland so far and DK has taken them further whilst also phasing out some of the older players and bringing in some of the promicing youth. SOB and Ferris to name but two, i would be suprised if EOS had looked at them as early as DK did.

Don't agree with any of that. O'Sullivan took Ireland to 2nd in the World rankings and but for a bounce of a ball would have won at least 1 GS. Every season under O'Sullivan, until 2008 we were in the mix for the 6N title. We beat Australia and SA and came close to beating the ABs on a number of occasions. We also reached the QF of the RWC with a far less experienced squad of players than Kidney had.

O'Sullivan was the 1st coach to bring in a sport psychologist to Ireland and brought in the pre season conditioning block which helped us compete physically with the SH teams. EOS outstayed his welcome and was a poor man manager but he helped raise the bar for Irish rugby and was an innovator as opposed to Kidney who is simply a delegator.

Under Kidney we have no consistancy, no game plan and since 2009 haven't looked like winning a 6N title.

Just curious. Why does every name in Ireland get abbreviated to computer code? BOD, POC, EOS, DK, SOB etc

Has the crisis in Ireland led even to cuts in syllables? Team strategies must be difficult. POC takes it up and SOB recycles and ROG runs one out from the ruck and looks to go back inside to SOB but feigns and cuts out to BOD who takes on the line before releasing out to Bowe...

I´m sorry DK, who was that last one again? asks BOD

Sorry BOW as in tie your laces in one.

OK, right you are DK.

eirebilly wrote:

roddersm wrote:

red_stag wrote:Rodders, would you not say that Kidney has done better than O'Sullivan, who in turn achieved more than Gatland.

No I certainly wouldn't.

I would say that Eddie did the best job overall but Gatland set the foundation by investing in youth and raising the bar after a decade of mediocrity. Kidney won a GS of the back of the work of his predecessors and is now in the process of dismantling all their good work and reverting us back to rugby minnows with his outdated and negative approach.

Sorry rodders but what? What exactly has DK done thats so wrong? The only thing that i can fault him on is his selection of backs coach.

OK Billy maybe I'm being a bit harsh. I just don't see that Ireland have improved under DK and think we have gone backwards quite alarmingly.

I don't believe a backs coach will make a difference as ultimately all the coaches have to work under the philosphy of the head coach and the style of rugby they want to play.

Most of the poor backplay comes from slow ball and poor decision making at half backs and an imbalanced backline which stems from the selection by the coach.

The forwards and backs have to work in tandem and it looks like the players are just going onto the field with no gameplan. You have the likes of Sexton, Bowe and O'Driscoll wanting quick ball after a carry by Ferris or SOB and then O'Callaghan and O'Connell looking to pick and go or standing in the 10 channel or TOL kicking the ball away. The players have no direction and its nothing to do with a backs coach.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Just curious. Why does every name in Ireland get abbreviated to computer code? BOD, POC, EOS, DK, SOB etc

Has the crisis in Ireland led even to cuts in syllables? Team strategies must be difficult. POC takes it up and SOB recycles and ROG runs one out from the ruck and looks to go back inside to SOB but feigns and cuts out to BOD who takes on the line before releasing out to Bowe...

I´m sorry DK, who was that last one again? asks BOD

Sorry BOW as in tie your laces in one.

OK, right you are DK.

Many players have a O' in their name. It lends itself to short abbreviations. Though strangely enough Paul O'Connell would never be called Poc. His nickname is Paulie. And Sean O'Brien isn't called Sob by anyone.

Are you calling Rodders a nobody Red Stag?

I'm sure Sexton is called SEX. Ironic, because he isn´t getting enough penetration with his running game in the green jersey as he does with Leinster.

I´ve heard DK is nicknamed Whopper.

But I see your point Stag. The proliferation of O' does lend itself to abbreviating. Personally I like it. It sets you apart.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Are you calling Rodders a nobody Red Stag?

Thats about the nicest thing he's ever said about me....

It was the nickname of one of the greatest players to play the game: John Eales. You should take it as a compliment mate.

Nobody´s perfect.

It's actually code.

"SEX gave us a good old POC before the second half and SOB went out like a lion and did a BOD, which showed more subtlety than usual of course. But ROG didn't like it at all, he had distinctly told his backline that it was AUSTRALIA."

Code.

I have to disagree rodders, i think that Ireland are pretty much improving in the strength of depth department. There is some very healthy competition for many places now.

1-8 are performing as consistently as ever but i do believe that there are some very real issues in the back line and i dont think that isdown to selections, more down to a failing in gameplan due to the lack of a decent backs coach. The talent is there but the direction and coaching isnt. I honestly believe that with a good backs coach players like Sexton will shine very brightly.

we are absolutely fine in terms of strength and depth and to be fair to kidney he has brought new lads into the equation after steady eddie who was a disaster in terms of conservative selections

i would share some of rodders concerns but we wont know until we actually appoint a backs coach what the real issue is. i suspect its a split blame. gaffney was responsible for lots of the poor back play kidney was accountable. that comes with being head coach

it was posted a while back on here that we are trying to play out dated sth african style run over the opposition rugby. i just think we lack the sheer size to do this and it hardly worked for them in the world cup.

i will need to be sectioned during the six nations if we have to watch paulie and donners spending an eternity standing static as first receiver before walking at opposition flopping on the ground losing yards.

Billy I agree on the strength and depth but that is mainly down to the provinces not Kidney.

Sexton is a smart player and doesn't need over coached, he needs quick ball from his pack and a half back partner on the same wavelength. I think we'll see that with Murray but they've only had a few games together.

If you pick ROG at 10, D'arcy at 12 and O'Driscoll at 13 then no back coach in the world is going to make that unit potent in attack. If the 10 can't hold up the defence, the 12 can't break the gainline and the 13 can't run an effective outside arc then the most creative back moves ever won't make a difference, nor will the worlds best wingers.

We are not so fine in terms of depth at 12 or 3. I think we have a few potential players to come through in both positions but it will be a good few years yet.