Pick Your Ireland Squad for the Six Nations

Pick your squad for Ireland in the Six Nations, and you could win the chance to be in a long, boring, meaningless argument with Sin E and/or rodders. Call now!

Here's my effort;

PROPS
Cian Healy, Mike Ross, Tom Court, Tony Buckley, Paddy McAllister
HOOKERS
Rory Best, Sean Cronin, Damien Varley
LOCKS
Paul O'Connell, Donnacha Ryan, Donncha O'Callaghan, Dan Tuohy, Devin Toner
BACKROW
Stephen Ferris, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip, Peter O'Mahony, Chris Henry
SCRUM HALF
Eoin Reddan, Conor Murray, Isaac Boss
OUTHALF
Ronan O'Gara, Johnny Sexton
CENTRES
Gordon D'Arcy, Paddy Wallace, Fergus McFadden, Darren Cave, Keith Earls
BACK THREE
Luke Fitzgerald, Andrew Trimble, Tommy Bowe, Rob Kearney, Gavin Duffy

Captain; Paul O'Connell
Vice-Captains; Rory Best, Ronan O'Gara, Johnny Sexton, Jamie Heaslip

Additional Players to feature for Ireland A but not the squad for the tournament proper;

Stephen Archer, Mike Sherry, Shane Jennings, Mike McCarthy, Paul Marshall, Ian Madigan, Nevin Spence, Simon Zebo, Craig Gilroy

Is it definitely a 32 man squad notch? If so I think it is a very decent shout.

Very straight forward. Nothing to discuss really. Maybe Jennings over Henry?

Murphy instead of Duffy maybe

He is retired westisbest

Did Murphy officially announce his retirement? I thought he just said he probably would retire?

PROPS
Cian Healy, Mike Ross, Tom Court, Tony Buckley, Paddy McAllister
HOOKERS
Rory Best, Sean Cronin, Damien Varley
LOCKS
Paul O'Connell, Donnacha Ryan, Donncha O'Callaghan, Dan Tuohy, Devin Toner
BACKROW
Stephen Ferris, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip, Peter O'Mahony, Shane Jennings
SCRUM HALF
Eoin Reddan, Conor Murray, Paul Marshall
OUTHALF
Ronan O'Gara, Johnny Sexton
CENTRES
Gordon D'Arcy, Ian Whitten, Fergus McFadden, Darren Cave, Keith Earls
BACK THREE
Luke Fitzgerald, Andrew Trimble, Tommy Bowe, Rob Kearney, Johne Murphy

Ah ok wasnt sure myself.

Will keep Duffy where he is then, need some Connacht representation

Geordan Murphy has retired from international rugby. Which is handy because it's taken a while for him to come into some good form and now he's started to get back to his best he should be playing and not bench warming. Ireland should really be looking at younger 15s than Geordan anyway, it's not like there's a shortage.

Sam can you provide a link to the official statement from Geordan? As far as I am aware he was only considering retirement and would announce before the 6N.

Sam can you provide a link to the official statement from Geordan? As far as I am aware he was only considering retirement and would announce before the 6N

Looks like you're right on that one, can only find the ponders bit. Would think he meant that he would only play if Ireland were desperate. I'd imagine he's bored on bench duty and stodgey tactics.

No problem Sam. I doubt he'll feature anyway and will likely retire. Just couldn't recall if he'd announced it yet for sure.

Your front row is a couple of injuries away from annihilation

Glas a du wrote:Your front row is a couple of injuries away from annihilation

Our front row is one injury(Mike Ross) away from annihilation .

roddersm wrote:

Glas a du wrote:Your front row is a couple of injuries away from annihilation

Our front row is one injury(Mike Ross) away from annihilation .

You don't rate Tom Court then, do you? Hope you are not complaining about the new IRFU ruling about foreign players staying for more than one contract

What tight head props do we have coming through? Hagan I think looks pretty good. Archer.. not so much. Maybe the likes of McAllister should try moving to tight-head? I think he is the type of character who would put 110% no matter which position he played, and perfecting it.

Sin é wrote:

roddersm wrote:

Glas a du wrote:Your front row is a couple of injuries away from annihilation

Our front row is one injury(Mike Ross) away from annihilation .

You don't rate Tom Court then, do you? Hope you are not complaining about the new IRFU ruling about foreign players staying for more than one contract

Court isn't a great tight-head.

Sin é wrote:
You don't rate Tom Court then, do you? Hope you are not complaining about the new IRFU ruling about foreign players staying for more than one contract

No I think Court is a very good and underrated losehead. On the tighthead side of the scrum he's as useful as a chocolate fireguard. Mike Ross is the only decent tight head we have.

PROPS
Cian Healy, Mike Ross, Tom Court, Tony Buckley, Paddy McAllister
HOOKERS
Rory Best, Sean Cronin, Damien Varley
LOCKS
Paul O'Connell, Donnacha Ryan, Donncha O'Callaghan, Dan Tuohy, Devin Toner
BACKROW
Stephen Ferris, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip, Peter O'Mahony, Shane Jennings
SCRUM HALF
Eoin Reddan, Conor Murray, Paul Marshall
OUTHALF
Ronan O'Gara, Johnny Sexton
CENTRES
Gordon D'Arcy, Paddy Wallace, Fergus McFadden, Darren Cave
BACK THREE
Andrew Trimble, Tommy Bowe, Rob Kearney
UTILITY BACKS
Luke Fitzgerald, Keith Earls

I am sticking Fitz and Earls into the utility back category, as it is uncertain where they are best and they can cover many positions.

Subject to who gets injured for us in the meantime, we should beat you in Dublin. You are weak in the front row and in midfield, which are two areas where we can cause significant damage if the correct personnel are fit for us. I think that puts all the pressure on us though

Glas a du wrote:I think that puts all the pressure on us though

The pressure is on you anyway....which would make us....underdogs

I never see you as anything else

Wales destroy us in the centres, that is a fact. But as long as we have Healy/Ross injury free and starting, I think our scrum will hold.

It's not our front row thats the problem- it's our tighthead. We have good depth at loosehead and hooker.

That is why I suggested moving the likes McAllister to tight-head.

roddersm wrote:

Sin é wrote:
You don't rate Tom Court then, do you? Hope you are not complaining about the new IRFU ruling about foreign players staying for more than one contract

No I think Court is a very good and underrated losehead. On the tighthead side of the scrum he's as useful as a chocolate fireguard. Mike Ross is the only decent tight head we have.

Actually he is very capable of playing at tighthead should he get a run of games there. It would take him around 3 or 4 competitive games at tighthead to get to an acceptable standard.

Basically he's been screwed over by the coaches, because he is a loosehead asked to play out of position. It's not that easy to switch over like that- he would need to be given time to acclimatise, time we do not have.

Fair point Notch but the fact remains that if Court has to play at TH then we are in trouble.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:That is why I suggested moving the likes McAllister to tight-head.

Which is as inherently retarded as moving Court there. The guy is even more of an out and out loosehead than him and has the potential to outstrip both Court and Healy in that position in the future.

The actual solution is to find a way to give Jamie Hagan, Stephen Archer et al. gametime.

Bear in mind there is also Declan Fitzpatrick and John Andress to fall back on, both decent scrummagers in an emergency.

We already have a world class loosehead in Healy and a lack of tight-heads. Is it that stupid to try a loose-head prop at tight-head? I don't see why that is stupid, especially if the likes of Smit can make that move from hooker. It is worth a try IMO.

Archer doesn't look that good IMO. Hagan could be however.

Yes Rory. It is.

I dont think either Court of McAllister should be anywhere near TH.

I dont think Court has the technique and McAllister is still on a learning curve for LH lets not mess him about.

Ulster should only use Fitzpatrick, who is near fitness now, and Macklin who is starting to develop nicely as backup to Afoa.

For Ireland I would select Andress as he is second only to Ross in the scrummaging department. Wont happen though as he is playing in the wilds of Devon.

I disagree and feel it could be worth a try if no tight-heads are coming through. You say that it isn't easy to move over, but given time it could happen. With McAllister, we do have time. I don't see what is so stupid about trying that. Then we could have another player who can play both sides of the scrum like Court (who would have had to make the switch at one point hm?).

I see no need to move Mcallister especially considering scrummaging is the part of his game that needs the most work. Archer needs to get game time at munster as does macklin and hagan. In fairness macklin has seen a reasonable amount for a 21 year old and I think hagan is following the same path as Ross did at Leinster. They will work with him on all aspects and then bring him in. they didn't rush Ross into game time and that has worked out well.

We have a TH at Ulster coming through though - Macklin.

Macklin is vastly superior to McAllister as a TH in the same way
McAllister is vastly superior to Macklin as a LH.

The lads are learning and developing well - leave them where they are.
Supporters are far too prone to moving players about and expecting them to play in an unfamilar position.

To take two other Ulster examples - we should have played Whitten not Spence at 12 in recent matches and Danielli should have been no where near the 15 shirt.

Professional rugby is hard enough as it is without switching players about all over the place. Play players in their best position and only in very exceptional circumstances move them.

Fro the same reason I am totally against Bowe playing in the centre - either he is one of the best 2 wingers or he doesn't play

6 nation squads are made up of 30 players not 32

Rugby10 wrote:6 nation squads are made up of 30 players not 32

Bollix I thought there were too many there. Bye bye Doc and D'arcy from my squad anyway.

Notch wrote:Pick your squad for Ireland in the Six Nations, and you could win the chance to be in a long, boring, meaningless argument with Sin E and/or rodders. Call now!

Just spotted this! Me and Sin arguing?! Never!

geoff998rugby wrote:I dont think either Court of McAllister should be anywhere near TH.

I dont think Court has the technique and McAllister is still on a learning curve for LH lets not mess him about.

Ulster should only use Fitzpatrick, who is near fitness now, and Macklin who is starting to develop nicely as backup to Afoa.

For Ireland I would select Andress as he is second only to Ross in the scrummaging department. Wont happen though as he is playing in the wilds of Devon.

Ulster website has Declan Fitz 4-6 weeks away. Nice position to be in though having macklin getting game time. Luke Marshall and Nevin spence are back in training though and should be available during the 6n. Apologies for the tangent

The website is out of date

I think Calum Black has more potential than Paddy Mac... But hes not there yet

geoff998rugby wrote:The website is out of date

It was updated today geoff. Mind you they also had Luke Marshall as available for selection this weekend.

It is still out of date factually - Fitzpatrick is about 2 weeks away imv

Here's my effort

Props: Cian Healy, Mike Ross, Tom Court, Tony Buckley, Paddy McAllister

Hookers:Rory Best, Sean Cronin, Damien Varley

Second Row: Paul O'Connell, Devin Toner, Donnacha Ryan, Dan Tuohy

Back Row: Jamie Heaslip, Sean O'Brien, Stephen Ferris, Peter O'Mahony, Chris Henry

Scrum Half: Eoin Reddan, Connor Murray, Issac Boss

Out Half: Jonathan Sexton, Ronan O'Gara

Centres: Gordon D'Arcy, Fergus McFadden, Darren Cave, Paddy Wallace

Back 3: Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble, Tommy Bowe

Utility: Luke Fitzgerald, Keith Earls

Not sure on a few places but on form I'd go with a 22 of:
Healy, Best, Ross
Toner, O'Connell
Ferris, O'Brien, Heaslip
Murray, Sexton
McFadden, Cave
Fitzgerald, Kearney, Trimble

Cronin, Court, Ryan/Tuohy, Henry, Reddan, O'Gara, Earls
Italics are contended positions

Who is the best Irish scrummaging tighthead after Ross? In my opinion it has to be Ulster's own import Jerry Cronin. Is he better than Macklin? Yip. Better than Fitzpatrick? Totally. Better than Archer? Haven't seen enough of him. Better than Hagan? Probably not, but in far better form. Better than Buckley? Christ yes. So, why no love for Jerry?

No way he is better than Fitzpatrick Fitz, and debatable whether he is better than Macklin. And his all-round game is worse than either. He has potential to scrum very well, he has done, but he can be badly exposed too.

Rugby10 wrote:6 nation squads are made up of 30 players not 32

Tell that to Declan Kidney who named 39 players in his last Six Nations squad. There are no formal rules regarding squads for the Six Nations, unlike the World Cup.

Cronin was destroyed during the RWC. Shame because I thought he did really well last season.

So to take this thread in a different direction, your opening 22s for the game versus England Saxons then the full international next week against Wales.

Ireland Wolfhounds

15. Gavin Duffy
14. Craig Gilroy
13. Darren Cave
12. Fergus McFadden
11. Simon Zebo
10. Ian Madigan
9. Paul Marshall

1. Paddy McAllister
2. Damien Varley
3. Tom Court
4. Dan Tuohy
5. Devin Toner
6. Peter O'Mahony
7. Shane Jennings
8. Chris Henry (c)

16. Mike Sherry 17. Stephen Archer 18. Mike McCarthy 19. John Muldoon 20. Isaac Boss 21. Paddy Wallace 22. Tiernan O'Hallornan

Ireland

15. Rob Kearney
14. Andrew Trimble
13. Keith Earls
12. Paddy Wallace
11. Luke Fitzgerald
10. Jonathon Sexton
9. Eoin Reddan

1. Cian Healy
2. Rory Best
3. Mike Ross
4. Donnacha Ryan
5. Paul O'Connell (c)
6. Stephen Ferris
7. Sean O'Brien
8. Jamie Heaslip

16. Sean Cronin 17. Tom Court 18. Donncha O'Callaghan 19. Chris Henry 20. Conor Murray 21. Ronan O'Gara 22. Fergus McFadden

This might be a stupid idea but one thing I think we should look at is having Earls defending on the wing with Fitzgerald defending at outside centre, whereas Earls will line up at centre in attack.

I don't remember that! Ulster did go through a really rough patch after the Ospreys game, but I don't remember the scrum being that bad - it was mostly bad handling/idiotic back play. Having said that I missed the Treviso debacle when he got injured. Then he was out for two months afair

Treviso, ospreys and dragons mangled our scrum.

Notch

I like the team but I think we will see O'Mahoney bench over Henry for the full team and I just noticed you have no Gordon d'arcy which I believe iswishful thinking.I think we may see spence get some time for the wolfhounds but who knows.

Notch wrote:So to take this thread in a different direction, your opening 22s for the game versus England Saxons then the full international next week against Wales.


10. Ian Madigan
9. Paul Marshall

Thats a tasty looking halfback combination,serious gas and try scoring potential I would love to see them in action.