england saxons v irish wolfhounds predictions

i think it be good game with irish doing well in hc they will be confident but england always strong at saxons level got some good young fowards but i think irish will edge it they got better pack where england got better back line what do you think

im looking forward to this game, as usual the saxons squad really isnt that far off the full england squad.

the wolfhounds is also full of quality players , many who have enjoyed recent sucess in the HC, there is also some names in there i dont know much about so will be interesting.

i hope home advantage will be enough to see the saxons victourious

I worry regarding the props we have got. If they can deliver we have a chance. Saxons are favourites though

I dont know the Irish that well...but i think there are a few English men that could be a good performance away from promotion to the 1st Squad...ie Garvey, Mullan...etc theres a big incentive to play well in this game...

Stand I think Wilkinson can do a decent job at LH but TH is a huge worry - we could get mashed.

Archer is not that great and Longwy is way below standard - looks behind Hagan, Macklin and Fitzpatrick from what I have seen

When will the teams be named, its very hard to call without knowing who will be on the pitch....

Yeah I recall wilkinson getting a going over last year though. I think he was binned and we brought hagan on at TH and switched Deccie Fitzgerald to LH and held them with 7 men. The back five of the pack are good and with spence, Zebo and EOM there we could be competitive.

When is the Wolfhounds team announced?

This is huge game. Really hoping for a strong showing from the Wolfhounds but the pack is really going to have to front up if we are to be competitive here.

When is this ? Is it televised ?

England Saxons: D Armitage (London Irish); U Monye (Harlequins), M Hopper (Harlequins), B Twelvetrees (Leicester), M Banahan (Bath); F Burns (Gloucester), B Spencer (Saracens); M Mullan (Worcester), J Gray (Harlequins), P Doran-Jones (Northampton), M Garvey (London Irish), G Robson (Harlequins), J Gaskell (Sale, captain), A Saull (Saracens), T Waldrom (Leicester).

Replacements: C Brooker (Harlequins), R Harden (Gloucester), K Myall (Sale), T Johnson (Exeter), P Hodgson (London Irish), R Lamb (Northampton), J May (Gloucester).

munkian wrote:When is this ? Is it televised ?

This Saturday at Sandy Park. Don't know if it's on the box but it'll be sky if it is.

really like the look of the saxons 15. bit suprised to see gaskell named as captain.. personally I would have prefered T Johnson to start on the blind side. Looking forward to seeing May from the bench, also would have liked to see John joseph involved.

Shame wade is injured. Dont know much about myall or harden, although i have heard good things about both.

You know i really like the balance of this side..both in terms of age and positionally...everyone is in their club positions....

Harden is an ex Falcons academy player...so bound to be good

Not convinced the balance of the pack is quite right, and the wingers lack explosive pace. Still, not a bad side and looking forward to seeing how the front row, Garvey, Saull and 9/10/12/13 go.

Thats a very good England Saxons team

I'd imagine now Ireland are looking at:

Wilkinson, Varley, Archer
Toner, Tuohy
McLaughlin, Muldoon, Henry
Boss, Madigan
Spence, O'Malley
Zebo, Duffy, Kearney

Sherry, Loughney, McCarthy, Ruddock, O'Leary, Keatley, Hurley

That is a seriously powerful Saxons pack, and they have specialists in specialist positions, which makes a change. Pretty powerful Saxons backline as well, Moyne and Banahan are both hard to stop.

The Saxons should win this one in my opinion.

DaveM wrote:Not convinced the balance of the pack is quite right, and the wingers lack explosive pace. Still, not a bad side and looking forward to seeing how the front row, Garvey, Saull and 9/10/12/13 go.

Yeah with you there Dave....as these are positions that are still pretty open to change in the 1st team....in fact many thought Garvey should have been in the 1st Squad.

munkian wrote:When is this ? Is it televised ?

Sat 1630 SS1

HQ matt wrote:really like the look of the saxons 15. bit suprised to see gaskell named as captain.. personally I would have prefered T Johnson to start on the blind side. Looking forward to seeing May from the bench, also would have liked to see John joseph involved.

Shame wade is injured. Dont know much about myall or harden, although i have heard good things about both.

JJ has had about 20 mins since injuring himself against Bath back in October. He was with the squad but released back to us at Irish to get game time, which he is likely to do against the Scarlets this week.

GeordieFalcon wrote:

DaveM wrote:Not convinced the balance of the pack is quite right, and the wingers lack explosive pace. Still, not a bad side and looking forward to seeing how the front row, Garvey, Saull and 9/10/12/13 go.

Yeah with you there Dave....as these are positions that are still pretty open to change in the 1st team....in fact many thought Garvey should have been in the 1st Squad.

Gents, Banahan isn't the quickest but Monye has still got a good turn of pace. I would have liked Wade to have been in there though, shame he's crocked.

HQ matt I like the look of that side actually. Will be really interesting to see how the Saxons get on.

Particularly interested in the front five and halfback pairing.

Likewise beshocked. I'm looking for some good mature play from Freddie combined with his attacking flair, he could push for 2nd choice FH in the summer. Spencer has looked very composed for Sarries, and it's nice to see a Saxons team where several wouldn't look out of place in an England first XV.

i like the team but if wade was fit i'd have him in the side prob over monye. if JJ was fully match fit i'd have him over hopper (although i cant argue hopper has earned his chance) and i'd defo have johnson over gaskell.

Am i the only person not convinced by hopper? Good going forward but absolutely woeful in defence. Isn't he also 26? So its not exactly like he has loads of time to develop, he should be pretty much at his peak at the moment. I'd have preferred to see JJ if fit or maybe Daly there instead. Some players who could develop to become great.

Hopper's defence has been excellent, apart from missing JSD. JJ isn't match fit, but I'd guess will probably feature for the Saxons in a couple of weeks. Daly is with the u20's. I think Hopper is worth a go - you want to have a culture where playing well sees you recognised, even if you are not a player who's been identified early.

O2 Ireland Wolfhounds Team & Replacements (V England Saxons Sandy Park, Exeter, Saturday, 28th January 2012, K.O. 5.00pm: 

15 - Gavin Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht)
14 - David Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster) * 
13 - Eoin O'Malley (Old Belvedere/Leinster) * 
12 - Nevin Spence (Ballynahinch/Ulster) * 
11 - Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)* 
10 - Ian Keatley (Young Munster/Munster) 
9 - Isaac Boss (Terenure College/Leinster) 
1 - Brett Wilkinson (Galwegians/Connacht)* 
2 - Damien Varley (Garryowen/Munster) 
3 - Stephen Archer (Cork Constitution/Munster) * 
4 - Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster) 
5 - Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht) 
6 - John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht) 
7 - Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster) Captain
8 - Rhys Ruddock (St. Mary's College/Leinster)

Replacements:
16 - Mike Sherry (Garryowen/Munster)*
17 - Ronan Loughney (Galwegians/Connacht)* 
18 - Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 
19 - Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 
20 - Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster) 
21 - Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster)* 
22 - Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster)

Really like the look of his team except the front row and surely madigan should be starting with boss?

Ah I was close enough.

From Ireland's point of view its a good team but not a great team. Happy with 9 uncapped men in there. Good progress, epecially at prop, flyhalf and in the back 3.

Pretty good team! I wonder if we might see Keatley and Madigan on at the same time at some point? Could be interesting, especially since there are only 2 centres on that team.

EDIT: Before looking stupid, I mean there are no other replacement centres on the bench no centre cover.

Rory, I think Keatley covers 12, Duffy covers 13 for this squad.

Given that one of the locks will probably jump from this squad to the main one next week, what does this selection tell us? Will Toner only get 30 mins so he's fresh or is he considered the 3rd best in the WH sqaud?

Yeah that is why I assumed Keatley will move into 12 at some point in the game. Not sure Spence will last the entire 80 since he is back from injury.

Very strong Wolfhounds team..bar the front row....

Delighted for Henry who has had a brilliant season. Very physical 2nd row pairing with Toner to add subtlety and class from the bench.

Exciting looking backline and really looking forward to seeing Spence and O'Malley link up again. I hope Spence is fit though.

Strong bench too.

ZEEEEEBOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Oh I got to see Zebo's tries - he took them very well! Munster have some extremely dangerous players available to them. Stag (or any other Munster fan) would you like to see this at some point:

11) Zebo
14) Howlett
15) Earls

or

11) Earls
14) Zebo
15) Jones

Personally, I would crap my pants if I saw Ulster up against that. Give them any chance to run and you're screwed.

Christ Spencer starting 9? He's done very well for himself.

Based on that I expect Archer, Varley, Tuohy, Henry, Boss and Spence to be added to the full squad - provided they perform

Is Zebo world class yet?

No - in grave danger of being overhyped ahead of his natural development.

That is what the English do - we should not follow suit

Going to do a little head to head if you don't mind!

15 Delon Armitage/Gavin Duffy - Armitage tops this one, although I rate Duffy I think Armitage is very dangerous.

14 Ugo Monye/Dave Kearney - Monye is more experienced, and again dangerous, but Kearney looks a real prospect. Still, Monye.

13 Matt Hopper/Eoin O'Malley - Hopper has been getting some praise these days, but he still has a lot to prove. Meanwhile EOM is a good prospect but his defence is suspect. I would say this is a draw.

12 Billy Twelvetrees/Nevin Spence - Well, I have to say Spence is my favourite prospect in Ireland. Though at 13, not at 12. He is just back from injury, but no doubt will put his body on the line. He is so physical. Twelvetrees had a shocker at 10 against Ulster, though at 12 he may be right at home. I would say Twelvetrees shades this one, but only because Spence is out of position.

11 Matt Banahan/Simon Zebo - Zebo. Don't rate Banahan high at all and Zebo will probably run circles round him.

10 Freddie Burns/Ian Keatley - Burns seems to be doing well but I don't know a whole lot about him. He seems to have a cool head at the top level. Keatley is pretty hot and cold at times in open play, but can be deadly accurate with the boot. An interesting one, will have to go with a draw here.

9 Ben Spencer/Isaac Boss - I think Boss has been playing some great rugby this past while for Leinster. However, as I don't know a thing about Spencer really I am going to have to pass on this one. Anyone want to answer this one for me?

So far England are in the lead. I'll do the forwards soon

geoff998rugby wrote:Based on that I expect Archer, Varley, Tuohy, Henry, Boss and Spence to be added to the full squad - provided they perform

I would absolutely love it if Spence moved up to the main squad.

Rory - Freddie Burns is streets ahead of Keatley.

By contrast I would rather have the Irish centres than the English ones

Hm I'm not sure he is streets ahead but he looks like he could be very good. Keatley is a bit like Humphreys these days in terms of consistency, but I think he can be incredible at times. During the RWC he played very well I thought.

I think Spence is better than any centre on the pitch there, but he is out of position. Twelvetrees is a natural 12 however. EOM's defence is suspect, otherwise he would be ahead of Hopper.

EOM and spence came up against tuilagi and 36 last year and outplayed them. Hopper isn't an improvement on tuilagi IMO.

Unfortunately I missed that game. Did Spence play better than 36 even at 12?

I have grave doubts Keatley will ever be good enough for International rugby, so in that respect I agree he is like Humphreys.

Freddie Burns could be an International, Madigan is a better prospect in Ireland than Keatley.

As Stand mentioned we outplayed them last year, in the centre, and that includes Spence out performing 36.

Well that is good, but I really hope Kidney isn't thinking of Spence as a 12 rather than 13. Hope he gets the call-up regardless.

Just worried the scrum will be a telling factor. Sure, Jim Mallinder was forced to admit you need more than a scrum to win a game of rugby after the Munster match but it's not like there's a massive gulf of class everywhere else!

We could shade it, but I predict a narrow win for England.

I would certainly have Burns ahead of Keatley at the moment; he has played superbly against a lot of top teams. His recent stand-out game for Glaws was against Tolouse where he was, at times magnificent - super kicking out of hand, lovely passing, good vision and pace. His only issue at the moment is place kicking is variable at times!

36 shouldn't really play 10 for Tigers and is fine in an emergency, but his position is 12 and he has power, pace and a good pass.

Standulstermen wrote:EOM and spence came up against tuilagi and 36 last year and outplayed them. Hopper isn't an improvement on tuilagi IMO.

Yes, but Tuilagi is clearly much better than he showed that day. Twelvetrees and Hopper are both exciting but with flaws in their game, so this could be a really interesting match-up.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Oh I got to see Zebo's tries - he took them very well! Munster have some extremely dangerous players available to them. Stag (or any other Munster fan) would you like to see this at some point:

11) Zebo
14) Howlett
15) Earls

or

11) Earls
14) Zebo
15) Jones

Personally, I would crap my pants if I saw Ulster up against that. Give them any chance to run and you're screwed.

Yes quite happy with either of them. I also quite rate Denis Hurley too but for me I'd be hoping for:

09 Murray
10 O'Gara
11 Zebo
12 Mafi
13 Earls
14 Howlett
15 Jones

21 O'Leary
22 Keatley
23 Hurley