Your Ireland team to play the All Blacks in the 1st test

First topic message reminder :

There is always a lot of discussion from Irish posters, which is good, but sometimes things tend to go off in a tangent so, tout simplement, I wanted to ask you your opinion of who should start the first test v New Zealand. Note, this is YOUR team and not what you think Kidney will pick.

Full squad:
Ireland Squad (New Zealand tour 2012 with Test matches on 9, 16 and 23 June)

Forwards (17):
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Declan Fitzpatrick (Dungannon /Ulster)*
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)
Ronan Loughney (Galwegians/Connacht)*
Kevin McLaughlin (St.Mary's College/Leinster)
Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
Mike Sherry (Garryowen/Munster)*
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena /Ulster)
Brett Wilkinson (Galwegians/Connacht)*

Backs (13):
Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Paul Marshall (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)*
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster)
Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)*
*Denotes Uncapped Player

NB Paul O'Connell is not included in the listed squad until a decision is made regarding his fitness on Friday.

My pick:

1. Healy
2. Best.
3. Ross.
4. POC
5. Ryan
6. O'Brien
7. O’Mahony
8. Heaslip
9. Reddan
10. Sexton
11. Earls
12. D'Arcy
13. O’Driscoll
14. Trimble
15. Kearney

16. Cronin
17. Fitzpatrick
18. Tuohy
19. McLaughlin
20. Murray
21 AN Other
21. Zebo

OK Pete I'll give you an example...quite often you'll see Heaslip dummy pick and go of the back of the scrum...he'll feint the pick up then flick the ball to Reddan or Boss buying valuable time and space for his 9..... that looks easy but unless there is trust between the 8 and 9 things like that don't really work... the 8 instinctively know where his 9 is standing and vice versa...

Easter and Care are another example...the two play of each other.

Well there are two things:

1) The only occasion where a back line is truly properly positioned on the field, and the best opportunity to create something, is at the set piece. Usually in open play things get a bit distorted, with backs joining the breakdown, forwards in with the backs, that sort of thing. I think the set piece presents a real opportunity to get on the front foot. And in that situation, at the scrum, the 8-9-10 dictate the speed of the attack. Of course there are other factors like the scrum itself, but a good 8 can still maintain control in a sticky situation.

2) Although the moves at the set piece are often planned, an 8 still has to use his brain in these situations. As I said, in a sticky situation like a retreating scrum, he needs to think about whether he picks and tries to offload, whether to take contact, etc. He always has to be aware of where the ball is, and where his 9 is. He also has to know where the opposition back row are, and make sure they don't shut him or his 9 down. As I said I think people can take this stuff for granted. If he is smart he can create real opportunities off the back of the scrum for his team. I think he is key in these situations.

For me the pivotal positions are 8-9-10. Any decent 8 will create a good link between the forwards and the backs.

rodders wrote:OK Pete I'll give you an example...quite often you'll see Heaslip dummy pick and go of the back of the scrum...he'll feint the pick up then flick the ball to Reddan or Boss buying valuable time and space for his 9..... that looks easy but unless there is trust between the 8 and 9 things like that don't really work... the 8 instinctively know where his 9 is standing and vice versa...

Easter and Care are another example...the two play of each other.

And guys like Easter/Heaslip have their basics completely nailed down. They are specialist 8s.

Rodders Gear has been in the Highlanders this year and the struggling Hurricanes last year. It hasn't been easy for him to showcase his talents and the coaches weren't happy with his defence at times. Personally I think he should've been in the RWC last year as we lacked a left wing specialist and Kahui's shoulder sadly is too brittle for him to be thought of long term.

That said, I´m keen to see how Savea performs and if he gets some space, people may well be raving about him as well.

True story, I was originally supposed to arrive in vancouver at midnight which is the exact time of kick off. After the excitement of the team deccie picked, I spent an hour last night calling delta, voice choked up over my gran who has taken a turn for the worst (actually dead 20yrs) and whether they could move my flight earlier so I could say goodbye.. On way to airport in NYC now, now landing a good 5 hrs before kick off.. Go on Ireland, win it for the sake of my dying(dead) gran!

She'll be turning in her grave and now weaving her magic to make sure the ABs win. Can't fault your commitment though.

Sorry lads I ran out of quota time in work last night which is a pain! Will get back on the scrum thing again Rodders/Rory

COME ON IRELAND

BELIEVE

Any chance of a link please guys?

Steve Hansen and Declan Kidney interviews were dripping with charisma in their interviews. I haven't seen as much charisma in the same arena since....jeez I don't know, The Rock vs Hollywood Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 18.

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:Steve Hansen and Declan Kidney interviews were dripping with charisma in their interviews. I haven't seen as much charisma in the same arena since....jeez I don't know, The Rock vs Hollywood Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 18.

I'm assuming that's loaded with sarcasm........................

Fly, Hansen made us look like we are coached by Dara O'Briain.

Ha the fireworks after the Haka.

Ireland by 5. Historic win. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah!!!!!

nice take zebo. Big game please

Bring on reddan he can actually put the thing into the scrum

Ireland defending like Wales!

spoke to soon! what a ridiculously classy, but simple passing try.

Game over already

They are so good at timing a pass they don't rush. They draw the man till the very last second and make the scissors and they know there is someone along side in support to pop the pass to.

NH still can't do that.

Awful tackling there, Ireland giving up.

too many basic mistakes from ireland...from players that would expect not to make them

This is gunna be 60 points. Reminds me of 2005 except NZ are even better.

Good news is there are only another 2 tests to play.

Dont worrie o gara is on he'll sort everything out

Why bring ROG on?

It's time for Kidney to outright back Sexton. You can rotate too much in a key position.

ROG is the oppositions 15th man.

welliamwibb wrote:ROG is the oppositions 15th man.

Do u mean 16th?

I said I'd judge on performance (that's kinda all you got when you know you're meeting the All Blacks three times having sunk to 8th in the world under these coaches)

So..judging on performance for the first test - that's one definite down for Kidney. Rudderless nonsense once again. Once again too we have Murray and Sexton and then Redden and O'Gara. Once again no invention just mostly slam dunk into contact.

Certainly the All Blacks are an awesome side, suffuse with talent and conditioning to match. But there is no way these Irish players are as bad as our present coaches make them look.

Kidney has two games left to show he's the man to continue the job - and the reality is it would need to be a fantasy turn around to make that so. I'll wait for those two games then - and the fantasy...

Fly - I have missed your insight recently. Where have you been?

Maybe it's natural after defeat to feel downhearted, but I have a really ominous feeling about the other two tests.

I lost the will to live as that match dragged on. To the point I don't even want to watch the last two games.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Fly - I have missed your insight recently. Where have you been?

Working Rory! Plus...I kinda do get tired listening to the sound of my own...typed words!!! I get bored with Fly and always need a break from him- especially when little real rugby is being played. But I'm back to enjoy the misery of what we saw tonight. The All Blacks though... thank God they're my favourite side apart from Ireland. I can admire them, but it's still painful.

Yeah I bet it was tough to watch Fly. Things looked really good in the opening exchanges. But 16 3 up and the game was already gone. You have to hold out longer to apply pressure and score yourselves even if they're penalties.

Don't worry lads. Let's aimlessly kick our way to a 2-1 series win.

The Great Aukster wrote:When was the last time an AB wing scored a hat trick on debut?

Nobody answered this last Wednesday, anyone know now?

Can you read the future TGA?

I have a vague memory of Jeff Wilson scoring three tries against Scotland on his debut.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Can you read the future TGA?

Of course.

Notch wrote:Why bring ROG on?

It's time for Kidney to outright back Sexton. You can rotate too much in a key position.

Two more Test matches coming up - no harm observing whats going on in preparation for next week's test. The game was well lost by then.

By my reckoning Sin that was your only post today. As usual it added SFA to the debate.
The only thing that stands out of ROG' s performance was kicking for touch INSIDE the AB's 22 with less than 10 minutes left in a game we had already lost and with men outside him

Rava wrote:By my reckoning Sin that was your only post today. As usual it added SFA to the debate.
The only thing that stands out of ROG' s performance was kicking for touch INSIDE the AB's 22 with less than 10 minutes left in a game we had already lost and with men outside him

You reckoned wrong, Rava, though I do think that if you can't find anything good to say, its best keep your mouth shut.

Perhaps you might point me in the direction of your (or anyone's) enlightening posts!