What will Ireland's centre partnership be for 2015 rwc?

Leinster A team to play this Sunday,
12.Brendan Macken
13.Eoin O'Malley
This partnership should be Irelands in 2015.....Discuss!
These 2 centre's have far more potential to be something special , than any other in Ireland.You can go talk about your Mcfaddens and Caves however they have already reached their optimum power, thus making them useless!

Mcfadden and Cave nowhere to be seen?

I think this could be a decent debate. What centres are out there at the minute. Please fill in the gaps that I will inevitably miss;

P Wallace, Marshall, Cave
Griffin, McSharry
JJ Hanrahan, Earls, Downey
Darcy, BOD, Macken, EO'Malley, McFadden, Goodman (would he be IQ)

Out of these Darcy, BOD, Wallace and possibly Downey will be retired from international level.

You could have some nice combinations out of the remainder.

Macken has mainly played at 13 I thought and his defence leaves a lot to be desired. Hasn't really kicked on after being bigger up massively at schools level. I suspect eom is too small ultimately although if he can get a run of games and get his form back you never know.

Currently Marshall and earls look a good bet but I would love to see someone else at 13. Not sure who. McFadden will be in The mix too

thebluesmancometh wrote:Mcfadden and Cave nowhere to be seen?

McFadden has shown he is an incredibly hardworking machine on the pitch, but lacks the creativity and the general spark players like Macken, and to a greater extent Marshall, have. He has a great pass, but watching him play alongside d'arcy can be painful, he rarely picks good lines, and ends up bumping into his inside/outside support a lot.

As for Cave, he is mediocre in my opinion, and at 25 is hardly a spring chicken. He also seems a little petulant on the pitch, blaming players for intercepted passes, rather than chasing them down himself etc.

kunu wrote:

thebluesmancometh wrote:Mcfadden and Cave nowhere to be seen?

McFadden has shown he is an incredibly hardworking machine on the pitch, but lacks the creativity and the general spark players like Macken, and to a greater extent Marshall, have. He has a great pass, but watching him play alongside d'arcy can be painful, he rarely picks good lines, and ends up bumping into his inside/outside support a lot.

As for Cave, he is mediocre in my opinion, and at 25 is hardly a spring chicken. He also seems a little petulant on the pitch, blaming players for intercepted passes, rather than chasing them down himself etc.

I have a feeling one of the Connacht players will end up at 13. There are four very talented players in their backline currently. Marmion, McSharry, Griffin and Henshaw. Three of whom could end up at 13.

My personal preference would be Marshall at 12 and Bowe at 13.

Great players in there though.

Marshall-strong, creative, good distribution, good carrier. good defence too.
Mcsharry-very strong, great offload and defence. Quick enough too.
McFadden(12)-strong, very quick, good kicker/passer. Poor defence.
Hanrahan-excellent playmaker especially kicker, hasn't been tested at pro12 really

Cave- great defence, possibly a bit slow, unversatile. Good in contact.
eom-great feet and hands. Possibly too small in defence for international level.
Earls-very fast and great broken field runner. Poor awareness and passing. Not great in contact. Questionable positional defense.
Bowe-quick, great line runner. Excellent offloader. Defence only ok.
Fitz-quick, great feet and line runner. Good support runner and excellent defence. Poor basics.

I think a sexton-Marshall-Bowe would be unreal.

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:

I think a sexton-Marshall-Bowe would be unreal.

That would be good alright, but personally don't fancy the idea of moving, bowe - one of the worlds best wingers - to centre. 13 is probably the hardest position to play, and having a now 28 year old switch to that position, when he's only spent brief stints at 13, just isn't a good idea in my opinion. We should focus on developing an out an out 13, rather than getting players to adopt to new positions, it's one of the annoying things Ireland do at the moment. Players like Earls, mcfadden have never realised their full potential, as they have never been allowed to focus on 1 position. Hopefully Deccie wont add Zebo to the confused mess and return him to wing in the 6ns.

Nobody mentioning chris Farrell

Another player with great potential. I didn't rate him at until until the U20 JWC where he played some outstanding rugby.

I think JJ and one of the Connacht boys who will no doubt not be at Connacht in years to come will be the future of the Irish midfield,whether 2015 is of course highly debatable.

I think JJ will be wasted anywhere other than at 10. His kicking game is too good to not leave him in control at 10. Add to that his playmaking and natural flair in attack and you have a very dangerous option there. Marshall is the better option for 12. A powerful runner, with great playmaking skills and a good kicking game also. McSharry is another player who has impressed at 12.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I think JJ will be wasted anywhere other than at 10. His kicking game is too good to not leave him in control at 10. Add to that his playmaking and natural flair in attack and you have a very dangerous option there. Marshall is the better option for 12. A powerful runner, with great playmaking skills and a good kicking game also. McSharry is another player who has impressed at 12.

Has Marshall ever played 13? I think at this moment in time McSharry is the form 12 in the country. He's been a revelation at Connacht.

I'm not sure LeinsterFan, I don't think so. He is like a second playmaker, he can play 10 as well as 12, and doesn't really have the pace to be a 13. Farrell, another 12, has partnered Marshall a few times and he was the one moved to 13.

Can McSharry play 13? I think he would be more suited to playing 13 than Marshall would.

The great thing is that not too long ago many of us were worrying that there were no decent options at 12 to replace D'Arcy. Now we have several coming through the ranks. It is probably better to leave them to battle it out in their respective positions than swap around anyway, to get the best games out of everyone. A few sometimes suit change however.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:The great thing is that not too long ago many of us were worrying that there were no decent options at 12 to replace D'Arcy. Now we have several coming through the ranks. It is probably better to leave them to battle it out in their respective positions than swap around anyway, to get the best games out of everyone. A few sometimes suit change however.

You can't really judge JJ on the jwc, as the gap to too detrimental. Just look st Conway, he had an unbelieveable world cup, equalizing the record for most tries, in stunning fashion.However playing for Leinster he looks an average winger, maybe a bit too small to play at international level.

Hanrahan is undoubtedly a flyhalf, it's where he plays his club rugby and he is probably too small to play Test level rugby at 12.

If Kidney is still in charge in 2015 then it will still be D'Arcy and BOD in the centres!

Yeah seeing if mcsharry could play 13 would be an option.

What about Fitzgerald? is he an option in either of the centres?