Ireland & England v Barbarians, 28 and 31 May

First topic message reminder :

Game 1

             
21 Ireland XV v Barbarians 22
28 May 2015
KO: 19:45
Thomond Park, Limerick

Ireland XV Team

15. Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14. Dave Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster)
13. Colm O'Shea (Clontarf/Leinster)
12. Luke Marshall (Ballymena/Ulster)
11. Craig Gilroy (Dungannon/Ulster)
10. Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster)
9. Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne Leinster)

1. Jack McGrath (St Mary's College/Leinster)
2. Richardt Strauss (Old Wesley/Leinster)
3. Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster)
4. Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
5. Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)
6. Robbie Diack (Malone/Ulster)
7. Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster)
8. Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster) captain

16. Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
17. Michael Bent (Dublin University/Leinster)
18. Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
19. Ben Marshall (Old Belvedere/Connacht)
20. Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21. Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster)
22. Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster)
23. Cian Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster)

Barbarians Team:

15. Zane Kirchner (Leinster & South Africa)
14. Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues & Wales)
13. Joe Rokocoko (Bayonne & New Zealand)
12. Wynand Olivier (Montpellier & South Africa)
11. David Smith (Toulon)
10. James Gopperth (Leinster)
9. Ruan Pienaar (Ulster & South Africa)

1. Roberto Tejerizo (Tucuman & Argentina)
2. Deon Fourie (Lyon)
3. Adam Jones(Cardiff Blues & Wales)
4. Rodrigo Capo Ortega (Castres & Uruguay)
5. Konstantin Mikautadze (Toulon & Georgia)
6. Shane Jennings (Leinster & Ireland, capt)
7. Gerhard Vosloo (Toulon)
8. Ryu Koliniasi Holani (Panasonic Wild Knights & Japan).

16. David Ward (Harlequins)
17. Saimone Taumoepeau (Castres & New Zealand)
18. Matias Diaz (Pampas & Argentina)
19. Nathan Hines (Sale Sharks & Scotland)
20. George Smith (Lyon & Australia)
21. Tomas Cubelli (Belgrano Ath & Argentina)
22. Tusi Pisi (Suntory Sungoliath & Samoa)
23. Gio Aplon (Grenoble & South Africa).

Game 2

  
England v Barbarians
31 May 2015
KO:15:00
Twickenham, London

England XV Team:
Tait (Leicester Tigers); Wade (Wasps), Daly (Wasps), Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Yarde (Harlequins); Cipriani (Sale Sharks), Dickson (Northampton Saints, capt); Mullan (Wasps), Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), Brookes (Newcastle Falcons); Slater (Leicester Tigers), Launchbury (Wasps); Wilson (Newcastle Falcons), Clifford (Harlequins), Beaumont (Sale Sharks).

Replacements: Taylor (Sale Sharks), Waller (Northampton Saints), Denman (Northampton Saints), Gaskell (Wasps), Fisher (Northampton Saints), Chudley (Exeter Chiefs), Geraghty (London Irish), Lewington (London Irish)

Barbarians Team:
Aplon (Grenoble & South Africa); Smith (Toulon), Rokocoko (Bayonne & New Zealand), Olivier (Montpellier & South Africa), Monye (Harlequins & England); Pisi (Suntory Sungoliath & Samoa); Cubelli (Belgrano Ath & Argentina); Taumoepeau (Castres & New Zealand), Ward (Harlequins), Diaz (Pampas & Argentina); Manoa (Northampton Saints and USA), Thorn (Leicester Tigers & New Zealand, capt); Whitelock (Panasonic Wild Knights & New Zealand), Smith (Lyon & Australia), Waldrom (Exeter Chiefs & England).

Replacements: Fourie (Lyon), Tejerizo (Tucuman & Argentina), Jones (Cardiff Blues & Wales), Hines (Sale Sharks & Scotland), Matera (Pampas & Argentina), Pienaar (Ulster & South Africa), Brett (Lyon), Fujita (Panasonic Wild Knights & Japan)

Reasonably quiet aside from a good try he scored from the 22, beating a defender.

Stats have Daly down as making 5 out of 10 tackles - didn't notice that myself but it's not good. Clifford made 15/15, won a couple of impressive turnovers and gave a great offload to kickstart a scoring move. Really think he's going to be special.

Couldn't believe that carry for his try was Beaumont's first.

Wade got the hat-trick but Yarde looked more like the test winger for me today.  Similar stats to Wade but more assured and better all-round decision making, the assist for two of Wade's tries (most notable for me was the break and longish pass left to right) and one of his own.  With the loss of Tuilagi's physicality in the squad and Watson & Nowell able to cover other positions I think that performance might have for the moment made Yarde the third choice wing ahead of May.

Its a shame the Barbarians team wasn't allowed to flow from last week, and their ethos of actually trying to win the game wasn't upheld. Taking a dead cert 3 points when offered to you early on allows you to play with a platform, instead of force things from everywhere.

Notch wrote:What this is shown me (as someone who doesn't get a chance to watch many Premiership games) is the amazing depth in the centres you have now. Skillful players coming out of your ears.

English rugby has been transformed in the last 5 years as the academies churn out large numbers of talented players with good basics. As Sam says, Marchant is one to watch in future.

Cumbrian wrote:
I did think Slade should concentrate on becoming a contender at fly half, but I am beginning to think that he really could become the long term answer at inside centre.  2015 is probably too soon though.  Think of the backline could put out in 2019... That is worth getting excited about.

It's quite hard to predict who will play n the backs in 2019, as there is still time for someone in the u18s to step up. However, at IC I'd expect to see Slade, Devoto, Stephenson and Hill to be competing.

Nice to see precise finishing from an England side. Cipriani really was very good.

thomh wrote:Reasonably quiet aside from a good try he scored from the 22, beating a defender.

Stats have Daly down as making 5 out of 10 tackles - didn't notice that myself but it's not good. Clifford made 15/15, won a couple of impressive turnovers and gave a great offload to kickstart a scoring move. Really think he's going to be special.

Very pleased to hear those stats for Clifford. I've been wanting to see him in an international environment for a while, and this is the next best thing. I think he could finally be the 7 we've been waiting for. He has Robshaw's workrate but better all round skills.

I'm now thinking that post RWC, Lancaster should look to give both Beaumont (assuming he can play 6) and Clifford time from the bench until they're ready to be tried with Vunipola or Morgan. That could be a seriously dangerous back row.

As for Wade, did we really learn anything we didn't already know? He scored tries for fun (though Yarde deserves a lot of credit for the first two), his defensive position is now OK - but he falls off too many simple tackles (tackles that Cipriani was making easily when he was in Wade's channel). He still needs a big step up in defence to be ready for full international honours.

2 things we learned from that.

1. BaaBaas get worse the longer they've been together / on the sauce.
2. Slade looked a little bit 'Conrad Smith'y.

If Lancaster wants to keep this fixture meaning anything, he should add Wade to the training squad. He scored 3.9 tries and, frankly, what's the difference between 50 (53 with crocks) and 51 players.

Things that I took away from watching that game about England -
1. Cipriani isnt a bad 3rd choice 10.
2. LCD - like T.Youngs really needs to work on his throwing, but what he offers in the loose is exceptional.
3. Wade still isnt ready in my mind.
4. Yarde has stepped up again and had some excelent touches, looking dangerous.
5. L.Dickson is still behind Wigglesworth.
6. Josh Beaumont got 1 try from 1 carry was it 60mins in or something. There must have been a lot of grafting in there but youd expect your no.8 to carry more!
7. England young guns and fring players looked hungry..........

Poorfour wrote:As for Wade, did we really learn anything we didn't already know? He scored tries for fun (though Yarde deserves a lot of credit for the first two), his defensive position is now OK - but he falls off too many simple tackles (tackles that Cipriani was making easily when he was in Wade's channel). He still needs a big step up in defence to be ready for full international honours.

It strikes that while he's still an outsider for the actual squad, he's a guy you should include in the extended squad because he'd be a good player to train against. His pace and agility is a handful for defenders and thats a good thing if you're preparing to defend against some of the Fijian wingers, the Aussies etc.

propdavid_london wrote:Things that I took away from watching that game about England -
1. Cipriani isnt a bad 3rd choice 10.
2. LCD - like T.Youngs really needs to work on his throwing, but what he offers in the loose is exceptional.
3. Wade still isnt ready in my mind.
4. Yarde has stepped up again and had some excelent touches, looking dangerous.  
5. L.Dickson is still behind Wigglesworth.
6. Josh Beaumont got 1 try from 1 carry was it 60mins in or something.  There must have been a lot of grafting in there but youd expect your no.8 to carry more!
7. England young guns and fring players looked hungry..........

Tom Youngs has been throwing in very well all season. His success rate for Tigers was phenomenal. Only predictable throw to the tail in the opposition 22 for England proved an issue (as it was for Hartley).

LCD really struggled to find a rhythm when throwing to Beaumont, he managed to get it to Slater though. Whether that's the experience of Slater or because Slater was running the line out I don't know.