Ireland v Canada - Lansdowne Road, 12th November 19.15

Ireland (5) v Canada (18) , Saturday 12th November
Lansdowne Road, Kick off 19.15
TV: RTE 2, Sky Sports 3, CBC Sports

Last Six
Ireland: W L L W W W
Canada: L L L L L L


Edit:
Ireland line-up confirmed Thursday 10 Nov.

15. Tiernan O'Halloran (Buccaneers/Connacht) 14. Craig Gilroy (Bangor/Ulster) 13. Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster)* 12. Luke Marshall (Ballymena/Ulster) 11. Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 10. Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster) 9. Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht)

1. Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 2. Sean Cronin (St Mary's College/Leinster) 3. Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 4. Ultan Dillane (Corinthians/Connacht) 5. Billy Holland (Cork Constitution/Munster)* 6. Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) captain 7. Sean O'Brien (UCD/Leinster) 8. Jack O'Donoghue (UL Bohemians/Munster)*

Replacements:
16. James Tracy (UCD/Leinster)* 17. Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 18. John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster)* 19. Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster) 20. Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster)* 21. Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster)* 22. Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster) 23. Niyi Adeolokun (Galwegians/Connacht) *

Schmidt give game time to those who'll be in the mix for NZ in Dublin, and capping moreplayers to continue deepening the squad to 45 with 3 in every position.





Canada, whose NZ coach, Kieran Crowley, resigned two weeks after he agreed to lead them into RWC 2019 (to head to Treviso apparently) at the beginning of the year, are now coached by Mark Anscombe.   The team has already had their official tour of the Guinness Storehouse, (Guinness are officials sponsors of Rugby Canada), and squad announcement should happen in next 24 hours.  Some familiar names like to feature include:
Aaron Carpenter – (London Welsh), Ciaran Hearn – (London Irish), Evan Olmstead – (Newcastle Falcons), Taylor Paris – (Agen), Djustice Sears -Duru – (Glasgow Warriors), DTH van Der Merwe – (Scarlets).

The Canadians travel on to Bucaresti to play Romania on Nov 18th, and then to Grenoble to face Samoa on Nov 25th.

If you are correct, that is a tasty pack.

Jack O'Donoghue isn't in the Munster squad for the Maori match so will likely be involved in the Ireland squad.

You're right - he was picked.

Great to see so many young fellas getting a chance. The next 12 months in Irish rugby look very exciting for squad development.

God, it's a cubs and cranks outfit....

I hope we have spine enough and no red cards.....................

I do love that squad selection, it's just so exciting to see the young cubs being given a chance to impress which I think they will. I cannot wait to see Niyi get that Ireland jersey on. Excitement builds.

Pete330v2 wrote:I do love that squad selection, it's just so exciting to see the young cubs being given a chance to impress which I think they will. I cannot wait to see Niyi get that Ireland jersey on. Excitement builds.

Yeah, that's the exciting bit. I'd really like to see what International might do to him. Players can become different animals when International hits. Some of them seize up and some open up even more. Niyi has some potential to add something BODesque to Ireland. But I'm sure Joe will still be tough and demand that all-round game first before any hint of fireworks is allowed.

Finally a decent thread on the game, the other one was a mess!

Loving the selection, 100% spot on. Hard not to be optimistic about the future of Irish rugby.

I see Niyi being a Joe favourite, good overall basic skills, great attitude, high natural fitness levels. And something we don't always have: pace.

Even if this is a walkover of sorts (and I still don't tempt fate to say that it will or should be) but that second ABs game is going to be potentially the toughest encounter of Joe's reign - almost the intensity of a WC final.
ABs graciously let us celebrate the win but now it is on to humiliation mode for them - at least in their preparation and in their mind. They'll want to hurt us badly now and through the whole 80.

The Canada distraction is now a bit of a blessing and a burden. Players minds will be on the ABs and with good reason. The win just made things a whole lot tougher.

I think this will be closer than people think.

This is a pretty scratch Irish side with a lot of new faces so can see Canada making a scrap of this.

the-goon wrote:Finally a decent thread on the game, the other one was a mess!

Loving the selection, 100% spot on. Hard not to be optimistic about the future of Irish rugby.

I see Niyi being a Joe favourite, good overall basic skills, great attitude, high natural fitness levels. And something we don't always have: pace.

but is he better than Dave Kearney?

GunsGerms wrote:

the-goon wrote:Finally a decent thread on the game, the other one was a mess!

Loving the selection, 100% spot on. Hard not to be optimistic about the future of Irish rugby.

I see Niyi being a Joe favourite, good overall basic skills, great attitude, high natural fitness levels. And something we don't always have: pace.

but is he better than Dave Kearney?

haha, we shall we. Dave has performed on the international stage Niyi has his chance. We shall see.

Kearney has set the bar high so these young guys need to get their act together

Years gone by changing the whole team would have had me bricking it. But I expect this team to step up and play.
They should all be desperate to start the next game and they have seen the standard expected if them.

rodders wrote:I think this will be closer than people think.

This is a pretty scratch Irish side with a lot of new faces so can see Canada making a scrap of this.

always the pessimist, join in the fun. We're going to smash them, everyone will play awesome. It's great.

Wonder if the Canadians will be wearing poppies?

Pot Hale wrote:You're right - he was picked.

Great to see so many young fellas getting a chance.   The next 12 months in Irish rugby look very exciting for squad development.

Good to see Joe Schmidt saying a big part of the reason that he hasn't taken up the option of having a break clause for the Lions is because of his excitement at working with some of the younger players on the USA and Canada. I expect that selection for that tour will have a real view towards 2019.

On that note- I feel such delight for Rory Best that he has led Ireland in historic wins in South Africa and over New Zealand, however I do wonder if that summer tour will be the best opportunity for him to pass the torch and the Captaincy on. He is 34 now after all. Hopefully he makes the Lions tour himself, and adds a Six Nations title to his achievements as Captain in the meantime.

tigertattie wrote:Wonder if the Canadians will be wearing poppies?

If they are, the Irish team will have a big punch up with itself and Canada will win by default - in that no Irish player proved fit enough to play...

Notch wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:You're right - he was picked.

Great to see so many young fellas getting a chance.   The next 12 months in Irish rugby look very exciting for squad development.

Good to see Joe Schmidt saying a big part of the reason that he hasn't taken up the option of having a break clause for the Lions is because of his excitement at working with some of the younger players on the USA and Canada. I expect that selection for that tour will have a real view towards 2019.

On that note- I feel such delight for Rory Best that he has led Ireland in historic wins in South Africa and over New Zealand, however I do wonder if that summer tour will be the best opportunity for him to pass the torch and the Captaincy on. He is 34 now after all. Hopefully he makes the Lions tour himself, and adds a Six Nations title to his achievements as Captain in the meantime.

I think, like Joe, he should turn it down and tour with Ireland. It's his decision of course (if asked) but I think being left with mid-week roles is an insult he doesn't need.

If asked to go as third choice hooker he'll go and try and make himself first choice. Thats the mindset of these guys. Sure no matter how much Gatland doesn't like him, if he gets picked in the first place at the very worst he's only one injury away from a Test squad.

Notch wrote:If asked to go as third choice hooker he'll go and try and make himself first choice. Thats the mindset of these guys. Sure no matter how much Gatland doesn't like him, if he gets picked in the first place at the very worst he's only one injury away from a Test squad.

Hmmm............ I still say Gatland would love to snub him - and the only way you get an opportunity to do that is by inviting him along.  We've been there before.

Good try from earls

Sean Cronin has 54 caps- quite a haul- but this is only his ninth ever start for Ireland?!

Thats an unbelievable stat. Anyway, Ireland 7-0 up after a fast start. Great pass from Jackson to release Earls, Canada read it but conceded a lineout 5m out. Ireland maul and then Earls goes over in the corner.

Terrible scrum. SOB had an amazing offload earlier though.

Ireland are carrying the ball with great intensity and busting across the gain line almost every phase. Blown a certain try there, but Canada aren't stopping our pack running hard and giving us quick ball. Ireland in control for now.

Jackson is having a great game tbf

And this is the first time I've seen Cian Healy play well in a really long time

14-0.

now 14-5
Well read by DTH

Very loose from Marshall in his own 22- Ireland playing well and taking risks but maybe that was a bit silly as they'll know VDM is really, really good at nicking those

Loved that run from TOH. More like it ireland.

Great offloading leads to a fantastic try, and great line and finish from O'Hallornan. Ireland have been rocked after a well-deserved couple of tries from Canada but they are back in the lead, 7 points up and hopefully that will settle them down.

Great game this.

Bit of aggro in this. O'Brien and Canadian lock having some Very Strong Words! Canadians don't give a single shoite about Chicago or history or last week, they are here to play and here to win. Tasty game, good game.

SOB messing is not going to get him picked by Joe. Our low penalty count was a huge part of our win against NZ.

I'm watching a stream I found. It didn't have score board or any branding but its obviously the Sky feed. Thing is, at HT it has stayed on a wide angle view of the pitch, and during what i assume was meant to be the adverts, the audio feed was still coming from the studio. I was listening to them all discussing what they were going to chat about for analysis!

A pi$$ poor half of rugby. The battering ram approach isn't working too well.

They didn't say anything they shouldn't have but I heard things like "and then I'll tear into his performance a little bit"...
Felt like I was doing something wrong listening to it!
Basically, somehow its a hijack of the pitch camera feed and the audio, but before Sky add there graphics etc, and no studio analysis video feed. Rather odd!

I used to think all the Ringrose hype was just the usual unfounded hype we get when some young Leinster guy comes through and its just assumed because he went well in the Leinster Schools Cup he's gods gift to Irish Rugby...

But this kid is for real. He's got nearly everything. Really quality prospect.

Notch wrote:I used to think all the Ringrose hype was just the usual unfounded hype we get when some young Leinster guy comes through and its just assumed because he went well in the Leinster Schools Cup he's gods gift to Irish Rugby...

But this kid is for real. He's got nearly everything. Really quality prospect.

Agreed, I also had my doubts. I honestly think Ringrose and TOH will be starting players for Ireland at next RWC.

Luke Marshall has had a pretty poor game.

You could really poke some big holes in this Ireland performance, to be fair, but I've really enjoyed this game just as a good competitive game of rugby to watch.

How good is it to see such a young set of Irish props putting the hurt on a scrum time? Furlong, Bealham, Ryan, Kilcoyne, Cronin... we're doing very well there!

I'm only 30 mind nto the first half. Noticed TOH seems to be joining the line a lot as first receiver.
I like it

carpet baboon wrote:I'm only 30 mind nto the first half. Noticed TOH seems to be joining the line a lot as first receiver.
I like it

Ringrose standing in at first receiver at times too. Nice variation in back play.

Notch wrote:How good is it to see such a young set of Irish props putting the hurt on a scrum time? Furlong, Bealham, Ryan, Kilcoyne, Cronin... we're doing very well there!

Its amazing. I was at that england match where poor old tom court was decimated and irish rugby has really worked hard to have that never happen again.

Dillane, TOH, Ringrose stand outs. POM led well. Props great. A little frantic at times, but overall more positives than negatives.

Ringtone defence in the 13 channel is excellent

The handbags at half time and wee earls throws himself right I to the middle of it. I like that man

I'm not really too worried about the team performance which was good at times and bad at others because this was a slapped together second XV- in fact, with no starters from our first XV at all and only a few replacements from the same game this reminds me more of the kind of sides you'd see Ireland A put out back when they used to play on the same weekend as the main team in the Six Nations. So given that, its pleasing.

But what I'm really interested in more than anything else is the performance of individuals- and there were some really promising individual performances from really young prospects. Yes there was a bit of very un-Schmidt like sloppiness about some of the penalties and a couple of tries conceded, and I'm sure he'll be right on top of that, but with so much young talent and Schmidt around to bring them through for the next three years I'm really, really optimistic about where we're going.

Another game that was bad enough from Ireland not to expect such a scoreline.  But that's the continuing paradox - when Ireland play sloppy/over-rushed, tense rugby they can look so vulnerable.  I kept thinking of what a really good side would do to us and that they'd punish the messy stuff badly.  But still, there is that scoreline.  Enjoyed the intense/hungry/merciless last 15 minutes or so when the pace upped overall and concentration levels seems to improve to cut out the mistakes that come from tension.

O'Brien still tries too hard to be the man that Joe has to pick.  He over reaches and over-heats in temperament.  A card magnet, which is unfortunate - it's something he's developed over time and it seems he doesn't feel the need to tone down the anger/emotion when playing.  It's dangerous for us and not productive for him.

Earls maintains his habits of over-running his providers and simply thinking ahead of himself too much - confusing and frustrating his support players in turn.  Needs to calm down and mature, in the same way that Luke Fitzgerald always needed to dampen the enthusiasm when in an Ireland shirt.

Gilroy - I just wish he's try running faster sooner.  He's bubbly and dances and darts before he needs to dart and dance.  He should bolt more often without the extras and only have the evasion bubbliness when approaching trouble.  Another player that seems to tense up too much, preparing for wonder moves before he even gets the ball.

But meanwhile, I'm appreciative that it's a team that was put together quickly and that the bulk of the players were conscious that they weren't the primary players in Joe's mind.  But they still felt they needed to impress him.  Some great performances from novices settled my nerves - but looking at that scoreline and then looking at what I felt overall was a real awkward and ragged performance, I keep thinking - how good could Ireland be if players just learned to trust rather than fret and muck up their own rhythm.

SecretFly wrote:
Earls maintains his habits of over-running his providers and simply thinking ahead of himself too much - confusing and frustrating his support players in turn.  Needs to calm down and mature, in the same way that Luke Fitzgerald always needed to dampen the enthusiasm when in an Ireland shirt.

Earls over ran once which I would put down to not having played with TOH previously.

Put Conor Murray in there instead of Marmion / McGrath and there would have been a much better and cohesive performance. I don't think either Marmion or McGrath are up to scratch - their passing is woeful. Marmion is too much of an individualist to be a top class scrumhalf. McGrath really needs to work on his passing.