Ireland 2023/24 - RWC and Onwards

First topic message reminder :

So another season is over, and we're getting ready for Andy Farrell's announcement this coming week for his initial RWC squad that will be used in upcoming warm-up games against Italy (5 Aug) , England (19 Aug) both in Aviva, and then a whittled down finalised RWC squad to play Samoa in France on 26 Aug.

The U20s RWC kicks off in South Africa in July.

After Munster's well-deserved win against Stormers, Farrell & Co may have paused for thought as to who comes into the wider squad beyond the nailed-on members. The 42 man RWC Training Squad announced is:

Forwards (22)

Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University)
Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers)
Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne)
Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere)
Gavin Coombes (Munster/Young Munster)
Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College)
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf)
Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf)
Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy)
Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch)
Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne)
Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians)
Joe McCarthy (Leinster/Dublin University)
Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution)
Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch)
Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD)
Cian Prendergast (Connacht/Corinthians)
James Ryan (Leinster/UCD)
Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne)
Tom Stewart (Ulster/Ballynahinch)*
Kieran Treadwell (Ulster/Ballymena)
Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD)

Backs (20)

Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians)
Caolin Blade (Connacht/Galwegians)
Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD)
Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon)
Jack Crowley (Munster/Cork Constitution)
Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster)
Ciaran Frawley (Leinster/UCD)*
Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster)
Mack Hansen (Connacht/Corinthians)
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers)
Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD)
James Lowe (Leinster)
Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor)
Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen)
Calvin Nash (Munster/Young Munster)*
Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster/Naas)
Jamie Osborne (Leinster/Naas)*
Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD)
Jonathan Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College)
Jacob Stockdale (Ulster/Lurgan)

Just saying the ref needs to sort himself out a bit, he's so concerned that someone might be slowing the game down that Ringrose just played about 2-3 mins with a possible head injury cause he wouldn't stop the game

neilthom7 wrote:Just saying the ref needs to sort himself out a bit, he's so concerned that someone might be slowing the game down that Ringrose just played about 2-3 mins with a possible head injury cause he wouldn't stop the game

That's for the medics to communicate to the officials to be fair. Not for the ref to decide on the fly.

De Alldnde just walked right over Sexton!

king_carlos wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:Just saying the ref needs to sort himself out a bit, he's so concerned that someone might be slowing the game down that Ringrose just played about 2-3 mins with a possible head injury cause he wouldn't stop the game

That's for the medics to communicate to the officials to be fair. Not for the ref to decide on the fly.

He didn't give them the chance to, straight up rejected the calls at the lineout that a player was injured. They never even got a proper chance to evaluate the guy

Both sides fluffing chances in the opposition 22 thus far. Only 3 points scored but I'm fully engrossed. Brutal game so far.

SA the dominant side, but not taken their chances

Anyones game at 3-0

neilthom7 wrote:

king_carlos wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:Just saying the ref needs to sort himself out a bit, he's so concerned that someone might be slowing the game down that Ringrose just played about 2-3 mins with a possible head injury cause he wouldn't stop the game

That's for the medics to communicate to the officials to be fair. Not for the ref to decide on the fly.

He didn't give them the chance too, straight up rejected the calls at the lineout that a player was injured. They never even got a proper chance to evaluate the guy

If the medics (either on the pitch or those looking at the replays for potential head knocks) tell the ref it's a potential HIA then the game gets stopped there. If he hasn't stopped it then none of the medics have said so. All the medic needs to say is there's potential head contact. It looked like the physio was helping Ringrose with a shoulder issue, then the HIA call came from the medic seeing the replays.

BigGee wrote:SA the dominant side, but not taken their chances

Anyones game at 3-0

They've not converted pressure into points thus far but I wouldn't underestimate the potential impact of these collisions later in the game given the Boks have 7 forwards to launch in the second half. A long way to go yet though.

Wow, what a try!

king_carlos wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:

king_carlos wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:Just saying the ref needs to sort himself out a bit, he's so concerned that someone might be slowing the game down that Ringrose just played about 2-3 mins with a possible head injury cause he wouldn't stop the game

That's for the medics to communicate to the officials to be fair. Not for the ref to decide on the fly.

He didn't give them the chance too, straight up rejected the calls at the lineout that a player was injured. They never even got a proper chance to evaluate the guy

If the medics (either on the pitch or those looking at the replays for potential head knocks) tell the ref it's a potential HIA then the game gets stopped there. If he hasn't stopped it then none of the medics have said so. All the medic needs to say is there's potential head contact. It looked like the physio was helping Ringrose with a shoulder issue, then the HIA call came from the medic seeing the replays.

HIA's aren't always caused by head knocks, they are often caused by hits to the shoulder where whiplash follows.  He never gave the medic the time to evaluate Ringrose.  The ball was out he could have given him 30 seconds. Nothing happened on this ocassion but second impact syndrome is a bad, bad issue and I know you may not agree with me on this but to me that is the height of poor player welfare shown by the ref

Came dangerously close to running over the dead ball line there

Thought there was a bit of a tucked arm clear out on Ezebeth there, even though he was illegal. Elbow seemed to hit head.

I’m sore watching this. Brutal stuff

neilthom7 wrote:

king_carlos wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:

king_carlos wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:Just saying the ref needs to sort himself out a bit, he's so concerned that someone might be slowing the game down that Ringrose just played about 2-3 mins with a possible head injury cause he wouldn't stop the game

That's for the medics to communicate to the officials to be fair. Not for the ref to decide on the fly.

He didn't give them the chance too, straight up rejected the calls at the lineout that a player was injured. They never even got a proper chance to evaluate the guy

If the medics (either on the pitch or those looking at the replays for potential head knocks) tell the ref it's a potential HIA then the game gets stopped there. If he hasn't stopped it then none of the medics have said so. All the medic needs to say is there's potential head contact. It looked like the physio was helping Ringrose with a shoulder issue, then the HIA call came from the medic seeing the replays.

HIA's aren't always caused by head knocks, they are often caused by hits to the shoulder where whiplash follows.  He never gave the medic the time to evaluate Ringrose.  The ball was out he could have given him 30 seconds. Nothing happened on this ocassion but second impact syndrome is a bad, bad issue and I know you may not agree with me ont his but to me that is the height of poor player welfare shown by the ref

The point I'm making is that it's on the physio/doctor there to say, "potential head knock sir", not on the ref to guess there might be. It's up to the medical team to communicate that. The physio is clearly concerned with Ringrose's shoulder though.

Heaf wrote:Came dangerously close to running over the dead ball line there

I thought he had for a minute

Cracking try. That's more like Ireland at their clinical best. Having been under a lot of pressure they're suddenly 4 points up. This is shaping to be a cracker.

king_carlos wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:

king_carlos wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:

king_carlos wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:Just saying the ref needs to sort himself out a bit, he's so concerned that someone might be slowing the game down that Ringrose just played about 2-3 mins with a possible head injury cause he wouldn't stop the game

That's for the medics to communicate to the officials to be fair. Not for the ref to decide on the fly.

He didn't give them the chance too, straight up rejected the calls at the lineout that a player was injured. They never even got a proper chance to evaluate the guy

If the medics (either on the pitch or those looking at the replays for potential head knocks) tell the ref it's a potential HIA then the game gets stopped there. If he hasn't stopped it then none of the medics have said so. All the medic needs to say is there's potential head contact. It looked like the physio was helping Ringrose with a shoulder issue, then the HIA call came from the medic seeing the replays.

HIA's aren't always caused by head knocks, they are often caused by hits to the shoulder where whiplash follows.  He never gave the medic the time to evaluate Ringrose.  The ball was out he could have given him 30 seconds. Nothing happened on this ocassion but second impact syndrome is a bad, bad issue and I know you may not agree with me ont his but to me that is the height of poor player welfare shown by the ref

The point I'm making is that it's on the physio/doctor there to say, "potential head knock sir", not on the ref to guess there might be. It's up to the medical team to communicate that. The physio is clearly concerned with Ringrose's shoulder though.

Yes and the point I am making is that the ref never gave the physio enough time to know that, when he came on it was for the shoulder, he never got time to know there was an issue with Ringroses head, he also never even went over to the doctor to find out what his thoughts were so how would the physio tell him. It was the players who were asking for it to be stopped

What an intense half of rugby, I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a rest tomorrow just watching it. The physicality is off the charts.

Yep, brutal half. Ireland have had the better of it, perhaps should have more than 7 points on the board, but we'll see if South Africa's 7-1 split pays off in the second half.

Also a bad result for Scotland as things stand.

Ireland will be relieved, I think, that they have two weeks before their next game!

neilthom7 wrote:Yes and the point I am making is that the ref never gave the physio enough time to know that, when he came on it was for the shoulder, he never got time to know there was an issue with Ringroses head, he also never even went over to the doctor to find out what his thoughts were so how would the physio tell him.  It was the players who were asking for it to be stopped

The officials find that out the same way as any other potential HIA though. The medics on the side line call for it after seeing potential head contact, as happened. It's not for the players to ask. It's on the medical team. If the physio was concerned about a HIA he should've been inspecting that and said so. Rather than prioritising the shoulder, which clearly indicates he didn't suspect a HIA as that would then be the priority.

I'm not suggesting players shouldn't get checked. A system is there to ensure that though. Which is the independent medics referring potential HIAs to the officials.

Duty281 wrote:Yep, brutal half. Ireland have had the better of it, perhaps should have more than 7 points on the board, but we'll see if South Africa's 7-1 split pays off in the second half.

Also a bad result for Scotland as things stand.

Ireland will be relieved, I think, that they have two weeks before their next game!

They will definitely need it judging by that half, going to be some very sore bodies

Thought there was a bit of a tucked arm clear out on Ezebeth there, even though he was illegal. Elbow seemed to hit head.

Ferocious first half. This feels like a knockout game.

A brutal half of rugby. Ireland did very well to come out of that with a decent lead in what might be a one kick game. The collisions were breath taking at times.

The Boks bench looms large but Ireland have Sheehan, Henderson, Baird and Henshaw themselves.

This is the most excited I've been for a half of rugby in a long while!

Absorbing half. Never seen De Allende struggle defensively as much as Aki is making him do.

George Carlin wrote:Absorbing half. Never seen De Allende struggle defensively as much as Aki is making him do.

Aki's been one of the players of the tournament so far. He's been incredible in attack.

Bierne is having an absolutely fantastic tournament too.

That's a silly lineout call from SA to go to Etzebeth there IMO. POM is brilliant at getting up off the ground quickly to compete those. Only someone such as Woki is maybe better. SA had just had success at Etzebeth dummying, then throwing to Mostert. Seems a poor call from the Boks.

They get out of jail though with the next lineout being turned over. SA have targeted the Ireland lineout by pressuring Kelleher.

You don't see that every day

Wow. Etzebeth being subbed that early is a surprise. I thought he'd been exceptional so far.

Maybe the knock he got last time out is still bothering him a bit

Looks ominious!

P’OM is not binding at the scrums any more. They’re under a lot of pressure.

Kitshoff 6'1"
Malherbe 6'2"

Ox 5'8"
Nyakane 5'10"

They change the height of the front row significantly at scrum time in addition to just being fantastic replacements. It's a brutal combination.

Porter had done a really good job of holding Malherbe back under a lot of pressure. To then have a fresh Nyakane come on is a brutal job.

Pound for pound Kwagga Smith must be one of the most powerful players we've seen. He must be comfortably the lightest forward on the pitch now and does that.

Ah, my mistake on the above post. I honestly thought Malherbe had been subbed off as well as Kitshoff.

Ireland lead. Ding dong battle here.

This game is so tight, I couldn't even hazard a guess at an outcome from this point

There's Nyakane. I called it early out of incompetence. But that's the challenge for Porter. Hold off one world class TH for 60 minutes and you get to deal with a fresh one who happens to scrummage significantly lower for the final quarter.

Libbok misses though Ireland still lead. What a match so far.

Ireland aren't adjusting to how this is going on the field.  In scrums like that they are 2nd best and should just get the ball in and out straight away.  It could cost them if they don't make the adjustment

6 points left out there by SA now

Make that 9 points, BigGee. Libbok can do fantastic things in attack but I'd expect Pollard to come back in for the KOs.

Not sure how that's Boks ball to be honest...

Think they said Murray knocked it out of the hands rather than it being dropped into touch so SA ball but I don't know if that was right or not tbh.

Either way Ireland have it back now so no harm done

If you mean the line out, Ireland hand in the tackle knocked into touch

drop goal anyone?

called it - but muffed badly - got lucky

Oh, Willemse. That's a big error. Ireland have absorbed so much pressure in this game.

SA look like they’re gone a bit here. No kicker and Ireland have soaked up too much.

3 mins of pressure to resist to take the win ....

Odds for a draw still?

Probably getting a monster France v South Africa QF if Ireland hold on here....

That's a cracking touch finder in the situation.

Ireland have held out so far. I kind of feel they will here.

It's been a phenomenal match.