Saint Andre names same 23 for Ireland match...

Saint Andre names same 23 for Ireland match

http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/20135.php

Says hes going to change the first 15 though...hi Leivroment style tinkering!

Guess he doesnt respect the Irish as being as much of a challenge as Italy.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Says hes going to change the first 15 though...hi Leivroment style tinkering!

Guess he doesnt respect the Irish as being as much of a challenge as Italy.

Hairydonkey will play somewhere...surely. At 7?

6) Harinordoquy
7) Dusuatoir
8) Picamoles

That should be the french back row. With the typical French numbering instead of course.

With Bonnaire to come on...

Jeez, Hari would make it into any other team in world rugby (yep, All Blacks too), but France can afford to bench him.

They looked very good on saturday. Will be a tough game to win for Ireland, and Ireland are a very good team too.

Other changes might include Attoub instead of Mas and beauxis at 10.
Debaty would still start which I found a bit strange and Harinordoquy inclusion would be a bid to improve the line out which was poor vs Italy.
In a similar way to Ireland, france performance at the ruck could have been better so think this will be the decisive area (a bit like it was during the asm-ulster game).

In order to win this one Ireland will have to do one of their twice yearly specials. The big chat in the dressing room...the talk about what the French did to us all those years ago when they sneered our famine (they didn't ....but the Irish historians are rewriting a few history books to give to the team the excuses).

In brief, we won't get out of Paris alive playing anything like we did against Wales.

We need an 80 minute game of blood, sweat and passionate tears. Who Kidney chooses to play round 2 will tell us a little about his intentions but not very much. Ireland, like France itself, decides during the anthems if it's going to be boring or magnificient - and until that point, they never quite know themselves.

Ireland will have Earls back, that a boost

ChequeredJersey wrote:Ireland will have Earls back, that a boost

Not much of a one in my eyes. It's gone past the players in my eyes and has sunk into ye olde coaching issue.

A player like Sexton telling the media he's not allowed to run the ball as much as he'd like is daming evidence if true and I heard he said something of that nature on the BBC? Can anyone confirm that for me btw if they heard him say something along those lines? I didn't get to see the BBC footage.

Secret Fly - where did you hear Sexton say that? That is crazy yet unsurprising

Also we could play the entire NZ team and still get beaten with Kidney coaching. You may think "don't be silly, they are the best team in the world with the most talented players around!" but if you got NZ to play the game-plan Kidney wants, they would not look so good. Why? Because they wouldn't be playing to their strengths, and would be playing a basic, non-expansive game that their players would not suit one bit.

I have a feeling that Ireland will turn up for this game. I am very hopeful of a result

weather forecast for saturday night in Paris (kick of 21h00...) : clear sky, apparently no snow and a rather mild - 5/ - 7 degC (if you live a bit outside paris, you get - 15degc in the morning)

that's the team PSA announced :

Médard ; Clerc, Rougerie, Fofana, Malzieu ; (o) Trinh-Duc, (m) Yachvili ; Harinordoquy, Picamoles, Dusautoir ; Maestri, Papé ; Mas, Szarzewski, Poux.

Bench: Servat, Debaty, Nallet, Bonnaire, Parra, Beauxis, Mermoz.
"23rd man / water boy" : Attoub

some logic changes (nallet, debaty out) on the the back of average performances last weekend and general dodgy scrum and line out.

funny thing lads is the irish media are always going on about the unpredictable flakey french. Ireland are far worse for inconsistency. we have 3 excellent provinces and some really good players but bring our A game once or twice a year absolute max.

we could well bring it on saturday who knows.

funny thing lads is the irish media are always going on about the unpredictable flakey french. Ireland are far worse for inconsistency. we have 3 excellent provinces and some really good players but bring our A game once or twice a year absolute max.

we could well bring it on saturday who knows.

Maxime Medard, Vincent Clerc, Aurelien Rougerie, Wesley Fofana, Julien Malzieu, Francois Trinh-Duc, Dimitri Yachvili; Jean-Baptiste Poux, Dimitri Szarzewski, Nicolas Mas, Pascal Pape, Yoann Maestri, Thierry Dusautoir, Imanol Harinordoquy, Louis Picamoles

Replacements: William Servat, Vincent Debaty, Lionel Nallet, Julien Bonnaire, Morgan Parra, Lionel Beauxis, Maxime Mermoz


4 changes in the pack

dublin_dave wrote:funny thing lads is the irish media are always going on about the unpredictable flakey french. Ireland are far worse for inconsistency. we have 3 excellent provinces and some really good players but bring our A game once or twice a year absolute max.

we could well bring it on saturday who knows.

It's true. We are a France Mark2. Dreadful and wonderful in the space of any given two weeks. And I think Provincial success might have some real connection to the lack of any format to this International side. The Province identity is now so strong amongst players. They are drilled so professionally to produce an almost branded style of play when with provinces. So when they combine in International camp they find it so difficult to acclimatise to or, dare I say it, even tolerate being asked to produce something different. The more sucessful and professionally structured a club/provincial identity, the more difficult it is for players to adapt to something cobbled together over a few weeks out of every year.

That is a very strong French team, extremely powerful. Delighted for Maestri that he gets a start
but not happy as an Irish fan as it makes the French stronger. Even though this is balanced out by
Servat and Bonnaire being dropped. Especially Bonnaire, Hari is very lucky to be in the side and it is
definitely not the form decision.