O'Connell & Murray out for rest of 6N

First topic message reminder :

Just announced that Paul O'Connell and Conor Murray are both out for the rest of the 6N.

POC - Damage to his medial collateral ligament and is out for 3 -6 weeks.

Murray - Bruising to his knee joint and is out for 3 - 4 weeks.

By the way the Ulster HC Semi is 5 weeks away.

I think Farrell might end up being a 13 more than a 12 stand.

There is some talent out there stand, JJ Hanrahan has been impressing the bejaysus out of me.

I wonder if Felix Jones would do well at 12?

Hanrahan is definitely my call at 12. Jones should remain at 15 IMO.

Accordingly to Thornley Best will be captain... thats that then.

I am not unhappy at Best being captain.

As much as i love the bones off ROG, i really wanted to see a Madigan or Keatley selected ahead of him for this 6N. I think that it would have relieved the pressure off Sexton and got some great talent introduced the first team.

met Gerry Thornley in town just there. He was ordering a falafel and buying some herbal tea

two changes apparently- ryan for poc, tol for murray.

http://img.rasset.ie/0003dad710dr.jpg

hahaha. caption competition for you wisecrackers out there

TOL to start?

Can't believe TOL is even getting a look in with the form of Marshall! Absolutley ridiculous!

Does anyone know why Kidney has a problem with spotting form players or realising that there are players outside on Munster that he can call on?

Its just Deccie being cautious 1F's, nothing more and nothing less.
TOL has been playing well as of late but i do feel that this is a backward step.

well actually McCarthy is from Connacht.... so you could argue that Deccie is quite the maverick.....

eirebilly wrote:Its just Deccie being cautious 1F's, nothing more and nothing less.
TOL has been playing well as of late but i do feel that this is a backward step.

Well actually TOL gave one of the worst performances I've ever seen by a professional scrum half last weekend. He makes Murrays service look lightening by comparison and his box kicking was worse than usual.

I honestly do see why Kidney has made these calls, coming from someone who criticises nearly everything else he does. Tuohy hasn't been great (last match he was better) and Stevenson has been outperforming him. He needs a break. TOL has been playing better for Munster, and although I would have picked Marshall, are we really surprised at this point?

It's just so frustrating when we have players in form and making big differences in games and they're getting completely ignored!

Look at the southern hem, if a player is playing well he gets a chance whereas here we have to wait till someone is injured/retired before they even get a look in. It's stunting Ireland growth of depth in players.

Look, another coach may be brave enough to think out of the box and take the risk of introducing young talent but this is Deccie. Taking risks is not in his makeup. I can perfectly understand his decisons, caution uber alles.

Here is a question though, and I do fear the answer to this:

When BOD returns, is it likely we are going D'Arcy and BOD play together again? Will that be the very worst thing Kidney could possibly do? In my opinion, that would honestly be the last straw.

Don't you think BOD has come to the end of his international career?

I feel when he returns he will still have an important role to play, at 12. Mainly, he will assist in bringing through his successor. To me that would be the sensible way of doing things, but I really have a horrible feeling we will see D'Arcy and BOD for a while yet. Which would be the most stupid thing that Kidney could do.

bod and darcy are toast as a combination at top international level. No shame in that, they have been a great partnership for us but time moves on and the legs get older.

i could see a role for drico at 12 given our lack of options there but thats about it.

BOD was still good enough before his injury so we'll see what he's like after it. He should be earning his place again though and not put straight back in. I think we should be giving far more younger players a chance, they're never going to gain experience if we don't play them.

It will be D'Arce and BOD for the Tests down under, we're not going to see players come through this season. I only hope that from the Autumn Tests we see some sort of forward planning (this season wasted in my view).

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Here is a question though, and I do fear the answer to this:

When BOD returns, is it likely we are going D'Arcy and BOD play together again? Will that be the very worst thing Kidney could possibly do? In my opinion, that would honestly be the last straw.

It would be one of the worst things he could do. Would you be surprised if it happened though? That will the centre partnership for New Zealand, no doubt,
along with DOC and POC. ROG as back up 10, No Madigan no Keatley. We can all hope though.

biltongbek wrote:Don't you think BOD has come to the end of his international career?

No. I genuinely believe we haven't even seen the best of him yet.

I think we'll see him play the best rugby of his career between the end of this season and the 2015 RWC. Expect to see fireworks in NZ.

BELIEVE

O'Driscoll will be back...whether he'll be in the right condition to make it to New Zealand will be answered in the end of club season games (he's allegedly going to have a part to play if fitness-to-play has anything to do with it)

I don't think he'll hang around for too long now...maybe one more season. But if any player deserves to leave whilst still having the honour of being an International, then he has. We owe him more than he'll ever owe us.

But even a trip to New Zealand.... he wouldn't have to play every game. We should still have an alternate side, AND play it. The time is now to give options meaningful time to see how they perform at the highest levels. We can't afford to have a cotton-wool policy on young players when other sides are reaping rewards by trusting theirs.

Fly no way BOD won't be in NZ... I'd bet my life on him playing beyond 2013 if he plays well and stays fit next season.

Its the way O'Driscoll is.. the body will go before the mind. If he can physically make 2015 then the fire in the belly will be there for sure. He's a born competitor.

He is a competitor and if he's the best that we have in 2015 (I'll be depressed if that's the case) then no problem.

Although if he isn't the best that we've got then we need a coach who has the balls to tell him that. Unfortunately DK doesn't have them!

roddersm wrote:Fly no way BOD won't be in NZ... I'd bet my life on him playing beyond 2013 if he plays well and stays fit next season.

Its the way O'Driscoll is.. the body will go before the mind. If he can physically make 2015 then the fire in the belly will be there for sure. He's a born competitor.

As my favourite player of all time...for all time...for as long as I last in time...which won't be anywhere near all time!............. I wish he could last as an effective player until 2015 and go out on an absolute high.

But my realism valve brings me back to normal and I suspect he won't last that long at the level required then to compete with the sides that will be there then. I'd love it to happen but I don't see it.

A year, maybe two is what I see. But I do believe he will have some typically big individual performances in big games yet to come. I think he knows he has one more 2009 season in him, and that's why he is hanging in there. Whether it comes next year or the following, I think that's what he wants to end on - a good year.

None of us can out run old father time unfortunately... but if anyone can sell him a dummy and wrong foot him with a side step for a while its BOD.....

Did he say somehwere that he wants to be around for selection for the Lions? If thats the case then he wants one more crack at being on a winning series and then he might retire from international rugby.

roddersm wrote: If he can physically make 2015 then the fire in the belly will be there for sure. He's a born competitor.

You can now get Losec over the counter without a prescription in NZ, so assuming he makes it, he'll be able to deal with that fire in the belly.

I said before that i doubt that BOD would make it back into the Irish squad because loads of you talent would be picked and tried...

How wrong could one man be.

As much as i want BOD in the team, Ireland really do have to look to the furture. BOD and D'Arcy should never pair up at international level again.

roddersm wrote:None of us can out run old father time unfortunately.

But Gibson is 362 years old?

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

roddersm wrote:None of us can out run old father time unfortunately.

But Gibson is 362 years old?

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

roddersm wrote:None of us can out run old father time unfortunately.

But Gibson is 362 years old?

He carries his age well, he looks to be about 362, where in fact he is older than Yoda.

eirebilly wrote: BOD and D'Arcy should never pair up at international level again.

Hmmmm...who shall I pick to keep and the one to let go?......................... Hmmmmmmmmmmmm......................... I'll have to sleep on that one.

In fairness D'arcy is playing well lads......

He's playing like a player who knows he has to go all out to prove himself eligible now that his role is exposed with O'Driscoll missing.

Which is actually a good thing. But more rotation of a real squad would keep every player on his toes...not just an O'DriscollessD'arcy!

darcy is not doing badly

not doing badly should not be good enough. this has gone on for too long now. he offers next to no attacking threat.

jesus even graeme morrison the most limited 6 nations centre at least runs hard in a straight line.

Wallace and Whitten have been playing exceptionally well if anyone is interested......

I'd just like to ask, if people don't want D'Arce playing, does that mean you'd prefer Paddy?

Actually 1F's. I would have Paddy over Dorce right now, yes.

1F'sgonnagetya! wrote:I'd just like to ask, if people don't want D'Arce playing, does that mean you'd prefer Paddy?

Not really for me. Paddy is playing very well and D'arcy is doing ok.

If D'arcy was being dropped I'd rather see McFadden get a run.

"No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Why!!!!!!!!!!!!?????? - Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Not me! - Why me!!!!???? - I'm not going back there!!!!!!! - NO!!! - Not to that place!!!!!!!!! - Please, don't make me do it. Say you won't make me do it!!!"

I'm sorry, but it seems Paddy has given his verdict on the invitation to go back into the Irish team. Poor fellah, didn't know he was suffering from post-traumatic stress

Poor Paddy cops alot doesnt he. He is a very good player i dont know why people love to hate him.

Lol, I'd be feeling like that if I were Paddy. I think Ulster could use him right now, and besides I think at this stage theres more value in throwing a young guy in than switching between the same tired old faces. This Ireland team needs a fresh new face in the centers, and i mean someone who is actually a center and will remain one.

It's probably because people are still holding a grudge for nearly costing us the Grand Slam! Haha!

I would be happy enough to see either Wallace or McFadden start the next game. Just don't expect much from whoever wears the 12 shirt as;

-They will be given slow ball to work with
-They will have very few options in terms of attack as everything is set up to support the ball carrier in the ruck rather than keeping the ball alive.
-The backline is entirely lateral so the option is sling it wide or take contact.

Last times Wallace has played at test level, he's looked like a small crash ball centre. If we suddenly decide to play a running game based on continuity, that's great, he'll fit in. He hasn't fit into our current gameplan. And we don't have a backs coach so... let's not expect any miracles.

However, despite this, the other options at 12 will fair equally poorly so I have no preference of whether he or anyone else starts. I've pretty much given up on this backline.

Ok he is what 32 now? People keep calling for BOD to comeback.

Right now, i feel that Paddy would do a better job than Dorce at 12.

BOD won't be around in 2015 - he has pretty much said so himself. One of the irish papers ran an interview with him around xmas and I'm pretty sure he stated that he wanted to try and make the plane for next years Lions tour and would probably have to look at retiring after that (I'll try and find the link). His Dad is a doctor and seems to have pointed out to him on more than one occassion that playing on too long will cause him a lot of issues later on in life - BOD seems to have accepted this.

I genuinly think that Cave was being looked at for a berth in the 13 shirt had it not been for his ill timed injury - in my view there is no doubt about his ability. If both he and BOD get fit I can see BOD moving to 12 with Cave at 13.

Red right the last interview I saw from BOD, just after the Italy game, he said he would definitely be back next season and would see how his body felt before deciding to continue... that he had no desire to retire any time soon. He certainly didn't rule out continuing beyond his latest contract.

I think he wants to carry on but is waiting to see how he feels physically next season.

roddersm wrote:Red right the last interview I saw from BOD, just after the Italy game, he said he would definitely be back next season and would see how his body felt before deciding to continue... that he had no desire to retire any time soon. He certainly didn't rule out continuing beyond his latest contract.

I think he wants to carry on but is waiting to see how he feels physically next season.

His opinions maybe changing as he's getting closer pulling on a jersey again. Depending on how he feels physically and what his form is like he may well decide to make a punt at George Cregans record. He is probably 20 odd caps off that so he would want to stay around for 3 seasons to rack that up.