Without POC and BOD do Ireland have any leaders?

Ireland looked great when things were going well. When the French fought back they didn't seem to have anyone with the leadership to get them back on track. This is not to discount a fantastic back foot defensive effort, which showed no lack of resolve, but rather to question the ability of an individual or group of individuals to understand what was required in the circumstances and communicate that to the rest of the team

ireland will lose to england without those 2. barritt and tuilagi will runover irish midfield.

Yes Ireland have leaders in the team other than BOD and POC.

I would count Best, Ferris, Heaslip, ROG (coming off the bench) and Kearney as genuine leaders.

Admittedly some - like Ferris are more your up over the top and at em leaders, but leader all the same.

LondonTiger wrote:Yes Ireland have leaders in the team other than BOD and POC.

I would count Best, Ferris, Heaslip, ROG (coming off the bench) and Kearney as genuine leaders.

Admittedly some - like Ferris are more your up over the top and at em leaders, but leader all the same.

Interesting names, but there was no evidence of any of these exhibiting leadership qualities at the weekend. Both BOD and POC have been deemed to be of sufficient character and experience to lead and command the respect of players from the other home nations. It would be tough to argue the same for those that remain to fill their boots. It could be argued that a leadership group is more effective, but even elite groups have a figurehead to whom they may turn. In fact I would go as far as to say that even with POC playing the lack of support and input from the senior group you have named contributed to the loss to Wales and the squandering of a winning position in Paris. This is not an easy problem to resolve, but in my opinion is the reason that Wales and not Ireland are 3 from 3.

We saw this deficiency (perhaps a little too strong) also surface in the England side when also blowing a lead against Wales, and at least Ireland's frailties in this area are not as pronounced as England's. So to my Irish friends and family all the best for the weekend.

Well, if you are talking about players with the ability to successfully lead a Lions tour, pulling together players from disparate backgrounds - there have not been many of those.

O'Mahony looks like a natural leader. Whenever it is he breaks into the team.

I love watching Muldoon driving the Connacht boys forward.

There are plenty of leaders in the Irish team... Rory Best has been one of the vice captains for a few years now and has captained them before (Tour of US I think? Or maybe Argentina?) And Sexton rallied the Leinster dressing room at half time in the HC Final... Then there's people like Ferris, Kearney, Healy who lead by example and put their bodies on the line for the team.

It's silly to think that we won't miss the presence of Paulie and BOD... Any team in the world would miss them. But don't write us off yet.

The boys weren't happy after "throwing it away" against France and expect the backlash to come full circle this weekend in Lansdowne Road...

As the Connacht boys say, "The Wesht Awakes...."

UlstermaninGlasgow wrote:There are plenty of leaders in the Irish team... Rory Best has been one of the vice captains for a few years now and has captained them before (Tour of US I think? Or maybe Argentina?) And Sexton rallied the Leinster dressing room at half time in the HC Final... Then there's people like Ferris, Kearney, Healy who lead by example and put their bodies on the line for the team.

It's silly to think that we won't miss the presence of Paulie and BOD... Any team in the world would miss them. But don't write us off yet.

The boys weren't happy after "throwing it away" against France and expect the backlash to come full circle this weekend in Lansdowne Road...

As the Connacht boys say, "The Wesht Awakes...."

Point taken, but what then is the reason for an experienced Irish team surrendering match winning positions against both Wales and France. To simply attribute these lapses to the excellence of the opposition would seem to me to be avoiding the issue, as neither needed to be truly excellent to get something out of the game. Without wishing to cause offence good players do not necessarily leaders make.

Wales were better.
France improved in teh second half.