Irish Summer Tour Squad

First topic message reminder :

RELAND SUMMER TOUR SQUAD (New Zealand 2012):

Backs (13):

Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster) *
AN Other

Forwards (16):

Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
Declan Fitzpatrick (Dungannon/Ulster) *
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
Mike Sherry (Garryowen/Munster) *
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)
AN Other
AN Other
AN Other

Mickado wrote:I didn't say he would, I'm just wondering if his plans to walk into Tob Penneys office and tell him he doesn't want to be a winger because he lacks confidence there would extend to the international arena.

Nothing wrong with what he said:

“I was getting a bit worried with I heard we had signed Downey and Casey. (Laughs). I think the first day Rob gets here I will be knocking on his door telling him I want to play 13. (Grins)

No. I don’t want to play on the wing anymore. It is not my position and I don’t enjoy it there. Hopefully, I want to improve as a 13 and stop mixing and matching”.

There is of course a strong possibility that Earls could still feature for Ireland on the wing in New Zealand.

“I suppose getting selected is the first thing. If Deccie wants me to play on the wing, I will and have made my feelings known that I want to play in the centre. I have played there all this season and I feel I am getting better. Better defensively and more confident. I want to be a centre and I want to be the best centre in the World. I have performed in the centre when I have not been fit, so if and when I get fully fit, I want to burst onto the scene and stay there.”

http://www.limerickpost.ie/index.php/navigation-mainmenu-30/dropline-menu-mainmenu-34/4542-qi-want-to-be-the-best-in-the-worldq-keith-earls.html

dublin_dave wrote:the problem is that madigan for all of his ability is not a great goalkicker so will continue to be an impact sub for the foreseeable future. i kind of like the idea of trying to turn him into a scrum half (cannot remember who suggested this on here) a bit leftfield but could work

i do not see Sexton as a 12 at all. He is a quality fly half.

Madigan is a quality kicker, just because he isnt used often by Leinster doesn't mean he isn't a good kicker. This idea that the 10 has to be the kicker is absolute rubbish anyway and really annoying as Irish players who are good kickers stop taking them when they get to older levels even when they are the best kicker in the team as it is seen as the 10s job. For example in the u20 Six Nations when Jackson was having a nightmare they should have switched to JJ sooner but because he isn't the ten it is seen as stupid to switch. For Ireland atm, Sexton is a very good kicker and the ten but Kearney and Murray should be practicing taking kicks as well as Sexton, both were excellent at school level but seem to have stopped for no reason other than not being the ten.

Mickado wrote:I didn't say he would, I'm just wondering if his plans to walk into Tob Penneys office and tell him he doesn't want to be a winger because he lacks confidence there would extend to the international arena.

Earls never said he lacked confidence on the wing, he said he wanted to be seen as a 13 and would prefer to be allowed settle on one position.

The thing is though Earls is a better winger than a centre. he's more useful to us on the wing. He has great strike rate there. I remember Fitzgerald publicly stating he wanted to be a full back. It didn't change the fact that it's not his best position.

But Earls proved in the 6 Nations that he is at least a good outside centre. Fitz was catastrophic at fullback. We should try BOD at 12 with Earls outside him. We should also try BOD at 12 with Cave outside him. See which is better.

I'm I alone in thinking Downey should be in the squad? He's back in Ireland for next season. We have issues in the centre and need to try new combo's. I hope Kidney doesn't stick with D'arcy/O'Driscoll. We need to experiment a bit.

DOD wrote:

dublin_dave wrote:the problem is that madigan for all of his ability is not a great goalkicker so will continue to be an impact sub for the foreseeable future. i kind of like the idea of trying to turn him into a scrum half (cannot remember who suggested this on here) a bit leftfield but could work

i do not see Sexton as a 12 at all. He is a quality fly half.

Yes lets take the most exciting raw talented running outhalf and turn him into a scrumhalf....almost as laughable as not taking Zebo cos he can only score tries....

and collect restarts ! (which for those of you who missed it, led to 3 munster tries against Northampton).

I know Gilroy has a GAA background, but is he any good at fielding high balls a la Kearney and Horgan?

Feckless Rogue wrote:The thing is though Earls is a better winger than a centre. he's more useful to us on the wing. He has great strike rate there. I remember Fitzgerald publicly stating he wanted to be a full back. It didn't change the fact that it's not his best position.

But Earls proved in the 6 Nations that he is at least a good outside centre. Fitz was catastrophic at fullback. We should try BOD at 12 with Earls outside him. We should also try BOD at 12 with Cave outside him. See which is better.

I'm I alone in thinking Downey should be in the squad? He's back in Ireland for next season. We have issues in the centre and need to try new combo's. I hope Kidney doesn't stick with D'arcy/O'Driscoll. We need to experiment a bit.

Trimble & Bowe's strike rate improved dramatically with Earls in the centre in the 6Ns, while his own strike rate was better in the world cup than Bowe I think.

Stop comparing Luke to Earls. The only thing in common that they have is they are the same age.Every position that Earls has played in, he has been top class. He was our best back in the 6Ns at centre and he had Rob Kearney worried about fullback when coming back from injury. (ROG tweeted him wishing him well and that he'd be fine ... and Rob tweeted back something to the effect that he (ROG) was lucky that Dan Carter wasn't from Moyross.

Feckless Rogue wrote:The thing is though Earls is a better winger than a centre. he's more useful to us on the wing. He has great strike rate there. I remember Fitzgerald publicly stating he wanted to be a full back. It didn't change the fact that it's not his best position.

But Earls proved in the 6 Nations that he is at least a good outside centre. Fitz was catastrophic at fullback. We should try BOD at 12 with Earls outside him. We should also try BOD at 12 with Cave outside him. See which is better.

I'm I alone in thinking Downey should be in the squad? He's back in Ireland for next season. We have issues in the centre and need to try new combo's. I hope Kidney doesn't stick with D'arcy/O'Driscoll. We need to experiment a bit.

I don't think Downey should be considered, he isn't exactly a young player and there are better options there. I think Earls has shown this year that he can play centre at international level. We have a load of young wingers coming through but centre is where we are looking in trouble so if he can continue going well there put him there.

I'd actually like to see a Cave Earls partnership at some stage, maybe in the Babarians game. They did quite well as a combo when they were young for the A team and they've both developed as players so it would be nice to see an bit of experimentation but......

Sin é wrote:

Feckless Rogue wrote:The thing is though Earls is a better winger than a centre. he's more useful to us on the wing. He has great strike rate there. I remember Fitzgerald publicly stating he wanted to be a full back. It didn't change the fact that it's not his best position.

But Earls proved in the 6 Nations that he is at least a good outside centre. Fitz was catastrophic at fullback. We should try BOD at 12 with Earls outside him. We should also try BOD at 12 with Cave outside him. See which is better.

I'm I alone in thinking Downey should be in the squad? He's back in Ireland for next season. We have issues in the centre and need to try new combo's. I hope Kidney doesn't stick with D'arcy/O'Driscoll. We need to experiment a bit.

Trimble & Bowe's strike rate improved dramatically with Earls in the centre in the 6Ns, while his own strike rate was better in the world cup than Bowe I think.

Stop comparing Luke to Earls. The only thing in common that they have is they are the same age.Every position that Earls has played in, he has been top class. He was our best back in the 6Ns at centre and he had Rob Kearney worried about fullback when coming back from injury. (ROG tweeted him wishing him well and that he'd be fine ... and Rob tweeted back something to the effect that he (ROG) was lucky that Dan Carter wasn't from Moyross.

Earls was good, Kearney was better.

valjester wrote:

Sin é wrote:

Feckless Rogue wrote:The thing is though Earls is a better winger than a centre. he's more useful to us on the wing. He has great strike rate there. I remember Fitzgerald publicly stating he wanted to be a full back. It didn't change the fact that it's not his best position.

But Earls proved in the 6 Nations that he is at least a good outside centre. Fitz was catastrophic at fullback. We should try BOD at 12 with Earls outside him. We should also try BOD at 12 with Cave outside him. See which is better.

I'm I alone in thinking Downey should be in the squad? He's back in Ireland for next season. We have issues in the centre and need to try new combo's. I hope Kidney doesn't stick with D'arcy/O'Driscoll. We need to experiment a bit.

Trimble & Bowe's strike rate improved dramatically with Earls in the centre in the 6Ns, while his own strike rate was better in the world cup than Bowe I think.

Stop comparing Luke to Earls. The only thing in common that they have is they are the same age.Every position that Earls has played in, he has been top class. He was our best back in the 6Ns at centre and he had Rob Kearney worried about fullback when coming back from injury. (ROG tweeted him wishing him well and that he'd be fine ... and Rob tweeted back something to the effect that he (ROG) was lucky that Dan Carter wasn't from Moyross.

Earls was good, Kearney was better.

I don't agree. Earls was one of the top 3 line breakers in the 6Ns (and that was with missing the first game against Wales).

Sin é wrote:

valjester wrote:

Sin é wrote:

Feckless Rogue wrote:The thing is though Earls is a better winger than a centre. he's more useful to us on the wing. He has great strike rate there. I remember Fitzgerald publicly stating he wanted to be a full back. It didn't change the fact that it's not his best position.

But Earls proved in the 6 Nations that he is at least a good outside centre. Fitz was catastrophic at fullback. We should try BOD at 12 with Earls outside him. We should also try BOD at 12 with Cave outside him. See which is better.

I'm I alone in thinking Downey should be in the squad? He's back in Ireland for next season. We have issues in the centre and need to try new combo's. I hope Kidney doesn't stick with D'arcy/O'Driscoll. We need to experiment a bit.

Trimble & Bowe's strike rate improved dramatically with Earls in the centre in the 6Ns, while his own strike rate was better in the world cup than Bowe I think.

Stop comparing Luke to Earls. The only thing in common that they have is they are the same age.Every position that Earls has played in, he has been top class. He was our best back in the 6Ns at centre and he had Rob Kearney worried about fullback when coming back from injury. (ROG tweeted him wishing him well and that he'd be fine ... and Rob tweeted back something to the effect that he (ROG) was lucky that Dan Carter wasn't from Moyross.

Earls was good, Kearney was better.

I don't agree. Earls was one of the top 3 line breakers in the 6Ns (and that was with missing the first game against Wales).

Both players went well in the Six Nations. I remember the break Earls made against England from his own 22 in the last Six Nations. Got Ireland out of a bit of trouble with that break!

Sin é wrote:

valjester wrote:

Sin é wrote:

Feckless Rogue wrote:The thing is though Earls is a better winger than a centre. he's more useful to us on the wing. He has great strike rate there. I remember Fitzgerald publicly stating he wanted to be a full back. It didn't change the fact that it's not his best position.

But Earls proved in the 6 Nations that he is at least a good outside centre. Fitz was catastrophic at fullback. We should try BOD at 12 with Earls outside him. We should also try BOD at 12 with Cave outside him. See which is better.

I'm I alone in thinking Downey should be in the squad? He's back in Ireland for next season. We have issues in the centre and need to try new combo's. I hope Kidney doesn't stick with D'arcy/O'Driscoll. We need to experiment a bit.

Trimble & Bowe's strike rate improved dramatically with Earls in the centre in the 6Ns, while his own strike rate was better in the world cup than Bowe I think.

Stop comparing Luke to Earls. The only thing in common that they have is they are the same age.Every position that Earls has played in, he has been top class. He was our best back in the 6Ns at centre and he had Rob Kearney worried about fullback when coming back from injury. (ROG tweeted him wishing him well and that he'd be fine ... and Rob tweeted back something to the effect that he (ROG) was lucky that Dan Carter wasn't from Moyross.

Earls was good, Kearney was better.

I don't agree. Earls was one of the top 3 line breakers in the 6Ns (and that was with missing the first game against Wales).

And since when has being the best linebreaker meant being the best player? Kearney was on top form for the entire tournament and was pretty much flawless.

Earls is a great player, seriously gifted in my opinion. Kearneys form barely dipped all year. Earls didn't have quite as good a season plus probably suffers from playing for a relatively poor club compared to Kearney. If earls played for a team like Leinster or Toulouse he'd be phenomenal I reckon.

leinsterbaby wrote:Earls is a great player, seriously gifted in my opinion. Kearneys form barely dipped all year. Earls didn't have quite as good a season plus probably suffers from playing for a relatively poor club compared to Kearney. If earls played for a team like Leinster or Toulouse he'd be phenomenal I reckon.

I think he'd be better but I don't really think his form has dipped at all this season, its just he spends a few months of every year injured. But because he is so important to Munster, they have to play him even when he is clearly struggling with injury. He was absolutely f**ked for a good part of the quarter final yet still managed to be Munster's best back. In the semi against Biarritz a few years ago, he was playing on one leg, yet still scored Munster's try and looked like the only player capable of getting another one.

Also on Toulouse, their backplay has been woeful at time this year and some of their back wouldn't have looked out of place on an Ail team at times. Still managed to top the table though.

eirebilly wrote:

leinsterbaby wrote:Earls is a great player, seriously gifted in my opinion. Kearneys form barely dipped all year. Earls didn't have quite as good a season plus probably suffers from playing for a relatively poor club compared to Kearney. If earls played for a team like Leinster or Toulouse he'd be phenomenal I reckon.

Munster is relatively poor? What an absurd thing to say. I am not even sure why i am responding to such a ridiculous statement.

The coaching of Munster's back play is extremely poor relative to most clubs, I would argue.

Yes but to claim that Munster is a relatively poor club is a joke to be honest.

Relative to Leinster or Toulouse Munster are poor. How's that absurd? Do you know what relative means?

leinsterbaby wrote:Relative to Leinster or Toulouse Munster are poor. How's that absurd? Do you know what relative means?

Poor is overstepping it really, its hard to argue that a team you won 6 out of 6 in the group and made the semis of the rabo are poor. Mediocre would probably be a better word.

Sorry but i know exactly what you were trying to do and say with your cheap backhanded comments.

valjester wrote:

leinsterbaby wrote:Relative to Leinster or Toulouse Munster are poor. How's that absurd? Do you know what relative means?

Poor is overstepping it really, its hard to argue that a team you won 6 out of 6 in the group and made the semis of the rabo are poor. Mediocre would probably be a better word.

Never said they were poor. I said relative to Leinster and Toulouse they're poor. Relative to the rest of the league they are reasonably good. I would argue as you say their back play is particularly poor which makes it hard for the likes of Earls to live up to the enormous potential he in my opinion has.

Toulouse were worse than Munster in this years HC.

Anyway why, oh why does this have to be about the provinces again. The thread is about Ireland. We're all countrymen here. You'd nearly forget that sometimes.

When Ireland gets together it's not a competition to see which province gets the most players in the team or which province has the most players who are rubbish. It's actually supposed to be a competition between Ireland and another country.

Feckless Rogue wrote:We're all countrymen here.

Actually, maybe some Ulstermen wouldn't agree. But you get my point.

Sin rates Munster player over Leinster player shock... and gives one stat to back up his entire argument.

We get it, you love Munster. They had a great team and will have one again soon, and they are and will remain a great provence/club.

No one here is dismissing the contribution they gave to the irish cause but jeez change the record. It's sad neither you nor DOD can admit that Munster and their players are no longer top dog in Ireland.

Sexton and Madigan are better than ROG now (not in his pomp)
Kearney was Ireland's best back (and the best in Europe)
Kidney's tactics are outdated and selection muddled, see how Leinster won the HC, how Ireland then played. How do you want your team to play??
DOC is past it, can't get a start for Munster even!!

Why do you think that just because a Leinster player is rated above a Munster player, that the Munster player's honour is being attacked or any of the great things he has done belittled. This is not the case. Munster players play badly, father time takes its toll, their farts do stink; just like every other player.

This Leinster team isn't perfect but its doing more things right than wrong so let's use that blue-print, I mean its basically the same players.

eirebilly wrote:Sorry but i know exactly what you were trying to do and say with your cheap backhanded comments.

Thinks you are taking things a little personally for some reason. Earls is one of my favourite players, no joke. Nothing backhanded about my praise of him. I think he is under rated by some and under utilised in Munster.

Seriously, how do these threads always end up being about Sexton and O'Gara? The bitterness over Sexton is unbelievable.

valjester wrote:

Sin é wrote:

valjester wrote:

Sin é wrote:

Feckless Rogue wrote:The thing is though Earls is a better winger than a centre. he's more useful to us on the wing. He has great strike rate there. I remember Fitzgerald publicly stating he wanted to be a full back. It didn't change the fact that it's not his best position.

But Earls proved in the 6 Nations that he is at least a good outside centre. Fitz was catastrophic at fullback. We should try BOD at 12 with Earls outside him. We should also try BOD at 12 with Cave outside him. See which is better.

I'm I alone in thinking Downey should be in the squad? He's back in Ireland for next season. We have issues in the centre and need to try new combo's. I hope Kidney doesn't stick with D'arcy/O'Driscoll. We need to experiment a bit.

Trimble & Bowe's strike rate improved dramatically with Earls in the centre in the 6Ns, while his own strike rate was better in the world cup than Bowe I think.

Stop comparing Luke to Earls. The only thing in common that they have is they are the same age.Every position that Earls has played in, he has been top class. He was our best back in the 6Ns at centre and he had Rob Kearney worried about fullback when coming back from injury. (ROG tweeted him wishing him well and that he'd be fine ... and Rob tweeted back something to the effect that he (ROG) was lucky that Dan Carter wasn't from Moyross.

Earls was good, Kearney was better.

I don't agree. Earls was one of the top 3 line breakers in the 6Ns (and that was with missing the first game against Wales).

And since when has being the best linebreaker meant being the best player? Kearney was on top form for the entire tournament and was pretty much flawless.

Against England earls - made 2 clean breaks, and beat 3 defenders. He carried for 82 metres. Made 3 tackles, missing none.

Kearney against England - carried for 40 metres (half that of Earls) and got turned over 4 times. He didn't have to make any tackles.

leinsterbaby wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Sorry but i know exactly what you were trying to do and say with your cheap backhanded comments.

Thinks you are taking things a little personally for some reason. Earls is one of my favourite players, no joke. Nothing backhanded about my praise of him. I think he is under rated by some and under utilised in Munster.

I have no doubt in my mind that you rate Earls, i really dont but i could live without your snide comments about Munster which you seem very capable of doing at any given time.

Feckless Rogue wrote:Toulouse were worse than Munster in this years HC.

Anyway why, oh why does this have to be about the provinces again. The thread is about Ireland. We're all countrymen here. You'd nearly forget that sometimes.

When Ireland gets together it's not a competition to see which province gets the most players in the team or which province has the most players who are rubbish. It's actually supposed to be a competition between Ireland and another country.

Maybe but they are a better team have a stronger squad and a tradition of flair and invention in their back division in which I believe earls would flourish even if they had a bad year by their high standards.

Sin é wrote:
Against England earls - made 2 clean breaks, and beat 3 defenders. He carried for 82 metres. Made 3 tackles, missing none.

Kearney against England - carried for 40 metres (half that of Earls) and got turned over 4 times. He didn't have to make any tackles.

Like I said previously clean breaks made and other statistics thrown out in isolation do not make an argument.

leinsterbaby wrote:

valjester wrote:

leinsterbaby wrote:Relative to Leinster or Toulouse Munster are poor. How's that absurd? Do you know what relative means?

Poor is overstepping it really, its hard to argue that a team you won 6 out of 6 in the group and made the semis of the rabo are poor. Mediocre would probably be a better word.

Never said they were poor. I said relative to Leinster and Toulouse they're poor. Relative to the rest of the league they are reasonably good. I would argue as you say their back play is particularly poor which makes it hard for the likes of Earls to live up to the enormous potential he in my opinion has.

And I'm disagreeing with saying that they are poor in relation to Leinster. They are mediocre in comparison to Leinster but not so far off that getting back to being close is impossible within the next few years.

Are people seriously suggesting that Earls is a better player than Kearney?

Not that i am aware of Rory. Right now, in my opinion, Kearney is the best fullback in the NH by some distance. Earls is a quality player as well but not quite there yet as he is still learning the 13 role. I hope that he continues in that role as he really is starting to look very accomplished there.

BOD at 12 and Earls at 13 sounds an incredibly good combo to me. WHo better to help make Earls own the 13 than BOD.

I have been saying for the last three four years that earls should be getting game time for Ireland at 13 in every 6 nations. I agree with him that 13 is his best position. He is a very decent winger too.

People no,Sin yes

...not a great fullback.

leinsterbaby wrote:...not a great fullback.

He's still probably Ireland's second choice full back though.

I think Earls is probably best at fullback. Really don't think he is best at 13 honestly. He is improving though.

I also recall Sin claiming his best position is 15.. remember Sin?

How many times has he played 15 for Ireland? I only remember the game against England at Lansdowne last season where he was very very good.

Not sure how many. He has played there a good few times for Munster too. I always thought Earls would end up at fullback, but I don't know where he is going to settle, if he ever does. I think he has picked the wrong position to try and settle himself though.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I also recall Sin claiming his best position is 15.. remember Sin?

Its probably not his best position then, he will end up at 13 or on the wing. Next season with the
new backs coach coming in at Munster could make him.

edit; Iirc he has started at 15 twice, his first cap and against England. He may have had to move
there during other games.

I don't think he will end up at fullback, but IMO it is his best position. He will end up as a 13 I think, for Munster at least.

Delighted for Cave and Touhy, who has had a fantastic season.

10-12 Leinster players in the starting lineup please. Ourselves, Munster and Connacht can plug the gaps.

Over to you Deccie, 2 wins will do nicely sir .

rodders wrote:Delighted for Cave and Touhy, who has had a fantastic season.

10-12 Leinster players in the starting lineup please. Ourselves, Munster and Connacht can plug the gaps.

Over to you Deccie, 2 wins will do nicely sir .

Ah now rodders letting him away lightly there nothing less than a whitewash will do.

valjester wrote:

Sin é wrote:
Against England earls - made 2 clean breaks, and beat 3 defenders. He carried for 82 metres. Made 3 tackles, missing none.

Kearney against England - carried for 40 metres (half that of Earls) and got turned over 4 times. He didn't have to make any tackles.

Like I said previously clean breaks made and other statistics thrown out in isolation do not make an argument.

Not making any breaks, or beating any defenders or carrying very little ball isn't much of an argument either.

Kearney has being playing well, but Earls was one of the few that put his hand up against England in the 6Ns and kept trying. Maybe the Leinster boys were saving themselves for provincial duty.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I also recall Sin claiming his best position is 15.. remember Sin?

Either 13 or 15 suits him so that he gets his hands on the ball as much as possible. I'd prefer him to say at 13 for Munster because we've lots of good cover on the wing and at fullback.

I'm not sure where all the Earls bashing is coming from here on the Six Nations. Kearney may well have been the best back we had in the competition, but I thought Earls had a pretty good few matches. His defence held up well, he made some incisive breaks with ball in hand. I really think he he stops being messed about by Munster and Ireland and is settled in position then he might just reach his potential. He has done well when fit for Munster at 13 this season. That said, I think overall Darren Cave has had a better season than him and deserves an opportunity should he get one.

rodders wrote:Delighted for Cave and Touhy, who has had a fantastic season.

10-12 Leinster players in the starting lineup please. Ourselves, Munster and Connacht can plug the gaps.

Over to you Deccie, 2 wins will do nicely sir .

I'd happily take a 3-0 win in any test with a last minute drop goal by Mike Ross and two absolute hammerings in the others.

Earls was pretty good in the 6N. It was hard to shine at times with the men inside him often struggling.

Once we have O'Driscoll starting at 12 I don't mind much whether its Earls or Cave outside him. Cave has had a great season and deserves to add to his caps, Earls is proven class.

To be honest, I would have Cave because I believe we need Earls on the wing.

09 Reddan
10 Sexton
11 Earls
12 O'Driscoll (c)
13 Cave
14 Trimble
15 Kearney

And I still think Earls is better in the back three than at centre!

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I don't think he will end up at fullback, but IMO it is his best position. He will end up as a 13 I think, for Munster at least.

His first cap for Ireland was at 15 against Canada (he scored a try in the first minute or something). Also played for the Lions at 15.

His caps are:
7 @ centre + 1 sub appearance.
2 @ fullback +1 sub appearance
15 @ wing + 2 sub appearances

One thing you will notice from that list is that Earls is pretty much a guaranteed starter for Ireland - he is rarely a sub.

I think both Cave and Earls have had pretty good seasons in the centre but I'll go out on a limb here and say that BOD is still the best 13 in Ireland....

rodders wrote:I think both Cave and Earls have had pretty good seasons in the centre but I'll go out on a limb here and say that BOD is still the best 13 in Ireland....

It's a bit annoying that the three most in form Irish backs are all going for 13, excluding Kearney. And then outside of that from the squad selected our wings and 12s aren't exactly in the best of form nor do they feel you with a lot of confidence.