Ireland v France

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Ireland

15. Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 7 caps

14. Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster) 89 caps
13. Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 31 caps
12. Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 48 caps
11. James Lowe (Leinster) 3 caps
10. Billy Burns (Ulster) 4 caps
9. Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 6 caps
1. Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 105 caps

2. Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 17 caps
3. Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 33 caps
4. Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 18 caps
5. Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 59 caps CAPTAIN
6. Rhys Ruddock (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 26 caps
7. Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 29 caps
8. CJ Stander (Munster/Shannon) 47 caps
Replacements

16. Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 7 caps

17. Ed Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 3 caps
18. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 45 caps
19. Ultan Dillane (Connacht/Corinthians) 17 caps
20. Will Connors (Leinster/UCD) 6 caps
21. Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) uncapped
22. Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 11 caps
23. Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 25 caps


France

15. Brice Dulin
14. Damien Penaud
13. Arthur Vincent
12. Gael Fickou
11. Gabin Villiere
10. Matthieu Jalibert
9. Antoine Dupont

1. Cyril Baille
2. Julien Marchand
3. Mohamed Haouas
4. Bernard Le Roux
5. Paul Willemse
6. Anthony Jelonch
7. Charles Ollivon
8. Grégory Alldritt

Replacements: Pierre Bourgarit, Hassane Kolingar, Uini Atonio, Romain Taofifénua, Dylan Cretin, Baptiste Serin, Anthony Bouthier, Teddy Thomas

Did you ever think to ask why they selected Sexton for this one? It's a foregone conclusion, Ireland need to give their back-up 10's more game time. Sexton is one injury away from retirement.

mikey_dragon wrote:Did you ever think to ask why they selected Sexton for this one? It's a foregone conclusion, Ireland need to give their back-up 10's more game time. Sexton is one injury away from retirement.

We're all scratching our heads over here too Mikey but Farrell is taking no chances against the Italians. Imagine not having 100% confidence against a very inexperienced Italian outfit? Is that a statement of where Ireland is as a team are or where Farrell is as a coach?

Sextons ego and contract negotiations?

I would suggest that with the exception of 2 and 9 (Herring/Murray) that is Irelands strongest available side

Shows how nervous they are

Farrell is just selecting for a win. Another loss and/or poor performance would she him being moved on. An impressive win against Italy will buy him some more time.

As i said earlier, what support or direction is he getting from his bosses? It would seem very short sighted support to me...

Pete330v2 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Ireland tweeted this then deleted the tweet.
Team vs Italy
Kilcoyne, Kelleher, Furlong, Henderson, Ryan, Connors, Beirne, Stander, Gibson-Park, Sexton, Lowe, Henshaw, Ringrose, Larmour, Keenan.

Replacements: Herring, Healy, Porter, Baird, Conan, Casey, Burns, Earls.

Connors and Beirne were the wrong way around. Swap them over and it's correct.

That's why they deleted it, whoever created the graphic had Connors and Beirne on the wrong sides of the scrum. Amendment on the way.
Let's face it, the graphics guy isn't exactly busy with the same faces being cut and paste in. Hold on, maybe it's him/her that's selecting the squads.

Even the graphics person would have enough of a clue to slide Cooney into the lineup.

Here'th Rory Betht'th take on thingth in the thecond half of the article. Not the thithe verthuth thkill part.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/56152912

I may be the only one but i actually expect a very tough game today for Ireland. Italy are Italy but if certain things click today for them, they are a team that can push this Irish side that are on a downward spiral.

Maybe it's being over here across the Atlantic, where we are standing on the side of the world (the top being 0° longitude), but why is the Ireland-Italy match on an Ireland-France thread? Maybe I are be cornfused?

just fixed that Doc