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The Rabo pro 12 will like all the other Celtic league entities, be slow to announce the actual fixtures, to start only weekends will be announced.
Luke Morgan is very likely to get some starts, but IMO Ross Jones is the one I can see getting a start..........at full back, with Fussel moved onto the wing.
du Preez, Sherry, Botha, Ryan, POC, Stander, POM, Coughlan for Munster's pack. Murray will start at 9 and probably ROG at 10 (although I'd rather Keatley or Hanrahan). It's very hard to predict outside backs until we see where Penney plays Earls. Keith has said he wants to play 13 but Laulala is an out and out 13.
Munster would be insane to pick Earls ahead of Laulala. Earls and Zebo on the wings, Felix at 15.
They'd also be insane to play Zebo over Howeltt.
Of course, me completely forgetting about Howlett. Don't ask me how.Originally Posted by big ginger 8
Fixtures to be released tomorrow - at least in terms of which weekend which game is on.
English by birth, Ulster by love of funny accents
Much Ado about Rucking - http://muchadoaboutrucking.blogspot.co.uk/ - cos you just loved reading the post above
I'll have a go at our lot. We're in a bit of trouble at Leinster with regard to injury.
Leinster Ulster Connacht Turnips Rob Kearney Jared Payne! Gavin Duffy Keith Earls Fergus McFadden Tommy Bowe Tiernan O'Halloran Doug Howlett* Brian O'Driscoll Darren Cave Eoin Griffin Casey Laulala* Gordon D'arcy Paddy Wallace Kyle Tonetti James Downey Isa Nacewa* Craig Gilroy Fetu'u Vainikolo* Simon Zebo Johnny Sexton Paddy Jackson Dan Parks* Ronan O'Gara Eoin Reddan Ruan Pienaar* Frank Murphy Conor Murray Jamie Heaslip Roger Wilson George Naoupu* Paddy Butler Dominic Ryan Chris Henry Willie Faloon CJ Stander! Kevin McLaughlin Stephen Ferris John Muldoon Peter O'Mahony Devin Toner Johann Muller* Dave Gannon Paul O'Connell Leo Cullen Dan Tuohy Mike McCarthy Donnacha Ryan Mike Ross John Afoa* Nathan White! BJ Botha* Richardt Strauss! Rory Best Adrian Flavin Mike Sherry Cian Healy Tom Court Brett Wilkinson Wian du Preez* Jamie Hagan Declan Fitzpatrick Rodney Ah You* David Kilcoyne Sean Cronin Nigel Brady Jay Harris-Wright Damien Varley Heinke Van Der Merwe* Paddy McAllister Ronan Loughney John Ryan Quinn Roux! Iain Henderson Michael Swift Donncha O'Callaghan Shane Jennings Nick Williams* Johnny OConnor James Coughlan Isaac Boss Paul Marshall Paul O'Donohoe Peter Stringer Ian Madigan Andrew Trimble Miah Nikora* JJ Hanrahan Andrew Conway Nevin Spence Danie Poolman Felix Jones
* denotes an NIQ player
! denotes a project player
All I heard said Stander was an 8 first and foremost.
English by birth, Ulster by love of funny accents
Much Ado about Rucking - http://muchadoaboutrucking.blogspot.co.uk/ - cos you just loved reading the post above
Is he? Ah bugger, I thought he was an open side. In that case, put Sander to 8, O'Mahony to 7 and bring in DOC 2.0.
Personally I'd play Tommy O'Donnell, but horses to courses. Will be interesting to see what Penney does - Leinster are settled, a window licker could pick out the full strength Ulster team except a couple of calls (lot of Ulster fans have Trimble ahead, lot of non-Ulster fans have Gilroy ahead) - Munster's a complete guessing game at the moment. So much so that I'm laughing uproariously at the idea of a 20 year old in the team for them.
English by birth, Ulster by love of funny accents
Much Ado about Rucking - http://muchadoaboutrucking.blogspot.co.uk/ - cos you just loved reading the post above
Declan Fitzpatrick holds his own at scrum time in his first international caps and then can't even make the bench at his province. I wonder which of Munster and Ulster will have to get rid of their NIQ tighthead when the incoming foreign player cut down comes in.
Miah Nikora is Irish qualified by the way as well
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...315981649.html
Don't know what you're on about mate, Fitzpatrick is certainly Ulster's second choice.
Fair enough on Nikora, not that it's all that important as they fall outside the current NIQ rules. Also, he's useless.
My mistake, I looked through the squads quickly and didn't see Fitzpatrick on the bench.
Stander is primarily an eight but can play across the backrow. Though he's IMO better at blindside than openside.
No Scots to comment on this threat then? I was really interested as i didn't realy know what they'd look like.
This is my signature. I really should change it.
I'd imagine Glasgow'd look something like this-
1. Jon Welsh
2. Dougie Hall
3. Ed Kalman
4. Tom Ryder
5. Alistair Kellock (C)
6. Rob Harley
7. Chris Fussaro
8. John Barclay
9. Chris Cusitor
10. Duncan Weir
11. Sean Lamont
12. Alex Dunbar
13. Stuart Hogg
14. DTH van der Mervwe
15. Rory Lamont
16. Pat MacArthur
17. Moray Low
18. Ryan Grant
19. Nick Campbell/Tim Swinson
20. Ryan Wilson
21. Colin Gregor
22. Ruaridh Jackson
23. Graham Morrison
It's actually quite a strong backline.
I've been musing on how screwed we are for the first three games of the season. The answer? Very!
15) Nacewa
14) Conway
13) Macken
12) Goodman
11) Carr
10) Madigan
9) Boss
8) Auva'a
7) Jennings
6) Ryan
5) Toner
4) Cullen
3) Hagan
2) Strauss
1) Van Der Merwe
16) McGrath
17) Dundon
18) Moore?
19) Browne
20) Jordi Murphy
21) Cooney
22) Reid
23) O'Shea?
That's a very young team. The starting line up is fine, but we have very little to bring off the bench in terms of experience.
Why are so many players unavailable?
IRFU player welfare rules stipulate that the lads who toured have a delayed pre season and are brought back later. We might get Eoin Reddan and Gordon D'arcy back sooner, considering they played less, but the odds are we'll be without a sizeable chunk of the starting squad. Add to that injuries to Dave Kearney and Rhys Ruddock, who'd definitely be in this team and you can see the problem. It's essentially for this period and the internationals that Goodman was brought in.
I doubt O'Shea and Reid would be on the bench together as they pretty much cover the same positions. Darren Hudson would be more likely.
Quit your whinging! We'll end up missing St Ruan for HEC games.
We'll probably look like
15. Payne 14. Bowe 13. Spence 12. Marshall 11. Gilroy 10. Jackson 9. Heaney/McIlroy; 1. Court 2. Brady 3. Afoa 4. Muller 5. Stevenson 6. Ferris 7. Doyle/Birch 8. Wilson
16. Annett/Herring 17. MacAllister 18. Macklin 19. McComb 20. Williams/Diack 21. McIlroy/Heaney 22. NOC NOC 23. D'Arcy
Utter lack of depth betrayed again. Thank gods for 3 very timely injuries, or we'd be in deep doo-dah... hopefully they'll be kind over the players who toured but barely played.
English by birth, Ulster by love of funny accents
Much Ado about Rucking - http://muchadoaboutrucking.blogspot.co.uk/ - cos you just loved reading the post above
Based on the updated Blues squad featured on their website, no Tyrell!
Regrettably, Campese Mofo arrived this week.
Om nom nom... Let's hope he and Dickie Hibbs never enter the same Nando's. Thankfully there is no chance of the Caiser being involved with those two now.
In Shaun we trust
@draggs_XV
Connacht:
1. Brett Wilkinson
2. Ethienne Reyneke
3. Nathan White
4. Andrew Browne
5. Mike McCarthy
6. John Muldoon
7. Johnny O' Connor
8. George Naoupu
9. Frank Murphy
10. Dan Parks
11. Tiernan O Halloran
12. Kyle Tonetti
13. Eoin Griffin
14. Danie Poolman
15. Gavin Duffy
16. Jason Harris Wright
17. Denis Buckley
18. Ronan Loughney
19. Michael Swift
20. Willie Faloon
21. Kieran Marmion
22. Miah Nikora
23. Dave McSharry/Fetu'u Vainikolo
Is Reyneke any use? I would have had him third choice behind JHW and Adrian Flavin. Also, while I like the look of Marmion, do you think he's at the stage where he's good enough to get past O'Donoghue yet? I've always had a soft spot for POD...
POD can't pass so that hinders him playing 9
Reyneke is good, very game and tough, pretty dynamic as well.
Flavin isn't much good. Have hopes that Harris Wright can challenge Reyneke
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