Ireland World Cup 2019 Thread aka "Quarter Final 4"

[Leonormous Boozer]

Apparently Addison en route to Japan - Henshaw worse than they're letting on or just a precaution cause that's three backs with ****les?

Are you getting that info from Will Addison feeds ducks or is it somewhere else? Only place I've seen alluding to it haha!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Nah, sale guy from his neck of the woods (Cumbria) - they could well have missed the announcement from earlier saying he was stood down as a precaution rather than because he's been called up

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

That's a bit more believable! A few of the twitterati are claiming it's common practice to have players in nearby hotels in those circumstances, don't know if I believe it they're only basing it on the last world cup which would have been very cheap to do.

 

[munstermuffin]

"From September 8, 2019 Teams are not permitted to play non-Tournament Matches but are allowed to conduct opposed training sessions. Teams are not permitted to include players from the Preliminary Training Squad or any other player that could potentially be selected for the Tournament Team in opposed training sessions with or against the Tournament Team."

So I reckon he can hit the gym with them. He could possibly even do individual skill work and unopposed system work (which I imagine is rare) but anything with a defence is outside of tournament rules? That also reads to me like you can bring in ineligible randos to run oppo of you wanted which is interesting.

Rules are he can't be in official gym sessions or field sessions and if he was in a hotel the same as team it can't be claimed by the IRFU.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

RK training tomorrow and Friday.

 

[rugga658]

Scotland are better but like France or Argentina they need to be given a foothold in the game for a chance to win it, they're not going to bully or impose themselves on any top 5 team.

Scottish pack is well below the likes of Argentina & France

Beyond Watson & McInally the rest of the pack is lacking physicality
Ireland have a massive advantage up front & should marmalise the Scots there

Argentina's problem up front is that they can't scrum for sh*t & that can cripple
them in certain situations

French have issues with conditioning & general consistency

 

[munstermuffin]

Game not in danger but I wonder will conditions dictate the selection. Even bench. My worry is if it is extremely bad and stormy. Our set piece with Best may be under pressure. RK is more vital now just as it is bad enough throwing another man 15 be it Conway or Larmour with limited experience but in a game where the weather is awful you need experience and positional awareness.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Jordi Murphy pulled from Ulster's Pro14 opener, hopefully just precautionary.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Peter O'Mahony needs dropped even for Ruddock, was disgraceful today. VdF and Ringrose the only ones who really upped their stock today.

POM out, Sexton and Henshaw in and maybe Conway for one of Stockdale or Earls is needed.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I felt it was a return to form for CJ Stander today. Anonymous. He looked good against Scotland when Jack Conan freed him up a bit more.

EDIT- I don't mean to just pick on Stander. The backrow as a whole were bossed and nobody in the pack generated front foot ball. It's the quietest I've seen James Ryan in a game. Another player who looked great against Scotland, Chris Farrell was off form today.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I felt it was a return to form for CJ Stander today. Anonymous. He looked good against Scotland when Jack Conan freed him up a bit more.

Thought it was a bit rich of him to throw a filthy at Farrell when he threw a hospital pass at him resulting in the accidental offside and winning try.

We're proper ****** now without Conan anyway, especially if Ruddock doesn't start.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

EDIT- I don't mean to just pick on Stander. The backrow as a whole were bossed and nobody in the pack generated front foot ball. It's the quietest I've seen James Ryan in a game. Another player who looked great against Scotland, Chris Farrell was off form today.

Stander and POM haven't worked together for a long time at any level that wins teams trophies without a 7 who can do the work of more than one man like Leavy or SOB in his hey day with the exception of that New Zealand game. I think Schmidt had settled on Conan at 8 with CJ at 6 before injury and I think now he needs to make the big call and bring in Ruddock for POM. Our gameplan requires us to always be making gains in the tight and struggles when things slow down, Ruddock is the best guy in the squad at making those slow dirty gains.

Agree on Farrell too, he's no better at taking it up than Henshaw and that's the only place he really has parity, he wasn't bad but he's just a wee bit limited compared to what else we have.

I'd bring Conway in to the starting team too, he's the form wing.

The right changes and an on form Sexton could go deep in this tournament but I don't expect it now, we're too inconsistent week to week.

 

[munstermuffin]

On Backrow I do agree POM may be at risk. And I'm a fan of Ruddock but believe he is not the answer. Jordi may be the more realistic call and was not great either today. CJ is probably better at 6 than 8 and it will be an interesting puzzle now without Conan. I also think we could still see POM at 7 yet. Not saying it correct but just have a sneaky feeling.

Farrell was ok not awful but it wasn't a game for hime and he did actually carry well. He was never there to remove Henshaw more keep the flow. But it's more a question of where Henshaw is at with fitness.

On the wings I agree Conway is the form man. But shocked at some of the criticism of Earls. He was very good today and saved 2 certain tries as well as offering up around the place all day.

 

[Leinster Fan]

We can win a quarter final, but unless we get lucky and avoid England/Wales in the semi after that I can't see it going any further.

Stander is a great player but needs another carrier to be effective. Conan was the obvious guy but with him out Ruddock is the only one left who can do that.

I've lost patience with O'Mahony, one his count of anonymous and ineffective performances vastly outstrips his odd great game at this stage. Ruddock brings much more of what we need to the table at the moment and was good off the bench today, whether or not Joe will make that call I don't know though. I said in the match thread that Conan was a bigger loss than losing to Japan, and I think that's absolutely true, CJ is our only option at 8, Jordi isn't a proper option there, it worked for Leinster with Leavy and Fardy on the flanks but sadly right how Ireland have nothing close to that pair. Henderson underlined why he's never managed to nail down a starting place, a superhuman performance one week is followed up by an average performance the next. There's no one else though, can't see us beating SA or NZ with Beirne or Kleyn starting (if they plan appropriately for Beirne, if they don't he could eat them alive).

I've said everything I want to on Best, how he was still on the pitch after the 45 minute mark today is beyond me.

Earls mixed the good and the bad today, he's the best option if he can work his way into some proper form over the next few games but if he can't we need to back Conway or Larmour, both are coming off a few good games.

Find it hard to believe there are actually people who think that Farrell and Henshaw are anything close to being on the same level. If Robbie gets fit he'll give us a chance in any game. We missed Sexton, Carty just can't give his backs the same level of time or space when distributing.

 

[munstermuffin]

Larmour has thrown 12 interceptions in international rugby. Is that alot or what so early in his career.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Larmour has thrown 12 interceptions in international rugby. Is that alot or what so early in his career.

That is a lot. Can't remember any of the other ones, and wouldn't blame him for the one today. Haven't seem him do much for Leinster though so might be more a statistical aberration than any actual trend.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Jordi Murphy pulled from Ulster's Pro14 opener, hopefully just precautionary.

getting ready to fly out and replace Conan isn't he?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Larmour has thrown 12 interceptions in international rugby. Is that alot or what so early in his career.

Carbery? I can't remember Larmour throwing 12 passes never mind intercepts.

 

[Leinster Fan]

getting ready to fly out and replace Conan isn't he?

At this stage, yeah. Big loss.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

There's a pattern of Ireland looking far better at all other times in a 4 year cycle than in the World Cup. Why is this? My theory is that the IRFU player management programme keep players in camp outside of World Cups for longer periods than other sides and we reap the benefit of this. In the months before a World Cup, every team enjoys this luxury and the playing field is levelled. Ireland's advantage which they hold at all other times is wiped out.