Irelands front row problem

[coonor]

John hayes is retiring soon and i'm still not sure about healy. kidney has to find a consistant front row for the world cup and he needs to start experimenting now. Buckley has improved and I'd say he is just as good if not better than Healy. the scrum is a problem, how does Kidney sort this out? Court is anouther contender for the place aswell. do we need to call back Horan? who should be our hooker Flannery, Best, Cronin or fogarty. post your views

 

[SelimNiai]

Healy impressed me in the SA game but since then hasnt met that level of performance. Not seen Buckley lay to make enough of a judgement on him

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Ireland are fine at loosehead with Healy, Court and Horan all decent option. Likewise they're okay at hooker where Best and Flannery are experienced and Cronin has lots of potential. The problem is at #3.

In the short term Ireland are screwed at tighthead. John Hayes is a spent force, Tony Buckley is a demon in the loose but rubbish at scrummaging and Mike Ross is an excellent scrummager but can't get into the Leinster team. How can Declan Kidney be expected to pick anyone other than Hayes when the alternatives aren't playing enough rugby?

Next season things could slowly begin to change. Hayes may retire which will give Buckley more time in the Heineken Cup and Magners League to make the position his own for Munster. CJ van der Linde looks likely to leave Leinster which will open up a spot for Mike Ross. Jamie Hagan should continue to develop at Connacht where he's a very good prospect and probable long term answer for Ireland.

For 2011, Declan Kidney's options are to pick Buckley for his ability around the field and neglect the scrum or pick Ross and hope he can deliver more consistently in open play. I suspect he'll go with the former option. Healy and Flannery look to have nailed down the 1 and 2 shirts.

Longer term I think we'll see an Irish front row of Healy, Cronin and Hagan. It could be 3 years before they establish themselves as first choice though.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Healy impressed me in the SA game but since then hasnt met that level of performance. Not seen Buckley lay to make enough of a judgement on him

I agree, Healys was cracking against SA, but hasn't played as well since. Still think he's good in the loose, but not up to scrach come scrum time

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Healy's no world beater in the scrum but he's not bad either. With Leinster he doesn't seem to struggle - Mike Ross in the HC quarter final last year is the last player to give him a hard time. Perhaps the difference between Healy being solid for Leinster and crap for Ireland is that Leinster have a couple of excellent mentors for him. Ollie Le Roux brought him up to speed last year while Reggie Corrigan is doing the same this season. Corrigan also helped turn Ulster's scrum around when he coached them last season. Ireland had no scrum coach until a few weeks ago.

 

[durbutter]

You'd wonder what affect a Munster scrum coach and more game time would've had on Buckley, seems like a missed opportunity. He's really cut out the lazy performances he'd been notorious for in the last while.

funny to think Hagan is the Only alternative TH in the country getting game time.....

Also how is John Anderss doing at 'Quins. He's a tighthead ya?

 

[Feicarsinn]

Problem? What problem?

 

[Feicarsinn]

Actually, when is Hagan's contract up? What with Cj being off soon we could do with another tighthead.

 

[Jockstap]

actually, when is hagan's contract up? What with cj being off soon we could do with another tighthead.

**** off you can"t have him.

 

[Jockstap]

He's really cut out the lazy performances he'd been notorious for in the last while.

Err, he's only been playing 20 mins a game, once he goes a full 80(or even 60) we'll see if he's cut out the lazy performances. How good is Mike Ross, what was he like for Harlequins?

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Actually, when is Hagan's contract up? What with Cj being off soon we could do with another tighthead.

He signed a new one year deal with Connacht. He won't be coming back to Leinster until 2011 at the earliest (if at all).

How good is Mike Ross, what was he like for Harlequins?

Excellent scrummager who's improving around the park. Michael Cheika rates him as the third best tighthead in the Leinster squad so he's not a realistic option for Ireland. At 30 he doesn't have much time to make an impression.