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Mike Ross

psychic duck

International
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
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I was just thinking about Mike Ross. I know that Ireland are pretty happy about him, but I feel worldwide he's a really under appreciated player. He hasn't had the glory of Lions tours or Grand Slams like say Adam Jones had, nor is he particularly crowd pleasing player in terms of doing a great deal in the loose and is very much in the mould of the scrummaging is the priority prop.

He may not get it for the reasons above, but I think he ought to start getting appreciated by a wider audience. His form has been very solid for a good 4 or so years now, and he really was very good and instrumental in giving a solid reliable platform in the last 6 Nations even though he didn't get many man of the match awards of headlines. When he got taken off against France the scrum nearly went from helping them win the game to nearly making them lose the game.

I would be interested to know from Irish fans how he rates in terms of all time Irish tightheads? I feel Hayes may have the better stats in terms of caps, but I saw him taken apart far more in his career than I've seen Ross struggle in the green jersey.

Also where does he rate right now in terms of European tightheads?

Final question, who was responsible for the massive cock up that was ignoring him whilst he was at Quins whilst continually picking Buckley for about 30 caps before finally altering the plan?
 
I agree I think he's a hugely underrated player. He's the best Irish tighthead I've ever seen at least (although I do think Furlong will be better) and is greatly responsible for a change in our scrum culture.

Not sure how he rates in terms of European tightheads. He's not the best but he's consistently near the top I'd say.

I don't think you can blame one person for him being left out. We have our whole thing about overseas players and Ross was viewed as someone who'd taken so long to get a pro contract that he must ave something missing. He did also require a season of conditioning before being able to start when he came t Leinster.

I was delighted to see him score the try of the year last season. :D

[video=youtube_share;YLz40D5lNRc]http://youtu.be/YLz40D5lNRc?t=5m50s[/video]

5:50
 
Mike Ross is a player I have a huge amount of admiration for. From looking like his career was over before it started at 26 years old, he's worked his way up through the ranks, developed his game and become integral to both Leinster and Ireland's successes. I think the reason he doesn't get much praise is because he rarely stand out in games but equally he always does his job well. He's a 7/10 performer week in, week out. Whenever he has difficulty with an opponent, he always seems to work it out as a game progresses and nullifies any advantage his opponent may have. When his career ends, I suspect he'll become a top class scrum coach.
 
Rike Moss is one of those players who's benefited tremendously from the new rules. We've talked about this on some other thread, but one of Ireland's weaknesses was scrummaging, and given that he isn't an enormous asset in the loose, he's one happy chap to have seen those rules change.
 
I like Ross, too. He pretty much single handedly stopped Ireland being a laughing stock in the scrum when he came along and took over from Hayes/Buckley.
Not a flashy prop, but does his job in the scrum/tight to a high standard, and I like that. Very unlucky to miss out on the 2013 Lions.
Think his form (for Ireland at least) hasn't been as good recently, but still a top operator.
 
Ross has been an important player. Not flash but he has always been consistently good. He didn't get a look in at Munster in the mid noughties which shows the attitude Irish teams had to the scrum.

John Hayes was probably the most important prop for Ireland in the professional era. He locked out the Ireland scrum for years and was very solid. Its only in the first few years and last few years of his career that he struggled. He wanted to retire earlier but was asked to stay on for a year or two longer. On top of that he put in a good shift in open play.
 

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