New Zealand Maori v Ireland - Friday 18th (19.35 NZ/8.35 Irish) - Rotorua Int Stad

[Conal]

yep we are screwed
is there anyone apart from duffy we could use at 13?
put bowe there he has played there for the sprays

 

[munstermuffin]

Well lads it's a big game and well I must say I think the Maori will beat us.

I hope Ruddock plays well as he has a great amount of potential but it's still far too early for him to be thrown in but look in circumstances we'd little options.

Duffy and Wallace have a massive test too and well I just hope we don't collapse as this is a big game for morale even if only a few players will be involved next week.
Also was talking to someone in know and Ireland are training with Wally at 8 Jennings at 7 and Henry was at 6 during week if that a hint for Aus game.

 

[Gavin]

Maori by 15

 

[MunsterMan]

Ireland team to face New Zealand Maori on Friday:
Geordan Murphy (captain); Shane Horgan, Gavin Duffy, Paddy Wallace, Johne Murphy; Jonathan Sexton, Eoin Reddan; Marcus Horan, John Fogarty, Tom Court, Ed O'Donoghue, Dan Tuohy, Rhys Ruddock, Niall Ronan, Chris Henry.

Replacements: Sean Cronin, John Hayes, Donncha O'Callaghan, David Wallace, Peter Stringer, Ronan O'Gara, Rob Kearney.

Baptism of fire for 19 year old Ruddock against Messam and co.!

Not bad in the circumstances. Excellent to see Geordan as captain, well deserved, he better start against Australia!

Maori front 5 will be destroyed, look forward to see Horan playing with a decent tighthead, he wasn't man of the match in the HEC QF for no reason.

Niall Ronan is an excellent openside when his front 5 are dominating, will have a great game IMO.

Shaggy in to handle Hosea Gear, good call. Hope he does his job and we keep him under some kind of control!

Sexton and Wallace axis = MINT

Optimism FTW!!!!

 

[ranger]

Baptism of fire for 19 year old Ruddock against Messam and co.!

Not bad in the circumstances. Excellent to see Geordan as captain, well deserved, he better start against Australia!

Maori front 5 will be destroyed, look forward to see Horan playing with a decent tighthead, he wasn't man of the match in the HEC QF for no reason.

Niall Ronan is an excellent openside when his front 5 are dominating, will have a great game IMO.

Shaggy in to handle Hosea Gear, good call. Hope he does his job and we keep him under some kind of control!

Sexton and Wallace axis = MINT

Optimism FTW!!!!

Seriously? Gear would be my bet for quickest player in NZ, Shaggy is a big unit, but he has looked horribly slow off the mark lately. Gear to run circles around him, and then over the top of Geordan.
I agree that the Maori front row will be in some trouble, we have a couple of teeerrible players up there. But if the game loses structure or the ball gets anywhere near Hosea Gear or Sean Maitland, then there should be trouble

 

[TRF C A Iversen]

Baptism of fire for 19 year old Ruddock against Messam and co.!

Not bad in the circumstances. Excellent to see Geordan as captain, well deserved, he better start against Australia!

Maori front 5 will be destroyed, look forward to see Horan playing with a decent tighthead, he wasn't man of the match in the HEC QF for no reason.

Niall Ronan is an excellent openside when his front 5 are dominating, will have a great game IMO.

Shaggy in to handle Hosea Gear, good call. Hope he does his job and we keep him under some kind of control!

Sexton and Wallace axis = MINT

Optimism FTW!!!!

I'm really keen to watch this guy Sexton. Haven't seen him play as yet and I'll be pretty keen to see if he's becoming the next Irish starting 10. I like the sound of him having a running game, because it's always good if a first-five has both. Not so sure how Horgan will handle Gear. I think Gear will be out to show that he should be in the AB's and I think he'll play particularly well.

 

[Peat]

Niall Ronan is an excellent openside when his front 5 are dominating, will have a great game IMO.

You expect the front five to dominate then? Not certain I would.

Looking forwards to seeing how Court goes at TH. Has a lot to prove in general that man.

 

[MunsterMan]

It is 3/5 of the Ulster front 5, the best in Ireland IMO (OK BJ Botha and Rory Best are big losses but still), Fogarty is solid and Horan is Horan, 60+ caps and still a fine operator on the LH. The Maori have a poor front row and Isaac Ross who is just inedaquate when it comes to tight forward play, although a fine loose player.

Horgan has looked like a donkey this year, but apparently he has had a leg injury and had trouble sprinting since January, In my optimistic mood I will take that as he will be back to somewhere near his 2005 Lions form Horgan is a big unit and will try and get up into Gear's face quickly and give him no space, I'd be more worried about Maitland vs Murphy on the other wing.

 

[ranger]

It is 3/5 of the Ulster front 5, the best in Ireland IMO (OK BJ Botha and Rory Best are big losses but still), Fogarty is solid and Horan is Horan, 60+ caps and still a fine operator on the LH. The Maori have a poor front row and Isaac Ross who is just inedaquate when it comes to tight forward play, although a fine loose player.

Horgan has looked like a donkey this year, but apparently he has had a leg injury and had trouble sprinting since January, In my optimistic mood I will take that as he will be back to somewhere near his 2005 Lions form Horgan is a big unit and will try and get up into Gear's face quickly and give him no space, I'd be more worried about Maitland vs Murphy on the other wing.

I would have thought that that would be the very last team you would try to emulate when playing the Maori! I'm really not sure Horgan can handle Gear aye, even if he was back to his best Gear is as close to Lomu as we have had since he left (Still miles off Lomu, but his mix of size, strength and pace is reminiscent)

 

[durbutter]

Horan is very much off the pace MM, not the same since he cam back from injury.

 

[MunsterMan]

I disagree, I think he has looked much better since he came back from injury, just unlucky to be playing with such horrible tightheads.

 

[Peat]

It is 3/5 of the Ulster front 5, the best in Ireland IMO (OK BJ Botha and Rory Best are big losses but still), Fogarty is solid and Horan is Horan, 60+ caps and still a fine operator on the LH. The Maori have a poor front row and Isaac Ross who is just inedaquate when it comes to tight forward play, although a fine loose player.

Horgan has looked like a donkey this year, but apparently he has had a leg injury and had trouble sprinting since January, In my optimistic mood I will take that as he will be back to somewhere near his 2005 Lions form Horgan is a big unit and will try and get up into Gear's face quickly and give him no space, I'd be more worried about Maitland vs Murphy on the other wing.

I'm an Ulster fan (needed a ML team) and I'm not certain I can agree with calling us the best tight 5. In the scrum, yes, although Botha was the biggest part of that. Missing Best isn't so much an issue, Brady and Kyriacou picked up the slack there magnificently and personally one of them should be touring.

In the loose, I'm not so sure. There's a reason we brought in Muller. EOD is a good lineout jumper and works hard but is pretty average around the park at ML level - at this level, I'd expect him to get badly shown up. I also feel Horan really isn't over his illness yet. You might win the scrums, depending on how Court goes at TH but I'd expect a hard day at the breakdown. Particularly as Ruddock is 19 and neither Ronan or Henry are the biggest guys at this level.

Fingers crossed I'm wrong.

 

[Conal]

horgan may be getting back on track and form but horsea gear should be in the ab squad if not starting im a big fan of shaggy but if he shoes gear any space he is stuffed but if he gets a hand on gear i thing shear size will bring gear down
our front five domminate???? wow iv never actually seen a build up to an ireland game where thats been said

brady or kyriacou you serious?? mabey kyriacou as an outside chance but nigle brady will never and should never go on tour
i really want tuhoy to become the next ireland second row i think he is quality
henry is like wilson i think solid hard worker but unspectacular hes never going to be a wallace of heaslip
im still in shock an irish front five favorites whats the maori front five like?

 

[Peat]

When Fogarty and Varley are going? Yes, I am serious. Brady's got no x factor, but he's reliable and his darts go where they're meant to and Kyriacou showed up very well at times last season. The only time Ulster looked weak in the Hooker department was when Rory came back with his form shot to pieces by that Scotland game. I like Varley as a player, but better than Kyriacou? Not sure I buy that.

Tuohy's a very good player, just got to sort his brain out. Takes on too much ball and gets turned over as a consequence far too often.

I really like Henry, he's an intelligent player with good footballing skills and does great defensive work - but I think physically he might be a bit undercooked for the full international level. I also think given his form/the death of his father, he shouldn't have been on this tour and Wilson should have gone instead.

 

[nickdnz]

It just occured to me that many Irish members would not have watched NZ Maori play against the NZ Barbarians, so I thought these highlights may fill people in.

 

[Conal]

henrys quality hmm wilson good solid honest player was mr consistincy for ulster but not going to develop anymore
id take kryriacou over fogarty but brady theres no point it would be like calling up quinlan instead of ruddock not going to develop anymore as a player

why do people think henry is too small?? he isnt that much smaller than heaslip like only 2 or 3 kgs and half an inch between them

brady is a solid replacement for ulster but allow best to recover form injury and it should be best Kyriacou in the 22
tuohy just needs a bit of experience and i think he could be a ireland regular by the time he is 26 27
best looked weak as he was rushed back from injury ireland wanted him to play he played for banbridge full 80 mins then ulster full game (i think) then a half for ireland a before being rammed back into the ireland set up he needed more time to recover

 

[munstermuffin]

Lads few points.
Varley I think deserved his spot.
Shaggy will never be back as an International wing but he owes us nothing.
Ruddock will benefit from this game most but just hope he gets on ok.
Horan is regaining form but like Shaggy I doubt he wil regain 1 jersey.
And do Maori's have vuvuzelas

 

[munstermuffin]

Lads few points.
Varley I think deserved his spot.
Shaggy will never be back as an International wing but he owes us nothing.
Ruddock will benefit from this game most but just hope he gets on ok.
Horan is regaining form but like Shaggy I doubt he wil regain 1 jersey.
And do Maori's have vuvuzelas

 

[Conal]

i think varley did well this season ruddock should benifit lots from this i thinks
if we could develop court into a tight and loose head we could be a great irish player allows us to free up a bench spot mabey? as we could take three props not four?

 

[Peat]

It shouldn't be all about development Conal. Sometimes sending the better player along is a better idea even if they're not going to develop... its that or Fionn Carr should have gone ahead of Horgan.

As for Henry, just don't feel he makes enough ground in close conditions. Not the biggest flaw in the world (although it'll stop him being Heaslip quality) but not good news in a pack with Ronan and O'Dongohue in... Court's going to have a busy day at the pick and drive should slow ball occur.