Schmidt Names his First Training Squad

[Feicarsinn]

http://www.espn.co.uk/ireland/rugby/story/198805.htmlWell, with a 42 man squad it's another one of those "here's a list of every player in the country" jobs. Possible points of interest might be the inclusion of Niall Morris and Jack McGrath, while Shane Jennings and Isaac Boss may be slight surprises to those outside of Leinster. However, the coach can be forgiven for going on what he knows at this stage. An experienced squad is to be expected, as obviously it's easier to adopt an evolutionary approach as opposed to anything revolutionary.

 

[Conal]

looks like court is done

no cave no small paul, interesting ...

 

[Peat]

Only one that made me scratch my ear was Dave Kearney. Not saying he definitely shouldn't be there, but I've never been particularly aware of him being amazing, or having outstanding attributes, and with 6 other guys who can play wing in the squad and 2 good candidates injured but returning shortly, I can't really see him getting a full cap anytime soon, so why not Eoin Griffin? Maybe he's there as full-back cover...

 

[Feicarsinn]

Only one that made me scratch my ear was Dave Kearney. Not saying he definitely shouldn't be there, but I've never been particularly aware of him being amazing, or having outstanding attributes, and with 6 other guys who can play wing in the squad and 2 good candidates injured but returning shortly, I can't really see him getting a full cap anytime soon, so why not Eoin Griffin? Maybe he's there as full-back cover...

Yeah, full back cover is the most likely thing. Looking at the squad there are a lot of guys who can slot into 15 (Zebo, Fitzgerald, Earls, Morris) but aside from Henshaw and Kearney Snr. none of them are actual natural full backs. Kearney on the other hand is. Seeing that it's a position that we've had our fair share of bother with over the past few years it's probably not a bad shout to have a look at him there.

Didn't notice a few of the Ulster guys being left out. Disappointed for Court, as he's still young enough to make a serious contribution at this level, but Jack McGrath has made an excellent start to the season and Dave Kilcoyne is still ticking along nicely, so with everything else being equal I guess favoring youth isn't the end of the world.

Paul Marshall can have no complaints imo. He went through a little bit of a vogue over the past two seasons but if we're being honest he's not good enough to start for Ireland. It'd be nice to see Marmion in there though, he looks like he could be a decent bet going forward, but as things stand Conor Murray is comfortably out in front.

Cave is a bit of a weird one, although with Madigan, Marshall, O'Driscoll, D'arcy, McFadden and a few other guys who can cover the spot I guess Joe thinks we have enough centre cover.

 

[Peat]

Not sure I'd call Henshaw a natural full-back - while Niall Morris looks very natural there. Not a huge thing.

Can't say any of the omitted Ulster boys can feel really hard done by and, this being what it is, they've got plenty of time to make the case for the real squad. Court and Marshall can start by winning their shirts back from Black and Porter from a start. Not sure I feel the Marmion love.

 

[Shaggy]

Do you guys think he'll try to blood some of the new guys, and try and give most of them a run, or will he cull the numbers a bit, closer to game time

 

[big ginger 8]

I think he'll try to play as strong a team as possible but if that means playing some new lad he'll do it.

 

[Groundhog]

TYPICAL SCHMIDT LEINSTER BIAS. HE HATES FREEDOM. On a serious note I think it's mostly fair enough. I'd argue the inclusion of Boss as I think if Marion is to be an option in the future he needs to be tested, but I don't rate him much to be honest. It would appear that the Cmac hype machine hasn't propelled Wee Paul into the squad. Once again I don't rate him too highly. Happy for Niall Morris. No justifiable reason to leave him out. Want to see Tommy O'Donnell smash a few mother Suckers up. Can't think of many Munster lads I feel should be included to be honest. I think a few will break into the squad as the year progresses though.
Games against the weaker sides are normally a chance to blood the new uncapped players but Schmidt will want to lay down a benchmark against Oz and New Zealand. He has a lot to prove and while I have a lot of confidence in him as a coach, I don't want to jump the gun on predicting success. Kidney was to my mind a very good provincial coach, and his appointment was also widely praised at the time. Don't think Schmidt will fall into the same traps though.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Sod picking youth at this stage (I guess you do get conservative the older you get, eh?) If I were Schmidt I'd be targeting this Six Nations hard. Looking at the state of the sides in the tournament you've got to say that it's anyone's to take. Let's put out as strong a team as possible this autumn, try to build up a head of steam with at least two wins and then see where we are in the new year.

In any case, there's still plenty of youth there.

 

[Peat]

Since I'm bored, I thought I'd mention that Anscombe talks about Schmidt seeing Henderson as a long term 6 in the post-match interview after Connacht. Anscombe himself seems pretty happy with him in the second row for now. I think he just wants him on the park somewhere tbh.

 

[big ginger 8]

Apparently Henderson has said he see's himself as a 6 and it's Anscombe who wants him at lock.

Jordi Murphy was also involved in this preume he was in for Jennings.