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2024 Guinness Six Nations
Where do teams stand ahead of the WC?
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<blockquote data-quote="big ginger 8" data-source="post: 938636" data-attributes="member: 53057"><p>Don't have to apologise for being negative about Ireland, if you did that would mean a lot of people would have to. There is also a good bit to be negative I just feel a lot of people are being overly so.</p><p></p><p>OK I get what you mean about the humidity. To be honest I don't think fitness is something that's massively effected by age. Ironman competitors are meant to peak between 30-36. Toner, Kearney and Earls aren't guys I'd really have worries about regarding cardiovascular fitness anyway. Maybe if one of them is coming off a lower body injury but not really otherwise. Even if there were worries about Toner he'd be beside Ryan who doesn't have any fitness issues and there's about 4 guys who won't be starting that I have no problem coming on or starting pool games. Best is actually someone who I would be a bit worried about, especially given how long he tends to leave him on for. One obvious stalwart of other 6N teams AWJ who's 33, Ken Owens is also 32, Picamoles is 33 and Aaron Shingler will be 32.</p><p></p><p>Agree our scrumhalves weren't rotated enough. Schmidt was trying too hard to let Murray play himself into form. At the same time our second choice was injured until the last two rounds and third choice was injured for the whole tournament. We've also beaten NZ and England with Marmion starting within the last year, so it's not like he hasn't been used in difficult situations. There is problems at 9 but I don't think the lack of rotation there this 6N hurts us going to the WC say if Murray gets injured. What hurts is whether Schmidt is willing to make a change if necessary. If he is willing I don't think there's any worry about performance or cohesion.</p><p>On the wings there wasn't rotation but I don't think there's any realistic challengers there apart from Larmour, who did get a full half there against England and was also getting gametime at fullback. Realistically if they're fit Stockdale and Earls will start every game of importance. Conway and whoever else gets picked are more than good enough to play the games against lower ranked teams. Conway is the closest replacement to Earls probably and also isn't exactly new to the squad. If Stockdale is injured, we're kind of ****** anyway. There's very few wingers who could replace him.</p><p></p><p>I don't know the exact standing of the players in the Welsh selection vs Italy but we had:</p><p>1. 2nd choice</p><p>2. Seemingly now 3rd choice</p><p>3. 1st choice</p><p>4. 5th choice</p><p>5. 6th choice</p><p>6. 1st choice (c)</p><p>7. Hard to tell could be anywhere 1-3rd choice but I think 3rd choice at this stage</p><p>8. 3rd choice</p><p>9. 1st choice</p><p>10. 1st choice</p><p>11. 1st choice</p><p>12. Either 1st or 2nd, I hope 2nd but impossible to tell at this stage</p><p>13. 3rd choice</p><p>14. 1st choice</p><p>15. 1st choice</p><p></p><p>So fairly first choice backline until, Aki got injured incredibly early but mostly experimental pack.</p><p></p><p>Beirne got his shot due to injury but he also nearly lost it out due to injury he probably would have had at least another start and a gotten a good bit of time of the bench if he'd been available the first 4 rounds.</p><p></p><p>Dillane and Conan are two guys who probably weren't on the plane and got chances and stood up. Conan is probably on the plane now and if Dillane isn't on it it won't be through any fault of his own. Dave Kilcoyne has also forced his way into the 23. Carty wasn't in an Ireland squad before this 6N so establishing himself as 3rd choice gives him a really good chance of being on the plane which seemed very unlikely in November.</p><p></p><p>We might be a tiny bit further along towards knowing if Carberry can replace Sexton due to the Scotland game but definitely not hugely. However, he was injured for the last 3 games so there's nothing that could be done there. Carty can't replace Sexton and it would be unfair to really expect him to. With regards Kearney I think we learned Henshaw isn't the best option <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick Out Tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /> and Larmour has gotten exposure there.</p><p></p><p>Also it's the 2019 6N and if you don't know 28 of the 31 players you're bringing to Japan then you're probably in trouble. Schmidt does know this and so too do any Irish fans who've been paying attention. Schmidt has been exposed to and capped a massive amount of players in this WC cycle. While we may disagree about the choices he ultimately makes I don't think you can suggest that he hasn't given any viable options at least a cursory glance. I'd argue any Irish fan on this board could pick Schmidt's 23 apart from maybe one of the locks, 7 and 12 and there wouldn't be huge complaint over whoever was selected in those positions.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="big ginger 8, post: 938636, member: 53057"] Don't have to apologise for being negative about Ireland, if you did that would mean a lot of people would have to. There is also a good bit to be negative I just feel a lot of people are being overly so. OK I get what you mean about the humidity. To be honest I don't think fitness is something that's massively effected by age. Ironman competitors are meant to peak between 30-36. Toner, Kearney and Earls aren't guys I'd really have worries about regarding cardiovascular fitness anyway. Maybe if one of them is coming off a lower body injury but not really otherwise. Even if there were worries about Toner he'd be beside Ryan who doesn't have any fitness issues and there's about 4 guys who won't be starting that I have no problem coming on or starting pool games. Best is actually someone who I would be a bit worried about, especially given how long he tends to leave him on for. One obvious stalwart of other 6N teams AWJ who's 33, Ken Owens is also 32, Picamoles is 33 and Aaron Shingler will be 32. Agree our scrumhalves weren't rotated enough. Schmidt was trying too hard to let Murray play himself into form. At the same time our second choice was injured until the last two rounds and third choice was injured for the whole tournament. We've also beaten NZ and England with Marmion starting within the last year, so it's not like he hasn't been used in difficult situations. There is problems at 9 but I don't think the lack of rotation there this 6N hurts us going to the WC say if Murray gets injured. What hurts is whether Schmidt is willing to make a change if necessary. If he is willing I don't think there's any worry about performance or cohesion. On the wings there wasn't rotation but I don't think there's any realistic challengers there apart from Larmour, who did get a full half there against England and was also getting gametime at fullback. Realistically if they're fit Stockdale and Earls will start every game of importance. Conway and whoever else gets picked are more than good enough to play the games against lower ranked teams. Conway is the closest replacement to Earls probably and also isn't exactly new to the squad. If Stockdale is injured, we're kind of ****** anyway. There's very few wingers who could replace him. I don't know the exact standing of the players in the Welsh selection vs Italy but we had: 1. 2nd choice 2. Seemingly now 3rd choice 3. 1st choice 4. 5th choice 5. 6th choice 6. 1st choice (c) 7. Hard to tell could be anywhere 1-3rd choice but I think 3rd choice at this stage 8. 3rd choice 9. 1st choice 10. 1st choice 11. 1st choice 12. Either 1st or 2nd, I hope 2nd but impossible to tell at this stage 13. 3rd choice 14. 1st choice 15. 1st choice So fairly first choice backline until, Aki got injured incredibly early but mostly experimental pack. Beirne got his shot due to injury but he also nearly lost it out due to injury he probably would have had at least another start and a gotten a good bit of time of the bench if he'd been available the first 4 rounds. Dillane and Conan are two guys who probably weren't on the plane and got chances and stood up. Conan is probably on the plane now and if Dillane isn't on it it won't be through any fault of his own. Dave Kilcoyne has also forced his way into the 23. Carty wasn't in an Ireland squad before this 6N so establishing himself as 3rd choice gives him a really good chance of being on the plane which seemed very unlikely in November. We might be a tiny bit further along towards knowing if Carberry can replace Sexton due to the Scotland game but definitely not hugely. However, he was injured for the last 3 games so there's nothing that could be done there. Carty can't replace Sexton and it would be unfair to really expect him to. With regards Kearney I think we learned Henshaw isn't the best option :p and Larmour has gotten exposure there. Also it's the 2019 6N and if you don't know 28 of the 31 players you're bringing to Japan then you're probably in trouble. Schmidt does know this and so too do any Irish fans who've been paying attention. Schmidt has been exposed to and capped a massive amount of players in this WC cycle. While we may disagree about the choices he ultimately makes I don't think you can suggest that he hasn't given any viable options at least a cursory glance. I'd argue any Irish fan on this board could pick Schmidt's 23 apart from maybe one of the locks, 7 and 12 and there wouldn't be huge complaint over whoever was selected in those positions. [/QUOTE]
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2024 Guinness Six Nations
Where do teams stand ahead of the WC?
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