Babbling 'brook

Ross Byrne had one appearance in the warm up games. He started In Twickenham against a fully loaded England and had a pretty good first 30 minutes.The performance of the team and the pack in particular headed South early on in that game and it is wholly incorrect to say that Ross played poorly. In f...

Interesting tweet below from journalist Ewan Mc Kenna and if he isactually right about the self-penning, maybe it sheds some light on where a lot of critical energy was channelled during the lead-in time to RWC. Ironic if the excercise of scribing his legacy became a negative contributor to the outc...

Why would you put value on what Joe thought about Ross Byrne or Jack Carty not being good enough given what has transpired with his infatuation with Carberry. Joey was kept in the in 6 N camp with a serious hamstring injury and Schmidt kept spinning fibs to the media about well he was training and w...

'Flash', as much as I have been a fan of Ross you have been equally consistent but as a constant detractor over the past 3 seasons during which the boy has served us really well in his 75 appearances over Pro 14 and H Cup. To say he is not even close to H Cup required standard is to ignore the reali...

When Ross was brought on the Australian tour in 2018, Schmidt said at the time he was bringing him as additional cover at 12 as well as 10 as he felt he could potentially play there if needed. (although 10 is clearly his true position). Harry I have heard said he played centre up to 12 or 13 years o...

would be interesting to see if a RB/HB combination could become a contender formula for such a potential axis in Blue in the future?

You're kidding when you say we scraped past a 'poor Ulster' in Europe? On the day they were anything but poor and put in a huge performance. RB did really well with a haul l of 16 points including a try at a critcial stage in the first half and great peno at the death. What about his performance in ...

At last in Matt Williams we have a journalist/pundit not afraid to speak up and articulate what many rugby fans beleive. ''I feel the decision to remove Dev is more a reflection on Joe Schmidt. Joe appears tired and weary of the battle. His time is coming to end and for me, that time cannot come qui...

I don't think it can be said that Ross Byrne got a fair crack of the whip, given that he was sat behind the worst Irish pack performance in living memory. In contrast, Cary had a comparatively easy ride yesterday but didn't show a huge amount of quality. Tough on Byrne. It's a good point about play...

Not a mention from the coaches as to how they might in some way be responsible for the showing on Saturday. Nothing about getting the prep wrong. It is all down to the players who didn’t perform. England and Wales have had the same amount of time over the Summer to get to where they are now. England...

[quote][/quote] suisse wrote: ''Saracens are immense. I thought they'd be too powerful for us but the game didn't pan out as I thought. To have possession with 39 mins gone and holding a thoroughly deserved 7 point lead to going in even was a hammer blow. Ringrose butchered an opportunity early in t...

Raydollard wrote: Ross Byrne reminds me more and more of Jimmy Gopperth. He is practically useless. He can’t pass, he has no pace, he can’t tackle and takes the ball so that he can’t make a line break. Radical surgery needed at half back. We need to splash the cash. What a toxic post and sadly not y...

and he played well in his 2 appearances in the AI's especially against the US where he got 60 mins or so and brought a lot of structure and composure to the pivot. Given his strong performance aginst Toulouse subsequently in January, it is difficult to see how he was omitted from the 6N's on form.

But you have to bow to the qualified assessment of someone having played in that same position and join them in hoping the lad ''can improve and become a genuinely better player''!

Unfortunately for the quarter final we cannot just dial up the Sexton in his epic performance against Northampton 8 years ago or Sexton versus the All Blacks in November. We have to deal with the here and now as we are talking about who should be selected for a knockout game in 11 days time and base...

But the point is that Sexton wasn't selected to play the Toulouse game and therefore didn't play. The topic being discussed is whether Sexton or Byrne should be selected against Ulster and based on form the more in-form player should be given the start in the interest of the team getting the result ...

I thought Ross Byrne's performance against Toulouse was excellent. He made multiple carries, put in a strong defensive shift and created that memorable and all important game breaking try for Dave Kearney through,yet again, his super accurate boot.

''There are times when we don't recognise the space in behind,particularly in the second half when we had a bit of a breeze at our backs and we could have gained cheap territory'' - Leo Cullen in today's Sunday Times. Despite this, the coach allowed JS to stay on for 79 mins when clearly either he c...

Byrne has played well this season especially in the Pro 12 including against Scarlets last time when he set up 3 tries with his boot finding the space. Last night there was zero attempt at probing the glaring space that was available with Scarlets up so flat across the pitch all game. He should have...

Going with 6-2 doesn't make a lot of sense given likely potential to lose a back or two in the course of a probable high tempo game against a quick backline. Not having cover for JS other than Joey (who didn't manage well at 10 in Belfast) slotting in from 15 is a risk especially if we need to contr...