Treviso V Leinster

[johng]

I see it's on d'rte! Fab!

Van Der Merwe
Strauss
Ross
Browne
Toner
Ruddock
Jennings
Heaslip

Boss
Madigan
Carr
Macken
O'Malley
Nacewa
Kearney

Cronin
Healy
Hagan
McLaughlin
O'Brien
Reddan
Sexton
Fitzgerald

Fitz on the bench in case my Macken experiment doesn't work out. Bit of a risky one anyway. Probably see Darce there. Might see Dave Kearney squeezed in there somewhere too.

Treviso are a hard team at home. We failed there last year, and the Ospreys (who have been good up to now) drew there yesterday.

[Oldschool]

I see it's on d'rte! Fab!

Van Der Merwe
Strauss
Ross
Browne
Toner
Ruddock
Jennings
Heaslip

Boss
Madigan
Carr
Macken
O'Malley
Nacewa
Kearney

Cronin
Healy
Hagan
McLaughlin
O'Brien
Reddan
Sexton
Fitzgerald

Fitz on the bench in case my Macken experiment doesn't work out. Bit of a risky one anyway. Probably see Darce there. Might see Dave Kearney squeezed in there somewhere too.

Treviso are a hard team at home. We failed there last year, and the Ospreys (who have been good up to now) drew there yesterday.

Good call to rest Leo and D'Arcy. D'Arcy, in particular, looked knackered coming off against Glasgow.

[Donny B.]

Anyone else think we should give Sean O'Brien a couple of weeks off? Possibly Healy too. Both lads look a bit jaded at the minute and we've got good cover in their positions.

[Vamos los azules]

Anyone else think we should give Sean O'Brien a couple of weeks off? Possibly Healy too. Both lads look a bit jaded at the minute and we've got good cover in their positions.

Yes. Sean definitely doesn't seem right at the moment. Wasn't there talk of him getting a lot of treatment during the warm-up against Munster? I'm wondering if he has been carrying a niggle since then.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Anyone else think we should give Sean O'Brien a couple of weeks off? Possibly Healy too. Both lads look a bit jaded at the minute and we've got good cover in their positions.

Yeah absolutely. Would be tempted to give Ross a break as well although he always plays better with a run of games. We need to start giving Hagan gametime as well though and White is a quality player. Tricky balance.

I'd say the exact opposite to that for Heaslip though! He's playing really well and has shown in the past that he can cope with a heavy workload without burning out so regardless of the options we have in the backrow I'd like to see him play loads over the next while.

[suisse]

Yeah, I'd go along with all that. 2 games before Batha way, I'd start Hagan and VDM in both of those, and Ruddock too. Keep the squad fresh and hopefully there'll be a few big performances to frighten those left out.

I wouldn't play SOB again until the Bath, send him to the Philippines for 10 days if you have to.

I'd also leave that centre combo as is and hope they mould into something productive for the the knock outs of this competition.

Delighted that Fitz is coming back into form. He's on fire right now. He looks fresh so keep him in that team.

[[Jackass]]

Might be a bit weak / a diservice to Treviso, but perhaps with some resting and rotation we could end up with something like:

1. Van Der Merwe
2. Cronin
3. Hagan
4. Cullen
5. Toner
6. McLoughlin
7. Jennings
8. Ruddock

9. Boss
10. Madigan
11. Fitzgerald
12. McFadden
13. O'Malley
14. Carr
15. D. Kearney

16. Strauss 17. McGrath 18. White 19. Browne 20. A'uuva (sp?) 21. Cooney 22. Sexton 23. Nacewa

I really want Hagan, Ruddock, Madigan and Carr to get some starts.

Guys like Healy, Ross, O'Brien, Heaslip, Reddan, D'Arcy, R. Kearney all given the week off.

I trust whatever Joe does, but we need to keep the pressure on in the league.

[cormac]

I'd imagine we'll see a bit of rotation for the players who featured heavily at the RWC over the next two games. I'd be surprised if Healy, Ross, O'Brien, Heaslip, Darce and Kearney started both games. Suspect the three games around Xmas and New Year will be the same.

Not sure that Hagan deserves to start ahead of White at the moment. Not an ideal situation by any means but having seen Hagan at A level and in the Pro12 at the start of the season I think he still has a way to go before he'll be a regular squad member when everyone is fit.

[johng]

I think pro rugby players neither need nor want a break every 5 minutes.

Look at Isa and Strauss last season for example. Yes I know that was probably a bit extreme, but to rest someone like Redan, who has played 112 minutes of Rugby this season for Leinster and feck all in the WC, is just silly.

It is more a case of giving players like Ruddock a game to keep them sharp and interested.

I think even my team goes a bit far with the rotation tbh. Cullen probably needs gametime as he got feck all at the WC too.

Not having a go at Jackass as his team was more about giving other players a game than rest.

But I think you need to blend your teams better (which Joe was great at last year) rather than throw all the backup and academy players in together (like Cheika did a few times every season)`Hence us never winning at Firhill or Rodney parade,

Also, most of the backup lads got plenty of gametime during the WC.

Irish players are the most rested and looked after in Europe. You need heavy rotation in France perhaps, but not here. Or at least not for rest purposes.

[Degz]

Healy
Strauss
White
Sykes
Toner
Ruddock
Jenno
Heaslip

Boss
Mads
Carr
Fitz
EOM
D Kearney
Isa

VDM
Hagan
Cronin
Kev Mc
Auva'a
Reddan
Sexton
R Kearney

[johng]

Sykes has hurted his shoulder, and Isa needs gametime on the wing. Auva'a is not great cover as he is a specialist 8.

Overall there are too many changes in the team we need evolution not revolution.

Must try harder Degsie

BTW I don't have opinions, only facts. and everyone MUST agree with them. To do otherwise is not logical.

[Degz]

Bow down!

Leo covers 8, with Kev Mc covering second row, gives Sob a week off.

Do we know how long Sykes is out for? In that case, Probably bring Leo back in, and give him the following week off.

As for Isa, he is still in the mix at 15. Kearney played a fair bit at WC, I'd give him this one off.

[mikey]

Sykes has hurted his shoulder, and Isa needs gametime on the wing. Auva'a is not great cover as he is a specialist 8.

Overall there are too many changes in the team we need evolution not revolution.

Must try harder Degsie

BTW I don't have opinions, only facts. and everyone MUST agree with them. To do otherwise is not logical.

honestly, dont disagree with the man or he will take you to the top of the (deserted apart from his car!!) Temple Bar car park and pretend to show you the view - where in fact I knew that it was a thinly veiled threat to never disagree with him or I would know what would be in store for me.....

be afraid....

[cormac]

For the next two weeks (assuming recovery from injury in one or two cases)

v Treviso: Nacewa, Kearney D, EOM, Darce, Fitz, Johnny, Boss; Healy, Strauss, White, Leo, Browne, Ruddock, Jenno, Jamie. Bench; Cronin, McGrath, Hagan, Toner, McLaughlin, Reddan, Madigan, Carr.

v Cardiff: Kearney R, Conway, EOM, McFadden, Fitz, Mads, Reddan; vd Merwe, Cronin, Ross, Leo, Toner, McLaughlin, Jenno, SOB. Bench: Strauss, Healy, White, Sykes, Ruddock, Boss, Sexton, Nacewa.

Cardiff have 8 players in the Wales squad to face Australia the day after we play them so they're going to be well short of full-strength. I'm also assuming that Conway, McFadden and Sykes are fit, otherwise Nacewa for Conway, Carr/Kearney D for McFadden with Fitz moving to 12 and Browne or Jamie on the bench instead of Sykes.

[Dexter]

Bow down!

Leo covers 8, with Kev Mc covering second row, gives Sob a week off.

Do we know how long Sykes is out for? In that case, Probably bring Leo back in, and give him the following week off.

As for Isa, he is still in the mix at 15. Kearney played a fair bit at WC, I'd give him this one off.

Sykes out for 2 weeks according to Joe. Not sure if one week of that has passed already.

[TerenureJim]

Any word on Dominic Ryan, wouldn't mind seeing a backrow with Heaslip at 8, Ruddock at 6 and D Ryan at 7 and maybe Jennings and McLoughlin on the bench.

[elfan]

Probably posted before but I see the game is live on rte. Happy days.

[Donny B.]

Probably posted before but I see the game is live on rte. Happy days.

Indeed. The fact that they're showing it is possibly influenced by the emails from the OLSC they got about not covering our games.

Anyway I'm just delighted we don't have to rely on Twitter feeds like Aironi match last season.

Oh and some listings have it down at three o'clock but it's two o'clock Irish time.

[Hornet]

Good to see it's on the telebox. At least I will not get as wet watching them, this time around!

[merlink]

feck all in the WC, is just silly.

Not so. Actually played in all 5 games, 30 min against US, Start against Australia, 20 mins against Russia, 20 mins against Italy and 30 mins against Wales. Hardly Feck All !