Scarlets at home, 25/01 7.35pm

[carlow man]

I agree, Barry Daly was easily the pick of the backs. Lots of work for Frawley to do, he never got to grips with the game.

Comedy gold from Rob, his worst performance in ages. I wonder what Carlow Man made of his performance though?

Lol!

[Oldschool]

Regarding RB.
Just a little question/observation.
RK probably made and missed more tackles than he's ever had to do before in a game.
I wonder why that was the case?
The FB is an easy target.
IE while everyone? is pointing the finger at RB, I'd have the search light on looking for the real culprits.
Reckon Joe will be delighted that RK came thru unharmed.
Joe selects him for his catching not tackling which he rarely has to do for Ireland.

[etak252]

Just watched recording of match Jesus Rob Kearney was very poor I wonder is he still slightly injured. Can't see Joe picking him for next week and rightly so.

No chance of winning World Cup with Kearney at full back. Give Robbie H a try at full back important to get all your best players on the pitch assuming Gary R Bundi Farrell Addison all fit.
Daly Doris Moloney Jack Mc all good but blessed to win that one.

[Blueberry]

Just watched recording of match Jesus Rob Kearney was very poor I wonder is he still slightly injured. Can't see Joe picking him for next week and rightly so.

No chance of winning World Cup with Kearney at full back. Give Robbie H a try at full back important to get all your best players on the pitch assuming Gary R Bundi Farrell Addison all fit.
Daly Doris Moloney Jack Mc all good but blessed to win that one.

Rob if fit will be our starting FB in the WC.........calm down please, the guy is class and always has stepped up. Leaky sieve at times the entire backline last night, very easy to over focus on a couple of missed tackles by RK. Yes he was rusty and I have sat through shocking individual performances from BOD, Sexton and many other big names over the years. It happens but what tends to happen is when it really matters they perform.

Can we please stop throwing the baby out with the bath water.

We are 21 points clear in the league, the rest of the league this season is training for our youngsters, we have a home QTR against Ulster in the Big un and blooding new players all over the place. We are using these 6 nations games in exactly the right way blending in lots of young players and RK and McGrath needed a trot out last night for national reasons. Job done and we still won.

[etak252]

Sorry but disagree Rob is a weak link in Irish back line offers very little going forward and misses too many tackles.

[curates_egg]

Byrne off with a HIA so probably won't play next week. Reid or Frawley to start?

A sloppy tackle that resulted in a head clash because Byrne slipped.
Looked groggy afterwards. No point in playing him.

Frawley had his 80 minutes against Ulster, so you would reckon it's his - needs to stop throwing intercepts (or potential intercepts).

... All one times he did that?

Which emoji should I pick?

I make it three now, and a number of near misses.
Needs to stop forcing play.

[wixfjord]

It's funny watching the same old things being trotted out about RK before every big international block of games. And yet every single time so far he has proven them wrong.

Now at some stage the naysayers will be right and father time will catch up, but to say that he's a 'weak link' after watching the last year of rugby is just knee jerkism.

[wixfjord]

No chance of winning World Cup with Kearney at full back.

This is the sort of stuff I'm talking about.

Like he was enough to beat the All Blacks and Australia and win a 6n, but we've 'no chance' of winning a WC with him playing seemingly.

Because of an abnormally poor performance in a low level league game having been injured on and off for months?

[Keith]

No chance of winning World Cup with Kearney at full back.

This is the sort of stuff I'm talking about.

Like he was enough to beat the All Blacks and Australia and win a 6n, but we've 'no chance' of winning a WC with him playing seemingly.

Because of an abnormally poor performance in a low level league game having been injured on and off for months?

I think some people take the whole "you're only as good as your last game" too far. I know we should expect the hyperbole because Kearney for some reason has always come under criticism from some but I thought his performance against the ABs, and last year in general would at least buy him a bit of time. Just shows that people are waiting for certain players to play bad to try prove themselves right.

[Logorrhea]

No chance of winning World Cup with Kearney at full back.

Idiotic statement

[Hippo]

No chance of winning World Cup with Kearney at full back.

Idiotic statement

Absolutely.

[Blueberry]

Funny how some players just seem to attract endless criticism and daggers are waiting as soon as they put a foot wrong.

RK is one and Heaslip was another despite both having incredible careers.

Remember in 2011 having a 'discussion' with a Munster fan about Ireland FB and he was adamant that Felix Jones had to be Ireland's fullback and that RK was done. RK then went onto win ERC player of the year in 2012....

Knee jerk is one way to describe some of the posts on here...........the polite way..................

[ronk]

Scarlets cut open teams, they are hard to defend against and require organisation.

They were weakened too but still had some critical quality.

It wasnt our best performance but that's not one guys fault. It's easy to forget how callow or rusty the players were.

[carlow man]

Funny how some players just seem to attract endless criticism and daggers are waiting as soon as they put a foot wrong.

RK is one and Heaslip was another despite both having incredible careers.

Remember in 2011 having a 'discussion' with a Munster fan about Ireland FB and he was adamant that Felix Jones had to be Ireland's fullback and that RK was done. RK then went onto win ERC player of the year in 2012....

Knee jerk is one way to describe some of the posts on here...........the polite way..................

I think the general consensus on rk was that after such a poor display, should he still start for Ireland next week? That's not knee jerk at all. As much as he has been a great servant to irish rugby, picking players that are making basic errors and not being completely match fit, I would prefer people being picked on form and being fit and as close to peak fitness as possible. Players aren't above criticism and this forum allows people to voice an opinion. Some will agree and others won't. Simple.

[Blueberry]

Funny how some players just seem to attract endless criticism and daggers are waiting as soon as they put a foot wrong.

RK is one and Heaslip was another despite both having incredible careers.

Remember in 2011 having a 'discussion' with a Munster fan about Ireland FB and he was adamant that Felix Jones had to be Ireland's fullback and that RK was done. RK then went onto win ERC player of the year in 2012....

Knee jerk is one way to describe some of the posts on here...........the polite way..................

I think the general consensus on rk was that after such a poor display, should he still start for Ireland next week? That's not knee jerk at all. As much as he has been a great servant to irish rugby, picking players that are making basic errors and not being completely match fit, I would prefer people being picked on form and being fit and as close to peak fitness as possible. Players aren't above criticism and this forum allows people to voice an opinion. Some will agree and others won't. Simple.

If fit he should start in my opinion.....for me dropping Rob Kearney based on a couple of missed tackles in a 'coming back from injury game a week before a 6 nations match' is totally knee jerk.

We will see, but if fit Kearney will get the nod from Joe, if he has aggravated a niggle or not 100% right I am sure he won't.

[paddyor]

After having a few poor lineout cameos off the bench, I thought Tracy did very well today. Scrum and lineout were solid (don't think we lost a single one?); he carried well and cleverly at the back of mauls and made all his tackles.

I think the LO "problem" is a little over stated. I had a look at the stats for each team and success on your own ball is probably more an indicator of how much time you give the set piece in training. The top LO team is also the top scrum team right the way down.

[tingman]

I agree, Barry Daly was easily the pick of the backs. Lots of work for Frawley to do, he never got to grips with the game.

Comedy gold from Rob, his worst performance in ages. I wonder what Carlow Man made of his performance though?

Lol!

Bad pint in one of his pubs!!

[Peg Leg]

Funny how some players just seem to attract endless criticism and daggers are waiting as soon as they put a foot wrong.

RK is one and Heaslip was another despite both having incredible careers.

Remember in 2011 having a 'discussion' with a Munster fan about Ireland FB and he was adamant that Felix Jones had to be Ireland's fullback and that RK was done. RK then went onto win ERC player of the year in 2012....

Knee jerk is one way to describe some of the posts on here...........the polite way..................

I think the general consensus on rk was that after such a poor display, should he still start for Ireland next week? That's not knee jerk at all. As much as he has been a great servant to irish rugby, picking players that are making basic errors and not being completely match fit, I would prefer people being picked on form and being fit and as close to peak fitness as possible. Players aren't above criticism and this forum allows people to voice an opinion. Some will agree and others won't. Simple.

I know, sure you were all over here about SOB being selected in 6N squad too.

[paddyor]

Schmidt didn't even watch that game, nor will he.

[Oldschool]

No chance of winning World Cup with Kearney at full back.

This is the sort of stuff I'm talking about.

Like he was enough to beat the All Blacks and Australia and win a 6n, but we've 'no chance' of winning a WC with him playing seemingly.

Because of an abnormally poor performance in a low level league game having been injured on and off for months?

He's a Joebot, getting the excuses in early just in case.