Ireland v France ***Team Pg 7***

[BlueArmyOriginal]

Hmmmm....dreamland scenario would be for good reports on the injury front and a new backs coach. We need pace and dynamism for these guys as well as our best scrummagers which is why I've gone For that front row. I know DOC had his 1st good game in 3yrs or whatever yesterday but Cullen offers so much more in terms of the lineout and grunt around the park. I've Jenno in there to make a nuisance of himself and slow down their ruck ball, hopefully Heaslip will be back with SOB moving to his prefered 6, Reddan in for quicker ball(and the thought of TOL box kicking to Clerc/Medard/Huget/Rougerie etc all day makes me feel cold inside) then the backs, with Bowe back in harness hopefully, unshackled with Reddan in. Going by the performances of the weekend we have a serious mountain to climb to beat these guys next week!

1 Court
2 Cronin
3 Ross
4 Cullen
5 POC
6 SOB
7 Jenno
8 Heaslip

9 Reddan
10 Sexton
11 Earls
12 Darce
13 BOD
14 Bowe
15 Fitz

16. Best 17. Healy 18. DOC 19. Leamy 20. Stringer 21. ROG 22.FMac

[artaneboy]

Dreamland indeed. The injury situation doesn't look good for any of them. And the idea that Kidney is going to select Jennings when Wallace had a decent game (even if he's not a 7) is optimistic at best. The best we could hope for is that Reddan or Stringer displaces O'Leary.

[BlueArmyOriginal]

Dreamland indeed. The injury situation doesn't look good for any of them. And the idea that Kidney is going to select Jennings when Wallace had a decent game (even if he's not a 7) is optimistic at best. The best we could hope for is that Reddan or Stringer displaces O'Leary.

Completely, that team's who I'd pick. Diet Eddie'll do the usual and mostly ignore things like form and skill-set. Judging by the way France played this weekend we'll be in severe trouble without changes.

[RichardP]

THIS IS NOT A POST ABOUT PROVINCIAL BIAS BUT:
Can you please explain what D'Arcy brings to the team other than he's a mighty tackler? He has scored SEVEN tries in 53 appearances over 12 seasons. That's not even one per year and since he scored against Argentina we can expect no more this season. Marcus Horan has scored Six tries in approximately the same time frame and that's as a prop - albeit with tendencies to be a back..
If you say he enhances BOD's opportunities to score then please justify that because BOD seems to score more and more from hiS own individual efforts or from 1st and 2nd receiver positions.
If Paddy Wallace was half as good a tackler as D'Arcy he'd be twice as good a player.
i would not drop him simply because he had one appallingly bad game but if ROG had ever played that badly there'd have been a lineup to have him deported to Sri Lanka

[Donny B.]

If Darce was dropped after that match, he could have no argument. However bringing in Wallace is pointless cause he's repeatedly shown he's not physical enough to be an international centre. If Bowe is fit to come back on the wing then about McFadden at twelve?

[RichardP]

I'd be delighted to have McFadden at 12 DonnyB; I think he's one of our seriously under-utilized talents. And for the record I wouldn't pick Wallace either, primarily because you're absolutely right about his lack of physicality.

[Peg Leg]

If Darce was dropped after that match, he could have no argument. However bringing in Wallace is pointless cause he's repeatedly shown he's not physical enough to be an international centre. If Bowe is fit to come back on the wing then about McFadden at twelve?

If Bowe is fit, McFadden will drop out of the 22,

[RichardP]

Hmmmm....dreamland scenario would be for good reports on the injury front and a new backs coach. We need pace and dynamism for these guys as well as our best scrummagers which is why I've gone For that front row. I know DOC had his 1st good game in 3yrs or whatever yesterday but Cullen offers so much more in terms of the lineout and grunt around the park. I've Jenno in there to make a nuisance of himself and slow down their ruck ball, hopefully Heaslip will be back with SOB moving to his prefered 6, Reddan in for quicker ball(and the thought of TOL box kicking to Clerc/Medard/Huget/Rougerie etc all day makes me feel cold inside) then the backs, with Bowe back in harness hopefully, unshackled with Reddan in. Going by the performances of the weekend we have a serious mountain to climb to beat these guys next week!

1 Court
2 Cronin
3 Ross
4 Cullen
5 POC
6 SOB
7 Jenno
8 Heaslip

9 Reddan
10 Sexton
11 Earls
12 Darce
13 BOD
14 Bowe
15 Fitz

16. Best 17. Healy 18. DOC 19. Leamy 20. Stringer 21. ROG 22.FMac

If you watched France v Scots yesterday you would not drop Best for Cronin, purely on lineout throwing alone. Turnovers from Scottish lineouts led directly to French tries. Best isn't a dart thrower but Cronin couldn't hit a c~*k on a barn door. Cullen won't replace anyone either. DOC had a very good game and POC will have benefitted from the run so no changes there. Jennings might get the seven spot but i doubt it and i question whether Heaslip will be fit enough to start either. SH choices I fully agree with you and I'd have McFadden in centre instead of D'Arcy, but that won't happen either.

[fourthirtythree]

DOC had a very good game .

No he didn't. He wasn't dreadful, but he simply isn't good enough for this standard any more. He just didn't have to take any restarts to show everyone how awful he is but his lineouts were NOT good. He has never been part of a good scrummaging unit and while the flankers are standing up shouting at the ref and touch judge that leaves us with a five man scrum. He only gave away one, incredibly stupid, penalty yesterday which IIRC they failed to convert but they should have. Italy had just given one up rather than have us score, he flopped around from the side and played on the ground in front of the posts.

[Donny B.]

France have recalled Yannick Jauzion to replace injured centre Maxime Mermoz for next Sunday's Six Nations clash with Ireland.



Mermoz, who returned to the French side at inside centre in the place of 70-Test cap veteran Jauzion, hurt his shoulder in the second half of Saturday's opening win over Scotland in Paris.


On Sunday les Bleus boss Marc Lièvremont admitted that the Perpignan midfielder would not be fit for the trip to Dublin which will force the coach to change his centre pairing, again. Lièvremont has named 18 different back-lines in his tenure.


"Once again I will not be able to field the same backs line-up for two successive matches," he said resignedly but also with the hint of a smile after the game at the Stade de France.


Lièvremont said it was unlikely Mermoz would return to full fitness before the end of the tournament.


"I think it would be complicated," said the coach.


"We're not going to talk about the nature of his injury too much and we'll leave the treatment to his club (Perpignan). He's hurt his left shoulder."


Against Scotland 24-year-old Mermoz, was making his first start since June 2010, having previously missed the 2010 Six Nations campaign with a shoulder problem.


The rest of the 23-man squad has been passed fit and remains unchanged. France will name their starting XV on Tuesday.


France squad


Forwards: Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Thomas Domingo (Clermont), Luc Ducalcon (Castres), Sylvain Marconnet (Biarritz), William Servat (Toulouse), Guilhem Guirado (Perpignan), Lionel Nallet (Racing-Metro), Julien Pierre (Clermont), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse, capt), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Sebastien Chabal (Racing-Metro)


Backs: Morgan Parra (Clermont), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Yoann Huget (Bayonne), Maxime Medard (Toulouse), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse)

Mermoz's injury should see the return of Jauzion.

Poitrenaud's good showing could see him back at full-back too.

Could see a backline of

Poitrenaud
Clerc
Rougerie
Jauzion
Medard
Trinh-Duc
Parra

Would be a lot more dangerous but hopefully the tinker-man will be too stubbornly stupid to pick it!

[ronk]

THIS IS NOT A POST ABOUT PROVINCIAL BIAS BUT:
Can you please explain what D'Arcy brings to the team other than he's a mighty tackler? He has scored SEVEN tries in 53 appearances over 12 seasons. That's not even one per year and since he scored against Argentina we can expect no more this season. Marcus Horan has scored Six tries in approximately the same time frame and that's as a prop - albeit with tendencies to be a back..
If you say he enhances BOD's opportunities to score then please justify that because BOD seems to score more and more from hiS own individual efforts or from 1st and 2nd receiver positions.
If Paddy Wallace was half as good a tackler as D'Arcy he'd be twice as good a player.
i would not drop him simply because he had one appallingly bad game but if ROG had ever played that badly there'd have been a lineup to have him deported to Sri Lanka

Maybe it would be better to be consistent rather than judging a player on one stat and no other. D'Arcy's contribution has rarely been about scoring trys, it's hard the way Irish 12s are expected to play because 12s are usually involved earlier in the movement so naturally get less chances. When they make a clean break, they're more likely to be passing around the fullback so someone else scores. A lot of the D'Arcy tries that spring to mind worked out that way, return passes later on in a movement when a scramble has partially done its job.

Compared to other major (typical of an Irish team) inside centres his scoring record stands up. Paddy Wallace has 2 tries for Ireland (one from outhalf), 23 in total for Ulster and 1 this season for them (15 games). Mafi has one try in 2 seasons (34 games) and scored a max of 4 in a season (total 11 in his Munster career). Geordan D'Arcy has 51 tries for Leinster, including 4 in 8 Heineken Cup games last season (none this season), so he's not doing too badly at all.

When he has a bad game, he tends to drop the ball a few times but otherwise play well, he also doesn't tend to have bad games back to back. Plus he wasn't the only one dropping the ball, e.g. David Wallace, so I wouldn't be inclined to single him out.

[slum]

Good response. I think the whole tried scored argument is so dumb and proves so little.

[Cianostays]

Hmmmm....dreamland scenario would be for good reports on the injury front and a new backs coach. We need pace and dynamism for these guys as well as our best scrummagers which is why I've gone For that front row. I know DOC had his 1st good game in 3yrs or whatever yesterday but Cullen offers so much more in terms of the lineout and grunt around the park. I've Jenno in there to make a nuisance of himself and slow down their ruck ball, hopefully Heaslip will be back with SOB moving to his prefered 6, Reddan in for quicker ball(and the thought of TOL box kicking to Clerc/Medard/Huget/Rougerie etc all day makes me feel cold inside) then the backs, with Bowe back in harness hopefully, unshackled with Reddan in. Going by the performances of the weekend we have a serious mountain to climb to beat these guys next week!

1 Court
2 Cronin
3 Ross
4 Cullen
5 POC
6 SOB
7 Jenno
8 Heaslip

9 Reddan
10 Sexton
11 Earls
12 Darce
13 BOD
14 Bowe
15 Fitz

16. Best 17. Healy 18. DOC 19. Leamy 20. Stringer 21. ROG 22.FMac

If you watched France v Scots yesterday you would not drop Best for Cronin, purely on lineout throwing alone. Turnovers from Scottish lineouts led directly to French tries. Best isn't a dart thrower but Cronin couldn't hit a c~*k on a barn door. Cullen won't replace anyone either. DOC had a very good game and POC will have benefitted from the run so no changes there. Jennings might get the seven spot but i doubt it and i question whether Heaslip will be fit enough to start either. SH choices I fully agree with you and I'd have McFadden in centre instead of D'Arcy, but that won't happen either.

BAO, I love your optimism but I don't see those guys being fit. I'd leave Best in the starting team (he played better than I thought he would and, imo, has done enough to retain his place). Cronin should come on with 20 mins to go.

RichP, if you think we should retain Best for the sake of the lineout (I agree with you) shouldn't we bring Cullen in for his line out prowess? DO'C played better than I thought he would but, with no back row jumper available at the moment, the French could really have our lineout in trouble. Cullen is the better option for this game imo

[No23]

Maybe DK will bring JS in as a backs coach as the majority are from Leinster... it makes sense.

[fourthirtythree]

Remember when Cullen played against Italy last year? 7 lineouts stolen from the Italians I think it was. Compare and contrast.

[BlueArmyOriginal]

BAO, I love your optimism but I don't see those guys being fit. I'd leave Best in the starting team (he played better than I thought he would and, imo, has done enough to retain his place). Cronin should come on with 20 mins to go.

RichP, if you think we should retain Best for the sake of the lineout (I agree with you) shouldn't we bring Cullen in for his line out prowess? DO'C played better than I thought he would but, with no back row jumper available at the moment, the French could really have our lineout in trouble. Cullen is the better option for this game imo

And I love your optimism in thinking that anyone will come off the bench before 77 mins Cian!!! I'd just like to state again that that team I picked is my dreamland-everyone back fit on time-Gaffney fired-Kidney actually doing a good job scenario selection. I just think Cronin offers us the most dynamism up front and we are gonna need pace and dynamism against the French. Having Cullen in with POC would give him far better lineout targets too. If Heaslip doesnt make it I'd prob have a backrow of 6,SOB 7,Jenno 8,Wallace.

Ferg at 12 isn't half bad an idea but now that it'll be Jauzion v Rougerie I'd prefer to have D'Arcy's experience in there.

[Donny B.]

Ferg at 12 isn't half bad an idea but now that it'll be Jauzion v Rougerie I'd prefer to have D'Arcy's experience in there.

You think the two French centres will compete against each other?

Hopefully we can take advantage of this!

[jezzer]

Darce is the Simon Easterby of the backline!

He hasn't been perfect for Ireland all the time but he's the best we have.

Ferg doesn't have the distribution for 12 in my view.

[gleesonisgod]

People questioning Darce obviously missed the November series.

[Huddle]

1 Healy
2 Cronin
3 Ross
4 Doc
5 POC
6 SOB/wallace
7 Jenno
8 Heaslip/SOB

9 Reddan
10 O'Gara
11 Earls/Fitz
12 Sexton
13 BOD
14 Bowe
15 Darce

16. Best 17. Court 18. Cullen 19.Ruddock 20. Stringer 21. P.Wallace 22.FMac