Ireland v South Africa (Sat 10th Nov, 17:30)

[Offiah]

+1. It's laughable. I thought his analysis of Heaslip was the best. Important moment in the match, not even mentioned.

True it was stupid and ultimately cost Ireland 10 points and the match.
However go back to why they were on our line, cos poor skills from Trimble attempting to keep the ball in play turned our line out over to them and gave them territory and the ball, which resulted in a number of penalties and line outs that put serious pressure on us and resulted in someone having to do something to stop them as we couldn't do it legally. Barnes could of sent a few players to the bin. The match turned on the Trimble moment.

Funnily enough Shane Horgan and Pope both thought Jamie did the right thing.

I recorded BBc so didn't know that. Cheers

[Peg Leg]

Felt that Heaslip was a bit shook/sileneced for many parts of the game, particularly during the slow set-up for the scrums, when imo he should have been hopping up and down, clapping hands, patting backs and trying to rise the lads in front and behind him. I know he likes to lead by example and let his rugby do the talking, but he could have used his mouth a bit too.

Disappointing result from a predictable performance.

Did I imagine it, or was there a phase of play with 10-20mins to go when the ball was been passed back 5-6 meters per pass? I think reddan had to do a 180deg to find J10/ROG? I thought it was for a DG attempt till the camera zoomed out to reveal our backline was sitting deep deep deep! Ridiculous!

[TerenureJim]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but did anyone else notice the off the ball hit that lead to Church going to the "Concussion Bin"? When Church was off they mauled the living beejaysus out of us, I think it is worth stating that their maul did not work to the same effect when Church came back on. That big maul had us on the back foot in our 22 and a result Jamie goes off and in the time he was in the Sin Bin we go down and they effectively win the game. Very cynical play targeting Church that paid off dividends for them.

Yeah completely agree with this, Sexton was also deliberately targeted for special attention and Henry, although I'm sure Henry was up to mischief to warrant some retribution which is the mark of a good 7.

It was noticeable how much they got out of the maul when Healy was off, Heaslip had no choice and saved 7 points but Barnes was also harsh with a yellow against our captain when you look at he number of lads we had bleeding after dirty hits and nothing done about it, you don't think Strauss bit his lip on half time oranges do you?

[Oldschool]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but did anyone else notice the off the ball hit that lead to Church going to the "Concussion Bin"? When Church was off they mauled the living beejaysus out of us, I think it is worth stating that their maul did not work to the same effect when Church came back on. That big maul had us on the back foot in our 22 and a result Jamie goes off and in the time he was in the Sin Bin we go down and they effectively win the game. Very cynical play targeting Church that paid off dividends for them.

Yeah completely agree with this, Sexton was also deliberately targeted for special attention and Henry, although I'm sure Henry was up to mischief to warrant some retribution which is the mark of a good 7.

It was noticeable how much they got out of the maul when Healy was off, Heaslip had no choice and saved 7 points but Barnes was also harsh with a yellow against our captain when you look at he number of lads we had bleeding after dirty hits and nothing done about it, you don't think Strauss bit his lip on half time oranges do you?

He bit his lip during the SA national anthem or didn't you notice - A legend.

[TerenureJim]

Well played sir, well played.

[Peg Leg]

Think it was DC who copped that Strauss tried to bite Pienaar's boot.

[suisse]

Am I mistaken, is this not Leinsterfans?? Like minded individuals??
It's not if I'am on minster fans or the ulster or Connacht equivalent site, stirring up shite.

I have a problem with a bias from this management team that hasn't benefitted anyone. Never mind the cr@p that is served up. It goads me.
I'd have this bias with any management team, yes even from Leinster.

There are some Irish players with basic skills deficiency (some happen to be Munster players) - carrying the ball in one hand into contact, poor passing skills under pressure, poor tackling techniques. These players shouldn't be near the national side however they are fast tracked cos of this bias.
There is no question that some of the Leinster players didn't play to their potential. Is this cos they aren't good enough for this level, had a poor day at the office, are under instructions to play a certain way or can't play this dross??

This provincial stuff will exist as long as Deccie reigns. The new head coach/director of rugby will hopefully have no bias and be an outsider that has no provincial agendas.

No, you're not mistaken. But you can criticise an underperforming Leinster player, like Jamie Heaslip. He had a poor game, yellow card aside. 2 tackles and 11 running meters or something. Rugby is not a stats game like baseball, but his contribution was very limited while he was on the field, and crucial, for the wrong reasons, when he was off it.

I agree re coaching provincial agendas but it shouldn't affect your assessment of players wearing the Irish jersey. Rise above the sh!t Kidney is feeding us. Saying "Darce was good in 1st half but hard to partner Earls" is not really helpful. Darce had a very good FH but he also made errors in the SH that were not because Earls was at 13. Mistakes he was making when BOD was outside him too.

Healy and Strauss had good games. Ross was alright. D'arcy had a good first half but Heaslip was poor. Reddan did absolutely nothing to stake a claim when he came on.

Agree - a coach with no provincial links would be good - at the very least, no Leinster/Munster links

[Golf Man]

Can't be dealing with going through every post

Front Row - Healy was pretty good, Ross was ok but was gone after an hour, Strauss I was pretty impressed with, not amazing or anything but did pretty well on his debut

Second Row - Ryan was ok, nothing more - Munster need to start playing him in 2nd row all the time. McCarthy was best Irish player by a mile - proof that you don't need 6/7 games to step up to this level. Play the same two against Argentina, with Tuohy on the bench

Back Row - a real mixed bag - Henry was pretty good, particulraly in the first half. POM had some mistakes, but I thought he showed up pretty well (again obviously in the first half). Definite size and bulk issues with both of them in the second half though. I was disappointed in Heaslip - with the selected backrow - there was obviously focus on his carrying which wasn't good enough. He also looked to be affected a bit by the captaincy (possibly quieter than he usuallly is). He wasn't all bad, and I'd put no real blame on him for the yellow card, just didn't step up as much as I'd hoped

Half Backs - Ok, no brain farts from Murray, but no real incision from him or Sexton - game plan was woeful though

Centres - Darcy was ok in the first half and will always give his all, but he is too limited - also fell off tackles a bit in the second half. Earls is still our most incisive runner and his defence at centre has improved hugely - still an issue with his passing, but that has definitely improved this year as well going on Munster performances

Back 3 - Bowe was ok, really went looking for work in the first half especially and tried to link with Zebo a lot - SA tackling was good though. Trimble (and I'm a fan) maybe needs to be dropped - he just isn't translating Ulster form into Ireland and hasn't for some time - his strength doesn't show up and he's not breaking tackles. Zebo did ok - don't think he let anyone down, and tried his best counter attacking, but again the game plan let him down in this sense. I'm not sure if he's a fullback but he did ok

Bench - Bent made an obvious impact in 1 scrum - long way to go for him yet though - give him a start against Fiji (Ross needs a break). Cronin had no huge impact. Kilcoyne was on for about 5 minutes and again had no huge impact (understandably) - again I'd be tempted to give Healy a week off - he is so important to us now. DOC and Henderson had no real impact that I noticed. Reddan was not an improvement on Murray. Seemed to me in his haste to speed things up he wasn't really thinking about what he was doing. Marshall needs to be given decent game time against Fiji. ROG - no impact and shouldn'thave come on unless we were taking Sexton off ( he did take a lot of punishment). MCFadden, no huge impact, should have come on for Darcy instead

Coaching - Poor simple as. I thought that the pack was always going to struggle against the physicality of the SA pack, and in the second half that really came through - that said I don't think that the coaches can real;ly be blamed for that, with the options we had available to us. Back line as a unit was atrocious - I'm not entirely sure what they were actually trying to do - and Kidney and Kiss have to take the blame.This continuous passing 7/8m backwards, didn't use Earls enough to my mind - having Zebo as the focus of a lot of attacks was a bit mad, given his inexperience at 15. Also not sure what the kicking strategy was - Murrays box kicks were looking to find touch (and he did it well, making good ground and not giving the SA pack the chance to counter, Zebo seemed to want to keep the ball in play)

Next two weeks: Do we change it up completely for Fiji, or look to develop the partnerships for Argentina - had we won I'd be going for ther former, now its a bit of a mix. Change entire front row for Fiji, and probably change back for Argentina. Inclined to leave Ryan and McCarthy together for Fiji and Argentina, bring tuohy onto the bench. Henry and Heaslip to start again next week (and the week after) - bring Henderson/McLaughlin in and then make a call for the week after (POM on the bench). Start with Reddan/Sexton, have Marshall and Jackson on the bench and give them 30 minutes. McFadden at 12 (or Marshall), keep Earls at 13 (hasn't played much so could do with the game time). Think we kind of have to go with Zebo at 15, even though I'm not convinced - decision is made and stick with it for the three games. Bowe on one wing, possibly Gilroy on the other - possily Jones or Marshall as the outside back on the bench.

[Offiah]

Can't be dealing with going through every post

Front Row - Healy was pretty good, Ross was ok but was gone after an hour, Strauss I was pretty impressed with, not amazing or anything but did pretty well on his debut

Second Row - Ryan was ok, nothing more - Munster need to start playing him in 2nd row all the time. McCarthy was best Irish player by a mile - proof that you don't need 6/7 games to step up to this level. Play the same two against Argentina, with Tuohy on the bench

Back Row - a real mixed bag - Henry was pretty good, particulraly in the first half. POM had some mistakes, but I thought he showed up pretty well (again obviously in the first half). Definite size and bulk issues with both of them in the second half though. I was disappointed in Heaslip - with the selected backrow - there was obviously focus on his carrying which wasn't good enough. He also looked to be affected a bit by the captaincy (possibly quieter than he usuallly is). He wasn't all bad, and I'd put no real blame on him for the yellow card, just didn't step up as much as I'd hoped

Half Backs - Ok, no brain farts from Murray, but no real incision from him or Sexton - game plan was woeful though

Centres - Darcy was ok in the first half and will always give his all, but he is too limited - also fell off tackles a bit in the second half. Earls is still our most incisive runner and his defence at centre has improved hugely - still an issue with his passing, but that has definitely improved this year as well going on Munster performances

Back 3 - Bowe was ok, really went looking for work in the first half especially and tried to link with Zebo a lot - SA tackling was good though. Trimble (and I'm a fan) maybe needs to be dropped - he just isn't translating Ulster form into Ireland and hasn't for some time - his strength doesn't show up and he's not breaking tackles. Zebo did ok - don't think he let anyone down, and tried his best counter attacking, but again the game plan let him down in this sense. I'm not sure if he's a fullback but he did ok

Bench - Bent made an obvious impact in 1 scrum - long way to go for him yet though - give him a start against Fiji (Ross needs a break). Cronin had no huge impact. Kilcoyne was on for about 5 minutes and again had no huge impact (understandably) - again I'd be tempted to give Healy a week off - he is so important to us now. DOC and Henderson had no real impact that I noticed. Reddan was not an improvement on Murray. Seemed to me in his haste to speed things up he wasn't really thinking about what he was doing. Marshall needs to be given decent game time against Fiji. ROG - no impact and shouldn'thave come on unless we were taking Sexton off ( he did take a lot of punishment). MCFadden, no huge impact, should have come on for Darcy instead

Coaching - Poor simple as. I thought that the pack was always going to struggle against the physicality of the SA pack, and in the second half that really came through - that said I don't think that the coaches can real;ly be blamed for that, with the options we had available to us. Back line as a unit was atrocious - I'm not entirely sure what they were actually trying to do - and Kidney and Kiss have to take the blame.This continuous passing 7/8m backwards, didn't use Earls enough to my mind - having Zebo as the focus of a lot of attacks was a bit mad, given his inexperience at 15. Also not sure what the kicking strategy was - Murrays box kicks were looking to find touch (and he did it well, making good ground and not giving the SA pack the chance to counter, Zebo seemed to want to keep the ball in play)

Next two weeks: Do we change it up completely for Fiji, or look to develop the partnerships for Argentina - had we won I'd be going for ther former, now its a bit of a mix. Change entire front row for Fiji, and probably change back for Argentina. Inclined to leave Ryan and McCarthy together for Fiji and Argentina, bring tuohy onto the bench. Henry and Heaslip to start again next week (and the week after) - bring Henderson/McLaughlin in and then make a call for the week after (POM on the bench). Start with Reddan/Sexton, have Marshall and Jackson on the bench and give them 30 minutes. McFadden at 12 (or Marshall), keep Earls at 13 (hasn't played much so could do with the game time). Think we kind of have to go with Zebo at 15, even though I'm not convinced - decision is made and stick with it for the three games. Bowe on one wing, possibly Gilroy on the other - possily Jones or Marshall as the outside back on the bench.

Agree Golf man. I like that team.
I'd make a few alterations. Locky in for Pom, leave 2nd row. I'd start Court with Cronin and bent. I'd run with your backline. Bench of Saturdays front row Touhy and Henderson, Marshall and mads, Marshall.

[fourthirtythree]

Healy was the best Irish player. By several kilometers. Seriously. How you could think otherwise astounds me.

He killed in the scrum. He was our primary ball carrier and was targeted as such by SA. They lined him up everytime. Unlike everyone else he was strong enough not to get turned over. By about 65 minutes in they were tired and he was still going that's why he has as many metres carried as McCarthy and Henry who both got free runs early on. He made his metres through tackles.

When he was off SA mauled at will to our line, they were unstoppable. When he came on he stopped them. It's as simple as that. I'm not sure who I'd have had as my man of the match, Etsebeht, Pienaar, Loew etc. but if it was Irish it had to be Healy apart from cheap sentimentality.

Extraordinary and the only Irish player you can say is genuine world class right now.

[fourthirtythree]

Healy and Strauss had good games. Ross was alright. D'arcy had a good first half but Heaslip was poor. Reddan did absolutely nothing to stake a claim when he came on.

Agree - a coach with no provincial links would be good - at the very least, no Leinster/Munster links

Actually Reddan was a lot better than I remembered when I watched ag the problem at that stage was the backs were lining up so deep it didn't matter how quickly the ball got to them the defenders were up on it. Why? I've no idea. Peg Leg was mentioning a play towards the end which was quite extraordinary. Reddan whips the ball out to Sexton who is 10m back, who passes to Zebo running from about 15M behind... we get nowhere and a couple of phases later Ryan gets turned over. Not his fault - it was the back play's fault. The rest of that I agree with.

[jezzer]

Can't be dealing with going through every post

Front Row - Healy was pretty good, Ross was ok but was gone after an hour, Strauss I was pretty impressed with, not amazing or anything but did pretty well on his debut

Second Row - Ryan was ok, nothing more - Munster need to start playing him in 2nd row all the time. McCarthy was best Irish player by a mile - proof that you don't need 6/7 games to step up to this level. Play the same two against Argentina, with Tuohy on the bench

Back Row - a real mixed bag - Henry was pretty good, particulraly in the first half. POM had some mistakes, but I thought he showed up pretty well (again obviously in the first half). Definite size and bulk issues with both of them in the second half though. I was disappointed in Heaslip - with the selected backrow - there was obviously focus on his carrying which wasn't good enough. He also looked to be affected a bit by the captaincy (possibly quieter than he usuallly is). He wasn't all bad, and I'd put no real blame on him for the yellow card, just didn't step up as much as I'd hoped

Half Backs - Ok, no brain farts from Murray, but no real incision from him or Sexton - game plan was woeful though

Centres - Darcy was ok in the first half and will always give his all, but he is too limited - also fell off tackles a bit in the second half. Earls is still our most incisive runner and his defence at centre has improved hugely - still an issue with his passing, but that has definitely improved this year as well going on Munster performances

Back 3 - Bowe was ok, really went looking for work in the first half especially and tried to link with Zebo a lot - SA tackling was good though. Trimble (and I'm a fan) maybe needs to be dropped - he just isn't translating Ulster form into Ireland and hasn't for some time - his strength doesn't show up and he's not breaking tackles. Zebo did ok - don't think he let anyone down, and tried his best counter attacking, but again the game plan let him down in this sense. I'm not sure if he's a fullback but he did ok

Bench - Bent made an obvious impact in 1 scrum - long way to go for him yet though - give him a start against Fiji (Ross needs a break). Cronin had no huge impact. Kilcoyne was on for about 5 minutes and again had no huge impact (understandably) - again I'd be tempted to give Healy a week off - he is so important to us now. DOC and Henderson had no real impact that I noticed. Reddan was not an improvement on Murray. Seemed to me in his haste to speed things up he wasn't really thinking about what he was doing. Marshall needs to be given decent game time against Fiji. ROG - no impact and shouldn'thave come on unless we were taking Sexton off ( he did take a lot of punishment). MCFadden, no huge impact, should have come on for Darcy instead

Coaching - Poor simple as. I thought that the pack was always going to struggle against the physicality of the SA pack, and in the second half that really came through - that said I don't think that the coaches can real;ly be blamed for that, with the options we had available to us. Back line as a unit was atrocious - I'm not entirely sure what they were actually trying to do - and Kidney and Kiss have to take the blame.This continuous passing 7/8m backwards, didn't use Earls enough to my mind - having Zebo as the focus of a lot of attacks was a bit mad, given his inexperience at 15. Also not sure what the kicking strategy was - Murrays box kicks were looking to find touch (and he did it well, making good ground and not giving the SA pack the chance to counter, Zebo seemed to want to keep the ball in play)

Next two weeks: Do we change it up completely for Fiji, or look to develop the partnerships for Argentina - had we won I'd be going for ther former, now its a bit of a mix. Change entire front row for Fiji, and probably change back for Argentina. Inclined to leave Ryan and McCarthy together for Fiji and Argentina, bring tuohy onto the bench. Henry and Heaslip to start again next week (and the week after) - bring Henderson/McLaughlin in and then make a call for the week after (POM on the bench). Start with Reddan/Sexton, have Marshall and Jackson on the bench and give them 30 minutes. McFadden at 12 (or Marshall), keep Earls at 13 (hasn't played much so could do with the game time). Think we kind of have to go with Zebo at 15, even though I'm not convinced - decision is made and stick with it for the three games. Bowe on one wing, possibly Gilroy on the other - possily Jones or Marshall as the outside back on the bench.

Agree with a lot of this, though I have to say the front row as a unit was excellent. Henry is a decent size bloke for a 7, but he was physically struggling to such a degree it was hard for him to make an impact. Heaslip also needs to really think about putting some beef back on the hoof. He was fairly anonymous, which is not acceptable for either your number 8 or your captain. I thought POM was quite poor.

We got dominated physically by a typical dirty Saffer pack - it was hard for us to get behind them or even stretch their line. Why we compounded that by playing so deep in the backs is a mystery, it's yet another reason why Kidney is an absolutely cr@p coach. Our tactics yet again were baffling. We seemed to be always playing into the hands of a poor SA team who looked like they could have been stretched if we'd been on our game.

Zebo was good. A bit raw but he was effective. Bowe looked dangerous but had a mountain to climb when he got the ball thanks to our stupid alignment. D'Arcy was honest and hard-working but that is it. Earls was actually quite poor. In the first 20 minutes alone I lost count of the times he shipped it too early and ruined the break or didn't ship it and ruined the break or chipped it and ruined the break. His decision-making was terrible. I hope Penney can help him, because he's our most talented back for the near future if we can sort him out with fixing defenders, running straight and giving the winger a good pass and the space to do something with it.

Neither scrum half was great. I can't help but think that Small Paul Marshall would have opened up that Saffer defence with his snipes. Sexton put in yet another "good-but-not-great" performance in green. Can't really criticise him, can't really get excited about him for Ireland.

The Argentina game was a cracker and, while they're still not great in the backs (less so now Felipe is out), they are going to have the lion's share of possession in the game against us. We're going to be playing a fair bit out of our own half and so we better come up with a better way of finding space with ball in hand than running a back formation that was borrowed from the Scotland 2007 Attack Manual.

[cormac]

The backline alignment was a real puzzle. We were shovelling ball on way behind the gainline. Were we expecting them to blitz on defence. Add in some sideways running, slow ball and some poor passing and it's little wonder we made next to no ground.

[Peg Leg]

Some great stuff

Some more great stuff

The Argentina game was a cracker and, while they're still not great in the backs (less so now Felipe is out), they are going to have the lion's share of possession in the game against us. We're going to be playing a fair bit out of our own half and so we better come up with a better way of finding space with ball in hand than running a back formation that was borrowed from the Scotland 2007 Attack Manual.

Great posts lads, it's a tonic to the copy & paste brigade in the press.
Further to the final paragraph in Jezzers post, I would hasten to add that, we need to find a way of defending against heavy back row forwards running hard and straight at our fringe defenders. We did not fair well here against SA.
Also, if the Argies have done their homework there will be a lot of mauls to defend whilst Cian is been "delayed" in getting back in line!

[Dave Cahill]

The backline alignment was a real puzzle. We were shovelling ball on way behind the gainline. Were we expecting them to blitz on defence. Add in some sideways running, slow ball and some poor passing and it's little wonder we made next to no ground.

We were able to go from the 22 to the 10 metre line in only two passes, unfortunately it was the opposition 22 to the opposition 10 metre line

[suisse]

Healy and Strauss had good games. Ross was alright. D'arcy had a good first half but Heaslip was poor. Reddan did absolutely nothing to stake a claim when he came on.

Agree - a coach with no provincial links would be good - at the very least, no Leinster/Munster links

Actually Reddan was a lot better than I remembered when I watched ag the problem at that stage was the backs were lining up so deep it didn't matter how quickly the ball got to them the defenders were up on it. Why? I've no idea. Peg Leg was mentioning a play towards the end which was quite extraordinary. Reddan whips the ball out to Sexton who is 10m back, who passes to Zebo running from about 15M behind... we get nowhere and a couple of phases later Ryan gets turned over. Not his fault - it was the back play's fault. The rest of that I agree with.

Funnily enough, I watched the whole game back off Rugbydump and I agree with you. I was frustrated watching him live, but he was OK on second viewing.

Start with Reddan/Sexton, have Marshall and Jackson on the bench and give them 30 minutes.

Kidney knows exactly what Reddan and Sexton can do as a combination. Our only 2 excellent performances since the Autumn of 2009 featured these two men as the starting half backs (England and Aus in 2011). He's seen them for Leinster and for 15 mins on Saturday If Kidney doesn't consider Reddan a realistic starter v Argentina (with Murray his undoubted number 1) then he probably feels the same about the 6N. Play Sexton and Marshall. See what sort of a link they can get going. If they play well, it is a genuine rival (and a younger one) to Murray at 9.

[Oldschool]

Would agree with most of your post GM.
Scrum Half - Marshall has to be given a chance against Fiji. Then it's a toss up between him and Reddan for the Argies. The Argies, like SA, will want an arm wrestle so there's even a case for Boss to be involved.
OH - Madigan to start with Jackson to come on for the second half. Madigan would be my bench choice against the Argies, he's that bit further on than Jackson.
The only ? being his place kicking and with McF at centre then that's not a problem. What Madigan can provide is the unexpected, he has a lightning quick break. He'll be breathing down Sexton's neck next season, which may result in a new 10/12 partnership being formed.
D'Arcy - Dekko is the problem here. As long as he only sees McF as a winger then D'Arcy will still be first choice. McF should be the 12 against Fiji and then get at least 30 minutes against the Argies, where he'll be tested. McSharry is an outside contender.
I would also like to see Hanrahan getting 20 minutes against Fiji, but not against the Argies. Dekko has shown a complete lacking of ability in determining when a player is ready mentally for the next step. We have the HEC as a test bed, so what's the rush. He needs to be starting with Munster as first choice.
The next in line players are in Ulster or Connacht and haven't even been given a sniff.
Earls is a winger - The passing is a major problem. He has buckets of caps and it still isn't up to international standards, so really how long are we supposed to wait. It doesn't matter where he wants to play, he's missing core skills of a 13, another one of which is reading the game.
The other wing - Trimble should not be in the mix which leaves Gilroy and O'Halloran.
FB - Leave Zebo there for the next two games or put him back on the wing and play O'Halloran at FB, I'd go with the former.

[Golf Man]

Would agree with most of your post GM.
Scrum Half - Marshall has to be given a chance against Fiji. Then it's a toss up between him and Reddan for the Argies. The Argies, like SA, will want an arm wrestle so there's even a case for Boss to be involved.
OH - Madigan to start with Jackson to come on for the second half. Madigan would be my bench choice against the Argies, he's that bit further on than Jackson.
The only ? being his place kicking and with McF at centre then that's not a problem. What Madigan can provide is the unexpected, he has a lightning quick break. He'll be breathing down Sexton's neck next season, which may result in a new 10/12 partnership being formed.
D'Arcy - Dekko is the problem here. As long as he only sees McF as a winger then D'Arcy will still be first choice. McF should be the 12 against Fiji and then get at least 30 minutes against the Argies, where he'll be tested. McSharry is an outside contender.
I would also like to see Hanrahan getting 20 minutes against Fiji, but not against the Argies. Dekko has shown a complete lacking of ability in determining when a player is ready mentally for the next step. We have the HEC as a test bed, so what's the rush. He needs to be starting with Munster as first choice.
The next in line players are in Ulster or Connacht and haven't even been given a sniff.
Earls is a winger - The passing is a major problem. He has buckets of caps and it still isn't up to international standards, so really how long are we supposed to wait. It doesn't matter where he wants to play, he's missing core skills of a 13, another one of which is reading the game.
The other wing - Trimble should not be in the mix which leaves Gilroy and O'Halloran.
FB - Leave Zebo there for the next two games or put him back on the wing and play O'Halloran at FB, I'd go with the former.

Madigan/Jackson is a tough one to call - given I'd hope (but obviously not expect) one of them to be on the bench for the Argentina game. I think Jackson is a more complete player, with Madigan a more wildcard selection - hard to see a wildcard being selcted at such a pivotal position for a game like that. In any case I wouldn't expect them to be coming on - this whole Sexton to 12 thing is shite and understandably can't see Kidney throwing Jackson or Madigan in at 10 against Argentina, given the possible recriminations of that match. I can't see a permanent move to 12 for Sexton

Agree on McSharry - he needs yto be given some kind of a run - arguably more deserving than Marshall

On Earls - he is still more of a threat than Cave at 13, his defence has improved no end, and his passing in the couple of games he played for Munster this year was way better - I think we need to stick with him, but don't have a problem with Cave being given another shot. Whatever happens with Earls I thyink provincailly and nationally a decision needs to be made on his position - he is our most threatening runner and has been moved about too much

BTW 433 - I probably overstated MCarthys performance v Healys - probably as much that we expect it from Healy now, whereas McCarthy's was a real suprise

[Dave Cahill]

For Fiji, (bearing in mind that its not a test match - it may not even be an A game, does anyone know for sure) I'd go with
Jones, Zebo, Marshall, McSharry, Gilroy, Jackson, Marshall, Kilcoyne, Cronin, Bent, O'Callaghan, Toner*, Henderson, Dougall, Ruddock

*someone said that Touhy is injured, if not, then him instead of Toner.

[ruck]

Dougal's injured too. Not sure when he's due back, but pretty sure that he isn't available for selection for the Fiji game.