Ireland v Italy

[Donny B.]

R Kearney
McFadden
Henshaw
Marshall
D Kearney
Sexton
Murray

McGrath
Best
Moore
Toner
O'Connell
O'Mahony
O'Donnell
Heaslip

[TerenureJim]

No BOD for his last ever game in green at home?

[Donny B.]

No BOD for his last ever game in green at home?

Yep. Need to give Henshaw a taste

[johng]

No BOD for his last ever game in green at home?

Yep. Need to give Henshaw a taste

And he will get a taste off the bench I'm sure. Bod not starting the test that will take him past the world cap record of George Gregan is unthinkable. He'll be gone soon enough and forever.

[All Blacks nil]

60% possession
Relative domination in scrum 9/9 on own scrum (whereas England lost 4 of 9) and 16/16 on ourown lineouts won

3 clean breaks and 4 offloads in the whole game.

The foundations was set up front. Unfortunately a pedestrian and limited backline couldn't back it up. Time for reconstruction and some hard decisions methinks

[Dave Cahill]

I think you're wrong on this one, if we are to win the championship we need to rack up the points, so we need to start our strongest possible team and have real pace men on the bench once the Italians have been pummelled for an hour to apply the coup de grace. We have to assume that England will put a big total on Italy and that Wales will do the same to Scotland on the last day(even if they don't we have to plan for it). We don't want to run out against France knowing even a win might not be enough

[Raydollard]

add Madigan and Reddan for Sexton and Murray

[Ruckedtobits]

Totally agree with analysis of DC

I think you're wrong on this one, if we are to win the championship we need to rack up the points, so we need to start our strongest possible team and have real pace men on the bench once the Italians have been pummelled for an hour to apply the coup de grace. We have to assume that England will put a big total on Italy and that Wales will do the same to Scotland on the last day(even if they don't we have to plan for it). We don't want to run out against France knowing even a win might not be enough.

If we can get Squad to re-focus on winning the Championship, it must be by posting enough points in our last home game against Italy. England and Wales will eliminate one of our direct competition and ideally we'll get to Paris with an very good points differential with just a victory giving us the Championship.

In those circumstances, I might have Marshall or Henshaw on the bench as it does not look like Tommy Bowe will make it back in time. However, if Luke Fitz stays injury free I would certainly include him on the panel for the last two games. As Zebo hasn't been in Camp much since beginning of October, I think his prospects of starting are very limited. Henderson is certainly worth keeping on the bench but bring him on no later than 60 mins. Italy are strong in 2nd row and back-row and will be totally focussed on avoiding wooden spoon. However, they are not as well-drilled defensively as England and this will give us opportunities.

Finally, we must really get our heads around the fact that the 6N is determined by points difference, not tries. Take every opportunity to keep the scoreboard moving, particularly drop goals

[CiaranIrl]

Kearney
McFadden
O'Driscoll
Marshall
Zebo
Sexton
Murray

Healy
Cronin
Ross
Toner
O'Connell
O'Mahony
O'Donnell
Heaslip

Would be my choice. Faster, more attacking backline. I'd actually drop Best and Henry, frankly. Unacceptable number of missed tackles from Best, and Henry was slow out on the wings and went to ground too easily with ball in hand. Great at the breakdown, but poor as a linkman I thought.

[munster#1]

As stated above, we will see a close to first choice team, we need as many points from this as possible.

I would change the two centers, bod missed as many tackles as he made, and I don't think darce has earned his jersey. That said, if henshaw is starting I would see the merit in retaining D'Arcy.

I personally would bring zebo in for trimble, and retain mcfadden as backup.

This may be a game to rest pom and start Henderson, and bring Ryan to the bench along with pom or copeland.

[paddyor]

Kearney
McFadden
O'Driscoll
Marshall
Zebo
Sexton
Murray

Healy
Cronin
Ross
Toner
O'Connell
O'Mahony
O'Donnell
Heaslip

Would be my choice. Faster, more attacking backline. I'd actually drop Best and Henry, frankly. Unacceptable number of missed tackles from Best, and Henry was slow out on the wings and went to ground too easily with ball in hand. Great at the breakdown, but poor as a linkman I thought.

Henry posted better stats against England than TOD did against Ospreys B. He made 15 tackles and missed none better than both Heaslip and POM combined. And he beat as many defenders as them 2 combined. Can see where your coming from with Best, but Cronin still can't hook which will be a problem against a strong Italian scrum. I would like to see some change in the back row though with someone moving to the bench and the replacement getting a start. Schmidt seems to favour Murphy but I'd give Ruddock a go. Of course with Henderson covering 6 this seems unlikely.

The problem was Sexton being off his game(excepting defense); missing BODs pass; throwing a long forward pass; bad kicking in general. Had Schmidt more faith in his kicking from the tee I think Jackson would have gotten on much earlier on Saturday.

I'd expect a similar gameplan to Scotland and Wales and hopefully a similar score. I'd be delighted if it gets us to within a win of a championship

[paddyor]

This may be a game to rest pom and start Henderson, and bring Ryan to the bench along with pom or copeland.

Copeland really???? Why? He was released earlier from the squad than either Ruddock or TOD. Ryan was quiet today and hasn't done enough to displace either Toner or Henderson.

[neilinboston]

60% possession
Relative domination in scrum 9/9 on own scrum (whereas England lost 4 of 9) and 16/16 on ourown lineouts won

3 clean breaks and 4 offloads in the whole game.

The foundations was set up front. Unfortunately a pedestrian and limited backline couldn't back it up. Time for reconstruction and some hard decisions methinks

seriously you think your points are so good that we want you to copy and paste the exact same thing in multiple threads.
he who shouts loudest is rarely correct. if you concentrated on just making a point instead of trolling you'd be a valued contributor.

[paddyor]

60% possession
Relative domination in scrum 9/9 on own scrum (whereas England lost 4 of 9) and 16/16 on ourown lineouts won

3 clean breaks and 4 offloads in the whole game.

The foundations was set up front. Unfortunately a pedestrian and limited backline couldn't back it up. Time for reconstruction and some hard decisions methinks

Said backline have 4 tries to their name out of a total of 6(France are the same with 6) and have conceded just 1(Wales and England have conceded 4 each) giving us a points difference of 42(21 better than England). It wasn't the backs that lost us the game yesterday. It was poor display from Sexton, in particularly kicking, and bad defense from the tight 5(the English back 3 seeking them out when they where returning the ball). They only had 8 lineouts and IIRC took 2 defensive ones quickly. We never really got a chance to compete on their throw.

And just for completeness there isn't a back 3 player or outside back in Ireland who alone or as part of the team had the winning of Saturdays game in them. We lost by a score in Twickenham disappointing but a very creditable result of late.

[pip14]

Dropping Best and Henry? Are you mad? Two of the more consistent Ireland players this six nations IMHO

[suisse]

This may be a game to rest pom and start Henderson, and bring Ryan to the bench along with pom or copeland.

Copeland really???? Why? He was released earlier from the squad than either Ruddock or TOD. Ryan was quiet today and hasn't done enough to displace either Toner or Henderson.

You see this on Munsterfans a lot. I'd say there was hardly a person in the country who wanted Copeland involved with Irish 23 man squads until he signed a contract to play for Munster next season, It was the same with Downey.

[suisse]

Would be my choice. Faster, more attacking backline. I'd actually drop Best and Henry, frankly. Unacceptable number of missed tackles from Best, and Henry was slow out on the wings and went to ground too easily with ball in hand. Great at the breakdown, but poor as a linkman I thought.

I don't agree with this at all.

[Dave Cahill]

This may be a game to rest pom and start Henderson, and bring Ryan to the bench along with pom or copeland.

Copeland really???? Why? He was released earlier from the squad than either Ruddock or TOD. Ryan was quiet today and hasn't done enough to displace either Toner or Henderson.

You see this on Munsterfans a lot. I'd say there was hardly a person in the country who wanted Copeland involved with Irish 23 man squads until he signed a contract to play for Munster next season, It was the same with Downey.

Copeland was comprehensively outplayed by a young fella making his debut last thursday - perhaps we really should start that Conan for Ireland campaign!

[neilinboston]

Copeland really???? Why? He was released earlier from the squad than either Ruddock or TOD. Ryan was quiet today and hasn't done enough to displace either Toner or Henderson.

You see this on Munsterfans a lot. I'd say there was hardly a person in the country who wanted Copeland involved with Irish 23 man squads until he signed a contract to play for Munster next season, It was the same with Downey.

Copeland was comprehensively outplayed by a young fella making his debut last thursday - perhaps we really should start that Conan for Ireland campaign!

i haven't seen or read that match thread yet but i fully endorse and/or support this product/theory.
while we're at it, there's a guy playing for willow park with a lot of promise...he should be in Ireland camp! #ridiculousMunstersupporters!

[suisse]

Copeland was comprehensively outplayed by a young fella making his debut last thursday - perhaps we really should start that Conan for Ireland campaign!

I did like the comment on mf.com after the England game;

"Time to call up the Leinster Academy"