Ireland v France 11/10/2015

[blockhead]

That selection, if true, could become a bigger issue than "rural crime". Enda may be forced to delay the election til after xmas.

Nice of you to introduce provincial divisions already though

Stop your belly-aching and get behind the team Gman.

[paddyor]

sh!t is going to hit the fan in Ulsterville and Munsterville tomorrow and frankly I can't blame them.

Maybe Joe is thinking he'll go with as many of the lads who beat them in the Aviva seven months ago, but even still he's dropped the forward in best form to the bench and the back in best form out of the squad entirely.

All I'll say is...he better bloody win!

Is Earls really in "great" form?
He was poor against Wales
He ripped it up against 2 minnows . And let's be honest, Canada was stuffed with semi pros.
He was okay against Italy.

I 'd rate 2 of them teams as Pro12 standard at best. It's hardly stellar.

But by that rationale are any of the players in form given that is who they've all been playing, not just Earls.

Not particularly. My point is I don't think Earls form makes him un-dropable.

[paddyor]

the non selction of Earls and perhaps Zebo tells me that "the gameplan" is more important than "creative spark"

Earls has been the beneficiary of others creative spark 3 times(25m skip pass, grubber, offload) and returned the favour once.......He's a good finisher.

[Peg Leg]

Ire V NZ Mark II.
This will be violent.

[Fred Funk]

So we have 2 teams who having been saving themselves for a long time for this game (in the case of the French 4 years). I don't expect it to be pretty but it will be brutal.

[olaf the fat]

So we have 2 teams who having been saving themselves for a long time for this game (in the case of the French 4 years). I don't expect it to be pretty but it will be brutal.

Regardless of the outcome of Sunday, we will still have 2 teams that were saving themselves for the following week end. Spin and all that.

"I dont expect it to be pretty but it will brutal" I think you have nailed it there . Injury may derail our quarter final, France will probably target Sexton as the key to our game.

[rooster]

Just hope that feckin Mexican wave does not appear during the match, it annoys me even more than The Fields!

[bronxbull]

Joe Schmidt usually went for the heavier , more conservative pack in games against France away (McLaughlin, Browne, Van der Merwe) and would play Healy, Toner and Jennings at home. Isaac Boss would be selected instead of Reddan away from home as well and the game plan was to keep it tight and at least get a losing bonus point.
The rationale seems to be that there is nothing to be gained in an expansive approach and a one point win, or draw, will suffice so I wouldn't be expecting any Barbarian rugby from this selection. Provincial bias has nothing to do with this selection it just happens that two of our most expressive and creative players are from Munster and the force of nature that is Henderson is from Ulster.

I would personally find it hard to justify Earls not in the 15, let alone the 23 if the leaked team is true. Keith Earls is definitely our most prolific winger on form and even though Tommy Bowe obviously has the class and pedigree he doesn't have great current form against top sides. Bowe would have been in most supporters selections a year out from the World Cup but not many would have been surprised to see him miss out this time.

Dave Kearney was the form winger in training and the warm up matches and he does what Schmidt likes his wingers to do, compete strongly for balls in the air, hit rucks and run very hard and don't die easily with the ball. Keith Earls and Simon Zebo obviously play with more raw pace and flair than Dave Kearney has ever shown us heretofore.
Toner , if selected, will excel at the lineout, scrum and maul attack/ defence and he is excellent at restarts as well.
Our maul, such a strength and potent weapon the last few years, has gone back and Toner's selection would seem to address that.
He can not get around the pitch like Henderson and he is not as good with ball in hand or defensively.

No one knows this more than Joe Schmidt and he will be judged by this selection more than any 6 Nations goodwill he has in the bag.

Leinster had brilliant backs during Schmidt's tenure like Sexton, BOD, D'Arcy, Isa , Horgan etc and it seemed that they were playing free flowing rugby all the time.
This was obviously not the case and it is not the way Ireland have played under Schmidt.
I would think that there will be a few very well rehearsed strike moves off scrum and lineout when the opportunity presents itself in the French half and a well managed game by the half backs.

It's the way Schmidt teams usually play and he usually gets it right.

[Logorrhea]

he usually gets it right.

Doesn't matter. He doesn't have credit in the back, all past performances and championships are forgotten. If he drops [insert name of your province player] and we lose he'll be crucified.

[jezzer]

I can understand the Toner selection. Hes the better set piece and maul player. His tackle count is unlikely to be much different from Hendos. What we lose is a ball carrier and thats prob why Healy is getting the nod, so again I can understand that.

Cant understand Dave starting over Earls and even less the idea that Earls wouldnt be your versatile joker off the bench. It smacks of us playing not to lose, whuch is what delivered the poor performance against Italy.
Crazy stuff, imo.

[blockhead]

French team named.

France team to face Ireland:
Scott Spedding; Noa Nakaitaci, Brice Dulin;
Mathieu Bastareaud, Wesley Fof;abna,
Frederic Michalak, Sebastien Tillous-Borde,
Eddy Ben Arous, Guilhem Guirado,Rabah Slimani;
Pascal, Pape, Yoann Maestri;
Thierry Dusautoir, Damien Chouly, Louis Picamoles
Reps: Dimitri Szarzewski, Vincent Debaty, Nicolas Mas, Alexandre Flanquart, Bernard Le Roux, Morgan Parra, Remi Tales, Alexandre Dumoulin

[jezzer]

French team named.

France team to face Ireland:
Scott Spedding; Noa Nakaitaci, Brice Dulin;
Mathieu Bastareaud, Wesley Fof;abna,
Frederic Michalak, Sebastien Tillous-Borde,
Eddy Ben Arous, Guilhem Guirado,Rabah Slimani;
Pascal, Pape, Yoann Maestri;
Thierry Dusautoir, Damien Chouly, Louis Picamoles
Reps: Dimitri Szarzewski, Vincent Debaty, Nicolas Mas, Alexandre Flanquart, Bernard Le Roux, Morgan Parra, Remi Tales, Alexandre Dumoulin

Any team with Spedding in it and Parra out of it gives you a good chance.

[olaf the fat]

Just hope that feckin Mexican wave does not appear during the match, it annoys me even more than The Fields!

What do the Gringos do during the Mexican wave?

[johng]

French team named.

France team to face Ireland:
Scott Spedding; Noa Nakaitaci, Brice Dulin;
Mathieu Bastareaud, Wesley Fof;abna,
Frederic Michalak, Sebastien Tillous-Borde,
Eddy Ben Arous, Guilhem Guirado,Rabah Slimani;
Pascal, Pape, Yoann Maestri;
Thierry Dusautoir, Damien Chouly, Louis Picamoles
Reps: Dimitri Szarzewski, Vincent Debaty, Nicolas Mas, Alexandre Flanquart, Bernard Le Roux, Morgan Parra, Remi Tales, Alexandre Dumoulin

Any team with Spedding in it and Parra out of it gives you a good chance.

Ouch. Debaty's injury and Nakataci's non selection rumours greatly exaggerated then.

Agree Jezzer that those 2 players make it weaker. Not a fan of any of their 2nd rows either. But still bricking it.

[simonokeeffe]

Matt Williams still peddling the lets have Earls at 13, completely ignoring Basteraud's 35kg on him

Not to be heretical but Henderson played like Picamoles/Galan/Vunipola against Italy and thats not his job, yes he carried brilliantly but his (unseen) work rate was a bit poor, ambling around/between rucks

targeting Nakaitaci's positioning/ability in the air not a bad idea at all

[Logorrhea]

Cant understand Dave starting over Earls

So Dave, being the form player all the way through and doing nothing absolutely nothing wrong should lose out because Earls and Tommy score some tries against third rate opposition? Not arguing with you regarding Earls omission. That is harsh, but its Tommy who's lucky, not Dave.

I'd suggest we are going to do exactly what they have been doing to both France and England in the last two 6 nations championships. We are going to rely on the set piece, play territory, kick to compete and keep turning the French pack around. Those French wingers are going to be busy competing against Tommy, Dave and Rob to field Murray's kicks and we will bet that our kicking game will be superior to theirs. It wont be exciting, but exciting doesn't win world cups and if you ask me its the only way we'll beat the French.

[johng]

Debaty staying in at least spares us tackling Antonio. Not as good a player but even after losing 2 and a half stone he is still a hulking 22 stone plus vat

[deco]

Just hope that feckin Mexican wave does not appear during the match, it annoys me even more than The Fields!

The Fields was given a few outings in Landsdowne Rd by the soccer fans last night. It's the go-to song for many fans of any teams/sports who have any sort of an Irish connection.

I miss the Molly Malone days.

[jezzer]

Cant understand Dave starting over Earls

So Dave, being the form player all the way through and doing nothing absolutely nothing wrong should lose out because Earls and Tommy score some tries against third rate opposition? Not arguing with you regarding Earls omission. That is harsh, but its Tommy who's lucky, not Dave.

I'd suggest we are going to do exactly what they have been doing to both France and England in the last two 6 nations championships. We are going to rely on the set piece, play territory, kick to compete and keep turning the French pack around. Those French wingers are going to be busy competing against Tommy, Dave and Rob to field Murray's kicks and we will bet that our kicking game will be superior to theirs. It wont be exciting, but exciting doesn't win world cups and if you ask me its the only way we'll beat the French.

Dave Kearney's "form" was shown against the same teams as Keith Earls "form", so if one did well against minnows, so did the other. Tommy played well against Italy, well enough to show that he's still a good international winger. He has a lot fo credit in the bank with me and very good intuition with Murray/Sexton. I wouldn't start Dave for either Bowe or Earls and I sure as hell wouldn't leave Earls off the bench. Madness imo.

It's the same as France dropping Fofana because Henshaw is bigger. Crazy stuff.

[Donny B.]

Just hope that feckin Mexican wave does not appear during the match, it annoys me even more than The Fields!

My solution is an instant death sentence for the tube who starts the Mexican Wave.
No trial, no jury, just get to steward to shoot them when they stands.

That'll stamp it out fair quick!!