The Quickening 2018

[molloyjh]

Any ideas who Scarlets might get back from Welsh squad bar what they had yesterday?
I'd imagine they'll get the bench guys Wyn Jones and Aled Davies, but not much else? James Davies played yesterday.

Hopefully we'll get Jordi, Joey, Larmour, Cronin, Luke M, Ferg and maybe Porter or Healy. Perhaps not Conan given his knock.
Anyone else I'm missing?

Getting Porter back will be contingent on Furlong being okay, but hopefully he will be. Can't see us getting Cronin back, but we might. I'd have thought the 23 would be looked after by and large. Other than that I reckon we'll get Jordi, Luke, Joey, Ferg and Larmour. Jordi and Joey need game time and the others won't be in the 23 against Wales. With Luke back I reckon we'll see Lowe starting. Could be something like:

Dooley Strauss Porter
Molony Fardy
Murphy Deegan Murphy

McGrath Byrne
Nacewa ROL
Lowe Larmour Daly

Byrne, Byrne, Bent, Kearney, Connors, McCarthy, Reid, Byrne

[Laighin Break]

Any ideas who Scarlets might get back from Welsh squad bar what they had yesterday?
I'd imagine they'll get the bench guys Wyn Jones and Aled Davies, but not much else? James Davies played yesterday.

Hopefully we'll get Jordi, Joey, Larmour, Cronin, Luke M, Ferg and maybe Porter or Healy. Perhaps not Conan given his knock.
Anyone else I'm missing?

Might we get one of Dev/Ryan?

[riocard911]

If we do get Joey back, would it not be the best idea to play him at outhalf? God almighty, he's just after closing out a 6 Nations victory for Ireland in LR in that position, I would have thought Leinster might want to avail of the opportunity of finally getting around to playing at 10 in the RDS this season...

[molloyjh]

If we do get Joey back, would it not be the best idea to play him at outhalf? God almighty, he's just after closing out a 6 Nations victory for Ireland in LR in that position, I would have thought Leinster might want to avail of the opportunity of finally getting around to playing at 10 in the RDS this season...

Completely forgot to put Joey in there actually. Oops. But let's be honest here, things went downhill very noticeably against Italy when we changed our half backs. This is a must win game at the weekend. Put Joey on the bench and bring him in at 60 mins at 10. We can look to start him in PYS if he goes well enough.

Dooley Strauss Porter
Molony Fardy
Murphy Deegan Murphy

McGrath Byrne
Nacewa ROL
Lowe Larmour Daly

Byrne, Byrne, Bent, Kearney, Connors, McCarthy, Carbery, Byrne

[molloyjh]

Any ideas who Scarlets might get back from Welsh squad bar what they had yesterday?
I'd imagine they'll get the bench guys Wyn Jones and Aled Davies, but not much else? James Davies played yesterday.

Hopefully we'll get Jordi, Joey, Larmour, Cronin, Luke M, Ferg and maybe Porter or Healy. Perhaps not Conan given his knock.
Anyone else I'm missing?

Might we get one of Dev/Ryan?

Probably not. Both are likely to be in the 23 and with Ryans injury profile they're likely to hold him back.

[riocard911]

If we do get Joey back, would it not be the best idea to play him at outhalf? God almighty, he's just after closing out a 6 Nations victory for Ireland in LR in that position, I would have thought Leinster might want to avail of the opportunity of finally getting around to playing at 10 in the RDS this season...

Completely forgot to put Joey in there actually. Oops. But let's be honest here, things went downhill very noticeably against Italy when we changed our half backs. This is a must win game at the weekend. Put Joey on the bench and bring him in at 60 mins at 10. We can look to start him in PYS if he goes well enough.

Dooley Strauss Porter
Molony Fardy
Murphy Deegan Murphy

McGrath Byrne
Nacewa ROL
Lowe Larmour Daly

Byrne, Byrne, Bent, Kearney, Connors, McCarthy, Carbery, Byrne

I can go with that selection.

[Dundalk 1]

If we do get Joey back, would it not be the best idea to play him at outhalf? God almighty, he's just after closing out a 6 Nations victory for Ireland in LR in that position, I would have thought Leinster might want to avail of the opportunity of finally getting around to playing at 10 in the RDS this season...

Completely forgot to put Joey in there actually. Oops. But let's be honest here, things went downhill very noticeably against Italy when we changed our half backs. This is a must win game at the weekend. Put Joey on the bench and bring him in at 60 mins at 10. We can look to start him in PYS if he goes well enough.

Dooley Strauss Porter
Molony Fardy
Murphy Deegan Murphy

McGrath Byrne
Nacewa ROL
Lowe Larmour Daly

Byrne, Byrne, Bent, Kearney, Connors, McCarthy, Carbery, Byrne

Things went downhill on Saturday when Henshaw went off and Earls went to centre
Our previous super solid midfield defense disappeared

[riocard911]

Regardless of any responsibility Earls at 13 might have had for our defensive woes, certainly that first Italian try was very similar to Teddy Thomas' in Paris and would seem to suggest failings on the part of Stockdale/Kearney.....

[CiaranIrl]

Dooley, Strauss, Bent, Molony, Fardy, Murphy, Deegan Murphy, McGrath, Carberry, Nacewa, ROL, Lowe, Daly, Larmour

Byrne, Byrne, Heffernan, Kearney, Connors, McCarthy, Byrne, Byrne

I would be very surprised to get Porter back. No way Joe will allow him to be risked. I also think Carberry needs to be trusted for this one. I thought Ross was a bit flakey against Edinburgh.

[CiaranIrl]

Dooley, Strauss, Bent, Molony, Fardy, Murphy, Deegan Murphy, McGrath, Carberry, Nacewa, ROL, Lowe, Daly, Larmour

Byrne, Byrne, Heffernan, Kearney, Connors, McCarthy, Byrne, Byrne

I would be very surprised to get Porter back. No way Joe will allow him to be risked. I also think Carberry needs to be trusted for this one. I thought Ross was a bit flakey against Edinburgh.

Jesus, 4 Byrne's on the bench looks ridiculous.

[simonokeeffe]

Dooley, Strauss, Bent, Molony, Fardy, Murphy, Deegan Murphy, McGrath, Carberry, Nacewa, ROL, Lowe, Daly, Larmour

Byrne, Byrne, Heffernan, Kearney, Connors, McCarthy, Byrne, Byrne

I would be very surprised to get Porter back. No way Joe will allow him to be risked. I also think Carberry needs to be trusted for this one. I thought Ross was a bit flakey against Edinburgh.

Jesus, 4 Byrne's on the bench looks ridiculous.

We have to counter 6 Williamses and 5 Evanses somehow

[fourthirtythree]

Absolutely, we are short a pair of Kearneys and a McGrath or two.

Petition the IRFU.

[Oldschool]

Dooley, Strauss, Bent, Molony, Fardy, Murphy, Deegan Murphy, McGrath, Carberry, Nacewa, ROL, Lowe, Daly, Larmour

Byrne, Byrne, Heffernan, Kearney, Connors, McCarthy, Byrne, Byrne

I would be very surprised to get Porter back. No way Joe will allow him to be risked. I also think Carberry needs to be trusted for this one. I thought Ross was a bit flakey against Edinburgh.

Jesus, 4 Byrne's on the bench looks ridiculous.

We have to counter 6 Williamses and 5 Evanses somehow

You left out the Jones'

[johng]

I'm sure Isa will start

Jaysus I wish I was

[outcast eddie]

Absolutely, we are short a trio of Kearneys and a McGrath or two.

Petition the IRFU.

Fixed

[joooooe]

Absolutely, we are short a pair of Kearneys and a McGrath or two.

Petition the IRFU.

If you could countenance one of Adam Byrne, Dave Kearney, Rob Kearney or Mick McGrath at 13, as well as Jack McGrath as a tighthead (there was a brief experiment against the Ospreys a few years ago that backfired badly with a late penalty try), we're not far off a team of Kearneys, O'Briens, McGraths, Murphys and Byrnes.

Ed Byrne, Brian Byrne, Jack McGrath, Mick Kearney, [ ], Josh Murphy, Jordi Murphy, Sean O'Brien, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Mick MGrath, Conor O'Brien, Adam Byrne, Dave Kearney, Rob Kearney.

Throw in the Dalys (Barry and Tom) and there's some evidence to suggest our recruitment should perhaps investigate widening the gene pool.

[simonokeeffe]

We have to counter 6 Williamses and 5 Evanses somehow

You left out the Jones'

I cant keep up

[curates_egg]

Home and away for each team

Home
Scarlets - Ulster.Leinster.Glasgow
Leinster - Kings.Zebre.Treviso

Away
Scarlets - Munster.Edinburgh.Dragons.
Leinster - Scarlets.Ospreys.Connacht

Leinster on top by a whisker.

Win next Saturday and we are looking great. A real 8 pointer. Lose and it becomes a lot less comfortable.

We are 3 points ahead of Scarlets. Hopefully, that 1 point coughed up either through our novice scrum or missed conversions won't come back to bite us.

My guesstimate/hopestimate is that we pick up 15 points out of our 3 home games, whereas Scarlets pick up 14 out of theirs.
That would leave us 4 points up on them.

The away games are in the hands of the gods. I would hope we get 9 points, but realise we could get only 5/6 (or even less). Scarlets would have similar hopes, based on their run-in.

Whoever gets the top of the conference, it will be by a whisker alright.

[riocard911]

If we don't come tops in our conference, does that mean we'll have to fly to Safferland for a play-off?

[cormac]

If we don't come tops in our conference, does that mean we'll have to fly to Safferland for a play-off?

No