Ireland v Wales 2018 6Ns

[Oldschool]

Who plays at outside seems to be the selection execising most minds but the battle up front is going to be even more important.
McGrath Best Ryan
Henderson Toner
Stander Leavy Conan
Is our best balance 8.IMHO

[simonokeeffe]

Scannell is prone to the odd rush of blood in defence

Aki and and Farrel is best combo defensively

By the by the two threads should kiss and merge up

[Laighin Break]

Survival of the fittest

[Raydollard]

On his last performanceI would seriously doubt that Ryan should play.

[Ruckedtobits]

Who plays at outside seems to be the selection execising most minds but the battle up front is going to be even more important.
McGrath Best Ryan
Henderson Toner
Stander Leavy Conan
Is our best balance 8.IMHO

Ryan cannot be ahead of Porter at this stage. No way PO'M will be left out at this point.

[Ruckedtobits]

Wales conceded 0 points from the 20th minute on in their match against England.
That fact says as much about Wales physicality and defensive organisation as it does about England's attack.

Hopefully the current odds in Paddy Power are a reflection of weight of money rather than analysis. Wales are 10/3 in two-horse race and +10 on handicap. Crazy!

This Is a very strong defensive Welsh team which has excellent attacking instincts and skills. Last Sat against England they eventually created three try scoring opportunities despite playing the majority of the game in their own half. Clearly they are difficult to score tries against and their various units are well organised and some are under-rated.

Very strong scrum front-row with good ball skills. Equal with Ireland.
Tough, strong-mauling, 2nd row. Ireland marginal advantage
Very good ball-carrying back-row, Shindler the star. Possibly ahead of Ireland
Weak passing scrum half, inexperienced out-half. Irelands biggest advantage
Smart coherent mid-field with good vision. more potential in attack
Back-three of Halpenny, North and Evans a big threat. More potential in attack

Despite this assessment, I believe Ireland's scrum can gain ascendency. Wales defensive line-out with Shindler and AWJ is a threat. But the weakness of their halfbacks is a major bonus for Ireland. Ireland can out-maul this Welsh eight and create penalty opportunities for JS. However, unlocking the Welsh defence will prove very difficult and we may create the best opportunities using the short-side and our wingers' hunger and current form.

[Ruckedtobits]

BTW, the appointment of Glen Jackson to referee this game is a severe disappointment when anyone of three Frenchmen or Wayne Barnes would be more appropriate officials with more experience of NH rugby. Jackson is pedantic to the point of exasperation for players, coaches and spectators. His presence may result in more penalties against forwards than any of the other four alternatives, particularly from scrums and mauls which, like many NZ players and Refs, he considers a blight on the game. Not surprising from a former out-half.

[simonokeeffe]

Shindler has been making all the team of the week lists so far

[Oldschoolsocks]

Scannell is prone to the odd rush of blood in defence

Aki and and Farrel is best combo defensively

By the by the two threads should kiss and merge up

i've no problem if the protest thread wants to come along for the ride

[Oldschool]

Scannell is prone to the odd rush of blood in defence

Aki and and Farrel is best combo defensively

By the by the two threads should kiss and merge up

i've no problem if the protest thread wants to come along for the ride

No problem with that on one condition.
You made your protest based on Wales not supporting our RWC.
I made a counter protest and subsequently changed the title of my thread after what I regarded was a reasonable period of time.
Replace West England with Wales in this thread title and I'm on board.

[sunshiner1]

Would definitely leave Aki at 12. He's swtiched and played 13 at Connacht a few times with mixed results. Aki and Farrell seem to be the best bet.

[Ruckedtobits]

More on the same theme about some of the under-estimation of the Welsh.

Fourteen or 16 Scarlets players will be in their match-day 23;
Scarlets beat both Leinster and Munster in Dublin last May;
Scarlets scored 47 points against Munster in Pro 12 Final in front of 40k Munsters;
Wales have won 2 and drawn one of four games against Joe Schmidt's Ireland;
Wales may have three Lions returning L. Williams, North & Faletou;
Ireland don't play well with Jackson as referee;
Ireland will not have a settled mid-field combination with two 6N debutants;

This will be teak tough and the Welsh team and Coach do not fear Joe (yet).

Attack their half-backs and the front of their line-out and don't gift them possession

[simonokeeffe]

Via Murray Kinsella on twitter

Schmidt thinks James Ryan, Iain Henderson and Furlong should be good to train properly on Tuesday.

From same presser Ringrose not expected to play this weekend

[Lar]

Ireland don't play well with Jackson as referee;

Just wondering on what basis you say this? I was struggling to remember a game he reffed for us and google informed me that he reffed us v Italy last year (which went OK) and SA the summer before (which we lost but not by much and I don't remember feeling we had played that badly - more that we had let a series win get away from us)

[FLIP]

Ireland don't play well with Jackson as referee;

Just wondering on what basis you say this? I was struggling to remember a game he reffed for us and google informed me that he reffed us v Italy last year (which went OK) and SA the summer before (which we lost but not by much and I don't remember feeling we had played that badly - more that we had let a series win get away from us)

Vs Canada in the RWC15.

[dropkick]

As long as its not Wayne Barnes. If Jackson want a free flowing game then it might suit Wales but from what I've seen of him he is a bit of a home town ref like most others.


I'm sorry to see Henshaw injured but I'm very interested to see how Farrell plays, should he be picked. At least then we would have a center who can get over the gainline and Farrell also looks to link up with his teammates.

[Lar]

Ireland don't play well with Jackson as referee;

Just wondering on what basis you say this? I was struggling to remember a game he reffed for us and google informed me that he reffed us v Italy last year (which went OK) and SA the summer before (which we lost but not by much and I don't remember feeling we had played that badly - more that we had let a series win get away from us)

Vs Canada in the RWC15.

Fair play if you remembered that without looking it up. But it doesn't really change my point. Do Ireland really not play with Jackson as referee?

[Oldschoolsocks]

i've no problem if the protest thread wants to come along for the ride

No problem with that on one condition.
You made your witty ribbing play on geography based on Wales not supporting our RWC.
I made a counter protest and subsequently changed the title of my thread after what I regarded was a reasonable period of time.
Replace West England with Wales in this thread title and I'm on board.

But are back to the same rigmarole when the four proud provinces of Ireland play the northern British counties??

[paddyor]

As long as its not Wayne Barnes. If Jackson want a free flowing game then it might suit Wales but from what I've seen of him he is a bit of a home town ref like most others.


I'm sorry to see Henshaw injured but I'm very interested to see how Farrell plays, should he be picked. At least then we would have a center who can get over the gainline and Farrell also looks to link up with his teammates.

On what planet is Farrell a better distributor than Henshaw? Henshaw has twice as many passes and offloads as Farrell. I don't think he's a much better carrier but whatever.

[Oldschool]

Farrell may or may not be a better distributor than Henshaw but that's a fruitless argument for the rest of this 6Ns.
The issue at hand is what is the best centre partnership for the next game.
Aki and Farrell seem to be in pole position and it's hard to argue against that.
Gary Ringrose may be close to a return.
He might not start but he could bench.
Call it an insurance policy with an eye on the last two games.