Ireland v Wales 6Ns 2016

[Oldschool]

First shot.
The conspiracy of misdirection.
Sexton is out but Joe wants Gattie to plan on the basis that Sexton will play.
Personally Gattie won't give two f^cks who plays at OH (Well he might prefer if Sexton did, in fact) because his game plan won't change.
Out muscle us up front, fast up in defense and a very good kick and chase game.
And lest we forget the Welsh backs are not exactly rubbish either.

McGrath
Best
White
Toner
McCarthy
Ruddock
SOB
Heaslip

Murray
Jackson
Fitzgerald
McCloskey
Henshaw
Trimble
Payne

Bench:- Strauss, J. Cronin, Furlong, Ryan, Thinkingaboutit, Marmion, Madigan, D. Kearney
Main concern with that team would be Jackson's place kicking and Murray's inability to stop himself from taking on too much.
Kearney is in such good form, it's hard to leave him out and he can cover FB at a pinch.
Luke McGrath is the form bench option but it's unlikely Joe will bring him in. Marmion gets the nod ahead of Reddan because Joe needs to move on.
The bench BR is a tricky one. Gattie will probably have Tipuric on the bench, Stander is not the answer to that question, so TOD or JVDF (Henry is injured??)
Also Joe needs to think about rewarding some of the Connacht players for their performances. Maybe not this game but there's a prejudice (not necessarily Joe) there that needs to be be broken.

[simonokeeffe]

I can see Reddan benching, we'll move on in the summer & autumn

by non selection on wing at all for Leinster I think Luke is 23 now

[JB1973]

13 of the wales team is set in stone

jenkins Baldwin lee

awj charteris

lydiate warburton toby f

g davies biggar

davies Roberts north


the full back will be liam Williams if fit if not anscombe will play, I expect tom james to be the other winger with amos covering the back 3 from the bench.


bench = james owens francis b davies turpic l Williams amos and either anscombe/priestland

[simonokeeffe]

13 of the wales team is set in stone

jenkins Baldwin lee

awj charteris

lydiate warburton toby f

g davies biggar

davies Roberts north


the full back will be liam Williams if fit if not anscombe will play, I expect tom james to be the other winger with amos covering the back 3 from the bench.


bench = james owens francis b davies turpic l Williams amos and either anscombe/priestland

Hi
Charteris definitely ahead of Davies and is Lydiate over his neck injury?
And did Tipuric avoid citing from the weekend?

[JB1973]

13 of the wales team is set in stone

jenkins Baldwin lee

awj charteris

lydiate warburton toby f

g davies biggar

davies Roberts north


the full back will be liam Williams if fit if not anscombe will play, I expect tom james to be the other winger with amos covering the back 3 from the bench.


bench = james owens francis b davies turpic l Williams amos and either anscombe/priestland

Hi
Charteris definitely ahead of Davies and is Lydiate over his neck injury?
And did Tipuric avoid citing from the weekend?

charteris defo first choice, especially to counter the way the maul is being used as a weapon these days.

Lydiate only just missed the Exeter game, I'd expect him to play for us this weekend, same with warburton and Williams.

Not heard of Tips being cited if he does, then it'll be king or moriarty on the bench, shame that open side davies from the scarlets is not fit he was on fire earlier in season

[simonokeeffe]

cheers
yeah cubby is somebody theyll need to keep (in Welsh Rugby)

[Dave Cahill]

One thing I came across yesterday which amazed me - no team has ever won three championships outright in a row in the Home, Five or Six Nations. A number of teams have won two and shared a third, but a 'full' three in a row has never been done.

[paddyor]

One thing I came across yesterday which amazed me - no team has ever won three championships outright in a row in the Home, Five or Six Nations. A number of teams have won two and shared a third, but a 'full' three in a row has never been done.

It's only been mentioned a billion times alrigh!

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Can't see us doing it this year. Think we're too weak in the second row and at tighthead.

[Dave Cahill]

One thing I came across yesterday which amazed me - no team has ever won three championships outright in a row in the Home, Five or Six Nations. A number of teams have won two and shared a third, but a 'full' three in a row has never been done.

It's only been mentioned a billion times alrigh!

Never heard it until yesterday myself, I found it pretty astonishing when you consider how long the tournament has been going on in its various configurations that no one team, even the great teams during their peak, could put it together three years in a row

[johng]

One thing I came across yesterday which amazed me - no team has ever won three championships outright in a row in the Home, Five or Six Nations. A number of teams have won two and shared a third, but a 'full' three in a row has never been done.

That's because of the "Shared" thing. Our last 2 (and the one before them) would have been "Shared" under the old 5N rules. As would the 2 that the French won in 06 and 07 (Which they won on points diff from us)

[Dave Cahill]

One thing I came across yesterday which amazed me - no team has ever won three championships outright in a row in the Home, Five or Six Nations. A number of teams have won two and shared a third, but a 'full' three in a row has never been done.

That's because of the "Shared" thing. Our last 2 (and the one before them) would have been "Shared" under the old 5N rules. As would the 2 that the French won in 06 and 07 (Which they won on points diff from us)

5 Nations introduced points difference in either the very early 90s or the very late 80s

Edit: 1989 according to the interwebs

[johng]

Correct. And everything before that was under the "old 5 nations rules"

[Dave Cahill]

Correct. And everything before that was under the "old 5 nations rules"

True, but you can't really shift tournament environments around though - teams can only be judged under the environment they exist in.

[Dave Cahill]

You're welcome Conor.

[simonokeeffe]

to wildly speculate on Ireland team following the Leinster team announcement; Jackson 22 and Cronin 16? the latter the bigger surprise and indeed worry re scrumtime

[Gearzbox2]

to wildly speculate on Ireland team following the Leinster team announcement; Jackson 22 and Cronin 16? the latter the bigger surprise and indeed worry re scrumtime

Why is cronin such a surprise to get the 16 jersey??? He rarely fails to have a huge impact when he comes on...
Strauss doesn't touch him for impact off the bench and again you seem to have a hang up about his scrummaging which looked solid against wasps

[nc6000]

to wildly speculate on Ireland team following the Leinster team announcement; Jackson 22 and Cronin 16? the latter the bigger surprise and indeed worry re scrumtime

Why is cronin such a surprise to get the 16 jersey??? He rarely fails to have a huge impact when he comes on...
Strauss doesn't touch him for impact off the bench and again you seem to have a hang up about his scrummaging which looked solid against wasps

I just hope we don't end up with him on the pitch at the same time we have an important line-out.

[Gearzbox2]

to wildly speculate on Ireland team following the Leinster team announcement; Jackson 22 and Cronin 16? the latter the bigger surprise and indeed worry re scrumtime

Why is cronin such a surprise to get the 16 jersey??? He rarely fails to have a huge impact when he comes on...
Strauss doesn't touch him for impact off the bench and again you seem to have a hang up about his scrummaging which looked solid against wasps

I just hope we don't end up with him on the pitch at the same time we have an important line-out.

Sure you know better than Joe Schmidt....

[nc6000]

Sure you know better than Joe Schmidt....

Not sure I said that. What I do know however is that I've seen quite a few Leinster lineouts this season which didn't exactly go to plan. Not sure if the jump was mistimed or the calls got mixed up or if the throw was off but most of the ones I remember were when Cronin was throwing in.