Ireland v Scotland 6N's 2016

[Ruckedtobits]

I think we'll ship a couple of tries in this one - if we defend narrow again they'll punish us, Seymour and Hogg being the obvious danger men. If we go out there with the same attacking mindset as last week though I think we can put 30 points or more on them.

Think that's way too optimistic. These guys are a decent well organised outfit who have almost as much 'method' to their game plan as we do. Don't underestimate their performances against France and England. Pascal Gauzere is referee and how he handles the scrum could be critical. With Hardie and Barclay in the back-row, Murray could be starved of quick ball at breakdowns. Weir has shown a bit of pace at OH in a couple of Pro12 games and has a good temperament.

Game to be won from the boot, but could be lost by the whistle

[simonokeeffe]

Our back-row must pressure Laidlaw who is the heartbeat and leader of this Scots team and must be pressured by Murray and back-row

this is where we may miss SOB, POM, but especially McCarthy
not for fringe defence but for skullduggery and just holding him late, keeping him on the bottom of rucks, and such and such

chapeau to Ruaidhri O'Connor: if Rory best plays this weekend it will be his 50th successive 6 nations game

[johng]

Laidlaw will help by spending an hour at the back of a ruck most of the time. We should target this, and I'm sure we will.

[munster#1]

Ireland: Simon Zebo, Andrew Trimble, Jared Payne, Robbie Henshaw, Keith Earls, Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack McGrath, Rory Best (capt), Mike Ross, Donnacha Ryan, Devin Toner, CJ Stander, Tommy O’Donnell, Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: Richardt Strauss, Cian Healy, Nathan White, Ultan Dillane, Rhys Ruddock, Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan, Fergus McFadden.

Follow Ireland v Scotland LIVE from 2pm on RTÉ2, Radio 1 and via the live blog on the RTÉ News Now app and RTÉ.ie

Only change is TOD brought in to counter the Scottish breakdown work.

[johng]

6 Munster players starting for Ireland. I wonder will this silence the "Blue Joe" mob down south?

Luckilly I am not in an undersea cave running out of oxygen waiting on the answer to that one....

[Dave Cahill]

6 Munster players starting for Ireland. I wonder will this silence the "Blue Joe" mob down south?

Luckilly I am not in an undersea cave running out of oxygen waiting on the answer to that one....

There is a noticeable difference in reaction to the selection of O'Donnell by Leinster supporters than there was to the selection of van Der Flier by Munster supporters.

[munster#1]

6 Munster players starting for Ireland. I wonder will this silence the "Blue Joe" mob down south?

Luckilly I am not in an undersea cave running out of oxygen waiting on the answer to that one....

There is a noticeable difference in reaction to the selection of O'Donnell by Leinster supporters than there was to the selection of van Der Flier by Munster supporters.

I can see the merit of TOD being selected ahead of vdf, but imo vdf along with Mccloskey and Dillane should be starting this match.

[All Blacks nil]

6 Munster players starting for Ireland. I wonder will this silence the "Blue Joe" mob down south?

Luckilly I am not in an undersea cave running out of oxygen waiting on the answer to that one....

There is a noticeable difference in reaction to the selection of O'Donnell by Leinster supporters than there was to the selection of van Der Flier by Munster supporters.

Certainly doesn't seem to be as much surprise in picking an established player over a second year pro with less than 20 professional starts. Joe is slow to make changes favouring the younger players unless his hand is forced by injury, but I thought VDF had done enough (like TOD before him) to retain his place.

Chris Henry's prospects are looking less than promising at the this stage. He is possibly the first player Joe has genuinely jettisoned.

[All Blacks nil]

Duplicate post

[Peg Leg]

Duplicate post

How do you duplicate a post 5 mins apart?

[johng]

Duplicate post

How do you duplicate a post 5 mins apart?

Raw talent?

[simonokeeffe]

Duplicate post

How do you duplicate a post 5 mins apart?

Raw talent?

X factor

[Peg Leg]

How do you duplicate a post 5 mins apart?

Raw talent?

X factor

Whoreing up the post count so he can get to Jamie Heaslip I'd say

[All Blacks nil]

Duplicate post

How do you duplicate a post 5 mins apart?

Apologies
I thought I was editing a grammatical error but was in fact quoting the post.
I'm glad you saw some Reason to criticise my post, I was getting worried for a few moments

[simonokeeffe]

Whoreing up the post count so he can get to Jamie Heaslip I'd say

there can be only one

[hugonaut]

6 Munster players starting for Ireland. I wonder will this silence the "Blue Joe" mob down south?

Luckilly I am not in an undersea cave running out of oxygen waiting on the answer to that one....

There is a noticeable difference in reaction to the selection of O'Donnell by Leinster supporters than there was to the selection of van Der Flier by Munster supporters.

I can see the merit of TOD being selected ahead of vdf, but imo vdf along with Mccloskey and Dillane should be starting this match.

I thought McCloskey was ordinary against England and didn't do much with his chance. I'm not suggesting that he didn't deserve his selection, because he has been playing well for Ulster for the last 12-15 months and it's important to try and expose more centers to test rugby after Drico and Darce's decade-long partnership ... but looking at the game objectively he didn't do an awful lot of positive things.

Firstly, I couldn't get over the number of times he stayed on the blindside of rucks in defense. You can understand if a centre is there a couple of times in a game [because continuity is continuity] but when he's there four or five times per half, he's not working hard enough off the ball to get back into alignment. If one of your centres is hanging around rucks and making himself pillar all the time, it means that you've likely got front five forwards defending backs in midfield. It's not just the fact of the one-on-one between a back and a forward in space giving you trouble, it's also that there are issues with communication and linespeed between players in the defensive line. Robbie Henshaw can't push up hard if Mike Ross [or Rory Best, or Devin Toner] is inside him, because he'll leave him behind and open up a dogleg.

Secondly, I thought that the only time McCloskey made any noticeable meters was when the rest of the team worked to get him a one-on-one with George Ford on the right wing in the second half, where England were trying to hide their out-half. There was a lot of talk from his boosters [Stephen Ferris in particular] about how he "always gets over the gainline" and how if Ulster want go-forward, it's a toss-up between giving it to him or Nick Williams, but the first time he got the ball he got absolutely smashed backwards by his opposite number [Owen Farrell], a guy who typically plays outhalf and who he's got 13kg on. It didn't get much better after that and Farrell pretty handily won the contest.

[munster#1]

Whoreing up the post count so he can get to Jamie Heaslip I'd say

there can be only one

My God, last time I commented on your post count you hadn't even reach 10k. In a short time frame you have past that Mark and far exceeded it.

This take massive commitment. You must have a very understanding partner?

[simonokeeffe]

Whoreing up the post count so he can get to Jamie Heaslip I'd say

there can be only one

My God, last time I commented on your post count you hadn't even reach 10k. In a short time frame you have past that Mark and far exceeded it.

This take massive commitment. You must have a very understanding partner?

working from home is a cruel mistress

[Logorrhea]

I thought McCloskey was ordinary against England and didn't do much with his chance.

+1
Looking forward to seeing him develop but thought he was pretty average really.

[Leoslovechild]

I thought McCloskey was ordinary against England and didn't do much with his chance.

+1
Looking forward to seeing him develop but thought he was pretty average really.

Good thought it was just me from all I was reading when he didn't get picked against Italy