Ireland v Wales 2018 6Ns

[Oldschool]

Survival of the fittest

Uneasy lies the head that wears a mullet.

[cormac]

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)

Jackson has reffed us six times, five wins and one defeat

June 2014 Argentina 17 Ireland 29
November 2014 Ireland 26 Australia 23
August 2015 Wales 21 Ireland 35
September 2015 Ireland 50 Canada 7
June 2016 South Africa 19 Ireland 13
February 2017 Italy 10 Ireland 63

[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.

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.

I'm not saying Farrell is a better player but he might be better suited to Schmidtball than Henshaw is. Farrell is a much bigger man than Henshaw and he was in the top14 team of the season last season despite playing for Grenoble. He is definitely a more destructive ball carrier than Henshaw, no doubt about that. Defensively is where Henshaw might be missed most but personally I'd like to see something different with Irelands attack.

[paddyor]

I'm not saying Farrell is a better player but he might be better suited to Schmidtball than Henshaw is. Farrell is a much bigger man than Henshaw and he was in the top14 team of the season last season despite playing for Grenoble. He is definitely a more destructive ball carrier than Henshaw, no doubt about that. Defensively is where Henshaw might be missed most but personally I'd like to see something different with Irelands attack.

You're walking this back are ye?

At least then we would have a center who can get over the gainline and Farrell also looks to link up with his teammates.

He's not definitely a more destructive carrier. He just doesn't pass as much.


2017
Henshaw(12)
1725 mins - 24 games
6.48 mins per carry
266 carries for 797metres
194 passes, 21 offloads

Farrell (13)
1525 mins - 20 games
8.97 mins per carry
170 carries for 699m
117 passes, 8 offloads

2018
Henshaw(12/13)
914 mins - 13 games
7.68 mins per carry
119 carries for 404 metres
86 passes, 4 offloads

Farrell (13)
1113 mins - 15 games
9.59 mins per carry
116 carries for 442m
38 passes, 2 offloads

Tbh, the only thing he appears to do better than Henshaw is play for Munster.

[fourthirtythree]

On his one start for Ireland his distribution and creativity looked pretty sharp. Henshaw isn't as influential for Ireland as he is for Leinster.

[Oldschoolsocks]

On his one start for Ireland his distribution and creativity looked pretty sharp. Henshaw isn't as influential for Ireland as he is for Leinster.

Dunno about that tbh - match winning try v New Zealand counts as pretty influential imho.

[Oldschool]

The thing that is most worrying about Ireland's performance over the AIs and 6Ns is the teams ability to go off the boil and concede the initiative usually conceding a soft score
The easy try conceded to SA just before HT.
The soft try conceded to France.
The softish tries to Italy.
Both Fiji and Argentina(in particular) dead at HT and then allowed back into the game.
We just don't seem to be able to kill off a game.
The Scotland game last season was another example.
Awful first half, got back in front, blew a match winning try and lost the initiative and the game.
It's happening too often.
This gives any team playing against us encouragement.
Wales, in particular, know how to grind away for the full 80mins.

[dropkick]

I'm not saying Farrell is a better player but he might be better suited to Schmidtball than Henshaw is. Farrell is a much bigger man than Henshaw and he was in the top14 team of the season last season despite playing for Grenoble. He is definitely a more destructive ball carrier than Henshaw, no doubt about that. Defensively is where Henshaw might be missed most but personally I'd like to see something different with Irelands attack.

You're walking this back are ye?

At least then we would have a center who can get over the gainline and Farrell also looks to link up with his teammates.

He's not definitely a more destructive carrier. He just doesn't pass as much.


2017
Henshaw(12)
1725 mins - 24 games
6.48 mins per carry
266 carries for 797metres
194 passes, 21 offloads

Farrell (13)
1525 mins - 20 games
8.97 mins per carry
170 carries for 699m
117 passes, 8 offloads

2018
Henshaw(12/13)
914 mins - 13 games
7.68 mins per carry
119 carries for 404 metres
86 passes, 4 offloads

Farrell (13)
1113 mins - 15 games
9.59 mins per carry
116 carries for 442m
38 passes, 2 offloads

Tbh, the only thing he appears to do better than Henshaw is play for Munster.

They play in different positions, different styles of play, different roles depending on what team etc. One problem with Henshaw is his try scoring record. Ringrose has 4 tries in 11 games for Ireland. Before last week Henshaw had 2 in 33.


Farrell is a bigger try scoring threat and has the ability to punch holes in the Welsh defence. He's also likely to make more mistakes than Henshaw because Henshaw is a safer player. Henshaw also better defensively. Still, I think Ireland are too safety first and could do with something different in the center. I wouldn't mind see Aki moved to 13 and bring in Scannell or Carbery to 12. They'll add some creativity and would allow Sexton some extra space.

[paddyor]

They play in different positions, different styles of play, different roles depending on what team etc. One problem with Henshaw is his try scoring record. Ringrose has 4 tries in 11 games for Ireland. Before last week Henshaw had 2 in 33.


Farrell is a bigger try scoring threat and has the ability to punch holes in the Welsh defence. He's also likely to make more mistakes than Henshaw because Henshaw is a safer player. Henshaw also better defensively. Still, I think Ireland are too safety first and could do with something different in the center. I wouldn't mind see Aki moved to 13 and bring in Scannell or Carbery to 12. They'll add some creativity and would allow Sexton some extra space.

No he's not a bigger try scoring threat. He has the same amount of tries as Hensahw this season and last. If Farrell is picked he'll be a like for like replacemnt and IMO a lesser version of Henshaw in every sense.

Yeah I'd like to see a 2nd play maker either at 15(prefer) or 12(not so much). I'm really not convinced by the English system. To borrow a data set

In last seasons 6N
Vs France they scored 1 try,
Vs France they scored 2 tries (and one of them was a clearance screw up followed by some ball watching - though to be fair the kick from Farrell was a beaut)
Vs Ireland the scored no tries

So really they only created 2 tries with their 2nd 5/8th. Bit of crisis that. I think it gets over played to some extent how adventuyrous England are. For the most part they only ever go wide in the 22 when they have created an overlap. Go back and check the scores in last years 6N.

[suisse]

Very, very worried about this. I think it is bad enough with Gatland and Wales' motivation coming into Ireland tests, but their defensive system seems to have figured us out in recent year. In both of the last 2 Cardiff games, I've seen Ireland pummel away relentlessly but fail to cross the whitewash (excluding try). I don't think we know how to break Wales down or I think Wales find us very predictable.

Last 4 competitive fixtures.

Wales 22-9 Ireland. Wales 3 tries to 0.
Ireland 16-16 Wales. 1 try each.
Wales 23-16 Ireland. 1 try each, Ireland's a penalty try. This guy was maddening.
Ireland 23-6 Wales. 2 tries to 0.

I hope we take every opportunity possible. Even if that means we kick penalty after penalty and drop goals. Wales concede a lot of penalties to Ireland in kick-able positions. As good as Sexton's DG was v France, we know he can do it. It would be nice if he did so more often, and not on a penalty advantage. The DG is still worth 3 points. It is a valuable weapon.

[offshorerules]

Ireland -10 with Paddy Power, can't see it being a two score game.

[fourthirtythree]

Not a betting person but that makes almost as much sense as the Leinster Scarlets odds (which was none at all if anyone has forgotten).

[Oldschool]

Very, very worried about this. I think it is bad enough with Gatland and Wales' motivation coming into Ireland tests, but their defensive system seems to have figured us out in recent year. In both of the last 2 Cardiff games, I've seen Ireland pummel away relentlessly but fail to cross the whitewash (excluding try). I don't think we know how to break Wales down or I think Wales find us very predictable.

Last 4 competitive fixtures.

Wales 22-9 Ireland. Wales 3 tries to 0.
Ireland 16-16 Wales. 1 try each.
Wales 23-16 Ireland. 1 try each, Ireland's a penalty try. This guy was maddening.
Ireland 23-6 Wales. 2 tries to 0.

I hope we take every opportunity possible. Even if that means we kick penalty after penalty and drop goals. Wales concede a lot of penalties to Ireland in kick-able positions. As good as Sexton's DG was v France, we know he can do it. It would be nice if he did so more often, and not on a penalty advantage. The DG is still worth 3 points. It is a valuable weapon.

+1.
Joe Schmidt is a better coach than Gatland but Gattie is a better motivator than Joe.
Wales nearly always make the sum of the parts greater than the whole.
Ireland rarely manage to do the same.
In fairness to Schmidt he's not the first Irish coach to have this problem but it's still a huge issue.
We only seem to be able to manage it when we are underdogs.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Luke, Herring, and Henshaw out of the squad and replaced by Cooney, Niall Scannell, and Ringrose.

Agree with everyone who thinks Farrell will start, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Ringrose will bench.

[simonokeeffe]

Luke, Herring, and Henshaw out of the squad and replaced by Cooney, Niall Scannell, and Ringrose.

Agree with everyone who thinks Farrell will start, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Ringrose will bench.

Ringrose comes off the bench to score the matchwinning try from the wing, am calling it now

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I know Cooney is in because of injury but he really does deserve it on form, and I was just thinking of how much of an achievement that is considering the mess that Ulster are in. I had just been thinking that he's developed well and taken his chance, but actually when you factor in how poor their pack is and the mess at outhalf (not to mention in the coaches' box) then he really has done outstandingly well.

[arsebiscuits1]

Moriarty, Faletau, Halfpenny and Biggar all declared fit.

I wonder what the odds are now.

Quite worried about this game

[simonokeeffe]

I know Cooney is in because of injury but he really does deserve it on form, and I was just thinking of how much of an achievement that is considering the mess that Ulster are in. I had just been thinking that he's developed well and taken his chance, but actually when you factor in how poor their pack is and the mess at outhalf (not to mention in the coaches' box) then he really has done outstandingly well.

Tis but a minority chance but his goalkicking and ability to play 10 in a dirttracker game make him useful as 3rd choice 9 for a world cup squad were we to only take 2 specialist10s

[MylesNaGapoleen]

Press reporting that Dan Biggar, Taulupe Faletau and Leigh Halfpenny have been declared fit for saturday.
The welsh will be well up for this on sat - easy run in (france and italy) to finish off the championship. Am more worried about this game than the english game. Thought the welsh were unlucky not to come away with a win against england. Underhills tackle saved the game for them.

[Ruckedtobits]

Wouldn't surprise me if the strategy from JS is to protect Farrell from excessive speculation and analysis by media and Wales until Thursday and then release Ringrose to us to play on Friday night if Leo needs him (Isa and RO'L depending). Otherwise there was no reason for him to be in Belfield today rather than Carton