Ireland Vs Italy, Lansdowne Road, Saturday 10th Feb @14:15

[wixfjord]

James Ryan seeming injured/'picked up a niggle' again.

Must be his 10th 'niggle'/injury this season.

His lack of durability is worrying.

[Fireworks]

Possible Ireland team v Italy:

15. Rob Kearney
14. Keith Earls
13. Robbie Henshaw
12. Bundee Aki
11. Jacob Stockdale
10. Johnny Sexton
9. Conor Murray

1. Jack McGrath
2. Rory Best (captain)
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Devin Toner
5. Iain Henderson
6. Peter O’Mahony
7. Dan Leavy
8. Jack Conan

Replacements:

16. Sean Cronin
17. Cian Healy
18. Andrew Porter
19. Quinn Roux
20. CJ Stander
21. Kieran Marmion
22. Joey Carbery
23. Jordan Larmour

This is Murray Kinsella's team so I'm assuming he has the inside track. JVDF out and James Ryan has a niggle so is not being picked. Glad to see Stander getting a rest with Conan coming in. The two big surprises are Marmion on the bench in front of McGrath and Roux in front of Dillane. There's not much to chose from Marmion and McGrath but I would have thought with Dillane's pace and fend he would have being the more obvious choice than Roux.

That selection makes a lot of sense to me. It is a balance of starting experience to put the game away and youth that needs game time coming from the bench. I would look to start making changes from 50mins. That would give guys like Larmour, Carbery and Porter time to get worthwhile experience and to make an impression.

[simonokeeffe]

Roux and Treadwell named on provincial benches

James Ryan might be fit after all

[neill_m]

Roux and Treadwell named on provincial benches

James Ryan might be fit after all

Roux inclusion was a mistake by Pro 14. Not in Connacht 23, via their website. Treadwell starting for Ulster.

[Raydollard]

Reported no change in the backs. What a bore Schmidt is.

[simonokeeffe]

Roux and Treadwell named on provincial benches

James Ryan might be fit after all

Roux inclusion was a mistake by Pro 14. Not in Connacht 23, via their website. Treadwell starting for Ulster.

Bah

The idiotd will have their pitchforks out over him

[CiaranIrl]

Reported no change in the backs. What a bore Schmidt is.

Pot, meet Kettle.

[Oldschool]

Reported no change in the backs. What a bore Schmidt is.

Yeah winning is so passe.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I thought Jordi might make the squad this week, bit annoying that he'll just be kicking his heels. We've no cover at 7 either.

Delighted for Conan, hard to believe a player of his ability only has 5 caps. I hope Stander comes on for POM so that we see himself and Conan together, could be a great combo IMO.

I just can't see Italy putting up too much resistance after the game they had last week. Hopefully Larmour can benefit from that if it happens, and I hope he comes on at 15, that definitely looks like his best position to me. As I said before, I think there's a gap at 14 for Leinster and possibly Ireland, but given the selection I'd like to see him come on for Rob. If we do put them away early on then that's a helluva bench to come on and rack up a score in the last quarter.

[Raydollard]

Winning what.

[desperado]

Winning what.

who pissed down your back and told you it was raining?

[RoboProp]

Winning what.

who pissed down your back and told you it was raining?

Peter Ian Staker?

[simonokeeffe]

I thought Jordi might make the squad this week, bit annoying that he'll just be kicking his heels. We've no cover at 7 either.

Delighted for Conan, hard to believe a player of his ability only has 5 caps. I hope Stander comes on for POM so that we see himself and Conan together, could be a great combo IMO.

I just can't see Italy putting up too much resistance after the game they had last week. Hopefully Larmour can benefit from that if it happens, and I hope he comes on at 15, that definitely looks like his best position to me. As I said before, I think there's a gap at 14 for Leinster and possibly Ireland, but given the selection I'd like to see him come on for Rob. If we do put them away early on then that's a helluva bench to come on and rack up a score in the last quarter.

Ringrose to 14. For reals. For Ireland.

I expect POMs 5 minutes of garbage time at 7 to be widely used to claim he can legitimately cover there in real internationals from now on

Looking forward to Porter but would want Ryan in Twickenham

[neiliog93]

Ringrose to 14 is tempting given Aki has done well and Henshaw is better at 13 and 12 (as he says himself). Also, Isa is putting in a serious shift at 12 lately and we have Reid, and then O'Brien coming through.

[neilinboston]

Just at Leinster, henshaw, Ringrose, larmour, carberry, Lowe
Byrne is playing great stuff.

A lot depends on who breaks through next.
There’s a ridiculous amount of talent there.
Add in aki, Earls and others and it could really come down to combinations rather than individuals ( long term, not for Italy)

I think porter and larmour will see sometime this year and will be fully involved next

[hugonaut]

Ringrose to 14 is tempting given Aki has done well and Henshaw is better at 13 and 12 (as he says himself). Also, Isa is putting in a serious shift at 12 lately and we have Reid, and then O'Brien coming through.

I don't agree with this at all. Ringrose is a better No13 than Henshaw, Henshaw is a better No12 than Aki. Ringrose and Henshaw is a more complimentary partnership than Aki and Henshaw: they do different things well and thus provide more diverse challenges to opposition defenses, i.e. Ringrose with his elusiveness, outside break, great passing and goal-kicking, versus Henshaw with his ferocity, off-loading, step-and-fend etc. Aki/Henshaw is just Robdee x 2.

Aki is obviously a good player, but I think that some people have the strange belief that he's still playing at the standard he showed in 2015-16, two seasons ago. He's not. He's just not as effective at the moment. All you have to do is look at the actual games. I think a more pertinent question is if his form at the moment is just a bit of a lull or if it has returned to normal after a huge season, i.e. is he like Isa or Nick Williams.

[FLIP]

Ireland: Kearney; Earls, Henshaw, Aki, Stockdale; Sexton, Murray; McGrath, Best (capt), Furlong, Henderson, Toner, O'Mahony, Leavy, Conan.

Replacements: Cronin, Healy, Porter, Roux, Stander, Marmion, Carbery, Larmour.

Italy: Minozzi; Benvenuti, Boni, Castello, Bellini; Allan, Violi; Quaglio, Bigi, Ferrari, Zanni, Budd, Negri, Steyn, Parisse (capt).

Replacements: Ghiraldini, Lovotti, Pasquali, Ruzza, Mbanda, Gori, Canna, Hayward.

Since I can't see it anywhere else here.

[Oldschool]

Ringrose to 14 is tempting given Aki has done well and Henshaw is better at 13 and 12 (as he says himself). Also, Isa is putting in a serious shift at 12 lately and we have Reid, and then O'Brien coming through.

I don't agree with this at all. Ringrose is a better No13 than Henshaw, Henshaw is a better No12 than Aki. Ringrose and Henshaw is a more complimentary partnership than Aki and Henshaw: they do different things well and thus provide more diverse challenges to opposition defenses, i.e. Ringrose with his elusiveness, outside break, great passing and goal-kicking, versus Henshaw with his ferocity, off-loading, step-and-fend etc. Aki/Henshaw is just Robdee x 2.

Aki is obviously a good player, but I think that some people have the strange belief that he's still playing at the standard he showed in 2015-16, two seasons ago. He's not. He's just not as effective at the moment. All you have to do is look at the actual games. I think a more pertinent question is if his form at the moment is just a bit of a lull or if it has returned to normal after a huge season, i.e. is he like Isa or Nick Williams.

+1

[fourthirtythree]

I hate seeing Ringrose on the wing. He's not a winger. He's a good player so he can play there but unlike, say Larmour where wing in perhaps not his best position but he can thrive there, he can't. He's not effective out on the wing.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I liked the idea of Ringrose covering the wing 12/18 months ago when we didn't have many options there, but not now.

Agree about Aki not being in the same form of a couple of years ago but I've been impressed with his discipline and workrate. He doesn't go off on his own and his physicality has been good, hopefully he'll add more as time goes on.

I watched the last 5 minutes of Saturday's game again and Henderson really did get through an enormous amount of work. Of the last ten phases I think there were only 3 that he wasn't involved in. He was at five rucks and made two carries. Admittedly he didn't make an impact at those rucks but I think it was more about being in the right place and ready to intervene if the ball was messy or to be close to the next phase. To manage that after 80+ minutes in the row, and going non stop for those last five minutes was amazing, and then he still managed to get that bit of momentum off his last carry. I was tired just watching him. Obviously everyone played their part but thought CJ and POM were also particularly impressive.