Ireland AutumnInt First XV

cant argue too much with that team LB, i dont fancy reddan lately he just has to take a step every time. but theres no one else unless you bring back stringer.

horan and rog have been in the comfort zone for too long now and have never kicked on in the way that they would have if they had someone breathing down their necks.

jennings is the big loser, a natural 7 he could have pushed wallace of whom im a big fan but age is not on wallaces side.

id like to see a 2nd row put pressure on the incumbents, donnaca does alot of grunt work that the layperson wouldnt notice or appreciate.

fogarty by default, i prefer best at 2 even to flannerly.

Wallace should nt be there? Dont agree with that but agree with the rest!
ROG clingin on for too long, has nt had one half decent game yet this year,
Sexton deserves a chance and should get the start hands down if they pick the team on form.
Scrum half is harder, no standout candidate imo- TOL has nt had the best of times lately, poor again last night against Edinburgh!
Cant really start Stringer if he is nt startin for Munster and Reddan has his on and off days too- so hard to choose between the 3 imo

kearney
bowe
o driscoll
wallace
fitzgearald
sexton
o leary
heaslip
wallace
ferris
o connell
o callaghan- did well last week and still ahead of the others
hayes
flannery-only as rory best is injured
healy- now first choice- has to be

lads like willie faloon, bob casey(i know he'll never get a chance but his form demands it) on bench

Will Flannery be ready, has he played two games yet this season?

well whats the alternative

rory best is out
jackman nor fogarty are international class

Yeah I just think he'll start, it will be Fogarty, Leinster's one.

some big tests coming up for Kidney. With one eye on NZ 2011 and on current form, Healy and Sexton should both start v Oz. Also does he stick with BOD as captain or take the Lions capt? On true form, you could only make a case for 2 Munster lads, POC and Hayes, but suspect that Wallace, DOC and ROG will still get the nod from a conservative Kidney. Flannery out for another 4 weeks I think?
Would love to see Kidney building a little this year and go with the following
Kearney
Bowe
Earls
BOD
Fitz
Sexton
TOL/Reddan
Healy
Fogerty
Hayes
POC
DOC
Ferris
O Brien
Heaslip

Is Darcy playing that badly? The Paddy Wallace experiment never really worked for Ireland.

I'd actually go with Boss at 9, he's been consistently good in every game this season. O Leary has been poor, Reddan has been both excellent and awful in every game he's played and Stringer has hardly touched a ball.

i'd like to see fitz get a run in the centre and earls or horgan on the wing. on reflection horgan.

Willie Falloon no. 7 for the future and not just because he's an Armagh man

He is very good. If he can keep playing for a full season we'll have an embarrassment of riches in the back row for Ireland.

Fitz was tried at centre for Leinster and Ireland (in Nov Internationals) last year and IMO with not a great amount of success.

( Luckily) I have seen very little of Munster this season so far , as I believe they have been dire . The implications for the Irish squad must be that a lot of them will need to be either rested or replaced .

Never having had a high opinion of RoG I would be more than happy to see Sexton being given a protracted run , and only Boss seems to be confident enough among the scrum halves . As with RoG never had a high opinion of Paddy Wallace , cant believe there is no one better to play centre . PoC , Ferris and Heaslip obviously pick themselves , most other forward positions could see a fair bit of to and froing before the Six Nations .

Overall I am not as confident of us repeating last year as I was last April , some of our regulars have been pretty flawed since then . Maybe they need a longer rest after the Lions Tour etc .

iHumphries, Faloon, Boss, Casey probably unlucky not to make it.

Squad of 39 announced.

Ireland squad: Tommy Bowe (Ospreys); Neil Best (Northampton Saints); Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster); Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Tom Court (Malone/Ulster), Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)*, Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster), Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Gavin Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster), Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster), Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster), Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster), John Fogarty (DLSP Palmerston/Leinster)*, John Hayes (Bruff/Munster), Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)*, Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster), Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)*, Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster), Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster), Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster), Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster), Fergus McFadden (UCD/Leinster)*, Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster), Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster), Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster), Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster), Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster), Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)*, Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster), Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster), Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary's College/Leinster)*, Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster), David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster), Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster), Brett Wilkinson (Galwegians/Connacht)*.

*Never been capped.

what does casey have to do ? definite case of committee men deciding they won;t pick overseas players unless they like them or know their dads

casey very unlucky.
best was included and hes with northampton!

too many ulster lads in the squad for my liking.
ferris the only decent player

He needs not to be so slow and not look completely uninterested every time he pulls on a green jersey.

Presumably Boss does not qualify . Cant see Peter Stringer being in front of him .

Don't think Kidney will drop RoG, the Cork/PBC/UCC ties are too strong. Kidney faces excommunication from the People's Republic (as they put it) if the bright eyed, golden haired boy was replaced by a St Mary's jackeen pup.
RoG will be plying his ineffective brand of outhalf play in NZ11.
If Sexton wanted to start as outhalf in the next WC he should have declared for England.

wen is the first test?

Sun 15th Aussie's.

A game the week before.

do the job cheers!

sorry badgers back you;re right, i should have included the being from ulster criterion with the lobby group that it brings.

too few ulstermen for my liking

wheres willie faloons place
and pray rory best gets back in one piece for next season as our cover is int adequate and he's superior to flannery

Tommy Bowe despite being not to Badger's Back liking and despite plying his trade in the UK deserves a chance in the starting line up.

tommy bowe is to my liking having played minor football for monaghan and always sings our National Anthem unlike the orange lads ;)

yes i'd have him in :)

Badgers back. why should the orange lads sing the Freestate anthem?They are not from there.I presume Tommy Bowe sings it because he's from the Freestate.Anyway its a lousy pre modern tuneless dirge of anachronistic warlike preening drivel.

Any1 hear anythin about Marcus Horan ?:|

Ireland Squad (31) v Australia at Croke Park on Sunday, 15 November:

Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Bob Casey (London Irish)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Ian Dowling (Shannon/Munster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
John Fogarty (De La Salle Palmerston/Leinster)
John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Felix Jones (Shannon/Munster)
Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht)
Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Mick O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster)
Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster)
Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary's College/Leinster)
David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)

paddy wallace :D