What we can take from the Ireland match.

1) Reddan is undeniably a better option than O'Leary, who, to be honest, had a shocker. He threw two abysmal passes, gave an interception, gifted Trinh-Duc a drop goal with one of his appalling trademark box kicks and got absolutely skinned by Palisson. Moreover, O'Learly lacks the dynamism provided by Reddan: as soon as Reddan came onto the pitch Ireland were recycling the ball much faster. A lot of the time O'Leary looks like a total liability. Also, Reddan's affinity with Sexton is important.

2) As embarrassing as it is to admit it, I totally agree with Jeremy 'Misery Guts' Guscott when he said that the 10, 12 and 13 partnership is not working. D'Arcy and O'Driscoll were drifting with the ball far too much. No-one was offering decoy lines or cutting against the grain of attack. Ireland persistently shifted the ball from side to side and gained NO ground. The French defence just had to wait for the last man to get the ball. What ever happened to the 'Leinster Loop'? I thought O'Driscoll looked static and indecisive in attack and haphazard in defence. Sadly, D'Arcy is a shadow of his former self. Ireland just never looked like they could break the gain line. Look at the Heymans try. The French were running decoys, varying their running angles and receiving the ball at pace. A total inversion of what Ireland were doing.

3) Earls is not up to RWC standard. The guy had a shocker of a match. With Trimble, Bowe, Fitzgerald and Kearney available, I would seriously consider leaving the blundering Earls at home if he performs badly against England (that is if Kidney picks him, which I hope he doesn't!).

4) Ireland need to play to their main strength: brilliant forwards. O'Brien and Heaslip were good. When O'Brien was brought into the line, he made road kill of Trinh-Duc. Perphaps Kidney should select O'Brien at inside centre?! Healy also needs more ball in the loose. He was brilliant in the Heineken Cup final when Leinster were on the front foot and he had space to run with the ball. Ferris and O'Connell are also good carriers. Ultimately, these guys need to brought into the backline more, where they will have dominance over opposition backs. A mismatch will allow breaking of the gain line.

5) Selection is a problem. If Ireland perform like they did yesterday next Saturday, Kidney will need to consider major changes to his selection. But Ireland have very little options. At centre for example, there is a very shallow player base. Kidney refuses to question the ability of BOD. But even if he did, Ireland have no other decent options at 13, especially in light of the performance of Keith Earls, who can play at outside centre. The same goes for D'Arcy. Paddy Wallace provides little solace for those of us weary of D'Arcy's mediocrity. Kidney is left with the 'Oh, he's better than nothing' argument. 15 is also a real quandry. Kearney (injured) has been out for a long time and looked average on his most recent appearance. Geordan Murphy has also been out for a long time and is more of a 'cool-head' than a genuine attacking threat. Other than that Ireland have a wayward Keith Earls.

Does anyone have any suggestions for solutions to the dire state of affairs?

P.S. Do people think tickets will be easily available for the England match? I was thinking of picking up a ticket on the day. Would be brilliant to see a match at the Aviva.

Tickets completely sold out.

I know but will people be selling at Lansdowne Road? Maybe I'll try Viagogo or something.

Maybe a tout or something. But from official outlets they are sold out.

As for your comments I would describe many of them as "knee jerk".

"knee jerk".

What a "knee jerk" response to my article.

Maybe you could elaborate?

OK, that wasn't a great display, lack of organisation, confidence and focus but some good stuff up front from individuals. Your back line problems echo those of others of the home nations but I'd put money on a transformed Ireland when they take the field against a stumbling England. What's lacking is attention to the basics just as it is for England. Probably only France have shown a glimpse of what they could do.

Wait for the England game, you may feel a lot happier.

Have to say I thought this match was more evidence that O'Leary should not go to the WC, and to be honest I think Murray will over take him at Munster very soon.

If you look at the intercept pass O'Leary threw to Trinh Duc, he just isnt a scrumhalf.....

What I took from the game:

TOL is an awful 9
BOD, Darcy and Earls need more game time in their positions
We had little to no cutting edge backline play
Our defensive wrap tackle system doesn't work as well when against seriously quick+physical teams

Our scrum has improved hugely
Trimble is one of our best players
Ferris is crucial
POC is back to 07 form (or nearly there)
Sexton is a great player but is shackled by how deep he has to stand with TOl at 9
SOB seems to be our only player capable of breaking the defensive line

Start the team that played in Bordeaux who were up against a better French team and who made a better fist of it. In particular drop BOD & D'Arcy - they were shocking. At least the much maligned pair of Earls & P. Wallace made one or two attempts at attack and defended very well the previous week.

Reddan would have been road kill if he had to put up with the level of protection that tomas O'Leary had from his backrow. Shane Jennings made 1 tackle - Tomas O'Leary made 6. The major difference on saturday was Stephen Ferris coming on and putting in a few very good tackles. Ferris will be starting - hopefully he will stay fit.

Artful_Dodger wrote:Have to say I thought this match was more evidence that O'Leary should not go to the WC, and to be honest I think Murray will over take him at Munster very soon.

If you look at the intercept pass O'Leary threw to Trinh Duc, he just isnt a scrumhalf.....

If that is the case Eoin Reddan or Peter Stringer are not scrumhalfs either! Intercept passes happen.

So Earls the guy who has won a HC,ML and is a Lion isn't good enough for our WC squad? He had a bad game made some poor decisions but it's not like everyone else has been A1.

Sin é wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:Have to say I thought this match was more evidence that O'Leary should not go to the WC, and to be honest I think Murray will over take him at Munster very soon.

If you look at the intercept pass O'Leary threw to Trinh Duc, he just isnt a scrumhalf.....

If that is the case Eoin Reddan or Peter Stringer are not scrumhalfs either! Intercept passes happen.

They do, that's true. But there are intercepts, and there are crashingly stupid intercepts.

The hospital pass from Heaslip didn't help. It was stupid though.

What did we learn

Ferris simpley has to start - we need his clearing out at the breakdown.
If is an either/or at 7 between SOB and Wallace. At the moment its SOB

Jennings ensured he is flying nowhere.
TOL simply cannot start for Ireland, in fact his place on the plane should be danger.

Trimble is the only three quarter who has put his hand up so far - we simply have to get BOD and Bowe up to speed.
Unbelievably Wallace remains our best choice at 12.
Earls would not make the team - back three of Bowe,Trimble, Kearney looks the most likely

I would add that saying Earls should not go is totally stupid.
He would not make my team but he is a definite for the 30

Let's just hope that our scrum halves manage to cut out the intercept passes over the next 2 months.

geoff998rugby wrote:What did we learn

Ferris simpley has to start - we need his clearing out at the breakdown.
If is an either/or at 7 between SOB and Wallace. At the moment its SOB

Jennings ensured he is flying nowhere.
TOL simply cannot start for Ireland, in fact his place on the plane should be danger.

Trimble is the only three quarter who has put his hand up so far - we simply have to get BOD and Bowe up to speed.
Unbelievably Wallace remains our best choice at 12.
Earls would not make the team - back three of Bowe,Trimble, Kearney looks the most likely

I agree with everything here.


Sin-
reddan isn't that much worse a defender than TOL. TOL got boshed a few times against Scotland of all teams and Palisson danced around him without TOL getting as much as a finger on him.

Reddan's snipping also was quite good when he came on. He also challenged the backrow leaving space for POC in particular.

In addition, Flannery has to start. His experience with POC and DOC is paramount in the lineouts to retain posession.

Earls should make the matchday squad, but only after he has finished writing his lines "I must not showboat or knock my outhalf out of the way"

To be honest I'm a bit worried at the looks the team were giving each other. Sexton and Earls wanted to kill each other, BOD wanted to kill Earls, everyone wanted to kill TOL. It's a sign of pressure, of wanting to do well, of frustration... but also of a team on frayed nerves, and that's not good.

Thomond wrote:The hospital pass from Heaslip didn't help. It was stupid though.

Nope, it'd didn't. But in that situation you hit the deck and recycle.

greybeard wrote:

Sin é wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:Have to say I thought this match was more evidence that O'Leary should not go to the WC, and to be honest I think Murray will over take him at Munster very soon.

If you look at the intercept pass O'Leary threw to Trinh Duc, he just isnt a scrumhalf.....

If that is the case Eoin Reddan or Peter Stringer are not scrumhalfs either! Intercept passes happen.

They do, that's true. But there are intercepts, and there are crashingly stupid intercepts.

Look, I know Tomas O'Leary had a bad game, but he was given absolutely no help from his pack, in particular the backrow. He should not have to play so defensively. Everything went well for the first 15-20 mins, then the pack went to sleep (with the exception of Healy & POC).

Pete, Sexton was standing deep for both Reddan & O'Leary. He does it (like all OHs) when their pack is on the backfoot. Sexton may have all the physical attributes to be a great international outhalf, but he hasn't got the head just yet. Give him 2/3 more years. At the moment, ROG is still by far our best outhalf.

Heaslip should have hit the deck!

Thomond wrote:Heaslip should have hit the deck!

True, but he didn't. TOL compounded the error. And in a much, much, worse way. Heaslip didn't hit the deck, but he didn't gift 7 points either.

It doesn't excuse what O'Leary did I agree with you there.

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:

geoff998rugby wrote:What did we learn

Ferris simpley has to start - we need his clearing out at the breakdown.
If is an either/or at 7 between SOB and Wallace. At the moment its SOB

Jennings ensured he is flying nowhere.
TOL simply cannot start for Ireland, in fact his place on the plane should be danger.

Trimble is the only three quarter who has put his hand up so far - we simply have to get BOD and Bowe up to speed.
Unbelievably Wallace remains our best choice at 12.
Earls would not make the team - back three of Bowe,Trimble, Kearney looks the most likely

I agree with everything here.


Sin-
reddan isn't that much worse a defender than TOL. TOL got boshed a few times against Scotland of all teams and Palisson danced around him without TOL getting as much as a finger on him.

Reddan's snipping also was quite good when he came on. He also challenged the backrow leaving space for POC in particular.

Reddan didn't have to make one tackle in the 27 minutes he was on. As I've pointed out, Shane Jenning made 1 tackle in the 60 mins he was on. O'Leary made 7 (missing 1).

Sin é, TOL might have made more tackles, but his decision making was poor. That's an entirely different aspect.

Besides the intercept, his box kick for Trinh-Ducs drop goal was awful also. He needs to use his head more, and he needs someone to fill it with some smarts. I'd take Stringer to NZ before TOL.

greybeard wrote:To be honest I'm a bit worried at the looks the team were giving each other. Sexton and Earls wanted to kill each other, BOD wanted to kill Earls, everyone wanted to kill TOL. It's a sign of pressure, of wanting to do well, of frustration... but also of a team on frayed nerves, and that's not good.

I remember waiting for one of the restarts Earls and Best having a go at each other and Best just signalling him to calm down. Not sure what was going on there.

greybeard wrote:In addition, Flannery has to start. His experience with POC and DOC is paramount in the lineouts to retain posession.

Earls should make the matchday squad, but only after he has finished writing his lines "I must not showboat or knock my outhalf out of the way"

To be honest I'm a bit worried at the looks the team were giving each other. Sexton and Earls wanted to kill each other, BOD wanted to kill Earls, everyone wanted to kill TOL. It's a sign of pressure, of wanting to do well, of frustration... but also of a team on frayed nerves, and that's not good.

Earls was not showboating - he just wants to do well for his team.

Considering BOD must know that Earls is a confidence player, he didn't display much leadership on Saturday with that look. Earls, talking about Alan Quinlan recently said that he was always great to him on the pitch, always telling him that he was as good as the opposition and not to be going into his shell if something went wrong.

Hopefully, Earls will recover from it. Luckily he has the experience of the Lions to fall back on, but BOD should have been reassuring all the young players around him, not giving them stick.

Earls isn't a kid any more. He shouldn't need sweeties to entice him to play well.

That pass over BODs head was ridiculous. He's better than that and he threw away an overlap.

History repeating itself. An exciting young fullback suffers an injury just before the World Cup. Rewind back to 2002 and it was a brilliant Geordan Murphy who suffered. Now its Felix Jones' turn.

Sin é wrote:

greybeard wrote:In addition, Flannery has to start. His experience with POC and DOC is paramount in the lineouts to retain posession.

Earls should make the matchday squad, but only after he has finished writing his lines "I must not showboat or knock my outhalf out of the way"

To be honest I'm a bit worried at the looks the team were giving each other. Sexton and Earls wanted to kill each other, BOD wanted to kill Earls, everyone wanted to kill TOL. It's a sign of pressure, of wanting to do well, of frustration... but also of a team on frayed nerves, and that's not good.

Earls was not showboating - he just wants to do well for his team.

Considering BOD must know that Earls is a confidence player, he didn't display much leadership on Saturday with that look. Earls, talking about Alan Quinlan recently said that he was always great to him on the pitch, always telling him that he was as good as the opposition and not to be going into his shell if something went wrong.

Hopefully, Earls will recover from it. Luckily he has the experience of the Lions to fall back on, but BOD should have been reassuring all the young players around him, not giving them stick.

Sorry its a world cup we are going to
If someone on the team cant take a "look" off the captain without it knocking there confidence they should not be on the field, I'm sure earls will bounce back no problem, but i'm sure POC and BOD in what could be there last world cup dont give a rats orse about young players confidence if they make a mistake that could cost them a good return in the wc

Thomond wrote:Heaslip should have hit the deck!

Not at all, Heaslip should have made the pass.

greybeard wrote:Sin é, TOL might have made more tackles, but his decision making was poor. That's an entirely different aspect.

Besides the intercept, his box kick for Trinh-Ducs drop goal was awful also. He needs to use his head more, and he needs someone to fill it with some smarts. I'd take Stringer to NZ before TOL.

Well, if you have to spend most your time making tackles, you are going to get knackered and your decision making will become poor.

Like I said, for the 1st 20 mins or so, his decision making & passing was good. It all fell to pieces then when the pack decided they had enough/French decided they were gong to play. O'Leary was the 2nd top tackler (after SOB with 8/2) on Saturday.

I'm not advocating that O'Leary should travel, but if he does, it will because of his defence and its needed if the likes of Ferris/Wally are not around.

Even when we were in the ascendancy TOL was playing badly IMO. I remember one instance off a lineout Trimble crashed up the middle really well creating a huge overlap on the openside. TOL picked the ball looked to kick over the top before he'd checked if there was space. Then had to double back to feed Sexton, by which time the French defence was sliding over and closing down space, think it resulted in Jones getting tackled on the wing where as he would have free with that extra second and a half or so.

There was an awful moment also in the second half where the ball squirted out the back of the ruck and as the French started to sprint towards it, TOL walked with his hands up to the ref!

I think they had every right to be angry with eachother at times.

Isn't it ironic that Geordan Murphy is the man who will most likely replace him.

Sin, winning is all about mental strength. When you're going to play for your country in a World Cup you need real mental toughness and that comes from within. Now BOD- BOD has real mental strength; a born winner. O'Connell, Heaslip, Ferris etc. are all the same. Earls is one of the most talented players around, oozes sheer class, but that can be totally nullified by a crisis of confidence. He's now an experienced international player. If he needs his hand held he's probably in over his head.

Oh and tackle stats for Reddan are meaningless given we were on the front foot after he came on. France took their foot off the gas.

D24tress wrote:

Sin é wrote:

greybeard wrote:In addition, Flannery has to start. His experience with POC and DOC is paramount in the lineouts to retain posession.

Earls should make the matchday squad, but only after he has finished writing his lines "I must not showboat or knock my outhalf out of the way"

To be honest I'm a bit worried at the looks the team were giving each other. Sexton and Earls wanted to kill each other, BOD wanted to kill Earls, everyone wanted to kill TOL. It's a sign of pressure, of wanting to do well, of frustration... but also of a team on frayed nerves, and that's not good.

Earls was not showboating - he just wants to do well for his team.

Considering BOD must know that Earls is a confidence player, he didn't display much leadership on Saturday with that look. Earls, talking about Alan Quinlan recently said that he was always great to him on the pitch, always telling him that he was as good as the opposition and not to be going into his shell if something went wrong.

Hopefully, Earls will recover from it. Luckily he has the experience of the Lions to fall back on, but BOD should have been reassuring all the young players around him, not giving them stick.

Sorry its a world cup we are going to
If someone on the team cant take a "look" off the captain without it knocking there confidence they should not be on the field, I'm sure earls will bounce back no problem, but i'm sure POC and BOD in what could be there last world cup dont give a rats orse about young players confidence if they make a mistake that could cost them a good return in the wc

Yeah exactly. It's no place for the faint hearted.

D24tress wrote:

Sin é wrote:

greybeard wrote:In addition, Flannery has to start. His experience with POC and DOC is paramount in the lineouts to retain posession.

Earls should make the matchday squad, but only after he has finished writing his lines "I must not showboat or knock my outhalf out of the way"

To be honest I'm a bit worried at the looks the team were giving each other. Sexton and Earls wanted to kill each other, BOD wanted to kill Earls, everyone wanted to kill TOL. It's a sign of pressure, of wanting to do well, of frustration... but also of a team on frayed nerves, and that's not good.

Earls was not showboating - he just wants to do well for his team.

Considering BOD must know that Earls is a confidence player, he didn't display much leadership on Saturday with that look. Earls, talking about Alan Quinlan recently said that he was always great to him on the pitch, always telling him that he was as good as the opposition and not to be going into his shell if something went wrong.

Hopefully, Earls will recover from it. Luckily he has the experience of the Lions to fall back on, but BOD should have been reassuring all the young players around him, not giving them stick.

Sorry its a world cup we are going to
If someone on the team cant take a "look" off the captain without it knocking there confidence they should not be on the field, I'm sure earls will bounce back no problem, but i'm sure POC and BOD in what could be there last world cup dont give a rats orse about young players confidence if they make a mistake that could cost them a good return in the wc

I'd prefer if the captain inspired confidence in his team. Most player have a fault - Earls' one is that he is a confidence player. If he isn't confident he is going to make a bags of it. Same with Luke Fitz - lacking confidence that needed patience and he looks now to be getting there.

Alan Quinlan has been known to give lads a box on the pitch when they did something stupid - he could see that wasn't the right thing to do with Earls.

Exactly and as I said elsewhere I question Earls and Fitzgerald mental toughness to cope in a pressure cooker situation.

Not sure either has got it

Notch wrote:Isn't it ironic that Geordan Murphy is the man who will most likely replace him.

Sin, winning is all about mental strength. When you're going to play for your country in a World Cup you need real mental toughness and that comes from within. Now BOD- BOD has real mental strength; a born winner. O'Connell, Heaslip, Ferris etc. are all the same. Earls is one of the most talented players around, oozes sheer class, but that can be totally nullified by a crisis of confidence. He's now an experienced international player. If he needs his hand held he's probably in over his head.

Oh and tackle stats for Reddan are meaningless given we were on the front foot after he came on. France took their foot off the gas.

Hang on a second, all of those you mention have more than 30 caps for Ireland and most of them are forwards that can beat and bash their way around. The comparision is really relevant to BOD who plays the same position and is regarded as one of the best players in the world with over 100 caps and is the captain.

Compare Earls to someone of a similar age - look at Luke Fitz - GS winner, Lions caps etc. and he has obviously been lacking confidence over the last while and has been given plenty of tender loving care from his club and country management - obviously they see it as in everyone's best interests that you have your most talented players confident and playing well.

geoff998rugby wrote:Exactly and as I said elsewhere I question Earls and Fitzgerald mental toughness to cope in a pressure cooker situation.

Not sure either has got it

So, you discard your most talented players for who exactly? FFS, they are 23 year olds.

I personally didn't say I would discard them. I would take them both to the World Cup. But I don't think I would start with either of them in a crunch game.

Sin é wrote:

Notch wrote:Isn't it ironic that Geordan Murphy is the man who will most likely replace him.

Sin, winning is all about mental strength. When you're going to play for your country in a World Cup you need real mental toughness and that comes from within. Now BOD- BOD has real mental strength; a born winner. O'Connell, Heaslip, Ferris etc. are all the same. Earls is one of the most talented players around, oozes sheer class, but that can be totally nullified by a crisis of confidence. He's now an experienced international player. If he needs his hand held he's probably in over his head.

Oh and tackle stats for Reddan are meaningless given we were on the front foot after he came on. France took their foot off the gas.

Hang on a second, all of those you mention have more than 30 caps for Ireland and most of them are forwards that can beat and bash their way around. The comparision is really relevant to BOD who plays the same position and is regarded as one of the best players in the world with over 100 caps and is the captain.

Compare Earls to someone of a similar age - look at Luke Fitz - GS winner, Lions caps etc. and he has obviously been lacking confidence over the last while and has been given plenty of tender loving care from his club and country management - obviously they see it as in everyone's best interests that you have your most talented players confident and playing well.

Mental strength is the same anywhere on the field. It might be easier to get involved in the match up front, but that doesn;t make the comparison irrelevant.

Of course it is in our best interests to get guys that talented playing well. It's just not in the best interests of the team to pick a guy who is having a crisis of confidence. I'm not writing Earls off, he has a lot to offer us. But I think he needs to toughen up to make our first team. Ireland, as a rugby team, have failed to fulfil our potential because we've lacked mental strength in the past. We've lacked bottle- it's cost us Slams, big wins and it cost us on Saturday.

I don't think starting is on either of there radars once bowe is fit

Trimble has shown he his a step above the both of them imho
He has shown a great willingness and hunger along with skill

Notch wrote:I personally didn't say I would discard them. I would take them both to the World Cup. But I don't think I would start with either of them in a crunch game.

Why would you bring them then. They are not going to be any use to you off the bench as they will be probably more anxious to make an impression.

Earls did fine against France in Bordeaux. The dirty looks from BOD & Sexton probably said more about them than him. They were the ones who were not handling the pressure very well and they were letting the French know they were rattled.

I am not discarding them either, although Fitzgerald is not certain to go.

I simply don't think they have done enough to be in the starting XV.
Should clarify they don't look ready to cope now, doesn't mean they won't be able to in future. Trouble is the WC is now.

I remember Trimble and Bowe struggling at a younger age - they are simply more experienced now - and more able to cope eith the intensity the WC will throw at them.

Sin é wrote:The dirty looks from BOD & Sexton probably said more about them than him. They were the ones who were not handling the pressure very well and they were letting the French know they were rattled.

Stop making up stories in your head to justify your own view. Honestly!

We all have to stop making excuses for our favourite provincial players. It's World Cup time, not inter-province bitchfest time.

I would bring them because they are good players. Say they both start on the wings versus Russia and get on the scoresheet playing well, they'll bring that confidence into their next game hopefully. And they will grow from their experiences and struggles. Being left out of the squad will do them more harm than good and they still have plenty of potential. And, most importantly, there aren't the quality replacements.

Geoffs point re. Trimble and Bowe is very well made. Remember Bowe being made a scapegoat after a poor game against France? He wasn't ready then; mentally or in terms of where he was as a player. Earls has all the talent, but I'm not convinced he has reached the point where we can say he is resilient enough to be the player he has always threatened to be.

We have to be careful now to make sure we don't go overboard on the criticism of Earls, because he didn't lose that game by himself. He deserves a break- he gives his best and that's all you can ask for. But he needs to cope better with adversity on the field if he is to fulfil his potential as a player

Notch wrote:We all have to stop making excuses for our favourite provincial players. It's World Cup time, not inter-province bitchfest time.

On that note I hope McCarthy travels. That way we can all unite and blame him.

geoff998rugby wrote:I am not discarding them either, although Fitzgerald is not certain to go.

I simply don't think they have done enough to be in the starting XV.
Should clarify they don't look ready to cope now, doesn't mean they won't be able to in future. Trouble is the WC is now.

I remember Trimble and Bowe struggling at a younger age - they are simply more experienced now - and more able to cope eith the intensity the WC will throw at them.

We have no idea of Bowe's fitness or form. Trimble has done very well - but bear in mind this is his 3rd game to start in the same position and while he has done some good stuff, looks confident, made all his tackles - this is not his fault, but he hasn't seen an awful lot of ball to make a hames of it.

Notch wrote:

Sin é wrote:The dirty looks from BOD & Sexton probably said more about them than him. They were the ones who were not handling the pressure very well and they were letting the French know they were rattled.

Stop making up stories in your head to justify your own view. Honestly!

We all have to stop making excuses for our favourite provincial players. It's World Cup time, not inter-province bitchfest time.

I would bring them because they are good players. Say they both start on the wings versus Russia and get on the scoresheet playing well, they'll bring that confidence into their next game hopefully. And they will grow from their experiences and struggles. Being left out of the squad will do them more harm than good and they still have plenty of potential. And, most importantly, there aren't the quality replacements.

Geoffs point re. Trimble and Bowe is very well made. Remember Bowe being made a scapegoat after a poor game against France? He wasn't ready then; mentally or in terms of where he was as a player. Earls has all the talent, but I'm not convinced he has reached the point where we can say he is resilient enough to be the player he has always threatened to be.

We have to be careful now to make sure we don't go overboard on the criticism of Earls, because he didn't lose that game by himself. He deserves a break- he gives his best and that's all you can ask for. But he needs to cope better with adversity on the field if he is to fulfil his potential as a player

Totally agree. Well said.

Sin é wrote:

geoff998rugby wrote:I am not discarding them either, although Fitzgerald is not certain to go.

I simply don't think they have done enough to be in the starting XV.
Should clarify they don't look ready to cope now, doesn't mean they won't be able to in future. Trouble is the WC is now.

I remember Trimble and Bowe struggling at a younger age - they are simply more experienced now - and more able to cope eith the intensity the WC will throw at them.

We have no idea of Bowe's fitness or form. Trimble has done very well - but bear in mind this is his 3rd game to start in the same position and while he has done some good stuff, looks confident, made all his tackles - this is not his fault, but he hasn't seen an awful lot of ball to make a hames of it.

Sin é - thats the whole point! Irish wingers never see a lot of ball. When they do see it, you don't want them dropping it or passing it into touch. Trimble is doing everything well and making few mistakes. Earls & Fitz are making too many mistakes which we cannot afford based on Ireland's possession stats.