Who Won't Play

OK so we have all had a go at picking our teams for the opening round and what we all think our best side is.

But out of your squad is there anyone that you think won't get any gametime unless injury kicks in or will only have limited time on the field.

For me, even as a Dragons fan I can't see Brew figuring much, maybe off the bench against Namibia but not much more. Hope I am proved wrong as think he really has lot to offer and his work rate is huge.

I'd say for Ireland Geordan Murphy, Paddy Wallace, Fergus McFadden, Leo Cullen, Isaac Boss, Sean Cronin and Shane Jennings are all unlikely to see much action unless there are injuries.

Wilson and Shaw I think were luxuries we don't really need in the squad, the 5th prop and the 4th lock are not really needed (especially as Moody is injured and we could do with the flanker cover). I don't expect them or Mears or Simpson to feature much (although a third hooker and scrum-half is a necessity in the squad).

Most of the England squad seem to get lots of injuries so I wouldn't be surprised if everyone plays. Though lower down the list are likely to be Hape, Simpson, Wilson and Mears.

I think Ireland will play their whole squad. Cronin is probably least likely to see game time.

I can see Brew starting against Namibia, but not against anyone else. I reckon Gatland doesn't quite trust him, and you can understand why - he does make silly mistakes, even if he usually makes up for them. At international level you won't necessarily get the chance to make up for a mistake.

I can see Ryan Bevington watching plenty of rugby but not playing any.

red_stag wrote:I think Ireland will play their whole squad. Cronin is probably least likely to see game time.

I was thinking about this stag but I can't see this happening. The warm-ups have shown that we don't have the depth to make wholesale changes against good sides. We'll need to put a strong side to get off to a good start against the USA and our best sides against Australia and Italy which only leaves the Russia game to rotate but we can't afford to take that game lightly either.

A lot of guys will see very little gametime and some won't play at all.

Rodders I expect that we'll see full or near full strenght against USA, Australia and Italy. I expect us to send out a team against Russia that would be something like this:

Court, Flannery, Buckley
Ryan, Cullen
Leamy, O'Brien, Jennings
Boss, O'Gara
Wallace, McFadden
Earls, Murphy, Bowe

I'd say for Ireland Geordan Murphy

Will be an error not to include him on the bench. Great player to be able to bring on and steady the ship or add a spark depending on what is needed. Experience and leadership in bucket loads with a cool head and complete committment. Ireland's worst decision in the last RWC was not to utilise him when they were struggling to create anything vs Georgia and Namibia.

I really feel for Marcos Ayerza, a great loosehead most countries would love to be able to select (all the home nations would find room) but because Roncero is such a legend for Argentina and the coaches place so much emphasis on the scrum (not that, that is a weakness for Ayerza) he seems to spend a lot of time in the stands.

Sadly Mr Bounce, i think Hape is most likely to get quite a bit of game time. Tindall seems to have been earmarked for 12 after 1 game...but we only really have 1 actual 12 which is hape.

I think Johno will actually try to give everyone a run out....mostly against the weaker teams in the group, to keep everyone as match fit as possible.

luckless_pedestrian wrote:I can see Brew starting against Namibia, but not against anyone else. I reckon Gatland doesn't quite trust him, and you can understand why - he does make silly mistakes, even if he usually makes up for them. At international level you won't necessarily get the chance to make up for a mistake.

I can see Ryan Bevington watching plenty of rugby but not playing any.

lp,

With Jenkins likely to be out until the quarters I reckon Bevington will be on the bench for most of the games, so it delends on A Jones' fitness with maybe Ryan coming on and james switching to tight.

Maybe your right Stag. How we use the squad will be key.

If we rotate too much we risk not qualifying but if we don't rotate enough then our players will be shot come the QF like in 2003, should we get that far(touch wood ).

I'm not sure I'd risk O'Brien v Russia as we need him firing on all cylinders against the "top" teams.

We have to play at least one of O'Brien, Heaslip or Ferris

Not if we play Ryan at 6, Leamy at 8 and Jennings at 7.

Stephen Jones for Wales.

Hook/Priestland are playing well, wales are winning game and the backlines working, Not all of these problems were due to Stephen Jones of course, but his injury/lack of gametime/apalling win/loss record for wales means I dont think we'll see him that much in the world cup.

I think Moody will be watching a lot of the RWC and I hope to God Andy Powell gets a box seat. I see Brew figuring well for Wales.

For England, I think we'll see little if anything of Wilson and Mears.
I think Simpson might get some time at least off the bench in the two softer pool games (he should do well with his pace agaisnt the Romanians and Georgians), and I can see a rotation policy for much of the rest of the team for those games, so the likes of Hape and Bananaman will start at least once each.

I hope Brew gets a good run and comfort I can see your point about S Jones.

I guess he could be seen as our biggest 'casualty' not to get much game time

i think SJ will feature in one of the PI games, thats a game were we need to be clever and not panic and try too hard, i would personally have him on the bench as he can come on and calm the situation down putting in clever kicks and pinning the PI in their own half for the last 30 mins

Parks won't start many of our games but he will close them down at the end, certainly Jackson gets ours backs going better and is more sound defensively. I would say the same applies to Rory Lamont unfortunately as, as much as Mossy is a hero and solid, Lamonts pace and strength bring us something more. Other than that AR will use the whole squad in the qualifiers.


Comfort
Reference to Stephen Jones agree with you on his injury and lack of games but if you think that Gatland will look at the skewed "appalling" played/win rato then you are in cloud cuckoo, ................. I would say he would first look at why when he benched Jones in the past he has had to bring him on to retrieve otherwise losing games. Thats going to be Gats biggest concern