Ireland V All Blacks - Teams Announced and Matchday Thread

[clivemcl]

First topic message reminder :

IRELAND TEAM

15 - Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 - Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
13 - Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
12 - Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
11 - Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster) *
10 - Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
9 - Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
3 - Declan Fitzpatrick (Dungannon/Ulster) *
4 - Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)
5 - Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
6 - Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
7 - Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

Replacements:

16 - Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
17 - Ronan Loughney (Galwegians/Connacht) *
18 - Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
19 - Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
20 - Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 - Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)


NZ Team

15 Israel Dagg,
14 Zac Guildford,
13 Conrad Smith,
12 Sonny Bill Williams,
11 Julian Savea,
10 Dan Carter,
9 Aaron Smith,
8 Kieran Read,
7 Richie McCaw (capt),
6 Victor Vito,
5 Sam Whitelock,
4 Brodie Retallick,
3 Owen Franks,
2 Andrew Hore,
1 Tony Woodcock.

Reserves: Hika Elliot, Ben Franks, Ali Williams, Adam Thomson, Piri Weepu, Aaron Cruden, Ben Smith.

Tour Previews:
http://www.v2journal.com/irelands-summer-tour.html
http://www.v2journal.com/new-zealands-june-tests-preview.html

[LondonTiger]

Looking ominous now

[nathan]

well finished

[Notch]

Julien Savea- I've got a feeling we're going to be hearing a lot of this young man across the next decade of international rugby. A new household name.

[GunsGerms]

Gonna be a hiding by the looks of it.

[Biltong]

Why did McFadden come in there?

There were enough defenders marking the inside

[Gibson]

Feic!

Totally agree MMC. Thjey are just so much better by design.

Thats game. Need to try and get back into this for prides sake. Need Reddan on.

Murray too slow.

[wales606]

Any chance for Ireland is gone now.

Damage control time.

[LondonTiger]

Stunning conversion

23-3

[wales606]

Brilliant kick Carter

[rodders]

Brilliant kick.... I can see a cricket score here.

[MMC]

Now will we finally go for a restart on the left? Zebo is the master of those restarts, we should use him.

[LondonTiger]

Why did McFadden come in there?

There were enough defenders marking the inside

Because he is being played out of position?

[MMC]

Straight down the middle into the AB's throat...stupid.

[wales606]

Why did McFadden come in there?

There were enough defenders marking the inside

McFadden is an average centre, and not an international winger. Trimble or Gilroy should be playing.

[Thomond]

I don'ty know if we deserve to be 20 points down but feic sake, they can score from anything.

[GunsGerms]

Feic!

Totally agree MMC. Thjey are just so much better by design.

Thats game. Need to try and get back into this for prides sake. Need Reddan on.

Murray too slow.

Even though he is having a decent game his selection continues to baffle.

[Notch]

McFaddens decision making in defence has never been that great in green sadly biltong.

Feel the same way as I did watching Ulster in the Heineken Cup final. We played well, but every little frailty was a seven-pointer against a superior ultra-clinical team. Ireland have made one or two questionable decisions in defence and we've been punished. VERY severely.

[wales606]

Dagg butchered that

[rodders]

Gees Dagg butchered that...... the AB's have been awesome, really awesome.

[wales606]

This is a nice reminder of what SH rugby can do, just before the Aus vs Wales game.

[mystiroakey]

I really feel for ireland here- this is a butchering

[Gibson]

McFaddens decision making in defence has never been that great in green sadly biltong.

Feel the same way as I did watching Ulster in the Heineken Cup final. We played well, but every little frailty was a seven-pointer against a superior ultra-clinical team. Ireland have made one or two questionable decisions in defence and we've been punished. VERY severely.

Thats what they do. That' s the difffer. That and they are better all over the park, no matter how well we play. They just up the intensity.

Best be honest.

[Thomond]

Murray saved a certain try in the corner a while back. Reddan would have gotten killed out there at times. He will come on later but he could not start.

[Notch]

Australia don't look like half the team NZ are right now on evidence of the Scotland test. Wales will be fine

[Pete C (Kiwireddevil)]

It must be tough being interviewed on the way into the sheds at ht like that

[offload]

Ireland already on a very thin thread. NZ offloads are excellent. That's the second try. Any way back for Irelans? I think not. NZ better in every way.

[littlejohn]

Ireland doing very well at the breakdown - shame the backs have made 3 or 4 defensive mistakes which the AB's have taken full advantage of. Hope this doesn't turn into a cricket score....

[GunsGerms]

McFaddens decision making in defence has never been that great in green sadly biltong.

Feel the same way as I did watching Ulster in the Heineken Cup final. We played well, but every little frailty was a seven-pointer against a superior ultra-clinical team. Ireland have made one or two questionable decisions in defence and we've been punished. VERY severely.

He is not a winger he is a 2nd centre really. Bring Trimble on.

[Gibson]

Your team are only together for a week Kiwi.

Feic knows what they will be like when the warm up over the next 2 weeks.

Or even in the 2nd-half.

[Rory_Gallagher]

McFadden and Zebo are getting BADLY exposed in defence. They just don't know how to position themselves. Especially McFadden, I seriously don't know what he is doing. We need to get back into this. O'Driscoll needs to lead his troops, they look a bit nervous.

A positive for me is O'Brien and O'Mahony. They are playing better than the NZ back row atm! Outstanding.

[Hookisms and Hyperbole]

I agree Notch, McFadden should never been picked, but he was and I hoped he would play well and he has made a couple of mistakes as has Earls in defence. Maybe in Heineken Cup or the like you might not get punished but at this level you will. We are better than the score suggests, but at the same time the score accurately reflects the difference between the sides. One side offloads accurately with skill and composure and doesn't give away stupid penalties. One side backs there players to kick goals the keep the board ticking over. One side doesn't give away stupid penalties.

After all that we have been much improved. Sean O'Brien has played well, as have Rory Best, Declan Fitzpatrick, Donnacha Ryan, O'Mahony and Johnny Sexton. BOD for me has been poor so far which is a surprise. McFadden and Zebo are absolutely clueless positionally on the wings. In Zebo's case that is fair enough in many ways, and he needs international games at this level to learn.

[kiakahaaotearoa]

Dagg bumbled a try there. Should've seen Keraney went early to Guildford.

Overall a sketchy start and Ireland looked strong and positive on attack in the first 20. A few mistakes from players like SBW and the backrow for Ireland seemed to be dominating the breakdown. Then the ABs started to click and Ireland has had to do a lot of tackling which will have an effect in the second half. Savea is having a great debut and Carter is on fire with the boot and no sign of the groin complaint.

So whilst encouraging from Ireland they'll be gutted they find themselves down by so many.

[wales606]

Australia don't look like half the team NZ are right now on evidence of the Scotland test. Wales will be fine

[rodders]

I think Murray has been ok but his kicking has been too long...two of his mistakes have led to tries....but as we can't get the ball I'm not sure Reddan would make much difference.

On the positive side I've liked the look of BOD, Earls and Zebo in attack and SOB and Rory Best have been brilliant.... Fitzpatrick has done very well too which is huge plus.

I think we've played really well but we've just made too many errors at key times.....

[Notch]

Maybe the changes I would look at in the second half (not halftime, 50-60 minutes) are Cave for McFadden (Earls to the wing) and Reddan for Murray, Henry for Heaslip.

That way we get to see what some other guys can offer as we plot our ambush for the second test.

[Thomond]

Trimble isn't on the bench. Cave is, Earls is doing alright in the centre, is there a need to move him? McFadden has terrible positioning, Zebo's has been poor but he hasn't been exposed as much.

[Gibson]

Yeah. Well happy with our scrum and lineout. All the forwards really.

The backs are a mess defensively. Deccie must make changes or it will by 60 odd again.

[chewed_mintie]

To be fair, I think Ireland are playing quite well. It's just NZ have ramped up the intensity and Ireland are relying on the turnover to get themselves out of the crap.....they just need to apply the pressure and could be back in the game. What Ireland have done well is recognise SBW's offload threat and by taking him to ground, they're isolating his free arm and can turn him over quite easily

NZ, even though they've only been together a week, look like they've been prepped for 2 months!

Savea looks the goods, great to see him make the top grade in spectacular fashion.

[Galted]

how many times did SBW give the ball away in that half? seems to be lining up for the outrageous offload even before the tackler's in sight

[Gibson]

Maybe the changes I would look at in the second half (not halftime, 50-60 minutes) are Cave for McFadden (Earls to the wing) and Reddan for Murray, Henry for Heaslip.

That way we get to see what some other guys can offer as we plot our ambush for the second test.

Id go with that. Its not the RWC, so feic it.

[rodders]

BOD for me has been poor so far which is a surprise.

I think BOD has been excellent? ...bar that attempted offload that led to the try...

[ME-109]

too many basic mistakes....maybe we should have Earls and Cave in the centre...dare i say it but is this the end of BOD?

[ME-109]

Best players so far have been Best, POM, Earls...

[offload]

Ireland need a massive second half, just to get a bit of confidence for the the series.

[Rory_Gallagher]

BOD for me has been poor so far which is a surprise.

I think BOD has been excellent? ...bar that attempted offload that led to the try...

Nope I agree with Hookisms here, I really don't think BOD is playing well except for his offload to Earls..

[GunsGerms]

McFaddens defense hasnt been any worse than Zebo and Earls D. For me Earls made the worst mistake so far. Id prefer Trimble to McF though because Trimble is more of a threat in attack.

[asoreleftshoulder]

Well there are 2 real positives to take from that half,1st we have at least tried to play good attacking rugby now if Kidney embraces that game we have real hope for the future.2nd we have now got what looks like a decent backup option at TH,he needs more gametime to prove himself Fitzpatrick has stood up very well so far.

[maestegmafia]

No ball carriers in the backline and not many in the forwards is the biggest issue...

[Gibson]

People slag Darcy, but his defence, alongside BOD, is missing today. Still want him moved on. Just sayin.

[Hookisms and Hyperbole]

Sorry Rodders, i don't agree. Some of his decision making has been very very poor. Positionally poor, offloading has been below average. I'm not a doom and gloom monger here like DOD, I think he is playing in a new position and he doesn't trust Earls yet. By that I mean he hasn't played with him many times before and they don't know each others games. That will only come the more they play.

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