The Crunch: Ireland v England Sunday 10th February 2013

First topic message reminder :

aka L'O'Choc: Irelande v Angleterre Dimanche le 10me Février 2013After going AWOL again yesterday, the French have most likely reduced the 6Ns title to a single game to determine the title.

Such a shame.

Discussion about the game - not about France going walkabout as originally intended.

Teams:

Greater Dublin Representative XXIII

15 - Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster/42)
14 - Craig Gilroy (Dungannon/Ulster/2)
13 - Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster/121)
12 - Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster/72)
11 - Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster/4)
10 - Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary's College/Leinster/35)
9 - Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster/15)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster/36)
2 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster/63)
3 - Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster/25)
4 - Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht/7)
5 - Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster/24)
6 - Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster/10)
7 - Sean O'Brien (UCD/Leinster/23)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster/53) Captain

Replacements:

16 - Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster/23)
17 - David Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster/3)
18 - Declan Fitzpatrick (Dungannon/Ulster/3)
19 - Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster/91)
20 - Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster/5)
21 - Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster/48)
22 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster/126)
23 - Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster/35)

The Perfidious Albion

15. Alex Goode (Saracens, 7 caps)
14. Chris Ashton (Saracens, 30 caps)
13. Brad Barritt (Saracens, 12 caps)
12. Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby, 1 caps)
11. Mike Brown (Harlequins, 12 caps)
10. Owen Farrell (Saracens, 13 caps)
9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 29 caps)

1. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 6 caps)
2. Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 5 caps)
3. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 36 caps)
4. Joe Launchbury (London Wasps, 5 caps)
5. Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers, 13 caps)
6. James Haskell (London Wasps, 46 caps)
7. Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt, 13 caps)
8. Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 10 caps)

Replacements
16. Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints, 43 caps)
17. David Wilson (Bath Rugby, 23 caps)
18. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 5 caps)
19. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 16 caps)
20. Thomas Waldrom (Leicester Tigers, 4 caps)
21. Danny Care (Harlequins, 38 caps)
22. Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers, 54 caps)
23. Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 17 caps)

Cari wrote:The BODaughter has arrived sooner than expected then? That's great news and what dedication the Proud Da's starting this afternoon. I hope he has an awesome game. He'll certainly have a spring in his step.

Mon Ireland!

ABE again Cari?

The wet weather tips in in England's favour. More knockons. More scrums.

Liam Toland has an interesting theory in the Irish Times

The most important thing to have in the Aviva on Sunday is a stopwatch. Count the time England’s recycle takes and if it is consistently below five seconds, Ireland will lose. If it is above five seconds, Ireland have a great chance to win.

Seems a bit simplistic.

Come on England!

Is Mooreo co-commentating.

A scrum expert will be needed for impartial advice.

Probably along with Butler I expect.

Anyone want to guess how many times GS will be mentioned?

Hood83 wrote:

EnglishReign wrote:

stub wrote:

EnglishReign wrote:But it's a shame we won't see open rugby. Both sides have shown they want to play.

Who do you think the poor conditions will affect more?

I think rain favours England's game...but would still rather see a dry pitch!

Really? Normally i'd agree with that but not sure it helps this team if it's constantly trying to move the point of attack as in the last couple of games. I reckon Ireland by about 10, but fingers crossed!

See what you're saying, I just think tactically England might have more flexibility, even if their A game is quick ball at the moment. Farrell, Goode and now 36 bring a strong kicking game also.

Just as annoying and stupid to any sane England fan, Cari, and is equally premature for Ireland too even if they win this one. There's a lot for all the teams to play for yet.

Got a horrible feeling this one could turn a bit niggly, I hope not but it's often not far beneath the surface when we play each other. Anyways, here's to a great game, open as poss and fought within the true spirit of the game.

Come on England.

Ireland have won 73% of their Six Nations matches when Brian O'Driscoll has started and only 45% of their matches without him!

C'mon England! Hoping having two fullbacks on will pay dividends....

Looks like the pitch might cup when it come to scrum time.

Still looking forward to a great game. And most important the game of the 10's Sexton more experence than Farrall in terms of caps. But still think/believe this is where the game will be won or lost.

Conditions are going to be atrocious and that pitch could be as bad if not worse than the French one yesterday. Anyway, I hope it's a good game from both sides.

Oh and Brian Moore has already had his dig at the refereeing of scrums.

Looking forward to this. Farrell V Sexton. Bod V Twelvetrees. Gonna be a battle of tactics and kicking and kick returns will be crucial.

Come on England!

To be fair, I think BOD's new bab has been mentioned more than a GS.

bad omen for Ireland. Ref is gonna ping them off the park

Farrell a lucky boy there.

Anyone else on the verge of a heart attack?

Kearney's handling has been poor so far, twice he has lost control.

Horrible start from Ireland. Not looking good for us already.

One of the things I was worried about for England was whether we would be able to carry the ball effectively without Morgan and Tuilagi, arguably our 2 best ball carriers.

Haven't seen a real half break through the gainline yet

Healy starts a scrap. Always good to see.

ooh that looked nasty. Healy lucky there.

That was outrageous! Citing for sure!

How was it not reversed?

Healy is going to get a few weeks off for that.

If Hartley had done that there would be utter hysteria on here already

I hope the English fella's ankle is all right. Looked awful in slow mo.

England is trying to be fancy inside their 22. That is not wise.

Two out of 3 line outs lost already.

That is disgusting by Healy

Golden wrote:Two out of 3 line outs lost already.

We have had more than three line-outs. We are playing awfully.

Why did Healy do it though? Seems daft.

Farrell is reverting to boofball. It's awful

WTF is the commentator talking about "you've got to expect it if you are lying on the wrong side"

Blatant stamp. I doubt he will be making the trip to Scotland.

Are the players allowing the conditions to dictate performance?

It si interesting to see that the English forwards aren't having it their way, Ireland is really putting in the numbers

Bad news for Ireland if Healy does get a ban. Stupid boy.

valjester wrote:

Golden wrote:Two out of 3 line outs lost already.

We have had more than three line-outs. We are playing awfully.

In saying that England are not throwing straight into the line-out, but Ireland are. Why do we bother allowing a competition for the ball when the ref is not bothered by it.

cakeordeath wrote:WTF is the commentator talking about "you've got to expect it if you are lying on the wrong side"

Blatant stamp. I doubt he will be making the trip to Scotland.

You do expect legitimate rucking. Not that is what Healy did.

Morgannwg wrote:Why did Healy do it though? Seems daft.

I think he wanted to improve the Irish scrum. Really crappy

Cari wrote:Bad news for Ireland if Healy does get a ban. Stupid boy.

Yeah that was a bit obvious

Is the ball like soap, or is it just bad handling?

I really hope Cole is ok after that cowardly stamp, he's getting treatment now

It does look slippery out there

Ermm abit sloppy but higj intensity.. manu on second halve could be the difference

Poor 20 minutes for Ireland. It could be critical! England are doing everything they need to do.

Ireland won the ball from an England scrum

And then we knock it on

Pitch isn't exactly looking tip top.

Holy f**k, we are proper s**t today. Stop kicking the god damn ball, especially if you're not going to even kick it well.

valjester wrote:Holy f**k, we are proper s**t today. Stop kicking the god damn ball, especially if you're not going to even kick it well.