England vs Ireland, Part 2

First topic message reminder :

For continuing discussion of Ireland vs England in Round 3 of the Six Nations

Previous thread; https://www.606v2.com/t51752-england-vs-ireland

Ireland have released various players to the provinces; starting for Ulster against the Scarlets on Friday are Paddy Jackson, Luke Marshall, Darren Cave and Iain Henderson. Leinster have named Jack McGrath, Sean Cronin, Martin Moore, Mike McCarthy, Rhys Ruddock, Jordi Murphy, Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan and Fergus McFadden in their team to face Newport-Gwent Dragons. Tommy O'Donnell and Felix Jones will feature for Munster.

There's a lot of competition, mainly for the spots on the bench and possible starts later in the tournament. Can Madigan oust Paddy Jackson? Can Jordi Murphy or Rhys Ruddock force their way in ahead of Tommy O'Donnell? Can McFadden or Simon Zebo force their way into the back three? Who will replace the injured Dan Tuohy; Iain Henderson, Mike McCarthy or Donnacha Ryan? The latter is back from injury and likely to play some part for Munster.

Dan Tuohy has been ruled out of the tournament while Keith Earls, Luke Fitzgerald and Tommy Bowe are still injured and everyone is praying Johnny Sexton doesn't pick up a knock; he's expected to be riding the pine for Racing Metro.

Any English posters want to update us on their squad?

lostinwales wrote:I think its just funny that if England were playing the Ireland way they would be accused of being boring

If England were playing like the all blacks they'd still be boring.   

line outs v scotland last game

scotland won 7 lost 5

england won 22 lost 2!

that is right up there..

It's all to come..whatever it may be; and not a whole lot of stats so far is going to save us from a beating if that's what's a coming.

Schmidt himself knows what he thinks of England.  As he said, France were lucky to get away with it (we all know that) - and Scotland were slaughtered on a dreadful field. And whilst France might keep improving to the time they finally meet us on the last day, for now Schmidt believes this one game against England is the toughest assignment this season.

I can't go that far until the game is over!!!... but they've certainly played the most complete game so far and have played it with punishing pace, even in the muck. Ireland have a job to do.

Dont go overboard mate..

Be positive. We are the underdogs

AHA! I knew I'd regain balance with that one. I'm as sly as Schmidt

mystiroakey wrote:

GunsGerms wrote:England are in 4th in lineouts won in this championship so far. Ireland are first. Line outs will be tough for Engerland. Ireland are also ahead of England in rucks won stats and superior in the number lost.

yes but looking at the last game only.... Hartleys form in the line out was a masterclass

As was Bests

I think Hartley's dad is bigger than Best's though "in all fairness".....

SecretFly wrote:I think Hartley's dad is bigger than Best's though "in all fairness".....

Yes but Bests mum makes a better breakfast

SecretFly wrote:It's all to come..whatever it may be; and not a whole lot of stats so far is going to save us from a beating if that's what's a coming.

Schmidt himself knows what he thinks of England.  As he said, France were lucky to get away with it (we all know that) - and Scotland were slaughtered on a dreadful field.  And whilst France might keep improving to the time they finally meet us on the last day, for now Schmidt believes this one game against England is the toughest assignment this season.

I can't go that far until the game is over!!!... but they've certainly played the most complete game so far and have played it with punishing pace, even in the muck.  Ireland have a job to do.

Oooh that old trick fly. Not having that. Ireland hammered Wales who hammered England last time out. Ireland clear favourites, England will do well scrape this one, very well.

Hartley's mum starves him before a match.. makes him hungry for a nibble.

Why wouldn't she! An Ulster Fry-up with Cake! That woman doesn't skimp on cake!

Question - If Wales beat France and Ireland win at Twickenham is the title race as a good as over for 2014?

I'm going to be bold and say yes.

gregortree wrote:Hartley's mum starves him before a match.. makes him hungry for a nibble.

Let me guess - his favourite snack is fish fingers?

rodders wrote:Question - If Wales beat France and Ireland win at Twickenham is the title race as a good as over for 2014?

I'm going to be bold and say yes.

Depends on how much Wales beat France by...and then by how much they (France) beat us

I'll take that as a glass half empty affirmative

SecretFly wrote:

gregortree wrote:Hartley's mum starves him before a match.. makes him hungry for a nibble.

Let me guess - his favourite snack is fish fingers?

He likes that, but his favourite is Dungannon finger on the bone.

rodders wrote:I'll take that as a glass half empty affirmative  

I admit my glass is half empty...at least for as long as I need to stamp down the over-enthusiasm of my countrymen!  I don't like big talking - even being from Leinster (-Don't-You-Just-Love-Their-Style!!!) that's a no-no with me  

Probably too early to talk about the slam then,

We are like a couple of pumped up wrestlers but circling warily. This thread will reach Part 3 before the actual engagement kicks off.

rodders wrote:Probably too early to talk about the slam then,

Oh no...you're free to talk about the Slam.  France do look dead on target for it, you're right there,I agree with you.  Building a head of steam nicely, the buggers.

Allez les vert!

gregortree wrote:We are like a couple of pumped up wrestlers but circling warily. This thread will reach Part 3 before the actual engagement kicks off.

We're either the wrestlers or the old ladies that used to sit with handbags at the ready for some ass slapping action if an unfortunate wrestler was thrown out of the ring.  

Oh them Dickie Davis days of Super Professional Sport!  Mucky football played with no ball because nobody could find it, and then onto lecherous old ladies looking at Wrestler's tackle...I mean tackling each other.  Only on family friendly ITV could you get such stuff.

Here's hoping for plenty of ass slapping action on Saturday any ways.

Showers are out of bounds to broadcasters, I'm afraid.  But things are looking up as BT wants to introduce it as a bonus extra in their premium rate package.

rodders wrote:Probably too early to talk about the slam then,

off course not. That's your target and you are on track...

Win and Ireland get a triple crown. That's enough motivation for anyone.

SecretFly wrote:Showers are out of bounds to broadcasters, I'm afraid.  But things are looking up as BT wants to introduce it as a bonus extra in their premium rate package.

That would mean theres a non premium rate package. Sounds even better than sky already!   

nathan wrote:

SecretFly wrote:Showers are out of bounds to broadcasters, I'm afraid.  But things are looking up as BT wants to introduce it as a bonus extra in their premium rate package.

That would mean theres a non premium rate package. Sounds even better than sky already!   

There's already an "Everything is Free" package so, yep, it's well ahead in terms of choice.

Anyway that's the future.... this weekend is the present. What about a draw? And Wales beating France?

Uh oH............................ Wales strutting like a peacock again. That ain't good for business! We can't be havin' Wales back doing the Ali shuffle.

lostinwales wrote:I think its just funny that if England were playing the Ireland way they would be accused of being boring

I said it on the last thread and i'll say it again here in the spirit of getting some spice back into this contest: BORING IRELAND. No doubt there'll be a lot of knickers twisted over the fact I have underestimated Schmidt's genius. Gentleman I get it!

SecretFly wrote:Anyway that's the future.... this weekend is the present.  What about a draw?  And Wales beating France?

Uh oH............................ Wales strutting like a peacock again.  That ain't good for business!  We can't be havin' Wales back doing the Ali shuffle.

Wales can't beat France that would be extremely tiresome. If they do i'll be a masochist and watch Scrum V afterwards!

Most people know how 28 Weeks Later starts, with that bad man Robert Carlyle being chased down by a mad bunch of vegetarian haters as he tries to make it for the river.

That'll be England in the first 30 or so minutes.  They'll be chasing us down with a frenzy that'll lift the roof off Twickenham................. oh, I'm thinking of another place

Anyway, it will be a full blown assault.  Tanks, cannon balls, snipers and special forces undercover rushes for our line.

We'll be out of breath almost instantly.  Ross will be puffing hard, Johnny will be moaning at his backline, POM will be stunned into silence and he'll be telling the ref how exactly that feels. But then second wind will hit our guys - our new second half freshness experiment.  "We're still in this one and they've thrown everything at us.  Let's try to Bore them off the field from here on in."  And we will  

SecretFly wrote: Let's try to Bore them off the field from here on in."  And we will  

Aaah, you will have your men watch Lancaster's interviews with the media and adapt to game conditions?  Ingenious.

SecretFly wrote:Most people know how 28 Weeks Later starts, with that bad man Robert Carlyle being chased down by a mad bunch of vegetarian haters as he tries to make it for the river.

That'll be England in the first 30 or so minutes.  They'll be chasing us down with a frenzy that'll lift the roof off Twickenham................. oh, I'm thinking of another place

Anyway, it will be a full blown assault.  Tanks, cannon balls, snipers and special forces undercover rushes for our line.

We'll be out of breath almost instantly.  Ross will be puffing hard, Johnny will be moaning at his backline, POM will be stunned into silence and he'll be telling the ref how exactly that feels.  But then second wind will hit our guys - our new second half freshness experiment.  "We're still in this one and they've thrown everything at us.  Let's try to Bore them off the field from here on in."  And we will  

Ah but, Fly, you're working off the assumption that Mike Ross isn't a sly hoor himself. Those opening 30 minutes and his whole career before it has been the best laid plan of a man who's tricked us all into thinking he's only good for holding up a scrum.

He'll fluck the switch when least expected and then BOOM. He'll throw a dummy pass, side step 7 and out sprint Jonny May over 60 yards to the line. I saw it in a dream so I did.

I have it on good authority that the Irish will be unveiling a revolutionary tactic on Saturday.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/rugby/whats-happening-to-paul-oconnell-623169.html

The English won't know what's lifting them.

We've got ball carriers and then we have the carriers of the ball carriers. England won't know whats hit 'em!

Why is everyone being so nice? And why is this clown from Yorkshire making the English players pretend that they're humble and "likeable"? I've been waiting for some arrogant chest thumping from across the water for nearly two weeks. Give us something to get angry about England.

Eleven years ago Johnson insulted our President and then flogged us off the pitch. Ten years ago O'Driscoll said he wanted to make the English crowd choke on their prawn sandwiches and he did. I miss that.

Are the Irish trying to save money on weights or something..

there are better ways of running whilst lifting weight..

Jesus they could damage there players doing that.

seems abit odd to me.

all they need is them strong man shoulder lift things

I don't like the way the secret training sessions were photgraphed by the bloody ten year old autograph hunter.

Tighten security folks!! You know the ABs will have their spies around.

It's all a bit of craic mysti. Sure a 120kg metal weight wouldn't be able to break it's own fall if ya tripped. A 120kg Devin Toner can prop ya up like a tripod with his *ahem* arm.

Yeah I suppose boss. A bit of a craic morale type thing..

mystiroakey wrote:Are the Irish trying to save money on weights or something..

there are better ways of running whilst lifting weight..

Jesus they could damage there players doing that.

seems abit odd to me.

all they need is them strong man shoulder lift things

It's psychological imprinting.  It's exercise but it's also a statement about:.... well, you might say it something like this - "The road is long with many a winding turn, that leads us to who knows where, who knows where.  But I'm strong, strong enough to carry him.  He ain't heavy, He's my brother....."

Sick bags are provided at the end of the training/bonding session.

Love your surreal take on stuff SF..

SecretFly wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Are the Irish trying to save money on weights or something..

there are better ways of running whilst lifting weight..

Jesus they could damage there players doing that.

seems abit odd to me.

all they need is them strong man shoulder lift things

It's psychological imprinting.  It's exercise but it's also a statement about:.... well, you might say it something like this - "The road is long with many a winding turn, that leads us to who knows where, who knows where.  But I'm strong, strong enough to carry him.  He ain't heavy, He's my brother....."

Sick bags are provided at the end of the training/bonding session.

All I learned here is you are old.
Not half bad taste in music, mind.

Feckless Rogue wrote:Why is everyone being so nice? And why is this clown from Yorkshire making the English players pretend that they're humble and "likeable"? I've been waiting for some arrogant chest thumping from across the water for nearly two weeks. Give us something to get angry about England.

Eleven years ago Johnson insulted our President and then flogged us off the pitch. Ten years ago O'Driscoll said he wanted to make the English crowd choke on their prawn sandwiches and he did. I miss that.

In the England v Ireland game in Twickers in 2004 England had just won the world cup. Eddie O'Sullivan suggested to the team in the dressing room that they clap the England team onto the pitch to pay respect to their opponents WC win. However, Kevin Maggs (an Englishman with an Irish grandfather) immediately piped up and said no f'ing way would I ever do that lets beat them instead. Ireland won that game. According to Eddie Butler it was one of the greatest upsets in 6/5 nations history. Slight exaggeration.

Moral of the story, never show your opponent too much respect if you want to win.

I had €10 on Ireland to win which returned about €70/€80.

Ah 2004....

"Hopefully, we can give the prawn sandwich brigade something to choke on."

- Brian O'Driscoll

The players need to do their part to stoke the fires.  Did anyone see Stephen Jones' recent article? Brilliant piece of satire.

It was the usual Stephen Jones stuff.

GunsGerms wrote:

Feckless Rogue wrote:Why is everyone being so nice? And why is this clown from Yorkshire making the English players pretend that they're humble and "likeable"? I've been waiting for some arrogant chest thumping from across the water for nearly two weeks. Give us something to get angry about England.

Eleven years ago Johnson insulted our President and then flogged us off the pitch. Ten years ago O'Driscoll said he wanted to make the English crowd choke on their prawn sandwiches and he did. I miss that.

In the England v Ireland game in Twickers in 2004 England had just won the world cup. Eddie O'Sullivan suggested to the team in the dressing room that they clap the England team onto the pitch to pay respect to their opponents WC win. However, Kevin Maggs (an Englishman with an Irish grandfather) immediately piped up and said no f'ing way would I ever do that lets beat them instead. Ireland won that game. According to Eddie Butler it was one of the greatest upsets in 6/5 nations history. Slight exaggeration.

Moral of the story, never show your opponent too much respect if you want to win.

I had €10 on Ireland to win which returned about  €70/€80.

only a tenner...cheapskate

Not a betting person. Mugs game.

What did Stephen Jones say?