Emerging Ireland

First topic message reminder :

Just wondering who is even available for this.
Selection could be last men standing.

For Ulster the only players not rested, with Ireland, not eligable, or leaving who are full professionals and are available are:

Black, Lutton, Marshall P, Heaney, Allen, Gilroy, Andrew

I would add academy players - Warwick, Scholes and McCloskey for consideration
McComb and McCormish are full professionals but should be nowhere near the squad

Other than Black, Lutton, Marshall P, Allen and Gilroy I see no one else, at Ulster, who should be on the plane.

I assume other provinces have more to offer.

Need to catch up with these games.

However is there a danger that we are underestimating our players based on the opposition?

That once again we are picking much more potent attacking players in our second string that in the senior side where the selection is much more conservative and based on experience.

When is the final game?

The answer is right now... 3-3, 15 minutes played. Now at last here is a decent test.

Romania 10-31 Emerging Ireland

A much more challenging game, a scrappy game with indiscipline and foul play on both sides at times, Romania dominated large portions of the second half and were hammering away on the Ireland line, denied by means fair and foul. Their rolling maul eventually forced the consolation of a penalty try. But then we finished the game on the attack, and a Romanian shoulder charge in the corner led to a penalty try in very similar circumstances to the one Wales conceded yesterday. There was a lot of shoulder charges from the Romanians.

The players themselves will I'm sure have been happier that they actually had a game given to them. I guess they were primed to hit something more physical finally and it's a brownie point of sorts that they weren't caught cold and whipped...because being caught cold in that competition would have been perfectly understandable in theoretical terms!!!

Maybe from here on in there might be a more advantageous Ireland v Emerging Ireland game like the Welsh did before their trip to SA. It might help the Emerging Ireland crew feel a little more important in a summer tour period and it might prove a useful and more competitive tool to analyse individual players on.

What was our team?

Hearing report McCloskey played an excellent game - that is really encouraging

Part of the reason they were there was to help prepare those sides for the world cup next year. The opposition were not the best but they at least made their quality count and did something Irish teams don't do - be ruthless. That's what competition for places can do.

A probables vs possible would be much more of value from an Ireland point of view but the IRFU might also be looking at world cup votes down the line.

Hadn't thought about the RWC votes angle, would be some good forward thinking by the IRFU there.