Irish Squad for New Zealand Tour 2012

First topic message reminder :

Just some speculation to see how the state of the squad in less than a years time near the start of the new 4 year cycle. There will certainly be 3 Tests and probably one if not two mid-week games, so a squad of 37 will probably tour given there will be no Churchill Cup to be involved in.

Here is my 37, injury permitting, feel free to disagree

Prop- Cian Healy, Paddy McCalister, Mike Ross, Jamie Hagan, John Andress

Hooker- Rory Best, Sean Cronin, Mike Sherry, Niall Annett

Lock- Paul O'Connell, Donncha O'Callaghan, Donncha Ryan, Ian Nagle, Devin Toner

Back Row- Stephen Ferris, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip, Rhys Ruddock, Dominic Ryan, Peter O'Mahoney/Willie Faloon

Scrum Half- Conor Murray, Eoin Reddan, Paul O'Donohoe

Out Half- Jonny Sexton, Ian Keatley, Ian Humphries

Centre- Fergus McFadden, Luke Marshall, Brian O'Driscoll, Nevin Spence

Back Three- Keith Earls, Tommy Bowe, Andrew Trimble, Luke Fitzgerald, Craig Gilroy, Felix Jones, Rob Kearney

Yea as far as I am concerned it doesn't work. I'd rather sacrifice another sub and have a full front row on bench.

The cynic in me thinks you could have two props and no hooker. Hookers are just front row passengers these days.

Course that could stuff the lineout, though. Forget I mentioned it, stupid idea.

Why do we need two props on the bench?

MBTGOG wrote:Why do we need two props on the bench?

I think we have a situation currently where our versatilty will help us out in every other position except if loose/tighthead gets injured. I expect Hayes, Buckley and Horan to be finished internationally and we have little outside of them. I wouldn't mind being able to get our newer front rows gametime as soon as we can. I also feel Court is a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none.

That's not Courts fault to be fair. When he gets a run at loosehead he's very good. When he gets a run at tighthead he's ok. But when he's asked to switch sides from game to game? He struggles.

If he was allowed to simply specialise at loosehead he'd be grand. He is a good loosehead on form, he'll never be more than an average tighthead. Should also be mentioned his form in the second half of this season has been iffy and he's had a few injuries/illnesses.

I expect Court to continue with Ireland after the RWC, part of the reason the Andress deal broke down was the Irish management want him to get a certain number of games at tighthead for Ulster next season. I wish they'd let him be the loosehead he is, but I understand the need to get cover at tighthead.

I suppose it will also mean Paddy Mac gets a bit more gametime.

Notch wrote:If he was allowed to simply specialise at loosehead he'd be grand.

I agree, but all props who can play either side (not just Court) will suffer while international games stick with the 22 man squad and not a 23 man one. At club level you can afford to specialise, but internationally you can't, at the moment. Court is currently caught between a rock and a hard place.

Introducing the measure at international level must be considered very carefully indeed, the impact on minnow nations must be assessed.