6N 2016 : Super Saturday Game 2 Ireland vs Scotland Dublin 17h00 KO

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IRELAND v SCOTLAND
19 March 2016
KO: 17:00 local
Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Referee: Pascal Gauzere
Assistant Referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa) & Alexandre Ruiz (France)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

A. Head to Head

130 Played 130
59 Won 66
5 Drawn 5
66 Lost 59
1,416 Points 1,420

B. Recent Form

21 March 2015
BT Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
10 – 40 to Ireland

2 February 2014
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
28 – 6 to Ireland

24 February 2013
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
12 – 8 to Scotland

10 March 2012
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
32 – 14 to Ireland

6 August 2011
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
10 – 6 to Scotland

27 February 2011
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
18 – 21 to Ireland

20 March 2010
Croke Park, Dublin
20 – 23 to Scotland

C. Teams

IRELAND

FB 15 Simon Zebo
RW 14 Andrew Trimble
OC 13 Jared Payne
IC 12 Robbie Henshaw
LW 11 Keith Earls
FH 10 Jonathan Sexton
SH 9 Conor Murray

N8 8 Jamie Heaslip
OF 7 Tommy O'Donnell
BF 6 CJ Stander
RL 5 Devin Toner
LL 4 Donnacha Ryan
TP 3 Mike Ross
HK 2 Rory Best (c)
LP 1 Jack McGrath

Replacements:
HK 16 Richardt Strauss
PR 17 Cian Healy
PR 18 Nathan White
LK 19 Ultan Dillane
FL 20 Rhys Ruddock
SH 21 Eoin Reddan
FH 22 Ian Madigan
WG 23 Fergus McFadden

SCOTLAND

FB 15 Stuart Hogg
RW 14 Tommy Seymour
OC 13 Duncan Taylor
IC 12 Alex Dunbar
LW 11 Tim Visser
FH 10 Duncan Weir
SH 9 Greig Laidlaw (c)

N8 8 Ryan Wilson
OF 7 John Hardie
BF 6 John Barclay
RL 5 Tim Swinson
LL 4 Richie Gray
TP 3 WP Nel
HK 2 Ross Ford
LP 1 Alasdair Dickinson

Replacements:
HK 16 Stuart McInally
PR 17 Rory Sutherland
PR 18 Moray Low
FL 19 Rob Harley
FL 20 Josh Strauss
SH 21 Henry Pyrgos
CE 22 Peter Horne
WG 23 Sean Lamont

Could be a cracker guys!  

15. Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)
14. Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
13. Jared Payne (Ulster)
12. Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht)
11. Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
10. Jonathan Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster)
9. Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
1. Jack McGrath (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
2. Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) Captain
3. Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
4. Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
5. Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
6. CJ Stander (Munster)
7. Tommy O'Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster)
8. Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster) Vice Captain

Replacements
16. Richardt Strauss (Old Wesley/Leinster)
17. Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
18. Nathan White (Connacht)
19. Ultan Dillane (Corinthians/Connacht)
20. Rhys Ruddock (St Mary's College/Leinster)
21. Eoin Reddan (Old Crescent/Leinster)
22. Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster)
23. Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)


Ireland team named,

Both teams are quite even across the board, but Ireland 9/10 is streets ahead. And that will be the winning of the game in my opinion. Weir is not even close to Sexton right now. Russell is a real loss.

Oh no. No, no, no. No.

He did not just pick Weir and Wilson.

"There's always next year, Paddy."

I was going to put a wee handicap bet on (scotland with a 7pt head start) but having seen the team I'm concerned now.

I thought even if we lose we've been keeping it close, but Wilson, weir & swinson is a poor selection. Plus harley covering lock. Oh dear.

I take it neither supporters are happy with the line ups?

the-goon wrote:I take it neither supporters are happy with the line ups?

I think it's fair to say Scottish posters are a little more upset - particularly with Weir and the bench.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:"There's always next year, Paddy."

If Ian and Jonny are both dead if not we'll stick pick 'em

the-goon wrote:15. Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)
14. Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
13. Jared Payne (Ulster)
12. Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht)
11. Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
10. Jonathan Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster)
9. Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
1. Jack McGrath (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
2. Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) Captain
3. Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
4. Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
5. Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
6. CJ Stander (Munster)
7. Tommy O'Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster)
8. Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster) Vice Captain

Replacements
16. Richardt Strauss (Old Wesley/Leinster)
17. Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
18. Nathan White (Connacht)
19. Ultan Dillane (Corinthians/Connacht)
20. Rhys Ruddock (St Mary's College/Leinster)
21. Eoin Reddan (Old Crescent/Leinster)
22. Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster)
23. Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

Trash

What is Vern thinking, Wilson over strauss!!!!

For all Harley is a great player, he is not a lock. He is not big enough to be a modern lock. Toolis is in form, a big old unit and athletic with it too. If Harley comes on at lock he will be giving away about 3 & 1/2 stone compared to what we would have with Jonny Gray.

Also surprised Horne doesn't start after his showing last week. It was one of the best stand off performances I have seen for a while. Weir is a totally different style stand off to how we have tried to play so far in this championship so seems very odd.

Biggest criticism is Wilson though, average pro 12 player and below average international player.

I understand both teams fairly well and Scotland fans have most to biatch about here. Don't get me wrong - Swinson is a more experienced test lock than Toolis and if Harley and Wilson are both in the 23 then we don't need another lineout jumper.

Similarly Wilson can run his legs off for a half to let Strauss carry on with his Hulk Smash impression. That does make the enormous assumption that the game isn't gone by then.

The one that's completely inexplicable is Weir. It was Horne's aggressive attack of the line that was so effective against France and gave Hogg and the centers the space to terrify the defense. That is also the best shot we have of beating Ireland so to select a fly half who is the paradigmatic opposite of that is a bit mad, Ted.

I'm concerned!

Why?

This set up looks like were are going to be kicking for territory (a lot)

Weir is a kicking 10 and it looks like we're going with lots of line out options with Swinson in and Harley on the bench.

Issue with this? Ford can be erratic at best with his darts! And Toner is huge and will be looking to snaffle whatever he can!

If we're kicking, and we don't aim for touch, then we're going to be relying a good kick chase! The Orish are very very good at taking high balls (even the forwards) while other than Tennessee Tam, we're kinda rubbish at competing for the ball in the air!

This selection points towards playing into the Orish strengths!

I'm hoping Vern knows what he is doing, and is luring the orish into thinking this kick chase game is the way we're going to go and on match day we employ a totally different way of playing!

cakeordeath wrote:

Don Alfonso wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:Karen Gillan was born in Inverness, just like me. Nice conversation starter for our first

and last

funnyExiledScot wrote:date.

Is sneaking into someones bedroom and sniffing their hair considered a date now?

What else could a date possibly involve??

Just to summarise the teams:

Ireland are much better and playing at home.

Scotland is the only team in the 6n who would even consider playing a replacement lock who isnt a lock. And why ???? we have a v good replacement lock sitting playing on his x box or whatever ...... nuts !

Pyrgos onto the bench for this last game seems a bit random and pointless to me - given Laidlaw will only be subbed if we're well ahead or well behind, surely he'd be better served getting much needed gametime for Glasgow?

Strauss would surely be picked at 8 for Glasgow ahead of Wilson for the big games so this opposite way round for Scotland is quite odd.

RDW_Scotland wrote:You Irish are a bunch of miserable feckers - you've won the 6N 2 years in a row and have a grand slam in recent memory, and if it wasn't for so many injuries you'd probably be competing for another title this year.

Compare that with what us Scots have had to put up with - beating Italy is a good result for us!!!!

Rant over.

You don't know how right you are! But this shouldnt be a surprise to anyone who knows the Irish national character well. It was W.B.Yeats who said; 'Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.' You better believe that no matter how silver the silver linings get, we'll always find a matching cloud

Not as much whinging about the team from us today though, must be off nursing the hangovers of tomorrow.

I was contemplating starting a thread on whether BVC's genius lay in deep tactical thinking, and the commensurate ability to get players playing to his systems, or if it was his ability to coach players so that they play at levels previously beyond them.
For sure the team are now playing as a cohesive unit, displaying a patient confidence that comes from a deep belief in the systems being used. There is a sense that everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing and that they believe in what they are doing.
At the same time certain players are putting in performances which are outstanding. Literally, they stand out as exceptional in a good team performance. Chinhook is playing as well as I've ever seen him (with the notable exception of his steadfast refusal to actually hook the ball), Richie Gray gets better the longer he spends in the Scotland camp, Ryan Wilson, Duncan Taylor, John Barclay and Frodo the re-invented.
However, that thread can be sidelined as it is all obvious now. Vern Cotter is actually a lifesize Gerry Anderson puppet.
Operated by the Toonmeister.
Seen from this angle the selection for Saturday's game makes perfect sense.

Scotland by 8.

the-goon wrote:I take it neither supporters are happy with the line ups?

I'm pretty happy with the Ireland team. Only one change; O'Donnell deserves his recall after two pretty good games at the start of the tournament. No reflection on JVDF. Rest is unchanged and rightly so in my opinion.

There's no-one in that team that didn't perform well against Italy and as soon as we finally find some form why would we change the combinations? If we were going to change the combinations the time would have been either before Round 3 or Round 4. Instead we trusted that they would eventually begin to gel together and now they have, we're meant to change them? To bring in players who are 'cold' and have either not featured this tournament or played less than 80 minutes?

Don't get it at all.

I don't think anyone has really complained about the line-up apart from JmD which was a given. I did say (partly) in jest that Paddy Jackson hasn't featured at all this year and I don't think anybody would have predicted that coming into the tournament. Anyway, nobody seriously expected there to be any real changes for the last game of the 6 Nations.

I couldn't care less who plays as long as we win this game. Placing 3rd would be a spectacular result given our disappointing start. It would drastically change the mindset going into the summer tests as well and I hope we can play with a lot more confidence.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I don't think anyone has really complained about the line-up apart from JmD which was a given. I did say (partly) in jest that Paddy Jackson hasn't featured at all this year and I don't think anybody would have predicted that coming into the tournament. Anyway, nobody seriously expected there to be any real changes for the last game of the 6 Nations.

I couldn't care less who plays as long as we win this game. Placing 3rd would be a spectacular result given our disappointing start. It would drastically change the mindset going into the summer tests as well and I hope we can play with a lot more confidence.

Even he could only complain about the bench.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

cakeordeath wrote:

Don Alfonso wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:Karen Gillan was born in Inverness, just like me. Nice conversation starter for our first

and last

funnyExiledScot wrote:date.

Is sneaking into someones bedroom and sniffing their hair considered a date now?

What else could a date possibly involve??

So a young lady goes to the HR department and asks to lodge a complaint. "One of the accountants always gets in the lift with me, leans over and says my hair smells nice."
The HR manager is confused. "Sounds quite sweet, what's the problem?".
"It's Terry the dwarf".

Theres more talk about the girls than rugby lol. Shes a fine lass alright, is Miss Gillan. The Irish bird looks a bit cheap!

Notch wrote:

the-goon wrote:I take it neither supporters are happy with the line ups?

I'm pretty happy with the Ireland team. Only one change; O'Donnell deserves his recall after two pretty good games at the start of the tournament. No reflection on JVDF. Rest is unchanged and rightly so in my opinion.

There's no-one in that team that didn't perform well against Italy and as soon as we finally find some form why would we change the combinations? If we were going to change the combinations the time would have been either before Round 3 or Round 4. Instead we trusted that they would eventually begin to gel together and now they have, we're meant to change them? To bring in players who are 'cold' and have either not featured this tournament or played less than 80 minutes?

Don't get it at all.

You think we found form based on that game against Italy? Not convinced, myself. Play the same against Scotland, and I will be much happier.

A reason why some supporters aren't complaining so much about selection, for this game, is because it's a game that we need to win for world ranking. Last week was a window of opportunity to give a couple of players some much needed game time. It was a game we were never going to lose, and an opportunity lost. Those opportunities are pretty rare.

Munchkin wrote:Last week was a window of opportunity to give a couple of players some much needed game time. It was a game we were never going to lose, and an opportunity lost. Those opportunities are pretty rare.

We had 6 players on the panel last week with less than 10 caps, including a debutant (and 5 connacht players)... Seems we jumped on the opportunity to give new players much needed game time.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I don't think anyone has really complained about the line-up apart from JmD which was a given. I did say (partly) in jest that Paddy Jackson hasn't featured at all this year and I don't think anybody would have predicted that coming into the tournament. Anyway, nobody seriously expected there to be any real changes for the last game of the 6 Nations.

I couldn't care less who plays as long as we win this game. Placing 3rd would be a spectacular result given our disappointing start. It would drastically change the mindset going into the summer tests as well and I hope we can play with a lot more confidence.

Even he could only complain about the bench.

All my complaining about the starting lineup can be found in the previous 4 match threads!

nobbled wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:

cakeordeath wrote:

Don Alfonso wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:Karen Gillan was born in Inverness, just like me. Nice conversation starter for our first

and last

funnyExiledScot wrote:date.

Is sneaking into someones bedroom and sniffing their hair considered a date now?

What else could a date possibly involve??

So a young lady goes to the HR department and asks to lodge a complaint. "One of the accountants always gets in the lift with me, leans over and says my hair smells nice."
The HR manager is confused. "Sounds quite sweet, what's the problem?".
"It's Terry the dwarf".

Weir- Two Man of the match performances in a row for glasgow, Russell is out. Any Coach with any type pragmatic common sense makes the same decision. Peter Horne could still have a big impact from the bench.

Swinson- Again coming onto a game for Glasgow, Will tackle and hit rucks all day. He isnt Johnnie Gray but who is? He is obviously small for a lock nowadays but someone looked at the stats the other day and neither of the Grays took much ball at the line outs with the vast majority going to Barclay at the tail Who is a inch smaller than Swinson. Toolis needs games at this level before he can be thrown into games like these.

Wilson - Well he is Scotlands hardest man isnt he? so Ireland will no doubt be running scared from the get go.

Just a quick note. The other day I looked at D Ryan's stats. Did not appreciate he is 4kg lighter and 2 inches taller than Swinson. Starting to feel we may be okay at scrum time after all.

Hazel Sapling wrote:Just a quick note. The other day I looked at D Ryan's stats. Did not appreciate he is 4kg lighter and 2 inches taller than Swinson. Starting to feel we may be okay at scrum time after all.

I never tend to trust stats, especially not Swinsons.

Apparently he is just under 6ft 4 but 18.4st.

The height sounds about right, but there's no way in hell that he's 18.4st ffs!!! That is a stone heavier than Jamie Robert who is around the same height - there's absolutely not way.

Agree with RDW. When I read Swinson's weight stats I can only assume that he has extremely heavy feet, which would also account for his pace.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Agree with RDW. When I read Swinson's weight stats I can only assume that he has extremely heavy feet, which would also account for his pace.

Only a Luvvie would complain that a second row isn't "light on his loafers".

Prothero wrote:Weir- Two Man of the match performances in a row for glasgow, Russell is out. Any Coach with any type pragmatic common sense makes the same decision. Peter Horne could still have a big impact from the bench.

Swinson- Again coming onto a game for Glasgow, Will tackle and hit rucks all day. He isnt Johnnie Gray but who is? He is obviously small for a lock nowadays but someone looked at the stats the other day and neither of the Grays took much ball at the line outs with the vast majority going to Barclay at the tail Who is a inch smaller than Swinson. Toolis needs games at this level before he can be thrown into games like these.

Wilson - Well he is Scotlands hardest man isnt he? so Ireland will no doubt be running scared from the get go.

Don't agree about Weir at all, the pragmatic, common sense choice would be Jackson who is well suited to the type of game that we are now having some success playing, or Horne who did it with great success last week. Weir may be in decent form, but you'd need to completely ignore how he's played throughout the rest of his career to suggest he is the next best person to slot into that gameplan.

I can understand the Swinson decision, though it's not the one I would've taken. The point about Toolis' lack of experience is a fair one. However that just makes the decision to use Harley as a makeshift lock replacement all the more bizarre. This is the time Toolis should be getting gametime off the bench so that when the next 6N comes around he can be thrown into games like this if Vern so chooses.

The Wilson call is simply bizarre.

Wilson was picked for his 'fresh legs' apparently...

In Scotland we trust and in VC we believe

Enough of all your negative chat - VC has chosen the team to beat Italy - we have been in all the games so far and pushed every team

He is getting us into the position we need to be and if we keep on building the confidence through wins - I see us becoming good - then great - then world class

#GOSCOTLAND

#TOOMUCHCOFFEETODAY

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:

Prothero wrote:Weir- Two Man of the match performances in a row for glasgow, Russell is out. Any Coach with any type pragmatic common sense makes the same decision. Peter Horne could still have a big impact from the bench.

Swinson- Again coming onto a game for Glasgow, Will tackle and hit rucks all day. He isnt Johnnie Gray but who is? He is obviously small for a lock nowadays but someone looked at the stats the other day and neither of the Grays took much ball at the line outs with the vast majority going to Barclay at the tail Who is a inch smaller than Swinson. Toolis needs games at this level before he can be thrown into games like these.

Wilson - Well he is Scotlands hardest man isnt he? so Ireland will no doubt be running scared from the get go.

Don't agree about Weir at all, the pragmatic, common sense choice would be Jackson who is well suited to the type of game that we are now having some success playing, or Horne who did it with great success last week. Weir may be in decent form, but you'd need to completely ignore how he's played throughout the rest of his career to suggest he is the next best person to slot into that gameplan.

I can understand the Swinson decision, though it's not the one I would've taken. The point about Toolis' lack of experience is a fair one. However that just makes the decision to use Harley as a makeshift lock replacement all the more bizarre. This is the time Toolis should be getting gametime off the bench so that when the next 6N comes around he can be thrown into games like this if Vern so chooses.

The Wilson call is simply bizarre.

Could it be that The Lifesize Thunderbird (see? the lack of facial expression make sense now-as does the wooden, monotonous voice) has a gameplan?
Barcs-Batman-Hardie are an excellent mobile spoiling/scavenging back row. Throw in the MFL front row and Clownshoes should be awarding us a few kickable penalties. I would go with Meatball's kicking over Hornee Furra Linee's. Although in every other area I would plump for Horne.(sorry if that verb was "fatist" Dunkie)
Then in the second half we have Bluto-The Tackle Monster - Hardie playing a totally destructive smash everything that moves game while we defend our lead which will most likely be a (small) multiple of three points.

The preponderance of Glasgow players in this scenario confirms my suspicion that BVC is actually being worked by Toonie's left foot.

jimbopip wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:Agree with RDW. When I read Swinson's weight stats I can only assume that he has extremely heavy feet, which would also account for his pace.

 Only a Luvvie would complain that a second row isn't "light on his loafers".

Here, in Scotland's capital, we like our second rows to do a passable impression of Gene Kelly.

Looking at the table we have scored the second most points - which is ridiculous considering where we were a few years back.

But we've also conceded the second most points, only to Italy. Therein lies our problem! Our defence on the surface looks reasonable, but it's these defensive lapses that are costing us points, rather than losing penalties, we're losing tries.

I'd like to think this was mostly solved against France but even then... We essentially won because we were better on attack and set piece and were patient. Our defence worries me against Ireland... They're not quite as proficient at butchering opportunities like Italy and France.

Team as expected. Horne sees himself as a centre who can do a job at stand off. I personally would have picked him to start at 10 but I understand why Weir has been given the call. He's been playing well recently.

Swinson over Toolis is a bit more complicated. I think we can all agree that Toolis is probably a better player, but his last cameo for Scotland was far from successful.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

Swinson over Toolis is a bit more complicated. I think we can all agree that Toolis is probably a better player, but his last cameo for Scotland was far from successful.

I would say that he is potentially a better player, but not necessarily yet. He has yet to prove himself at the higher European level and internationally. He is maybe suffering a little bit from Edinburgh's recent form as well. He would have been in with a much better shout if they were still challenging at the top of the league.

Swinson has actually had some decent games for Scotland and is very dependable, he won't let us down and neither will Harley. Having said that I hope Toolis gets his chance on the summer tour.

I don't think it is fair to fixate on his yellow - it was a team yellow card, and it was for a rolling maul which are usually fairly subjective calls anyway!

Munchkin wrote:You think we found form based on that game against Italy? Not convinced, myself. Play the same against Scotland, and I will be much happier.

I think a lot of things showed improvement and whilst we have to keep our feet on the ground we can be guardedly optimistic. The scrum was better, albeit there was less pressure on it. There was more accuracy in the line out, with the same proviso. One thing that was a clear improvement that doesn't need to be qualified was the quality of our support play. We had been creating line breaks when we have possession but the support play was poor. That was a huge positive.

I don't think we're world beaters but I've seen worse displays and it's something to build on, not something to pat ourselves on the back about. Obviously I also want us to continue to improve too

Notch wrote:

Munchkin wrote:You think we found form based on that game against Italy? Not convinced, myself. Play the same against Scotland, and I will be much happier.

I think a lot of things showed improvement and whilst we have to keep our feet on the ground we can be guardedly optimistic. The scrum was better, albeit there was less pressure on it. There was more accuracy in the line out, with the same proviso. One thing that was a clear improvement that doesn't need to be qualified was the quality of our support play. We had been creating line breaks when we have possession but the support play was poor. That was a huge positive.

I don't think we're world beaters but I've seen worse displays and it's something to build on, not something to pat ourselves on the back about. Obviously I also want us to continue to improve too

Everyone's scrum has looked better against Italy. Dickinson was immense that game, it's the first time that I have ever seen a prop lift another prop off his feet and drive him backwards in a scrum in an international test match.

Nel vs McGrath will not be one for the faint hearted.

Very true.

I think McGrath has handled him well in the past, we're more concerned about the other side of the scrum. We just need a big shift from our second rows. I think Toners height can work against him in the scrum and it seems he's been packing down as the tight head lock. Can't remember if it was the same against Italy, I was in the top corner of the stadium so didn't really pick up on those details!

Notch wrote:Very true.

I think McGrath has handled him well in the past, we're more concerned about the other side of the scrum. We just need a big shift from our second rows. I think Toners height can work against him in the scrum and it seems he's been packing down as the tight head lock. Can't remember if it was the same against Italy, I was in the top corner of the stadium so didn't really pick up on those details!

Watching Swinson pack down opposite Toner will be akin to watching an ant trying to carry a brick.

Joking aside, does Toner's height not cause issues at scrum time??

The number 8 will surely only have one should on Toner's arse and the other not on anything given Toner is so much taller than the other lock?

RDW_Scotland wrote:Joking aside, does Toner's height not cause issues at scrum time??

The number 8 will surely only have one should on Toner's arse and the other not on anything given Toner is so much taller than the other lock?

My favourite Toner story was when Ireland went to Alton Towers pre-World Cup for team bonding, and Toner was too tall to go on any of the rides!

funnyExiledScot wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Joking aside, does Toner's height not cause issues at scrum time??

The number 8 will surely only have one should on Toner's arse and the other not on anything given Toner is so much taller than the other lock?

My favourite Toner story was when Ireland went to Alton Towers pre-World Cup for team bonding, and Toner was too tall to go on any of the rides!

Rumour has it Greig Laidlaw was turned away for similar height related issues!

Now that there are more Munster men in the team selected for Saturday than any other province does that now mean we wont have to hear as much whinging about Schmidt and the Ireland team before during and after the game?

Honest question.