6 Nations - IRELAND v ENGLAND 2nd Feb 2019

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6 Nations

IRELAND v ENGLAND

Saturday 02 February 2019 16:45 GMT

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Maybe a little early but I for one can not wait for this fixture. 2nd vs 4th.

The 6 Nations is officially the BEST rugby competition........................In the World.

England starting XV (485 caps)

15 Elliot Daly (Wasps, 25 caps), 14 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 40 caps), 13 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 17 caps), 12 Manu Tuiagi (Leicester Tigers, 27 caps), 11 Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 29 caps), 10 Owen Farrell (Saracens, 65 caps), 9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 80 caps); 1 Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 51 caps), 2 Jamie George (Saracens, 32 caps), 3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 17 caps), 4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, 26 caps), 5 George Kruis (Saracens, 27 caps), 6 Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons, 8 caps), 7 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 5 caps), 8 Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 36 caps).

Finishers (206 caps)

16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 7 caps), 17 Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 5 caps), 18 Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs, 15 caps), 19 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 68 caps), 20 Nathan Hughes (Wasps, 18 caps), 21 Dan Robson (Wasps, uncapped), 22 George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 51 caps), 23 Chris Ashton (Sale Sharks, 42 caps).

rodders wrote:Still no team announcement... what do we make of this delay folks, some key injury concerns or a clash between Schmidt and Farrell on selection??

Farrell wants to bring in some Rugby League players at short notice to unbalance and disrupt the team.

Bust up over, team is announced.

Carty gets in ahead of Byrne, Dillane is recalled and Blade gets a chance due to injuries.

Leavy misses out which confirms my feeling the if O'Brien is fit only one of him and VDF make the RWC squad and probably a shoot out between Murphy and Ruddock for one spot too.

Other than that no real surprises.

Carty ahead of Byrne is a bit of a leftfield one no? I know he is good but...

I assume it is because Blade and Carty come as a package.

I was thinking that may have come into it. Seems a bit harsh on Byrne but maybe they are looking at other options.

What's your thoughts on Byrne? He's done ok in some big games for Leinster but he does seem a bit weak in defense at times.

I see Leavy is injured so maybe will come in midway. Ruddock and VDF in super form though.

I like Byrne, fairly solid player. Cant imagine he will ever hit Sexton or David Humphreys levels.

The England squad has been announced. No Hartley v Ireland nor Care. Robson comes in for Care. Looks a nifty player to me.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/46904505

No LCD whats Eddie problem with him ,form hooker in the premier

Cowan Dickie was in the squad I saw. Is that who you are talking about?

LCD and George are both there...

Who are the open-sides though?

mikey_dragon wrote:Who are the open-sides though?

Curry, Wilson and Clifford have all played there. None of them is quite a classic 7, all of them have different attributes, but it's nice to have a choice for once. My preference would be Wilson, Clifford, Vunipola, but I wouldbn't be surprised to see Eddie go for Shields, Curry, Vunipola with Wilson on the bench.

Personaly I could see Shields, Wilson, Vunipola starting. Two hard working 6.5s and an all action 8 was his preferred choice before and worked.

Also Eddie mentions Robshaw could be back for France so he is on the horizon.

I'm making an early call, but the lack of a quality 7 (Underhill) who's proven at test level will be a key factor in Ireland winning this game.

England looking good though. Solidity throughout. Still think there are a few really messy positional/personnel/tactical issues - namely full-back, where to play Daly, who/how to play if/when Tuilagi and Billy are injured. And the obvious one: captaincy and how they're phasing out Hartley for Farrell (great lieutenant, not captain material in my opinion).

I don't like England's set-up at 10-12, but I don't think it'll actually cost them that much in terms of results. It's too late now to start changing too much. Likewise, in all the other positions, the lack of certainty means competition rather than instability as a number of players have stepped up well, and that should work in a RWC where depth is important. You want to have players who are comfortable playing with 2 or 3 different 'partners' either side of them, wherever they play. I think England have that in most positions now.

I just don't think England can bludgeon Ireland with two 6.5s and an 8 for 80 minutes in Dublin. Or getting a great start, a healthy lead, and holding out for x number of minutes through tactical kicking.

That's what England will be hoping will happen - and Ireland will have to be on their top game to win this - but I can't see it. I can't see Ireland getting this one wrong. If they're to lose this 6Ns, I can see it being the week after against Scotland, or even Wales.

So wrong. Have you watched Ireland or England play in the last five years? I despair for this forum (miaow is fairly new).

Cyril wrote:So wrong. Have you watched Ireland or England play in the last five years? I despair for this forum (miaow is fairly new).

In the last five years England have not won once in Dublin. Is that what you mean?

I expect England to be a lot better than in last years 6 nations but Ireland will still be favorites for this game and rightly so.

More style he's on about isn't it? Should be a good showdown between the 2 packs. Looking forward to sinckler and vunipola starting together with George. We then have genge and LCD to come. It is still a relatively fresh faced group and while they are all good in the scrum (bar vunipola though he is under rated by many) it will be in the loose where they'll make dents. All very good carriers. Slight concern over lineout especially LCD. It's why I think shields will start but for the same reason Jones may be tempted to have Kruis or lawes start to streng then us there. When we have struggled vs Ireland the lineout and bloody POM have been our downfall to a large extent!

Yeah well as usual he doesn't say much other than disagree and have a bit of a strop.

I can see the reasons for your response given his posts on Ireland!
What's your likely back row collapse.

No 7&1/2 wrote:I can see the reasons for your response given his posts on Ireland!
What's your likely back row collapse.

Assuming all fit I would guess POM VDF and stander

Well I think Schmidt would pick POM, VdF and Stander which is probably about right. If SOB impresses in training that maybe he will come in at 7. For me Leavy is Ireland's best 7 but VdF and SOB are very strong too and Leavy is as usual injured.

Thats what I feared in terms of blindside carpet!

As collapse says, the last time England won in Ireland was 2013. Anyone happen to know if an English Premiership side has managed a win against Munster or Leinster in Ireland since that date?

Nothing springs to mind. In relation to internationals it's only 2 games though and it's always been reasonably close bar last year where they were in control for the vast majority.

Honestly I fancy Ireland to win this by 20+ points. Not sure what the English optimism is based on?

Ireland have a better pack, assuming Sexton is fit much better half backs and I'd be inclined to say our outside backs have the edge too. Our bench is stronger and we have more experience. That is all without home advantage.

Always the joker.

Rugby Fan wrote:As collapse says, the last time England won in Ireland was 2013. Anyone happen to know if an English Premiership side has managed a win against Munster or Leinster in Ireland since that date?

Yeah Bath hammered Leinster in Bath fairly recently and won again in Dublin is a close enough game.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/32173644

Actually Im confusing Bath for Wasps. Wasps beat Leinster in Dublin and hammered them in England.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Always the joker.

The only joker is Eddie Jones saying this is the strongest squad he's picked... George Ford wouldn't even be a water boy for the other home nations.

Lol.

Well maybe the Welsh would take him...

rodders wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Always the joker.

The only joker is Eddie Jones saying this is the strongest squad he's picked... George Ford wouldn't even be a water boy for the other home nations.

Still tackles better than Sexton and seems to remain whole despite his diminutive size

As much as I'm loving rodders confidence I think we won't win by 20+ it will be between 14-20.
And little Ford is a quality 10, he just has to do what faz tells him on England duty, which limits him a bit.

He's unlikely to start anyway.

No 7&1/2 wrote:He's unlikely to start anyway.

You think faz will continue at 10 with fire on bench?

carpet baboon wrote:As much as I'm loving  rodders confidence I think we won't win by 20+ it will be between 14-20.
And little Ford is a quality 10, he just has to do what faz tells him on England duty, which limits him a bit.

I think it will probably be closer game. Maybe Ireland by 6 or 7.

carpet baboon wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:He's unlikely to start anyway.

You think faz will continue at 10 with fire on bench?

It looks that way with guys like Tuilagi coming back it could be Te'o and Tuilagi in the midfield with Farrell at 10.

It would be funny if he tries one of those brain dead tackles against Ireland and gets a yellow or red.

I think so carpet.assuming that's an autocorrect. I've said though its hard to name Jones team as we have so many options.

Doubt it'll be Te'o and Tuilagi together. Lacks balance.

Collapse2005 wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:He's unlikely to start anyway.

You think faz will continue at 10 with fire on bench?

It looks that way with guys like Tuilagi coming back it could be Te'o and Tuilagi in the midfield with Farrell at 10.

It would be funny if he tries one of those brain dead tackles against Ireland and gets a yellow or red.

I imagine Ireland will be testing his tackling technique at the earliest opportunity.

Collapse2005 wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:As much as I'm loving  rodders confidence I think we won't win by 20+ it will be between 14-20.
And little Ford is a quality 10, he just has to do what faz tells him on England duty, which limits him a bit.

I think it will probably be closer game. Maybe Ireland by 6 or 7.

The old good cop/bad cop routine lads, good shout.

rodders wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:As much as I'm loving  rodders confidence I think we won't win by 20+ it will be between 14-20.
And little Ford is a quality 10, he just has to do what faz tells him on England duty, which limits him a bit.

I think it will probably be closer game. Maybe Ireland by 6 or 7.

The old good cop/bad cop routine lads, good shout.

Haha.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:He's unlikely to start anyway.

You think faz will continue at 10 with fire on bench?

It looks that way with guys like Tuilagi coming back it could be Te'o and Tuilagi in the midfield with Farrell at 10.

It would be funny if he tries one of those brain dead tackles against Ireland and gets a yellow or red.

I imagine Ireland will be testing his tackling technique at the earliest opportunity.

Doubt it will be Sexton that is doing it, too likely to break.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:He's unlikely to start anyway.

You think faz will continue at 10 with fire on bench?

It looks that way with guys like Tuilagi coming back it could be Te'o and Tuilagi in the midfield with Farrell at 10.

It would be funny if he tries one of those brain dead tackles against Ireland and gets a yellow or red.

I imagine Ireland will be testing his tackling technique at the earliest opportunity.

They'll have to get him out of Gary Ringrose pocket first.

I like this. 2 weeks out and the sly digs are starting.
Can't wait till it's full blown questioning parentage, and predictions of total annihilation.

rodders wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:He's unlikely to start anyway.

You think faz will continue at 10 with fire on bench?

It looks that way with guys like Tuilagi coming back it could be Te'o and Tuilagi in the midfield with Farrell at 10.

It would be funny if he tries one of those brain dead tackles against Ireland and gets a yellow or red.

I imagine Ireland will be testing his tackling technique at the earliest opportunity.

They'll have to get him out of Gary Ringrose pocket first.

Rodders, you are mixing up your "f"s. Only little Georgie is small enough to hit in a pocket. Farrell would have his head hanging out and would bite off Ringrose's nuts.

That kind of thing wouldn't even be a penalty at HQ.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote: Farrell would have his head hanging out and would bite off Ringrose's nuts.

Well I suppose with Hartley out someone has to ...

What more can be said!

Oh yes, I do seem to remember the Irish are rather fond of Harley's eyes, they must be green or something.

Trouble is they could only reach as far as his mouth.

Well, that didn't take long to degrade from analysis to banter, but at least it's fairly good natured so far.

For what it's worth, I think this is one of the strongest squads that Eddie has been able to assemble. England with the Vunipolas and Tuilagi available to them are quite a different prospect from last year.

Form and home advantage would still favour Ireland to win - but I think it will be a closer fought game than most people seem to expect.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:What more can be said!

Oh yes, I do seem to remember the Irish are rather fond of Harley's eyes, they must be green or something.

Trouble is they could only reach as far as his mouth.

They do like their fishing..

Only in England could you get bitten by a serial offender and its called fish hooking. Couldnt make it up.