Ireland tour to NZ 2022
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@DaGrubster said in Ireland tour to NZ 2022:
@Machpants yeah, its quite funny that he points out that we have access to 160,000 registered players in the pacific islands! I mean wtf?
funny how he doesnt mention the foreign born, raised and professionally trained players that Ireland have taken advantage of.
anyway, the horse has well and truly bolted with globalisation in international rugby.
He does make a very good point about Ireland though. They have never been very good at rugby historically. They have been the big movers over the last 15 years in internationally and are a country that optimises its resources very well. similar to NZ in cricket.
I wish NZ could optimise its resources as well as Ireland have recently.
You're right - Thornley is well aware of the foreign-born cohort that plays in Ireland. How much it contributes or how big a cohort it is, of the overall playing pool is worth considering.
Next season, there'll be 35 foreign-born players out of a total of 183 senior squad players, plus a further 50 across the 4 provincial academies.
Those foreign-born players break out as:
11 - foreign capped - ineligible for test caps
17 - parent/grandparent qualified
7 - residency qualified by dint of old 3-year rule - 4 of them capped - Kleyn, Lowe, Gibson-Park, Aki.24 of them born in Eng, SA and Aus (8 each) with the balance from NZ, Ton, Fra, US, & Zim.
Below that there are 220 amateur clubs that throw up an occasional top player who gets recruited into the provincial set-up.The big push since 2015 IRFU decision to stop funding of foreign players, and invest instead to develop/recuit Irish players through academies is starting to pay dividends with 97 Irish players having been promoted from academy since then.
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@DaGrubster said in Ireland tour to NZ 2022:
its quite funny that he points out that we have access to 160,000 registered players in the pacific islands! I mean wtf?
Where on earth did he get that figure from and how on earth does he think NZ has access to them all?
@Derm-McCrum in this day and age do the Irish really think that we have access to all these PI players? Do they really not understand that we actually provide more players to the Islands, by a huge margin, than we take from the Islands.
That was like a Brendon Gallagher article from 5 to 10 years ago or a Walrus article (at any time I guess). What is wrong with Irish journos?
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5 things for Farrell to achieve on NZ tour. Apparently.
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@Derm-McCrum Only five? Seems a bit limiting.
I hope Ireland play awesome rugby. And lose.
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@antipodean said in Ireland tour to NZ 2022:
@Derm-McCrum Only five? Seems a bit limiting.
I hope Ireland play awesome rugby. And lose.
I agree. Then we can finally get rid of Sexton, O'Mahony, Murray, Earls, & Healy.
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@chimoaus said in Ireland tour to NZ 2022:
Out of curiosity what makes Farrell such a good coach? all his teams seem very well prepared and excellent on defence.
They say his time and experience in rugby league helped a lot in his thinking and practice as a coach. My view is that he still practises the basic mantra of Defence Wins Games. And he seems better suited than many to learn from his mistakes. This tour is a good acid test. He needs to come away with something to put on the win scorecard (an away win would be good), and find some new back-up talent at 1/3, 4/5, and 10. It's the guys around him in the coaching group that really need to shine and prove their worth - particularly Fogarty with the forwards at scrum time. O'Connell has added a lot on line out and mauls, but the set-piece is still fragile.
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@Derm-McCrum said in Ireland tour to NZ 2022:
@chimoaus said in Ireland tour to NZ 2022:
Out of curiosity what makes Farrell such a good coach? all his teams seem very well prepared and excellent on defence.
They say his time and experience in rugby league helped a lot in his thinking and practice as a coach. My view is that he still practises the basic mantra of Defence Wins Games. And he seems better suited than many to learn from his mistakes. This tour is a good acid test. He needs to come away with something to put on the win scorecard (an away win would be good), and find some new back-up talent at 1/3, 4/5, and 10. It's the guys around him in the coaching group that really need to shine and prove their worth - particularly Fogarty with the forwards at scrum time. O'Connell has added a lot on line out and mauls, but the set-piece is still fragile.
And he'd still fuck up most of the squad, so he is Judge Dredd.
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So Joe Schmidt has abandoned his guests from Ireland and has entered the coaching team. That'll give Farrell something to think about. Both know each other well.
Mack Hansen is out of selection running as he's been diagnosed with Covid. Wonder how much this is going to disrupt training and selection plans this week for the two matches. I reckon Furlong, Sheehan and Porter have been walled off from everyone.
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@Derm-McCrum Yes, it appears both teams are impacted. Some Irish players may end up playing both games this week to cover which would be a little tough.
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@chimoaus said in Ireland tour to NZ 2022:
@Derm-McCrum Yes, it appears both teams are impacted. Some Irish players may end up playing both games this week to cover which would be a little tough.
Start Wed, and then bench Sat? He's got 40 players on tour, and now 39 available. It was inevitable that some would have to do that. Possibly line up for NZ Maori might be:
Lowry, O'Brien, Hume, Frawley, Larmour, Carbery, Casey
Coombes, Prendergast, O'Mahony (Capt), Baird, McCarthy, O'Toole, Heffernan, Loughman
Reps: Herring, Healy, Bealham, Treadwell, Timoney, Murray, H Byrne, EarlsEdit: Another IRFU update says "Iain Henderson and Rob Herring both picked up knocks in training on Saturday and will be scanned today (Monday) in Auckland. Munster’s Niall Scannell has been added to the squad to provide additional cover at hooker." So that will change selection calls for Wed if Hendo and Herring are out of reckoning.
Sheesh - and neither side has played a minute yet.
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Really scraping the barrel at hooker now bringing in Niall Scannell. I wouldn't have much confidence in Heffernan either. I'd be avoiding bringing Sheehan off the bench against the Maori if at all possible, we can't risk him getting injured too.
Fingers crossed Herring and Henderson will be fit by the weekend.
We'll be extremely lucky if Hansen is the only positive covid case..
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Possibly some real concerns on loosehead stocks after last night. Loughman could/should be stood down for concussion (despite returning to play) and Healy looking like his knee has blown.
Only one true LH left. Does that mean we may go to oldies scrums at some point in the test? -
@Crucial said in Ireland tour to NZ 2022:
Possibly some real concerns on loosehead stocks after last night. Loughman could/should be stood down for concussion (despite returning to play) and Healy looking like his knee has blown.
Only one true LH left. Does that mean we may go to oldies scrums at some point in the test?Yeah not sure the rules, if they can't supply full front row cover, does that mean they go to 14 if the LH goes off?
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@Bovidae said in Ireland tour to NZ 2022:
You need to designate the props as LHs or THs before the game so can't play that card during the match.
@Bovidae said in Ireland tour to NZ 2022:
You need to designate the props as LHs or THs before the game so can't play that card during the match.
And what if you don't have 2LHs?
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@Machpants borrow one from the opposition?
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@taniwharugby said in Ireland tour to NZ 2022:
@Machpants borrow one from the opposition?
Call up some one from NPC!
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Prior to the match, each team must advise the appropriate match official of their front-row players and possible front-row replacements and which position(s) in the front row they can play. Only these players may play in the front row when the scrum is contested and only in their designated position(s).
Farrell did mention that they might have to use a TH at LH. If they then said to the ref that prop couldn't actually play LH then I expect there would be uncontested scrums and a player needs to leave the field.
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@Machpants well there is an Irish Born prop playing up here, was in the Highlanders squad in 2020, played age grade Irish rugby too...not sure his fitness is upto it though.