Pack looks fine. Even our best more or less.

But that back line will lose badly.

TOL? well he is just about the 4th choice SH at the moment, his pass is the worst in the NH for an international SH adn thats when he's on form... now hes struggling for form You will see redden as the number 1 SH easily, with a tos up between strings and Boss, Boss being preferred for his physicality.

Paddy wallace. I like him, nice lad but his age has got the better of him, his hands are not what they were. he is not a real kicking option (as he is touted) and his form has been below awful.
Trimble is an 11 or 12... 14? Bowe all day everyday at 14.
Fergus at 11
Earls at 15... Kearney... Form has been awful and he does not know how to step. he looks for the first opponent in-front of him and goes straight at him looking for an offload. While Earls was a tour de force against England in the 6Nations from the Full back position. Tho i think he is a better 11 so maybe take a punt and see if Felix can handle him self at this level.

To be honest thats a really bad looking bench also.
it's a world cup we building for and this side looks like the side that were sent to Argentina back in 07.

Our lads need game time. and i absolutely guarantee that the match day 22 will look nothing like this.

We are only bringing 30 to the WC you have to remember that, so the warmups are going to be all relatively full strength sides, second france match and the England match will be full strength. no doubt.

Well I just think, no disrespect, that scotland are a weaker team in our warm up games. And its a good oportunity to get the players who are coming back to get some game time, and some match fitness. If we play our strongest 15 in every preseason game and dont try different combinations and someone gets injured, where do we go?

As the preseason progresses, and we see what everyones form is like we can pick a stronger XV. When we are playing the likes of England and France would you not like to have 30 players who have played to pick a strongest XV from?

almost forgot... "TOL and Sexton" tha partnership has been tried and failed then DK tried it again and it failed. then he did it again... and if failed.

The pass of TOL nullifies all the best attributes of Sexton, who stands very flat, attacks the gain-line, runs angles. Without really good service from the SH ala Strings and Redden he is at a disadvantage. TOL suits ROG better first because they play together and second because ROG can kick from hand better then just about any other FH in the world. So when the inevitable slow ponderous hospital pass comes from TOL ROG is better equipped to deal with it and get it away. Sexton would be smashed by the opposing centres/flankers who would be loving it.

In short. TOL is a liability

We also play connacht and thats about the only test bed for such an inexperienced back line as you have chosen. I would rather go to the WC with a few knocks to a winning team then with a team who are not at full match fitness.

We are gona need and absolutely committed and very well organised back line against the Aussies. we have to get the game time and if BOD is really injured right now, it forces some tweaks, but that back line is completely untested and would never work. despite the names being good with our the organisation and the game time together it would be a disaster. These things take time, and now is not a proving ground. now its time to get the best 30 up to speed and all playing in the rightful positions.

Scotland team that was named:

15 - Chris Paterson (Edinburgh)
14 - Nikki Walker (Ospreys)
13 - Joe Ansbro (London Irish)
12 - Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors)
11 - Sean Lamont (Scarlets)
10 - Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors)
9 - Rory Lawson (Gloucester) (capt)
1 - Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh)
2 - Ross Ford (Edinburgh)
3 - Geoff Cross (Edinburgh)
4 - Jim Hamilton (Gloucester)
5 - Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors)
6 - Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester)
7 - Ross Rennie (Edinburgh)
8 - Johnnie Beattie (Glasgow Warriors)

Replacements:

16 - Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors)
17 - Alasdair Dickinson (Sale Sharks)
18 - Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors)
19 - David Denton (Edinburgh)
20 - Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh)
21 - Nick De Luca (Edinburgh)
22 - Jack Cuthbert (Bath)

That is nigh on their best 15. And while i agree that they are not quite as good as some say, they are going to a WC same as us and historically they give it all and finish higher then us. We cant afford to field a bunch of youngsters against this experience. We will start our build up with a loss and a loss to a weaker team wont be good for moral.

would it be disrespectful to say that the scottish team is irrelevant

bold boy

Alright fair enough. Its just my opinion, and im sure wont be the team starting the world cup or even against scotland. I was just thinking of trying to get some players back playing and so forth. The idea of the thread was to see other peoples ideas for teams. In fairness to you you know what you're talking about and have changed my opinions on some things, so would you care to venture an alternative team, (the original reason for me posting this thread) of your own?

im happy with ur pack.

9 - 15 difficult because of the injuries but we need some experience in there so ROG, Geordan Murphy and Bowe.


9.Redden
10.ROG
11.Fitzgerald
12.Trimble
13.Bowe interchangeable with 14 and tommy gets about. but want to see him at 13 because he does a great job at 13 for the hairspray's
14.Fergus
15.Earls/J Murphy

back later to discuss

At 15, that Geordan Murphy, and not Johnny Murphy?? Ya, I agree with him actually. Would like to see him get a game, and would bring some experience.

Whats your opinion on Kearney?

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personally i dont even know whos been named in any squad but i would go with this team and not have TOL anywhere near the team and give a few fringe lads a chance to show what they can do.

1.healy
2.cronin
3.ross
4.cullen
5.o'connell
6.ferris
7.ryan
8.o'brien

9.boss
11.trimble
10.sexton
12.mcfadden
13.earls
14.fitzgerald
15.jones

honestly i just went for this because its gives fringe players and some lads who havent played as much during the season a chance to show what they can do because realistcly every position is sewn up apart from
fullback
scrum half
one wing position
so let a few lads show what they can do and mix and match throughout the match.

ok didnt see ferris was ijured id replace him with dominic ryan so you have both ryans on the flanks

sea-the-stars

All for trying youngsters mate. But without some experience to balance youth and enthusiasm they would get hammered. Giving the fringe players a chance can and will only happen bit by bit but their will always be a bunch of old heads around to steady the ship. Otherwise the whole structure of the team would be completely changed and unbalanced.

I personally think that team is very experienced the pack is very experienced minus Cronin and the two Ryans in the back line you have Fitzy,Trimble,Sexton,Earls and Boss thats fairly experienced three of them won the heiniken cup this year its not like McFadden and Jones havent played in big matches and done well.

Ireland team to play Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday 5 August at 2.15pm:

15. Rob Kearney
14. Andrew Trimble
13. Fergus McFadden
12. Paddy Wallace
11. Luke Fitzgerald
10. Jonathan Sexton
9. Tomás O'Leary
1. Tom Court
2. Sean Cronin
3. Tony Buckley
4. Donnacha Ryan
5. Leo Cullen (captain)
6. Mike McCarthy
7. Niall Ronan
8. Denis Leamy

Replacements:

16. Jerry Flannery
17. Marcus Horan
18. John Hayes
19. Mick O'Driscoll
20. Kevin McLaughlin
21. Isaac Boss
22. Felix Jones

jesus Irish - you and monsier Kidney have some different forwards philosophies then

Good Team though? You printed it but gave no opinion?

Its the team that was announced on rte.ie

Happy to see Mike Mc get a chance, and Sean Cronin aswell. Its a decent team, but I think the front row could struggle. To be honest I'm not sure how Scotland are in the scrum with the team picked, but I know Mushy isnt the best scrummager. Good to see Dennis Leamy back aswell.

Dissapointed Geordan isnt in the squad though, and itll be interesting to see how Paddy and Fergus do in the centre!

I was expecting DK to experiment but this... WOW this is basically a BS team.

I'm far from impressed with this. In fact im bloody angry.

This is a massive cop-out and now i understand why Leamy was spouting a load of nonsense yesterday about not making the same mistakes as the last WC. Ur light Denis. Instead of those mistakes we have decided to invent a whole new list. I shall call it...
"Lets field all the journeymen and hope no one notices"
Meanwhile we will wrap drico and company in cotton wool and go into the WC totally undercooked.

Calm down mate! Its only the first game. I have faith in DK. Lets just see how it goes. Plenty of game time before the 11th and I'm sure he wants everyone to get some game time!

ye leeds, gota live with it i guess. but it is a cop-out.

really hope that we see some balls in the selections for the french and english games.

anyway, as for the scots in the scrum. We are gona get creamed.

Delighted to see Donnacha Ryan and Leo Cullen

Our back row is a worry and is desperately inexperienced at international level and facing these 3 they are in trouble.
6 - Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester)
7 - Ross Rennie (Edinburgh)
8 - Johnnie Beattie (Glasgow Warriors)

TOL was always gona get a chance to prove himself, and if he fails DK will give him more chances. Because DK likes him. Wonderful eh... on a serious note... if he could just sharpen up his pass all other aspects of his game are very good. But the primary function of a SH is to pass the ball rapidly and accurately and every time. and he does not do any of these things.

Our wings and our centres i think should have the measure of the scots.

I worry for Kearney at the back.
Patterson will punish him with up and unders and while we know he has been a supremo at taking up and unders i the past... well he has had very little game time... so fingers crossed for him.
But deserves is chance to prove himself.

Bench: Contains 0 impact. With the possible exception of Felix Jones. Hope he gets a decent run, and hope he does well. Been playing well for munster toward the end of the season.

Im gonna stick my neck out and surprise everyone with a prediction - based on the Ireland side - and the tight games that murrayfielkd has produced between these teams over the last few years - Im gonna plump for Scotland by 3 points - that said I wish you luck

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