Quinn Roux (picture http://bit.ly/1Ot4eNn)
Round two of
the three match series, and Joe Schmidt has thrown some major surprises, making
five changes from a winning team last week. The biggest of these is the
inclusion of Quinn Roux – he was a bit player at Leinster, and has been the
same at Connacht this year, not even on the bench sometimes. He’ll be able to
call the Springboks line out calls anyway. No Mike Ross, and Stuart Olding at centre,
again a player who has not played a lot for Ulster this year but through injury
I think. The Boks meanwhile are not substantially changed, and have Morne Steyn
on the bench.
It’s a tough
job for new coach Alistair Coetzee – he needs to get the players to buy into
his style, while at the same time there’s a heavy transformation expectation on
his head, and he’s also trying to favour local players.
I think we
can win this series, but I’m not sure if we’ll do it this weekend.
In New
Zealand, I think Wales have already lost their big opportunity for a win, but
you never know.
And in
Australia, the Wallabies are right right up against it, and I can only see
pride preventing a series win for England this weekend.
Ireland: 15
Jared Payne, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Stuart Olding, 11 Craig
Gilroy, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Rhys Ruddock, 6
Iain Henderson, 5 Quinn Roux, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best, 1
Jack McGrath
Replacements:
16 Richardt Strauss, 17 David Kilcoyne, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20
Sean Reidy, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Tiernan O’Halloran
New Zealand
v Wales 8:35 AM
Australia v
England 11:00 AM
South Africa v Ireland 4:00 PM
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