Wolfhounds forget how to bite

 

 Felix Jones (picture http://bit.ly/1HEqAHj)

It was a fairly toothless performance from the Wolfhounds in a dismal match this weekend. There were drops, knock-ons, turnovers at lineouts, turnovers at scrums, and somewhere in amongst all that mess, a little rugby was played too. And most of that was played by the Saxons, who once they got into the game, always looked threatening with ball in hand. Ireland didn’t seem to be able to finish anything they started, and the backline in particular engaged in endless intricate passing moves, that went absolutely nowhere.

It wasn’t all bad however, Felix Jones was really solid at the back, I thought Henderson played well, and Strauss is getting better and better. Good start too for Sean O’Brien who will only get sharper each game. Madigan struggled a bit, but he must surely feel sometimes like would you all ever feckin’ make your mind up where you want me to play? We didn’t really learn much from the match, bring on the real deal next weekend!

Wolfhounds  9 - 18 England Saxons

I'm sorry my Wolfhound bit your Saxon!

 

 Sean O'Brien (http://es.pn/1veZb9F)

It’s NEARLY the Six Nations, and tonight we have a teaser, an aperitif if you like for the main event.  Ireland have put out a really strong starting 15, am I right that only Jack Conan is uncapped. The pack is fairly Leinster heavy, with  Iain Henderson the only player not fortunate enough to be plying his trade in Dublin. I’m joking! I am surprised not to see Tommy O’Donnell and a few others – probably Robbie Diack starting. It’s a bit early, and at too high a level to be bringing back SOB, in my opinion. The backline looks very fast and skilled, I’d never have put Earls into centre but let’s see.

The Saxons have also put out a strong looking team, so it’s going to be a good old fashioned full blooded encounter I’d say! BRING IT ON!

Irish Wolfhounds:

Felix Jones (captain), Fergus McFadden, Keith Earls, Gordon D'Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald; Ian Madigan, Kieran Marmion; Jack McGrath, Richardt Strauss, Mike Ross; Iain Henderson, Mike McCarthy; Dominic Ryan, Sean O'Brien, Jack Conan

Replacements:

Rob Herring, Michael Bent, Nathan White, Robbie Diack; Eoin McKeon, Isaac Boss, Noel Reid, Craig Gilroy

Saxons

Pennell (Worcester), C Ashton (Saracens), E Daly (Wasps), S Burgess (Bath), H Slade (Exeter), L Dickson (Northampton, capt), M Mullan (Wasps), R Webber (Bath), H Thomas (Bath), M Garvey (Bath), J Gaskell (Wasps), D Ewers (Exeter), M Kvesic (Gloucester), T Waldrom (Exeter).

Replacements: L Cowan Dickie (Exeter), A Waller (Northampton), J Cooper-Woolley (Wasps), M Itoje (Saracens), C Fearns (Bath), J Simpson (Wasps), O Devoto (Bath), C Wade (Wasps).

The Hounds chew up the Saxons!

 

 (picture http://bit.ly/1aAIY47)

The Irish Wolfhounds picked up a decent little win against the English Saxons at Welford Rd on Saturday. Ireland had a lot more experience than their hosts, but at home, with the depth that English rugby has to offer, I was still expecting England to probably win.

The Saxons, however, looked flat – Freddie Burns had a match to forget, and they had no penetration, against a superbly well organised Irish defense. They were out muscled in the scrum, and all England had to show for their efforts was a lot of ball, a lot of territory, a penalty, and a gift of a try. Boss was totally in command of the game, and behind him Madigan ran a tidy game. Boss scored an embarrasingly easytry, and then Madigan, who’s lethal from 5m out, added his own – he could run through a steel door at that distance.

The only thing Madigan needs to work on is his territorial play – he should have kept Ireland down in the Saxons 25 with the wind behind him in the first half. Apart from that, him and Boss were a class above Keatley and Marmion, who in the last 2 minutes each gave the Saxons pressure free ball to gave the watertight Irish defense another frenzied workout.

The pack was as solid as a rock, the tight five effective and physical, and the loose trio cleaned up the Saxons at the break down. That pack could be the Ireland pack one day. I thought Henshaw really looked the part of an international, and Fergus Mc Fadden is just invaluable for his speed of decision and deftness of touch

For the Saxons, Joe Simpson was the standout player.

International Match
Saturday , January 25
England Saxons 8 - 14 Irish Wolfhounds

All you ever wanted to know about the Saxons v the Wolfhounds but were afraid to ask

(picture http://bit.ly/1c7v7km)

It’s an interesting and strong looking team that’s been picked for the Irish Wolfhounds match against the English Saxons. Rhys Ruddock captains, and it’s composed of fringe Irish players, up and comers, and a few old stalwarts for the experience.

Of the starters, I’d put Boss, Tuohy and McFadden in the old stalwarts section – good players but who don’t seem to be in Ireland’s immediate plans. Tuohy would be the most aggrieved that he’s not in the ‘big’ squad.  Of the up and comers, Rob Herring, TOD, Copeland, Marmion and Jordi are the ones I’m hoping get some good profile from the match.  I’d say that McGrath, Zebo and Jordi are on the bench because they may feature in the Ireland’s plans for next week.

England also have a strong looking team, and I’m looking forward to the match, they tend to be a bit less polished because the players don’t know each other as well, but none less exciting for that.

The match is at 5.00pm on Saturday at Kingsholme, and will be shown on Sky Sports.

Irish Wolfhounds: 15 Felix Jones, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Darren Cave, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Robin Copeland, 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 Rhys Ruddock (c), 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Martin Moore, 2 Rob Herring, 1 David Kilcoyne.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Robbie Diack, 20 Jordi Murphy, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Simon Zebo.

England Saxons: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Charlie Sharples, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Dave Ewers, 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Calum Clark (c), 5 George Kruis, 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Tom Mercey, 2 Jamie George, 1 Alex Waller
Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Sam Dickinson, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Henry Slade, 23 Rob Miller

The Wolfhounds get put in the dogbox, and Sexton- the verdict!

(picture http://bit.ly/VgXGA6)

Ireland Wolfhounds 10-14 England Saxons

Right. So an experienced and talented Wolfhound team was going to take out the talented but inexperienced Saxons in Galway.? It all went to plan in the first half, albeit with a massive hand from the ref, as the Saxons should have had a scrum penalty try for all money. We went in 10-0 up, but in the second half, it all turned to ashes, as the Saxons came not exactly storming back but made less mistakes and took their trys. The root of our problems, IMHO, was at lock. Michael Bent was getting all the flak – feckin Kiwis, coming over and taking our jobs – but I think you could have had the incredible hulk in our front row, but with a couple of toothpicks in lock pushing the front row, this was always going to happen. We have no locks at Leinster, we have no locks in Ireland. It was pretty frustrating to watch, but wholly likely when you throw a team together in a week. The Saxons looked only marginally better.

The big news of the day, overshadowing the match, was the defection of Sexton to Racing Metro. This is my two cents worth. This is the man that stepped into the breach left by Contipome’s injury and delivered Leinster’s first Heineken Cup. This is the man that turned it around in the dressing room at half time against Northampton, to give us the second HC. This is the man who was an absolutely key in delivering our 3rd HC. This is the man that’s been playing at way below his market value for the last two years. So I say good luck to him! He’s going to learn some new tricks, and he can still play for Ireland. Racing Metro currently have four fly halfs on their Books, Juan Martin Hernandez, Jonathan Wisniewski ,Benjamin Dambielle and Olly Barkley. 3 internationals, although is Barkley leaving? He’s moving right out of his comfort zone, he’s the main man at Leinster, but could be used in rotation or not all at Racing. He also has to move to a new country, and his partner has to adapt to that too. So good luck to him, I hope he does well, and if it doesn’t work out, he’ll always be welcome back.And Ian Madigan, this is your big chance.

Who? Who? Who? etc- The Wolfhounds take on the Saxons

(image http://bit.ly/XEEsVp)

I really like the look of this Wolfhounds team. It’s a strong team, with several full internationals, and a few who will/should be regular internationals in the future. Jackson and Marshall as half backs is a great combination – Marshall is knocking on the door harder than Jackson for playing/starting for Ireland, if he can just sort out a few discipline issues. I’m pleased to see McSharry in the backs, and him and Cave –is that  future Ireland pairing? Then in the pack the increasingly impressive Dave Kilcoyne gets a start, as does Lewis Stevenson, who’s been putting in Trojan shifts for Ulster. Tommy O’Donnell is one of the up and coming stars of Irish rugby, and James Coughlin as captain is spot on – always leads from the front.
Madigan is possibly unlucky not to be starting, but with him and Keatley on the bench they have lots of options. They should get a good partisan crowd in Galway too!

The Saxons are a younger looking side. George Ford has lot of potential, and Christian Wade should be in the main England squad. Turner Hall is a classy player, as is Wigglesworth, but I’m going with the Hounds here!

15 - Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht)*
14 - Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster/49)
13 - Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster/3)
12 - Dave McSharry (UCD/Connacht/)*
11 - Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster/23)
10 - Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster)*
9 - Paul Marshall (Ballymena/Ulster/)*
1 - David Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster/2)
2 - Mike Sherry (Garryowen/Munster)*
3 - Michael Bent (Dublin University/Leinster/2)
4 - Lewis Stevenson (Malone/Ulster)*
5 - Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster/3)
6 - Kevin McLaughlin (St.Mary's College/Leinster/5)
7 - Tommy O'Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster)*
8 - James Coughlin (Dolphin/Munster)* Captain
Replacements:
16 - Damien Varley (Garryowen/Munster/2)
17 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster/29)
18 - Declan Fitzpatrick (Dungannon /Ulster/2)
19 - Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster/2)
20 - Rhys Ruddock (St. Mary's College/Leinster/1)
21 - Isaac Boss (Terenure College/Leinster/15)
22 - Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster)*
23 - Ian Keatley (Young Munster/Munster/2)
N.B. *denotes uncapped player

England Saxons: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 George Ford, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Jordan Crane (capt), 7 Will Fraser, 6 George Kruis, 5 George Robson, 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Shaun Knight, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 George Lowe, 23 Kyle Eastmond
Date: Friday, January 25
Kick-off: 19:35
Venue: The Sportsground

The Hounds get bitten by the Saxons

Dan Tuohy (Picture http://bit.ly/xUdkgh )

I didn’t have the time to watch the Wolfhounds/Saxons match, but no problem, I just hit Sky+. The problem came when I wanted to watch it and filed came up on the screen - too much Phineas and Ferb, Downtown Abbey and America’s Next Top Model on the hard drive. So I cleaned all that crap off, and recorded what I thought was a rerun of the match, which in turn turned out to be half baked highlights package.

 And it’s a pity as it didn’t look like the worst match either, the Saxons seemed to have the upper hand, but the Hounds didn’t give up, put together some moves, and kept trying until the end. There were a few players that I wouldn’t hugely rate that surprised me – Dave Kearney took a good line for his try, and did some sterling work in defence as well. He’s coming on in leaps and bounds.  Tomas O’Leary looked sharper than I’ve seen him for a long time, and scored a fine determined try. In the pack, Dan Tuohy put in a storming  performance and has to be on the bench for Ireland, while Henry and Ruddock are knocking on the door for higher honours. Keatley and Madigan both showed some good touches, and are worthy stand byes at provincial level.

I was concentrating on the Hounds obviously, but did notice Robson for the Saxons, and I thought Armitage stood out as well, if only he could sort his disciplinary record out.  Apart from that, Burns looks like he could go far, and Spencer seems to be in the right place at the right time, both playing at Saracens and within the England set up.

Now, bring on the real thing!

Saxons 23 – 17 Wolfhounds

Lots of grumbling and giving out about the Ireland team

Trimble (http://bit.ly/wandY4)

These are the squads for Ireland and the Wolfhounds ahead of the Wolfhounds match. (clears throat and gets ready to give out). Now I know Leo Cullen is out injured, and James Coughlan is in for him – we all knew he was injured when they included him anyway?   Also, six out of the Wolfhounds and the additional players have the opportunity to put their hand up for the senior squad.

My beef (prime Irish beef of course) is with the world cup over, we should now be focusing on form and younger players, and it looks likewe have several passengers in the squad of 24. Paddy Wallace is the biggest culprit, having neither form nor age on his side. As a good Leinsterman, it pains me to say it, but D’Arcy’s form has been moderate to say the least, and he’s in the twilight of his career. Jennings is another player who I’d love to have available for Leinster for the next few years, but I don’t see him as Ireland material. DOC has been a brilliant servant for Ireland, but if he’s on the bench at Munster now, why is he going straight into the senior squad? And I really think Earls is lucky to be there, he’s been injured, and is still getting back to form.  So out of 24 players we’ve already got 5 people who are pretty lucky to be there.

Then looking at the Wolfhounds, I’m going to look totally anti Connacht here, and I’m not, but why have we got players like Duffy, McCarthy and John Muldoon in there, even Tomas O’Leary. Are they ever going to use the opportunity to step up to the senior squad? Where’s Paul Marshall, where’s Damian Browne, where was James Coughlan in the first place? Why is Carr in limbo?

We’d be better off proactively getting younger players and players with better form into the team than playing it safe, and only making injury enforced changes. I can see a moderate 6 Nations this year, and a worse one next year with the current strategy. I could see us starting with a 15 that’s going to run out of steam with 20 minutes to go, with no game breakers on the bench.  We’ve got three teams in the HC cup quarters, but it looks suspiciously like a pigs ear could be made out of a silk purse.

Do you think, as part of the bail-out deal for Ireland, along with all our financial plans for the country, our team sheet gets discussed in Paris and London before we see it? ‘Vraiment, D’Arcy et 'class'’ ‘Wallace has always been a top chap’

This would be my Ireland team:

15 Kearney 14 Trimble 13 Bowe 12 McFadden 11 Fitzgerald 10 Sexton 9 Reddan 8 Heaslip 7 O’Brien 6 Ferris 5 O’Connell 4 Ryan 3 Ross 2 Best 1 Healy

Bench: Cronin Murray O’Gara Loughney Tuohy Hagan Coughlan  Earls

Good luck to the Wolfhounds anyway, I hope they beat the Saxons.

Ireland training squad for Six Nations Rory Best, Tommy Bowe, Tom Court, Sean Cronin, Leo Cullen, Gordon D'Arcy, Keith Earls, Stephen Ferris, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Shane Jennings, Rob Kearney, Fergus McFadden, Conor Murray, Sean O'Brien, Donncha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell, Ronan O'Gara, Eoin Reddan, Mike Ross, Donnacha Ryan, Jonathan Sexton, Andrew Trimble, Paddy Wallace.
Additional Players Fionn Carr, Craig Gilroy, Jack McGrath, Ian Nagle, Peter O'Mahony, Tiernan O'Halloran.
Ireland Wolfhounds Stephen Archer, Isaac Boss, Gavin Duffy, Chris Henry, Denis Hurley, David Kearney, Ian Keatley, Ronan Loughney, Ian Madigan, Mike McCarthy, Kevin McLaughlin, John Muldoon, Tomas O'Leary, Eoin O'Malley, Rhys Ruddock, Mike Sherry, Nevin Spence, Devin Toner, Dan Tuohy, Damien Varley, Brett Wilkinson, Simon Zebo

The Hounds are out and Wasps take on Harlequins in the spiritual home of rugby, the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi

An Irish Wolfhound yesterday (picture from http://bit.ly/ed2joZ )

This weekend all the leagues take a break and we have the LV cup and a sprinkling of 6-Nations ‘A’ games to fill in. Blues and Ospreys could be a feisty encounter, and Exiles and Saints should produce some fireworks as well. Then we have Wasps and Harlequins performing in the spiritual home of rugby, the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. Yes, this famous venue, a tribute to the hot bed of rugby that exists in the middle east, welcomes two English teams to play in the desert, for the money. Flights are a snip at £500, get in there all the real fans!
Irish Wolfhounds v Scotland ‘A’

I like the look of this Irish team. There are a few starters in contention for the senior team, mainly Duffy and O’Malley but Johnne Murphy must be in with a shout as well. C’mon the Hounds!

SCOTLAND A -- J Thompson; H O'Hare, B Cairns, J Houston, L Jones; D Blair, G Laidlaw (capt); J Welsh, D Hall, G Cross; S MacLeod, F McKenzie; R Wilson, A MacDonald, J Beattie. Reps: F Thomson, M Low, R Harley, R Grant, C Gregor, P Murchie, C Shaw.

WOLFHOUNDS - G Duffy; J Murphy, E O'Malley, N Spence, D Hurley; I Humphreys, T O'Leary; B Wilkinson, D Varley, T Buckley; I Nagle, D Toner; K McLaughlin, W Faloon, C Henry (capt). Reps: N Brady, J Hagan, A Browne, D Ryan, I Boss, N O'Connor, I Whitten.

LV= Cup

Friday , January 28

Sale vs Newport-Gwent D'gons 19:45

Saturday , January 29

Bath vs Newcastle 14:15

Scarlets vs Saracens 15:00

Exeter vs Leicester 15:00

Cardiff Blues vs Ospreys 18:30

Sunday , January 30

London Irish vs Northampton 15:00

Leeds Carnegie vs Gloucester 15:00

Wasps vs Harlequins 15: