Coming up this weekend - a Northern Hemisphere sweep!

Declan Fitzpatrick Picture (http://tinyurl.com/ca3w4ls)

Oh Declan, my Declan! We come not to praise you, we come to bury you! I’m talking about his selections for the match by the way, and in fairness I like a lot of what he’s done.. I really like the look of the locks and the loose trio. Fitzpatrick is a risk, a big one, as Nigel Owens makes his mind up pretty quickly about props, and I’d be fairly surprised if Fitzpatrick doesn’t get a yellow.  But he’s what we’ve got, and I’d back him to give 100%. It’s behind the scrum where things start to look shaky.

Murray at scrumhalf is not fast – in fact he makes Piri Weepu look fast – yes he’s THAT slow. The opposition has the chance to set their defensive lines, have a cuppa, and practice the haka by the time he get’s round to clearing the ruck. He is big and strong though, and is going to have to tackle well. Also, Earls in the center – Jesus wept! Play him on the wing, try Trimble there, put McFadden there, not Earls though. It’salso  going to be a tough experience for Zebo – how’s his tackling and his handling of high balls?

I still think the AB’s are ripe for the taking, when everybody thinks you have no chance – that’s your chance. Not likely, but that’s not going to stop me screaming my lungs out on Saturday morning. You know that part in Trains, Planes and Automobiles where the teller asks Steve Martin And how may I help you sir? To which he replies – you can start by wiping that fucking grin off your face. That’s what I’d like to see happen. Now I’m starting to feel bullish, I can sniff an upset, Ireland by 2!

Actually, I’m feeling a NH sweep coming up, as I fancy Wales against the Aussies, and think England have a decent chance of overturning the Boks.

New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Zac Guildford, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Victor Vito, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Hika Elliot, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Ali Williams, 19 Adam Thomson, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Ben Smith.

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Keith Earls, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray; 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Donnacha Ryan, 4 Dan Touhy, 3 Declan Fitzpatrick, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Ronan Loughney, 18 Donncha O'Callaghan, 19 Kevin McLaughlin, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Darren Cave.