Ireland's front row have chiropractor appointments for after the Georgia match!

Marmion (picture http://bit.ly/111ECPa)

After the heroics of last weekend, Ireland have to attend to Georgia next. They famously nearly beat us a few world Cups ago, so you wouldn’t want to write them off totally. Fortunately for us, Gorgodze is not playing, but they’ll know a fair amount about us from Michael Bradley, who’s part of the Georgian coaching set up. And Georgian head coach Milton Haig is a Kiwi who Joe Schmidt replaced at Bay of Plenty in New Zealand! How big is this gene pool? I’d expect there’ll be a fair amount of changes, keeping a few of the big guns fresh for Australia, and also giving the squad some game time. Popular wisdom is that Marmion and Madiagn will start at half backs, and the front row will be new (and should have appointments with the chiropractor for Monday morning!). Let’s hope we get some dry weather, and that the crowd will be treated to some running rugby. I think Our Joe will have all the plans in place for a good victory over Georgia. Good news for us with Kearney and Bowe both signing up for 3 more years!

Things are a bit better spread out this weekend. My plan for Saturday is England V South Africa first. The Boks have replaced Hougaard, who’s only a part time scrum half for the Bulls, and Pollard, who played in the U20 World Cup this year. In come the Sharks pair of Lambie and Reinhard. If the Boks play to their potential, this will be theirs, but it’s too close to call.

Then I’ll move onto Scotland v the All Blacks. The Scots are unchanged, the All Blacks have only two from last weeks starting 15. So this should be close as well, you’d be brave to bet against New Zealand, but c’mon Scotland!

Finally, I’ll power through the pain barrier of remaining seated for 8 hours in front of the telly,  and catch France Australia. France are unchanged – that sentence hasn’t been written for about 10 years! and Australia are going to be sternly tested.  But I think Australia will come through, then French agents will descend on Australia like locusts!

International Match
Saturday , November 15
Italy vs Argentina    14:00
Wales vs Fiji    14:30
England vs South Africa    14:30
Scotland vs New Zealand    17:30
France vs Australia    20:00
Sunday , November 16
Ireland vs Georgia    14:30

Ireland are living the dream!

(picturehttp://bit.ly/1AOh2WT)

Ireland are living the dream now, rolling over the number 2 side in the world in some style!  Is that Ireland’s biggest win over South Africa? They were clearly the best team in the second half, hanging on a bit in the first half while South African rustiness probably should have seen them going in at half time with the lead. Their defence was epic, and their execution was near faultless. Have you ever seen a team drawn so widely from the provinces knit together so tightly?  I thought Poite’s yellow card was a bit harsh, but Ireland made the most of it and basically put the game out of reach. We are going to need to work on our scrum, and our lineout, as we gave too many opportunities away there. Sexton got MOTM, but to me it was all the forwards, tackling their hearts out and never tackling a step back. Joe Schmidt is a genius – every player knows exactly what to do, and does it. Massive step, massive achievement – now we have to do it all over in 2 days time. The belief in the team is so strong, you feel they could do anything right now.

England got close again against the All Blacks, but poor kicking by the New Zealanders kept thme in the match – that was 10 easy points left behind. But the English scrum is looking really solid despite all their injuries, and they’re not afraid to play what’s in front of them. There are a few weaknesses in the All Blacks these days – they look really short at hooker, and Conrad Smith showed his age when Jonny May’s pace blew him away.

Wales couldn’t get past Australia,  I didn’t see the match, but it sounded like a real thriller. They have a few more opportunities in the next few weeks to come right. Finallu, and excellent start to the Cotter era, a victory over an ever improving Argentina side.

International Match
Saturday , November 8
Italy 24 - 13 Samoa   
England 21 - 24 New Zealand   
Romania 17 - 27 USA   
France 40 - 15 Fiji   
Ireland 29 - 15 South Africa   
Scotland 41 - 31 Argentina   
Georgia 9 - 23 Tonga   
Wales 28 - 33 Australia   

Ireland get ready for an out of BODy experience!

 

 (picture http://bit.ly/1u3Mdsj)

The build up to the World Cup starts now! Time for the North to test itself against the South, with so many matches you’d need a split screen TV to catch it all! I really don’t understand why there are so many clashes, it must affect TV revenue somewhere along the way.

First up, how is Ireland going to do? We are carrying a few injuries, but have two thirds of the players that won the 6 Nations, with Healy, Best. D’Arcy and Trimble not available, and BOD has left the building.  I guess in the past the aim in the autumn internationals would be to have a good go, and see where we were. This year though, I have no doubt that Joe Schmidt is targeting 3 wins. I’d argue that we have the best coach in the world right now, and that he has spent the whole of the Rugby Championship formulating plans for beating South Africa and Australia, I really can’t see us losing to Georgia. Henshaw and Payne in the centre is a surprise, but would you bet against Joe? I think he may be basing it on both defence – two big strong guys – and future/present attacking potential.

In the past, all you could expect from the Boks was being assaulted  by 15 large gentlemen, simple, brutal but effective. However, they score backline tries these days as well, although the indications are that the expansive game is back in the pocket for the moment. They’ve changed so much they are talking us up before the match! I think Joe has a solution to every threat the Boks pose in attack and defence, and that the 15 men that run out for Ireland have the ability to deliver a win. The problem is, how long will those 15 last, and who is going to take their place? Ross, McGrath and Kearney are coming back from injury, and we are setting up some really unfamiliar combinations if they go off. So I think we’ll get close but the Boks will win.

England will be without some big guns for the All Blacks. England beat the AB’s a few years ago, and came really close the first match on tour this year. I think they’ll be in it to the end, but lack of settled combinations will probably hurt them.  While I rate Lancaster as a coach, in the backline he seems to have a case of the Philippe Saint-André’s, how about him and what about HIM. A year out from the World Cup, I don’ think he knows yet who his starting backline is.

Australia have a new coach, a really good one with a winners pedigree, and while they have problems off field, you could put a lot of their onfield problems and losses down to having to play 3 top top sides in the last two months. They are battle hardened, street wise, and I think Wales are going to struggle.

Scotland have a completely new look for Argentina. It looks a strictly form pick, fair play to Cotter. Great to see Rob Harley starting – you always wonder if there’s two of him playing for Glasgow he has such a high work rate. But I think Argentina will win – they have had the most incredible build up to these matches in the Rugby Championship, and are starting to play better and better.

International Match
Saturday , November 8
Italy vs Samoa    14:00
Wales vs Australia    14:30
England vs New Zealand    14:30
France vs Fiji    16:45
Ireland vs South Africa    17:30
Scotland vs Argentina    17:30

Leinster and Ulster win, Munster do a bit of robbery while Connacht lose.

Stuart Olding ( Picture http://bit.ly/1tvZKc0)

Leinster had Edinburgh at home on Friday night. Can I just ask the Scots, would you mind not picking on our foreign stars? Ben Te’O is out for six weeks with a broken arm, and Kane Douglas went off too, although hopefully that’s not that serious. It wasn’t a vintage performance, but they got the job done with a 5 ties and the bonus point. With so many changes, and quite a few players with very little game time, too eager to show their skills, it was very disjointed. Dominic Ryan shone, and I think Michael Bent is coming into his own, able to play on both sides of the scrum, and getting better with regular starts.  I’m also a fan of Mick McGrath, I think he’s going to be a regular starter soon.

Connacht found the Ospreys too much to handle, but still scored a try, and didn’t give away a bonus point, so not too shabby.

Munster came away with a win in Cardiff, fair play to them for hanging on until the end, but CSI Wales have confirmed a robbery took place. The Welshmen were all over the Munster scrum, should have a penalty try, but the win and the loss was all in their hands. Munster really just had to defend a bit and let Cardiff hand over the penalties, and then put in about 5% effort to get the win at the end. Munster suffered from lots of changes to the team, they still have that backbone of steel though that carried them through. Cardiff, with a bit more composure, will start winning soon.

I didn’t see the Ulster match, but they won conformably enough, and their never ending supply of excellent backs keeps rolling, with Olding getting a double, but also picking up a season ending injury.

Finally, the Wallabies Barbarians match was really good, going right down to the wire. Cooper and Genia are not quite up to speed, but it was tries galore, played in a spirit you don’t really see anymore. And Nick ’Badger’ Cummins  got a try!

Guinness PRO12
Saturday , November 1
Cardiff Blues 24 - 28 Munster   
Scarlets 28 - 13 Zebre   
Ulster 23 - 6 Newport Gwent D'gons   
Friday , October 31
Leinster 33 - 8 Edinburgh   
Ospreys 26 - 11 Connacht   
Glasgow 17 - 9 Benetton Treviso

Back to the high action drama of the Pro 12!

 

 Ben Te'O (picture http://ab.co/1wjG8IO)

Leinster kick things off for the Irish when they welcome Edinburgh to the RDS tonight. The big news is the debut for rugby league convert Ben Te’O,  also the return of Kevin McLaughlin to captain the side.  And in the background, Jordi Murphy, Dave Kearney and Fergus McFadden are all back in training. They should account for Edinburgh without too many problems.



Also in action are Connacht, who travel to the Liberty Stadium to take on the Ospreys. The start of Bundee Aki is their big news, and the side looks pretty decent. The Ospreys have rested a few people, let’s see how it goes! They’ll be none too charmed with the injury to Nathan White in the Ireland camp.

Munster travel to Cardiff, I’m expecting them to win, but the Blues have been seriously underperforming this season, and this may well be the match, at home, that they chose to pull the hat out of the bag.

Finally, Ulster will be looking to do themselves justice after two disappointing European results, and I think the Dragons are going to feel the backlash!

Guinness PRO12
Friday , October 31
Leinster vs Edinburgh   
Glasgow vs Benetton Treviso   
Ospreys vs Connacht   
Saturday , November 1
Cardiff Blues vs Munster    17:15
Scarlets vs Zebre    18:00
Ulster vs Newport Gwent D'gons    19:35

Munster do well, Leinster scrape, and Ulster and Connacht not so well

 

 ( picture http://bit.ly/ZSxLr0 )

Finally come up for air to do a bit of writing!

Munster/Saracens didn’t disappoint as an opener, 80 minutes of all out conflict. Saracens are an extremely capable side, and as well as bruising forwards, they have very competent backs behind them, and Munster did very well not to concede a try either side of half time. The turning point was a yellow card for Saracens, which turned the tide after a long spell of Saracens dominance. Munster exploited their advantage to the max, running in a try and putting themselves out of reach. Munster’s pack played out of their skin, and my man of the match was James Cronin. Two from two, great start!

I watched Ulster’s match with Toulon on fast forward, and maybe that was for the best, as it wasn’t their finest hour. But I think the score was a bit lop sided – Nick Williams gifted Toulon a try, he’s a bit of a loose cannon, and I can see why the excellent Roger Wilson is starting. You know it’s going to have to be an 80 minute performance to beat Toulon, they have great players, but some of them are getting on, and as the match wears on a few cracks are going to open up – Ulster slipped up for probably 20 minutes. Ulster also need to trust their backline more – they’ve got some serious talent there, and they should take a few more risks, keeping the ball in hand instead of kicking it back all the time. It’s going to be tough going in the group now, although the Scarlets did them a big favour.

Leinster were last in action for Ireland in the ERCC, away to Castres. The Frenchmen had pulled a few of their big guns for the match, so it looked like they had modest ambitions for the ERCC this season. After getting off to a flyer with a try, they then spent the rest of their half pinned back in their half, while we launched a series of not very penetrative attacks, gratefully accepting the gift penalties they shipped at regular intervals. In the second half, we had a go at shipping easy penalties, when in Rome etc, before we finally woke up in the last 15 minutes and reeled them in. Heaslip was my MOTM, with 20 carries, nearly double as much as the nearest player on either side, and made the second most metres, either side. We could seriously do with O’Brien, Healy and Kearney back though. I was sweating for that win!

Elsewhere there were great away wins for Toulouse, and especially for Glasgow.

Finally, Connacht came off second best at Exeter, but certainly didn’t disgrace themselves.

European Rugby Champions Cup
Sunday , October 26
Wasps 16 - 23 Harlequins   
Benetton Treviso 10 - 26 Racing Metro 92
Clermont Auvergne 35 - 3 Sale Sharks
Castres 16 - 21 Leinster
Saturday , October 25
Bath 19 - 21 Toulouse   
Montpellier 13 - 15 Glasgow   
Northampton 34 - 6 Ospreys   
Scarlets 15 - 3 Leicester   
Ulster 13 - 23 Toulon   
Friday , October 24
Munster 14 - 3 Saracens   

I'm going for 2 and a 1/2 wins this weekend for the Irish sides!

 

 Kane Douglas (picture http://bit.ly/1zmyoJC)

Another mammoth rugby weekend kicks off, put alerts on your phone so you can check in on your loved ones, oh, every 12 hours or so…

It couldn’t start bigger than Munster v Saracens on Friday night at Thomond,  two bruising sides, it’s going to be all out war! The old Munster way was total forward domination, and though that may have been modified slightly, Munster are going back to their roots. Saracens have exactly the same policy, and wings that score lots of tries, so it’s going to be last man standing. I think Strettle and Ashton will also want to prove they shouldn’t have been left out of the England squad. Home advantage is massive, on the season form, Saracens are slightly ahead, so I’m going for a draw!

The big hitters keep coming on Saturday, starting off with Ulster v Toulon. I’m really hoping Ulster have fixed their lineout this week, because they won’t be able to waste any opportunities against these heavyweights. But you can beat Toulon, Ulster’s forwards will need to absolutely ferocious, and they certainly have the talent in the backline, they don’t know who to leave out, which is a perfect position to be in, whoever they pick delivers.  And they have brilliant players like Wilson in the forwards to bring on too.  I’m going with the Ulstermen!

On Sunday, Leinster travel to Castre, looking for an important away win. Castre were not impressive against Quins, they were pretty awful really, and you suspect they may have decided to write off  the cup formerly known as Heineken, and concentrate on the Top 14. I fervently hope so. I think Leinster picked up a bit of momentum in the second half last week, let’s see them take that though now away from home. I’d love it if Kearney is fit, he adds the balance we need at the back. I also hope Douglas starts, he’s a big abrasive workhorse, that’ll keep the Castre scrum honest. I’m going for a win! Also it would help a lot of Wasps won, common lads!

Connacht have a hariy looking challenge of Exeter away, don’t think they’ll win, but the Chiefs will remember their name!

And I don’t want to miss Bath vs Toulouse, Montpellier vs Glasgow and Northampton vs Ospreys!

European Rugby Champions Cup
Friday , October 24
Munster vs Saracens    19.45
Saturday , October 25
Ulster vs Toulon    13:00
Scarlets vs Leicester    19:45
Bath vs Toulouse    15:15
Montpellier vs Glasgow    17:15
Northampton vs Ospreys    17:15
Sunday , October 26
Clermont Auvergne vs Sale Sharks    15:15
Castres vs Leinster    13:00
Wasps vs Harlequins    17:15
Benetton Treviso vs Racing Metro 92    17:15