Nearly on us. EOS names his extended squad tomorrow. Looking like he'll have to do without Paul O'Connell and Jerry Flannery.
I'd be no expert on rugby myself, but the loss of Paul O'Connell will be huge. Throw in the fact that we are away to England and France, and with morale bound to be at an all time low after the world cup, it could be a sad 6 nations for us.
I'd say that the IRFU will fill Croker..Im not a huge rugby fan but would go along if I coukld get tickets..EOS, and the players are under some pressure to deliver results after the disaster that was the WRC. PS.. Like your avatar Dub13....
Its something I had on my computer for a while and just said the other day it would make a good avatar.
With respect to O'Connell - Malcolm O'Kelly, Leo Cullen and Donncha O'Callaghan are all in really good form and should be able to take the slack. It's the backs we have to worry about. We've no real replacement for Denis Hickie and BOD, D'arcy and Shane Horgan are all in shocking form with no real alternative to repalce them.
Yeh they should do easily. In our club(and possibly the same in all clubs) the 3 Home games are being sold as a package. And for the 3 home games package its well over subscribed for in our club.
I am a bit of fairweather rugger fan to be honest. I have no interestin club rugby or 'friendly' test matches. I do watch the six nations and the Rugby World Cup. The first ever full rugby match I watched was RWC 2003 in Australia, went to all the Ireland games and was good craic. I am not expert but with the tough away games this season, will be lucky to get third...
Hoping to get tickets myself for the games...I think we need to bounce back with a show of strenght following previous performances...Munster and Leinster have not been great this year in the Heineken Cup so we can only hope...
Hi For what it's worth: - With O'Connell gone - With the two hardest games away from home - Coming off the back of a terrible World Cup - Both Leinster & Munster struggling to make progress in the Heiniken Cup (although granted, both have improved since before Xmas) I'd say we'll be struggling for 3rd position this time around I'm afraid.
I'm torn. I'm going to all 5 matches and will scream my lungs out, but unless EOS undergoes a personality transplant I think we'll do well to win another triple crown!
Munster havent done as bad as people are saying. They lost away to Wasps(holders of the Heineken Cup) by a point in their first group game and lost away to Clermont Auvergne who are unbeaten at home in 25/26 odd games -spanning 2 seasons or so. Beat Llanelli home and away this season - Llanelli knocked Munster out of the Heineken Cup last year Both games they lost they got a losing bonus point. If they beat Wasps in an extremely tough game this weekend, then they Top a very tough group. Granted its a tough game and they have to win it and if they do go through as Top of the group they possibly will have to play away in the q-finals.
stevieg it's not exactly that cut and dried for Munster - they need to deny Wasps a Bonus Point too. Leinster need a miracle of Istanbul proportions!
Ireland squad: Forwards: Neil Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Rory Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster), Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster), Simon Easterby (Llanelli), Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster), John Hayes (Bruff/Munster), Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Clontarf/Leinster), Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster), Bernard Jackman (Clontarf/Leinster), Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster), Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster), Johnny O'Connor (Galwegians/Connacht), Mick O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster), Malcolm O'Kelly (St Mary's College/Leinster), Alan Quinlan (Shannon/Munster), David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster). Backs: Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Girvan Dempsey (Terenure College/Leinster), Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Gavin Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht), Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster), Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster), Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster), Geordan Murphy (Leicester), Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster), Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster), Eoin Reddan (Wasps), Jonathan Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster), Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster), Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster), Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster) Not considered because of injury: Simon Best (Belfast Harlequins), Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster), Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)