Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown & Dublin Duel
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McGrath, Best Furlong
Toner Ryan
Josh vd Flier, CJ Stander
Heaslip
Murray, Sexton
Henshaw Payne
Trimble Zebo
KearneyCronin, Healy, Bealham, Ryan, Dillane, O'Mahony, Marmion/MCGrath, Jackson, Gilroy
O'Brien hasn't got enough miles on the clock this season, van der Flier is the form player, albeit with far less caps. Stander and O'Mahony are as good as each other, so one or other on the bench - O'Mahony is a better option in the lineout, in my view. Unfortunately, Henderson is out injured, otherwise he'd be in there likely starting side alongside Toner.
As we've seen in other games already this year, the bench has to make its own kind of particular impact, and not just replace tired legs. Healy is coming back to form just on time, and combined with Cronin and Belham will bring agility and speed to the game. Toner has to run the 80 minutes and repeat some of his more recent performances, particularly in the SA games, where he was my man of the match in the first SA test. He's not too shabby at stealing ball either so it should be interesting if Ireland choose to contest at throw in time. I'd love to see young Carbery on the bench instead of Jackson just to see how he'd go. He's a sensible head on his shoulders for a guy turning 21 next week, but it might be a bit soon.
All in all, it won't make much difference to the end result. If Ireland can keep the losing margin somewhat tidy then it's a good start to the season and should be a good learning curve for the next seres of test matches. I'd prefer for Schmidt to blood a few more new players and treat the November Internationals as high quality development games. Canada game will give some of those in the queue a start, and Ireland should target the Australia game for a win and WR ranking points. There's none involved for the NZ games.
Bookies have Ireland at 10/1 on straight win, and a handicap of +21.
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Tuipulotu and Romano to start with Luatua and Squire on the bench. The Irish will try to turn this into a real slow grind I reckon so our lock and loosie benchies should be big, strong and fast so Ardie will have to sit this one out.
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Welcome aboard @Jimmy-Jimmy . Not sure if the TSF olive branch has yet been extended to you. Jump on the bandwagon and have fun.
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O'Brien was real quality a few years back, especially at RWC2011. Should have the been the Lions 7 in 2013 but for Warburton being the captain. Pretty sure he played a blinder for a fair chunk of Dublin 2013 too. Seems to have had a massive amount of injuries since then though.
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From what I can gather Bein have the rights ,
I emailed them and got this back,
I'm sorry to inform you that this fixture do not feature on our program.
With the addition of beIN SPORTS 2 and 3 we are able to deliver more games to beIN SPORTS CONNECT via the linear channels.
However the viewers' choice feature is currently not available. We will provide access to additional live games in the near future and will announce a time frame for this in the coming weeks.Please stay tuned for future updates regarding release date, features and content.
I present my sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Kind Regards,
John
beIN SPORTS CONNECT
Customer Service Australia -
It's not on the terrestrial channels in Ireland either. You have to have subscription to Eirsport which got exclusive rights. So hopefully there's a dodgy stream somewhere.
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it looks like you can subscribe here and watch online if you can be fucked.
I did it once when they were Setanta and was not impressed with the quality , that was the last time we got beat by England, it was a bad experience all round -
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@booboo said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
@gollum said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
I don't see any lineout issues for us on our own ball, Romano at 2 is safe, Tui or Read can easiliy will ball at 4 or 6 with Franks & Kaino lifting. Add to that all our backup loosies are lineout options - Luatua, Dixon, Squire.
And Ardie. How tall is he?
Good old @Canes4life he created a joke that will never get old.
Is Tommy Bowe injured or given that he's about 200 years old in international wingers years has he been dropped/retired ?
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@kiwiinmelb said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
it looks like you can subscribe here and watch online if you can be fucked.
I did it once when they were Setanta and was not impressed with the quality , that was the last time we got beat by England, it was a bad experience all round€25 a month subscription with a minimum of 2 months commitment. Fuck that. I'll find a stream or a pub/hotel somewhere.
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@MN5 said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
@booboo said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
@gollum said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
I don't see any lineout issues for us on our own ball, Romano at 2 is safe, Tui or Read can easiliy will ball at 4 or 6 with Franks & Kaino lifting. Add to that all our backup loosies are lineout options - Luatua, Dixon, Squire.
And Ardie. How tall is he?
Good old @Canes4life he created a joke that will never get old.
Is Tommy Bowe injured or given that he's about 200 years old in international wingers years has he been dropped/retired ?
Tommy Bowe has recovered from injury but he's on the outer at this stage I think (32). Pity - always liked seeing him play. Trimble will get one last hurrah for this series. The future is Zebo, Healy, Adeolokun, Kelleher and Byrne.
@MN5 said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
@booboo said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
@gollum said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
I don't see any lineout issues for us on our own ball, Romano at 2 is safe, Tui or Read can easiliy will ball at 4 or 6 with Franks & Kaino lifting. Add to that all our backup loosies are lineout options - Luatua, Dixon, Squire.
And Ardie. How tall is he?
Good old @Canes4life he created a joke that will never get old.
Is Tommy Bowe injured or given that he's about 200 years old in international wingers years has he been dropped/retired ?
Bowe has recovered from injury but at 32 he's on the outer. Trimble, at same age, is getting a last hurrah in the November series. The future is Zebo, Earls, D Kearney, Gilroy, Healy, Adeolokun, Sweetnam, Healy and Kelleher. Hopefully those are the names in the mix by this time next year.