Planet Rugby Forum

Liathroidigloine wrote: Oh good f**king Jesus. That is one of the most stupid posts I've seen on this board. Congrats.

Not allowed a subjective opinion?
Cheers Stalin.

Heaslip was a bit of a show pony. The 11 fingered ones have been saying it for years and I agree. Still a good player just not top 2 of the decade.

At least argue your case like winnie instead of going all rabble rabble rabble

nardol wrote:

Liathroidigloine wrote: Oh good f**king Jesus. That is one of the most stupid posts I've seen on this board. Congrats.

Not allowed a subjective opinion?
Cheers Stalin.

Heaslip was a bit of a show pony. The 11 fingered ones have been saying it for years and I agree. Still a good player just not top 2 of the decade.

At least argue your case like winnie instead of going all rabble rabble rabble

You haven't a f**king clue so I'm not going to argue with someone who holds that ridiculous a position.

nardol wrote:

Liathroidigloine wrote:

nardol wrote:

nardol wrote:

CM11 wrote:https://www.the42.ie/irish-rugby-team-o ... 7-Dec2019/

A lot of obvious picks but enough there to argue about.

Rory Best .... I would have Fla ahead of him.

POM and Heaslip. Also no for me. When did that Ulster nackrow retire because of injury? The on BBC commentary. Cant believe I forgot his name. Edit: Stephen Ferris

Also, David Wallace.

Did you really say that you wouldn't have Heaslip in the team of the decade?

All the Munster chat for over 10 years must have gotten to me I suppose.

Probably doesn't help that personally I think he comes across as quite smarmy. Yeah dunno why - just think we had better.... even Stander.

As Mullet said in the other thread, lay off the Christmas sherry, you nutbar.

Some dubious stuff around, some quite baffling.

The forwards is a pretty easy pick, just ask yourself who you'd pick at their peak.

Healy, Best, Furlong
Ryan and POC
Ferris, SOB and Heaslip

Murray and Sexton pick themselves too, as do BOD and Kearney.

At his peak you'd pick Darcy over Henshaw, but you could argue that Darcy's peak was before 2010.

Wings is also trickier, though Bowe surely is the first pick. Horgan is the same as Darcy: top winger, but his top days were probably before 2010.
Earls has been a constant, but has never been the most exciting of wingers. Zebo, Stockdale and Trimble all had their flaws as well as their upsides.

As this is a fully hypothetical scenario, I'd stick with Darcy and Horgan.

CM11 wrote:

boringperson12 wrote:My understanding of the law is that as soon as the ball is "available" a scrum half has 5 seconds to use it - not 5 seconds after the ref calls use it. I might be wrong on that though. Rugby would be a great game if it was actually played to the laws.

In practice it's 5 after the ref calls it. You can't really have it any other way because there's enough vagueness over when the ball is clearly available.

At the start refs were calling use it quickly but like every, single crackdown they've forgotten to keep on enforcing it.

It's one of the things that irritates me about reffing. Some laws go "out of fashion" and the whole new season "emphasis" on certain laws has the unfortunate side effect of making other laws seem less important.

Mr. Very Popular wrote:

CM11 wrote:https://www.the42.ie/irish-rugby-team-o ... 7-Dec2019/

A lot of obvious picks but enough there to argue about.

Looks spot on to me.

Earls to 11 and Bowe to 14 would be my only changes.

I like Zebo and all but in the team ahead of our best winger of the last few decades...
Would have Stockdale ahead of Zebo too.

Willie Falloon wrote:

boringperson12 wrote:Zebo and Earls ahead of Bowe? fudge right off. Also says a lot about our centres if Henshaw has been our best 12 of the last 10 years.

D'arcy was streets ahead of Henshaw. His ability to draw his opposite number an pass of either hands was top drawer.

Great defender too, but maybe not the hardest tackler.

If the conversation was the last two decades, D'Arcy's sensational 04 season would see him in there (the stuff Larmour is doing now against minnows, D'Arcy did on the big stage) but late noughties/early tens version of him was a seriously diminished version.

Re his tackling, quite a few teams exposed his lack of power/mobility in his later days. Think the massive Rougerie line break on him.
Dumb teams targeted ROG and ended up running into Wally. The smart teams went straight for D'Arcy.

Ryan, Ferris, Stockdale, Darcy and Bowe should be in, for me.

Earls has never dominated high level matches like Stockdale did from Autumn 2017 to Autumn 2018.

Winnie wrote:

nardol wrote:

earl the beaver wrote:

nardol wrote:

CM11 wrote:https://www.the42.ie/irish-rugby-team-o ... 7-Dec2019/

A lot of obvious picks but enough there to argue about.

Rory Best .... I would have Fla ahead of him.

You have Ireland's most successful captain of all time, 3rd in our all time cap list

Or

A guy who had 7 caps in the 2010s, four of them off the bench.

And you pick the bottom one.

Never go full Jumper.

I just don't rate Best. Others do I don't. I think he got the caps he did because he was a good captain (as opposed to player) and because we never had a serious alternative.

The John Hayes of hookers if you will.

Thats horsesh1t
He had one weakness and that was his throwing could sometimes go askew
He was a great hooker, great jackler, great around the park
Dont need Ulster coloured spectacles to know this

Look at you guys talking to Nardol like he's a normal human being.

Salanya wrote:Some dubious stuff around, some quite baffling.

The forwards is a pretty easy pick, just ask yourself who you'd pick at their peak.

Healy, Best, Furlong
Ryan and POC
Ferris, SOB and Heaslip

Murray and Sexton pick themselves too, as do BOD and Kearney.

At his peak you'd pick Darcy over Henshaw, but you could argue that Darcy's peak was before 2010.

Wings is also trickier, though Bowe surely is the first pick. Horgan is the same as Darcy: top winger, but his top days were probably before 2010.
Earls has been a constant, but has never been the most exciting of wingers. Zebo, Stockdale and Trimble all had their flaws as well as their upsides.

As this is a fully hypothetical scenario, I'd stick with Darcy and Horgan.

By best days before 2010 for Horgan, you mean all of his international caps? He's not eligible for this 15 to start with.

Uncle Fester wrote:

Willie Falloon wrote:

boringperson12 wrote:Zebo and Earls ahead of Bowe? fudge right off. Also says a lot about our centres if Henshaw has been our best 12 of the last 10 years.

D'arcy was streets ahead of Henshaw. His ability to draw his opposite number an pass of either hands was top drawer.

Great defender too, but maybe not the hardest tackler.

If the conversation was the last two decades, D'Arcy's sensational 04 season would see him in there (the stuff Larmour is doing now against minnows, D'Arcy did on the big stage) but late noughties/early tens version of him was a seriously diminished version.

Re his tackling, quite a few teams exposed his lack of power/mobility in his later days. Think the massive Rougerie line break on him.
Dumb teams targeted ROG and ended up running into Wally. The smart teams went straight for D'Arcy.

Morrison for Scotland always just ran through him and made yards, year on year.

Donnacha Ryan, Zebo?

Nardol has somehow out-cabbaged the original selection.

earl the beaver wrote:

Uncle Fester wrote:

Willie Falloon wrote:

boringperson12 wrote:Zebo and Earls ahead of Bowe? fudge right off. Also says a lot about our centres if Henshaw has been our best 12 of the last 10 years.

D'arcy was streets ahead of Henshaw. His ability to draw his opposite number an pass of either hands was top drawer.

Great defender too, but maybe not the hardest tackler.

If the conversation was the last two decades, D'Arcy's sensational 04 season would see him in there (the stuff Larmour is doing now against minnows, D'Arcy did on the big stage) but late noughties/early tens version of him was a seriously diminished version.

Re his tackling, quite a few teams exposed his lack of power/mobility in his later days. Think the massive Rougerie line break on him.
Dumb teams targeted ROG and ended up running into Wally. The smart teams went straight for D'Arcy.

Morrison for Scotland always just ran through him and made yards, year on year.

Yeah, 2009 game against Scotland was a massive wake up call. It's unfair to blame it wholly on him though because he had ROG inside him and that was a systems weakness but it was still D'Arcy missing those tackles.

Incidentally, D'Arcy's tale of his last Irish cap against Scotland is quite amusing. He got turned and then outpaced by a prop. Knew the game was up to his credit. After the game asked if he could skip the video analysis and just retire there and then but they made him attend anyway.

RichieRich89 wrote:Ryan, Ferris, Stockdale, Darcy and Bowe should be in, for me.

Earls has never dominated high level matches like Stockdale did from Autumn 2017 to Autumn 2018.

So form over 1 year versus being class for the decade?

I bet you think Nickelback are brilliant as well.

binge90 wrote:Nardol has somehow out-cabbaged the original selection.

Because I suggested no Best POM and no Heaslip?

Te be replaced by David Wallace (who was better than Heaslip and I think was up there with POC) Then introduced Ferris that every single person (almost) has agreed with since?

I'm proposing the replacement of Lions with Lions. Its not like I'm suggesting Keith Wood was worse than Best or something insane like that.

binge90 wrote:

irishrugbyua wrote:

Floppykid wrote:I'll be downloading and watching the Leinster Ulster match, score looks mental, actually good quality to it?

Where could I download also? I vaguely remember there was a website but I've lost the url

https://www.tg4.ie/en/player/categories ... ode=079943

Edit: Donnacha Ryan?

Was thinking that Ryan didn't really have long enough in the jersey but looking at his match list, he's racked up an impressive total so far.
Him/ Henderson or whisper it, Toner.

nardol wrote:

binge90 wrote:Nardol has somehow out-cabbaged the original selection.

Because I suggested no Best POM and no Heaslip?

Te be replaced by David Wallace (who was better than Heaslip and I think was up there with POC) Then introduced Ferris that every single person (almost) has agreed with since?

I'm proposing the replacement of Lions with Lions. Its not like I'm suggesting Keith Wood was worse than Best or something insane like that.

David Wallace was a 7 not an 8 Eir team had SOB at 7, I would probally have Wallace ahead of him but SOB at his peak is hard to argue with (shame it was never for very long)

binge90 wrote:Nardol has somehow out-cabbaged the original selection.

Look what the cat dragged in !

Guys, I think Nardol is right. Heaslip only ran in easy tries, not to mention he was a poach

nardol wrote:Fook me... Ferris is still only 34.

He was a serious loss.

He really was. Then to rub salt into the wound, him not being able to play has left him free to sodomise our ears as a pundit.

Bona fide team of the decade

Healy
Best
Furlong
Hendo
Paulie
Ferris
O’Brien
Heaslip

Murray
Sexton
Trimble
D’arcy
BOD
Bowe
Kearney

IMO the only debatable calls are at wing and lock, Toner or Ryan could come in for Hendo

Uncle Fester wrote:

earl the beaver wrote:

Uncle Fester wrote:

Willie Falloon wrote:

boringperson12 wrote:Zebo and Earls ahead of Bowe? fudge right off. Also says a lot about our centres if Henshaw has been our best 12 of the last 10 years.

D'arcy was streets ahead of Henshaw. His ability to draw his opposite number an pass of either hands was top drawer.

Great defender too, but maybe not the hardest tackler.

If the conversation was the last two decades, D'Arcy's sensational 04 season would see him in there (the stuff Larmour is doing now against minnows, D'Arcy did on the big stage) but late noughties/early tens version of him was a seriously diminished version.

Re his tackling, quite a few teams exposed his lack of power/mobility in his later days. Think the massive Rougerie line break on him.
Dumb teams targeted ROG and ended up running into Wally. The smart teams went straight for D'Arcy.

Morrison for Scotland always just ran through him and made yards, year on year.

Yeah, 2009 game against Scotland was a massive wake up call. It's unfair to blame it wholly on him though because he had ROG inside him and that was a systems weakness but it was still D'Arcy missing those tackles.

Incidentally, D'Arcy's tale of his last Irish cap against Scotland is quite amusing. He got turned and then outpaced by a prop. Knew the game was up to his credit. After the game asked if he could skip the video analysis and just retire there and then but they made him attend anyway.

2009? The GS year?

Anyway, D'Arcy is down for 2 missed tackles in that game. I don't remember the game but neither do I remember much controversy about D'Arcy's performance in it.

Ulsters Red Hand wrote:Bona fide team of the decade

Healy
Best
Furlong
Hendo
Paulie
Ferris
O’Brien
Heaslip

Murray
Sexton
Trimble
D’arcy
BOD
Bowe
Kearney

IMO the only debatable calls are at wing and lock, Toner or Ryan could come in for Hendo

Wallace is technically in the argument and Ryan has enough body of work to also be included but that's probably it alright.

In terms of being a better selection, I'd probably put Payne in at FB but a bit unfair on Kearney given Payne only had a handful of games there (and yes, he's not Irish either!).

Pat McCarry has said the IRFU is still hand picking media outlets for the presser tomorrow

Bit weird, dont know why they’ll still digging their heels in.

CM11 wrote:

Ulsters Red Hand wrote:Bona fide team of the decade

Healy
Best
Furlong
Hendo
Paulie
Ferris
O’Brien
Heaslip

Murray
Sexton
Trimble
D’arcy
BOD
Bowe
Kearney

IMO the only debatable calls are at wing and lock, Toner or Ryan could come in for Hendo

Wallace is technically in the argument and Ryan has enough body of work to also be included but that's probably it alright.

In terms of being a better selection, I'd probably put Payne in at FB but a bit unfair on Kearney given Payne only had a handful of games there (and yes, he's not Irish either!).

Payne was an excellent player, and in reality probably a better player than later decade BOD, but no one will get a sniff to get past him considering how good he was 2010-15ish

You're always going to have a mix of recency bias and nostalgia in these kind of things.
The article states "best Irish player in their position in the last 10 years" which could I guess be interpreted as a lifetime body of work for any Irish player who has played in the last 10 years, or could alternatively be best performer in that position in the last 10 years, or even 'who would you pick in that position tomorrow if you could have any Irish player from the last 10 years, at their peak'

10 years from now, working back, would be start of 2010. Lots of the players listed in the various teams above retired early on in that period and some of them were definitely past their best during the period. e.g. POC retired in 2015, Ferris in 2014, Trimble in 2017, D'Arcy in 2015, BOD in 2014 and Bowe in 2018

I like URH's team, although I think I'd pick Toner or Ryan ahead of Hendo. D'arcy and BOD were both past their peak, IMO, for the entire period, but I'm not sure anyone else has been good enough to usurp them. Long shadows and all that. Earls over Trimble is debatable, but I've always been a big Trimble fan for the way he reinvented himself, and he really was outstanding for Ireland and Ulster in the early Schmidt years. The last year or so of his career felt like he stayed too long though

Other mentions:
Jack McGrath for some outstanding work in the 2012-2018 period, and unluckly to have a truly world class player in his position
Mike Ross - As with Hayes before him, a rock when we were bolloxed without him

Ulsters Red Hand wrote:Pat McCarry has said the IRFU is still hand picking media outlets for the presser tomorrow

Bit weird, dont know why they’ll still digging their heels in.

Lads are not the right sort obviously.

My Team of the decade, based purely on peak ability and not body of work.

Healy
Flannery (not trolling, Best)
Furlong
Ryan
POC
Ferris
O’Brien
Heaslip

Murray
Sexton
Trimble
Ringrose
BOD
Bowe
Kearney

Willie Falloon wrote:

boringperson12 wrote:Zebo and Earls ahead of Bowe? fudge right off. Also says a lot about our centres if Henshaw has been our best 12 of the last 10 years.

D'arcy was streets ahead of Henshaw. His ability to draw his opposite number an pass of either hands was top drawer.

Great defender too, but maybe not the hardest tackler.

Post-2010 Darse was never the same player as 2006-era Darse. He was still a very good player and worth his place in the team, but he was the best 12 of the last decade, not this one.

I put Ringrose in at 12 because he's the best centre we've had this decade outside of BOD.

Floppykid wrote:I put Ringrose in at 12 because he's the best centre we've had this decade outside of BOD.

Thats a pretty sad indictment of our backs

Winnie wrote:

Floppykid wrote:I put Ringrose in at 12 because he's the best centre we've had this decade outside of BOD.

Thats a pretty sad indictment of our backs

Marshall was too much of a sicknote to fulfill his early talent.
McCloskey, for all his physicality, doesn't have the mobility for the top end imo.
Henshaw is a great athlete who can bring a lot to a committed team, but he's also a sicknote and 12 isn't his natural position at all. Aki doesn't have the football to match Ringrose.
Farrell is a sicknote and a bit of a flat track bully as the levels go up.

Top ten Irish rugby moments of the decade?

1. Beating the All Blacks in Dublin, Nov. 2018. Felt we caught them on the hop in Chicago when they were experimenting, and in holiday mode. They were going for it in this one. Huge intensity, and to hold the ABs tryless was enormous.
2. Grand Slam in Twickenham, Mar. 2018. Watched it with a few England fans in an Irish pub in Córdoba, they were stupefied but incredibly gracious about how they were battered in that first half.
3. Chicago, Nov. 2016.
4. Beating SA in Cape Town, June 2016. With 14 men! What a game.
5. Holding on in Paris for the 6N win, March 2014.
6. Beating Australia in the 2011 WC.
7. Winning the 6N on that mental last day in 2015.
8. Leinster's comeback in Cardiff, May 2011. The only Leinster moment in there, but there wasn't the same drama about the 2012 or 2018 wins. When you expect to win, it's not as much fun, which may explain why the ABs fans are so joyless.
9. Series win in Aus, June 2018.
10. Jonny's drop goal in Paris, Feb 2018. Seemed like a 'get out of jail' at the time after a poor performance, but it set us on the way for the GS.

Honourable mention: destroying South Africa in 2017. Fúcking loved it, one of the most complete performances by an Irish team I've seen.

Team: Kearney, Bowe, O'Driscoll, Henshaw, Trimble; Sexton, Murray; Healy, Best, Furlong, POC, Henderson, POM, SOB, Heaslip.

Trimble wins out over Earls for the parts he played in Chicago, Cape Town, and the 2014 6N, when he was outstanding.

Frank "Blue Offside" Murphy reffing Munster v Leinster with George Clancy running the line FFS

nardol wrote:

earl the beaver wrote:

nardol wrote:

CM11 wrote:https://www.the42.ie/irish-rugby-team-o ... 7-Dec2019/

A lot of obvious picks but enough there to argue about.

Rory Best .... I would have Fla ahead of him.

You have Ireland's most successful captain of all time, 3rd in our all time cap list

Or

A guy who had 7 caps in the 2010s, four of them off the bench.

And you pick the bottom one.

Never go full Jumper.

I just don't rate Best. Others do I don't. I think he got the caps he did because he was a good captain (as opposed to player) and because we never had a serious alternative.

The John Hayes of hookers if you will.

I'm also using the criteria of the article - 'to name the best Irish players in their position over the last 10 years.' Ie the best player to have played the position in the last decade regardless of accumulated caps IN THAT PERIOD.

God you’re unreal, think I’ll put you on ignore till January . My head hurts reading your posts

IMO a team of the decade needs to reflect overall contribution over the 10 years aswell as players ability . I’d exclude players whose careers only touched on one end of the decade like Wallace and James Ryan . Ferris was a superior player to POM but I’d go for the latter because Fez just didn’t accumulate enough caps in this decade . Ideally you should have played at least 6/7 seasons out of 10 to make a side like this , if you’ve only played 4/5 then your contribution must have been outstanding , 3 or less then you’re not really eligible .


1.Healy
2.Best
3.Furlong
4.Toner
5.POC
6.POM
7.SOB
8.Headlip
9.Murray
10.Sexton
11.Earls
12. Henshaw
13.BOD
14.Bowe
15.Kearney

Can't figure out why people are so hard on R Best. For me he has to be the hooker on the team of the decade. If it was only for playing on against the All blacks with a broken arm. He has elevated himself to probably Ireland's 3rd best hooker of all time behind only Wood and Fitzgerald which is unreal company.

mickie wrote:Can't figure out why people are so hard on R Best. For me he has to be the hooker on the team of the decade. If it was only for playing on against the All blacks with a broken arm. He has elevated himself to probably Ireland's 3rd best hooker of all time behind only Wood and Fitzgerald which is unreal company.

Hangover from when he was competing with Fla for the job. Some people were just never going home to see past some perceived flaws after that. He was a model of consistency, professionalism, hard work, durability and grit for more than a decade in the team.

mickie wrote:Can't figure out why people are so hard on R Best. For me he has to be the hooker on the team of the decade. If it was only for playing on against the All blacks with a broken arm. He has elevated himself to probably Ireland's 3rd best hooker of all time behind only Wood and Fitzgerald which is unreal company.

Best > Wood