Planet Rugby Forum

Also, despite his non- grounding of the ball, I thought Farrell was a great source of go forward ball all day. We could play much better if we get lads running off his shoulder when he's punching holes in defences.

Bogbunny wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:58 pm

hermie wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:52 pm

Mr. Very Popular wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:49 pm For next week
Healy
Herring
Porter
Hendo
Beirne
CJ
Conors
Doris

Cooney
Burns

Stockdale
Aki
Farrell
Lowe
Keenan

I'd love to see a lot of the young fellas involved, Baird, Casey, Lowry would all bring something a bit different.

Baird, Casey and Byrne simply have to be brought in.

No better game in the next 2 years to do it.

While I agree, never going to happen. Central contracts, have to win ergo no risks, playing lads back into form, etc....

hermie wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:52 pm

Mr. Very Popular wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:49 pm For next week
Healy
Herring
Porter
Hendo
Beirne
CJ
Conors
Doris

Cooney
Burns

Stockdale
Aki
Farrell
Lowe
Keenan

I'd love to see a lot of the young fellas involved, Baird, Casey, Lowry would all bring something a bit different.

Baird, Casey and Byrne simply have to be brought in.

Yup. And Coombes too.

We need to start looking at guys with high ceilings, and move away from stop gaps.

If there are high-potential younger guys available, they should be involved - Ruddock and probably Cooney miss out as a result. Where there are no high-potential young guys, we might need stop gaps - maybe the likes of James Cronin.

Kelleher probably needs to be persisted with at hooker. An intelligent lock to call the lineout would help him no end.

feckwanker wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:01 pm Also, despite his non- grounding of the ball, I thought Farrell was a great source of go forward ball all day. We could play much better if we get lads running off his shoulder when he's punching holes in defences.

He was a bit one-dimensional, but he was basically our only source of go-forward in that second half.

For the good of Ireland Leinster need to move on from Ross Byrne as soon as possible. Yes other provinces should be developing players, but we are where we are.

Keenan is a good tidy player, but he's not someone you should be planning to have in the team long-term.

I also do slightly wonder about player conditioning. It's all well and good dominating collision in the Pro14, but to reach their potential the likes of Doris and Kelleher should be looking to put on another 4 or 5kg each minimum.

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:40 pmAgainst bigger teams i'd be tempted to throw someone like Baird/Beirne in at 6 and Leavy in at 7. One of Doris/Stander at 8.

I agree with this. Also while our 10 stocks are as they are, I'd have Murray covering 10 so we can get an extra forward on the bench.

hermie wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:52 pm

Mr. Very Popular wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:49 pm For next week
Healy
Herring
Porter
Hendo
Beirne
CJ
Conors
Doris

Cooney
Burns

Stockdale
Aki
Farrell
Lowe
Keenan

I'd love to see a lot of the young fellas involved, Baird, Casey, Lowry would all bring something a bit different.

Baird, Casey and Byrne simply have to be brought in.

A team I'd like to see, just for the madness of it

Healy
Kevin O Brien ( his time is coming)
Porter
Dillane
Baird
Doris
Conors
Coombes

Casey
Byrne the Junior

Lowe
Lowry
Farrell
Stockdale
Keenan.

And just let them play ball.

EverReady wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:07 pm

Mr. Very Popular wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:56 pm Stockdale is getting closer to that MOTM award yet.

The provincial bias just sickens my hole. The only consistently neutral members are you and I MVP and we both know all the Prods are shite

We're like God's of truth.

Jim Lahey wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:15 pm How can you be relatively happy with Farrell out of curiosity? IMO:

-He hasn’t changed our style to suit our strengths.
-He hasn’t addressed our complete lack of creativity in attack.
-He hasn’t improved our set piece.
-He hasn’t improved our defence.
-He hasn’t done very much in 7 games apart from stick to Joe’s preprogrammed attack and awful kicking game, which ultimately started failing spectacularly almost 2 years ago (after succeeding for quite some time beforehand).

We can give the man more time etc., but really, are we going to win a championship or even a Triple Crown under this man? Is he going to change our current gameplan to a winning one given that he needs to replace our linchpin at 10 in the next year or two?

I just don’t see it personally. I hope this post is re-quoted in 2 or 3 years time after some epic success to show me up for being completely wrong but I have seen nothing to-date to suggest he can turn us around.

Don't agree with a lot of that. I think he has absolutely addressed our creativity in attack for a start.

Given he has an aging Sexton and sfa outside of that he has done pretty well.

I just like the attitude he seems to bring to the team. They were well beaten today by a significantly superior team but showed the kind of guts I want to see. I think Farrell should take some credit for that.

Anyway - very early days yet and you might well be right...but i'm happy with him for now.

hermie wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:21 pm

Jim Lahey wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:15 pm How can you be relatively happy with Farrell out of curiosity? IMO:

-He hasn’t changed our style to suit our strengths.
-He hasn’t addressed our complete lack of creativity in attack.
-He hasn’t improved our set piece.
-He hasn’t improved our defence.
-He hasn’t done very much in 7 games apart from stick to Joe’s preprogrammed attack and awful kicking game, which ultimately started failing spectacularly almost 2 years ago (after succeeding for quite some time beforehand).

We can give the man more time etc., but really, are we going to win a championship or even a Triple Crown under this man? Is he going to change our current gameplan to a winning one given that he needs to replace our linchpin at 10 in the next year or two?

I just don’t see it personally. I hope this post is re-quoted in 2 or 3 years time after some epic success to show me up for being completely wrong but I have seen nothing to-date to suggest he can turn us around.

Yeah agree with much of that. The gameplan is noticeably different though to a certain extent. Less prescribed but far less accurate and not as strong at the ruck which was central to Schmidt's style.

The core rot is the same. Utter predictability due to complete lack of creativity, which was always the fatal flaw in Schmidt's system. The problem isn't that teams have worked us out, it's that In the space of two years Schmidt's playing system has not just become totally obsolete, it's that it's become an active recipe for failure, because it's not something that can be successfully adapted to a heads up, creative gameplan.

While we're unlikely to have new guys brought into the squad for this game, it would be great to see something like:

Cronin, Kelleher, Porter; - LH is a big worry in the medium term.
Henderson (c), Beirne;
Baird, Doris, Connors:

JGP, H. Byrne;
Aki, Farrell; - it's unispiring, but I don't think we need to blood options in the centre.
Lowe, Daly, Stockdale.

Bench:
O'Byrne - It's a stop-gap, but he's a baller.
Herring
O'Toole - Are there any other options?
Wycherly
Coombes
Casey
Burns
Keenan

(/adjust for your own flavour of bias as needed)

Flametop wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:43 pm @ Shabba..Prozac is hellava drug.

Ah fuck all the gloomy bollox. We were not that bad - and we will improve.

England were/are a much more settled team - they had everything in their favour.

It is nowhere near as bad as people are making out.

I think we will be grand come 6N time.

Won the 2nd half and you are only as good as your last half - so technically we are already better than the cunts

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:11 pm

Jim Lahey wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:15 pm How can you be relatively happy with Farrell out of curiosity? IMO:

-He hasn’t changed our style to suit our strengths.
-He hasn’t addressed our complete lack of creativity in attack.
-He hasn’t improved our set piece.
-He hasn’t improved our defence.
-He hasn’t done very much in 7 games apart from stick to Joe’s preprogrammed attack and awful kicking game, which ultimately started failing spectacularly almost 2 years ago (after succeeding for quite some time beforehand).

We can give the man more time etc., but really, are we going to win a championship or even a Triple Crown under this man? Is he going to change our current gameplan to a winning one given that he needs to replace our linchpin at 10 in the next year or two?

I just don’t see it personally. I hope this post is re-quoted in 2 or 3 years time after some epic success to show me up for being completely wrong but I have seen nothing to-date to suggest he can turn us around.

Don't agree with a lot of that. I think he has absolutely addressed our creativity in attack for a start.

Given he has an aging Sexton and sfa outside of that he has done pretty well.

I just like the attitude he seems to bring to the team. They were well beaten today by a significantly superior team but showed the kind of guts I want to see. I think Farrell should take some credit for that.

Anyway - very early days yet and you might well be right...but i'm happy with him for now.

Are you high?

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:16 pm

Flametop wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:43 pm @ Shabba..Prozac is hellava drug.

Ah fuck all the gloomy bollox. We were not that bad - and we will improve.

England were/are a much more settled team - they had everything in their favour.

It is nowhere near as bad as people are making out.

I think we will be grand come 6N time.

Won the 2nd half and you are only as good as your last half - so technically we are already better than the cunts

Define grand.
4th?

Hellraiser wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:16 pm

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:11 pm

Jim Lahey wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:15 pm How can you be relatively happy with Farrell out of curiosity? IMO:

-He hasn’t changed our style to suit our strengths.
-He hasn’t addressed our complete lack of creativity in attack.
-He hasn’t improved our set piece.
-He hasn’t improved our defence.
-He hasn’t done very much in 7 games apart from stick to Joe’s preprogrammed attack and awful kicking game, which ultimately started failing spectacularly almost 2 years ago (after succeeding for quite some time beforehand).

We can give the man more time etc., but really, are we going to win a championship or even a Triple Crown under this man? Is he going to change our current gameplan to a winning one given that he needs to replace our linchpin at 10 in the next year or two?

I just don’t see it personally. I hope this post is re-quoted in 2 or 3 years time after some epic success to show me up for being completely wrong but I have seen nothing to-date to suggest he can turn us around.

Don't agree with a lot of that. I think he has absolutely addressed our creativity in attack for a start.

Given he has an aging Sexton and sfa outside of that he has done pretty well.

I just like the attitude he seems to bring to the team. They were well beaten today by a significantly superior team but showed the kind of guts I want to see. I think Farrell should take some credit for that.

Anyway - very early days yet and you might well be right...but i'm happy with him for now.

Are you high?

Not at the moment, no.

Your final point deserves more attention tbf.
We won 7-0 when he brought on the Ulster players.

Jim Lahey wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:18 pm

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:16 pm

Flametop wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:43 pm @ Shabba..Prozac is hellava drug.

Ah fuck all the gloomy bollox. We were not that bad - and we will improve.

England were/are a much more settled team - they had everything in their favour.

It is nowhere near as bad as people are making out.

I think we will be grand come 6N time.

Won the 2nd half and you are only as good as your last half - so technically we are already better than the cunts

Define grand.
4th?

3/5 is grand
4/5 would be good

Jim Lahey wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:19 pm Your final point deserves more attention tbf.
We won 7-0 when he brought on the Ulster players.

Hendo looked good when he came on tbf. And Burns, who I have been shitting all over, played a brazillion times better than Byrne

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:16 pm

Flametop wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:43 pm @ Shabba..Prozac is hellava drug.

Ah fuck all the gloomy bollox. We were not that bad - and we will improve.

England were/are a much more settled team - they had everything in their favour.

It is nowhere near as bad as people are making out.

I think we will be grand come 6N time.

Won the 2nd half and you are only as good as your last half - so technically we are already better than the cunts

England won because
They had 230 almost perfect tackles.
They humbled us with their physicality, aggression and defence.
As an attacking team, they are no better than us, except Farrell's Cross kicks are better.

We need some aggression and spite in the forwards back 5 and some creativity from 10 to 13

There were so many times when we could have had them scrambling back if we had played a neat grubber in behind them but instead we just shovelled the ball sideways to a stationary player. Awful stuff.
It's like watching a shit version of Mungo but at least they kick after the 5th tackle

I hope to God we don't have to play South Africa anytime soon because they'll fúcking murder us.

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:23 pm

Jim Lahey wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:19 pm Your final point deserves more attention tbf.
We won 7-0 when he brought on the Ulster players.

Hendo looked good when he came on tbf. And Burns, who I have been shitting all over, played a brazillion times better than Byrne

I don't think even the most diehard Ulster fan thinks that King Billy is the answer for Ireland, or Ulster.

Total waste of a cap (or 2)

Trostan wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:25 pm

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:16 pm

Flametop wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:43 pm @ Shabba..Prozac is hellava drug.

Ah fuck all the gloomy bollox. We were not that bad - and we will improve.

England were/are a much more settled team - they had everything in their favour.

It is nowhere near as bad as people are making out.

I think we will be grand come 6N time.

Won the 2nd half and you are only as good as your last half - so technically we are already better than the cunts

England won because
They had 230 almost perfect tackles.
They humbled us with their physicality, aggression and defence.
As an attacking team, they are no better than us, except Farrell's Cross kicks are better.

We need some aggression and spite in the forwards back 5 and some creativity from 10 to 13

Agree with most of that. I'd add in our shite lineout too.

I'd say most of the time Keenan doesn't half slip and lose in the air to May, and most of the time May doesn't go the full length of the pitch and score his second. But that said, if England needed another score I think they would have been able to get it.

We have had far more soul destroying losses to England than today.

Bogbunny wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:34 pm

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:23 pm

Jim Lahey wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:19 pm Your final point deserves more attention tbf.
We won 7-0 when he brought on the Ulster players.

Hendo looked good when he came on tbf. And Burns, who I have been shitting all over, played a brazillion times better than Byrne

I don't think even the most diehard Ulster fan thinks that King Billy is the answer for Ireland, or Ulster.

Total waste of a cap (or 2)

Agreed unfortunately.

But who the fúck do you cap? Byrne sure as shit isn't up to it. And the rest are too young. We're fúcked for a while at 10 I think.

Should go the bergamasco route and just play a forward at 9 and 10(if Sexton is injured)

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:38 pm

Bogbunny wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:34 pm

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:23 pm

Jim Lahey wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:19 pm Your final point deserves more attention tbf.
We won 7-0 when he brought on the Ulster players.

Hendo looked good when he came on tbf. And Burns, who I have been shitting all over, played a brazillion times better than Byrne

I don't think even the most diehard Ulster fan thinks that King Billy is the answer for Ireland, or Ulster.

Total waste of a cap (or 2)

Agreed unfortunately.

But who the fúck do you cap? Byrne sure as shit isn't up to it. And the rest are too young. We're fúcked for a while at 10 I think.

Should go the bergamasco route and just play a forward at 9 and 10(if Sexton is injured)

They're not too young, Healy and Harry are the same age as DuPont, and he's done ok.

Yeah Sexton, R. Byrne or Billy Boy should not be starting next week. But we all know one of them will.

earl the beaver wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:00 pm For Georgia I'd drop Ryan, consider Hendy as captain. I'd retain Kelleher.

Healy
Kelleher
Bealham/Ryan
Henderson
Roux
Stander
Connors
Doris
Murray
Burns
Lowe
McCloskey (there's a reason he's not been released to Ulster this week or last, they've probably planned on a token cap here)
Farrell
Keet
Stockdale

Herring
Fúck knows, really don't rate Byrne
Porter
Ryan
VDF
Cooney (we can but dream)
Byrne
Keenan

Farrell is not a 13, never has been. He was always a 12 at Ulster, then somehow became a 13 in France. Hasn't the acceleration or burst of speed, nor does he have the vision or hands to put his winger away.

Ireland badly need a new centre to join the current 4 or 5, I hope one of Moore or Hume keep improving, they certainly have the skill level to better the current crop, whether or not they are as good defensively remains to be seen.

A couple of observations. This England team are not amazing, but they do some things exceptionally well. They're fit, physical, very aggressive and very cute in the way they play on the edge, and tailor that to the blind spots/whims of each referee. They have a couple of world class players, a decent amount of good internationals, and pretty much anyone in their team has some aspects of their game that are top drawer.

But they've pretty much figured us out two/three years ago, and we haven't adapted.
They fcuk with our primary posession, by competing hard at the lineout (not always legally) and likewise at the scrum. So often we are trying to generate go forward from shite ball, and that is what their whole setup and game plan is based around. They further know that 10 is the centre of our game - we don't have another playmaker, so push hard on that and you have removed our main other option.

I see some positive signs - there was plenty of heart on show there, and there have been signs that we are trying to evolve our game to play more off 9 occasionally and to vary our options off 10. Dropping Murray (who I thought was ok when he came on to be fair) and lighting a fire under POM have been good. He's also brought on a few young lads like Connors, Kelleher, Keenan and had others involved in squads like Daly, O'Toole etc.

But some stuff worries me - our lineout and mauling is worse. Our scrum is getting messed with more and more often. Our breakdown work (perhaps new laws playing a part) is a lot less precise. Our kick-chase and backing up of our kick-receivers is noticeably worse that it was under Schmidt. Our passing seems to have disimproved - perhaps personnel related. Also, we have a few players who looked particularly out on their feet. I love James Lowe at Leinster level, but he looks to be carrying a bit too much timber to be effective over a full game against some of the best teams

EverReady wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:47 pm

earl the beaver wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:38 pm

Duff Paddy wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:32 pm

EverReady wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:29 pm England have better players in nearly every position so the coaching doesn't make a huge difference.

I don’t buy that at all. Japan beat us at the World Cup because we were badly coached and they were very well coached. There is no excuse for Ireland losing so many lineouts today, for Lowe (who rarely kicks) panick kicking away every ball he got today etc etc

Japan have gamebreakers though, their wingers are genuine threats from anywhere and they have powerful and pacy carriers in the backrow (their backrow made 138m, compared to 43 from us), sure we might have on average better players but we are lacking game breakers, which is why we need Stockdale in the team somewhere and we need to hope someone like Coombs continues to smash through people as he moves up the levels in the backrow.

Stockdale has been shite. Why would he make any difference. Coming off the bench today he was a bit hungry so.maybe see how that goes. Overall and as many of us said a good while ago this is just a fallow few years ahead. We'll give Wales and Scotland a rattle and hide behind the couch for everybody else

Stockdale has been very poor defensively
Going forward he is still our most dangerous back 3 player

Trostan wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:25 pm

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:16 pm

Flametop wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:43 pm @ Shabba..Prozac is hellava drug.

Ah fuck all the gloomy bollox. We were not that bad - and we will improve.

England were/are a much more settled team - they had everything in their favour.

It is nowhere near as bad as people are making out.

I think we will be grand come 6N time.

Won the 2nd half and you are only as good as your last half - so technically we are already better than the cunts

England won because
They had 230 almost perfect tackles.
They humbled us with their physicality, aggression and defence.
As an attacking team, they are no better than us, except Farrell's Cross kicks are better.

We need some aggression and spite in the forwards back 5 and some creativity from 10 to 13

They had perfect tackles because Ireland kept running into them, rarely, if ever (aside from the try) did Irelands attack make England think, they just seen a white jersey and tried to run over him.

Willie Falloon wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:05 pm

Trostan wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:25 pm

shabadoo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:16 pm

Flametop wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:43 pm @ Shabba..Prozac is hellava drug.

Ah fuck all the gloomy bollox. We were not that bad - and we will improve.

England were/are a much more settled team - they had everything in their favour.

It is nowhere near as bad as people are making out.

I think we will be grand come 6N time.

Won the 2nd half and you are only as good as your last half - so technically we are already better than the cunts

England won because
They had 230 almost perfect tackles.
They humbled us with their physicality, aggression and defence.
As an attacking team, they are no better than us, except Farrell's Cross kicks are better.

We need some aggression and spite in the forwards back 5 and some creativity from 10 to 13

They had perfect tackles because Ireland kept running into them, rarely, if ever (aside from the try) did Irelands attack make England think, they just seen a white jersey and tried to run over him.

The better teams recently Argies, England, & Saffa WC final will tackle all match and barely miss a single one. Bludgeoning through them isn't an option. Even after 20 phases of retention the gaps just aren't coming in their defence. We have to evolve a different approach.

hermie wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:24 pm

earl the beaver wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:22 pm Everything thrown at him?

Solid, certainly in comparison to Stockdale

Nonsense
Stockdale has as many negatives against France as Keenan had today
Stockdale has 4 times the positives against France as Keenan had today

Flametop wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:26 pm Keenan had a 9/10 performance compared to Stockdale’s last effort starting at 15.

Other than that Keenan was about a 6.

That’s complete bollocks

feckwanker wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:01 pm Also, despite his non- grounding of the ball, I thought Farrell was a great source of go forward ball all day. We could play much better if we get lads running off his shoulder when he's punching holes in defences.

Oh, I agree . You don't pick Farrell and then attempt to play a passing game.

Winnie wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:11 pm

hermie wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:24 pm

earl the beaver wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:22 pm Everything thrown at him?

Solid, certainly in comparison to Stockdale

Nonsense
Stockdale has as many negatives against France as Keenan had today
Stockdale has 4 times the positives against France as Keenan had today

Keenan done fudge all in attack, he made an error that led to a try, albeit a very good try.

Lets put it this way, I know who I'd rather have lining out at FB or wing for Ulster and it aint Keenan.

Willie Falloon wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:15 pm

Winnie wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:11 pm

hermie wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:24 pm

earl the beaver wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:22 pm Everything thrown at him?

Solid, certainly in comparison to Stockdale

Nonsense
Stockdale has as many negatives against France as Keenan had today
Stockdale has 4 times the positives against France as Keenan had today

Keenan done fudge all in attack, he made an error that led to a try, albeit a very good try.

Lets put it this way, I know who I'd rather have lining out at FB or wing for Ulster and it aint Keenan.

Keenan would be pushed to make the top 6 Ulster back 3 players ATM

Bogbunny wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:19 pm

Willie Falloon wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:15 pm

Winnie wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:11 pm

hermie wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:24 pm

earl the beaver wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:22 pm Everything thrown at him?

Solid, certainly in comparison to Stockdale

Nonsense
Stockdale has as many negatives against France as Keenan had today
Stockdale has 4 times the positives against France as Keenan had today

Keenan done fudge all in attack, he made an error that led to a try, albeit a very good try.

Lets put it this way, I know who I'd rather have lining out at FB or wing for Ulster and it aint Keenan.

Keenan would be pushed to make the top 6 Ulster back 3 players ATM

11.Balacoune
14.Stockdale
15. Addison

He is a similar level to Lyttle and Lowry has more in attack. Faddes is good in attack, but I still don't think he has played to his full potential. He was very good for the Highlanders, lightning quick.

Keenan did well, especially considering it was his third cap.
Stockdale may have a higher ceiling in attack, but keenan is more rounded and suited to fullback.
Stockdale should stick to the wing, good to see him bouncing back today.

I thought all back 3 players did well today, especially as little ball or space was given to them by Byrne, Aki or Farrell.

Stepping away from the Irish team at the moment, anyone involved in clubs at the moment, how are ye finding things?

Imagine it's the same everywhere in terms of tightening of funds and trying to fundraise, curious as to what others are doing considering what I'd imagine is a major source of income, the club bar, being shut off as well as potentially reduced intake from more traditional fundraising as people not meeting others in person.

Difficult times, notwithstanding the uncertainty around playing. We got about three games under our belt with games being suspended just as the league was about to start.

Tough aul watch that, who are we blaming?

Ah never mind I see the Nordies have settled on the only positional fullback we have.