6 Nations 2019

Derm McCrum

In a new departure for Joe Schmidt, he has announced the foreign-born players in his squad to facilitate headline writers in various foreign media:

NZ Media: Joey Carbery and Bundee Aki with coaches Joe Schmidt, Greg Feek
English media: Will Addison with coaches Andy Farrell and Simon Easterby
South African media: CJ Stander and Quinn Roux
French media: Ultan Dillane
Spanish media: Jordi Murphy
Not-born in Dublin media: Sean O'Brien, Tadgh Furlong, POM, Murray, Earls, Best, Stockdale, Henshaw, Toner, vdF, Cronin

Dublin-born players will be announced at the usual time tomorrow.

Edit: 2 more sleeps......

cgrant

French team to play Wales :

Poirot
Guirado
Atonio
Vahaminaa
Willemsee
Lauret
Uturria
Picamoles
Parra
Lopez
Huget
Ntamack
Fofana
Penaud
Medard

Priso
Marchand
Bamba
Lambey
Alldritt
Serin
Fickou
Doumayrou

Machpants

Interesting stats

WTF Scotland and France away games!

Daffy Jaffy

England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Jamie George, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 6 Mark Wilson, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Billy Vunipola.

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Dan Robson, 22 George Ford, 23 Chris Ashton.

Catogrande

@Daffy-Jaffy said in 6 Nations 2019:

England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Jamie George, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 6 Mark Wilson, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Billy Vunipola.

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Dan Robson, 22 George Ford, 23 Chris Ashton.

It will be interesting to see how Tuilagi goes at 12 and also interesting to see the duel between Murray's accurate box kicking and how Daly copes with it. Nowell in there to back him up is a plus, he was very good under the high ball in the Munster v Exeter game a couple of weeks ago. I like the look of the back row for once and whilst I would like to have seen Launchbury in the mix at lock, he has only had a couple of games coming back from injury and we have good strength in depth there.

All in all as good as I could have hoped for.

Crucial

@Daffy-Jaffy said in 6 Nations 2019:

England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Jamie George, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 6 Mark Wilson, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Billy Vunipola.

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Dan Robson, 22 George Ford, 23 Chris Ashton.

Interesting. Eddie is desperate to have Tuilagi on the field but to do so has to abandon his gameplan of two playmakers (Farrell/Teo or Ford/Farrell) as he also wants Slade out there. Might be getting in a tangle, might be taking a chance?
I don't see Tuilagi offering much at 12 but I might have it wrong. IMO he needs to be one more out to get a little space and time on the ball.

The talk of Brown's redemption looks to have just been talk.

They better hope Curry lasts the game or it will be back to a backrow based on size alone.

Will be watching this one with interest although I can't bring myself to wish a win for one team over the other and a draw would still have Eddie and Moonhead claiming a 'moral victory'

Derm McCrum

Ireland

Backs
Robbie Henshaw; Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray;

Forwards
Cian Healy, Rory Best (capt), Tadhg Furlong; Devin Toner, James Ryan; Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, CJ Stander.

Subs
Seán Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Quinn Roux, Seán O’Brien, John Cooney, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour.

Crucial

@Derm-McCrum said in 6 Nations 2019:

Ireland

Backs
Robbie Henshaw; Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray;

Forwards
Cian Healy, Rory Best (capt), Tadhg Furlong; Devin Toner, James Ryan; Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, CJ Stander.

Subs
Seán Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Quinn Roux, Seán O’Brien, John Cooney, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour.

@Derm-McCrum how do you feel about Henshaw at 15? Shoehorning the quality in or a cunning plan?

Bones

@Crucial isn't Slade considered a bit of a playmaker?

Crucial

@Bones said in 6 Nations 2019:

@Crucial isn't Slade considered a bit of a playmaker?

Yeah, but his game in this side is to distribute from 13. That's a bit different to the Farrell/Teo or Ford/Farrell strategies.
I agree that with his skill set and Tuilagi's better place at 13 the two should be swapped. Maybe they will anyway and this is just Eddie trying to be a smart arse.

Catogrande

@Bones said in 6 Nations 2019:

@Crucial isn't Slade considered a bit of a playmaker?

Slade was initially being groomed as a 10 and he has the physical skill set for that position. I think it was his wanting to continually make THE play coupled with game management that wasn't quite up there that has led him first to 12 and then to 13. At Exeter he was wasted at 12 as Steenson made all the playmaking decisions; that might be different with Farrell at 10. Slade then found a little more freedom at13 and has really made his mark. I see him at 13 as a better double playmaker option than Ford and Farrell at 10 & 12. If you're going down that route though you need a 12 that can truck it up in traffic. Teo would be the natural fit but is injured (again) so I can see why Eddie has gone for Tuilagi there. Whether it will work or not is another matter - I suppose in extremis Tuilagi and Slade could swap?

Derm McCrum

@Crucial said in 6 Nations 2019:

@Derm-McCrum said in 6 Nations 2019:

Ireland

Backs
Robbie Henshaw; Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray;

Forwards
Cian Healy, Rory Best (capt), Tadhg Furlong; Devin Toner, James Ryan; Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, CJ Stander.

Subs
Seán Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Quinn Roux, Seán O’Brien, John Cooney, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour.

@Derm-McCrum how do you feel about Henshaw at 15? Shoehorning the quality in or a cunning plan?

I’m good with it until I see him play. Played his first test there and is his original playing position with Connacht. He prefers it to midfield.

He’s been training there since Oz tour and was due to get some time during Nov tests but an early injury to another player knocked the plan on its head.

Could galvanize the back three a bit more. He’s a great tackler and covers a lot of ground but it’s his positioning that will be assessed most critically.

cgrant

The French pack is the heaviest in rugby history : 962 kg !
(Poirot - 117, Guirado 105, Atonio - 152, Vahaamina - 126, Willemsee - 129, Lauret - 103, Uturria - 112, Picamoles - 118).
So plenty of power but what about its mobility ?

MN5

@cgrant said in 6 Nations 2019:

The French pack is the heaviest in rugby history : 962 kg !
(Poirot - 117, Guirado 105, Atonio - 152, Vahaamina - 126, Willemsee - 129, Lauret - 103, Uturria - 112, Picamoles - 118).
So plenty of power but what about its mobility ?

I saw Bill Cavuvati in Masterton last year. If he came out of retirement I'm certain Atonios would be put in second place again.

taniwharugby

'Boring' Irelands trophy to lose!

Although, if they win the 6N will that add even more pressure to the RWC 'favorites?'

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/international/110303310/six-nations-manu-tuilagi-and-vunipolas-return-for-england-to-face-ireland

MiketheSnow

Wales:
Liam Williams (Saracens); George North (Ospreys), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets), Josh Adams (Worcester); Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues)

Rob Evans (Scarlets), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Tomas Francis (Exeter), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, captain), Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Dragons).

Replacements:
Elliot Dee (Dragons), Wyn Jones (Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Cory Hill (Dragons), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons)
Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Northampton), Owen Watkin (Ospreys)

On a roll.
Good combo of size & mobility in the forwards.
Some genuine pace in the backline.

Wales 36 - 17 France

Cymru am Byth

Catogrande

@MiketheSnow Strong team Mike, you must be happy?

Crucial

I know they have probably improved and it sounds snarky but I still can't work out how Anscombe and Parkes are first selections in a Tier 1 team.

Machpants

@Crucial yeah they have improved but both were journeymen at supper level in NZ, not even starters often. Aki the same, tho he had 3 years to improve. I guess playing at higher level had improved their games, something they never would have got the chance of here

KiwiMurph

@Machpants Aki was a starter for the Chiefs and was class - he should have been an AB instead of Francis Saili who they picked instead.

The Silver Fern

6 Nations 2019