Irish Wolfhounds v Fiji

Here's a question if you could pick the Irish Wolfhound team for Fiji who would you choose?

It's a game me and my friends used to play when EOS was in charge of the Ireland squad because we knew it would be the same XV every week

Mine would be this:

1. Dave Kilcoyne (Munster)
2. Mike Sherry (Munster)
3. Ronan Loughney (Connacht)
4. Damien Browne (Leinster)
5. Dan Touhy (Ulster)
6. John Muldoon (Connacht)
7. Sean Dougal (Munster)
8. Roger Wilson (Ulster)
9. Paul Marshall (Ulster)
10. Paddy Jackson (Ulster)
11. Tiernan O'Halloran (Connacht)
12. Dave McSharry (Connacht)
13. Darren Cave (Ulster)
14. Craig Gilroy (Ulster)
15. Robbie Hemshaw (Connacht)

16. Jamie Hagan (Leinster)
17. Damien Varley (Munster)
18. Lewis Stevenson (Ulster)
19. Peter O'Mahoney (Munster)
20. Kieran Marmion (Connacht)
21. Ian Madigan (Leinster)
22. Denis Hurley (Munster)

some interesting choices.

what would be your ireland team?

mine woud be

healy, best, ross
Ryan, Tuohy
Ferris, O mahony, Heaslip.
Murray, Sexton.
Bowe, Darcy, BOD, trimble
madigan.
subs- strauss, court, fitzpatrick, Poc, Henry, Reddin, rog, zebo.

Wolfhounds-
killer, sherry, Loughney
stevenson, Mccarthy
mul, dougal, butler/murphy(jordi)
marshall, jackson
kearney, mcsharry, cave, gilroy
jones.
subs- varley,buckley,bent/archer,doc,butler/murphy,marmion, keatley, Hurley/henshaw.

This would be mine


1. Jack McGrath/Paddy Mcallister (leinster)(Ulster)
2. Mike Sherry (Muntser)
3. Declan Fitzpatrick (Ulster)
4. Dave O Callagahan (Munster)
5. Ben Marshell (Leinster)
6. Iain Henderson (Ulster
7. Dominic Ryan/ Jordi Murphy (Leinster)
8. Rys Ruddock (Leinster)
9. Paul Marshall (Ulster)
10. Ian Madigan (Leinster)
11. Dave Kearney (Leinster)
12. Mata Fifita (connacht) Eoin O'Malley (Leinster)
13. Darren Cave (Ulster)
14. Simon Zebo (Ulster)
15. Robbie Henshaw/ Felix jones ( Connacht)/(munster)

My first XV would be as follows:

1. Cian Healy
2. Rory Best
3. Mike Ross
4. DOC
5. POC
6. Stephen Ferris
7. Chris Henry
8. Jamie Heaslip
9. Eoin Reddan
10. Jonathan Sexton
11. Keith Earls
12. Gordon Darcy
13. Brian O'Driscoll
14. Tommy Bowe
15. Ian Madigan

16. Richardt Strauss
17. Tom Court
18. Declan Fitzpatrick
19. Mike McCarthy
20. Sean Dougall
21. Conor Murray
22. Ronan O'Gara
23. Craig Gilroy


Kidney has some interesting choices to make. Rory Best and Stephen Ferris are fighting for fitness so will be interesting if they make it. Felix Jones will probably get the nod at 15 for the simple reason he's the only one left standing. Hemshaw, Keatley and Madigan are players who do a good job there but it isn't there natural position.

earls is also injured. afaik wont be fit til december.

earls is also injured. afaik wont be fit til december.

I'd say it's a straight race between McFadden and Zebo for the 11 jersey then with McFadden in the lead after doing well in New Zealand.

Given that imo yesterdays performance(1st half in particular) leaves us with a glass half full feeling rather than half empty i thought that we could explore the selection possibilities for this game. It offers lots of opportunities for players to get a start that have been showing form this season.
My initial feeling on selection would be-
1. Wilkinson.
2. Sherry
3. Loughney.
4. Tuohy
5. Toner.(short on options here)
6. Jordi Murphy
7. Faloon. (henry showed worth of genuine 7)
8. Butler.

9. Marshall
10. Jackson.
11. Gilroy.
12. Keatley.
13. Cave.
14. D Kearney.
15. Madigan.

Subs- 16. Varley, 17. Mc Allister, 18. Archer, 19. Nagle(struggle here), 20. Dave O Callaghan, 21. Marmion, 22. L Marshall, 23. T O halloran.

Imo thats what a wolfhounds team should look like. Blooding young break through players that arent involved in the senior set up. Thats why i havent selected anyone from yesterdays squad and overlooked players of Muldoons and Jennings quality because of age profile.

it may not happen this way given that many are hung up oth 6 game losing streak but in an ideal world this is how this game would be used.

Putting aside my Connacht bias for a minute I'd expect that for Fiji the front row would surely be Kilcoyne-Cronin-Bent as they'll need gametime ahead of Argentina. Likewise Henderson.

I expect the team will be drawn from the current squad with bolters on the bench.

Hurley
O'Halloran
Cave
Marshall
Gilroy
Jackson
Marshall

Kilcoyne
Cronin
Bent
Touhy
Henderson
McLaughlin
A.N.Other (Faloon?)
Muldoon

Just to be pedantic, this is not a wolfhounds match, it's an Ireland XV

for the purose of clarification, whats the difference?
A. The seniors by another name , B. wolfies by another name or c. an excuse to combine both?

I think Salmson is alot closer than Rossie. The fact is alot of the guys who played against S.A. will start the game because of experience and learning combinations. My front row would be Kilcoyne, Strauss and Bent as Kidney needs to bring these guys up fast. The same with Zebo at 15 he needs more gametime there. I think Ryan and McCarthy might have a good chance of staying to get used to each other as a partnership. It's the centres that I'll be interested to see. My XV is as follows

1. Kilcoyne
2. Strauss
3. Bent
4. Ryan
5. McCarthy
6. Henderson
7. Henry
8 Heaslip
9. Marshall
10. Jackson
11. Gilroy
12. ?
13. ?
14. O'Halloran
15. Zebo

P.S. Would love to see McSharry or Hemshaw get some gamtime.

I don't think anyone who started yesterday or the experienced subs (halfbacks, DOC, McFadden) will feature. The game against Argentina could yet be a must win for keeping us in the second tier of the world rankings. Powder dry and all that

the team i posted is the type of team id like to see. it will be most likely far closer to salmsons than mine.

rossie wrote: for the purose of clarification, whats the difference?
A. The seniors by another name , B. wolfies by another name or c. an excuse to combine both?

It's a non cap match, so the team isn't referred to as Ireland. More of a 'select' or 'invitational' XV

My 2 cents

I dont think any player should be selected who will most likely never challange for a starting spot in the 1st team, it would be of much more benefit to blood serious potentials for example i dont think wilkinson will ever be no1 and imo toner wont be either despite his size,muldoon and faloon while good players most likely wont be selected at this stage,i think loughney unless he ups his game considerably will be behind white at connacht and is now maybe 4th choice tighthead despite making the team recently. On that basis my team for the non cap game of fiji assuming all were fit would be

1. Jack Mcgrath (Leinster)
2. Jason Harris Wright (Connacht)
3. Michael Bent (Leinster)
4. Dave O'Callaghan ( Munster)
5. Ben Marshell (Leinster)
6. Iain Henderson (Ulster)
7. Jordi Murphy/Dominic Ryan (Leinster)
8. Rys Ruddock (Leinster)
9. Paul Marshell (Ulster)
10. Ian Madigan (Leinster)
11. Craig Gilroy (Ulster)
12. Mata Fifita (Connacht)
13. Darren Cave (Ulster)
14. Simon Zebo (Munster)
15. David Kearney (Leinster)

Some possible replacement selections

16. Paddy Mccallister (Ulster)
17. Paddy Jackson (Ulster)
18. Declan Fitzpatrick (ulster)
19. Ian Nagle (Munster)
20. Robbie Henshaw (Connacht)
21. Luke Mcgrath/Kieran Marmion(leinster)/(Connacht)
22. Mike Sherry (Munster)

I'm not sure Fifita's good enough to play for Connacht never mind Ireland...