Ireland and Wolfhounds

Rodney tries on Irish Jersey for first time. Scroll to 38 seconds

No Zebo which is surprising, and Murray is there.

Perhaps he'll be back for the third game. Let's hope Kieran M will get called up too later in the series.

A little surprised that zebo, and to an extent Archer, were left out. I think that Schmidt values overall workrate in his wings though and maybe Zebo didn't show enough of that. Archer, obviously I've said I'm not convinced by him but the scrum held up at the weekend and TH is a precarious situation. I imagine that Schmidt will have been both these two and others some stuff to work on to improve their chances of making the squad in future.

I think with Zebo he wasn't back fast enough and while he did look sharp would he be able to go a full 80 min? Better let him get some more gametime and bring him in later. As for Archer he's probably unlucky to miss out but he is still no. 2 in Munster behind Botha while Moore is pushing Ross hard at Leinster for the no. 1 spot. Still no sign of Fitzpatrick which is worrying, that concussion must have being worse than initially expected.

The Ulster game got postponed I wonder how much of an effect this will have on Schmidt's choice of second row? McCarthy put in a very good shift tonight so you'd imagine he would have a very good chance probably better than Henderson who might not get a chance to shine this week depending on weather.

According to the Sunday Times Henderson is the favourite to take the spot on the bench against England next wknd.

connachtexile wrote: According to the Sunday Times Henderson is the favourite to take the spot on the bench against England next wknd.

I trust Schmidt to make the right call, based on the game plan. One thing I would say is I think Mike's perfection of the choke tackle is really under rated. Above all others, he has an unreal ability to hold guys up, normally on his own, for long enough for others to come and help. I'd love to see him get more opportunities to show that in a green jersey.

I agree with the above, plus McCarthy has lost some of the early season flab and whatever injuries that were holding him back and was looking in great form before his face was ripped apart. Even though Cole is out the scrum will still need to be at its best possible level which Henderson may not be able to provide. Plus Launchbury and Lawes are in superb form and are both well ahead of Henderson in development and form and he may struggle to contain either of them. I was a little surprised Launchbury didn't go on the lions tour tbh but I think Gatland wanted to pick as much proven experience as possible, but that's a different story.

I get your points and agree with them. I'm thinking that Henderson might be picked ahead of him for his ball carrying ability something we're quite short on. Not much between them to be frank and would be happy with either.

Sinéad Kissane ‏@sineadkissane
Brian O'Driscoll "has a little bit of a bug" so didn't train today but management say he will be fine. Henshaw trained at 13 today

its a long week and you'd expect BOD to recover in time but Henshaw must be flying

Really happy for Henshaw with the level of training Schmidt gives him it can only be good for us as well. Shame McSharry missed most of the season, while I don't think he'd be ahead of Darcy or Marshall he'd have had a good chance of making the Wolfhounds and getting some training under the Irish Management.

Jordi Murphy in to replace TOD and Henderson in to replace Tuohy. Intriguing choice of Murphy over TOD. I'm assuming Murphy is being brought in to do a particular job for England. Schmidt has always being a horses for courses manager with Ireland so I'd love to know what the job Murphy is being brought on to do. Tough on TOD but he's young and this seems tactical rather than form so he'll be back sooner rather than later.

Its an odd call, you wouldn't think England away would be the best first cap for a player. Even though I believe it is tactical its hard to know what Murphy does better than TOD, Murphy's main asset is his carrying, which TOD is also strong. I have seen it suggested that Murphy is the nearest rival to Heaslip which I find both massively overstating his present form and underrating Heaslip's importance to Ireland, no way he is coming off the field early Saturday imo.

I heard earlier in the week that TOD had taken a knock in training so maybe it's something as simple as he had to sit out training and Schmidt decided he wanted a lad you had ran the plays against England on the bench as opposed to a lad who missed a few days because he couldn't train. Who knows?

Luke Marshall is concussed again! Worried about that boy. It can't be good for his health and if it continues I can see him having to retire early like David Quinlan did.