Nine starters are out of contract at the end of this season (not including John Cooney) so there should be a few decisions on contract extensions made during the break.

Not a huge fan of this team, think it's going to be a very scrappy game. Nevertheless, good to see Browne and Masterson back and I guess we might learn a bit more about some players we rarely see

Didnt expect all those changes, good for team squad to see as many players getting game time, farrell/aki combo is what I was wishing to see

A million monkeys with a million tombolas containing the names of our squad could not have predicted that team.

Big vote of confidence in the wider squad, or more likely the penny has dropped that we could get the full 35 points from our last 7 fixtures and we *still* mightn't finish fifth, so there's little harm in experimentation.

It'll be fascinating anyway.

Interesting team. Don't think any of us saw that amount of changes!!

I hope Crosby goes well. Lad deserves a chance.

You get the sense quite a few of these guys might be playing for their contract.

interesting to say the least. I did suggest we needed to rest players. That said this is a pretty radical team.

15 Danie Poolman (80)
14 Niyi Adeolokun (52)
13 Bundee Aki (54)
12 Tom Farrell (4)
11 Stacey Ili (10)
10 Steve Crosbie (0)
9 John Cooney (34)

1 Ronan Loughney (191)
2 Tom McCartney (58) (captain)
3 Dominic Robertson-McCoy (4)
4 Lewis Stevenson (11)
5 Andrew Browne (148)
6 Eoin McKeon (101)
7 Naulia Dawai (7)
8 Eoghan Masterson (34)

Replacements:

16 Dave Heffernan (78)
17 Denis Buckley (111)
18 Finlay Bealham (75)
19 Quinn Roux (50)
20 John Muldoon (295)
21 Kieran Marmion (115)
22 Craig Ronaldson (61)
23 Tiernan O’Halloran (121)

it is time for a change. you simply cannot expect the same players all the time to play

I rate myself on poor posts but that post from you sligsup was a pretty crappy one

sligsup wrote:

dobby wrote:

connachta wrote:

Mark Mostyn wrote:

salmson wrote: Surely Connolly or McKeon are more obvious selections at 7 than Dawai.

I see Masterson was at the presser today which would suggest he'll be in the 23.

McKeown played the game of his life at 7 against Leinster last season, Connolly always impresses me too.

It'll be great to see Masterson back, surely a bit too soon for him to start though?

Wow do you realize?
We are without our two main 7 and sill have problem of rich people with 3 talented guys available.
When you know how deep the other provinces are too, we can enjoy how lucky Ireland is for openside

I would say our backrow is the least of our problems. As you say a multitude of riches. We don't quite have the sexton/carbery/byrne options at 10. Then we have better options at 9. We don't have nacewa, kirchner and kearney at full back. We don't have adam byrne, o' loughlin, mcfadden, kearney and many more on the wing. We don't have the same reserves at centre. In fact the only place we have reserves is at scrum half and back row. In every other position we struggle

Does dobby only post when he is drunk ?
Full Back - Kitchener ; Kearney??
Wings - McFadden Kearney ???

Not questioning ability of others mentioned but above .... really ??

As it happened I mentioned nacewa first, kirchner second and Kearney third. I would appreciate if you decided to be less offensive

dobby wrote:

connachta wrote:

Mark Mostyn wrote:

salmson wrote: Surely Connolly or McKeon are more obvious selections at 7 than Dawai.

I see Masterson was at the presser today which would suggest he'll be in the 23.

McKeown played the game of his life at 7 against Leinster last season, Connolly always impresses me too.

It'll be great to see Masterson back, surely a bit too soon for him to start though?

Wow do you realize?
We are without our two main 7 and sill have problem of rich people with 3 talented guys available.
When you know how deep the other provinces are too, we can enjoy how lucky Ireland is for openside

I would say our backrow is the least of our problems. As you say a multitude of riches. We don't quite have the sexton/carbery/byrne options at 10. Then we have better options at 9. We don't have nacewa, kirchner and kearney at full back. We don't have adam byrne, o' loughlin, mcfadden, kearney and many more on the wing. We don't have the same reserves at centre. In fact the only place we have reserves is at scrum half and back row. In every other position we struggle

Does dobby only post when he is drunk ?
Full Back - Kitchener ; Kearney??
Wings - McFadden Kearney ???

Not questioning ability of others mentioned but above .... really ??

connachta wrote:

Mark Mostyn wrote:

salmson wrote: Surely Connolly or McKeon are more obvious selections at 7 than Dawai.

I see Masterson was at the presser today which would suggest he'll be in the 23.

McKeown played the game of his life at 7 against Leinster last season, Connolly always impresses me too.

It'll be great to see Masterson back, surely a bit too soon for him to start though?

Wow do you realize?
We are without our two main 7 and sill have problem of rich people with 3 talented guys available.
When you know how deep the other provinces are too, we can enjoy how lucky Ireland is for openside

I would say our backrow is the least of our problems. As you say a multitude of riches. We don't quite have the sexton/carbery/byrne options at 10. Then we have better options at 9. We don't have nacewa, kirchner and kearney at full back. We don't have adam byrne, o' loughlin, mcfadden, kearney and many more on the wing. We don't have the same reserves at centre. In fact the only place we have reserves is at scrum half and back row. In every other position we struggle

Mark Mostyn wrote:

salmson wrote: Surely Connolly or McKeon are more obvious selections at 7 than Dawai.

I see Masterson was at the presser today which would suggest he'll be in the 23.

McKeown played the game of his life at 7 against Leinster last season, Connolly always impresses me too.

It'll be great to see Masterson back, surely a bit too soon for him to start though?

Wow do you realize?
We are without our two main 7 and sill have problem of rich people with 3 talented guys available.
When you know how deep the other provinces are too, we can enjoy how lucky Ireland is for openside

Mark Mostyn wrote:

salmson wrote: Surely Connolly or McKeon are more obvious selections at 7 than Dawai.

I see Masterson was at the presser today which would suggest he'll be in the 23.

McKeown played the game of his life at 7 against Leinster last season, Connolly always impresses me too.

It'll be great to see Masterson back, surely a bit too soon for him to start though?

Starting a back row coming back from injury is fairly common practice. Let them empty the tank and sub them when they get tired rather than being forced to sub them on after 10 mins after them being absolutely knackered by the time 60 or 70 mins rolls around.

salmson wrote: Surely Connolly or McKeon are more obvious selections at 7 than Dawai.

I see Masterson was at the presser today which would suggest he'll be in the 23.

McKeown played the game of his life at 7 against Leinster last season, Connolly always impresses me too.

It'll be great to see Masterson back, surely a bit too soon for him to start though?

Surely Connolly or McKeon are more obvious selections at 7 than Dawai.

I see Masterson was at the presser today which would suggest he'll be in the 23.