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11th-hour Ireland cover call-ups for John Cooney and the uncapped Harry Byrne
Andy Farrell’s Ireland are leaving nothing to chance in the build-up Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations round two meeting with France, calling John Cooney and Harry Byrne into the squad as specialist cover at half-back should any of their four players selected in that area pull up lame ahead of kick-off.
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A Saturday afternoon tweet by the IRFU read: “John Cooney and Harry Byrne have linked up with the Ireland squad ahead of Ireland vs France to provide additional cover for specialist positions.”
With long-established duo Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray ruled out of the game due to respective concussion and hamstring issues, Farrell is starting Billy Burns and Jamison Gibson-Park at half-back. It’s a daunting task for the duo who have just three starts and ten Test caps between them, Burns starting just once in his four-cap career and Gibson-Park a started only twice before in his six-cap career.
Sunday’s bench back-up is also hugely inexperienced as Ross Byrne has eleven caps, just two as a starter, and he is joined in the replacements by Craig Casey, the 21-year-old uncapped scrum-half from Munster. In total the four matchday half-backs have just 21 caps between them, seven less than the 28 which French scrum-half Antoine Dupont has to his name alone.
For fear of getting caught short if any of Burns, Gibson-Park, Ross Byrne or Casey pull up lame before the Sunday afternoon kick-off, Farrell has summoned Harry Byrne, the uncapped younger brother of Ross, and the popular Cooney.
? John Cooney and Harry Byrne have linked up with the Ireland squad ahead of #IREvFRA to provide additional cover for specialist positions ?#ShoulderToShoulder #IrishRugby #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/sIHFCARQV0
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) February 13, 2021
The Ulster scrum-half had been ignored by Farrell since making three appearances off the bench last February as the matchday back-up to the starting Murray in the opening games of last year’s 2020 Six Nations. Ireland assistant coach Richie Murphy didn’t touch on the 11th-hour cover call-ups when speaking at the Ireland captain’s run, but he said: “It’s pretty exciting to get the guys in [Burns and Gibson-Park].
“Losing Johnny and Conor Murray is a big loss for any team but we are really excited to see Billy and Jamison take the field. Those guys have trained really well over the last few weeks and we are hoping for a big performance from both of them.”
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"Galthie has got everything at his disposal to make that team as successful as England have become under Eddie Jones"
– Players felt drained coming back from France duty but that's no longer the case, according to Nick Abendanon #SixNations #IREvFRAhttps://t.co/PxcnsbeWV0
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 13, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to comments