Cooney fans can't get their heads around their man's Ireland axe
Andy Farrell’s decision to omit John Cooney from the Ireland squad for this month’s resumption of the delayed 2020 Six Nations has unsurprisingly been discussed at great length online.
The Ulster scrum-half has missed out on a place in the 35-man squad behind Conor Murray, Kieran Marmion and recently qualified Jamison Gibson-Park. The New Zealand-born half-back also pipped his provincial teammate Luke McGrath, which shows the wealth of options Ireland have.
Cooney was undeniably Ireland’s form No9 at the beginning of 2020 but was only handed three bench appearances during the Six Nations, replacing Murray in all three. He was likely to start in Ireland’s penultimate fixture against Italy before Covid-19 dashed that hope.
Since the PRO14 restart in August, Cooney has not been able to recapture the form he was showing earlier in the year and was even dropped to the bench for last month’s final against Leinster.
His dip in form has been noted by many outraged fans, but his Ireland omission has come as a shock nonetheless with the feeling that he had enough credit in the bank to warrant maintaining his place in the squad.
Big Dev's warmly-received comeback earlier this year has now been forgotten https://t.co/12IXslePp6
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 8, 2020
On the subject of form, Murray’s performances over the past twelve months have repeatedly been brought up online. Although the Munster player has a respected reputation at Test level to fall back on that Cooney does not, he has not of late been able to replicate his world-class form of two years ago.
This has subsequently flagged another conspiratorial issue, that players who are centrally contracted with the Irish Rugby Football Union receive preferential treatment. But given the competition that there is, there are surely other factors that have played a part in Farrell’s decision.
It is hard to name a player, though, whose Test career has been more scuppered by 2020’s break than Cooney, who has struggled to catch a break in green. He looked to have put the disappointment of missing out on the World Cup behind him last season but he will need to show that resolve again to bounce back.
amazing how Cooney’s recent form is held up as some criteria for selection, while he was imperious for 18months, while others, centrally contracted+out of form for the same period of time get a pass on recent form. yes, makes complete sense. well at least he got a fair crack…
— Niall Brew (@Brewkid) October 8, 2020
No #teamofus or #shouldertishoulder when selections are based on central contracts and pleasing the media. Should be embarrassed by the scrum half selection.
— Colin McConaghie (@ColinMcConaghie) October 8, 2020
No Cooney? This central contract crap at its peak now
— Alex Jones (@Alexjonesyfifa) October 8, 2020
Great to see Gibson Park and McCloskey in there. However… Coonaldo left out?? Hmmm. Yeah he hasn’t been great since then restart, however, there’s another scrum half who hasn’t been great for 2 years who always seems to get picked and never dropped ?
— Matthew Potter (@buddylove1788) October 8, 2020
So Cooney has 2 bad games and he's out of the picture completely. Conor Murray arguably looked worse than Cooney in those games and gets in. All other POTY nominations Young and Senior in the squad. Something not adding up
— Paul Kenny (@Paulkenny101) October 8, 2020
The form argument doesn’t stack up. Murray out of form for 2 years. Marmion and JGP not been regularly selected to start at club level. So basically they are picked on one game yet anyone who watched Cooney on Friday night saw he was terrific?
— Colin McConaghie (@ColinMcConaghie) October 8, 2020
If Cooney is dropped because of 2 or 3 average performances since rugby came back then you gotta drop Murray who's been average at best for nearly 2 years now.
— Archie Hanna (@archiehanna3) October 8, 2020
Only choosing 4 players from the second best team in the pro 14 ?
And Cooney was just nominated for Irish player of the year, but since he had 2 bad games is dropped, while Murray hasn't played well in 2 years and is continually picked!!! https://t.co/zWvS0txzGA— JJohnston (@jjohnston032) October 8, 2020
Are we planning on talking about John Cooney’s omission from the squad or…? https://t.co/IfpckhspsB
— TOM HOME (@_tomhome) October 8, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Brayden Iose and Peter Lakai are very exciting Super Rugby players but are too short and too light to ever be a Test 8 vs South Africa, France, Ireland, and England, Lakai could potentially be a Test player at 7 if he is allowed to focus on 7 for Hurricanes.
5 Go to commentsPencils “Thomas du Toit” into possible 2027 Bok squad.
1 Go to commentsDon’t see why Harrison makes the bench. Jones can play at 10 if needed, and there is a good case for starting her there to begin with if testing combinations. That would leave room for Sing on the bench
1 Go to commentsWhat a load of old bull!
1 Go to commentsOf the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.
29 Go to commentsIrish Rugby CEO be texting Andy Farrell “Andy, i found our next Kiwi Irishman”
5 Go to commentsI certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
5 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to comments