Ireland tipped to make 11 changes for Wales and hand Peter O'Mahony a different back row role
Joe Schmidt is expected to potentially make 11 changes to his starting line-up when Ireland face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.
The Irish coach, who will officially declare his hand on Thursday lunchtime before his squad travel to the Welsh capital, is pondering whether to change things hugely up in the wake of last weekend’s humiliating 57-15 defeat to England in London.
Records tumbled in that brutal eight-try loss and Schmidt – a coach only ever beaten 18 times in 69 outings since taking charge in 2013 – will now likely roll the dice and could give as many as five Munster players a start in his starting pack.
The New Zealander will be hoping that a smattering of his more experienced players can carry what is expected to be a largely a second-string XV over the line against the Welsh, who beat them comfortably when the countries last faced off in the Six Nations Grand Slam game last March.
Ireland’s four survivors from the XV that started the now infamous disaster at Twickenham last weekend are likely to be Iain Henderson, Peter O’Mahony, Jacob Stockdale and Bundee Aki, a quartet whose individual performances in London came nowhere near the high standards expected of them.
Having watched Ireland get torn asunder by England, the legendary Brian O'Driscoll has stated his preferred midfield partnership for the World Cup
https://t.co/vdKfCFJhxz— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 27, 2019
In the pack, Henderson was subdued by the likes of Maro Itoje after an initially bright start in stealing the possession that led to an early Irish try while O’Mahony was unable to exhibit any of his usual tenacity in powering the Irish pack forward from the blindside.
Meanwhile, out the back, Stockdale was harrowingly left watching far too many English tries get run-in at the corner he was haplessly defending, while there are question marks over whether the midfield should continue to be built around Aki after he had no answers to the power and poise of Manu Tuilagi and co.
Aki’s selection as the starting No12 in 18 of Ireland’s last 22 matches was fastened upon by no less a legend than Brian O’Driscoll, who told RugbyPass on Tuesday that his preferred starting midfield combination for the World Cup in Japan would be Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, a pairing that hasn’t started together since the June 2018 series-saving win in Melbourne over Australia.
O’Mahony’s probable repeat selection next Saturday will come with a twist as he is likely to bed down at openside and not at No6.
With Sean O’Brien and Dan Leavy out of the World Cup mix due to injury, Josh van der Flier struggled against England to fill this void and O’Mahony could be given an opportunity to audition for this role in Cardiff with his provincial team-mate, Munster’s Tadhg Beirne, presented with the chance to fit in at blindside in a back row completed by Leinster’s Jack Conan.
Expect the second row to feature Henderson with James Ryan along with an all-Munster front row consisting of Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell and John Ryan. Continuing the theme of using provincial combinations at Test level, Kieran Marmion is set to be chosen at half-back alongside his Connacht colleague Jack Carty, who is starting a Test for the first time.
Outside them, Aki is expected to pair up with Henshaw in the middle, with Stockdale joined in the back three by Andrew Conway and Will Addison.
IRELAND (probable v Wales)
W Addison; A Conway, R Henshaw, B Aki, J Stockdale; J Carty, K Marmion; D Kilcoyne, N Scannell, Jn Ryan, I Henderson, Js Ryan, T Beirne, P O’Mahony, J Conan.
WATCH: The RugbyPass guide to Yokohama Stadium where Ireland will open their World Cup against Scotland on September 22.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe 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?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 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
4 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 comments