IRELAND FINISHED THEIR 22-15 loss to Italy with players such as Rob Kearney, Brian O’Driscoll and Jamie Heaslip on the field.
That trio were part of the 2009 Grand Slam team and have each won multiple Heineken Cups with Leinster.
A selection of others, and their Test caps, that stood, defeated, on the Stadio Olimpico pitch include Paul Marshall [1], Stephen Archer [1], Paddy Jackson [3] and Devin Toner [5].
Speaking after the loss in Rome, which ultimately left Ireland fifth in the Six Nations table, captain Jamie Heaslip said:
[It is tough], especially when you see that [flanker] Peter O’Mahony had to move to the wing for 60 minutes. That’s just what happened. You move on. It’s nothing new to us in this championship. It’s not ideal.”
Here is a starting XV of players that were either ruled out of the campaign through injury, suspended, missed matches with injuries or picked up game-ending knocks:
We are the smallest team, every way. We have the smallest players size wise and we have the smallest pool (along with Scotland) of players. Rugby is becoming a bigger game but we need our provinces to do well. When the provinces do well the attention is drawn towards rugby which will entice kids to the game. The more kids playing the game the more players will rise at a senior level.
Our scrum has been poor well before the reign of Kidney, with the provinces preferring foreign players to play at Prop especially. We have to start looking at players (such as Tony Buckley, who has improved massively since joining Sale) that are playing first team rugby for their team. Our front row is a disaster and needs to be worked at.
Forgotten but never forgiven. Would have won the grand slam had he passed the ball against the French a few years back and nearly cost another for the most ridiculous penalty ever against wales
More seriously, we need to look at why we picked up all these injuries. I’m not sure we can just put it down to bad luck and shrug our shoulders. We need to see if there’s anything in the training or preparation that caused it (not just at national level, but also in the provinces).
What is particularly concerning is the number of injuries we picked up at 3/4 – Bowe, D’Arcy, Zebo, Gilroy, Marshall, Fitzgerald. With the way the game has gone I fear that these kind of players just can’t match up to the massive 3/4 who are appearing in the modern game like North, Cuthbert and Tuilagi.
I wonder should the IRFU start looking seriously at GAA players over 6’4″with pace and power, and start developing them into rugby players. When you look at the size of some of the English, French and in particular the Welsh players they are seriously strong men who can run in straight lines. The bit of flair seems to be going out of rugby with these hard running backs.
Who said GAA players would want to leave their sport? But I agree with the rest of your comment, conditioning is an area that has been letting Ireland down for years.
I dunno, those 6’4″ 17 stone guys fall hard if they’re tackled right – I’m one of them :) – and it takes them a little while to get up to speed. I think smaller more nimble players still have a real place in the game. They just have to figure out how not to get killed when they’re tackling the monsters.
Some smaller players like Halfpenny, Shane Williams, and Wilkinson seem to have managed being smaller without becoming roadkill. I think O’Driscoll has said that Wilkinson was pound-for-pound the hardest tackler he’s faced. What do they do that keeps them in the game?
The soccer heads/Man Utd fans recently were crying about having one player sent off, and how it changed a game. Looking at that list and the games, we were probably lucky not to finish last. Roll on the Autumn and next year.
To be fair a lot of the injuries were down to pure bad luck, no amount of conditioning is going to stop you breaking bones, I do feel very sorry for these players and ultimately the performance on the park suffered, get well soon lads, we need ye for the Heineken cup, and Amblin challenge.
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It can’t have all been bad luck. Need to have a good look at conditioning. We are very noticably the smallest team stature wise though.
We are the smallest team, every way. We have the smallest players size wise and we have the smallest pool (along with Scotland) of players. Rugby is becoming a bigger game but we need our provinces to do well. When the provinces do well the attention is drawn towards rugby which will entice kids to the game. The more kids playing the game the more players will rise at a senior level.
Our scrum has been poor well before the reign of Kidney, with the provinces preferring foreign players to play at Prop especially. We have to start looking at players (such as Tony Buckley, who has improved massively since joining Sale) that are playing first team rugby for their team. Our front row is a disaster and needs to be worked at.
Poor old Paddy Wallace, the forgotten man!
Unfortunately he’ll never be forgotten, il be having nightmares about him or a long time yet.
Let’s hope he’s forgotten for a very long time !
Forgotten but never forgiven. Would have won the grand slam had he passed the ball against the French a few years back and nearly cost another for the most ridiculous penalty ever against wales
Would you leave poor paddy alone his done his ACL in so they’re be no more paddy calls
not good enough no excuses
In sport there are always excuses. It’s what brings you back, full of hope, season after season. The alternative is to give up and go back to bed.
Everyone was happy with the team when we beat Wales we were crippled with injuries brush it off we have a good team and coaching staff!
Fergus McFadden at Number 8?
More seriously, we need to look at why we picked up all these injuries. I’m not sure we can just put it down to bad luck and shrug our shoulders. We need to see if there’s anything in the training or preparation that caused it (not just at national level, but also in the provinces).
What is particularly concerning is the number of injuries we picked up at 3/4 – Bowe, D’Arcy, Zebo, Gilroy, Marshall, Fitzgerald. With the way the game has gone I fear that these kind of players just can’t match up to the massive 3/4 who are appearing in the modern game like North, Cuthbert and Tuilagi.
I wonder should the IRFU start looking seriously at GAA players over 6’4″with pace and power, and start developing them into rugby players. When you look at the size of some of the English, French and in particular the Welsh players they are seriously strong men who can run in straight lines. The bit of flair seems to be going out of rugby with these hard running backs.
Who said GAA players would want to leave their sport? But I agree with the rest of your comment, conditioning is an area that has been letting Ireland down for years.
I dunno, those 6’4″ 17 stone guys fall hard if they’re tackled right – I’m one of them :) – and it takes them a little while to get up to speed. I think smaller more nimble players still have a real place in the game. They just have to figure out how not to get killed when they’re tackling the monsters.
Some smaller players like Halfpenny, Shane Williams, and Wilkinson seem to have managed being smaller without becoming roadkill. I think O’Driscoll has said that Wilkinson was pound-for-pound the hardest tackler he’s faced. What do they do that keeps them in the game?
The soccer heads/Man Utd fans recently were crying about having one player sent off, and how it changed a game. Looking at that list and the games, we were probably lucky not to finish last. Roll on the Autumn and next year.
To be fair a lot of the injuries were down to pure bad luck, no amount of conditioning is going to stop you breaking bones, I do feel very sorry for these players and ultimately the performance on the park suffered, get well soon lads, we need ye for the Heineken cup, and Amblin challenge.
Is it possible to use the women’s team for our next match?