Eoghan O’Connell has played 7 games for Celtic, people need to calm down and give him a period of time to settle and see if he can maintain that level. It's ridiculous that anyone who even plays a couple of games now for an SPL or championship side should have their non-inclusion labelled as a disgrace.
Wouldn't blame. Seems to attract a lot of veiled negatives from English supporters that praise his work rate, stamina, effort and other non-skill based attributes as a means of putting down his actual ability as a footballer. It's sad for them that those attributes are less desirable than flash in the pan players like Wilshire and is probably a big reason why they struggle so much these days.
Needs to be put in perspective just how many English players had actually played at the highest level before which is either the champions league or an international tournament. Rose, Walker, Alli, Kane, Vardy and Lallana had not.
You really do wonder how some of those players had gained the reputation they had for never actually playing at the top level, it shows how far behind the premier league is and how top players in the premier league should not be presumed to be top players at the highest level.
Bale meanwhile taking the decision to leave the premier league and challenge himself with a bigger team and in a better league is quite clearly paying dividends for his performances in a major tournament.
A disappointing world cup followed by a disappointing six nations and now followed by a squad which shows an unwillingness to change. People are starting to ask questions of Schmidt and rightfully so, another coach in his position would probably be getting lynched by now, Joe has plenty in the bank to survive a poor season but he'll run out if this keeps up.
Given our historical record in summer tests I wonder how much the players do be up for these end of season games. We've had very little success of any kind in this international window throughout the professional era and plenty of embarrassments.
It's funny how there's no problem with half our soccer team being foreign born but if there are 5 or 6 in a 45 man rugby squad it's apparently a crisis.
He's English born so it's most likely to get him capped and on our side as soon as possible. The FAI possibly fear a big move for him in the summer and registering on the English radar?
I have sympathy for him but it looks like a terrible, terrible decision from the IRFU to have given him a new 3 year central contract in Feb of this year given both his recent injury profile and lack of form.
The most impressive thing about Connacht this season is just how effective the replacements have been, it's very rare these days to see the team suffer with the absence of a player or two. I thought the likes of Shane O'Leary, Blade and Bealham went especially well off the bench despite replacing important players. They don't seem to be reliant on individuals at all anymore, all the signs of a well coached team.
Calling Henshaw world class seems like a prime example of how we overrate players in this country. Compare his try scoring record internationally with the similarly experienced Jonathan Joseph makes for embarrassing reading.
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Opus