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Seven eight split in Alan Quinlan's Combined Wales/Ireland XV

PA

Former Ireland and Munster flanker Alan Quinlan has picked a combined Wales and Ireland team ahead of their Guinness Six Nations clash on Sunday.

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Joining Off The Ball AM, Quinlan selected a team consisting of eight Irishmen and seven Welshmen.
For a wily player that seemed to improve with age, it is no surprise that he has opted for a sagacious XV loaded with caps and experience.

The average age of the squad is 30, while the average number of caps is 71.

Ireland lock James Ryan, 24, is the only player in the squad that is under the age of 25, and it would have been an aberration if Quinlan overlooked him. But Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe, Tomos Williams and Andrew Porter are the only other players that are not over the age of 30.

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The contest at the Principality Stadium could be one of the defining fixtures of this year’s Six Nations. Andy Farrell’s Ireland got the better of Wayne Pivac’s Wales in the Autumn Nations Cup, beating them 32-9 at the Aviva Stadium.

With both sides showing plenty of areas that are in need of improvement over the autumn, Quinlan’s XV perhaps indicates the strength of their experienced Test players which are yet to be usurped by the next generation.

QUINLAN’S COMBINED WALES IRELAND XV
15. Leigh Halfpenny, 32 (Wales) 97 caps
14. Keith Earls, 33 (Ireland) 88 caps
13. Jonathan Davies, 32 (Wales) 91 caps
12. Robbie Henshaw, 27 (Ireland) 47 caps
11. James Lowe, 28 (Ireland) 2 caps
10. Johnny Sexton, 35 (Ireland) 101 caps
9. Tomos Williams, 26 (Wales) 20 caps
1. Cian Healy, 33 (Ireland) 104 caps
2. Ken Owens, 34 (Wales) 79 caps
3. Andrew Porter, 25 (Ireland) 32 caps
4. Alun Wyn Jones, 35 (Wales) 152 caps
5. James Ryan, 24 (Ireland) 32 caps
6. CJ Stander, 30 (Ireland) 47 caps
7. Justin Tipuric, 31 (Wales) 81 caps
8. Taulupe Faletau, 30 (Wales) 85 caps

ACTUAL SELECTED TEAMS:

Wales: L Halfpenny (Scarlets); L Rees-Zammit (Gloucester), G North (Ospreys), J Williams (Scarlets), H Amos (Cardiff Blues); D Biggar (Northampton), T Williams (Cardiff Blues); W Jones (Scarlets), K Owens (Scarlets), T Francis (Exeter), A Beard (Ospreys), A W Jones (Ospreys, capt), D Lydiate (Ospreys), J Tipuric (Ospreys), T Faletau (Bath).

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Replacements: E Dee (Dragons), R Jones (Ospreys), L Brown (Dragons), W Rowlands (Wasps), J Navidi (Cardiff Blues), G Davies (Scarlets), C Sheedy (Bristol), N Tompkins (Dragons).

Ireland: H Keenan (Leinster); K Earls (Munster), G Ringrose (Leinster), R Henshaw (Leinster), J Lowe (Leinster); J Sexton (Leinster, capt), C Murray (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), R Herring (Ulster), A Porter (Leinster), T Beirne (Munster), J Ryan (Leinster), P O’Mahony (Munster), J van der Flier (Leinster), CJ Stander (Munster).

Replacements: R Kelleher (Leinster), D Kilcoyne (Munster), T Furlong (Leinster), I Henderson (Ulster), W Connors (Leinster), J Gibson-Park (Leinster), B Burns (Ulster), J Larmour (Leinster).

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England).

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AM 41 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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