DEVIN TONER, IAIN Henderson, Tadhg Beirne, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Andrew Conway, CJ Stander, Dan Leavy, Luke McGrath, Kieran Marmion.
Ireland’s injury list has stacked up heavily in recent weeks, although it does provide exciting chances for the likes of Quinn Roux, Jack Conan and Chris Farrell this weekend against Scotland in the Six Nations.
Joe Schmidt has been keen to stress a “fantastic opportunity” for Ireland to test themselves and adapt in order to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat to England, but Gregor Townsend’s Scots will be eyeing an opportunity.
Ireland had a painful defeat on their last visit to Murrayfield in 2017 and, speaking on this week’s episode of The42 Rugby Weekly, Bernard Jackman expressed his concerns.
“They’re very dangerous,” said Jackman of the Scots. “This is a really dangerous game for us because of what happened to us at the weekend and the nature of it.
“The way to beat Scotland is to physically dominate them. Every game is won around that but that’s their Achilles’ heel.
“Ireland, based on everything we’ve seen up until last Saturday, can do it to them but you wonder why we didn’t perform to that level [last weekend].
“In fairness to Scotland, they’ve got some boys in their pack – Jonny Gray is a big boost for them, I really like Grant Gilchrist, Josh Strauss has come back in and he’s physical.
“Also, if we’re off defensively – the reality is we conceded four tries against England, which is worrying. Only Italy and Scotland conceded more tries than us last year in the Six Nations, although in November our defence was very good and we were conceding only an average of a try a game.
“If we get loose and if we’re not urgent and don’t slow the ball down, these guys will go from everywhere. They’ll concede tries but I think this is a very dangerous game.
“I do think we’ll win but the doubt is why we weren’t as dominant physically last weekend as we normally are. I do trust that Ireland will get it right but it does put a little bit of a question mark in your head.”
Former Ireland and Leinster hooker Jackman joined Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella on this week’s The42 Rugby Weekly to analyse in depth what went wrong against England, discuss the rest of the Six Nations and look at the Ireland U20s’ win over the English, plus a mixed weekend for the Ireland Women 15s and 7s teams.
Murray also dialled up Stephen Ferris to hear about climbing Kilimanjaro in aid of a great cause.
For all of that and more, check out this week’s The42 Rugby Weekly on iTunes, Soundcloud or wherever you get your podcasts.
Following a heartbreaking Six Nations opening defeat to England, Joe Schmidt will look to regroup against a dangerous Scotland side. This week, Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey are joined by Bernard Jackman to assess the damage of last weekend and look ahead to the clash in Murrayfield:
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LeBron is definitely the best player in the NBA this year. Harden puts up great highlights and is unbelievably skillful but not a better player this year.
@kevcrowley: is that why Curry wipes the floor with him in the finals… you know, the part of the season that matters?
@Jonathan Nolan: curry wasn’t even Finals mvp , and in the finals the last two years it’s been pretty much 4 v 1 with a bit of Kevin Love and Kyrie last year
@Jonathan Nolan: curry can blow hot and cold beteeen quarters and have Kevin Durant or Klay Thompson take over scoring. James played every minute nearly and has huge defensive responsibility on top. No comparison with Curry
@kevcrowley: every minute??!! Is that why he was on the bench or sitting at the side of the clock for 20 minutes per game 2 & 3?
@Aidan Holden: is that Curry’s daily for having a team around him?
@kevcrowley: bottom line is LeBum James only has as many rings as Larry Bird, yet he’s been in almost twice as many finals. The guy has skills, but he’s a chump. At the end of a career it’s rings that are the legacy, and LeBum will be hard pressed getting another one
@Jonathan Nolan: do you think calling him LeBum makes you sound smart and reasonable?
@Jonathan Nolan: well in that case a ‘chump’ is the 2nd greatest player of all time
@Jonathan Nolan: your opinion on basketball is complete rubbish I’ve seen all the top players in the league play live and LeBron is superior than every single one of them
Instead of calling people bums take the time to actually watch them play basketball in the flesh before you talk
Your opinion is complete rubbish
@Aidan Holden: after Larry Bird and Magic Johnson? Aren’t you forgetting about Jordan?
@Barry McCarthy: No, would be the answer to that one Barry. It’s just my opinion. He’s the most over hyped player in NBA history. You are entitled to your own opinion. Fair enough
@Jonathan Nolan: MJ number 1 LBJ number 2
Should’ve won it in 2011 but This year Harden was a fair choice
@Ruairi Doyle: in 2011 he wasn’t starting and averaged about 10 ppg what?
4-0 says it all. And LeBum was the one with 4 x L’s against his name at seasons end
@Jonathan Nolan: weird
@Jonathan Nolan: 4-0 says absolutely nothing since its REGULAR SEASON MVP.