“WE’VE HAD PAUL O’CONNELL and Jamie Heaslip in here, in the past, and that lad who takes the kicks.”
‘Jonny Sexton?’ we asked the Price Waterhouse Cooper employee. “Yes, that’s him.”
It is little wonder that Ireland U20 captain Sean O’Brien is willing to play through some minor discomfort. The Connacht lock took his seat in the panoramic offices of PwC — following in the imprints of Irish players that are now Six Nations champions — and it was hard not to notice the protective boot around his ankle and foot. The optics were far from ideal but O’Brien declared himself fit to lead his country at the Junior World Championship.
He told TheScore.ie: “What’s happened is I’ve had a [foot] fracture but it is only a small one. There’s no danger of me doing any extra damage on it by playing. I might have to get an operation after the World Cup.”
The doctor has just told me that there is not a massive chance of me doing any extra harm to it and I don’t really want to miss the World Cup to be honest with you… I may not play in another World Cup.”
Ireland have been grouped with France, Wales and Fiji. Despite losses to the European sides in the Six Nations, O’Brien is confident his team can do what no Irish U20 side has done before — win a JWC. ”People have the perception of us as a mediocre team,” he said. “I really don’t think we are. We have a squad of players that are good enough to challenge for the World Cup. That is my aspiration, to win the World Cup.
“That [feeling] runs through the whole squad. We have to right that wrong and the way to do that is to go out there and win our games and hopefully go on to win the World Cup.”
Connacht flanker Jake Heenan will be back home in New Zealand during the championship and has promised O’Brien he will get along to cheer Ireland on. He is hopeful that new signing Mils Muliaina might drop by the North Harbour stadium too. “Jeez, that would be nice. It would be great to look over and see Mils Muliaina watching us.
“It’s a fantastic signing. 100 caps for New Zealand. It’s not often that any province in Ireland gets a player like that so it is great for Connacht to have him.”
Letting Lucas go to Napoli would be a huge mistake. Lucas has been a key player for Liverpool this season. He does the dirty work very well and yes he will get booked every 2nd game but he’s good at what he does. Liverpool have lost most of the games they’ve played without Lucas which is another key factor in him staying. Also replacing him with Delph? Another over rated English centre mid who produced a handful of decent appearances last season but nothing to capture the imagination.
Yep was just going to say it man. To be honest last summer I’d have let him go but he’s been the difference since coming back at the end of November. I think the only game we’ve lost since has been man utd and he wasn’t playing that day….
Letting him go now would be a mistake especially if they think they can replace him with Delph! Who’s more like for like with Joe Allen than Lucas anyway.
Which leads me to my next point… Sell Joe Allen
Who in their right mind would buy Joe Allen though? Unless Rodgers gets the sack and buys him for his next club..
Lol
In sure Swansea would take him off Liverpool’s hands for 5 million……
If someone pays 5 million for him I’d be amazed!
‘Müller to Manchester United’ anyone who believes this should read the book Pep: Confidential, and that’ll end all rumours. Guardiola holds Müller in the highest regard and has big plans for the future, over time he wants him to pay much deeper in midfield, doubt he’d sacrifice those plans to sell him to United
You’re probably right but we reds can dream! He looks enough like Lahm that we could stick him at right back and he’d still be exponentially better than Rafael…
United don’t need him anyway, they already have 4 players who play in largely the same position.
I wonder will sanogoal keep up his record at palace
Transfer window is already boring,pure fantasy to sell their crummy red tops.
If Rodgers sells Lucas to Napoli I think questions will have to be asked about this man. He’s already driven Suso out of the club, a player who deserves much more game time and would run circles around players like Borini who’ve started ahead of him. He also got rid of Agger, yet kept Kolo, and despite lots of investment in our back4 we’re actually worse than last season.
His persistent refusal to get a decent defensive coach in is costing our team valuable points because of his ignorance to the fact that he can’t organise a defence, never mind to the standards of other defense-organising managers like Simeone or Mourinho. If Lucas goes, we have little hope of top4 imo, he’s one of the only decent defensive mids we have and is much better than rodger’s favourite, Joe Allen.
Remember when Benitez took a huge gamble trying to sign Gareth Barry and disillusioned Xabi?!
Didn’t sign Barry and Xabi fooked off!!
Lucas is far more experienced than Delph, I’d sign him and hold onto Delph and let him gain experience while he is there for the rest of the season!
Despite the Champions League success, I still cannot find it in me to not hate Rafa over losing Xabi Alonso. He did his best to lose that final too by not starting Didi Hamann!
Heard a rumour that I’m going to sign for galway Utd….but fifa 15 denies it…
Delph…Jasus. Not impressed if this happens