6 Nations
“Awful, actually terrible” – Fitzgerald blasts one Ireland star.
“really poor” “awful defence”
Luke Fitzgerald was far from impressed with Jacob Stockdale’s performance against England last weekend and expressed his feelings on this week’s edition of The Left Wing Podcast.
The former Leinster and Ireland utility back was very critical of the 22-year-old Ulster man saying he was
“awful, actually terrible”.
He went on to question why Stockdale failed to release a few passes saying, “you’re allowed to pass the ball,” when referring to him.
He continued, stating he was “really poor” and showed “awful defence” throughout a match that he described as “worst game of rugby” he has ever been to.
You can listen in full to the very enjoyable and analytical podcast below.
Ulster & Irish teammate Stuart McCloskey was quick to Stockdale’s defence Tweeting Fitzgerald.
@lukefitz11 surely this is a misquote and not a serious opinion. The guy is the best left wing in the tournament— stuart mccloskey (@Stuart_Mc12) February 8, 2019
Fitzgerald was quick to respond.
No I didn’t fortunately— stuart mccloskey (@Stuart_Mc12) February 8, 2019
We’d encourage readers to listen to the podcast (above) as while Fitzgerald’s comments were most critical on Stockdale, other plays don’t get an easy ride either with Keith Earls coming in for some frank criticism.
Stockdale himself admitted he didn’t have the greatest game over the weekend.
“It’s a tough one to analyse yourself when you’ve lost and you feel like nothing you did was good enough,” he said.
He even spoke of how he was the one at fault for Daly’s try, but Fitzgerald’s comments still appear a little harsh for last year’s player of the 6 Nations championship.
Fitzgerald went on to discuss the possible changes to the Irish team before it was announced and went as far as to say he would prefer to drop Stockdale rather than Henshaw and put full-back Rob Kearney on the wing.
“Bringing Rob Kearney in possibly on the wing, ahead of Stockdale or something, ahead of dropping Robbie Henshaw,” Fitzgerald said.
While Stockdale certainly didn’t have his finest game on the weekend, his comments seem unfair when you consider Stockdale’s age and what he has done so far in his short career.
With Henshaw being left out of the team due to injury Fitzgerald won’t get his wishes to see Kearney play on the wing just yet as he was announced at full-back by Schmidt. All of which means that Stockdale retains his place in the starting line-up for Saturday’s clash with Scotland, but will he improve enough to gain Fitzgerald’s vote of confidence? We will have to wait and see.
You can check our preview of Scotland v Ireland here.
We also ran our eye of everyones performance last week.
Click here to see how we rated them.
Former Ireland captain Paul O’Connell has joined the Ireland national coaching group as forwards coach with Simon Easterby to focus on defence.
Paul was capped 108 times by Ireland and captained the team to Six Nations success in 2014. O’Connell’s distinguished playing career also included seven Test match appearances for the British & Ireland Lions across three tours and two Heineken Cup titles with Munster.
Since retiring from playing in 2015, Paul has held coaching positions with the Munster Academy, Ireland Under-20s and Top 14 side Stade Francais.
O’Connell commented:
“I am really looking forward to working with Andy and the rest of the coaching group. I worked with Simon as a player and am looking forward to working with him again. It’s an exciting young group of players to be involved with and there are talented forwards coming through across the four provinces that will no doubt be pushing for international selection in the coming months and years.”
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell commented:
“Paul brings a wealth of rugby knowledge with him and as forwards coach he will have responsibility for the forwards including the line-out working alongside John (Fogarty). He will also be another strong voice and leader within the group.
“Simon (Easterby) has a real passion for defence and having developed Ireland’s forward play over the past six years with the additional responsibility for the defence over the past 12 months, he will now be able to focus his energy and rugby intellect on this area of our game.
“The weekend’s Interpro games and the European fixtures in the weeks ahead will give players the opportunity to push for selection for the Six Nations squad. The squad will not be selected until after the Champions Cup Round 4 fixtures have been completed.”
IRFU Performance Director, David Nucifora, commented: “Paul is a young Irish coach with a huge amount of international rugby experience. We have been keen to find the right opportunity for him within Irish Rugby and we think the fit with the national squad will work well. He joins the national coaching group with immediate effect as they prepare for the upcoming Six Nations Championship.”
Issued by SRU
Stuart Hogg will return to the Scotland starting line-up as Captain for the final round of the 2020 Guinness Six Nations against Wales on Saturday 31 October – kick-off 2:15pm.
Fresh from securing the European and Premiership double with his club Exeter Chiefs, Hogg plays at full back as one of five changes to the starting XV from the Scotland side that defeated Georgia 48-7 last week.
Finn Russell lines up at fly-half after winning his 50th Scotland cap in the Georgia victory at BT Murrayfield on Friday night, and is joined in the half-backs by Glasgow Warriors’ Ali Price.
In the back division, Blair Kinghorn shifts to the wing from full-back and replaces Edinburgh teammate Duhan van de Merwe, who is named among the replacements. James Lang and Chris Harris continue their centre partnership after playing together against Georgia.
In the pack fellow Exeter Chief Jonny Gray comes into the second row and Scarlets’ Blade Thomson is selected at number 8 and will run out on his club ground on Saturday in Llanelli.Hooker Fraser Brown is named as Vice-Captain and packs down with Rory Sutherland and Zander Fagerson in an unchanged front row.
Scott Cummings also retains his starting place to partner Gray in the second row.Edinburgh pair Jamie Ritchie, also a Vice Captain, and Hamish Watson make up the back-row with Thomson.
In the replacements Harlequins scrum-half Scott Steele could make his Scotland debut if called into action.
Adam Hastings and van de Merwe complete the backline replacements. Townsend can also call upon the same front row of Oli Kebble, Stuart McInally and Simon Berghan as featured in against Georgia, alongside Worcester Warrior Cornell du Preez and Edinburgh’s Ben Toolis from the bench.
“As a group we are very much looking forward to finally completing our fixture against Wales and returning to play Guinness Six Nations rugby again. We were highly motivated back in March, and that extra edge has come back into our training and preparations this week.
Scotland Head Coach, Gregor Townsend
“It’s been great to bring in quality and experience to our starting line-up with players such as Stuart, Jonny and Finn who have been involved in some high-level games in recent weeks. We were also encouraged by Blade’s display at the weekend for Scarlets, which is a timely boost given last weekend’s injury to Matt Fagerson.
“We are expecting a physical battle against a very good side, one which we will be working hard to stay in the fight and to finish the fight in Llanelli. Ultimately, this game provides an opportunity for us to end this extended championship on a positive note and go into the Autumn Nations Cup with some added belief in what this group of players can achieve.”
Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones will become rugby’s most capped international on Saturday when he makes his 149th test appearance (140th for Wales plus 9 British & Irish Lions caps).
Jones levelled the record last weekend but will take the honour for himself at Parc y Scarlets this weekend as Wales face Scotland in their re-arranged Guinness Six Nations finale (14.15 KO BBC & S4C).
At the other end of the international spectrum, Cardiff Blues back-row Shane Lewis-Hughes will make his first test appearance for Wales in a back-row alongside experienced Lions duo Justin Tipuric and Taulupe Faletau.
Will Rowlands, fresh from the English Premiership Final with Wasps, comes into the side to make his first start for Wales and he packs down alongside captain Jones.
European Champion and English Premiership winner Tomas Francis comes into the front-row alongside Rhys Carre and Ryan Elias.
In the backline Gareth Davies partners Dan Biggar with Owen Watkin coming into the midfield alongside Jonathan Davies.
Liam Williams returns to the back-three to feature alongside Josh Adams and Leigh Halfpenny.
On the bench Sam Parry, Wyn Jones and Dillon Lewis provide the front-row replacements with Cory Hill and James Davies completing the forward contingent. Lloyd Williams comes straight into the matchday squad and provides backline cover along with Rhys Patchell and Nick Tompkins.
Issued by WRU
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