Ireland could be without both Bundee Aki and Hugo Keenan for Ireland Six Nations opener on Thursday week. Aki has been cited following Connacht’s game with Leinster and Keenan has potentially picked up a hand injury training in Portugal ahead of next week’s game.

From Bundee Aki’s point of view he only has himself to blame after a number of verbals with last Saturday’s official Eoghan Cross in the game in Galway. He has been cited and will find out over the coming days his punishment. Jude Postlewaite has been drafted into the squad as his replacement.

From Hugo Keenan’s perspective, the suspected injury comes at a horrible time and could open the door for Ciaran Frawley, Jacob Stockdale or Jack Crowley potentially to fill in at full back in the Stade De France.

What these injuries do is they open the door for others to stick the hand up and remind Mr Farrell he can look outside the tried and trusted for a solution. He has a number of injuries to look after but as I previously stated, this may be a blessing in disguise although I may regret saying that if France find there grove from the off next week.

Irish players have had a number of issues with match officials over the past year in particular with Caelan Doris and Tadgh Beirne struggling to get there point across between the tone of voice and just plain bad timing in terms of an interaction with the referee in charge.

This citing should be a timely reminder to the Irish squad to leave the talking to the captain and to simply zip it during a game. Certain players have struggled to keep quiet over recent times and It has become quite noticeable during games the amount chirping back and forth.

Munster have fallen foul of it as have Leinster so this citing should focus minds and remind those players looking to have interactions, maybe think better of it and leave the speaking to be done by the captain on the day.

Given those issues for Farrell, it will be interesting to see what sort of 23 he will pick to take on defending champions France on French soil…..

Here is my revised 23 to play France :

15 Ciaran Frawley

14 Tommy O Brien

13 Garry Ringrose

12 Stuart Mc Closkey

11 Robert Balcounne

10 Harry Byrne

9 Jamison Gibson Park

8 Caelan Doris

7 Nick Timoney

6 Jack Conan

5 Tadgh Beirne

4 Joe Mc Carthy

3 Tadgh Furlong

2 Dan Sheehan

1 Michael Milne

–

16 Ronan Kelleher

17 Billy Bohan

18 Thomas Clarkeson

19 Josh Van Der Flier

20 James Ryan

21 Craig Casey

22 Jack Crowley

23 Jamie Osborne

Here is my A side to face England in Thomond Park on Friday week :

15 Shane Daly

14 Joshua Kenny

13 Dan Kelly

12 Cathal Forde

11 Zac Ward

10 Jack Murphy

9 Ben Murphy

8 Bryan Ward

7 Paul Boyle

6 Sean Jansen

5 Charlie Irving

4 Darragh Murray

3 Oli Jager

2 Gus Mc Carthy

1 Sam Crean

–

16 Stephen Smyth

17 Sam Illo

18 Sam Wilson

19 Diarmuid Mangan

20 Brian Gleeson

21 Fintan Gunne

22 Mathew Devine

23 James Hume

Andy Farrell has picked the squad that will face into the opening 2 6 Nations games away on a Thursday evening in Paris, romantic it certainly isn’t but the organisers of one of rugby’s premium competitions seem hell bent on driving what interest there is by the casual supporter into the ground by this mad cap idea of playing the opening game of the Championship on a Thursday.

Rugby does not enjoy the global appeal of other sports and yes while the reasons for the move are simple and that is because of the start of the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina and they simply wanted to avoid a clash, admirable it may be but does nothing to try and gain the attention of the casual fan which rugby has long failed to do.

Andy Farrell has yet again gone for safety in terms of overall selection with only 2 uncapped players involved Edwin Edogbo of Munster and Nathan Doak of Ulster. Both players deserving of selection but a number of other players will truly wonder what they really need to do to get a look with the Irish coaching team.

Reputation seems to be the key word when selection meetings happen and the experienced head will win the day over the young tyro every time. The only way you’ll get in is if an injury happens and Farrell is forced to look elsewhere.

If Ireland do manage to win in Paris which at this current moment is unlikely then I’ll be the first to put the hand up and pat Andy Farrell on the back. Will we see a repeat of the game in 2023 when Ireland went to Paris and dismantled a fancied French side on that evening. It will take that type of showing to win in 2 week’s time

I will now put on my selector hat and pick a 23 from the squad that Farrell has picked…

15 Jamie Osbourne

14 Tommy O Brien

13 Garry Ringrose

12 Stuart Mc Closkey

11 Robert Baloucoune

10 Harry Byrne

9 Jamison Gibson Park

8 Caelan Doris

7 Nick Timoney

6 Jack Conan

5 Tadgh Beirne

4 Joe Mc Carthy

3 Tadgh Furlong

2 Dan Sheehan

1 Jack Boyle

–

16 Ronan Kelleher

17 Michael Milne

18 Thomas Clarkson

19 Edwin Edogbo

20 Josh Van Der Flier

21 Craig Casey

22 Jack Crowley

23 Hugo Keenan

Here is the 23 I would select to face France on Thursday 5^th of February before a home game the following week against Italy….

Rugby often goes on about how the referee is widely respected and listened to by all. That particular fact seems to be slowly slipping away over the past few years. I was at Munster vs Castres on Saturday evening and yet another Munster penalty was given up and moved forward for Munster back chat.

Irish players have fallen foul of this over the past few months, both Tagh Beirne and Caelan Doris have struggled on occasion whether it was in the blue of Leinster, red of Munster or with Ireland and as has been spoken of in recent days. It might just be time for certain Irish players to zip it and leave the talking to the captain on the day.

This is not exclusive to Irish players, the constant badgering of match officials has been a real problem across a number of League, Europe and International games.

For that matter match officials also need to stick to their job and we don’t need to see the sort of intervention that Karl Dickson saw need to do by pulling a player by the shirt and telling him to “use the ball”. That in itself is step too far.

We often hear referees saying to players in particular at the scrum, I am not your coach, you do your job and I’ll do mine. It really is time for certain officials to take note of that and just get on with refereeing the game and not looking to get involved unnecessarily from time to time.

The running joke of seen and not heard would sum up the situation beautifully at the minute. Both players and officials need to get back to their job and leave the coaching and playing to the people charged with doing them.

It has been pointed out that Irish players could do well to try and repair the relationship with certain people before the 6 Nations kicks off. There are the correct channels to go through and is constant feedback between coaches and officials on a weekly basis.

For so many years, rugby was held up as this great bastion of respect between player and referee but sadly over recent years that aspect has been eroded but with reflection there is still time to get back to the strong level of respect on the field.

That works both ways, referees will also need to up there game as well and then we might just be able to see a change in attitude over the next few months.

Not for 1 moment am I suggesting that Rugby holds the moral high ground in this aspect of sport, but we have been heading down that aforementioned slope for a while and there is still time to stop that slide.  

Let’s hope over the next few months, we will get back to talking of tries and wonderful moments of skill, wishful thinking of course but it does no harm to dream and think what could be…..

Here is my attempt at picking a Munster team to face Dragons on Friday evening in the URC. They will play each other in Virgin Media Park. I will try and select a 23 minus the players who could be involved with Ireland.

15 Shane Daly

14 Diarmuid Kilgallen

13 Fionn Gibbons

12 Alex Nankivell

11 Thakkir Abrahams

10 Tony Butler

9 Ethan Coughlan

8 Gavin Coombes

7 Michael Foy

6 Sean Edogbo

5 Evan O Connell

4 Conor Ryan

3 Oli Jager

2 Lee Barron

1 Josh Wycherley

–

16 Danny Sheehan

17 Jeremy Loughman

18 John Ryan

19 Edwin Edogbo

20 Luke Murphy

21 Jake O Riordan

22 JJ Hanrahan

23 Shay Mc Carthy

Here is my go at selecting a 23 to face Dragons on Friday night. I used the whole Munster squad while selecting my 23. They face Glasgow away at the end of January and will be pulling from a similar pool of players and Ireland A will also be preparing to play England A in Limerick on Friday February 6^th so they may be without one or two other players due to that game.

Munster’s Champions Cup last 16 hopes went up in flames last evening with Castres coming to Thomond Park and inflicting a 31-29 defeat on the men in red. This performance was very syntagmatic of Munster over recent times and again showed up the issues in particular at the line out and poor place kicking as well as some questionable kicking out of hand….

In defence also Munster were out foxed and the blitz style defence just didn’t cut the mustard. This type of defence was first employed under Rassie Erasmus when he and Jacques Nienber were involved with Munster almost 9 years ago now. Denis Leamy now looks after the defence and he will look back today at how easily they were broken through on several occasions.

This has been an issue along with poor execution at line out time and scrum trouble that seemed to stabilise last night but just as one element seemed to be coming right then another part of the game plan malfunctions, it like a dripping tap that you can’t seem to find the solution to fix.

A first win for Castres in Limerick came at the best time for them and the worst time from a Munster point of view. This win has put Castres into the last 16 of the Champions Cup and it relegated Munster to a place in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup which won’t be much consolation at this moment in time.

Unfortunately whatever way you slice it, 1 win from 4 isn’t good enough in any competition and the manner of the loss last night coupled with last weekend will sting of course but it is imperative for Munster to find a way to solve the issues as they are back in URC action next weekend and will be without a number of players who will be in with Ireland preparing for the upcoming 6 Nations campaign that will begin on Thursday February 5^th.

Jack Crowley will look back on some of his place kicking and know that it simply wasn’t good enough and the two missed conversions were so costly when you do up the maths at full time. He will know himself that it isn’t acceptable to miss crucial kicks when the pressure is on. Those two missed chances were contributing factors to the defeat but not the only reasons.

Of course, the problems at the line out also cost Munster and it again cracked when you need it to stand up and when it came to the crunch, the line out just crumbled. Some of the calling and movement was so predictable that it was easy for Castres to pick off a number of line outs as well as put real pressure on the rest of them that they didn’t pick off.

The trouble in the line out has being an ongoing issue over an extended period of time and will need serious surgery to solve the issues that have dogged them since last season.

Some of the attacking play was great from Munster and showed yet again that if they can get the trouble up front and in defence sorted they certainly have the firepower to hurt teams. As I say they have secured European rugby for April by squeezing into the last 16 of the Challenge Cup and will be on their travels in that game. They will find out who they will face this evening (Sunday).

That fact they have a place in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup will be scant consolation today but certainly offers redemption to Munster who will know that 1 win from 4 in unacceptable in the Champions Cup Pool phase.

Like 2011 the last time Munster were in the Challenge Cup where they were away to Brive and won on that day in a high scoring contest. They welcomed Harlequins to Limerick in the Semi Final and were beaten in another exciting contest.

The loss will be hard to stomach for the Munster faithful and the early season momentum has evaporated but what the place in the Challenge Cup does offer is a road to redemption for this group and they are still in the URC shake up so it is time to dust themselves off and go into the Dragons game and Glasgow game with renewed focus and hunger to right the wrongs of recent weeks…

15 Mike Haley

14 Diarmuid Kilgallen

13 Tom Farrell

12 Alex Nankivell

11 Thakir Abrahams

10 Jack Crowley

9 Ethan Coughlan

8 Gavin Coombes

7 Brian Gleeson

6 Tadgh Beirne

5 Edwin Edogbo

4 Jean Kleyn

3 Oli Jager

2 Lee Barron

1 Michael Milne

–

16 Diarmuid Barron

17 Josh Wycherley

18 Michael Alalatoa

19 Tom Ahern

20 Jack O Donoghue

21 Jake O Riordan

22 Tony Butler

23 Dan Kelly

Here is the 23 I would select to face Castres on Saturday evening in the Champions Cup. Yet again Munster find themselves in need of a big victory and other results to go their way to be sure of a last 16 spot in the Champions Cup.

A big weekend of action is ahead and for certain teams they will need to calculator for the 3 days of action…..