Ulster scrum-half Cooney recalled to Ireland squad
An injury to Jamison Gibson-Park has put John Cooney back in the frame for Ireland selection ahead of the Six Nations clash with France this Saturday. Cooney has been drafted into Andy Farrell's squad after Gibson-Park presented some hamstring tightness following Saturday's 50-17 thrashing of Italy at the Aviva Stadium.
As a result, the IRFU have this morning confirmed that the Ulster scrum-half has joined the squad to provide additional cover.
Cooney was a high-profile omission from Andy Farrell's original 35-man squad, missing out on a call-up alongside Leinster No 9 Luke McGrath, with Farrell instead opting for the trio of Conor Murray, Kieran Marmion and newly eligible Gibson-Park.
Gibson-Park made his Ireland debut against the Azzurri last weekend, replacing Conor Murray with 13 minutes to play.
The Ireland squad returned to their Carton House base on Sunday and will train at the IRFU High Performance Centre on the Sport Ireland campus today ahead of Saturday's meeting with France in Paris.
Farrell will have to plan without centre Garry Ringrose, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the international window with a facial injury.
The IRFU have also confirmed that Munster's Keith Earls is finishing his rehabilitation programme at the IRFU’s HPC and a decision on his availability will be made over the coming days.
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I agree.
I’d like to know what constitutes a 208 week ban though?
Must the eyeball be dislodged? Hanging by a vein?
Go to commentsAlso a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.
I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.
I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.
Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.
“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”
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