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Moore stands firm

Former English hooker and current BBC commentator Brian Moore rolled out a second "Chokers" column in the Daily Telegraph this week to support his initial assertion that this Irish team lacks the stones to ever win a Grand Slam.

"It is too early for the tentative, some might say schoolboy, pun of 'Choke Park' to take root in rugby folklore, but come the final whistle of Saturday's Six Nations game between Ireland and England it may gather a momentum that is unstoppable," said Moore.

"On paper they have too much for an England team who still have only two games' experience for most of their units. Ireland are at home and have a full complement of players to choose from. Again, you have to ask, if they can't do it this time, when will you back them to do so in the future?"

But Moore did make a valid point in his original "Choke" piece when stating the irrelevancy of Ireland taking solace by achieving another Triple Crown. This was in contrast to Keith Wood's positive/clutching at straws post-match analysis.

BBC Northern Ireland sent a reporter and camera crew to Moore's house to seek an explanation. Moore stood his ground, actually, he made plenty of sense.

"No, the pressure is once again all on Ireland. Finishing second best, no matter how thrilling the game, how big the occasion, would reinforce the claim that they are chokers." As you can imagine the Telegraph rugby blog lit up with replies, but is there not some validity to such a standpoint?

Quinlan leads

The Irish club international team to face an English counties selection was announced yesterday ahead of Friday night's encounter in Donnybrook (live on RTÉ 2 at 7.05pm).

The only outstanding selection issue is at inside centre. Glen Telford featured on the Irish under-21 team that reached the 2004 World Cup final. If he does not pass a fitness test then St Mary's Philip Brophy will start.

Captained by Shannon's David Quinlan - contract players cannot be selected - a second "international" will also take place on the eve of the Scottish game.

IRELAND: R McCarter (Dungannon); N O'Brien (Clontarf), K Hartigan (Garryowen), G Telford (Dungannon)/P Brophy (St Mary's), C Healy (Cork Constitution); A Thompson (Shannon), F O'Loughlin (Clontarf); D O'Connell (Galwegians), M Crockett (Dublin Univ), S Shawe (Ballymena); M O'Connell (Cork Constitution), A Maher (Lansdowne); P Malone (Garryowen), C Hartigan (Buccaneers), D Quinlan (capt, Shannon). Replacements: K Corrigan (Lansdowne), S Nolan (Terenure), S Crawford (Clontarf), F Cogan (Cork Con), M Bruce (Buccaneers), B Keeshan (Dolphin), A Finn (Shannon).

Best bets

Paddy Power have thrown out a few quirky bets this week on the theme of Anglo-Irish relations down through the centuries.

Sleeping with the Enemy: any Ulster player to be seen singing God Save the Queen 20/1 Decorated Hero: O'Gara to score all Ireland points and Ireland to win the match 8/1; Wilkinson Sword: Wilkinson to score all England's points and England to win the match 7/1; A Hill of a start: first score of the game to be a try at Hill 16 end 15/2.

O'Shea explains

Conor O'Shea is familiar to the Irish sporting public for a distinguished career as fullback on the national team. Although raised in Dublin, O'Shea hails from deeply rooted GAA stock as his father, Jerome O'Shea, won three All-Ireland's with Kerry in the 1950s.

O'Shea, is the director of rugby for the English RFU academy so he was ideally placed yesterday to explain the significance of Croke Park to the English squad.

"We are not making a big issue out of it, after all it is just another Ireland-England rugby international, but it's not just another pitch," he said in the Sunday Tribune. "Brian (Ashton) is trying to get everyone to embrace that idea by doing this."