The Presidential Race

First there was Kurosawa’s film Seven Samurai and then the Hollywood remake to The Magnificent Seven and I can’t help but think of analogies to the Irish Presidential election.

Similar to the Irish Presidential campaign, The Magnificent Seven had a long recruitment process, with some players dipping and then dipping out and some last minute recruits to the campaign.
In the 1960 John Sturges remake, there were seven American gunmen played by Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, and Horst Buchholz.

Each character had their own demons to confront; Chris (Yul Brynner) the ageing gunslinger realising his era is coming to an end; the hotheaded  Chico (Horst Buchholz), is Mexican and hates the culture of farming. Harry Luck (Brad Dexter who was Ol’ Blue Eyes’ minder at one stage), joins because he believes Chris is looking for treasure. Vin (Steve McQueen) signs on after going broke from gambling. Other recruits include Bernardo O'Reilly (Charles Bronson), a gunfighter of Irish-Mexican heritage who is also broke and befriends the children of the village, strong silent type Britt (James Coburn), fast and deadly with his switchblade and Lee (Robert Vaughn), who struggles with nightmares and fears the loss of his skills.

If I was to play a game, which candidate would I associate with each character? Hmmm…

The only problem with this is that four of the original Magnificent Seven die leaving three at the end, but the can only be only one winner in the Presidential race – With the last man/woman Standing, Last Man Standing being a Bruce Willis Hollywood remake of Yojimbo, a 1962 film by Kurosawa, which is where I started off.

I wonder would Primetime have the chutzpah to play Elmer Bernstein’s from the movie for the debate.

Keep on dreaming.

Ireland's Calling - Part Two

OKAY, OKAY let's not PANIC.
 To continue where I finished off last time - 'Who Goes You Decide?'

Well for a start, D'Arcy, Murray, Earls and Jennings.

Murray needed game time, fair enough - but surely he should have had that prior to selection for the plane.He didn't get good service from the pack, which is inexcusable, considering their dominance. At the same time, he's a back, not part of the pack and should have got ball out quicker, despite the forwards' shortcomings.
As for D'Arcy- he hasn't been in form for so long and it shows; bluntly McFadden gets the nod, if only for making the Aussies do more homework on his playing style.
Earls and Jennings - they are very capable players- Earls is a super footballer , but out of his depth, indeed he was playing for his place on Saturday and just didn't cut it. Jennings showed great pace and great defence and textbook tackling, he's just not the guy for Australia. He will play again.

The backs have shown no progress since Kidney took over, in fact, some would argue that the Grand Slam winning team was a result of O'Sullivan's work more so than Kidney's inspirational leadership.
Sexton is having a mare, but putting him straight in with a rookie scrumhalf doesn't help. The play between the two was non existent - beit part of the management strategy or not enough time for gelling, the result has been negative for both half backs.
Kidney needs to understand that, in as much as O'Sullivan made mistakes in keeping with his 'chosen ones' resulting in no competition for places; Kidney has not got the luxury to tinker with the team at this stage - he had August for that.

I'll stand over what I said before - It's the backs that win the games in International rugby.
Bringing Trimble in at such a late stage meant nothing. Changing both half backs doesn't answer any questions, as Sexton could have fared better with Reddan as he plays with him provincially.
If Kidney thinks this will create competition for places - he is mistaken as all it does at this stage is knock confidence in the players.

He needs to tell the players today who is playing on Saturday and then let them play - both BOD and POC need to really and I mean really take the reins on the pitch and show everyone why they were both captains of the Lions.