Rugby world cup 2015

[Milltown Row2]

I'd take that amount of 'abuse' any day of the week!!  Its great to see in the main that the referee is allowed and given the respect to referee the game...

Owen Farrell called the referee "sir" last night. Common occurrence for you? 

In my last job yes.... But if I was refereeing travellers.. They always say sir

[ONeill]

Great to see how respectful of referees Paul O'Connell is.

This thing of Rugby respect for referees is overstated in my opinion. From what I've seen there's plenty of captains willing to have a go. Paulie has always had that in him though.  Brian O'Driscoll too, in his early days especially, always came across as an awful whinger.

That's bollocks. 'Have a go' might be 4-5 words. Be interesting to see this 'having a go' a refs.

[gallsman]

South Africa,  who were beaten by Japan look a good bit better than the rest?  Interesting.

France lost to Tonga four years ago and only missed out on winning the whole thing because of a dodgy referee.

The Boks are improving and very much still a threat in this tournament.

[brokencrossbar1]

I'd take that amount of 'abuse' any day of the week!!  Its great to see in the main that the referee is allowed and given the respect to referee the game...

Owen Farrell called the referee "sir" last night. Common occurrence for you? 

Probably only in the context that 'you sir are 2 ends of a bollix!!' 😜

[lickthem]

Surely there is a better centre in Ireland than Keith Earls?

[seafoid]

Sergio Parisse made a huge difference for Italy. I was thinking of the nearly match against NZ in Dublin when Sexton fluffed those 2 kicks. He has a problem with the pressure when the matches are tight and 'beyond 6 nations'. I hope that Schmidt has something up his sleeve for France cos it doesn't look at all good based on yesterday's performance.

[AZOffaly]

Great to see how respectful of referees Paul O'Connell is.

This thing of Rugby respect for referees is overstated in my opinion. From what I've seen there's plenty of captains willing to have a go. Paulie has always had that in him though.  Brian O'Driscoll too, in his early days especially, always came across as an awful whinger.

That's bollocks. 'Have a go' might be 4-5 words. Be interesting to see this 'having a go' a refs.

It's not bollocks. I'm not saying that they chase referees around the pitch like lunatics, but there is this notion that there is unquestioning respect and deference to referees in rugby, and that is not what I have observed on many occasions. Captains, and other players, are not a bit afraid to question or disagree quite strongly with referee's decisions. Just last Friday night in Thomond Park a penalty was brought up 10 metres because of backchat by Munster after giving away a penalty.

If you watch Alain Roland's documentary on Setanta, he refers to it. Pat Lam was suspended or fined for comments he made about a ref last year.

I've been going to Thomond Park since 2001, and I've seen it and I've seen it on the increase as well. English teams are notorious for it, the open armed pleading their case and disagreeing with the ref. Paul O'Connell and Peter O'Mahoney as well.

As I said before, don't put words in my keyboard, and say I'm saying it's similar to soccer and GAA questioning of refs. What I'm saying is this notion that the 'ref is always right' is being eroded in rugby, and it's been happening for at least 5 or 6 years.

[seafoid]

Surely there is a better centre in Ireland than Keith Earls?

BOD and D'Arcy are v hard to replace. At least Earls is scoring tries.

[Walter Cronc]

Quite a flat performance yesterday. Conor Murray was not his usual self with some wayward kicking. Ireland needed that however. A good test physically ahead of the French game.

Earls, Bowe and Henderson the pick of Irish players for me.

[Dag Dog]

Yesterday was Italy's cup final.
It will focus Ireland for the French.

[AZOffaly]

I don't think Earls is an international centre, in the new version of the game. He is just not a strong enough tackler in the days when you see the likes of Bastaraud running at you like a train. If Earls is going to play the bigger games, it has to be on the wing, and I'm not sure he's one of the best two wings Ireland have. He's got a knack for tries alright, but it does seem slightly wrong that Earls has more tries than B O'D at world cups, and is the Irish record world cup try scorer.

I thought O'Mahoney was excellent until his brain fart. I thought Heaslip was average. Henderson was great, O'Connell mixed the good with the bad. The Murray/Sexton axis will be grand, but Ireland still box kick too often for my liking. I'm not sure they'll get the return on investment from those kicks against the top teams.

[johnneycool]

I don't think Earls is an international centre, in the new version of the game. He is just not a strong enough tackler in the days when you see the likes of Bastaraud running at you like a train. If Earls is going to play the bigger games, it has to be on the wing, and I'm not sure he's one of the best two wings Ireland have. He's got a knack for tries alright, but it does seem slightly wrong that Earls has more tries than B O'D at world cups, and is the Irish record world cup try scorer.

I thought O'Mahoney was excellent until his brain fart. I thought Heaslip was average. Henderson was great, O'Connell mixed the good with the bad. The Murray/Sexton axis will be grand, but Ireland still box kick too often for my liking. I'm not sure they'll get the return on investment from those kicks against the top teams.

In total agreement with that, god it was so obvious after a while and as pointed out by the commentators yesterday, the over reliance on  it cost us a great try opportunity, plus the Italians had worked out how to cope with it well.
If Schmitt is keeping all these great moves up his sleeve, then he'd better ensure the Irish have them ready to go for next Sunday as the French backs will eat up those kicks and return with interest!


The Aussies were very impressive on Saturday evening. The try they got in the first half with the wing coming in and one-twoing with Foley totally bamboozled the English defence. A wing running at full tilt at a second row is always going to cause problems and Cheika seemed to have done his homework on how England line out their defence. In all fairness England had some good breaks, and when Ford came on, they looked like they might get back into it (for a while), but the Wallabies had enough to spare and with Farrells sin binning, Burgess should have went as well in the same play for a high tackle, the war was over.

[JoG2]

South Africa,  who were beaten by Japan look a good bit better than the rest?  Interesting.

France lost to Tonga four years ago and only missed out on winning the whole thing because of a dodgy referee.

The Boks are improving and very much still a threat in this tournament.

dferg (who insists there's only 3 southern hemisphere teams in the RWC) reckons the Springboks look a good bit better than the rest. I'm in no shape or form discounting them,  but getting beat by Japan and beating current wooden spoon holders Scotland doesn't really back up his claim at this juncture of the tournament

[deiseach]

If you watch Alain Roland's documentary on Setanta, he refers to it. Pat Lam was suspended or fined for comments he made about a ref last year.

That would be the Alain Rolland who was utterly slandered for making the correct decision in sending Sam Warburton off in the 2011 World Cup semi-final. It seems acceptable in rugby circles to make accusations that would make Jose Mourinho blush, e.g. Rolland was biased in favour of France because his dad is French.

[ludermor]

Was at the game yesterday and there was 3 flags on show, The Italian flag, the Tricolour and the Ulster Flag ( The Yellow with the Red Hand) . Is this ulster flag always there for the rugby, never noticed it myself.