The IRISH RUGBY thread

[Captain Scarlet]

It's all very flat. I see one rugby pod talking how this series captured the imagination.

It's so dead at the matches and it feels like a few DARE I SAY IT...friendlies.

[quit yo jibbajabba]

We'll have less of that for starters 😜

[gallsman]

Awful performance. Handling and passing all over the place. Lowe has had a very poor autumn.

Sua'ali'i for the Wallabies is some talent. If he sticks with Union he'll be a superstar. There was one near the end where he was able to compete with Beirne for a restart despite Beirne being lifted.

[tiempo]

IRFU post £15m in losses for 23/24

Thought these were the cream of the crop, the elites

[DuffleKing]

It's all very flat. I see one rugby pod talking how this series captured the imagination.

It's so dead at the matches and it feels like a few DARE I SAY IT...friendlies.

Surely that's just rugby generally?
Great to play but a largely boring sport to watch.
Long periods of set piece, kick tennis, tackle / recycle, etc. then small bursts of activity when someone slips a tackle.

Wholesale rule changes i say...

[Tony Baloney]

They'll have to start the transition soon to shift on some of the old guard but how much can they do with Farrell out on Lipns duty.

[Sportacus]

It's all very flat. I see one rugby pod talking how this series captured the imagination.

It's so dead at the matches and it feels like a few DARE I SAY IT...friendlies.

Surely that's just rugby generally?
Great to play but a largely boring sport to watch.
Long periods of set piece, kick tennis, tackle / recycle, etc. then small bursts of activity when someone slips a tackle.

Wholesale rule changes i say...

Campese did a great radio interview during the week.  He said he knows a lot of players from his era who don't watch rugby anymore.  He said once it turned professional they pulled in the Rugby League defence coaches and it was never the same since.  The days of a tap and go try from under your posts are long gone.

[Rois]

I went to the match today. First time. I was talking to a guest of my colleague about GAA, and a girl in front of me and her partner turned round and told me to be quiet (no one was taking a penalty...).

I'm calling it racially motivated - they were blatantly anti-GAA and/or Anti-Northern.

[gallsman]

It's all very flat. I see one rugby pod talking how this series captured the imagination.

It's so dead at the matches and it feels like a few DARE I SAY IT...friendlies.

Surely that's just rugby generally?
Great to play but a largely boring sport to watch.
Long periods of set piece, kick tennis, tackle / recycle, etc. then small bursts of activity when someone slips a tackle.

Wholesale rule changes i say...

Campese did a great radio interview during the week.  He said he knows a lot of players from his era who don't watch rugby anymore.  He said once it turned professional they pulled in the Rugby League defence coaches and it was never the same since.  The days of a tap and go try from under your posts are long gone.

Union has been dying a slow and prolonged death in comparison to league in Australia for over a hundred years. This is the best they've looked in a long time.

Tap and go from under your posts might have been solid when you're David Campese and the lads trying to defend you had a few ciggies before the match and "only" had four pints the night before but won't cut it at the elite end of sport these days. He's a complete windbag. The ABs have consistently been thrilling to watch for decades. France are absolutely electric, especially with Dupont back. The Springboks are incredible.

[thewobbler]

Tbh Gallsman, I'd draw serious parallels between modern GAA and modern union, in terms of how boring the game is. Union has become an exceptionally attritional game, with victory determined mostly by who makes the fewest mistakes, rather than through skill.

Sport when it's executed perfectly is boring.

[gallsman]

Have you ever watched any pre professionalism union? It was god awful fare.

[thewobbler]

Have you ever watched any pre professionalism union? It was god awful fare.

I did. The skill levels were minimal and the constant flurry of scrums from knock-ons was a poor spectacle. The athleticism was mediocre and occasionally bewildering. And there were clearly yellow bastards playing, even international level.

Rugby peaked in terms of viewer entertainment about 10 years after professionalism.

Since then the game has become too focused on physical size and defensive patterns. The role of the coach has become too important.

That doesn't mean you don't get the occasional cracking game. But we got those just as occasionally in the 1980s too.

[From the Bunker]

Tbh Gallsman, I'd draw serious parallels between modern GAA and modern union, in terms of how boring the game is. Union has become an exceptionally attritional game, with victory determined mostly by who makes the fewest mistakes, rather than through skill.

Sport when it's executed perfectly is boring.

It happened to Snooker (Davis and later Hendry influence on safety play), Tennis (power serve), Soccer in the '90's (with the long ball and the back pass), Cycling/Athletics (Doping). Athletes/Coaches/Analysts will always look at a way to gain an edge. They will think of something that won't often be entertaining to watch, but effective to gain advantage.

[Tony Baloney]

Tbh Gallsman, I'd draw serious parallels between modern GAA and modern union, in terms of how boring the game is. Union has become an exceptionally attritional game, with victory determined mostly by who makes the fewest mistakes, rather than through skill.

Sport when it's executed perfectly is boring.

It happened to Snooker (Davis and later Hendry influence on safety play), Tennis (power serve), Soccer in the '90's (with the long ball and the back pass), Cycling/Athletics (Doping). Athletes/Coaches/Analysts will always look at a way to gain an edge. They will think of something that won't often be entertaining to watch, but effective to gain advantage.

True at points in time but I think tennis, certainly serve/volley at Wimbledon has now passed that era. An issue with snooker now isn't safety play but the fact that so many players are now so good that it only takes one miss for a player to be in their seat for the frame.

People who slag off rugby as overly attritional are obviously only watching certain games. There are fantastic games weekly in URC, Gallagher Premiership etc.

[Captain Scarlet]

I'm from Kildare and look back at 98 with v food memories but it was poor stuff at times. But ut was fun.

Rugby in general isn't all boring but Ireland are. And a lot of full house games are dead in terms of atmosphere as there are so many day trippers.

The difference is Rugby folk coddle their sport while in football we slate it. Look at the club games recently and it shows the sport and rules are not the issues, it's the managers and their set up.

Even O'Driscoll said how predictable Ireland are. We also have no real gas so teams now know they can push us out to the wings and we can't take them on the outside unless it's a finisher move.