The IRISH RUGBY thread

[trileacman]

Paddy Wallace is your man.

I'm not even joking.

But it'll end up being Earls.

Wallace can't defend. Is McFadden out?

[Olly]

England beat Scotland 76-0 in women's rugby. A couple of dodgy decisions.

[Walter Cronc]

Paddy Wallace is your man.

I'm not even joking.

But it'll end up being Earls.

Wallace can't defend. Is McFadden out?

Jeez not Mc Fadden!!

[Bord na Mona man]

Ireland held a 27 point lead early in the 2nd half and perhaps had a chance to really go and build up a healthy points difference.
The overall winners could be decided by it, which generally means Ireland get edged out.
On the other hand, by giving Wales a fill up, they could kick on and cause real problems for France and England.

Ireland played 20 minutes with 14 men and only lost the 2nd half by 12 points. Which indicates a decent defensive shift at least. Especially as Wales have a backline with several smash artists who often force you to commit more than one player to the tackle.

Despite how it ended, it's good to finally beat the Welsh after 3 straight defeats. Especially as Cardiff 2011 and Dublin 2012 were games that Ireland left behind - dodgy tries, spear tackles etc.

The lack of cover for Darcy and Ross could be the biggest swing factor for England next week.

[Main Street]

I thought you lot (rugby aficionados) couldn't stand D'arcy being in the team and would be glad to be shod of him.
It was a great team performance today.
I though Sexton looked supremely confident out there, more so than any other time in an Irish shirt. It's just priceless to have that level of perfection in the team, converting the difficult kicks, to put the game a score too far for the Welsh.

[trileacman]

I thought you lot (rugby aficionados) couldn't stand D'arcy being in the team and would be glad to be shod of him.
It was a great team performance today.
I though Sexton looked supremely confident out there, more so than any other time in an Irish shirt. It's just priceless to have that level of perfection in the team, converting the difficult kicks, to put the game a score too far for the Welsh.

He missed a handy drop goal in front of the posts, glad to be rid of him, the frogs can have him.

[Main Street]

I thought you lot (rugby aficionados) couldn't stand D'arcy being in the team and would be glad to be shod of him.
It was a great team performance today.
I though Sexton looked supremely confident out there, more so than any other time in an Irish shirt. It's just priceless to have that level of perfection in the team, converting the difficult kicks, to put the game a score too far for the Welsh.

He missed a handy drop goal in front of the posts, glad to be rid of him, the frogs can have him.

True enough, Zebo could have backheeled that one over the bar.
We'll see how Sexton does in a green shirt with a last gasp drop goal attempt from 40m out, to win the game.

[Denn Forever]

Well that was exciting yesterday.  Fair play to both sides.

But should we be worried?  7 points vs 18 in the second half.

What will we do when O'Driscoll retires?  Anyone else coming through?

It was good fun though.

[seafoid]

Italy 23-18 France

Great result for the Azzurri

[Canalman]

Elephant in the Parlour time here................. but once again Ireland will run amok in a between World Cup cycle while other teams experiment and discard the old. Italy beating France.............would it happen in the WC or in a WC year?

Someone told me last year that Ireland have NEVER won a knockout game in the WC.

[seafoid]

Elephant in the Parlour time here................. but once again Ireland will run amok in a between World Cup cycle while other teams experiment and discard the old. Italy beating France.............would it happen in the WC or in a WC year?

Someone told me last year that Ireland have NEVER won a knockout game in the WC.

Never got as far as the semis. Very poor really.

[Hound]

Thought Rory Best was man of the match personally.

Sexton was excellent, all three of the back row immense, and both wingers more than justified their selection. Had a feeling Drico would put in a big performance against the perceived Lions 13.

Don't think Ross is too serious, but if D'Arcy doesnt make it there'll be a very big selection decision for Kidney.

[NAG1]

How does Keith Earls still make this squad?

[johnneycool]

If only kidney had as big a selection for the centre role as he does for the back row he'd be laughing.

Ferris as good as he is may have to wait to get a start again, whereas D'Arcy's worth was only shown up when he went off, for Earls who seemed to be too keen and made basic errors for the Cuthbert try.

Thought Sexton finally came out of the shadow of ROG on saturday, his kicking was good, hopefully consistency will follow in the England game and beyond. He's a better tackler and maybe ROG will now realize the young pretender has taken over and move on, he'd a damn good innings.

England are very much the crash bang wallop team that Wales were in the second half so Ireland will need more ball and in better positions than they had in the second half. Hopefully Ross will shake off that calf injury as the Irish scrum needs to get a bit of pride back after being pushed about badly in Twickenham last year.

[haze]

How does Keith Earls still make this squad?

Ex - Lion, 35 caps, 12 tries (our top scorer in last world cup with 5) and offers cover to wing (easily his best position), outside centre and full back. Plus Tommy Bowe is missing. You'd swear he was useless. If Keith Earls played wing instead of either of Zebo or Gilroy we would not have noticed any difference.