The IRISH RUGBY thread

Walter Cronc · March 16, 2015, 11:18:01 AM

Still positive ahead of this Saturday. If Wales are to win it you'd be looking at them having to beat Italy by 40 odd points. England and France 'should' be tight also. Jeez England blew some chances on Saturday. That Luther Burrell is clueless. The Scots won't be easy but if we get it right I fancy us by 15+. As mentioned it will dampen the RWC hype. I'd be more worried if we weren't creating the chances. Must say POC was immense on Saturday.

Any potential changes ahead of Saturday? Cronin, Henderson, Fitzgerald /Earls worth a look?

rrhf · March 16, 2015, 12:48:07 PM

Id like him to bring back Darcy

Estimator · March 16, 2015, 01:48:14 PM

Ireland have played 30+ mins against teams with players in the bin in this years 6nations:
10mins against Italy
10mins against France
12mins (approx) against Wales

In that time they only managed two tries, both against a weakening Italian side.
This actually represents half of our try total and one of those was a penalty try.
If they are to put a decent target for England to chase something dramatic needs to happen against Scotland.

Applesisapples · March 18, 2015, 11:56:56 AM

Not a knowledgeable Rugby person, but I have watched quite a lot of rugby both club and international. When I saw that Barnes was the ref I feared the worst. He seems to set against one team or the other at some early stage in a match regarding the breakdown and that colours his decisions for the rest of the day. Wales continuously got away with being of their feet, Ireland didn't and the Welsh in the second was a product of that. Having said all of that I think Wales were better on the day but Ireland should have stolen it.

muppet · March 18, 2015, 02:26:39 PM

Quote from: Applesisapples on March 18, 2015, 11:56:56 AM
Not a knowledgeable Rugby person, but I have watched quite a lot of rugby both club and international. When I saw that Barnes was the ref I feared the worst. He seems to set against one team or the other at some early stage in a match regarding the breakdown and that colours his decisions for the rest of the day. Wales continuously got away with being of their feet, Ireland didn't and the Welsh in the second was a product of that. Having said all of that I think Wales were better on the day but Ireland should have stolen it.

http://www.rugbypigs.com/rugby-news/six-nations/is-wayne-barnes-a-cheat-watch-video/

Cheat is a bit much, incompetent & inconsistent definitely.

CiKe · March 18, 2015, 02:55:47 PM

Quote from: muppet on March 18, 2015, 02:26:39 PM
Quote from: Applesisapples on March 18, 2015, 11:56:56 AM
Not a knowledgeable Rugby person, but I have watched quite a lot of rugby both club and international. When I saw that Barnes was the ref I feared the worst. He seems to set against one team or the other at some early stage in a match regarding the breakdown and that colours his decisions for the rest of the day. Wales continuously got away with being of their feet, Ireland didn't and the Welsh in the second was a product of that. Having said all of that I think Wales were better on the day but Ireland should have stolen it.

http://www.rugbypigs.com/rugby-news/six-nations/is-wayne-barnes-a-cheat-watch-video/

Cheat is a bit much, incompetent & inconsistent definitely.

Didn't see the game. Not sure about a couple of the scrums but the rest seemed a bit dodgy to say the least. Did Ireland get away with anything at all?

muppet · March 18, 2015, 02:56:45 PM

Quote from: CiKe on March 18, 2015, 02:55:47 PM
Quote from: muppet on March 18, 2015, 02:26:39 PM
Quote from: Applesisapples on March 18, 2015, 11:56:56 AM
Not a knowledgeable Rugby person, but I have watched quite a lot of rugby both club and international. When I saw that Barnes was the ref I feared the worst. He seems to set against one team or the other at some early stage in a match regarding the breakdown and that colours his decisions for the rest of the day. Wales continuously got away with being of their feet, Ireland didn't and the Welsh in the second was a product of that. Having said all of that I think Wales were better on the day but Ireland should have stolen it.

http://www.rugbypigs.com/rugby-news/six-nations/is-wayne-barnes-a-cheat-watch-video/

Cheat is a bit much, incompetent & inconsistent definitely.

Didn't see the game. Not sure about a couple of the scrums but the rest seemed a bit dodgy to say the least. Did Ireland get away with anything at all?

I should point out I didn't see the game either.

Walter Cronc · March 18, 2015, 02:58:03 PM

The penalty count was 12-11 with Ireland penalised more.

Barnes was a joke but the chances we had and blew werent down to him.

Need a big response this Staurday.

seafoid · March 18, 2015, 03:02:20 PM

6N standard doesn't seem to be great or do ye think it'll be up to the Southern Hemisphere level by the time the RWC comes along ?

Walter Cronc · March 18, 2015, 03:05:57 PM

You would still have NZ and SA as the favourites but the last few World Cups (England 03, SA 07 & NZ 11) have been won not by playing expansive rugby but basically a 10 man game.

If England can improve their finishing they'll be hard to deal with at home where they rarely lose.

trileacman · March 18, 2015, 08:51:39 PM

That video, like so much of rugby coverage this tear is completely OTT. Alot of those Welsh incidents in the early segment are completely legal, the creator clearly hasn't a clue of the rules to think that a penalty for "going off your feet" is a penalty for going of your feet. It's not, it's about clearing out rucks and killing the competition at the breakdown, most of those welsh players go off their feet whilst competing against an Irish player, which is legal enough if you go about it in a way that makes you look like you tried.

screenexile · March 19, 2015, 01:53:04 PM

Healy and Fitzgerald in. Haven't seen much of Fitzgerald this season is he back in decent form?

Cronin bound to feel hard done by he's not getting a shout this week he was immense last week when he appeared but I have no doubt he will make another impact from the bench and himself and Henderson may even appear earlier if we haven't a decent points total coming up on 50 minutes!

AZOffaly · March 19, 2015, 01:55:03 PM

Is Zebo injured? I didn't see the game on Saturday, so maybe he had a stinker. If not it seems harsh in a game plan which appears to be based on kick chase. He's decent at that.

screenexile · March 19, 2015, 02:04:16 PM

I was thinking he must be as he's out of the 23 entirely but looking at the different news outlets there is no mention of an injury!!

Walter Cronc · March 19, 2015, 02:06:28 PM

Joe has a habit of this. Dropping players entirely out of the 23. Surely it cant be good for a players confidence. Zebo was no worse than anyone else on Saturday. Fitzgerald is in form though.

Felix Jones...why Joe. Whyyyyyy!!!