The IRISH RUGBY thread

[restorepride]

Just some Evo stick?

You sick bastard.

Go to bed, give yourself a break

Sick bastard - Evo stick for a dead relative.  You need help, you sick bastard.

? You said no drink taken, I said evo stick and now I'm giving evo stick to dead relatives? Are you sure you haven't been drinking?

The board got what you meant, 2up2down isn't 2 hard to get.  I told you that the Shankill Butchers killed my relative, the MOD deleted your previous post in that regard and probably will take a good look at this.  On a human level, you are as low as it gets.  Clear for the whole board to judge.

[Milltown Row2]

Just some Evo stick?

You sick bastard.

Go to bed, give yourself a break

Sick bastard - Evo stick for a dead relative.  You need help, you sick bastard.

? You said no drink taken, I said evo stick and now I'm giving evo stick to dead relatives? Are you sure you haven't been drinking?

The board got what you meant, 2up2down isn't 2 hard to get.  I told you that the Shankill Butchers killed my relative, the MOD deleted your previous post in that regard and probably will take a good look at this.  On a human level, you are as low as it gets.  Clear for the whole board to judge.

He deleted your post also

You still don't get the point of the post. But carry on,

[restorepride]

Just some Evo stick?

You sick bastard.

Go to bed, give yourself a break

Sick bastard - Evo stick for a dead relative.  You need help, you sick bastard.

? You said no drink taken, I said evo stick and now I'm giving evo stick to dead relatives? Are you sure you haven't been drinking?

The board got what you meant, 2up2down isn't 2 hard to get.  I told you that the Shankill Butchers killed my relative, the MOD deleted your previous post in that regard and probably will take a good look at this.  On a human level, you are as low as it gets.  Clear for the whole board to judge.

He deleted your post also

You still don't get the point of the post. But carry on,

Explain it - to the board then.

[restorepride]

Come on, explain your post.

[Milltown Row2]

Come on, explain your post.

I did, if you can't understand it it then move on. Take it up with the mod

[restorepride]

Come on, explain your post.

I did, if you can't understand it it then move on. Take it up with the mod

NO.  The MOD will take it up with YOU.  Come on, explain you comparison of teachers to a Shankill Butcher - again.  The Board would love to hear it - 2up2down and all that.

[restorepride]

Oh dear, MR2 has gone to bed!  No wonder Cargin found it so easy.

[Milltown Row2]

Oh dear, MR2 has gone to bed!  No wonder Cargin found it so easy.

Can we get a 🤦‍♀️ emoji please

[restorepride]

Oh dear, MR2 has gone to bed!  No wonder Cargin found it so easy.

Can we get a 🤦‍♀️ emoji please

NO.  Remember - go bás.

[sid waddell]

I thought they did alright until the 3 had to go off with head injuries, the two forwards in particular.  Burns kicking out of hand was decent but is still not the answer long term.

If you add Ryan, Doris, Leavy, Murray, Sexton and Stockdale as well as starting Furlong it would make some difference to the team.  However there is still the elephant in the room that they are not creating much in the backline and have no clear succession plan for Sexton and Murray.  How Cooney wasn't starting or at least on the bench today is beyond me.

As much as I'd like too see Cooney (30) in the squad, at 1year younger than Murray (31), he is not his successor. JGP (almost 29) is not a long term viable option either.

From the starting line up today. Healy, Herring, Ruddock, Stander, Earls, are all 30+. If Sexton, Murray, O'Mahony, Aki (all 30+) were all available they'd be in the starting lineup. Surely at this stage of the World Cup cycle Ireland should be blooding as many younger players as possible.

Porter
Furlong
Kelleher
Beirne
Ryan
Henderson
Leavy
Connors
Van der Flier
Doris
Casey
Frawley
Harry Byrne
Larmour
Henshaw
Ringrose
Keenan
Stockdale
Carberry if he can ever get fit again

These are the players in their prime or coming into their prime we need to build around or phase in

There's room for a couple of older heads if they can keep fit and are in form, Murray and O'Mahony would be the most likely, Zebo might be worth another look as regards having in the squad if he comes back to Munster

You need to be bedding in most of the World Cup team by summer 2022 anyway to give yourself a decent 15 month run at it

Where is Rugby going ?
Genuine Head injury concerns, risk is serious, and the necessary disruption to play and selection is unsustainable .
Post Covid financial concerns.
Ireland very old age profile .
Boring play lacking ingenuity or flair
Stlll haven't broken away from classist origins.
And the bizarre irony that Simon Zebo can't play for his country but we have New Zealand South African English and welsh players can. I'm all for the diaspora playing for ireland but this residency rule is ridiculous. This player tourism is ridiculous, player X doesn't think he's going to cut it for NZ and he moves halfway around the world for a job, next thing he's kissing the shamrock badge in the Aviva.
Having been a big rugby fan( and still admiring much about Rugby )
I'm rapidly losing interest and have only watched cameos of recent internationals

There's absolute logic to not picking non-Irish-based players - it's to protect the competitiveness of the provincial game here and to keep the big stars at home, rather than have them move to England or France

New Zealand do it too

Everybody knows the rules of the game

Player residency rules as regards international teams have been upped to five years

It won't be a major issue going forward and to be honest most of the imports are a cut below anyway, that's why they're here, so Irish players will generally get the nod because we have better players in nearly all positions

Imports rarely last long on the team and those that are there are generally squad players making up the numbers, I expect this will be the case with Lowe because as we saw today he has glaring defensive weaknesses that you can't get away with in international rugby

I've found the first two weekends very interesting, really competitive matches even if the standard sometimes hasn't been great - but the contest makes the game

Think it's definitely apparent we're fifth best at the moment though

[sid waddell]

This clip is pretty damning for Billy Burns

Throw the ball, for chrisake

https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/status/1361068225228857344

[6th sam]

I thought they did alright until the 3 had to go off with head injuries, the two forwards in particular.  Burns kicking out of hand was decent but is still not the answer long term.

If you add Ryan, Doris, Leavy, Murray, Sexton and Stockdale as well as starting Furlong it would make some difference to the team.  However there is still the elephant in the room that they are not creating much in the backline and have no clear succession plan for Sexton and Murray.  How Cooney wasn't starting or at least on the bench today is beyond me.

As much as I'd like too see Cooney (30) in the squad, at 1year younger than Murray (31), he is not his successor. JGP (almost 29) is not a long term viable option either.

From the starting line up today. Healy, Herring, Ruddock, Stander, Earls, are all 30+. If Sexton, Murray, O'Mahony, Aki (all 30+) were all available they'd be in the starting lineup. Surely at this stage of the World Cup cycle Ireland should be blooding as many younger players as possible.

Porter
Furlong
Kelleher
Beirne
Ryan
Henderson
Leavy
Connors
Van der Flier
Doris
Casey
Frawley
Harry Byrne
Larmour
Henshaw
Ringrose
Keenan
Stockdale
Carberry if he can ever get fit again

These are the players in their prime or coming into their prime we need to build around or phase in

There's room for a couple of older heads if they can keep fit and are in form, Murray and O'Mahony would be the most likely, Zebo might be worth another look as regards having in the squad if he comes back to Munster

You need to be bedding in most of the World Cup team by summer 2022 anyway to give yourself a decent 15 month run at it

Where is Rugby going ?
Genuine Head injury concerns, risk is serious, and the necessary disruption to play and selection is unsustainable .
Post Covid financial concerns.
Ireland very old age profile .
Boring play lacking ingenuity or flair
Stlll haven't broken away from classist origins.
And the bizarre irony that Simon Zebo can't play for his country but we have New Zealand South African English and welsh players can. I'm all for the diaspora playing for ireland but this residency rule is ridiculous. This player tourism is ridiculous, player X doesn't think he's going to cut it for NZ and he moves halfway around the world for a job, next thing he's kissing the shamrock badge in the Aviva.
Having been a big rugby fan( and still admiring much about Rugby )
I'm rapidly losing interest and have only watched cameos of recent internationals

There's absolute logic to not picking non-Irish-based players - it's to protect the competitiveness of the provincial game here and to keep the big stars at home, rather than have them move to England or France

New Zealand do it too

Everybody knows the rules of the game

Player residency rules as regards international teams have been upped to five years

It won't be a major issue going forward and to be honest most of the imports are a cut below anyway, that's why they're here, so Irish players will generally get the nod because we have better players in nearly all positions

Imports rarely last long on the team and those that are there are generally squad players making up the numbers, I expect this will be the case with Lowe because as we saw today he has glaring defensive weaknesses that you can't get away with in international rugby

I've found the first two weekends very interesting, really competitive matches even if the standard sometimes hasn't been great - but the contest makes the game

Think it's definitely apparent we're fifth best at the moment though

Would agree that it makes sense from a mercenary point of view , I just think the international game could go the way of soccer where the international game plays second fiddle to the club game. I actually think that though ireland have lost the two games, they remained competitive in the face severe challenges particularly the  Sending off , and head injury losses. I genuinely don't see where Rugby's going , the head injury risk and disruption is unsustainable. The prevalence of low risk borefests especially involving ireland further undermines the game. Players are just going to have to get even bigger to compete and that increases the risk and drop out rate. Ireland's "glory days" appear to be behind us and it's sad that even at our peak we were always Also-rans at the World Cup

[sid waddell]

There are people that want to make the Premiership in England a sort of NBA of the game, or perhaps have an England/France duopoly on the club game in the way that the Premier League and La Liga dominate European club football

But the problem with that is that that there just aren't enough people interested in club/provincial rugby - and nobody follows a team outside their own country

Like, nobody in Ireland follows Leicester or Saracens in the way they follow Liverpool or Manchester United, even in England, nobody outside Leicester or its hinterland follows them

There isn't a Barcelona or Real Madrid of rugby, Toulouse would be the closest thing in terms of there being a "big" European club with cachet but it's not comparable at all

The Munster/Leinster thing was/is unique in the world in terms of attracting mass support at club/provincial level and it was also very much of a time and place, their support has dropped off significantly, there's nowhere near the same buzz around them as there was in the 2000s

Rugby is a bit like GAA in that even in the professional era, it is a game very much based on place and identity, international drives the money, and that is why international teams will always be the main show

At club/provincial level, an England/France duopoly would be very bad for the sport - but at the same time the Celtic League is good few notches down from the English and French leagues in terms of competitiveness and general spectacle, and it's been particularly bad for Scotland and Wales as it doesn't capture the imagination there at all - their teams are mostly franchises bar Llanelli Scarlets and Cardiff and supporters don't buy into it

I've sometimes wondered if a European Super League would be a runner but the English and French competitions are big business in and of themselves in those countries, and a European Super League would require a lot of clubs there to be effectively turkeys voting for Christmas

[seafoid]

This clip is pretty damning for Billy Burns

Throw the ball, for chrisake

https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/status/1361068225228857344

For Burns or Farrell ?

[seafoid]

This clip is pretty damning for Billy Burns

Throw the ball, for chrisake

https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/status/1361068225228857344

This is not new
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/the-offload-shane-horgan-pulls-no-punches-as-the-podcast-wars-rage-on-1.4422907

Horgan on Second Captains cut through a lot of media pandering when noting the current course of Farrell's Ireland team "is going to be really destructive."
On the Englishman's first year as Ireland head coach, Horgan said: "We are left with somebody who is not an innovative thinker who is implementing a game plan that is out of date...Modern rugby players want detail and a game plan that they can see working...Motivation and aggression by itself is nowhere near good enough."
On Ireland's new attack coach, Horgan pivoted into a laceration of the Ireland outhalf at Twickenham: "Worryingly, and I don't know if this is Mike Catt's coaching or not, but Ross Byrne's positioning from every single phrase was appalling. He is standing deep and not moving one inch forward, just shovelling it on. He left his centres in a really tricky position. He is no threat whatsoever. It was almost as if he was afraid to engage the line."