The IRISH RUGBY thread

[Donnellys Hollow]

When is Felix Jones due back?

[screenexile]

Was at the game on Saturday and for my first experience of Irish Rugby and the new Aviva I was extremely impressed. The atmosphere and the stadium itself were both fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

As for the game itself well I was also suitably impressed. People here have to remember that New Zealand have been playing constant rugby together for over 2 months and are at the end of their season. . . allied to that they are the best team in the world at the minute and what exactly was the best people could hope for??

All I wanted was a semblance of a gameplan and honesty of effort from the players and I think we got that. To be fair to the lads and Kidney they have stated that they have been practising playing with ball in hand since they got together but up until now the conditions have not allowed for it. Yes there were a few errors on Saturday but that is to be expected when playing the All Blacks.

We scored 2 tries and had the possibility for 3 more which against the All Blacks is no bad going. Yes our Scrum is muck and the sooner Mick O'Driscoll is off the more restarts we'll hold on to but I really didn't think we did that badly. I'm quite looking forward to the 6N now as I believe we will be able to compete with France and England who for me have to be the 2 favourites.

[nrico2006]

Why is it every time Ireland play New Zealand it is acceptable to lose because 'they are the best team in the world'.  Why are they always classed as the best when they have one World Cup to their name, and that was a long time ago.

[INDIANA]

Why is it every time Ireland play New Zealand it is acceptable to lose because 'they are the best team in the world'.  Why are they always classed as the best when they have one World Cup to their name, and that was a long time ago.

Because as I said above people are happy to slate amateur Gaa players but give the Golden Generation a pass. The fact that some of them after 10 years of being a professional still havent mastered the basics doesnt seem to register.
We lost by 3 conveted tries. thats a hiding. End of story.

[screenexile]

Why is it every time Ireland play New Zealand it is acceptable to lose because 'they are the best team in the world'.  Why are they always classed as the best when they have one World Cup to their name, and that was a long time ago.

http://www.irb.com/rankings/full.html

Why is it every time Ireland play New Zealand it is acceptable to lose because 'they are the best team in the world'.  Why are they always classed as the best when they have one World Cup to their name, and that was a long time ago.

Because as I said above people are happy to slate amateur Gaa players but give the Golden Generation a pass. The fact that some of them after 10 years of being a professional still havent mastered the basics doesnt seem to register.
We lost by 3 conveted tries. thats a hiding. End of story.

You are missing the point Indiana. People slate their county team because they blindly believe that they are good enough to achieve something with Mayo and Dublin being the prime examples. Along with that County teams are often given the 'they're not fit enough' or the 'they don't show enough pride in the jersey' nonsense. Individuals are smart, people are stupid.

In regard to the current Irish team we are old, play a lesser brand of Rugby in the Heineken cup compare to Super 14, have more sporting distractions than people in NZ where the overwhelming majority play Rugby . . . allied to that NZ are currently the best team in the world and we are 7th, it puts our performance into context. Everyone on that team gave what they had for the 80 minutes, yes mistakes were made and ultimately we do not have the same calibre of player as NZ but it was there for all to see that Ireland went out to play their best game and hold nothing back. I will not slate anyone for doing that!!!

[INDIANA]

Why is it every time Ireland play New Zealand it is acceptable to lose because 'they are the best team in the world'.  Why are they always classed as the best when they have one World Cup to their name, and that was a long time ago.

http://www.irb.com/rankings/full.html

Why is it every time Ireland play New Zealand it is acceptable to lose because 'they are the best team in the world'.  Why are they always classed as the best when they have one World Cup to their name, and that was a long time ago.

Because as I said above people are happy to slate amateur Gaa players but give the Golden Generation a pass. The fact that some of them after 10 years of being a professional still havent mastered the basics doesnt seem to register.
We lost by 3 conveted tries. thats a hiding. End of story.

You are missing the point Indiana. People slate their county team because they blindly believe that they are good enough to achieve something with Mayo and Dublin being the prime examples. Along with that County teams are often given the 'they're not fit enough' or the 'they don't show enough pride in the jersey' nonsense. Individuals are smart, people are stupid.

In regard to the current Irish team we are old, play a lesser brand of Rugby in the Heineken cup compare to Super 14, have more sporting distractions than people in NZ where the overwhelming majority play Rugby . . . allied to that NZ are currently the best team in the world and we are 7th, it puts our performance into context. Everyone on that team gave what they had for the 80 minutes, yes mistakes were made and ultimately we do not have the same calibre of player as NZ but it was there for all to see that Ireland went out to play their best game and hold nothing back. I will not slate anyone for doing that!!!

Just to point out australia have more sports to compete with- have less players then we do and can still beat NZ. As I said we just make excuses.

[nrico2006]

Why is it every time Ireland play New Zealand it is acceptable to lose because 'they are the best team in the world'.  Why are they always classed as the best when they have one World Cup to their name, and that was a long time ago.

http://www.irb.com/rankings/full.html

Why is it every time Ireland play New Zealand it is acceptable to lose because 'they are the best team in the world'.  Why are they always classed as the best when they have one World Cup to their name, and that was a long time ago.

Because as I said above people are happy to slate amateur Gaa players but give the Golden Generation a pass. The fact that some of them after 10 years of being a professional still havent mastered the basics doesnt seem to register.
We lost by 3 conveted tries. thats a hiding. End of story.

You are missing the point Indiana. People slate their county team because they blindly believe that they are good enough to achieve something with Mayo and Dublin being the prime examples. Along with that County teams are often given the 'they're not fit enough' or the 'they don't show enough pride in the jersey' nonsense. Individuals are smart, people are stupid.

In regard to the current Irish team we are old, play a lesser brand of Rugby in the Heineken cup compare to Super 14, have more sporting distractions than people in NZ where the overwhelming majority play Rugby . . . allied to that NZ are currently the best team in the world and we are 7th, it puts our performance into context. Everyone on that team gave what they had for the 80 minutes, yes mistakes were made and ultimately we do not have the same calibre of player as NZ but it was there for all to see that Ireland went out to play their best game and hold nothing back. I will not slate anyone for doing that!!!

Rankings hardly count for much in most sports these days as points are awarded for all sorts of different type of games.  The best team in any sport is the team that holds the major titles, which New Zealand have not had had since 1987. 

[screenexile]

Why is it every time Ireland play New Zealand it is acceptable to lose because 'they are the best team in the world'.  Why are they always classed as the best when they have one World Cup to their name, and that was a long time ago.

http://www.irb.com/rankings/full.html

Why is it every time Ireland play New Zealand it is acceptable to lose because 'they are the best team in the world'.  Why are they always classed as the best when they have one World Cup to their name, and that was a long time ago.

Because as I said above people are happy to slate amateur Gaa players but give the Golden Generation a pass. The fact that some of them after 10 years of being a professional still havent mastered the basics doesnt seem to register.
We lost by 3 conveted tries. thats a hiding. End of story.

You are missing the point Indiana. People slate their county team because they blindly believe that they are good enough to achieve something with Mayo and Dublin being the prime examples. Along with that County teams are often given the 'they're not fit enough' or the 'they don't show enough pride in the jersey' nonsense. Individuals are smart, people are stupid.

In regard to the current Irish team we are old, play a lesser brand of Rugby in the Heineken cup compare to Super 14, have more sporting distractions than people in NZ where the overwhelming majority play Rugby . . . allied to that NZ are currently the best team in the world and we are 7th, it puts our performance into context. Everyone on that team gave what they had for the 80 minutes, yes mistakes were made and ultimately we do not have the same calibre of player as NZ but it was there for all to see that Ireland went out to play their best game and hold nothing back. I will not slate anyone for doing that!!!

Rankings hardly count for much in most sports these days as points are awarded for all sorts of different type of games.  The best team in any sport is the team that holds the major titles, which New Zealand have not had had since 1987.

That assumption may work in the Premier League and in the GAA but the Rugby World Cup is every 4 years and New Zealand are the current Tri-Nations Championsh which would be a much more accurate barometer for success than the World Cup 4 years ago.

I'm not having a go Indiana but where did you get the figures for Australia having less Rugby players than we do? I do not doubt that yes they do have more competing sports but for a county with a population of 21 odd million and our 6 million I would have thought their playing population would be more than ours.

[INDIANA]

Why is it every time Ireland play New Zealand it is acceptable to lose because 'they are the best team in the world'.  Why are they always classed as the best when they have one World Cup to their name, and that was a long time ago.

http://www.irb.com/rankings/full.html

Why is it every time Ireland play New Zealand it is acceptable to lose because 'they are the best team in the world'.  Why are they always classed as the best when they have one World Cup to their name, and that was a long time ago.

Because as I said above people are happy to slate amateur Gaa players but give the Golden Generation a pass. The fact that some of them after 10 years of being a professional still havent mastered the basics doesnt seem to register.
We lost by 3 conveted tries. thats a hiding. End of story.

You are missing the point Indiana. People slate their county team because they blindly believe that they are good enough to achieve something with Mayo and Dublin being the prime examples. Along with that County teams are often given the 'they're not fit enough' or the 'they don't show enough pride in the jersey' nonsense. Individuals are smart, people are stupid.

In regard to the current Irish team we are old, play a lesser brand of Rugby in the Heineken cup compare to Super 14, have more sporting distractions than people in NZ where the overwhelming majority play Rugby . . . allied to that NZ are currently the best team in the world and we are 7th, it puts our performance into context. Everyone on that team gave what they had for the 80 minutes, yes mistakes were made and ultimately we do not have the same calibre of player as NZ but it was there for all to see that Ireland went out to play their best game and hold nothing back. I will not slate anyone for doing that!!!

Rankings hardly count for much in most sports these days as points are awarded for all sorts of different type of games.  The best team in any sport is the team that holds the major titles, which New Zealand have not had had since 1987.

That assumption may work in the Premier League and in the GAA but the Rugby World Cup is every 4 years and New Zealand are the current Tri-Nations Championsh which would be a much more accurate barometer for success than the World Cup 4 years ago.

I'm not having a go Indiana but where did you get the figures for Australia having less Rugby players than we do? I do not doubt that yes they do have more competing sports but for a county with a population of 21 odd million and our 6 million I would have thought their playing population would be more than ours.

RU is a poor 4th behind aussie rules, rugby league and soccer. Evcen cricket in some states is more popular. They have more amateur players- way more. But roughly similar professional numbers. think its about 140k in total but I dont believe that from living there. Same way they say we have 60,000 players- again a statistic I dont believe.
We should have done miles better then we did in the last 10 years. And the reason the Irish riugby team doesnt is because we accept failure too easily.
Watched the game with a new zealander. Had a pint afterwards with him. I thought Kaino had a great game myself. However my NZ friend thought he was disticntly average because he knocked on twice and missed a tackle.

[Dinny Breen]

I'd hate to get facts in the way of an arguement but according to the latest IRB figures

Australia has 39,380 senior players to chose from Ireland has 25,440 but amazingly NZ only has 27,374 players to choose from...

[INDIANA]

I'd hate to get facts in the way of an arguement but according to the latest IRB figures

Australia has 39,380 senior players to chose from Ireland has 25,440 but amazingly NZ only has 27,374 players to choose from...

Wow. The Australian Institute of Sport should do PR for Brian Cowen.

[INDIANA]

http://www.irb.com/rankings/full.html

[BarryBreensBandage]

In agreeing with a lot of posts here, I think that the defeat arose from the fact that Ireland were trying to play a brand of Rugby that they have tried maybe once or twice over the past 18 months, where they have consistently reverted to the Munster/O'Gara kick and ruck style of game to steam roller opponents.

If that is the way they are going to play at the WC they might as well play the whole Munster team, at least there would be some cohesion.

My question is, why do Ireland choose to play the kicking game when it is so obvious that they are more than capable of playing an open game like Saturday on every occasion? They would become used to playing this style of Rugby, and, and hopefully we reach a point were we can beat the All Blacks, because if we keep reverting to kick and hope, we never will.

The last time I seen Ireland playing Rugby as open as Saturday was on the tour of the US last year. It was also the style of Rugby that won the Grand Slam.

[INDIANA]

In agreeing with a lot of posts here, I think that the defeat arose from the fact that Ireland were trying to play a brand of Rugby that they have tried maybe once or twice over the past 18 months, where they have consistently reverted to the Munster/O'Gara kick and ruck style of game to steam roller opponents.

If that is the way they are going to play at the WC they might as well play the whole Munster team, at least there would be some cohesion.

My question is, why do Ireland choose to play the kicking game when it is so obvious that they are more than capable of playing an open game like Saturday on every occasion? They would become used to playing this style of Rugby, and, and hopefully we reach a point were we can beat the All Blacks, because if we keep reverting to kick and hope, we never will.

The last time I seen Ireland playing Rugby as open as Saturday was on the tour of the US last year. It was also the style of Rugby that won the Grand Slam.

we're not actually able to imlement it though. On the 6th phase or therabouts we completely lose our attacking shape. The problem is it could take beyond the WC to get good using that style of play because we've left it too bloody late.

[anglocelt39]

In agreeing with a lot of posts here, I think that the defeat arose from the fact that Ireland were trying to play a brand of Rugby that they have tried maybe once or twice over the past 18 months, where they have consistently reverted to the Munster/O'Gara kick and ruck style of game to steam roller opponents.

If that is the way they are going to play at the WC they might as well play the whole Munster team, at least there would be some cohesion.
My question is, why do Ireland choose to play the kicking game when it is so obvious that they are more than capable of playing an open game like Saturday on every occasion? They would become used to playing this style of Rugby, and, and hopefully we reach a point were we can beat the All Blacks, because if we keep reverting to kick and hope, we never will.

The last time I seen Ireland playing Rugby as open as Saturday was on the tour of the US last year. It was also the style of Rugby that won the Grand Slam.

think a fair whack of the Munster team would have Irish eligibility issues. Regarding numbers playing the game in New Zealand, anybody know how the Islanders that the Kiwis seem to be able to draw on at will figure in those stats?