The IRISH RUGBY thread

[armaghniac]

Thon Scottish boy, Hogg, has some turn of pace for a stocky chap.

[Walter Cronc]

Great try from Hogg but poor defense to have a scenario with Best and Ross beside each other.

Jesus Stander is some operator!!!

[Walter Cronc]

What's the general thoughts on the campaign then?

The positives for me were:

- Jack McGrath developing into a world class performer
- The return to form of Donnacha Ryan and Jonny Sexton
- CJ Stander proving he is an international class player
- The blooding of Dillane, VdF and McCloskey

The negative aspects:

- Still a conservative approach to our attacking play - e.g. choosing to bludgeon Scotland on Saturday when they were reduce to 14. It didnt appear we could go wide and score.
- The conservative approach to some of our selections - Madigan/D Kearney/McFadden wouldnt be top of my list.

Decent enough finish by the U20s. This James Ryan lad looks potentially a cracking player.

How about the summer tour of SA? Can we sneak a test win?

[seafoid]

What's the general thoughts on the campaign then?

The positives for me were:

- Jack McGrath developing into a world class performer
- The return to form of Donnacha Ryan and Jonny Sexton
- CJ Stander proving he is an international class player
- The blooding of Dillane, VdF and McCloskey

The negative aspects:

- Still a conservative approach to our attacking play - e.g. choosing to bludgeon Scotland on Saturday when they were reduce to 14. It didnt appear we could go wide and score.
- The conservative approach to some of our selections - Madigan/D Kearney/McFadden wouldnt be top of my list.

Decent enough finish by the U20s. This James Ryan lad looks potentially a cracking player.

How about the summer tour of SA? Can we sneak a test win?

Not enough depth for a sustained bosh bosh bosh campaign
How dull bosh bosh bosh is
V few offloads, players the wrong shape for it?
The injuries
Cynicism of players being taken out deliberately
The ease with which England won a grand slam
Losing to France by a point and not scoring in the second half

[Walter Cronc]

Would agree with all of that Seafoid.

Surely Joe has to realise Irishmen physically aren't built to hammer teams up the middle - our injury rate proves this.

Hopefully when Andy Farrell joining the set up it will free Joe up to expand our attacking play.

[johnneycool]

What's the general thoughts on the campaign then?

The positives for me were:

- Jack McGrath developing into a world class performer
- The return to form of Donnacha Ryan and Jonny Sexton
- CJ Stander proving he is an international class player
- The blooding of Dillane, VdF and McCloskey

The negative aspects:

- Still a conservative approach to our attacking play - e.g. choosing to bludgeon Scotland on Saturday when they were reduce to 14. It didnt appear we could go wide and score.
- The conservative approach to some of our selections - Madigan/D Kearney/McFadden wouldnt be top of my list.

Decent enough finish by the U20s. This James Ryan lad looks potentially a cracking player.

How about the summer tour of SA? Can we sneak a test win?

On the U20's, I thought Scotland looked to be the better drilled team, clock showing 40 minutes in the ground made young Hastings boot straight to touch, Ireland scored from the resultant lineout.. Harsh on the Scots, but thought Ireland were second best in a lot of the game.

Wouldn't be too confident in Ireland doing much at the upcoming World cup at this level!!

[Walter Cronc]

IMO the U20s is all about identifying 2-3 players every year and getting them ready for senior international rugby. Last year's team had a great backline whereas this years seems to be more forward dominated. Ryan, McBurney and Gallagher the stand outs.

[Applesisapples]

Can anything not be done with teams specifically targeting the flair players who for the most part aren't the biggest and tend to be off guard when hit?

[Walter Cronc]

Can anything not be done with teams specifically targeting the flair players who for the most part aren't the biggest and tend to be off guard when hit?

Up to refs and touch judges. Touch judges don't do enough in my opinion.

[Main Street]

The rising  in Connacht rugby continues in timely fashion, but what Connacht had to endure in those last 10 minutes was worse than getting  relentlessly whipped with the cat o' 9 tails.

Just on a pedantic point, do you think the ref had observed that the Connacht lad kick the ball out of play at approx 79.58 - 78.59 seconds and if he did would it have changed anything?

[GaillimhIarthair]

Fully deserved win, even allowing for all the handling errors.  The Conn back row were immense as was Buckley, has to be on the plane to SA in the summer.  Madigan was terrible for Leinster and Healey is only a shadow of the player he once was - all the injuries have probably taken their toll .  McGrath and Heaslip made a huge difference to Leinster when introduced.  Anyway, the Conn roller coaster keeps tipping along for this amazing season! 

[Dinny Breen]

The rising  in Connacht rugby continues in timely fashion, but what Connacht had to endure in those last 10 minutes was worse than getting  relentlessly whipped with the cat o' 9 tails.

Just on a pedantic point, do you think the ref had observed that the Connacht lad kick the ball out of play at approx 79.58 - 78.59 seconds and if he did would it have changed anything?

The referee would have indicated last play before Connacht kicked it out. What impressed me most about Connacht at the end was after they turned the ball over no panic just complete composure as they closed out the game. Finely coached team.

[Mayo4Sam]

Very impressive throughout, never kicked really even in the first half when they had a gale. They have a way of playing and they stuck to it, even when 20 phases had them 10 yards further back and under the kosh

[GaillimhIarthair]

Another hugely impressive performance from Connacht last evening - thoroughly out played and out thought Munster for the vast majority of the game.  Champions Cup rugby now guaranteed and still on course for a home semi in the Pro 12 - the Glasgow game in early May will be massive in that regard.  Munster are a rabble and Foley + his back room team appear to be out of their depth - maybe the real issues are at board level down there?

[muppet]

http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/36067269

Kenya beat Fiji to win their first Sevens World Series title

.......Samoa landed the second tier Plate title after causing another upset in beating New Zealand, Scotland edged United States to land the Bowl and Russia crushed Wales to win the Shield.......


What is going on?