The IRISH RUGBY thread

[Tony Baloney]

How bad are England at the moment when they only beat that Italy side by 3 points and conceded 24 against them?

You want Italy towards the end of the competition when they are totally fucked and depleted through injury.

[From the Bunker]

How bad are England at the moment when they only beat that Italy side by 3 points and conceded 24 against them?

You want Italy towards the end of the competition when they are totally fucked and depleted through injury.

Yes their spirit by that stage is low also from the defeats.

[dec]

There has been a losing bonus point awarded in all the games that didn't involve Ireland. A losing bonus point was never really on in either of Ireland's games.

[Ghost]

Only watched the first half today and a bit of the 2nd but having watched the France game and what I saw today it begs the question why Crowley wasn't an option to replace an out of gas sexton against the all blacks

[galwayman]

How bad are England at the moment when they only beat that Italy side by 3 points and conceded 24 against them?

They're still the type of dogged forward oriented team that can make life very difficult for Ireland at Twickenham - their performance against South Africa in the World Cup semi final showed what they could be capable of on a given day. They don't have the quality to sustain it over a full series of games but very much they are the one team capable of one huge performance.
Can't see Wales or Scotland troubling Ireland at home so Twickers is the big one

[Wildweasel74]

Ireland put 15pts on them Twickenham or not@

[Never beat the deeler]

There has been a losing bonus point awarded in all the games that didn't involve Ireland. A losing bonus point was never really on in either of Ireland's games.

And Wales v Scotland is the only 4try bonus point except for Ireland's 2

[seafoid]

Ireland are in a very good place

[thewobbler]

Ireland are in a very good place

Problem is that they're the only ones who value this place.

Everyone else has eyes further ahead.

[Milltown Row2]

Ireland are in a very good place

Problem is that they're the only ones who value this place.

Everyone else has eyes further ahead.

In the world cup, Ireland got bate by the better team on the day, very unlucky and Ireland could be no.1 in the rankings at the next world cup and still meet a team who could beat them on the day.

There isn't much between New Zealand France South Africa and Ireland at the minute so when they play each other its a 50/50 game

Binning anyone over a certain age now will not mean Ireland will be a better team for it, cause if your are a team with youth and getting hammered in most games then it won't actually do much for the confidence.

Bleed in players slowly and bring them up to speed with the requirements at that level.

Ireland will do well to hold on to the manager, as he's brought about a different animal to the previous managers albeit we can't get past the first knock out stage! 

[Gael80]

Ireland are in a very good place

Problem is that they're the only ones who value this place.

Everyone else has eyes further ahead.

In the world cup, Ireland got bate by the better team on the day, very unlucky and Ireland could be no.1 in the rankings at the next world cup and still meet a team who could beat them on the day.

There isn't much between New Zealand France South Africa and Ireland at the minute so when they play each other its a 50/50 game

Binning anyone over a certain age now will not mean Ireland will be a better team for it, cause if your are a team with youth and getting hammered in most games then it won't actually do much for the confidence.

Bleed in players slowly and bring them up to speed with the requirements at that level.

Ireland will do well to hold on to the manager, as he's brought about a different animal to the previous managers albeit we can't get past the first knock out stage! 

Ireland will likely win three of the next four 6 Nations adding a few grand slams.

In reality we know Ireland will also lose a close QF at the next WC.

It's a similar pattern and very good for Irish rugby, both from a sporting and commerical context to build the hype over a four year period.

It's not appropriate to suddenly bin players over a certain age but it's fair to question why some players in their mid 20's, clearly good enough now weren't realistic options going into a tough group at the WC.

We'll enjoy the success but other teams will catch up again as we get closer and into the next WC.

[thewobbler]

Ireland are in a very good place

Problem is that they're the only ones who value this place.

Everyone else has eyes further ahead.

In the world cup, Ireland got bate by the better team on the day, very unlucky and Ireland could be no.1 in the rankings at the next world cup and still meet a team who could beat them on the day.

There isn't much between New Zealand France South Africa and Ireland at the minute so when they play each other its a 50/50 game

Binning anyone over a certain age now will not mean Ireland will be a better team for it, cause if your are a team with youth and getting hammered in most games then it won't actually do much for the confidence.

Bleed in players slowly and bring them up to speed with the requirements at that level.

Ireland will do well to hold on to the manager, as he's brought about a different animal to the previous managers albeit we can't get past the first knock out stage! 

Honestly this is pretty much all on the money.

Except.... Ireland ended up in a situation last year whereby they've brought no back up no.10, no back up full-back, their back up scrum half was past it 5 years ago, and the replacement utility back in Keith Earls was never honestly good enough to play international rugby, let alone at centre or full back.... But he had to be taken along as his experience was worth more to the side than untested potential.

Just test the potential in advance this time around lads.  That's all I'm asking.

[gallsman]

Keith Earls wasn't good enough to play international rugby. Have a word with yourself ffs.

[thewobbler]

Keith Earls wasn't good enough to play international rugby. Have a word with yourself ffs.

You're inadvertently highlighting the biggest problem with Irish rugby.

Earls was a flat track bully, who spent his entire career padding his statistics by scoring braces of tries in routs against tier 2 and tier 3 nations. And invariably he contributed nothing in the major games.

And Irish rugby's problem? Instead of identifying this weakness and solving it over a four year cycle, the media start making documentaries about his service to his country and the fans lap it up like a Christmas dinner.

If the goal is to win a 6N match against Italy then Earls was a perfectly competent international player. Beyond that, he was not good enough.

[bennydorano]

Was there not 3 new starts (or relatively new) for the France game in McCarthy, Crowley and Nash? Any team that transitions successfully replaces no more than 2 or 3 players per season, seems pretty textbook to me tbh.