The IRISH RUGBY thread

[GaillimhIarthair]

Yahoooo, thoroughly deserved win down in Thomond for Connacht.  Four pts clear now at the top of the Pro12.  Fair play to Pat Lam, doing a very good job with a relatively young squad and playing a very attractive brand of rugby.  Hope this gives them greater confidence to push on for the remainder of the season. 

[seafoid]

Yahoooo, thoroughly deserved win down in Thomond for Connacht.  Four pts clear now at the top of the Pro12.  Fair play to Pat Lam, doing a very good job with a relatively young squad and playing a very attractive brand of rugby.  Hope this gives them greater confidence to push on for the remainder of the season.

He's doing a  great job, isn't he ?

[GaillimhIarthair]

Yahoooo, thoroughly deserved win down in Thomond for Connacht.  Four pts clear now at the top of the Pro12.  Fair play to Pat Lam, doing a very good job with a relatively young squad and playing a very attractive brand of rugby.  Hope this gives them greater confidence to push on for the remainder of the season.

He's doing a  great job, isn't he ?

He surely is!  It's not that long ago that Conn would have crumbled after that ridiculous pen try - we have come a long way.  Great to see so many of the team have come through the Conn development system - probably about 15 or 16 of this evenings 23.  Hope Henshaw stays as the kids that go to the sportsground every other week idolise him and I suppose all young ones need heroes!

[Walter Cronc]

Massive respect to Connacht - the other provinces could learn plenty from them. Invest in your youth, give them a chance instead of employing second rate overseas players.

Henshaw out for 6 weeks is a big blow. Hopefully he'll back in time for the 6 Nations.

Interesting piece by Gerry Thornley on the Lions tour today. I never knew the finances received between the host nation and 4 touring nations was so vast. The ball is surely in the Lions court and they should push for a 50/50 slice!

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/gerry-thornley-want-to-win-a-world-cup-scrap-the-lions-1.2449026

[mikehunt]

Massive respect to Connacht - the other provinces could learn plenty from them. Invest in your youth, give them a chance instead of employing second rate overseas players.

Henshaw out for 6 weeks is a big blow. Hopefully he'll back in time for the 6 Nations.

Interesting piece by Gerry Thornley on the Lions tour today. I never knew the finances received between the host nation and 4 touring nations was so vast. The ball is surely in the Lions court and they should push for a 50/50 slice!

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/gerry-thornley-want-to-win-a-world-cup-scrap-the-lions-1.2449026

Using the Lions as an excuse for Northern Hemisphere rugby being way behind is a bag of pish. Jerry needs to accept that they're just better at rugby. He's an insufferable gowl.

[Walter Cronc]

Massive respect to Connacht - the other provinces could learn plenty from them. Invest in your youth, give them a chance instead of employing second rate overseas players.

Henshaw out for 6 weeks is a big blow. Hopefully he'll back in time for the 6 Nations.

Interesting piece by Gerry Thornley on the Lions tour today. I never knew the finances received between the host nation and 4 touring nations was so vast. The ball is surely in the Lions court and they should push for a 50/50 slice!

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/gerry-thornley-want-to-win-a-world-cup-scrap-the-lions-1.2449026

Using the Lions as an excuse for Northern Hemisphere rugby being way behind is a bag of pish. Jerry needs to accept that they're just better at rugby. He's an insufferable gowl.

I don't think he's insinuating that Mike. However it does take its toll on the players. England will surely have improved come 2017 so we'll not have to worry as they'll supply the bulk of the players!

[mikehunt]

Massive respect to Connacht - the other provinces could learn plenty from them. Invest in your youth, give them a chance instead of employing second rate overseas players.

Henshaw out for 6 weeks is a big blow. Hopefully he'll back in time for the 6 Nations.

Interesting piece by Gerry Thornley on the Lions tour today. I never knew the finances received between the host nation and 4 touring nations was so vast. The ball is surely in the Lions court and they should push for a 50/50 slice!

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/gerry-thornley-want-to-win-a-world-cup-scrap-the-lions-1.2449026

Using the Lions as an excuse for Northern Hemisphere rugby being way behind is a bag of pish. Jerry needs to accept that they're just better at rugby. He's an insufferable gowl.

I don't think he's insinuating that Mike. However it does take its toll on the players. England will surely have improved come 2017 so we'll not have to worry as they'll supply the bulk of the players!

Gerry Thornley: Want to win a World Cup? Scrap the Lions
Square pegs in round holes. Wanna win a World Cup? Scrap the Lions. No chance. But just an idea.

That's what his report says. If it takes it's toll on Lions players then would it not also take it's toll on Australia as well? If they came out and said they lost to NZ in the final cos of the Lions matches they'd be laughed out the door.

[Walter Cronc]

You do understand how Lions tours work don't you?

You play upwards of 10-12 games against Provincial sides and then a 3 test tour against the host nation. During that period of playing regional sides the host nation is in camp preparing and ready to hit you fresh.

Look I'm not on here to slate the Lions or defend Thornley in light of your dislike for him. However i do feel the 4 host nations should receive a 50% share of the funds.

[mikehunt]

You do understand how Lions tours work don't you?

You play upwards of 10-12 games against Provincial sides and then a 3 test tour against the host nation. During that period of playing regional sides the host nation is in camp preparing and ready to hit you fresh.

Look I'm not on here to slate the Lions or defend Thornley in light of your dislike for him. However i do feel the 4 host nations should receive a 50% share of the funds.

They play a few pub teams during the week. That's what the B team is for.

[Walter Cronc]

You do understand how Lions tours work don't you?

You play upwards of 10-12 games against Provincial sides and then a 3 test tour against the host nation. During that period of playing regional sides the host nation is in camp preparing and ready to hit you fresh.

Look I'm not on here to slate the Lions or defend Thornley in light of your dislike for him. However i do feel the 4 host nations should receive a 50% share of the funds.

They play a few pub teams during the week. That's what the B team is for.

Good Mike.

[Walter Cronc]

I see Conor O'Shea turned down the head coach role at Italy. To be honest I'm glad he did. Still have hopes of him returning to an Irish province ahead of possibly being Ireland head coach one day.

[seafoid]

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/european-cup/l-equipe-cuts-into-johnny-sexton-and-leinster-1.2466009

"Sexton, the idol of Ireland, who returned home, yesterday played as he often did during his time at Racing 92: transparent, making multiple poor decisions. Visibly, completely out of touch, he symbolises the impotence of his club," L'Equipe said

I wonder have all the concussions gotten to him

[GaillimhIarthair]

Sexton has been playing poorly for the best part of a year at this stage.  I hope for his own sake it's a form issue and nothing concussion related.  Might be no harm if he took a 6 month sabbatical from the game as per Dan Carter a few years ago but unlikely to happen I guess. 

[seafoid]

Sexton has been playing poorly for the best part of a year at this stage.  I hope for his own sake it's a form issue and nothing concussion related.  Might be no harm if he took a 6 month sabbatical from the game as per Dan Carter a few years ago but unlikely to happen I guess.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/gerry-thornley-johnny-sexton-burdened-by-weight-of-expectation-1.2466435

[AZOffaly]

The problems are wider than Jonny Sexton. Irish rugby is in a spot of bother I think. The coaching setups in Munster and Leinster are out of their depth. Connacht are doing great stuff but they have a glass ceiling because of their resources. Ulster may be the outlier at the moment, but I doubt it, I think they are probably in a similar boat to Munster and Leinster.

The air just seems to be out of the balloon. I can't speak for Leinster, but as a season ticket holder for many years at Thomond Park, the outlook is as bleak as I can ever remember it. The big money in England and France is a huge issue, but it's far from the only issue and if the Munster Branch and IRFU are not careful, Thomond Park is going to be approximately 15k too big for any game they have. Leicester were not a star studded team by any means, but they were seriously comfortable throughout most of that game.

It's fairly apparent that the coaching staff are rattled, and have lost confidence in themselves. They don't have the courage of their convictions. It's obvious they know they have to be able to run the ball, but they are doing it at stupid times and it has to be coming from the coach. European game, good atmosphere, big crowd (although far from a sellout, which would have been unthinkable 5 years ago). You receive the kickoff, so you control the ball, feed the outhalf and find a good touch, get the crowd on the opposing hooker's back and try contest their lineout. Right? No. We'll throw it around our own 22 for 5 or 6 passes, and then kick it straight back up the middle. Nonsense stuff. All the opposition have to do is get a line set, make their first tackle, and let Munster peeter out until Murray kicks a box kick. It's so predictable. The obvious thing for this Munster team is to attack around the edges with the likes of Stander, just to set up the play and *then* go wide to attacking runners coming at pace. It's not rocket science.

And then, so frustratingly, when they win a turnover in a good position, halfway or even beyond, they *don't* go wide quickly. They try and crash up the centre, and the opposition regroup. Either we have a very stupid bunch of players, or our coaching is just not coming up with an effective gameplan that the lads can implement.

A lot of the blame is laid at Keatley's door, simply because he is not O'Gara, and that's unfair. He does make stupid mistakes, and misses kicks he shouldn't, and when he misses a tackle he really misses them at the worst times, but he is what he is. He is decent. Average to slightly above Average. Not good enough for international rugby, nor for a proper big team. But for what Munster are at the moment, he is probably the poster boy of that averageness, and that's why he is getting a lot of blame. The jeering when he went off on Saturday was terrible. The first time I've ever heard anything like that, ever, and we've seen some ropey performances at times. That sort of reaction from 'fans' can't be justified, but  I just think the frustration levels are reaching boiling point, and what will happen quickly is the anger will be replaced by apathy, and then by absence. You can see it already, and it's not going to change without a serious shake up in Munster. The problem is, I don't know they have the wherewithal to make the sort of changes that are probably needed.

A team with a back 3 of Zebo, Earls and Conway, and with Saili in the centre should be far more dangerous than they are. But we have a scrum half that kicks this bullshite box kick every fecking time we have it, an outhalf who *won't* play territory when he should, and a gameplan that basically means our backs have to make something happen themselves out of the blue if anything positive is going to happen.

In defence then, we are just missing tackle after tackle and it is pathetic.

As I said, I can't really speak for Leinster, but if Munster, who was the poster child for the Irish in Europe for a good few years in the noughties with massive travelling support etc, can't get their act together they are going to lose the ground they have made up in every village and town in the province. As a GAA man first and foremost, that might not be all bad, but as a sports fan, and someone who is a Munster fan, it's very sad, but if the IRFU were in any danger of complacency over Munster's position in the pecking order, last weekend will hopefully have changed all that.