Six Nations 2012

[Dinny Breen]

Could the ref not have awarded a penalty try at the end of that Pumas game?  They were conceding penalty after penalty at the end.

The penalty try directive for continuous infringement in the 'red zone' was not in place, so teams could literally give away penalties all day and the sin bin was introduced till directly after this World Cup.

[Hardy]

My rugby referee inspector friend claims the England loose head was boring in on Court in every scrum, and 90% of referees would have penalised him.

[Donnellys Hollow]

The 14 man lineout was also tried in a 6 Nations defeat to Wales at Lansdowne Rd IIRC. I don't think it worked that day either.

Getting rid of Gatland was a very poor piece of judgement by the IRFU.

[GalwayBayBoy]

The 14 man lineout was also tried in a 6 Nations defeat to Wales at Lansdowne Rd IIRC. I don't think it worked that day either.

Getting rid of Gatland was a very poor piece of judgement by the IRFU.

You have to wonder how many Grand Slams Ireland would have won if they had the Gatland/Edwards team in charge all these years. They won one without them but they would certainly have at least 2. Maybe even 3.

[Bord na Mona man]

Gatland probably got a the Ireland gig a bit too early in his management career.
He wasn't afraid to try different new things. 14 man line outs as mentioned.
On a tour of South Africa, he got the Irish players to slap on fake tan, reckoning it would make them look more imposing to their South African opponents.
He recently learned the art of keeping his mouth shut before games, something which a few Irish players seemed to forget last week.

My impression as an outsider is that in rugby unconventional things are not always instantly embraced.
It sticks tighter to formula than other sports. Mostly explainable, but certainly not bindingly so.

Clive Woodward once recounted how he ended up on the slippery slope with London Irish by reversing the jersey number order of his team to discourage his own players from simply playing the game by numbers. The blazers upstairs complained that the opposition would be confused about which opponent to pick up.

Anyway, back to Gatland. His cards were probably marked after Lens in 1999 and the 50-18 whupping by England in 2000. Losing to Scotland and not holding onto a lead against New Zealand in Autumn 2001 gave the IRFU the flimsy reason they needed to sack him.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Anyway, back to Gatland. His cards were probably marked after Lens in 1999 and the 50-18 whupping by England in 2000. Losing to Scotland and not holding onto a lead against New Zealand in Autumn 2001 gave the IRFU the flimsy reason they needed to sack him.

Plus O'Sullivan was agitating behind his back anyway.

[Main Street]

Why had Gatland such a desperate record with Ireland? Obviously he's proven his coaching prowess since.
In his last 2 seasons with Ireland,  was it only England that were beaten in the 6N (Italy apart)?
The team (on paper) didn't look so bad then.

It wasn't desperate at all, he had completely turned around an Irish culture of winning one 5 nations game a year and struggling to embrace professionalism to winning 4 out of 5 including wins over France and England in his last season 2001. Foot and mouth ruined our best chance of a grand slam in 50 years. His only blot was the 1999 World Cup and the Lens debacle and the infamous 14 man line-out (he's a very innovative coach).

Thanks for putting me right, I must have been mixing up his stint with the coach before him, it's all a bit of a blur.
I remember Wood regularly coming onto RTE sports on the monday after the game, in utter despair trying to explain what happened.

[AZOffaly]

Can't remember if we have a Irish Rugby thread, but this is the closest I could find.

The squad for the Autumn internationals has been announced.

Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster/62)
Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster/49)
Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster/3)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster/29)
Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster/69)
Keith Earls (Thomond/Munster/32)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster/35)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster/33)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster/50)
Iain Henderson (Queens University/Ulster)*
Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster/2)
David Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster)*
Luke Marshall (Ballymena/Ulster)*
John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht/3)
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster/12)
Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht/4)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster/14)
Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary's College/Leinster/5)
Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster/88)
Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster/85)
Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster/120) Captain
Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster/124
Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster/7)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster/45)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster/22)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster/21)
Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary's College/Leinster/32)
Richardt Strauss (Old Wesley/Leinster)*
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster/48)
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster/5)
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster/1)

Seriously, what is the point in bringing Donnacha O'Callaghan in there? Surely there's enough up and coming Locks that can be thrown in with Paulie. Actually I'd like to see Paulie given a rest as well. He was savage against Edinburgh last week, but he is just moving so stiffly, and looks as if he is in pain just walking or jogging around.

[Dinny Breen]

Only 2 out-halfs and one of those an injured O'Gara who is now 35 and no longer guaranteed his spot with Munster. Paddy Jackson should be in that squad.

The selection of O'Callaghan and D'Arcy defies belief.

Only 2 hookers and one of them isn't even Irish. No specialist full back either. Only one specialist open-side. Only 1 THP and 3 LHP, ffs.

The sooner Kidney goes the better.

[Dag Dog]

Injure Mike Ross early and win the game easily.