The IRISH RUGBY thread

[trailer]

Granted I'm not a the Rugby stato you guys might be but I can't remember Ireland beating anyone bar an odd win against Scotland or Wales in Lansdowne. Ireland always lost. Professionalism definitely gave us a better chance.

[sid waddell]

Another weird one is that Wales beat England at home in 1985, 1987, 1989 and 1993

Yet in all of those years they lost at home to Ireland

Cardiff was a graveyard for England, yet Ireland thrived there

Murrayfield was for a long time a bogey for the French, they always seemed to lose there

[sid waddell]

Granted I'm not a the Rugby stato you guys might be but I can't remember Ireland beating anyone bar an odd win against Scotland or Wales in Lansdowne. Ireland always lost. Professionalism definitely gave us a better chance.

We didn't beat Scotland from 1988 to 2000, we had one draw against them in 1994

Ireland won every match but one in Cardiff from 1985 to 2003 inclusive - the odd one out being a draw in 1991, then won again in 2007, 2009 and 2013

Wales usually won here though - 1984, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2000, we won in 1990 and 1996

[trailer]

Granted I'm not a the Rugby stato you guys might be but I can't remember Ireland beating anyone bar an odd win against Scotland or Wales in Lansdowne. Ireland always lost. Professionalism definitely gave us a better chance.

We didn't beat Scotland from 1988 to 2000, we had one draw against them in 1994

Ireland won every match but one in Cardiff from 1985 to 2003 inclusive - the odd one out being a draw in 1991, then won again in 2007, 2009 and 2013

Wales usually won here though - 1984, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2000, we won in 1990 and 1996

I just seem to remember them getting beat a lot.

[sid waddell]

Granted I'm not a the Rugby stato you guys might be but I can't remember Ireland beating anyone bar an odd win against Scotland or Wales in Lansdowne. Ireland always lost. Professionalism definitely gave us a better chance.

We didn't beat Scotland from 1988 to 2000, we had one draw against them in 1994

Ireland won every match but one in Cardiff from 1985 to 2003 inclusive - the odd one out being a draw in 1991, then won again in 2007, 2009 and 2013

Wales usually won here though - 1984, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2000, we won in 1990 and 1996

I just seem to remember them getting beat a lot.

A good year was avoiding a whitewash

We were only whitewashed twice in the 90s, - 1992 and 1998

Haven't suffered one since, we will this year though, I don't really count Italy, although I wouldn't even say that's a gimme

[Milltown Row2]

It’s a team sport, and no matter what some teams won’t do as well against certain opponents and venues than others. It’s a collective and with all the will in the world it’s hard to work out why a team can’t beat another team at their venue. But tides turn and maybe the professional side of things levelled up things.

You only have to look at the weekend before last when Scotland, for the first time since 83? 1983 haven’t won at Twickenham, nuts.

France have a pool of players to pick from that’s bigger than England’s, with those figures France has underachieved for years, Ireland with their pick, have punched well above theirs in comparison.

We have plenty complaining about Dublins numbers in GAA, France have even more in comparison and that was France’s first win in ten years in Dublin.

Those early years before competing with France Ireland didn’t suffer massive defeats, they just lost out because the other team played better.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Ireland lost a lot more than they won when I was young. I mind 1985 I think, triple crown, was amazing at the time, but we rarely beat France until late 90s, they were top dogs

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/five-nations-facts-1.160161?mode=amp

[sid waddell]

Ireland lost a lot more than they won when I was young. I mind 1985 I think, triple crown, was amazing at the time, but we rarely beat France until late 90s, they were top dogs

England were top dogs for most of the 90s and indeed have lorded it over France for the majority of the last 30 years

We beat them in '93 and '94

France came with a very good team in 1997 which went up to the 1999 World Cup

As far as Ireland were concerned though France always seemed a tougher nut to crack than England, there was always more of a mental barrier about beating them, whereas you always felt Ireland had a puncher's chance against England, that on a given day Ireland could turn them over, even in the bad days

[johnnycool]

Think this right:
Since the start of the 6 nations Wales have won four Grand Slams. Ireland have two, same as England.
Since the start of the 6 nations, England have appeared in 3 World Cup finals.
Wales and Ireland haven't appeared in one.

Priorities dear boy, priorities.

I think Clive Woodward is a ballbag, but when he took over England he put a huge amount into the end of season tours to NZ and Australia as he wanted his players believing that when the time come in a WC that they could be the NZ's and Australias of the world on their home soil. He was right.

Whereas the Irish treat these games like a chore and lads get run outs over there who never donned the green jersey in their previous career.

Farrell knows he needs a few wins in this 6N if he's to keep his job, the problem with that is, it's near sighted and maybe he'll be making decisions for the here and now rather than the WC in 2023.
If Sexton is fit to play in Rome, he will start and will probably play 60 plus minutes and we'll find out nothing about our other outhalf options.
Italy are far from a given BTW.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Only country/sport in the world that make documentaries about a friendly win.

Lets face it we are a small nation, GAA is the powerhouse sport across vast swathes of the country so we do well, id never have viewed us as a rugby nation, BOD changed others view of us but we were the worst taem in Europe for long time(longer period than the period where we have been classed as good). Im excluding Italy because they are a relatively recent introduction.

[Estimator]

If you've time, Wiki is v useful for the head to head stats between the teams in the 6 Nations, for example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rugby_union_matches_between_England_and_Ireland?wprov=sfla1

[sid waddell]

Only country/sport in the world that make documentaries about a friendly win.

Rugby doesn't have friendly internationals

It has Test Matches

So does cricket - nobody would call the Ashes or the Boxing Day test in Melbourne "friendlies"

International football does have friendly matches however, and some of them have been extremely noteworthy

England v Ireland 1949
England v Hungary 1953
England v Argentina 1980
Ireland v Brazil 1987
Ireland v England 1995

To name a few off the top of my head

Three of those at least would make decent subjects for documentary films, if indeed they are not already the subject of them

[6th sam]

What I find amazing is that in Ireland where rugby is a minority sport , a substantial number of players come from a private school background which is a tiny percentage vid the population, yet we can beat England and France and even wales who have much more resources . Fair play to Irfu for getting us punching above our weight, and marketing the game well. But where is Rugby in Ireland actually going, it’s not widening its appeal , it’s dangerous, elitist , and we are apparently getting worse at it

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Only country/sport in the world that make documentaries about a friendly win.

Rugby doesn't have friendly internationals

It has Test Matches

So does cricket - nobody would call the Ashes or the Boxing Day test in Melbourne "friendlies"

International football does have friendly matches however, and some of them have been extremely noteworthy

England v Ireland 1949
England v Hungary 1953
England v Argentina 1980
Ireland v Brazil 1987
Ireland v England 1995

To name a few off the top of my head

Three of those at least would make decent subjects for documentary films, if indeed they are not already the subject of them

No trophies=challenge or friendly to me, just my opinion, cricket isn't a sport really is it? Its more like a day out with scones and tea.