Rugby World Cup 2011

[AZOffaly]

To be honest we just bring up bags of flour and line the 'coke' up on the bonnet of the car.

[Dinny Breen]

@AZ

scurrilous accusation - Kildare fans are happy with Gin & Tonic although Coke would sell well down in the Curragh this week...

[thejuice]

Maybe you culchie-people do AZ, but us hard working Dubs have to buy it off the street like everyone else.

I thought there only was culchies or Dubs. Who are these "everyone else" folks?

[thejuice]

Has Cardinal Brady approved the timings of the World Cup fixtures?

[Capt Pat]

Ireland team to play Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday 5 August at 2.15pm:

15. Rob Kearney
14. Andrew Trimble
13. Fergus McFadden
12. Paddy Wallace
11. Luke Fitzgerald
10. Jonathan Sexton
9. Tomás O'Leary
1. Tom Court
2. Sean Cronin
3. Tony Buckley
4. Donnacha Ryan
5. Leo Cullen (captain)
6. Mike McCarthy
7. Niall Ronan
8. Denis Leamy

Replacements:

16. Jerry Flannery
17. Marcus Horan
18. John Hayes
19. Mick O'Driscoll
20. Kevin McLaughlin
21. Isaac Boss
22. Felix Jones

That team is basically players 16-30 on the plane to New Zealand. The seven players on the bench are the next seven in line for inclusion. Boss and Flans will also be in the squad, throw off McCarthy and Ronan.

[Dinny Breen]

WORLD CUP WARM-UP: ZINZAN BROOKE and Declan Kidney were in the same orbit yesterday and evidently reading from different scripts.

The former All Black number eight, possibly their best, feels Ireland need to beat Scotland this weekend as a matter of World Cup importance. Kidney rolled out a team full of promise and talent, but far from a hard-nosed fleet of front liners.

"Scotland on Sunday. That's very important," says Brooke. "It's crucial for you guys to win that game. Scotland will know that you need to deliver. That's the first marker.

"They key thing is to keep that momentum going. I don't think you need a vintage performance. Don't try too many risky things. Set-piece, run, pass, kick it. A boring game."

Different thinking indeed. The Kiwi, who now runs a bed and breakfast near Legoland in England, has never been one for dovetailing with convention.

Even his penchant for drop kicking was at odds with the All Black pure vision of rugby, as a piece in this week's New Zealand Herald explored. It compared the drop kick to "the unwanted drunken uncle at the family wedding".

The GAA-playing backrow dropped one of the most memorable goals ever seen in the 1995 World Cup two paces inside the England half. Time spent playing with Roskill Rangers in the Auckland GAA League and later St Brendan's in London allowed him kick off either foot throughout his 58 Tests for the All Blacks.

"It doesn't say in the rugby manual that backs are the only ones that kick a ball," says the 6ft 3in backrow. "I think we coach it out of kids now. They are not allowed to do it when they're doing tag and they're not allowed kick it in junior rugby. I just find that crazy."

The GAA connection arrived through his friend, Bernie McCahill, who brought him along to the Maorist club in Auckland and popped the question. "He said to me 'do you want to play Gaelic?' I said 'I never heard of it, what's that?' He said 'it's this Irish game.' I got hooked on it straight away. It was just the freedom. I could kick left and right. I played it the off-season. I never told the All Black selectors. I should never have been playing."

Three World Cups between 1987 and 1995 as well as an enduring status as a number eight with the running and kicking skills of a back-line player, Brooke is encouraging about Jamie Heaslip ("a magnificent athlete") but sees this year's World Cup falling the way of New Zealand. He believes Graham Henry has corrected past errors of analysis and selection policy.

"The two mistakes we did were we didn't analyse the pools and we stuck with the rotation. At the quarter-finals other teams were actually a lot more physical.

"We've got to stick with the nucleus of a team, 10, 11, 12, 13 players to hold the team through the pool rounds. I think they will play their World Cup final team against France. They'll need to."

You'd would wonder where Ireland will play their World Cup final team.

The tragic wash of the earthquake in Christchurch may also give New Zealand a freight of its own as it will when the USA plays Ireland on 9/11 in New Plymouth. Ireland, Brooke believes, can do well but when it comes to the scrum the great man falters in his flattery. "The question for me is the tight five," he says. "The tight five must set a platform. It's the frontrow you need to . . . they are going to be put to the test. Yeah, they'll be put to the test."

[Capt Pat]

Aussies getting beat 17-0 by the all blacks after 25 minutes. Aussies look decent but not in the same class as the all blacks at this stage in their development. We dodged a bullet with the world cup draw. The all blacks would kill us 99 times out of 100. The Aussies are probably a 50 50 game for us.

[Hoof Hearted]

probably beat us 100 times out of 100
Aus just scored great try there

[Dinny Breen]

Blatant knock-on for the Kiwi's 3rd try, every sport has crap officials.

Are NZ peaking too early I wonder.

Ireland v Oz is probably a 70/30 game in favour of Oz.

[the Deel Rover]

Blatant knock-on for the Kiwi's 3rd try, every sport has crap officials.

Are NZ peaking too early I wonder.
Ireland v Oz is probably a 70/30 game in favour of Oz.

Its nearly the same for every World cup they look unbeatable for the previous 3+ years and then come the Finals they get beaten. Can't see it happening this time though.

[Hoof Hearted]

Blatant knock-on for the Kiwi's 3rd try, every sport has crap officials.

Are NZ peaking too early I wonder.

Ireland v Oz is probably a 70/30 game in favour of Oz.

agreed, would be 50-50 if it was up here, remember a crap england team beating them in 2007 in France

[Capt Pat]

Blatant knock-on for the Kiwi's 3rd try, every sport has crap officials.

Are NZ peaking too early I wonder.

Ireland v Oz is probably a 70/30 game in favour of Oz.

It won't be in Australia. We have a great chance.

agreed, would be 50-50 if it was up here, remember a crap england team beating them in 2007 in France

[Capt Pat]

The scotch beat us 10-6 with a converted try with 2 minutes to go. I still found it entertaining even though the tries were hard to come by. It shouldn't have been a try but a free kick or penalty to Ireland for Crossing or obstruction on Paddy Wallace. McFadden also foolishly came inside  leaving Ansbro alone on the wing to finish well to the delight of the well sauced Murrayfield crowd.

The Scottish pack dominated on the whole leaving the Irish backs little chance to shine. Thse Scottish backs will hardly score a try against England or Argentina but they might bore the opposition to death.

The scrum propped by Court and Buckley started ok but declined as the game went on leaving Leamy possibly Irelands best player to rescue things. There was no chance for the scrum halves to get the ball away at times.
Ronan at openside was mediocre at best. McCarthy at blind side was solid. Not much to say about the backs whose opportunities were limited except defence was good for 78 minutes.  It was good to have Kearney back and he was good and solid at full back.

[Hoof Hearted]

The scotch beat us 10-6 with a converted try with 2 minutes to go. I still found it entertaining even though the tries were hard to come by. It shouldn't have been a try but a free kick or penalty to Ireland for Crossing or obstruction on Paddy Wallace. McFadden also foolishly came inside  leaving Ansbro alone on the wing to finish well to the delight of the well sauced Murrayfield crowd.

The Scottish pack dominated on the whole leaving the Irish backs little chance to shine. Thse Scottish backs will hardly score a try against England or Argentina but they might bore the opposition to death.

The scrum propped by Court and Buckley started ok but declined as the game went on leaving Leamy possibly Irelands best player to rescue things. There was no chance for the scrum halves to get the ball away at times.
Ronan at openside was mediocre at best. McCarthy at blind side was solid. Not much to say about the backs whose opportunities were limited except defence was good for 78 minutes.  It was good to have Kearney back and he was good and solid at full back.

im a very positive person. and usually see the bright side of things, but that match was f**king BRUTAL !!

[Dinny Breen]

Oi brutal but it was O'Byrne Cup stuff as expected we got beaten up front and it was only through Scotland's ineptitude that we managed to stay in touch. Positive in the sense that Kearney and Flannery got some game time.

Next week against France should be similar ilk.