Rugby world cup

[anportmorforjfc]

Samoa 15-19 Tonga


Fiji 29-16 Canada

it will be interesting to see how namibia do against france tonight

[ONeill]

Can't believe it's not on mainstream TV tonight. ITVbloody4.

[thejuice]

The glass maybe half full for you but you'll that it is very shallow.

yes it is terrible. but i am determined to come up with my own sporting cliche. Bet Michael Lyster would like to use that one.

[Square Ball]

right, can someone tell me what the crais is when Ireland play Argentina?

[blast05]

13 tries for France - they looked ok (even though 2 of them should not have been given on technicalities and 2 more had forward passes on the lead up).
However, when taking into account that Namibia played without their Number 8 for 60 minutes (sent off), appeared to be completely out on their feet after half an hour and that they must have set a record for number of missed tackles, then it would be foolish to read anything into Frances performance ..... France after all had numerous unforced errors.
So, what of Friday? Despite all the negative sentiment following the Georgia match, Ireland nonetheless showed a big improvement - only missed one tackle being one relevant stat !. A similar level of improvement again is needed to stay in touch with France, double that level to win  ..... and i think that we are capable of it, once Neil Best (for Easterby), Reddan (for Stringer), Flannery (for Best) and possibly Murphy for Hickie. After all, here are the "golden generation" playing for their reputations, their legacies, their careers  ..... and they will be underdogs   ..... and and massive massive pressure on France - biggest game in their history is how they are labeling it and they don't yet know their strongest team.

BTW, why are all the analysts saying we have to win our remaining 2 games to get out of the group. Unless i can't count, then if we beat France then we are through ?? OK, we almost certainly have to win the remaining 2 to avoid NZ in the quarters but thats a different story

[Tankie]

yeah beat france we are through to the q/f but we need to win the two for a game against scotland in the q/fs

[johnneycool]

I'd go with most of Blast's changes, but EOS is the most conservative of managers and will probably start both Hickey and Easterby against France out of some form of misguided loyalty. Leamy is also having a mare but at least he seems to be trying unlike some of the others. Stringer's pass to give away the intercepted try the other night was poor of the highest order and even O'Driscoll ate the bake of him for it. Boss isn't perfect but at least he gives the oppositions back row something to think about at scrumtime and Geordan Murphy must have shit in Eddies shoe or something not to be considered or brought on the last two games when Hickey was so abjectly poor and almost cost Ireland with yet another missed tackle just before the final whistle.

Neil Best should add something to the ruck and maul as I've never seen Easterby poleaxe someone in the tackle the way Best can. We need a dirty dog in the nitty gritty and Best is the man. The pack have generally been poor at their main jobs and need to sharpen up. Ireland can't afford any stupid mistakes like knock on's etc as they can't scrummage worth a f**k at this level and need to reduce the scrum count as much as possible.

I'm not confident Ireland can do anything against France but we all live in hope.

[Dinny Breen]

Right here's my tuppence worth...

The Georgia game was a game we should have lost and no amount of positive spin will change that, our pack were beaten up front and lost nearly all the collossions at the breakdown, when was the last time you saw an Irish backrow so ineffective, the Wallace gamble has failed and he is clearly not fit, Eddie O'Suillivan's decision not to bring a specialist 7 is coming back to haunt him, likewise his decision not to bring a specialist 8, Denis Leamy was terrible against Georgia and someone like Jamie Heaslip or Roger Wilson should have been in the squad. As much I dislike the chap as a player I would introduce Quinlan into the backow at 7 and Best at 6 and Easterby at 8 dropping both Leamy and Wallace, leaving only Leamy on the bench. I think O'Callaghan is been made a scape goat for O'Connell's putrid perfomances, I would drop O'Connell and play Malcom O'Kelly, a pumped up angry O'Connell would be perfect to come in off the bench after 40/50 minutes. Up front I'd get rid of Horan, too light and replace him with Best, Flannery I think is starting due to injury anyway.

I have to laugh at people calling for Reddan, this guy was thrid choice at Munster, 2nd choice at Wasps, only got in the team because of injury, played one good game that I can remember the quarter-final against Leinster in the HEC, in his only full international looked woefully out of his dept. While Boss has his flaws, people going out about his two steps is unreal, probably the best scrum-half over the last 10 years is George 3 or 4 step Gregan, funny how it is Munster fans who use this as a stick to beat him with. Boss has good defence, an average pass but has a good break which is enough to fix fringe defence, anything at this moment would be better than Stringer.

I'd also bring Murphy in at full back and Kearney on the wing..

So my team to play France would be

Best, Flannery, Hayes, O'Callagahan, O'Kelly, Best, Quinlan, Easterby, Boss, O'Gara, Kearney, D'Arcy, O'Driscoll, Horgan, Murphy......

This Irish team are obviously holding back on set-piece moves are playing within themselves but I'm very worried about our form and I believe morale in the camp cannot be good, who wants to train when you have no chance of been selected. I'm heading to Paris on Friday and I want to believe we have a chance, I think we do have it in us but now is the time for the players to shut up and deliver and for all Irish people to get behind their team...

[bcarrier]

I wonder if there is any Munster/Leinster friction in camp ? The HEC has definitely brought a new edge to these encounters and wonder if there is  something leftover. Probably fine when things going well but when it trouble like this and locked away for weeks maybe something has developed . Victor Costolloe made an interesting comment at half time about Wallace sin bin and Leamy error off attacking scrum something like ..." these are the kind of errors that really piss off your teammates". 

Leamy had a game riddled with moments of game saving brillance and game losing basic errors. I dont know what EOS should do about him..to my eye he is only one in pack bringing required level of physicality but there are just too many decision making ( quick taps etc) and handling errors to make a strong case for his inclusion. I thought Wallace played better than against nambia and would hope he can come on a lot for next game if selected. He needs to. Easterby has to be under pressure for his place too. You could change them all but reality is EOS will probably leave it as it is.

Front 5 is a real worry. Hayes does not look like he has 80mins in him any more and as one of the papers put it Horan wouldnt make the Georgia bench. Flannery come in now for Best but he doesnt look like player he did in his debut season either. I think POC will come good. We need an England Croke park performance from him. Malcolm O Kelly and DOC should be splitting the other lock job.

Stringer has to stay because there is no real alternative. ROG needs to turn up too. He is having a brutal WC.

[Uladh]

Doe anyone genuinely believe eddie will drop stringer? not gonna happen

trying to look at it from EOS's point of view, with the consistently in team selection, he obviously planned to use these opening two games as the final warm up games. with the game preparation they had before the tournament, these two games were needed, in eddie's mind, to gel the starting team. for that reason i think there will be minimal changes. he thinks he knows his best team and in a lot of ways thats maybe the problem as the starters are comfortable and the squad players feel there's nothing they can do. as someone said, the french don't know their best team but between last night and the irish game they are all playing for a starting place in any potential quarter final.

obviously the irish have not shown their hand in set piece moves and back patterns but their form is terrible. however they have obviously fixated on this french game for some time and that mindset could pay dividends come friday night. the most worrying factor has been the form of key individuals. o'gara, stringer, POC, BOD. Hickie and D'arcy all need to hit the ground running on friday or there will be trouble.

With flannery getting in at last due to injury, i can't see EOS making any more changes. i'd love to see boss in for stringer and best in for easterby but it won't happen.

The caveman was very scary last night...

[mackers]

Stringer is getting plenty of stick here (and rightly so!) but to my mind Ronan O'Gara has returned to his flaky worst which is a disaster for this Irish team. In the run up to the World Cup he was quoted as stating that he wanted to prove that he was the 2nd best out half in the world. Hope he forgets about such horse shit and concentrates on his game. We all know what he's capable of but it's now or never.
I think EOS has taken a leave out of England's book for the last World Cup and basically played the same team for a year or so to build up confidence, and at the moment it looks to have backfired because we look very stale.
Best has to come in for Easterby, Flannery for Best, Boss for Stringer and G Murphy for Hickey. If we had an alternative for O'Gara it would have to be looked at but we don't, so we'll have to put up with whatever he gives us.

[Teeling Gael]

Dinny -- I'd agree with alot of what you post here on rugby matters but can't agree this morning. Firstly on Reddan . Yes he was 3rd choice effectively 3 seasons ago for Munster but he left . Yes he was 2nd choice at Wasps to Dawson 2 seasons ago but last season in the premiership where squad rotation is ripe , he was Wasps 1st choice in their big games and played consistently well(not just once) winning the European cup . That is a very evident progression from where he was 3 years ago rather than Stringers static form. To discard him on 1 average performance behind a beaten and 2nd choice pack in Argentina is disingenous and your pick ( and mine !) Boss caused 2 tries on his debut in Australia 12 months earlier. What I'd agree with you on , is that he can't play on Friday , as he aint experienced enough at International rugby. Who knows whether he is good enough or not, because under EOS no one gets an opportunity to break into his team.

To drop POC for MOK doesn't make any sense to me. I consistently say that POC isn't the living legend he is portrayed as. In fact he isn't more that a good international class 2nd row rather than been the remotely world class lock he is portrayed as but to say that, MOK who barley played a competitive game of rugby all year, at the twilight of his career is better in a crucial match is wrong

Presumably you are talking of  Brian Carney rather than Rob Kearney. How does your logic on Reddan tie in here ?? Carney hasn't yet played a serious game of rugby union in his career to date ( Magners league and Argentina).

Horgan doesn't look fit , Hickies is playing like he has retired already so admittedly we do have problems on the wing. I'd drop Hickie and play the only Irish player who looks like they are in any form in A Trimble ( 3 tries in last 3 internationals ). I'd keep Dempsey who had a decent game Saturday ahead of Murphy who as recently as the Italian match showed he cant defend. However Murphy should be coming on after 60 minutes in every game for a member of the back 3. Darcy and O Garas horrific form, is in my view, the catylst for our poor performance to date. We can make all the changes we like but if these 2 don't up the ante then we wouldn't beat France or Argentina. Sadly both are confidence players so it will be hard for them to turn it around.

I'd agree with Dinny on Quinlan. Again I dont overly rate him but he is a leader and tactically way more astute than many consider him. He should come in for Easterby. Thanks to EOS , we dont have an alternative No. 8 so Leamy has to stay there. He is making mistakes but at least he looks as if he wants the ball. To me he is patently not a no. 8 but a blind side flanker. If Wallace isn't fit enough for 80 minutes then we are better starting Best and bringing Wallace on. If he is fit , then I'd have Ferris on bench rather than Best as he gives more options and is way better with the ball than Best.

Its evident in the serious rugby poster posts here , that there is a huge frustration in EOS and his inability to change his first 15 over the last 12 months. We are now in a situation where the first 15 isn't working and we genuinely don't know whether the likes of Trimble , Murphy , Boss , Reddan, Ferris, Young , O Kelly, Quinlan or even Gleeson and Heaslip in Dublin would improve the team as some haven't got a prolonged chance , some no chance all of last season and some not at all.

I expect EOS to make the one enforced change at hooker and rely on his "first 15".I'd expect us to lose to France by more than 7 and then obviously whilst we could beat Argentina we certainly wouldn't score the 4 tries then necessary.

[amongthebushes]

Was over for the match on sat, had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend! I really cant see Ireland winning either of the final two games. The players just dont seem condident on the pitch, alot of heads seemed to go down in second half. In the last 10mins there was a lot of arguing and finger pointing going on between players, especially when boss was playing his own game. I seen Hickie and darcy doing a serious amount of shouting towards the line.

[Dinny Breen]

Dinny -- I'd agree with alot of what you post here on rugby matters but can't agree this morning. Firstly on Reddan . Yes he was 3rd choice effectively 3 seasons ago for Munster but he left . Yes he was 2nd choice at Wasps to Dawson 2 seasons ago but last season in the premiership where squad rotation is ripe , he was Wasps 1st choice in their big games and played consistently well(not just once) winning the European cup

He was practically the only fit scrum half at Wasps last season, Simon Amor was was brought in as 1st choice scrum-half last summer but spent most of the season injured. Any scrum half that cannot displace Tomas O'Leary in the pecking order has to be questioned, look I have seen enough of Reddan to doubt his ability at the top level. If he can retain the 9 jersey at Wasps this year that challenge should bring him on further....

O'Callagahan has been playing better than O'Connell, O'Connell has been poor he is not untouchable, O'Kelly has been fantastic for Ireland in the big games, he has at least 50/60 minutes in him, it makes no sense to retain a player clearly out of form. O'Connell is in the side on reputation only in the hope that he might actually do something...

Carney actually impressed in Argentina, as Liam Toland mentioned on TV he has that x-factor something we badly need, Trimble is not a bad option but he is imho an outside centre and not a winger.  We need Horgan, fit or not.

I agree on ROG and D'Arcy, ROG do has a badly off form Stringer, D'Arcy has no excuse, but a lot of the ball was either spotted or skipped on him, we have not played any pattern rugby at all, all will be revealed on Friday night..

And not for one moment do I think EOS will change his team....

[mackers]

Watched the French game on Setanta last night, Liam Toland is an excellent analyst.