Ireland v Italy Rugby

[Uladh]

A few bullet points...

No matter how many times it is warned against, players will always protect themselves on the eve of the world cup. Understandable.

Ireland were very very rusty.

No sense panicing.

horan - oh dear.

No sharpness there as yet.

No number 7 obviously.

why do ireland lose the ball in contact so much?

Murphy and Hickie have lost 2 yards of pace.

POC's personal performance levels always drop when he's captain.

POC & DOC never pressurised a single italian lineout.

ROG looked very heavy legged.

Obviously being a few weeks out from the tournament and not needing to peak for the opening game, the irish will be a fair ways away from being physically and mentally sharp. They will hae played last night without using any of their intended patterns in the backs and set pieces. i'm sure this accouts for the hesitancy in the backs and the italians are much better at a structureless game.

[magickingdom]

anyone know what the attendance was there last night, there seemed to be plenty empty swats behind one end...

[Maguire01]

14,000 apparently.

[Solomon Kane]

I refused to go last night on priciple.

[SammyG]

belfast been declared an away match is a joke and i've no problem with AnBf been dumped in dublin.

Belfast was not 'declared' an away venue, that's just Sammy speak to illustrate his objection to the lack of GSTQ.

Firstly I don't want GSTQ and secondly Belfast was declared an away venue by the IRFU on the grounds that it was 'outside Ireland'. Nothing to do with Sammy speak. This was the statement from the IRFU

"When Ireland play in Dublin, the Irish national anthem plus Ireland's Call are played but, when the team play outside Ireland, wherever that might be, only Ireland's Call is played" she said. "So this is not out of the norm".

Strangely enough I never heard anyone express the opinion that GSTQ should have been played – unlike the OWC crowd, the rugby people seem keen to keep politics out of their sport – and fair play to them...

Hardly surprising when virtually nobody wants to have GSTQ played and that isn't the issue but sure you knew that already.

[magickingdom]

I refused to go last night on priciple.

want to tell us which one(s)...

[Solomon Kane]

I fekkin hate rugby.


About time someone bit!

[magickingdom]

I fekkin hate rugby.


About time someone bit!

[BallyhaiseMan]

have to agree with SammyG here

Belfast is in Ireland and is a home game,

GSTQ should have been played only the IRFU backed out.

I for one would have had no problem if it had been played,sure Unionist players and fans have stood  in respect for A Na Bf for decades now in Dublin.

Irelands Call is a load of shite,time we get one good anthem to play home and away and dont play any national anthems(with the exception for heads of state who meet the players of course)

[Chrisowc]

have to agree with SammyG here

Belfast is in Ireland and is a home game,

GSTQ should have been played only the IRFU backed out.

I for one would have had no problem if it had been played,sure Unionist players and fans have stood  in respect for A Na Bf for decades now in Dublin.

Irelands Call is a load of shite,time we get one good anthem to play home and away and dont play any national anthems(with the exception for heads of state who meet the players of course)

Completely fair and reasonable.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Was at the game on Friday - thought the atmosphere was alright although it was my first international rugby match so I've little enough to compare it with right enough. Poor from Ireland - bit of a shambles up front - espicially in the scrum. Was right at the far side for the O'Gara try and haven't seen a replay but I agree it looked dubious enough although there seemed to an Italian foul for their try. Only hope is that the flatness is due to a regieme designed to reach a peak in 4 weeks time. Repeats of Scotland and Italy form will see Ireland miss out on the quarters.

I see some NI soccer fans decided to grace the occasion with one of their "Say No to the Maze" flags. Ya havta give them marks for persistence if nothing else!

[magickingdom]

hope it becomes a regular event, surely they can just drop the anthems in both dublin and belfast. cant be that hard..

[dublinfella]

I see some NI soccer fans decided to grace the occasion with one of their "Say No to the Maze" flags. Ya havta give them marks for persistence if nothing else!

The Rugby fans are against it too

[SammyG]

I see some NI soccer fans decided to grace the occasion with one of their "Say No to the Maze" flags. Ya havta give them marks for persistence if nothing else!

There are always Say No to the Maze flags at Ravenhill. The rugby boys are even more opposed to it than us, as they would be lost in a 40K stadium.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

This was definately an NI flag - had the NI crests and that on it from what I seen.

I know the rugby lads aren't too fussed on the idea but are they not staying in Ravenhill anyway and only moving to the new stadium for the odd big Henineken Cup Game when Ravenhill's attendance isn't enough? In that instance I wouldn't have thought it affects them too badly