STW 2014/15 Rugby Thread

…came into the game as Ireland tired Sexton went off and it was dead by that stage anyway.

I dunno, I didn’t think Ireland even kicked that well, which should be more of a worry for SL. Discipline upfront and set piece won it in the first half.

Irelands high balls from both 9 and 10 were often too long fist half.

Irelands work at the breakdown won it. Set piece was pretty even.

Irelands high balls from both 9 and 10 were often too long fist half.

The refereeing of the offside rule I think is confusing. Players seem to retreat less now and kickers dont seem to give chase to their own kicks as much. This appeared to be refereed a bit randomly yesterday.

Often the kicker stays back and a chaser comes from behind him. Others are supposed to retreat if within 10m or wait till put onside by the chaser. Seemed to be reffed fine to me.

I would love to see someone like Keith Earls or Luke Fitz come into the Irish squad. Earls try and overall performance against Glasgow this weekend was fantastic even if the opposition was severely depleted. Either would offer significantly more than Felix Jones off the bench if we needed to chase the game against Wales

Keith Earls Try V Glasgow[/url]

Agree with most of the above.

Ireland were clearly superior to England. They dominated the breakdown, disrupted England’s lineout and achieved parity in the scrums.

Another intersting difference was when Ireland had a penalty advantage and an easy three points, Connor Murray went for the chip into the in-goal option and created the try. When England had a similar situation in the first half they went for……… a drop goal which got them the same 3pts they’d have had anyway.

It’s a bit depressing though when the two supposedly best teams in the NH serve up a match containing so few try scoring opportunities and virtually no attacking rugby. Ireland’s game is good, very good, and may take them a long way. However, if they fall a couple of scores behind someone like NZ or SA it’ll never be enough to get them back into it.

Personally I thought the Fra/Wales game was much better to watch.

Irelands work at the breakdown won it. Set piece was pretty even.

England literally threw away two excellent attacking line outs at a time in the game when the scores where still close. Scrum was quite even overall, possibly slight advantage to Ireland forcing one key penalty. Also the daft decision to take line out instead of 3, always take 3 early in the game.

EDIT

Another intersting difference was when Ireland had a penalty advantage and an easy three points, Connor Murray went for the chip into the in-goal option and created the try. When England had a similar situation in the first half they went for……… a drop goal which got them the same 3pts they’d have had anyway.

This is a good point

El Vino – Member
I would love to see someone like Keith Earls or Luke Fitz come into the Irish squad. Earls try and overall performance against Glasgow this weekend was fantastic even if the opposition was severely depleted. Either would offer significantly more than Felix Jones off the bench if we needed to chase the game against Wales

Joe admitted that Fitzgerald was very close to taking that spot. Apparently it came down to not wanting three left foot kickers as the back three if he had to come on for Zebo. Just a small detail, and seeing that sub spot as injury cover rather than game changer , really.
Makes sense with so many players working back to fitness and not being 100% at the moment, and an attritional game expected. Could see it going slightly different in different circumstances.
Apparently, Keith Earls was close too, and was impressive running as the opposition “Jonathan Joseph” impersonator in recent defense training.
Both are still well in with a shout, and impressing in training. Not forgotten and might well get run outs before the end of 6N.
When you think that wings this time last year, outside BOD and Darcy, were Trimble and Dave Kearney and you throw Gilroy, McFadden and others in – there’s real competition for places now.

Namastebuzz – completely agree on England advantage DG! I was screaming at the TV! All the pundits thought it was great 🙄

England played poorly – Ireland deserved the win BUT England still had enough chances to win the game with better execution.
Loss of line out on Ireland’s line.
Accidental offside (36 getting in the fwds way when camped on the Irish line.
Fwd pass to Nowell for try.

The breakdown was a great contrast for me. The Ireland backs hit the rucks like flankers, whereas England backs tackled and not much else. I don’t blame the breakdown loss on England’s back row – they were simply outnumbered by the addition of Irish backs into the mix.

PSA for the rugby fans- documentary on Willie John McBride on BBC1 NI at 10.45 tonight. If you have Sky it will be somewhere between the mucky stuff and the radio! I think it will be on iplayer afterwards as well.

Already set to record. 😀

953/979 on Sky.

Three irish players cited http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/31717203

Two Irish players and a Kiwi as far as I can see. Cited from Pro12 games.

Leinster’s Ben Te’o has also been cited for allegedly striking with a forearm in the draw against the Ospreys.

That’s an interesting one. Te’o was playing with a BIIG, solid looking cast on his arm which he used a few times to block a path in front of him. He took one Osprey out of the game doing it – hit him in the throat. The commentators were discussing why he had it on. Apparently he’s returning from injury but had done a similar thing, made a player retire from the field after striking him with this cast, a game or two ago. I’m amazed that the referee allowed him on the field with this thing on his arm. Can’t find any images sorry.

He’s going to change his name to Ben O’Te and see if he can qualify to play for the green machine.

It was Warburton that te’o took out with a very similar hit with the cast, In the ospreys game the tmo told the ref that it looked like short arm but the ref said it looked fine on rewatching the slomo

Didnt see the game but was it a bit like this? Edit..too slow

Two Irish players and a Kiwi as far as I can see. Cited from Pro12 games.

Bet you were worried for a second though!!!

That was it a_a – I just found that clip myself.

Bet you were worried for a second though!!!

I knew that your facts would need checking, so, no, not really.

Slightly OT – Where can you buy a Scotland Rugby Shirt that you can get customised, ie with your name on the back?

Slightly OT – Where can you buy a Scotland Rugby Shirt that you can get customised, ie with your name on the back?

Not sure why anyone would want one ( 😉 ) but try here:

Lovell Rugby

going on scotlands recent performance if you ring vern cotter and sound half interested he’d probably make you up a shirt with a number on it at least. you might have to run round for 80 minutes looking p&%%ed off a week saturday…

So are any of the Irish posters starting to worry that the game isnt progressing past kicking lots under Schmidt? I have given up hope of the Welsh game plan moving on and tbh when we arecwinning I dont care. Cant see Ireland getting to the World Cup final by kicking the leather off the ball.

Are you getting w.spoon on it or just spoon?

After the mcBride program I’m claiming an Irish grand slam in 72 cause Wales and Scotland were too chicken to travel to Dublin, even though the trouble was up north. Loved McBrides quote to Iain Henderson, ‘I miss the rucks’

Not at all aa. Schmidt is a pragmatic coach who will play to his strengths and do what it takes to beat the opposition. We haven’t even started to play yet. The Irish Times this morning was talking to Murray and he intimated that there would br s bit more running rugby againstyou boys.

We have equalled our best run of results ever, beaten SA and Aus, and should have beaten NZ so we have moved on massively from the team that finished 5th two years ago. In Joe we trust!

I suppose so and hey your winning but I’m still waiting for Wales the bust out some variation in back moves 4 years later!

bit more running rugby againstyou boys

Hope so, might give us a chance. Your maul, lineout and breakdown work will be too much for us. Run around a bit and we have a punchers chance as we have players like North who can score tries in a blink if given space.

I’m happy with the way we play, I’m a prop so anything that goes to touch and cuts down the running was always good with me. Seriously, I’d love to see a bit more flair but I’ll take a win first and foremost. North will be facing Bowe so I can’t imagine he will get much space. But if Sexton is out he could do well inside against Madigan.

I have a feeling Williams played left wing and North right last week despite the numbers so it might be Zebo v North. Could be wrong though.

Yes of course you are quite right. I was thinking Cuthbert and North. Interestingly Murray mentioned how Zebo had improved his defence under Joe. I hope he is right!

I’d be surprised if Ireland try anything expansive and running against Wales at the millennium. As a_a says, there is a (perceived for now, but let’s see on the day) advantage at the breakdown, maul, line-out and who knows, maybe even the scrum has been sorted out to at least parity rather than giving away penalties constantly, so I’d expect Joe to be pragmatic and exploit those. If the green machine start chucking it around, the Welsh back three could do some damage. After the second half against France, Wales should be starting favourites against Ireland. I expect Payne and Henshaw to be doing a bit of defence rather than anything fancy. I’m hoping for similar levels of discipline (as against England) anywhere within ½p range.

Who’s the ref? 🙂

Steve Walsh I think 😆

He’ll let the scrums go at each other and ping the losers and be much less inclined to ping holding on than Joubert was last week.

Steve Walsh I think

😀

EDIT: Yep, you’re right… http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/news/26947.php#.VPeIWLOsVHM

Seems that Steve Walsh has pulled out for “business reasons”
Wayne Barnes has been appointed according to Irish Times
Offside line not important in Wales V Ireland

Meanwhile Walsh will be the man in the hotseat when the competition reaches its conclusion at Twickenham, when England will welcome France.

Oh FFS – looks like I’ll be going to watch my wife sing in a choir then ‘cos it will be pointless watching England play 🙁

Luke Marshall banned for 5 weeks.
Shouldn’t kick people in the head.

Shame. Because I’d have thought he might have been worth a go at 12 for Ireland before the end of the tournament,. Especially with payne injured.
IMO, Henshaw’s an even better 13 than 12, so might have been a good combo.
And he’s been good when I’ve seen him.
Interested what BM thinks, seeing him more for Ulster?

Luke Marshall banned for 5 weeks.
Shouldn’t kick people in the head.

Glad to see that the moral of the tale isn’t lost on you! 😀

Waynne Barnes ffs!!
Business intrests my arse.

This is a good read http://www.the42.ie/analysis-ireland-england-rucks-1971929-Mar2015/