Unbelievable rugby being played by Ireland the 'avo'. Cue the hysteria like 2018.
They're playing well but Japan aren't there either, really. An odd team, you never know what they'll bring to the game. Remember that world cup game against Sath Ifrica a few years back? Noone saw that coming.
The one in 2015? SA were at a low ebb then but it was a triumph of will by the Japanese, remember it well.
Ireland are being completely ruthless, fantastic to see.
Let's see how ruthless they can be next weekend.
Ruthless but didn't feel like they playted all that well to be honest, still some mistakes to iron out before next weekend.
Jaysus lads it's Christmas. Great performance, totally outplayed them. I hope we can temper expectations because we've been burned that often at this stage.
I don't think I've ever seen the All Blacks bullied around the pitch like that. Great performance, fair play to them.
Quote from: Caomhaoin on November 13, 2021, 07:59:38 PM
Jaysus lads it's Christmas. Great performance, totally outplayed them. I hope we can temper expectations because we've been burned that often at this stage.
Great performance, indeed, let's see can they repeat it when they tour New Zealand next Summer!
Great win yesterday,I think the loss of Barret was a big loss of NZ.
The AB's taking it all ways from the French this evening. We might want to hold our horses before putting too much stock in our result!
Impressive game against a tired Argentina, good to see the forwards scoring all tries
Chastening first half there...
They got the try and then fell apart, terrible passing. Good start to the second half but the damage is done, I fear.
Fuckin' yes!!!
Quote from: Caomhaoin on July 09, 2022, 10:34:59 AM
Fuckin' yes!!!
Aye. Great win. And should have been more except for the litany of mistakes we made.
Listening to Alan Quinlan on Off the Ball there. He's fairly insightful and a good commentary, but the only adjectives he knows are 'incredible' and 'HUUUGE' in that fuckin' Tipp accent! :)
Great to see, handling errors cost them a few points though. They didn't capitalise on the extra men either. All that aside, here's hoping for another win next week.
Horgan made a good point about when they were attacking in the '22 against 13, they panicked because they felt they had to score and it led to a couple of knock-ons.
Winning the tour outright and a solid six nations and the horrible World Cup draw (France or NZ in the quarters, provided we get there) doesn't dishearten one so much.
Jaysus lads it's Christmas :) What a performance!
Great result for Irish rugby and long over due.
Brilliant stuff. A few heartstopping moments but job done in style.
Fantastic game, Tadhg Beirne was savage.
Ryan Jones diagnosed with early onset dementia. 41 years of age. Jesus Christ lads could you imagine? Poor bastard :(
https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/62194385
That's horrible. Poor fella.
Jesus, 41. That's a genuine tragedy.
Christ that's awful.
Eddie Butler, the voice of Wales died there. What a commentator, an inimitable voice and an absolute gentleman. He'll be missed.
Savage, ferocious match. Ireland showed they have learned from being beaten up by the French front row. Two quality tries and manful defence. Willemse is a woeful kicker, and that helped. Shouldn't discount the players missing on our side though, and the three enforced substitutions. Great win all things considered.
Ireland were world beaters four years ago too, and it all went to pot but it feels a bit different this time round.
.
Jesus South Africa need a kicker badly. Shocking. Immsense performance without a good few starters.
As regards world beaters we are indeed a far different team to 4 years ago. Way more facets to our play.
I imagine Pollard will be given the nod come World Cup time, he's in the Sexton mould. Kolbe was just as bad when he took over, that was one of the worst attempts at a conversion I've ever seen.
Six Nations is always important, but it has extra significance in 2023. France and England at home, a grand slam is well achievable. Cardiff though, the taffs have a knack for bringing high flying Irish teams crashing down to earth.
Sexton missed a couple of bread and butter (for him) kicks too TBF. Fantastic game of rugby, despite the best efforts of the ref - should have been two reds instead of that yellow, knock on in the line out, forward pass to the try scorer.
Thing is, Ireland always peak the year before a world cup and don't carry the form into the tournament. Hopefully this squad can buck the trend.
Sexton wasn't perfect but even Willemse's kicking from hand was quite poor, cost them the initiative at least twice that I can remember.
Hope the Argies get one over on 'dem across de water' later on.
Quote from: Carnage on November 05, 2022, 10:03:16 PMSexton missed a couple of bread and butter (for him) kicks too TBF. Fantastic game of rugby, despite the best efforts of the ref - should have been two reds instead of that yellow, knock on in the line out, forward pass to the try scorer.
Thing is, Ireland always peak the year before a world cup and don't carry the form into the tournament. Hopefully this squad can buck the trend.
Or is it that other top sides show their real form come World Cup time? One difference this time around seems to be Ireland do have strength in depth, although If the likes of Van De Flier gets injured it would be a huge blow.
I thought we were lucky to win. Still relying on our first 15 too much for my liking. Hope to feck we see different out half v Aus. Sexton nothing to prove.
Hanging on a bit near the end but a nice scalp to beat the world champions.
Im surprised Sexton wasnt subbed early he took a huge hit early second half.
Wayne Barnes had a shocker last night in France v RSA. Du Toit deserved his red card but he let France away with murder. Sealing off (several times),wonky line outs (one in which a SA player got a knee to the head and French TV cut out of the replay). Kolbe took a shoulder to the head, a french lad planted a stiff forearm on De Allende's head earlier too, not penalised. The winning try was a clear double movement.
Dupont decision correct, but how many fuck ups/hometown decisions did he make? I don't want to sound the Rugby Alex Jones but it bodes poorly for the World Cup if the Parisian crowd can rattle refs like that. Barnes is regarded as the best of the best, and he shat the bed completely.
The French cunts are always whistling like pricks for opposition kicks too.
Anyways.
Was at the Connacht-Munster game in Thomond earlier, great game. Some stadium there, and a great atmosphere. The Sportsground is really amateur by comparison (and I'm saying that as a Connacht man). Heading there next week for the Benetton game, looking forward to it.
Clinical from Ireland in the first half. I thought they'd push on and punish Wales badly but in fairness they came out fighting for the second half. Coughed up a lot of chances though, worryingly. Biggar not releasing with the line at the wings mercy etc.
England v Scotland ridiculously entertaining match.
Two great games of rugby.
Ireland always come out a different team for the first 20 mins. of the second half and that was no less true today. Credit to them that they held it together in the face of a riled up Wales, they played how you'd expect the world no. 1 team to.
Scotland very impressive, fully deserved the bonus point win against a floundering England.
Great result for the Scots, Van Der Merwe is some beast of a wing. South Africa have an unbelievable conveyer belt to allow the likes of him, Stander etc to leave for Europe and not really miss them.
Spectacular game today. Had it all.
Only managed to see the first half but we played brilliant.Looks like it lived up to the hype judging by the ft reports.
Fantastic game alright, Ireland's to lose now. Scotland annihilated Wales too.
Anyone heading to the World Cup in the autumn? Got two tickets for Ireland v Tonga, I was lucky to get accommodation there in Nantes. Very saucy prices and it's only February and it's not even a big game!
Quote from: Carnage on February 11, 2023, 06:51:36 PMFantastic game alright, Ireland's to lose now. Scotland annihilated Wales too.
I can see England derailing it. Borthwick's changes seem to have been the right call. England are only going to get better under him
Quote from: Cailleach on February 15, 2023, 02:43:23 PMQuote from: Carnage on February 11, 2023, 06:51:36 PMFantastic game alright, Ireland's to lose now. Scotland annihilated Wales too.
I can see England derailing it. Borthwick's changes seem to have been the right call. England are only going to get better under him
He has them going in the right direction alright but we're a good bit ahead of them and should have more than enough to beat them.
They definitely have a bit of momentum since getting rid of Jones, have they enough to catch up? Hopefully not but you never know.
In Dublin? Not this year.
Jaysus some walloping for the English. Delighted for them :)
A bonus point-less win would have suited Ireland better though. Big game tomorrow, the championship winner.
Big test today. The Scots might be slightly overhyped (they would have lost to England without Van Der Merwe's heroics and France were caught on the hop, not expecting such ferocity after going 19-0 up), nevertheless they Irn Bru chuggers will be well up for this.
Very disappointing from Italy yesterday, they made a cunt out of at least four try scoring opportunities. Another false dawn for them? Hope not.
Italy were the better team, those yellow cards cost them the match yesreday.
This is the decider today, it's Ireland or France for the win. Engerland playing for pride next week will be dangerous, and Sexton will be taken out today. The Scots always hit him hard.
Yer man collapsing the maul right under the refs nose was retarded.
Italy were the better team in the sense that they tried up throw it around, but FFS they shat the bed and allowed Wales 1D approach to work.
Aye. It was a wooden spoon playoff, so the quality was never going to be great but I'd hoped Italy would have built on the brief inspired spells they had in the first couple of games. Theirs to lose and they threw it away.
They looked really good up to yesterday. I can't see them getting anything out of the Scots though.
What the fuck is Zebo wearing at all😂😂😂😂😂😂
Never mind that, he has a moustache FFS.
They made hard work of that. The bonus point would have been helpful but I suppose it's a but more tension for next week's game. They should beat Engerland but they're playing for pride and will be that bit more dangerous for it.
O'Sullivan looks like a dwarf aswell.
Great second half performance, especially considering the injuries.
Quote from: Caomhaoin on March 12, 2023, 05:12:05 PMWhat the fuck is Zebo wearing at all😂😂😂😂😂😂
Was thinking the same. Looked a knob.
Some game, knew it would be tough but not that much. Hope they have something left in the tank for England.
Hard fought win today,picked up a lot of injuries especially ringrose which looked nasty.
I'm sure England will be looking to bounce back from that tonking yesterday,thankfully we're playing at home.
Quote from: Carnage on March 12, 2023, 05:17:34 PMNever mind that, he has a moustache FFS.
a fair point that's always worth making. Once you've gone over to the moustache side everything else is only dressing
So the Rugby world cup opens tomorrow night France v New Zealand should be a good battle.
Not getting my hopes up for Ireland but hopefully this Irish team can have a good tournament.
We're number one in the world. We deserve to get our hopes up. Looking forward to it anyway.
NZ are very, very beatable
This video of Mbappé reacting in the crowd is hilarious. Looks like he's watching the game for the first time in his life :laugh:
https://twitter.com/RugbyWorldCupFR/status/1700273964134662559
Great match last night. France just turned the screw on New Zealand in the second half and they didn't have an answer.
Ireland v Romania today. The biggest challenge to the boys will be the heat, forecast is for 35C during the match.
France looked good last night after a nervy start.
Weather will be challenging for the lads today.
That early Romanian try woke them up, shouldn't have happened.
France made their statement last night, it's theirs to lose. Ireland and the Springboks are the only realistic competition for them.
Quote from: Carnage on September 09, 2023, 02:50:10 PMThat early Romanian try eoke them up, shouldn't have happened.
France made their statement last night, it's theirs to lose. Ireland and the Springboks are the only realistic competition for them.
I agree. If France keep Dupont fit, I don't see any of the other teams beating them.
They've fucked the anthems terribly. The kiddie harmony thing is sucking all life and fire out of what should be rousing and passion-stirring.
I felt so band for Fiji last night.
If only that last fella had caught it clean they most likely would have snatched the game back.
Quote from: jobrok1 on September 11, 2023, 11:36:57 AMI felt so band for Fiji last night.
If only that last fella had caught it clean they most likely would have snatched the game back.
Yeah that was a brilliant match,could have snatched it right at the end.
Quote from: Bürggermeister on September 10, 2023, 08:33:52 PMThey've fucked the anthems terribly. The kiddie harmony thing is sucking all life and fire out of what should be rousing and passion-stirring.
Good news. They have remixed the anthems. The kid's choir remains but they have added instrumentation.
France will be disgusted not to get a bonus point out of that, but they were lucky to win it at all. That was a red all day.
I thought it was a red as well. Maybe I don't understand the laws anymore, but if you don't wrap in a tackle, that is an act of foul play and then you can't use mitigation to bring it down to a yellow card.
I think the mitigation claimed is that the Uruguayan lad was dropping but he was barely doing so, and certainly not enough for it to be a factor. Plust the French lad had his arm tucked, no possibility of wrapping. Red all day.
Only getting into the second weekend of this world cup and already there's huge inconsistency in the refereeing.
Had they the guts to give that nailed on red card it was 50 minutes against 14 men. Could have been talking about the biggest upset for years. Fair play to Uruguay who still put it up to them but sloppy errors cost them.
Appalling refereeing in the Samoa/Chile game there, yer man was throwing out cards for absolutely nothing.
I thought rugby was the gold standard when it came to reffing?
Fuck no. As corrupt as boxing and/or horse or greyhound racing is, rugby is ten times worse. Put you mortgage on France, they've already won.
South Africa with a 7/1 split on the bench for the game on Saturday, Ireland will announce their team today but not expected to change the make up of their bench in response. Buzzing already for this game.
Actually enjoyed the Italy Uruguay match yesterday. Uruguay 6 was amazing at the breakdown and great to watch. Thought Italy were going to implode, but were much more composed in the second half.
Forgot there was a game yesterday, though I was babysitting anyway so wouldn't have gotten to see it (fucking Harry Potter...).
Heading to a Connacht v Munster pre-season friendly in Galway tomorrow, looking forward to that (just don't rain). Both squads obviously depleted with the World Cup but should be a good game.
No rain at the Sportsground? I thought rain was included with the price of the ticket. :laugh:
Saw the Connacht team announced earlier. Still have Prendergast, Blade, Carty and Buckley starting. You stuffed us (Ulster) a few weeks back as well. Enjoy the game!
Just seen the Munster side, Zebo, Frisch, Carberry and Coombes starting.
Ah yeah, still two decent sides without the 'bug hitters'. Local lad (Colm Reilly) on the bench too. I saw the same fixture during the last world cup and it was a cracker, not least because Connacht won. ;)
Looking forward to saturday.
One change, Murray on the bench,Gibson park in at a scum half.
Looks like Sheehan will be on the bench,good to have him back.
Etzebeth back for South Africa.
Dupont with a fractured jaw. I think France will really struggle if he is out for long - they haven't really given any of their other 9s much game time in the big games.
Fractured jaw would surely rule him out for the rest of the tournament, wouldn't it? Huge loss, no matter how long. Sure to have an impact, even against Italy.
Quote from: Carnage on September 22, 2023, 12:08:59 PMFractured jaw would surely rule him out for the rest of the tournament, wouldn't it? Huge loss, no matter how long. Sure to have an impact, even against Italy.
Unless he'll chance it with a protective mask but that would offer feck all protection with a big hit.
Big loss for France if his WC is over.
(https://images4.imagebam.com/cb/68/cc/MEP4H4O_o.jpeg)
That was one hell of a weekend of rugby.
Saturday was insane.
That was some excitement at the end of the Samoa England game.
It was and it's a shame it ended that way. Samoa were the better team overall, if not for the disallowed tries it would have gone very differently toward the end, I think the life was sucked out of them.
Enjoyed that. Caught first half down the pub over a couple of pints. Brought little lad home to bed (told him it was over and we'd won :laugh: ), second half now with a schmoke and boom!
Aye, great game. Scotland were lucky to get what they got on the scoreboard, you could see the regroup after their second try taking immediate effect.
Onto the All Blacks now, given the performances of each team through the competition so far, it's Ireland's to lose.
Quote from: Black Shepherd Carnage on October 07, 2023, 09:56:20 PMEnjoyed that. Caught first half down the pub over a couple of pints. Brought little lad home to bed (told him it was over and we'd won :laugh: ), second half now with a schmoke and boom!
You weren't lying, Scotland were beaten at 30 minutes and the game was over.
The game was over by half time, for sure.
And the full time score summed up the game rightly enough.
Scotland's first try was absolutely deserved. But the second was a stroke of luck for them. Ireland were totally caught napping.
I do think Scotland deserved to have scored in the first half when they were piling on the pressure, though. So the second try kinda made up for it.
That being said, Ireland had a point to prove defence wise, and they certainly made it.
Also! Mistakes like giving away that second try will cost them if it happens again during the tournament.
Great game,scoreline flattered Scotland a bit.That was the first time in ages they scored two tries against us,was well impressed how our defence and attack played.
Ireland New Zealand should be a good one,hopefully the injuries aren't too bad.
A brilliant defensive effort in the first half to keep the Scots out.
I hope it won't be like 2015 with regard to injuries being their undoing again in a quarter final. In fairness though they do have better strength in depth this time around.
Quote from: Cailleach on October 08, 2023, 07:16:28 PMI hope it won't be like 2015 with regard to injuries being their undoing again in a quarter final. In fairness thought they do have better strength in depth this time around.
Was it France in the last pool game in 2015 that wiped 3 or 4 first team players out of the quarter the following week?
Where we were well beaten by Argentina?
Quote from: leoos on October 08, 2023, 07:51:27 PMQuote from: Cailleach on October 08, 2023, 07:16:28 PMI hope it won't be like 2015 with regard to injuries being their undoing again in a quarter final. In fairness thought they do have better strength in depth this time around.
Was it France in the last pool game in 2015 that wiped 3 or 4 first team players out of the quarter the following week?
Where we were well beaten by Argentina?
Yup. Argentina scored twice early in the game and I think we lost a few more players with injuries during the match.
That Portugal Fiji match was another great game full of tension.
Dupont cleared to start training again...
Ireland had a positive injury report this morning. Not one rules out yet or any call ups made. James Ryan seeing a specialist though.
Quote from: Anvil on October 09, 2023, 11:12:26 AMDupont cleared to start training again...
Ireland had a positive injury report this morning. Not one rules out yet or any call ups made. James Ryan seeing a specialist though.
Saw that,hopefully he wont be ruled out,Id start Henderson anyway as hes playing well,Ryan had an injury with his wrist even before the Scotland game and isnt operating a 100%.
Hansen and Low missing out would be a bigger blow so hopefully they make it.
Not following this at all (and couldn't really pretend to be a big sports fan in general) but caught the Portugal-Fiji game watching with my dad last night. What a match!
Fuck. Spectators definitely got their money's worth though. Me heart those last 5 minutes! :abbath:
Those last 5 minutes were painful. Almost suffocating to watch.
Unbelieveable match,that 37 phase attack near th eend was unreal.
At least we bow out this time with a decent performance,fair fecks to New Zealand they got their tactics spot on.
Had Jordan not held up that potential try it could have been our night.
Gutted for the Lads.
But Christ! What an incredible game.
That was a torturous ending. Fair play to the bais.
Moral victory?
Amazing match. Completely gutted. :'(
That is the first time in ages Ireland didn't have an answer to the opposition's tactics. Quarter final jinx continues for 4 more years, at least.
Chicago all over again - the first All Black try was preceded by a forward pass. Ireland won that game.
That was very disappointing. T'was probably a great match for the neutrals though.
Most frustrating of all was that even though we didn't play well, we were still within 4 points of NZ. That's what's annoying, NZ were excellent and yet we were within one try of beating a team that seemed to have completely outplayed us. We didn't play particularly well against South Africa either, yet still won. Think of how good this team can be when they're playing to the best of their ability.
Gutted, this was our time to shine.
Edit double post
Don't think the semi finals are going to come anywhere close to how good these quarter finals have been.
Some weekend of games, all round.
That France South Africa game was epic one of the best games of Rugby I ve seen in years.
Some brilliant South African tries scored too.
What he didn't say, however, was just how deeply that series loss had impacted the team and how, once Ireland had flown home to continue their celebrations, every waking thought the All Blacks had was geared towards rebuilding themselves for a likely quarter-final rematch 15 months later.
All Blacks outhalf Richie Mo'unga revealed after the 28-24 victory that almost every leaders' meeting and training camp in the last year had some kind of focus on a likely quarter-final
It was a staggering admission that the All Blacks had been so profoundly damaged and shocked by what Ireland exposed last year that they went about rebuilding a fundamental part of their game with the express mission of exacting a cruel and cold revenge in France.
Quote from: Anvil on October 15, 2023, 08:47:33 PMDon't think the semi finals are going to come anywhere close to how good these quarter finals have been.
Yes. Some of the best games of Rugby I have ever seen, especially the France and South Africa game.
Aye both semis could be over by half time. If its a NZ and SA final it should be a cracker.
Along with the semis the URC starts again this weekend. Usually end up watching all the Irish teams if there is no clashes. None of the Irish players for a few weeks at least so will be good to see what talent is coming through.
Great final. Some comeback from New Zealand to make a game of it considering they were down to 14 men for most of the game.
New Zealand did really well to stay in the fight. Decent World Cup, some amazing games, so nearly broke the quarter final curse.
This match is fucking tedious. Getting the job done but by christ it's uninspired stuff.
Agreed, the kids caught me sleeping.
All three games were poor quality this weekend. Ireland didn't have to get out of second gear, and still won comfortably.
Italy will be kicking themselves. England were terrible and Ireland should have scored another couple of tries.
England deserved to win but that was the worst I've felt after a rugby match since Argentina in the 2015 World Cup. Sickening.
Gutting. Thought after leading at half time (despite England dominating), and Lowe's try early in the second half would have broken England's fight but they still kept coming. All credit to them.
The amount of knock-ons that Engerland got away with is ridiculous. Better team on the day but if the ref was doing his job Ireland would have won.
Gut wrenching and disappointing but good game. Too many missed kicks and the 6/2 bench backfired.
Quote from: open face surgery on March 10, 2024, 03:13:54 PMGut wrenching and disappointing but good game. Too many missed kicks and the 6/2 bench backfired.
All true but this tournament has come alive this weekend, Italy v Scotland was a great match and the Welsh and French putting on great entertainment this evening. Sporting highlight of the year bar the Munster hurling and the all Ireland hurling final.
Just a heads up. Ballot for the British & Irish Lions v Argentina at Landsdown Road next June is open. Slim hope but worth throwing your hat in the ring.
I've never seen a worse refereed match than the Ulster Connacht game this evening. At least 2 reds should have been given to Ulster players during the handbags section, instead it was an Ulster free and a Connacht yellow a few mins. after. Shameful.
The hand bags was nothing. Thought it was harsh on Hansen to be penalised for trying to protect his scrumhalf. Dave McCann should have been the player to be penalised (perhaps with a yellow) for starting it by following through and pushing his forearm into Ben Murphy's face.
The biggest miss was Heffernan's tackle on Henderson early in the first half, which was a head on head contact and resulted in Henderson failing a HIA. Connacht should have played most of that game with 14 players. I'd be very surprised if Heffernan doesn't get cited and get a 3 week ban for that.
One player having his face ground into the pitch, then Hansen being swung around by the neck - both red card offences. Hansenwas being penalised all night by the ref, there must be a grudge there. The last Ulster try shouldn't have stood either, it came from an illegal throw in to the line out, the player being a foot or two onto the pitch. Appalling officiating all round.
You'll be complaining about crooked put ins to the scrum next. The ref wasn't the reason Connacht lost or Ulster won that game.
No, handling errors, missed kicks and the (deserved) red card cost them the game. But the fact remains that poor officiating worked to Ulster's benefit and Connacht's detriment on more than one occasion.
Poor showing there. Seemed briefly reinvigorated after half time and then quickly ran out of steam. We're better than that.
Thought our defence was strong, but so many simple handling errors and stupid penalties. Need to sort our lineout as well.
Yeah we looked well off the pace, way too many pens and handling errors.
Watched the England Australia and Italy Argentina games yesterday. Ireland still have to play both Australia and Argentina this month, and both teams looked very sharp in attack. If we perform like we did against New Zealand against either, I could see us losing again.
Actually both the matches today could be great, think Fiji will beat Wales and hope the SA forwards give Scotland a battering today.
Well we tried our best to lose that game. More bad than good again this week.
Yep, another fairly toothless display there. Lots of errors again. Very hard to take any positives from the last two games.
Poor. Handling all over the place as usual, I don't believe they deserved to win that match at all. What the fuck was Bealham doing with that roll?
Hard to complain about that result but still some very basic errors (forward passes FFS at this level). Despite the card from Prendergast, some positive stuff from the younger lads.
Aye, still fumbling the ball and losing lineouts too but three decent debuts (starts) there. Hansen seems to have his mojo back too, no harm at all.
Australia will be a much tougher prospect, I've no doubt the win against England has them on a bit of a high.
Quote from: John Kimble on November 23, 2024, 07:04:44 PMAustralia will be a much tougher prospect, I've no doubt the win against England has them on a bit of a high.
Joe Smit knows this Irish team too.
Quote from: Blizzard Beast on November 23, 2024, 08:48:36 PMQuote from: John Kimble on November 23, 2024, 07:04:44 PMAustralia will be a much tougher prospect, I've no doubt the win against England has them on a bit of a high.
Joe Smit knows this Irish team too.
He will have a few plays up his sleeve for sure, but watched Australia v Scotland and they struggled to cope with their attack. Scotland should have scored more.
Thought Ireland were actually good on Saturday when you consider the number of changes, new caps (the hooker has played so little senior rugby to do what he did was absolutely outstanding) and the physicality the Fijians brought. Also Ireland played with a 35 year old scrum half on the wing for 30 minutes but still outscored Fiji 8 tries to 2.
Yeah that was a good win for Scotland.
Ugly game but job done. The usual handling errors almost cost them the game but the second half was a bit better.
Taken from X
Ireland handling errors in the Autumn Nations Series
v New Zealand: 21
v Argentina: 16
v Fiji: 19
v Australia: 28
Total: 84
Ireland really haven't been up to their usual standard this autumn in terms of their discipline and handling. Lineout is poor as well, another 4 lost today. Lots of work to do before the Six Nations with England up first in the six nations at home.
Very frustrating Autumn Nations overall. Apart from NZ, it just shows that we're well capable of beating decent enough teams, even with all the errors. These rudimentary errors are what will cost us the 6 Nations if we don't tighten up considerably.
Not a hope of contending the Six Nations, France have that in the bag.
Poor enough showing in first half, then came back out reinvigorated and took control. Eventual scoreline flattered the Brits somewhat.
Interesting first weekend of the Six Nations.
France never got out of 2nd gear to beat Wakes. Scotland continue to blow chances and at times struggled against an Italian side that did not play to their potential.
England blew their load in that first half. They were at full belt for 40 minutes, pressured Ireland into a lot of errors and Ireland were rattled but they were never going to be able to keep that intensity up. Couple of spells in that second half Ireland looked the business and scored some great tries. Sets up the game against Scotland next Sunday nicely.
Good second half,dunno why we didnt try kick some of those pens?
Well need to up our game when France visit they looked really good last night.
France's championship to lose, Ireland haven't a notion. England are subpar but put it to Ireland today. The only team with a full head of steam is France.
Another entertaining weekend of rugby. Great seeing Italy win. Can't work out what happened France, but that was a hell of a test match and the Scottish talked a better game than they played again. Still loads for Ireland to work on. Bring on the Welsh.
Ya, enjoyable across the board.
Just saw that POM, Conor Murray and Cian Healy are retiring from international rugby at the end of the six nations. Serious players in their day and I thought POM has been good so far this Six Nations.
Adds some extra emotion to the next two games. We had better hope the France that turns up is the one who played against England rather than Italy.
They were indeed.
We have worthy replacements thankfully.
3 big losses indeed, I thought Murray might have another couple of years in him though. O'Mahoney's role in the team can't be overstated, he's an elder statesman at this stage and really drives them on.
Well this is hard to watch...
For a neutral that would have been a great game to watch...
We wasted too much energy not to score in the first 20 minutes, then France bullied us for 40 minutes. French defence was so well drilled and just knew what Ireland were going to do. France will be kicking themselves they shit the bed in England.
Ireland's play throughout the tournament so far meant they were never contenders for this match. Add Lowe's absence and appalling decions from the officials and a win was never on the cards. Handling let them down as per usual, the one positive is that they seem to have gotten their lineouts right for once.
Even in the first 20 when we were dominating we still didn't look like we would score. Fair play to France. Even if that 2nd try was disallowed, which is clearly should've been, we were still going to lose.
France were worthy winners today, thankfully we kept the scoreline respectable as at one stage it looked like they would going to blitz us with tries second half.
Silly yellows to concede and their bench blew us away second half.
Well this is shit. Gonna be a long, depressing day for Irish rugby.
Another enjoyable Six Nations. France were the best team. Defensively back to their best and their ability to score from your errors is as good as any team I have seen. Still don't know how they lost to England, they blew that match and a grand slam. It will be interesting to see if they keep using the 7-1 in the future. They have their "easier" Six Nations next year with Ireland and England at home, and have a relatively young team...
England finishing second really flatters them. Both France and Scotland should have beaten them.
Ireland are in a weird place. Beat England despite only playing well for 25 minutes, the score line flattered England. Beat Scotland convincingly despite not getting out of second gear. Struggled to beat a poor Welsh team. Were in a good position against France (despite not taking our chances), leading after 50 minutes, then fell off and couldn't cope with the French physicality and then struggled against Italy. Think we have lost our way without Farrell and our attack has really went backwards.
Scotland were typically Scotland. Loads of line breaks, loads of fancy play but they can't convert that into points or wins.
Italy were typically Italy. Lots of great tries, but they just can't find a way to play for 80 minutes. Their indiscipline might have cost them a victory over Ireland yesterday. A really stupid yellow before half time swung the game. They do have the best two centres in the tournament.
Wales are in a bad place, you'd be a brave man taking their coaching position but their under 20s did well, so maybe there is hope down the line for them.
Perfect summation. Embarrassing to be 3rd to England's 2nd.
Yeah Farrell was missed.We looked off even in the autumn internationals though.
The team is going through a few changes,hopefully Pendergast will come good.
Good point on Farrell and the Autumn Internations.
One thing to remember about Prendergast, he only has 25 Leinster appearances and a lot of those are from the bench. Ten is a complex enough position, without trying to learn it at the highest level. I think the future is bright at 10 with him and Crowley duking it out for the position.
Big game for Connacht tomorrow in Castlebar, looking forward to it. Haven't been to MacHale Park before but looking forward to it, their biggest home crowd to date. A must win for both teams, I can't see Connacht doing it but hope springs eternal. A couple of local lads playing too so good luck to 'em.
Not the result I'd have hoped for but the one I'd expected TBH. The game travelled to MacHale Park well, enjoyable day bar the crush under the stand and lack of male toilets. I hope they do it again as it was great to see such a big home crowd for Connacht, even if the atmosphere was lacking somewhat (the wind wouldn't have helped).
As a neutral, I thought it was an entertaining game and looked a great occasion on the telly box. Thought Connacht were going to win it in the last 10 minutes.
Hard to see anyone stopping Leinster if they keep this form up. You can slate Harlequins and Glasgow for poor performances but two major whitewashes in a row put down a serious marker.
Hoping Connacht do the business tomorrow, forgot Farrell was with Racing now. Hopefully he doesn't cripple anyone on the pitch.
It is the best I've seen Leinster in attack in a while. Glasgow looked shell shocked coming off at half time. Also for a man of his age and a guy who is retiring in a couple of months, Cian Healy put in a hell of a 30 minutes.
Saying all that given Leinster's recent history of losing finals and big matches, Toulouse, even without Dupont, are still the team to beat for me.
Would also love to see both Munster and Connacht win today. Tough task to win in France two weeks in a row and that Bordeaux team is very good. Interesting stat I saw, Bordeaux have scored 15 tries in the competition so far of turnovers or kicks, Munster have conceded zero tries from turnovers or kicks... I'll be glued to the box for it.
Connacht have a great chance. They'll need to play better than they did against Cardiff,though, especially defense. Defence has been poor for Connacht all year, your defence coach is stealing a wage. But it is great to see Ben Murphy, Hugh Gavin and Finn Tracy get the starts in such a big game as well. Don't think it will be long before Murphy gets an Irish cap, and those other two have bags of potential.
Munster didn't perform on the day. Their complete line out malfunction through out the game meant they didn't really have a chance. Haven't watched much of Bordeaux in the Top 14 but that is two weeks in a row they got off to a flyer but looked tired in the second half. If it is a fitness/mental thing, something you could exploit in the second half.
Watched Northampton v Castres as well. Easy win in the end for Northampton. Northampton looked decent but some of their try scoring antics were a bit unsporting. I really hope Leinster batter them.
Connacht just couldn't keep up with the French physicality and sheer size of their pack. It just wore them down in the end and allow Racing to dominated the middle of the game. Must say some of Connacht's attack in the first half was as good as any Irish team has produced this year. Hanson looked world class. Just unlucky in the end, needed another couple of minutes against 13 and they would have won it.
Munster weren't in that game at all but they were up against an awful ref too, he was throwing cards about like confetti. They woke up a bit at the end but it was too late by then.
Similar in Galway, Connacht ran away with it for the first half hour but then fell apart until the last 10 minutes. Farrell coming on for Racing turned it around for them but - of course - he had to commit a trademark foul on Jennings (he should not be allowed to play, it's ridiculous at this stage). If it happened earlier Connacht would have swung it back I think. Hansen was great for a while but flagged in the second half, I reckon he picked up an injury.