Ireland v Russia Match Thread

[rodders]

First topic message reminder :

Big game for Ireland here. Ireland could be doing with a big win to keep their momentum going heading into a crunch game with Italy. 10 changes from the Australia game.

[Shifty]

50 points is about the correct margin to be honest. I wouldn't worry about the 2 tries conceeded, because the Russian backs have real talent.
I saw them score some fantastic length of the field tries in the Churchill Cup, 6 Nations B and live against the Ospreys and Dragons.

The Russians problem is size within the pack, because it's still a minority game they are not getting the massive 6'6" - 6'9" guys that other nations get, they are smaller and fast players, similar to the Japenase teams, lots of skill but little power.

They were always going to try hard and stop Ireland playing, but Ireland shouldn't be too worried, the score was about correct from what I have seen of Russia.

[rodders]

Yeah Wallace actually started and had a good game. But if D'arcy was fit would that be enough to get a starting spot. I don't think so.

We also conceded two soft tries and got a few lucky scores. I'd be surprised if Kidney is happy with that.

[Biltong]

Thic is cool, I predicted Ireland by 50 and got it exactly right.


Bonus points time.

[rodders]

They are discussing it now on itv but both Earls and McFadden struggled in the centre. We don't have a lot of options on this showing.

[MBTGOG]

I'm not saying there should be no criticism but I know how some will be on here. We got the 5 points and more. No injuries either.

Italy next!

[eirebilly]

I was only watching after 30 mins and in Russian so didnt see much until later which is why i thought that he was a replacement lol

[rodders]

Jeebus Fitzpatrick just compared O'Brien to Haskell!

[rodders]

Landsdowne Park??!!

[Shifty]

Mr Bean is Ireland's captain?
And why has he dyed his hair blonde?

[GunsGerms]

Played well:

Boss
Earls
ROG
OBrien
Trimble
Heaslip
Healy
Wallace
Kearney

Played ok

Cullen
Cronin
McFadden
Ryan
Doc

Played bad:

Buckley (very bad)

[eirebilly]

I am very pleased with the result but Buckley again looked to be well out of his depth at International level. The try aside, he gives far too many penalties away for my liking and was found wanting in many forward drives.

[Shifty]

I am very pleased with the result but Buckley again looked to be well out of his depth at International level. The try aside, he gives far too many penalties away for my liking and was found wanting in many forward drives.

On a more positive note, is clearly starting to get the Adam Jones look correct, though he needs to eat a lot more pies to get the body shape a bit wider.

[GunsGerms]

It's not just penalties but knock ons too. How can he with all his experience be such an abysmal scrummager?

[rodders]

I don't want to single McFadden out for critiscism. I think he did some good things tonight in attack.

However twice he's played at 13 for Ireland and twice he's shot out of the line in defence which has led to tries for the opposition. Against Scotland and tonight. That is pretty worrying especially against weaker teams. He doesn't seem to be able to hold his line in the centre in defence.

[eirebilly]

If only he could start to play like Adam Jones Alyn lol

[rodders]

Buckley was awful. I think he conceded 3 or 4 penalties when we were in good attacking positions. If Ross gets injured we are fecked because Court is rubbish at tight head as well.

[GunsGerms]

Re McFadden what do you expect when he is allowed play 10 minutes at centre every 10 matches? He is a good centre but when he is never picked there he is going to get rusty.

[eirebilly]

It just looks as if he cant adjust o the intensity of International level Leinster, god help Ireland if we have to rely on him in the latter stags of this tournement.

[eirebilly]

McFadden did have a couple of bad moments but his overall game was very good i feel.

[rodders]

Positives for me were O'Brien, Trimble, Boss, Ryan, Healy, Wallace and Kearney.

ROG had a good game apart from two shocking mistakes that would have led to tries against better sides. McFadden was good overall but was at fault defensively for two tries and caught out of position by Russian kicks.

DOC, Cullen and Heaslip were disappointing.

[Standulstermen]

My 2 cents

1. Healy- Good while on. Obvious starter
2. Cronin- massive minus in my opinion. If Best has a lineout meltdown or is injured we are screwed. Unless Cronin improves massively i cant see him retaining his spot for the 6N
3. Buckley- Another poor player who shouldnt see green again imo. Penalised 3 times against that scrum is very poor. Fell off a couple of tackles as well.
4. DOC- A nothing game for him. His spot is safe
5.Cullen- Was tasked with leading Ireland to a big score and did so. Fair play.
6. Ryan- I thought he looked quite handy in both positions. Played well and was comfortable with the ball in wet conditions
7. SOB- A class above what was happening around him.
8. Heaslip- Better from him although if this is the start of a recovery in form im not sure given the paucity of the opposition.
9. Boss- Decent game and you wonder why he hasnt been used more in the past season or so
10. ROG- Did ok. Kicked his points. A woeful crosskick and intercepted pass stick out and I dont think he will displace Sexton but we know he is in decent shape. A positive
11. Trimble- Mostly good. Lacked authority for ROG's crosskick but looks dangerous ball in hand and cuts lovely lines. Should have made the cover tackle for their 2nd try but will retain his place in the 22.
12. Wallace- a bit like trimble. Palmed off in one early tackle but seemed to be the only back with an appreciation of giving others space. Sexton will still be our backup 12 option.
13. Earls- Did well i thought. Superb finish for his first try and looked to offload usefully on occasion. We will definately struggle without BOD at 13 and im not convinced Earls is his replacement but a positive performance. Place secure
14. McFadden- Good early try but was peripheral for much i thought
15. Kearney- Looked in good shape. Did he come off? He looked to have hurt himself for Artemyev try. Hopefully ok.

Leamy- Decent outing. Unlucky to be pinged by Joubert. Our backup
Murphy- Solid if unspectacular
Ross- Our only TH. Enough said
Reddan/Sexton- Not great. Looked like they werent up to pace
Jennings- Glad to see him score and looked decent.
Best- Not used (but how important is he now!)

Craig Doyle made me cringe as well. I was willing Lynagh to get up and slap him

[rodders]

Re McFadden what do you expect when he is allowed play 10 minutes at centre every 10 matches? He is a good centre but when he is never picked there he is going to get rusty.

I accept that but in terms of this tournament I wouldn't be confident if he was playing centre, particularly outside centre. To leave the line and get taken on the outside arc is criminal for a centre and thats happened him twice now and not against great players. Earls too against Tuilagi.

That is a real worry if bod is out because IMHO these two aren't international 13's.

[Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler]

Is Simplikevich a meerkat?

[clivemcl]

I don't want to single McFadden out for critiscism. I think he did some good things tonight in attack.

However twice he's played at 13 for Ireland and twice he's shot out of the line in defence which has led to tries for the opposition. Against Scotland and tonight. That is pretty worrying especially against weaker teams. He doesn't seem to be able to hold his line in the centre in defence.

Have to agree rodders, Mcfadden was the worst ireland player today in my book. For that Russia try, he missed a tackle and then chased back only to miss again at a second attempt. He also failed to connect with trimble in a move, the ball going loose and Russia nearly looking for their third try.

[rodders]

No he wasn't the worst clive. That was Buckley and Cronin. I thought McFadden did ok and his support play was excellent and he looked dangerous at times.

I just can't ignore those defensive lapses though. That is schoolboy stuff and very worrying. He missed the cover tackle for the 1st try too after a botch up between SOB and Heaslip.

His passing was very poor too.

[Notch]

Is Simplikevich a meerkat?

He's part meerkat yes. Surprised he's not a scrum-half with that lineage

[clivemcl]

My 2 cents

11. Trimble- Mostly good. Lacked authority for ROG's crosskick but looks dangerous ball in hand and cuts lovely lines. Should have made the cover tackle for their 2nd try but will retain his place in the 22.

I reckon McFadden flying in with an attempt to knock the russian out of play (and missing) didn't help. Trimble was readying himself to assist McFadden bundling the russian out. But instead McFadden dives at him, misses, and leaves Trimble on the wrong foot.

Maybe being a little generous to Trimble here. But mcFadden along with trimble could have bundled him into touch without a superman impersonation!

[Standulstermen]

I would need to see it again Clive. Trimble was a positive, mcfadden not so sadly

[rodders]

Nah Trimble and Murphy's covering was poor. No point trying to blame McFadden for that but the outside break shouldn't have been made of 1st phase like that. Very poor indeed.

[eirebilly]

At the end of the day. Ireland won by 50 points with a weakend team. I am not going to find too much fault with that

[MBTGOG]

Nah Trimble and Murphy's covering was poor. No point trying to blame McFadden for that but the outside break shouldn't have been made of 1st phase like that. Very poor indeed.

Opened the gap then was easily handed off.

[rodders]

At the end of the day. Ireland won by 50 points with a weakend team. I am not going to find too much fault with that

True. It was a good win. I just wish a few guys had of put their hands up because there are some positions that we are very thin. Namely the centre, tight head and hooker.

Most of the big guns all played well but thats what you'd expect. However a lot of the fringe guys didn't take their chance which is disappointing.

Anyways a bonus point win is what we wanted so bring on Italy !

[rodders]

Nah Trimble and Murphy's covering was poor. No point trying to blame McFadden for that but the outside break shouldn't have been made of 1st phase like that. Very poor indeed.

Opened the gap then was easily handed off.

Not sure what you mean Munsty? McFadden was at fault for the try. I just mean Trimble and Murphy were poor in cover defence too.

[Notch]

I wouldn't be too keen to jump on the McFadden bashing wagon. I think he was talked up a lot, and is now being talked down. I don't think he played that well and there is big gap between he and our other three wings but;

a) I don't think it's his best position
b) He hasn't had much meaningful gametime and
c) He's still a fairly inexperienced player! Give him some time to blossom with Leinster.

[Standulstermen]

At the end of the day. Ireland won by 50 points with a weakend team. I am not going to find too much fault with that

I tried to factor that into my appraisal. Cullen was ok but is only our 4th choice lock for instance. At the end i thought Leamy and Sexton weer guilty of white line fever when a simple pass would have had us over sooner. We really need our first choice guys to be fit and firing to stand a chance in this RWC

[Standulstermen]

I wouldn't be too keen to jump on the McFadden bashing wagon. I think he was talked up a lot, and is now being talked down. I don't think he played that well and there is big gap between he and our other three wings but;

a) I don't think it's his best position
b) He hasn't had much meaningful gametime and
c) He's still a fairly inexperienced player! Give him some time to blossom with Leinster.

You cant write him off but we need to see him more at 12 at HEC level. When you consider how good Spence looks it is really down to the fact he is getting significant gametime.

[eirebilly]

rodders, i thought that Buckley was very guilty of gifting Russia with some field position but you have to admit that Russia did run some good lines in attack. I thouht that they played very well even.

[rodders]

Notch I'm not writing him off. He has some good attributes and in attack he has done good thing in an Ireland jersey.

However he has twice been directly responsible for opposition tries through poor defence. His cover defence was exposed too as was his positioning on the wing.

His passing was very poor today. He offloaded to a Russian player, threw a pass to earls into touch and messed up a scissors with Trimble.

You can't ignore these errors. On this performance Kidney made a big mistake leaving Fitzgerald behind.

[Standulstermen]

Notch I'm not writing him off. He has some good attributes and in attack he has done good thing in an Ireland jersey.

However he has twice been directly responsible for opposition tries through poor defence. His cover defence was exposed too as was his positioning on the wing.

His passing was very poor today. He offloaded to a Russian player, threw a pass to earls into touch and messed up a scissors with Trimble.

You can't ignore these errors. On this performance Kidney made a big mistake leaving Fitzgerald behind.

Its only a big mistake if we come to rely on McFadden in the latter stages.

[rodders]

rodders, i thought that Buckley was very guilty of gifting Russia with some field position but you have to admit that Russia did run some good lines in attack. I thouht that they played very well even.

Yeah they were fast and skillful. However they had no set piece at all and we dominated the breakdown. They were feeding off our scraps and their two tries came from very poor defence from SOB, Heaslip and McFadden x2. Both were of 1st phase and that is very poor. Les Kiss will be furious as will Gert Smal and Greg Feek. If we see Cronin and Buckley again in this competition the we are in trouble.

[rodders]

Overall it was job done and plenty of positives but that level won't be good enough against a tier 1 side I think. Job done though.

I'm off to watch Scotland

[Notch]

Notch I'm not writing him off. He has some good attributes and in attack he has done good thing in an Ireland jersey.

However he has twice been directly responsible for opposition tries through poor defence. His cover defence was exposed too as was his positioning on the wing.

His passing was very poor today. He offloaded to a Russian player, threw a pass to earls into touch and messed up a scissors with Trimble.

You can't ignore these errors. On this performance Kidney made a big mistake leaving Fitzgerald behind.

Its only a big mistake if we come to rely on McFadden in the latter stages.

I disagree as Fitzgerald has has similarly poor performances in recent times. I'm not ignoring those errors; in fact, I agree with you.

[valjester]

rodders, i thought that Buckley was very guilty of gifting Russia with some field position but you have to admit that Russia did run some good lines in attack. I thouht that they played very well even.

Yeah they were fast and skillful. However they had no set piece at all and we dominated the breakdown. They were feeding off our scraps and their two tries came from very poor defence from SOB, Heaslip and McFadden x2. Both were of 1st phase and that is very poor. Les Kiss will be furious as will Gert Smal and Greg Feek. If we see Cronin and Buckley again in this competition the wet are in trouble.

The first try is the more worrying one imo, because at least with the second one, we know mcfadden won't be involved next week. He made three mistakes for the second try and if you were being overly harsh you could blame him a bit for messing up his positioning for the first.

However the major concern from the game was cronin, it is very worrying that if we lose Best we are in big trouble.

[FitzStephen]

I have often wondered why Trimble has not been tested in the centres over the last year or two - big, physical and fast, great defence and outside break. Earls looked the part against the Ruskies but against someone like Rougerie? Earls would come off second best. Trimble is an adequate passer and offloader, and like O'Driscoll can't kick for toffee.

On another point, I watched the game on RTE and O'Shea mentioned that Artemyev couldn't play for Ireland because his parents weren't resident in Ireland while he was playing for Blackrock and UCD, Leinster U20s and Ireland U19s. I'm not saying that the man would have made it - tho he took his try well - but shouldn't these rules (O'Shea said they were IRB rules) also prevent Manu "sure I'll just stay on a holiday visa for six years" Tuilagi from playing for England? Perhaps I am missing something?

[Notch]

On another point, I watched the game on RTE and O'Shea mentioned that Artemyev couldn't play for Ireland because his parents weren't resident in Ireland while he was playing for Blackrock and UCD, Leinster U20s and Ireland U19s. I'm not saying that the man would have made it - tho he took his try well - but shouldn't these rules (O'Shea said they were IRB rules) also prevent Manu "sure I'll just stay on a holiday visa for six years" Tuilagi from playing for England? Perhaps I am missing something?

Is it that he was a minor at that time whereas Tuilgai is an adult? That's just a guess. I don't know and I'm quite puzzled.

[valjester]

Notch I'm not writing him off. He has some good attributes and in attack he has done good thing in an Ireland jersey.

However he has twice been directly responsible for opposition tries through poor defence. His cover defence was exposed too as was his positioning on the wing.

His passing was very poor today. He offloaded to a Russian player, threw a pass to earls into touch and messed up a scissors with Trimble.

You can't ignore these errors. On this performance Kidney made a big mistake leaving Fitzgerald behind.

I would say he will be lucky to be involved again after today. I wouldn't say it was a big mistake by kidney but you could definitely argue that it was the more risky option as although fitz was in average form but he's proved himself at this level before.

[rodders]

Notch.

Val both tries were awful. If McFadden can't do a job if there are injuries he shouldn't have been selected in my opinion. I don't think Fitzgerald would have missed those tackles.

Cronin is a huge worry as is Buckley. If Ross or Best get injured we are fecked. That was the biggest disappointment tonight.

[FitzStephen]

On another point, I watched the game on RTE and O'Shea mentioned that Artemyev couldn't play for Ireland because his parents weren't resident in Ireland while he was playing for Blackrock and UCD, Leinster U20s and Ireland U19s. I'm not saying that the man would have made it - tho he took his try well - but shouldn't these rules (O'Shea said they were IRB rules) also prevent Manu "sure I'll just stay on a holiday visa for six years" Tuilagi from playing for England? Perhaps I am missing something?

Is it that he was a minor at that time whereas Tuilgai is an adult? That's just a guess. I don't know and I'm quite puzzled.

He was at UCD for at least one season and was in the Leinster academy (do they get paid and pay tax?) for at least two....so he must have been at least 18.....curiouser and curiouser.

[Standulstermen]

Trimble (much like McFadden) wont get gametime at centre. There is an argument to say he should be one of our two best wingers but that aside why play him at centre when we have Cave, Spence, Marshall, Wallace, Whitten and Payne that all play there

[mrsuperclear]

Lads, McFadden was bad but I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people on here wanted him ahead of Fitz at the time when Deccie made the call. Let's not forget how bad Fitzgerald was at the time.

They were bad mistakes, and he shouldn't play again in this world cup, but he hasn't really played for Leinster at centre at all this season (bar the magners final) so it probably is a case of being rusty (although, as I said, they were bad mistakes).

What a difference four years makes though lads. What would we have given for a 50 point win over Georgia or Namibia last time around with our first team, never mind our second. Lots of tries, the bonus point, no injuries and only three players to really criticise. Good days work. Bring on Italy.

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