Ireland were well beaten

First topic message reminder :

I'm sure you can translate.

Clearly the NH has not caught/catching up with the SH.

Any NH side would have lost by 40 to that NZ side today. They were class. What is frightening is how gutted they look when they concede just one try. The could win 107-5 and still be devastated by that one score against.

It is their counter attack and drawing in the defender that simply cannot be replicated up north.


Edit by RD: if you change the title back to something offensive again, expect further action to be taken.

Artful_Dodger wrote:Wonder how long it takes this wum to be banned - apparently his favourite player is O'Gara and he support the Border Reivers and Italy.....

Any chance we can just ban him now?

Evidently the answer to my question was less than 48 hours.

How can you tell someone's been banned?

Taylorman wrote:I thought bod was ok. He directly stopped Reads try after the kick off by swiping the ball away just as it was being scored..

Surely not the deliberate knock into touch? that would be a yellow card and penalty try if the referee was any good?

This is a truly strange thread to come onto. I feel like commenting on the nature of commenting but don't want to stir things up again so apologies in advance if this annoys someone but I want to say this. I believe that people should have the right to challenge a poster to justify or explain his/ her comments. Just because many people want the same comment explained doesn't mean that they are wrong to do so or that they are ganging up on someone. It means that a lot of people don't share this person's opinion or see the logic in the argument. That is all.

As for the next test I'm not sure if Ireland can make real improvements. The scrum held up at least but the players seemed to think that the pace was beyond what they had experienced before. I think that the tactic of attacking is still the best to follow but they will have to do so flawlessly and at speed and I don't think they can reach that level in a week. If O'Gara is playing then I think that too much possession will be kicked away too so if anything I'm expecting a worse scoreline next week.

As for Earls, I think he is a fine center and don't see what people's issue is with the guy.

Kidney as well has been bringing in plenty of new players so I don't think that we can rest on this excuse of age. Yes there are fine young players in Ireland but I don't see that they are superior to what is currently the team.

Intotouch wrote:This is a truly strange thread to come onto. I feel like commenting on the nature of commenting but don't want to stir things up again so apologies in advance if this annoys someone but I want to say this. I believe that people should have the right to challenge a poster to justify or explain his/ her comments. Just because many people want the same comment explained doesn't mean that they are wrong to do so or that they are ganging up on someone. It means that a lot of people don't share this person's opinion or see the logic in the argument. That is all.

As for the next test I'm not sure if Ireland can make real improvements. The scrum held up at least but the players seemed to think that the pace was beyond what they had experienced before. I think that the tactic of attacking is still the best to follow but they will have to do so flawlessly and at speed and I don't think they can reach that level in a week. If O'Gara is playing then I think that too much possession will be kicked away too so if anything I'm expecting a worse scoreline next week.

As for Earls, I think he is a fine center and don't see what people's issue is with the guy.

Kidney as well has been bringing in plenty of new players so I don't think that we can rest on this excuse of age. Yes there are fine young players in Ireland but I don't see that they are superior to what is currently the team.

This poster got himself banned last night. He clearly had something against the Irish, evident by this thread and creating a duplicate Irish ID.

Earls is far too vulnerable in the centre for Ireland, especially against a side with the attackingprowess of the all blacks.

D'Arcy has been past his sell by date for many a year now but the Irish persist with him for god knows what reason. There isnt much he can do well. Possibly there is just a lack of options as Wallace and McFadden have never risen above mediocrity internationally speaking.

Converting Bowe or even Sexton to centre would have made more sense than Earls.

Gordy wrote:Earls is far too vulnerable in the centre for Ireland, especially against a side with the attackingprowess of the all blacks.

D'Arcy has been past his sell by date for many a year now but the Irish persist with him for god knows what reason. There isnt much he can do well. Possibly there is just a lack of options as Wallace and McFadden have never risen above mediocrity internationally speaking.

Converting Bowe or even Sexton to centre would have made more sense than Earls.

Cave?

He may not have the speed of some but I think defensivly he can cut it though the BaaBaas game would counter that argument though a blip in my eyes and he runs great lines and is a finisher

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:For me Heaslip should be entering the prime of his career now and he looks lazy and slightly out of shape. I think he needs to lose a bit of weight. That's just my personal opinion. I am not saying he is 'out of shape' by the standards of us amateurs, but he just looks slightly heavy. That said I thought out forwards gave us a pretty decent platform to attack New Zealand. We can look and say the entire front row were between good and excellent, Ryan was very good I thought, O'Brien was out best player. O'Mahony did decently, while Heaslip and Tuohy were quiet.

Try telling that to Leinster fans. They've a serious blind spot regarding Heaslip.

He wasn't too bad against the ABs but theres no way he should be first choice starter all the time when we've other qualit backrow players.

profitius wrote:

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:For me Heaslip should be entering the prime of his career now and he looks lazy and slightly out of shape. I think he needs to lose a bit of weight. That's just my personal opinion. I am not saying he is 'out of shape' by the standards of us amateurs, but he just looks slightly heavy. That said I thought out forwards gave us a pretty decent platform to attack New Zealand. We can look and say the entire front row were between good and excellent, Ryan was very good I thought, O'Brien was out best player. O'Mahony did decently, while Heaslip and Tuohy were quiet.

Try telling that to Leinster fans. They've a serious blind spot regarding Heaslip.

He wasn't too bad against the ABs but theres no way he should be first choice starter all the time when we've other qualit backrow players.

I think he is becoming more of a flanker in his play with the added extra of being an often used lineout option. He is more often recycling ball in attack (more of a flankers job in my mind) and taking the 1 pass crash/reset ball (more the task of the second row/front row) than mixing nearer the backline and using pace and speed. Some of this might be choosing more of the donkey work so that healy/SOB can do more damage further out but I'd prefer tasking the flankers to recycle and locks to crash/reset and have an 8 being more mobile. It won't be long before he loses out on that jersey. They key to it though will be POM getting permanent hold of the Munster 8 jersey. I'd also say that his mobility hasn't been the same since that ankle injury (which was seasons ago now!) but hasn't stepped or driven at pace as much since.

profitius wrote:

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:For me Heaslip should be entering the prime of his career now and he looks lazy and slightly out of shape. I think he needs to lose a bit of weight. That's just my personal opinion. I am not saying he is 'out of shape' by the standards of us amateurs, but he just looks slightly heavy. That said I thought out forwards gave us a pretty decent platform to attack New Zealand. We can look and say the entire front row were between good and excellent, Ryan was very good I thought, O'Brien was out best player. O'Mahony did decently, while Heaslip and Tuohy were quiet.

Try telling that to Leinster fans. They've a serious blind spot regarding Heaslip.

He wasn't too bad against the ABs but theres no way he should be first choice starter all the time when we've other qualit backrow players.

Actually i want to see heaslip dropped from both ireland and leinster to give him the kick up the backside he needs...He needs to be told that his place is not guaranteed

Since Leamy ceased to be an option Heaslip's form has dipped - he needs a threat to push him.