Ireland: The World Cup "Awards"

Hi all,

Simple concept really, if there was such a thing as world cup awards for the Irish team who would win what and more importantly why?
So I've scribbled down some catagories, you write down who deserves to win what and then a wee paragraph on why you choose that person or particular incident.

a) Best player on tour
b) Best young player on tour
c) Most valuable player on tour
d) Most improved player on tour
e) Best Irish try
f) Best Irish tackle
g) Best Irish coach
h) Best Irish moment

Enjoy guys hope you get stuck into this one

a) Best player on tour
O'Connell:
For me he was outstanding in all of our games. He is pretty close to being at the level he was in 07. Lineout was great, he was really throwing his weight around in tackles and in the ruck. Set up and lead a number of constructive mauls. Carried better than he had in season previously. Great leader.

b) Best young player on tour
O'Brien:
I know he was neutralised in the Wales game but part of me thinks that is down to the lack of threats out wide that Wales could focus on him. Unbelievable ball carrying had all of NZ talking about him. Good defence and despite popular opinion he buried himself in the trenches at times too. Linked beautifully with Ferris too.

c) Most valuable player on tour
Ross:
The scurm was a revelation with he and Healy but I feel he deserves more credit for this. For our scrum to turn into a weapon like it did in a nu ber of games is a fantastic improvement. His defence was also good and he got around the pitch better than he could have imagined 2/3 seasons ago.

d) Most improved player on tour
Murray:
I think he really showed what he can do and has become the Irish first choice. He has a great a ll round skill set between a pass, kick, break and defence. He still has a lot to learn and will improve further with experience.

e) Best Irish try
Bowe's 1st against USA:
I really liked this due to the lovely lines of running looked almost Australian. Ferris taking it off 9 and fixing defenders before playing the screen pass to Sexton who showed quick hands to feed Bowe on the inside who showed quick feet and acceleration to get home.

f) Best Irish tackle
Ferris on Genia:
This was unreal a real statement and momentum shifter of a tackle.

g) Best Irish coach
Les Kiss:
The defence we showed against some of the teams we faced was awesome. Granted we made some bad bad mistakes against Wales and Russia but in general we were pretty watertight.

h) Best Irish moment
Healy's game vs Aus:
Seeing him dominate a scrum like that, his tackle on Cooper some of his runs, he was a little bundle of energy as someone described him he is like 'a baby rhino'. Really great performance and you could see on his face how much he enjoyed it

a) Best player on tour : For me it was Sean O'Brian
b) Best young player on tour : Again Sean O'Brian
c) Most valuable player on tour : Paul O'Connell
d) Most improved player on tour : For me it had to be Ross
e) Best Irish try : I would also go with Bowes try against USA
f) Best Irish tackle : Ferris on Genia without a doubt
g) Best Irish coach : Les Kiss as well
h) Best Irish moment : I would go with Bowes intercept and run for the line in the closing stages against Australia.

Best player- Andrew Trimble.

Shame he was never used.

(A) Sean O'Brian
(B) Depends what your definition of "young" is...Conor Murray or SOB though depending ..
(C) Paul O'Connell - I shudder at the thought of how bad we'll be when he retires.
(D) Rory Best
(E) Keith Earls with that amazing finish against Russia could be up there (it was a forward pass by Trimble though I suppose...). I'd probably go for Bowe's try against the US too so.
(F) Healy on Cooper or Ferris against Genia...both were brilliant. I think Ferris' will long be remembered though
(G) Les Kiss without a doubt. Keeping the Aussies tryless all game and scoreless for the second half...he's a genius
(H) Bowe's intercept for me too..that was the moment I realised we won. I'd say I'll remember jumping around like a lunatic for a long long time. Pity he couldn't get the try though...

a) Best player on tour - Stephen Ferris
b) Best young player on tour - SOB 26 - if he doesnt qualify as young player Keith Earls with 5 triesc) Most valuable player on tour - Paul O'Connell
d) Most improved player on tour - Ronan O'Gara
e) Best Irish try - Bowes almost try against Australia
f) Best Irish tackle - Ferrish) Best Irish moment - The huge Irish support on tour

Yeah, O Gara was class.....

Even if they were the best ROG and JS are not allowed to be mentioned for fear of another civil war.

Best kicker: cian healy

Best player - POC
Best young player - SOB
MVP - Ross
Most improved - Best/Healy
Best try - BOD v Italy
Best tackle - Ferris on Genia
Best coach - Greg Feek (whoever thought our scrum would improve like that)
Best Irish moment - Ferris on Genia

Best player: Rory Best (it was very close between PoC,SoB and Best)
Best young player: SoB
MVP:Ross
Most improved:Murray came from nowhere to be 1st choice scrum half.
Best try: BoD v Italy
Best tackle: Ferris on Genia
Best coach: Les Kiss
Best moment: Ireland winning a scrum penalty under the posts v Oz to give RoG an easy kick which put us 9 points ahead.

Yikes had totally forgotten about Feek! Ooooohhh now this makes things tough!!!!

Why do people think BOD's try was so good?
I liked McFadden's try also actually and Boss's.

Think Best is well worth a mention for Best player on tour actually

Cian Healy has to be up there too actually for best young player

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:
Why do people think BOD's try was so good?
I liked McFadden's try also actually and Boss's.

Think Best is well worth a mention for Best player on tour actually

I liked that it was against a team with a decent defence.It was also the only time we made an outside break all tournament,it was a great line form Bowe and good support by BoD.

I picked Best for player of the tour,I rated him highly a few years ago and he hasn't quite lived up to that until now.He has been unlucky with injuries ans had some issues with his throwing into the lineout but really stepped it up a notch for the WC and hopefully will continue to produce at that level.

After O'Connell he's the player I'd like to see succeed BoD as captain.

I agree with you re: Best's fantastic improvement and performances.

Hmmm the only outside break. Trimble made another for earls second try vs Italy. There have to be more! Yikes we are a slow team

Yeah our backs need something extra,I'm not sure if a new backs coach is enough we probably need at least 1 new centre too.

I think so too. We need a new ethos though in the way Leinster got their new ethos of running, attacking, offloading between backs and forwards rugby. The simplest way to look at it is though our backs made few breaks and the set piece moves were predictable and easily read by quicker opponents.

Agree on a new centre, maybe 2 soon enough.

a) Best player on tour

Stephen Ferris or Sean O'Brien

b) Best young player on tour

Conor Murray.

c) Most valuable player on tour

Paul O'Connell

d) Most improved player on tour

Rory Best

e) Best Irish try

O'Driscoll's try against Italy or Bowe's 2nd vs USA

f) Best Irish tackle

Stephen Ferris on Genia / SOB on Genia / Ferris on Castro.

g) Best Irish coach

Greg Feek/ Les Kiss .

h) Best Irish moment

Stephen Ferris tackle on Genia / Bowe's intercept against Australia

From looking at these 'Awards', we really did focus our game on the forwards display.

Nothing from outhalf either for Sexton or ROG. Okay displays but poor kicking for the first and ROG being channeled back inside so well by Wales in the knockout game.

Centres were quiet overall. BOD was playing too injured by the looks of it. He is always injured but that shoulder never seemed right. Darcy was okay but quiet.

Back 3 were solid, Earls got tries, the opposition tried to keep the ball away from Bowe (a wise move) and Kearney was okay.

Murray was a standout player at scrum half. Was in front of Reddan on merit and the young player of the tour for me.

SOB/Ferris were immense (made Heaslip invisible) and it is split between both for player of the tour. I'd almost give it to Ferris but it would be a heart call rather than a reasoned call.

POC/Ross were the MVP candidates and POC to me really leads the pack like nobody else we have in the squad. Ross has turned a scrum from a 3 point penalty/loss of territory scenario to an attacking weapon! Healy too to take some credit.

Best & DOC both performed above themselves but all the standout performances are in the pack during this RWC.

Best try for me was Trimble putting Earls away, a lovely move.

Standout memory is a tie between just the green in the crowds at all the games or Ferris running down the field with Genia like a kick just scragging a rag-doll!

thebandwagonsociety wrote:
Best try for me was Trimble putting Earls away, a lovely move.

Which time?

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:
Best try for me was Trimble putting Earls away, a lovely move.

Which time?

Got to be the Italy game one. Awesome!


Loved the sea of green too actually

Yeah I liked that one too,didn't see it properly as I was busy giving out about Bowe not getting the penalty try.It was great to just collect the 22 drop out and score.

BlueMuff wrote:a) Best player on tour - Stephen Ferris
b) Best young player on tour - SOB 26 - if he doesnt qualify as young player Keith Earls with 5 triesc) Most valuable player on tour - Paul O'Connell
d) Most improved player on tour - Ronan O'Gara
e) Best Irish try - Bowes almost try against Australia
f) Best Irish tackle - Ferrish) Best Irish moment - The huge Irish support on tour

O'Brien is 24..

a) Best player on tour - ROG
b) Best young player on tour - ROG (define young)
c) Most valuable player on tour - emmm ROG
d) Most improved player on tour - Tony Buckley
e) Best Irish try - ROG in the corner against Wales in 07
f) Best Irish tackle - Amy Huberman
g) Best Irish coach - Eoin Hand
h) Best Irish moment - Ronnie Delanay in Melbourne 58

DOD wrote:a) Best player on tour - ROG
b) Best young player on tour - ROG (define young)
c) Most valuable player on tour - emmm ROG
d) Most improved player on tour - Tony Buckley
e) Best Irish try - ROG in the corner against Wales in 07
f) Best Irish tackle - Amy Huberman
g) Best Irish coach - Eoin Hand
h) Best Irish moment - Ronnie Delanay in Melbourne 58

+1

a) Rory Best
b) Sean O'Brien
c) Mike Ross
d)POC
e)Earls 2nd against Italy.
f)Ferris on Genia or Ferris on Castro
g)Les Kiss
h)Ferris on Genia

a) Best player on tour - SOB or Heaslip
b) Best young player on tour - Murray
c) Most valuable player on tour -
d) Most improved player on tour - Rory Best
e) Best Irish try - None really stood out..BODs against Italy I suppose.
f) Best Irish tackle - Ferris on Genia
g) Best Irish coach - The whole managment team.
h) Best Irish moment - Final whistle against Aus.

a) Best player on tour - Rory Best
b) Best young player on tour - Sean O'Brien
c) Most valuable player on tour - ROG (Needed him when JS underperformed)
d) Most improved player on tour - D'Arcy - he was shoite before the WC but stepped up.
e) Best Irish try - Boss v Russia - awesome
f) Best Irish tackle - Ferris in Genia
g) Best Irish coach - The one that was used by to bring the players into and out of the stadiums.
h) Best Irish moment - Tommy Bowe's interception against Aus.

Rava wrote:
g) Best Irish coach - The one that was used by to bring the players into and out of the stadiums.

Agree with Roddersm; the coaching team as a whole let us down; 4 try BP v USA missed, led to unnecessary pressure v Italy; the failure to decide on a half-back partnership 6 months ago whilst waiting in vain hope that TOL would not only be fit but also able to play to RWC 2011 (and not Muster 2006-8) standard; blinf faith in Earls when Trimble was playing out of his skin and much more physically suited to RWC (same for O'Gara), I could go on but I'm too disappointed. I'm not heading to final as planned thanks to poor preparation. Kidney's tenure needs to reviewed; worse than 2007 yet he has contract extension

clapham31 wrote:Agree with Roddersm; the coaching team as a whole let us down; 4 try BP v USA missed, led to unnecessary pressure v Italy; the failure to decide on a half-back partnership 6 months ago whilst waiting in vain hope that TOL would not only be fit but also able to play to RWC 2011 (and not Muster 2006-8) standard; blinf faith in Earls when Trimble was playing out of his skin and much more physically suited to RWC (same for O'Gara), I could go on but I'm too disappointed. I'm not heading to final as planned thanks to poor preparation. Kidney's tenure needs to reviewed; worse than 2007 yet he has contract extension

How can you say this performance was worse than 2007. Tol wasn't first choice for munster from 06-08, earls scored 5 tries which may be a reeason for faith being shown in him.

As for the question,

a) I'm going to go with Rory Best, outstanding in every game, best Irish player against Wales, never gave up and was pretty much faultless in every game.
b) I'm going to say that Conor Murray is really the only young player on tour so he wins this.
c) POC, he is Ireland's most important player, I think he probably has another world cup in him. When he plays well we play well, every player raise their game when he is in the side and the pack becomes better as a unit but also the players come better as individuals.
d) I'm going to go for Ross, we've always known about his scrummaging, but I thought he was superb in the loose.
e) Earls' first against Russia; great break by trimble, great pass and excellent finish.
f) Ferris on genia is the most memorable.
g) Has to be Les Kiss.
i) Kidney's comments to Mallet after the Italy game, said in private but revealed by mallet, showed everything that is great about rugby.