Ireland v Samoa 5.45pm

First topic message reminder :

At that good man Gibbo's request and because the other thread was humongous !

COME ON IRELAND!!!!


Live on rte 2 and bbc NI. Hopefully that means rte won't scramble the signal. Have it on record there just incase.

Saint
Ging to try and avoid the Wales score and pick it up on iplayer later

Standulstermen wrote:Wouldn't have much of an issue with Kearney Jr coming in but I don't necessarily think it will happen.

He will play a part. Gone are the days of the pre planned pre agreed mindless subs. All squad players will play a part as required.

Standulstermen wrote:Wouldn't have much of an issue with Kearney Jr coming in but I don't necessarily think it will happen.

Errm, he did make a wee bit of an impression Stand. Zebo and Gilroy are in his realtime wake now. Fitz is yet to come back.

That's how it works with Joe.

GunsGerms wrote:

Standulstermen wrote:Wouldn't have much of an issue with Kearney Jr coming in but I don't necessarily think it will happen.

He will play a part. Gone are the days of the pre planned pre agreed mindless subs. All squad players will play a part as required.

Germs nails it.  

Believe.

11.09.2013Where did I say he didn't make an impression? He did very well but I just am not sure Bowe will be dropped. I wouldn't have an issue with it though.

I do believe we may go above Wales and Samoa in the rankings after today's results.

In my opinion Australia are more beatable now than they've ever been since I started watching rugby. So I'd be a bit disappointed if we lost that. But I know the cohesion and accuracy that Schmidt's game demands just may not be there yet two games into his reign.

When was the last time we dominated a team ranked above at set piece time though. Our set piece was superb today and to be honest that's enough of a positive for me out of this game without anything else

Standulstermen wrote:When was the last time we dominated a team ranked above at set piece time though. Our set piece was superb today and to be honest that's enough of a positive for me out of this game without anything else

Thats all I asked for from this gig. See above.

Happy out lads. Really am.  

Believe.

Calm down lads, it was Samoa missing half their team. Job done nothing more. AUS just put 50 on Italy so get a grip

He's right.

But we got the first one in Decco. And found three new players.

Not a bad day at Lansdowne.

Gibson wrote:

Notch wrote:  

Oh my goodness me. Gibbo you are the Patron Saint of lost causes!

Best and most effective player on the pitch Notch?

I'll take that loser  son.

Schmidt wont drop him now.

Yeah he really showed his mettle as a winger.

Very happy with Jackson. He nailed his kicked and even though he missed a tackle or two he was very strong in defence in general. As usual his hands and line kicking was strong.

Hopefully he will now develop the confidence to be a very strong minded and brave decision maker and winners as O'Gara, Humphries and Sexton all are/were.

ME-109 wrote:Calm down lads, it was Samoa missing half their team. Job done nothing more. AUS just put 50 on Italy so get a grip

Thats worth pointing out. Lots of people were making Samoa favourites for this game though and Ireland more than cleared the bookies handicap so lots to be optimistic about.

I think that Samoa really went to pieces in the end, certainly losing their only real 10 and place kicker meant they lost all their shape- in the last 20 minutes they were finished, they crumbled.

No-one else we play this series will crumble.

profitius wrote:

ME-109 wrote:Calm down lads, it was Samoa missing half their team. Job done nothing more. AUS just put 50 on Italy so get a grip

Thats worth pointing out. Lots of people were making Samoa favourites for this game though and Ireland more than cleared the bookies handicap so lots to be optimistic about.

That's just down to the usual Irish habit of undervaluing ourselves. Ireland were rightly favourites for lots of reasons.

Grand job - Samoa were very poor, and the game not much better but a win is a win is a win.

Scrum and lineout went well, the tries were well taken and there seemed to be a decent cohesion and common purpose about the side, especially from the Leinster boys.

McGrath really impressed and Jackson, D'arcy and Toner answered a few critics. Reddan looked sharp when he came on and Dave Kearney took his tries well.

Overall though not too much to get excited about and Australia won't be losing any sleep but a reasonable enough start for Joe. Bring on the Wallabies.

GunsGerms wrote:

profitius wrote:

ME-109 wrote:Calm down lads, it was Samoa missing half their team. Job done nothing more. AUS just put 50 on Italy so get a grip

Thats worth pointing out. Lots of people were making Samoa favourites for this game though and Ireland more than cleared the bookies handicap so lots to be optimistic about.

That's just down to the usual Irish habit of undervaluing ourselves. Ireland were rightly favourites for lots of reasons.

of course we were favorites, as I said job done..bigger fish to fry next week.

It's good, it's encouraging. We comfortably put away a side that is ranked higher than us but most of all we have a coach who is able to look past that window dressing to give an accurate assessment of the performance.

I'd say there will be a few guys not sitting comfortably in the video analysis of the first half.

Thats what I want; no acceptance of mediocrity, ever. Players constantly being on their toes.

Not too much mention of it but old man Brian looked very sharp. Some very good no look passes and generally good all round. Hungry as ever. Why do people love writing him off so much?

I think what we will see with Schmidt is the welcome and timely end of the Irish obsession with the first 15. We have about 3/4 key players that should feature in all top games. Everyone else will be rotated IMO.

GunsGerms wrote:Not too much mention of it but old man Brian looked very sharp. Some very good no look passes and generally good all round. Hungry as ever. Why do people love writing him off so much?

Indeed, at times he was sharp.  At other times though, he made some very uncharacteristic errors.  I thought both he and D'Arcy did look a lot better as the game went on, but certainly for the first half they looked very much their age, and to be honest I think that contributed to our poor back play for a large portion of the game.

I think introducing Marshall at 12 will help remedy that, just as it did last year in the 6 nations when we played Scotland.

This is all a bit ridiculous on here lads.

the way we are going on - its as if Declan Kidney never blooded new players or won a lot of games when he was the new coach.

Look how that went.

Its one game. Catch a grip.

That performance was nowhere near cohesive or in any way frigtening for the likes of Aus, NZ, or SA, not even England France or Wales would be worried having watched that.

Its one game.

GunsGerms wrote:Not too much mention of it but old man Brian looked very sharp. Some very good no look passes and generally good all round. Hungry as ever. Why do people love writing him off so much?

I do get annoyed when he is immune to criticism.

Samoa put it through their backline inside their own 22 in first half. BOD rushed up, completly got the timing wrong. Samoa made a break. BOD eventually chased down and made a tackle.

The NI commentators were singing his praises for a marvellous tackle!! Ignoring the fact he was the one who allowed them to make 20/30 yards of territory.

He is a class act, but lets not treat people like they are infallible, mistakes are mistakes.

Yeah I agree Rory - BOD fell off a few tackles too which he won't be happy with. The back play was pretty poor in the first half. The passing was nice but Jackson was reluctant to attack the line and the 3/4 line looked pretty toothless. The score line flattered us a bit and there's plenty to work on. As the game went on we clicked a bit.

Sexton will make a difference but we could be doing with one or 2 of Zebo, Marshall, Gilroy or even ...cough cough Earls to give us a bit more cutting edge.

No harm in getting a little excited every now and then.

Earls will feature. I have no doubt as would Zebo and Gilroy if fit.

Totally distracted by Wales suffering (well maybe not the whole of Wales, but me at least) another blydi defeat at the hands, feet and brains of a SH team....

Anyway, congrtas Ireland....  

Beating a nation ranked above you by 30 points isn't a bad day at the office. Next week will be a better test of were we are at but you can only beat who's in front of you. Plenty of positives to take from today... if you're a glass half full type that is.....

clivemcl wrote:This is all a bit ridiculous on here lads.

the way we are going on - its as if Declan Kidney never blooded new players or won a lot of games when he was the new coach.

Look how that went.

Its one game. Catch a grip.

That performance was nowhere near cohesive or in any way frigtening for the likes of Aus, NZ, or SA, not even England France or Wales would be worried having watched that.

Its one game.

 

Captain Controversial wanting to put a different spin on things?

Relax.  People are allowed to be happy with the win.  It is a good start, we won the game rather convincingly and we have likely moved up the rankings.  We know that bigger challenges await us though.

clivemcl wrote:

GunsGerms wrote:Not too much mention of it but old man Brian looked very sharp. Some very good no look passes and generally good all round. Hungry as ever. Why do people love writing him off so much?

I do get annoyed when he is immune to criticism.

Samoa put it through their backline inside their own 22 in first half. BOD rushed up, completly got the timing wrong. Samoa made a break. BOD eventually chased down and made a tackle.

The NI commentators were singing his praises for a marvellous tackle!! Ignoring the fact he was the one who allowed them to make 20/30 yards of territory.

He is a class act, but lets not treat people like they are infallible, mistakes are mistakes.

Show me a player who makes no mistakes in a game. His contribution far outweighed anything he did wrong. Still has something to offer and he seem keen to proove that as usual.

Joe's a great coach you know. The man knows the craic. Whatever the faults in the performance we can be sure he's well on top of them.

If there's one man who can turn lemons into lemonade it's Joe Schmidt.

clivemcl wrote:This is all a bit ridiculous on here lads.

the way we are going on - its as if Declan Kidney never blooded new players or won a lot of games when he was the new coach.

Look how that went.

Its one game. Catch a grip.

That performance was nowhere near cohesive or in any way frigtening for the likes of Aus, NZ, or SA, not even England France or Wales would be worried having watched that.

Its one game.

I disagree. It was the most cohesive attacking performance for a while. Individual mistakes let us down but then again almost every time Ireland had a scoring opportunity they scored. The players were on the same wavelength and knew what they were doing.

rodders wrote:Joe's a great coach you know. The man knows the craic. Whatever the faults in the performance we can be sure he's well on top of them.

If there's one man who can turn lemons into lemonade it's Joe Schmidt.  

Are you taking the pish Rodders?

profitius wrote:

clivemcl wrote:This is all a bit ridiculous on here lads.

the way we are going on - its as if Declan Kidney never blooded new players or won a lot of games when he was the new coach.

Look how that went.

Its one game. Catch a grip.

That performance was nowhere near cohesive or in any way frigtening for the likes of Aus, NZ, or SA, not even England France or Wales would be worried having watched that.

Its one game.

I disagree. It was the most cohesive attacking performance for a while. Individual mistakes let us down but then again almost every time Ireland had a scoring opportunity they scored. The players were on the same wavelength and knew what they were doing.

It was the Intent. It was always about the intent. And it started clicking today. The Leinster Way.

I too can make lemonade out of lemons. It is really not that hard to do you know. But the coach who can make silk purses from sow's ears - now that would be a coach I could really admire.

Thats the thing though Kia we actually do have good players. Just need someone willing to put faith in them and encourage them to play to their strengths.

Well done Ireland. Some good individual performances. McGrath was very good; POM did what we know he can do and did it really well; Best hit his jumpers, and that was comforting as it had been a problem for some time (and probably lost him a trip with the Lions).

I refuse to get as hysterically excited as some of the posters on here. Samoa were under strength today. Ireland kicked away a lot of possession and the backs were not convincing until the last quarter when Samoa had lost shape and some of their key players.

On the other hand, at least Ireland kept going and did not stop playing when the game was well won.

However I think D'Arcy's days in green are numbered. I too am in the BOD was not brilliant camp. Some of you admire his no-lookpasses. I wish he WOULD look and not trust to luck that someone in green will pick the ball up. Those kind of passes will bedisastrous against the ABs who will dine out on them and score fromthem.

Night all.

Why do people keep going on about Samoa being understrength?

According to many before the game Ireland were fielding an understrength team. Four of our best players Sexton, Poc, SOB and Healy didnt start and we had two debutants. Earls, Ferris, Strauss, Gilroy, Marshall and Zebo six other class players were also missing.

Well done Ireland...good start to the series...and one of two sides to stop the AB run for the year...looks like theyll need every bit of luck and effort to win them both...

KiaRose wrote:I too can make lemonade out of lemons. It is really not that hard to do you know.  But the coach who can make silk purses from sow's ears - now that would be a coach I could really admire.

Genius. And all that  from a Munster fan too.

clivemcl wrote:This is all a bit ridiculous on here lads.

the way we are going on - its as if Declan Kidney never blooded new players or won a lot of games when he was the new coach.

Look how that went.

Its one game. Catch a grip.

That performance was nowhere near cohesive or in any way frigtening for the likes of Aus, NZ, or SA, not even England France or Wales would be worried having watched that.

Its one game.

Clive can I just say I think you are the most intelligent poster today..,I know you won't think much of this as its from me but there you go

 

Where's me main man SIN E?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aItpjF5vXc

Just a few points to add (some said some not said yet)

1) McGrath was class. Great scrummaging and looked good in loose carrying and defending. Some good turnovers too.

2) Best was the best player on the pitch. He made so many steals, slowed down so much ball. That was the best I've ever seen him play, he was phenomenal.

3) Our locks stood up. I was very happy with Toner's work and relatively so with McCarthy's. They worked as a unit but also within broader units.

4) POM was class. Great turnovers and fitted into "the starting backrow" very well. I was very impressed.

5) Our halfbacks looked good for the most part. Great to see Murray playing at 100mph at times and Jackson's decision making and general execution was good.

6) Our centres were god awful as far as I am concerned. Yes BOD passed the ball through his legs, yes Darcy gained massive yards before K2's try but defensively they were poor (BOD in particular) and while they did carry well at times they never really looked like piercing the defence. Too often too their passing didn't draw men in due to passing too early. BOD needs to execute those kicks considerably better and I believe kicked them in the wrong areas of the pitch.

7) McFadden and K2 were very good I felt. Good yard makers and very eager. Bowe and Kearney senior were very very quiet.

Good work but against such a weak Samoa side (ranked above us yes- but full strength no) we needed to put them away we did. Great to see such cohesion and slickness but the Aussies will present a much bigger challenge.

Just a point on d'arcys contribution to Kearney jr first try. He took the ball in and maul was called. When he finally got to ground the ball was unplayable. Reddan gave the Samoan on the Irish side a little tap and he rolled away (he didn't have to) and we got the ball out. 

One of the Samoans actually queried this with Walsh as you can hear him say "he didn't need to me away" so I think against a smarter team the ball would have died with D'arcy. 

I actually thought Rob was good Pete. Not brilliant but pretty good but I thought McCarthy was pedestrian. To be honest I don't think he is fit enough. 

What I would say we took from the game.....

Back up LH  
McFadden very solid wing option 
We need new blood in the centre
Very decent backup 10 with other options also
Having Toner in there can help shore up the lineout
100% set piece     
4 decent backrowers

Gibson wrote:

profitius wrote:

clivemcl wrote:This is all a bit ridiculous on here lads.

the way we are going on - its as if Declan Kidney never blooded new players or won a lot of games when he was the new coach.

Look how that went.

Its one game. Catch a grip.

That performance was nowhere near cohesive or in any way frigtening for the likes of Aus, NZ, or SA, not even England France or Wales would be worried having watched that.

Its one game.

I disagree. It was the most cohesive attacking performance for a while. Individual mistakes let us down but then again almost every time Ireland had a scoring opportunity they scored. The players were on the same wavelength and knew what they were doing.

It was the Intent. It was always about the intent. And it started clicking today. The Leinster Way.

Yea look, Theres a big difference between criticism, and a reality check.

My initial point still stands. Deccie blooded new players, he got great results at the start.
So seriously... do me a favour and stop heralding the second coming of the Golden Generation on one game.

Someone called me 'captain controversial' - well lets just stick to disagreeing with my statement based on reason - if you can.

Deccie inspired a dumper truck full of hope in 2008/09, only for it to come to nothing.

World Cup is two years away and today in a non competition international we played a 33 yr old prop, 31 yr old lock, 32 and 34 yr old centers, with a 32 and 33 yr old coming off the bench.

I'm not slating the performance. I'm just saying, its certainly nothing to be getting excited about (...yet).

*EDIT: We can get excited about individuals of course, and many of us have. McGrath and PJ for example - we have every entitlement to be happy with those two.

I think its ok to be positive about the win. I dont think anyone is trying to ckaim we are going to win the world cup or even the 6 nations. We are starting to play some nice rugby again though and score some well worked tries.

Tactics have changed and that in itself is cause for celebration IMO.

GunsGerms wrote:

rodders wrote:Joe's a great coach you know. The man knows the craic. Whatever the faults in the performance we can be sure he's well on top of them.

If there's one man who can turn lemons into lemonade it's Joe Schmidt.  

Are you taking the pish Rodders?

No deadly serious guns. Huge admirer of Joe, he's the best coach in the game in my opinion. The man could whisk an egg with a cheese grater.

Cari wrote:I'm getting an aul Samoan dude stripping off and wandering about in his pants...

That "aul samaon dude" has played in more Rugby World Cups than anyone else on the planet.

Congratulations Ireland, well played, I note there have been comments that suggest to dismiss the Irish performance because this wasnt the top Samaon side (I can understand why the coach would say it but not anyone else) however that was not the making of the Irish players, they still had to focus/concentrate on the task at hand and create and after the first half hour thats what they did.


small point:
I thought a well managed game by Steve Walsh.

Walsh tried to let the game flow which I appreciate although injuries didn't really allow for that. He was blind to any Samoan knock-ons/forward passes though.
Ireland were poor dealing with the restarts, and far to many errors in general especially in the first half. Neither BOD, nor Darcy, had a great game, and Bowe was virtually non-existent. Hopefully Marshall starts at 12 next week. Not McFadden!! I really admire McFadden's work rate, but I don't think he should be in the team 23 if all options are available.
McGrath is a revelation, and Best is in superb form. Think Kearney senior had a good game, contrary to other opinion, but not convinced about Kearney junior just yet.

Munchkin wrote:
McGrath is a revelation, and Best is in superb form. Think Kearney senior had a good game

Agree. Thought Toner deserves a mention too - was the best of the locks on show including O'Connell who looked a bit lost to be honest.

Interesting on Kearney who has been in fairly dire form. He looked much more willing to run with the ball, rather than just boot it away aimlessly - the Schmidt factor maybe?

So how do people think Heaslip did?  Very little has been said about him.