Rugby Union 2009

[OneRedArmy]

I know someone who got a pair of tickets for €300 this week. No idea where.

But bear in mind face value for most of the seats is €90. Availability and price of spares will depend, as always, on the number of English travelling.

[jbyrne]

do you think that'll be the case again this weekend?
My mate's brother is flying in on Friday from New Jersey for the game, and flying back on Sunday. He has a ticket, but I can't see their being the same amount of spares available

probably not as many but id say there will be a few around. best to be in the area a couple hours before ko

[tetsujin1979]

Got a text from a mate of mine, his missus' dad has a spare for the game if I want it! Too right I do!!

[pete]

Got a text from a mate of mine, his missus' dad has a spare for the game if I want it! Too right I do!!

Pass it onto me otherwise Ireland will lose. I have a 100% record at rugby games in Croke Park.

Don't see anything for Ireland to fear in the England team. Martin Johnson history should help the crowd get going.

[tetsujin1979]

Pass it onto me otherwise Ireland will lose. I have a 100% record at rugby games in Croke Park.So do I.
Of course, I've only been to one game, but still

[Soper]

Probably one of the 23 people in Wales supporting france...crucial scoring before half time

[SkStu]

any online links for the Ireland England game tomorrow would be most appreciated!

[strangeirish]

any online links for the Ireland England game tomorrow would be most appreciated!
Keep an eye on this (http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=31448&part=sports)

It should have some links up after 1.30 am(est) on the day of the game.

[SkStu]

Keep an eye on this (http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=31448&part=sports)

It should have some links up after 1.30 pm(est) on the day of the game.

cheers SI!

[SunnySweeney]

correct me if I'm wrong but the game starts in Ireland at 5:30pm (12:30pm EST)

Thanks in advance for the link

[strangeirish]

correct me if I'm wrong but the game starts in Ireland at 5:30pm (12:30pm EST)

Thanks in advance for the link
Yes!...

[strangeirish]

Have this one working so far...Any others?

http://www.justin.tv/jungledragon1

[SkStu]

nothing - watching off your link SI but its frozen...

[strangeirish]

nothing - watching off your link SI but its frozen...
Yeah, I can't find a decent one.

[SkStu]

justintv is the biggest waste of time ever. Havent caught a decent game of soccer or rugby on there in months. Its only good for the links to other sites or blogspots that are showin the game....

[strangeirish]

justintv is the biggest waste of time ever. Havent caught a decent game of soccer or rugby on there in months. Its only good for the links to other sites or blogspots that are showin the game....
I know, it's gone real bad. Do you have sopcast down loaded? I have it on there.

[SkStu]

listening on rte radio... will probably have to download sopcast to be sure of gettin to watch these games - is there any chance of viruses etc when you download that stuff?

[strangeirish]

listening on rte radio... will probably have to download sopcast to be sure of gettin to watch these games - is there any chance of viruses etc when you download that stuff?
Downloaded mine here (http://www.download.com/SopCast/3000-13632_4-10601520.html)

Safe for you.

[SunnySweeney]

http://www.channelsurfing.net/

This site has been working well for me

[strangeirish]

Very aggressive decisions by Ireland...good stuff so far.

[SkStu]

what a game! listening on the radio and watching a dodgy stream (thanks SunnySweeney!) and im totally fckin gripped!!

[SkStu]

O'Gara has been muck however.... he's so finely balanced mentally if anything goes wrong it gets to him...

edit: muck is a bit harsh...

[strangeirish]

England shooting themselves in the foot...:D

[SkStu]

its lovely to see that c**t Johnson get his comeuppance after his teams theatrics in Lansdowne a few years back. :D

[SkStu]

oh shiit.

[SkStu]

Yessssss!!!!!!!

[SunnySweeney]

cheers lads.

O'Driscoll was immense - he really answered them. England have only themselves to blame for giving away those penalties.

[strangeirish]

A win's a win...Damn, almost blew it. We'll take it. The RTE radio commentary was cracking me up. "A mother and father of a tackle"..."Looks like he went through a combine harvester"..."IRELAND TRY! They fully deserved that. I'm trying to remain balanced here"...:D

[rambler14]

I think O'Gara has brought new meaning to the words "Having a sh!tter!" He has been absolutely atrocious easily his worst game in an Irish shirt!

How he stayed on the pitch is baffling???

[Superhoops]

I think O'Gara has brought new meaning to the words "Having a sh!tter!" He has been absolutely atrocious easily his worst game in an Irish shirt!

How he stayed on the pitch is baffling???

Do you reckon he had the the spread backed to be less than 8 points?

[Rovers fan]

In all fairness O'Gara hasn't been at his best for a few years. There was a period there where he was immense. His kicking from hand has disimproved. He used to be able to kick it deep into the 22(out for a lineout) more often than not from distance, now he rarely does it.

[Jinxy]

cheers lads.

O'Driscoll was immense - he really answered them. England have only themselves to blame for giving away those penalties.


In all fairness O'Gara hasn't been at his best for a few years. There was a period there where he was immense. His kicking from hand has disimproved. He used to be able to kick it deep into the 22(out for a lineout) more often than not from distance, now he rarely does it.

Why do people always use this word when describing someone having a good game in rugby?
Maybe it's just me, but have ye ever heard someone say "Robbie Keane was immense for Ireland tonight"?
I blame Tony Ward.

[The Fly]

O'Driscoll was .......sorry Jinxy..........immense! :p

Anyway, as I have often said to anyone listening, O'Driscoll is the greatest Irish sportsman I have seen in my lifetime.

[tetsujin1979]

Despite the official attendance being given as 81,100 the atmosphere in the stadium wasn't great. From what I could tell, the crowd only really got going when the opposition fans started the "swing low" chant. The performance on the pitch didn't help the nerves, especially the early missed penalties from O'Gara, and you'd have gotten long odds on the game being scoreless on the 25th minute. England equalising right on half time put a stop to any build up in atmosphere that there had been.
The second half started as a different affair, as Ireland seemed to spend most of the first 20 minutes in or around the England 22 metre line, and O'Driscoll going over for the first try of the game gave the spectators something to sing about. However, more missed penalties from O'Gara, as well as the conversion, and the second attempt at a drop goal from the outstanding O'Driscoll just added to the frustration.
Despite spending 20 minutes of the game with only 14 men on the pitch, England only conceded 8 points in this time, and we really should have taken more advantage of this. Certainly the French would not have let them off so lightly.
When England went over for the late try, Armitage outracing a cleary exhausted Horan to reach the loose ball and score, I really did fear the worst. Visions of France in 2007 (not to mention Macedonia twice, Israel twice, Croatia, Slovakia, etc) danced in my head so it was a massive relief to hear the final whistle sound the end of the affair following a forward pass from England.
The crowd seemed more relieved than anything else, and most streamed out immediately. Very few stayed to applaud the team. I could be wrong, but I thought I heard boos and whistles as the teams left the field?

[shakermaker1982]

I was worried beforehand we'd be dragged into a macho forwards game of rugby and so it proved. Delighted we got the win but we can definitely improve and nothing would make me happier if we hit top gear and destroyed the Welsh (Scotland first I know but that is also likely to be a forwards head on collision).

We do need to get quicker ball. England may have been delaying it but it also seemed that O'Leary was very reluctant in throwing it out wide? Was he ordered to do this by the forwards/Kidney? Slow ball makes it impossible to gain yards. Felt a tad sorry for Paddy Wallace because he wasn't given the opportunity to do anything.

Our kicking game was also hopeless yesterday. O'Leary and O'Gara wasted a lot of ball by kicking needlessly. Frustrating.

The big positives were Ferris and O'Driscoll no question. We also didn't give too many penalties in our own half which restricted England's chances of scoring. How the commentators could say that England would have won the game were it not for the two yellow cards is beyond me. They offered very little going forward and even with us stuck in second gear we were always comfortable (tense last minute I admit).

[Macy]

How the commentators could say that England would have won the game were it not for the two yellow cards is beyond me. They offered very little going forward and even with us stuck in second gear we were always comfortable (tense last minute I admit).
And if O'Gara had been in any kind of form we would've been well out of reach after ticking over nicely points wise.

[Dodge]

How the commentators could say that England would have won the game were it not for the two yellow cards is beyond me

I watched it on BBC as I think Eddie Butler is as good a commentator as there is in sports and neither himself nor Brian Moore tried to say that the Irish team didn't deserve to win. Moore, quite rightly, pointed out that no team can expect to win at this level if they play with 14 for 60 minutes.

[ifk101]

I watched it on BBC as I think Eddie Butler is as good a commentator as there is in sports and neither himself nor Brian Moore tried to say that the Irish team didn't deserve to win. Moore, quite rightly, pointed out that no team can expect to win at this level if they play with 14 for 60 minutes.

They played with 14 for 20 mins, right :confused:?

Anyways I think Ireland were deserving winners. England were intent on slowing the game down and I can't really recall them presenting much of an attacking threat.

[rambler14]

And if O'Gara had been in any kind of form we would've been well out of reach after ticking over nicely points wise.

He missed 17 points which means Ireland would have won very comfortably had he got them.

[Dodge]

They played with 14 for 20 mins, right :confused:?

Yep, but that doesn't mean he thought they'd win if they had a full side out there. It just means they've absolutely no chance with the sin binnings.

I thought O'Gara missed 4 kicks. 3 pens and a conversion so he missed 11 points?

[rambler14]

RTE panel said 17.

[Dodge]

They could be right. Either way, the actual figure doesn't matter

[ifk101]

He missed 4 out of 6 kicks; 3 penalties and a conversion - ie 11 points. The total points he could of scored was 17. That's probably where RTE got the 17 from.

[Shilts]

Does anyone know how many Rugby internationals have come from each of
PBC (Cork) and CBC (Cork) in comparison to the large Dublin schools? Info needed to shut up a guy once and for all :D

[pete]

Ireland seem to have a deliberate policy of slowing the ball down at their own ruck to ensure they maintain possession. O'Leary was slower than usual as he seemed to ensuring forwards did not get isolated. It isn't the worst tactic as England give up penalties in those areas...

[Dodge]

Does anyone know how many Rugby internationals have come from each of
PBC (Cork) and CBC (Cork) in comparison to the large Dublin schools? Info needed to shut up a guy once and for all :D

What would that prove? That there's more rugby playing schools in Dublin (and surrounds) than Cork?

[paul_oshea]

Does anyone know how many Rugby internationals have come from each of
PBC (Cork) and CBC (Cork) in comparison to the large Dublin schools? Info needed to shut up a guy once and for all :D

ogara and stringer were Presentation along with sheahan i think. Or do you mean in general?

[shakermaker1982]

Ireland seem to have a deliberate policy of slowing the ball down at their own ruck to ensure they maintain possession. O'Leary was slower than usual as he seemed to ensuring forwards did not get isolated. It isn't the worst tactic as England give up penalties in those areas...

if O'Gara was on form to punish them then fair enough but I think that tactic of slowing ball down to snail pace will eventually result in a turnover or losing yards. Maybe the Munster lads fancied their chances at the expense of the backs and a win is a win but Christ it was a close finish to a game we should have won by a decent margin.

[Shilts]

ogara and stringer were Presentation along with sheahan i think. Or do you mean in general?

Sorry if it wasn't clear. I meant - which schools have produced the most rugby internationals ever and how many? In particular PBC and CBC (both Cork) and Blackrock (Dublin).
Any info much apreciated.

[Aberdonian Stu]

If you are looking at all time I would be shocked if it wasn't Rock followed by one or two of the Northern schools to be honest. PBC and CBC would certainly be high enough up the list though. Can't think of a good place to get exact numbers.