Rugby 2011 [Archive] - Page 4

freewheel30

10/09/2011, 11:42 PM

Just watched that now, the second girlfriend seemed particularly doe-eyed :D

Never thought I'd ever feel so blas� about a Rugby World Cup. Haven't watched any of the games so far, will prob watch ours now in the morning and hopefully get into the thing in general.

I think part of me believes NZ will run away with this tournament; in the past they've tended to peak the year before World Cups, but I think they've probably learned their lesson and will bring some serious rugby to this one.

BonnieShels

11/09/2011, 3:13 AM

Australia will win it. NZ and France are too brittle. Us and England aren't good enough. Zud afrika are too old. Wales, Scotland, Samoa and Fiji... ha. Aussies just about to start.

Spudulika

11/09/2011, 5:32 AM

Caught the end of Aussie-Italy, neither of them looked like world beaters. Very tight group and USA will come out firing, especially with the day that's in it. I'd love to make reference to events 10 years ago in a lighthearted way though for some reason everybody seems to be taking it overly seriously.

Charlie Darwin

11/09/2011, 6:00 AM

It was 6-6 at half time. Italy were disappointing in the second half and let in some tries that you'd expect them to stop if they were fully fired up. You get the impression they're targeting our game and never believed they could beat Oz.

paul_oshea

11/09/2011, 6:10 AM

culloty82

11/09/2011, 7:39 AM

Im putting a score on us to beat aus.

Hmmm, after this morning, you'd hardly put money on us to roll over Italy.

paudie

11/09/2011, 12:36 PM

Wales should have beaten SA.

missed a sitter of a drop goal and a kickable penalty in the last few minutes.

Charlie Darwin

11/09/2011, 1:31 PM

Im putting a score on us to beat aus. just woke up in time for this after hearing a bang.

I think Irish female rugby world"fans" in general are thicker....in more ways than one. Irish rugby world"male" fans probably don't have a clue either half of them
I think rugby fans in general tend to come from a social background that tells them they're very clever and knowledgeable at everything.

Ireland were poor today. Even allowing for the rain, they look sloppy and sapped of confidence. Hoping they can pull something major out for the Australia for the game because I think South Africa will get better after their scare today.

shakermaker1982

11/09/2011, 9:18 PM

Need O'Brien back. Without Wallace and O'Brien the only other player who can get over the game line is Ferris. Where the hell has Heaslip gone? Very quiet again. I thought Best played well and that is about it.

The Aussies could could cut lose next week.....huge performance required to stay with em.

Macy

12/09/2011, 11:40 AM

Same problem as against the minnows last time - they need to play what's in front of them, rather than stick to the plan.

Real ale Madrid

12/09/2011, 1:25 PM

Its looking like we are doomed on Saturday. The longer Darcy gets picked the further backwards we go. Hope Murray did enough to get on from the start because Reddan was dreadful when he came on.

Apart from our shambolic appearance, it was a decent weekend's games. Pity Scotland / Romania was on in the middle of the night. Scotland have thier work cut out Wednesday against Georgia, who are better than Romania.

Great shows from Japan and Namibia on Saturday as well.

If Wales made a bigger deal of that penalty in the first half they may have beaten the boks, who I must say look a bit jaded. Bit of karma for the welsh though, given the try they got in Cardiff against Ireland in the 6 nations.

Enjoyable weekend.

Spudulika

14/09/2011, 9:10 AM

Well, you got our wish RaM, the Reddan-Sexton axis of evil has triumphed. I'm not normally a fan of either player, but together, and with BOD and Darcy, and Robbie Kearney, a Leinster filled backline will do well. I was both happy and disappointed with Tommy Bowe, he looked like he'd gotten new hands for Christmas or something. Rory Best did well at the weekend, and I had an odd comment from a friend watching it - "Doesn't Rory Best look like a member of a Loyalist paramilitary murder squad?"

Mr A

14/09/2011, 9:55 AM

Odd isn't the word for that!

Very harsh on Trimble that he doesn't get a chance. Harsh on Murphy too- but then the only reason he's ever in the team is so that he can be harshly dropped again.

D'arcy is very lucky indeed. Sexton probably very relieved after the kicking issues last week- he may have been saved by the fact that a lot of kickers had massive problems in the first games.

Real ale Madrid

14/09/2011, 9:57 AM

Well, you got our wish RaM, the Reddan-Sexton axis of evil has triumphed. fan of either player, ?"

Not sure you read my post correctly there. With Reddan and Darcy - both of whom are not international standard anymore, barring a super-human perfomance from the Irish pack - we are going to get soundly beaten. 20 / 30 points. Never wished to be this wrong before!

BonnieShels

17/09/2011, 10:17 AM

Well... what can you say about that.

Wonderful second half.

Stephen Ferris, Mike Ross, Sean O'Brien were immense.

Come on Ireland!!!!

ArdeeBhoy

17/09/2011, 10:27 AM

Sure, I've always 'loved' rugby...
;)

Good result mind.

Spudulika

17/09/2011, 10:32 AM

wow, just wow. What a lift for the weekend. Great battling performance though I'm sure RTE will find fault to keep viewers interested.

legendz

17/09/2011, 10:57 AM

Fantastic win! I was saying all week they would do it. People were too hung up on '07. The games before the World Cup though in defeat and the US win were nothing like 4 years ago. Well done to the men in green! Hopefully they can kick on now and do the job to win the group. We don't want any slip-ups against the Italians in the last pool game.

geysir

17/09/2011, 11:20 AM

Some jumbo sized Australian player interviewed after the game claimed that Ireland were good at spoiling the ball.
What does that mean (aside from sour grapes)? negative tactics? conning the ref? or is spoiling the ball a legit thing, as in 'put them under pressure'.

legendz

17/09/2011, 11:22 AM

Sour grapes. Not even worth commenting on.

BonnieShels

17/09/2011, 11:31 AM

Ha. Spoiling the ball!!! A couple of offsides and off the feet in the first half maybe.

The problem is we held up the tackle so we were gonna have the put in. The aussies couldn't live with it.

NZ are the kings of ball spoiling.

geysir

17/09/2011, 11:43 AM

So, what does 'spoiling the ball' mean in rugby?

ArdeeBhoy

17/09/2011, 12:05 PM

Not playing it. Or Google may have a better answer.

osarusan

17/09/2011, 12:11 PM

So, what does 'spoiling the ball' mean in rugby?

slowing the ball down at the breakdown - the Australians wanted it to come out quickly before the Irish defence was organised, but the Irish made sure that didn't happen.

Charlie Darwin

17/09/2011, 12:58 PM

They've just started broadcasting the game again on TG4 for those of you with a cupla focal.

Ireland were immense but still a lot of mistakes with the ball in hand. There's obviously a problem with the ball as both Sexton and O'Connor missed easy kicks. Overall I think the scoreline flattered Australia but all that matters is the win. I was off my seat the entire second half. Still, Italy is not a foregone conclusion and Wales/Somoa are both looking strong if we do top the pool. This World Cup has suddenly become very, very unpredictable.

The Fly

17/09/2011, 1:26 PM

legendz

17/09/2011, 1:55 PM

I think Ireland have a bigger match in them in this tournament. Hopefully fingers crossed it's a performance we get to see in the very latter stages.

freewheel30

17/09/2011, 1:59 PM

To the home of stupid place names and the amber nectar, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, questionable cuisine, Dame Edna, Alf Stewart, Michael Hutchence, Skippy, Ayer's Rock/Uluru, Kylie and Jason, Rupert Murdoch, Mel Gibson (sort of), Shane Warne and Rolf Harris...........your boys took one hell of a beating!!!

Don't forget Crocodile Dundee :laugh:

SwanVsDalton

17/09/2011, 2:07 PM

Don't forget Crocodile Dundee :laugh:

As the man himself might say: "Call that a pack? THIS is a pack."

Healy, O'Connell, Ferris and O'Brien were unreal. They couldn't live with our intensity upfront and I'm not surprised if they're feeling a little sour about it. Nothing's done yet, so don't want us getting carried away, but if we maintain that kind of application at the breakdown we're a match for anyone with the possible exception of the All Blacks.

Really does throw the expected knock out games out the window this result.

old git

17/09/2011, 6:35 PM

As the man himself might say: "Call that a pack? THIS is a pack."

Healy, O'Connell, Ferris and O'Brien were unreal. They couldn't live with our intensity upfront and I'm not surprised if they're feeling a little sour about it. Nothing's done yet, so don't want us getting carried away, but if we maintain that kind of application at the breakdown we're a match for anyone with the possible exception of the All Blacks.

Really does throw the expected knock out games out the window this result.
must admt as a non rugby fan unbelieveable performance from ireland deserved to win by more my only little gripe is having no national anthem before game it has been replaced by irelands call personally i find it disrespectfull to us as a proud little nation. :mad:

Charlie Darwin

17/09/2011, 7:21 PM

The island of Ireland doesn't have a national anthem.

old git

17/09/2011, 8:29 PM

The island of Ireland doesn't have a national anthem.

ah hello charlie !!!! Amhr�n na bhFiann ( the soldiers song) is the national anthem of ireland .. soccer / boxing / swimming / tennis / rowing /athletics etc ,etc all seem to be proud to have it as their anthem . so what is the problem with an irish rugby team using it.

BonnieShels

17/09/2011, 8:32 PM

must admt as a non rugby fan unbelieveable performance from ireland deserved to win by more my only little gripe is having no national anthem before game it has been replaced by irelands call personally i find it disrespectfull to us as a proud little nation. :mad:

The Team anthem as it's called is Irelands' Call.
Amhr�n na bhFiann is only played before our home games out of respect for the hosting jurisdiction.

Technically when we play (the odd time) in Ravenhill GSTQ should be played but it's a minefield.

I'd rather be rid of all of them so I don't have to stand for Irelands' Call at games.

"My Lovely Horse" would be the business.

this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xp-ShbrbuY&feature=related

or

this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kajk92_QqwM&feature=related

You decide.

@ Charlie, the problem is that the island of Ireland has "too many" anthems.

Charlie Darwin

17/09/2011, 9:09 PM

ah hello charlie !!!! Amhr�n na bhFiann ( the soldiers song) is the national anthem of ireland .. soccer / boxing / swimming / tennis / rowing /athletics etc ,etc all seem to be proud to have it as their anthem . so what is the problem with an irish rugby team using it.
The cricket team uses Ireland's Call as well. I don't know if they play AnabhF at the games in Rathmines but they definitely don't in Belfast. The cricket and rugby teams don't represent one country, they represent all the people on the island so the anthem of the Republic is not appropriate to use.

The other sports (apart from soccer) are organised on an all-Ireland basis but represent only the Republic of Ireland. Athletes/swimmers/etc. from the north are free to represent the Republic of Ireland or the UK.

@ Charlie, the problem is that the island of Ireland has "too many" anthems.
True. I think Ireland's Call is dreadful as a song but as an anthem it seems to pump people up and when you see people like Stephen Ferris belting it out before a game it's hard to argue that it doesn't do the job advertised.

I really like Amhran na bhFiann as a song, it's just a pity that it mainly involves killing British soldiers. It's understandably a bit of a sore point with our northern neighbours and it surprises me to this day why people from the south don't understand why it's so objectionable to our more loyal friends.

geysir

17/09/2011, 9:13 PM

I see some tin pot Dublin councillors are getting in on the act over the national anthem. The IRFU should gracefully tell them to eff off, in their best D4 accent. When Ireland flop as they usually have done at these rugby events, according to the self-styled patriots it was because the AnbF wasn't played beforehand, therefore access to that deep well of patriotic bravery and fortitude was denied. I suppose that theory has gone out the window now.

Now says one councillor,
"I don't see why the IRFU are still refusing to play it at away grounds. It gives the impression that Ireland's Call is our national anthem,"

I seriously doubt that anybody outside Ireland gives a fraction of a moment's thought to what anthem is used by the 32 county rugby team, just as long as it's only one and not two in row.

BonnieShels

17/09/2011, 9:19 PM

In fairness is it right though if you wanna take to that extent that NZ get the Haka? I don't belief they should tbh?

Cllrs need something to whine about if it's not this it's the housing list or a leylandii.

The IRFU are the most sensitive to this issue.

On a personal level I would prefer nothing to IC. I think silence would be better and exercise the mind more I also love that feeling of AnF as it hits the crescendo. Roll on to 1525 tomorrow when 82300 of us will be singing out!

Charlie Darwin

17/09/2011, 9:22 PM

BonnieShels

17/09/2011, 10:09 PM

Supporting a team, in the Commonwealth, that proudly has the Queen as HoS, that has a UJ in the Canton of it's flag... roight.

Not really sure what he aims to achieve.

The lack of knowledge of sine sections if southern society of how we hit here etc is staggering. Rather than derail the topic, can I just say that I really enjoyed the game and look forward to the next month.

Now what do we reckon about Wales-Samoa?

Mr A

17/09/2011, 10:29 PM

Now what do we reckon about Wales-Samoa?

Three words.

Too. Ducking. Early.

BonnieShels

18/09/2011, 1:56 AM

Just in. Gonna attempt a power nap and then hit France Canada. Danger.

Spudulika

18/09/2011, 4:24 AM

Missing a cracking match. I'd to get up early to prepare reports, caught an amazing opening half of football from Utah (Utah vs BYU) and the first play from BYU was something out of a blooper reel. Anyway, now sitting and watching a really tight match between Wales and Samoa. Samoa leading at the half, but by god are they hitting hard. Wales doing well, if they can keep going the Samoans could/shoujld run out of steam and then the welsh sneak a 5-10 point win.

bennocelt

18/09/2011, 4:35 AM

Good try by Samoa
About the anthem not really bothered, just hate that dirge they have at the moment - Danny Boy would be a cool anthem to have
Brilliant result for the rugby boys - hope they go all the way. When u think of the monosyllabic moronic fellas on the Football team, and compare them to the rugby lads - different class I think,more heart as well

Macy

18/09/2011, 9:14 AM

Charlie laid out why we have Irelands Call for the genuine all ireland organisations.The attitude and ignorance in recent days on things like liveline shows that it's definitely not just unionists that cause the issues.

For what it's worth, i support the theory, but we have enough non contentious traditional songs that could've been used. Still, better than the Rose of Tralee that was used in the first Rugby World Cup...

SwanVsDalton

18/09/2011, 9:15 AM

France and Canada is in the balance. 16-10 now but only because France just scored a couple of late first-half penalties. France will surely stretch away in the second half but Canada are unlucky to be behind, playing well the Canucks.

Ouch another France penalty - the Canadians will be kicking themselves for giving away three handy penalties just before half time.

geysir

18/09/2011, 9:29 AM

Turning on tv so early in the morning should come with a mental health warning, yesterday morning I was struck dumb when faced with The Waltons.

geysir

18/09/2011, 9:39 AM

Does the beard factor have an influence? there's a few canucks with fearsome looking beards.

Could Glen Whelan evoke the spirit of Tony Grealish by growing a beard?

shakermaker1982

18/09/2011, 1:51 PM

Terrific defensive performance.

So glad that it looks like we avoided the Boks in the Q Finals. Our back row forwards vs theirs = world war 3. Would be nice to meet em in a final.

paul_oshea

18/09/2011, 9:27 PM

Bet 20 they would beat aus beforehand. :)

I have a bad feeling about wales now though.

Cymro

19/09/2011, 2:13 AM

There was a great letter in this morning's Indo. Some self-righteous ***** proudly announcing that he and his mates would be supporting Australia in protest against the IRFU not playing the Republic's national anthem. I'd have loved to have seen the look on his face as he watched that masterplan unfold. Hopefully he'll be supporting England in the semis if we get that far.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/a-bad-call-2879700.html

The IRFU receives millions in grants from the taxpayers of Ireland every year, yet while the team is abroad they will not play our national anthem.

The players and fans stand to attention for 'Ireland's Call' -- what a disgrace.

I, like most of my friends, will be supporting Australia. If the Government wants to save money, I believe they should start with the IRFU.

Patrick Troy
Ballycullen, Dublin 24

Irish Independent

What an idiotic letter. As well as the old chestnut about the hardworking taxpayers subsidising the lazy, out-of-touch suits, 'Patrick Troy' seems to have forgotten (or rather overlooked) the one-sixth of the island of Ireland that does not have Amhran na bhFiann as its anthem, indeed, for those who are unionists they probably find it offensive.

I personally think Ireland's Call is great, a rousing song if a bit cheesy. Bet of all it is a neutral song unlike GSTQ or AnbhF.

On a different note, well done on your win the other day, I look forward to our meeting in the quarter-finals! Of course, now I've said that, watch us lose to Fiji and go out at the pool stage, again. Eminently possible if we play as we did today. Can you believe despite winning the Grand Slam twice in the last decade, I haven't seen us throw a decent ball from the lineout since about 1978? :angry2:

tetsujin1979

19/09/2011, 8:44 AM