Danny mills' england comments in relation to ireland

[tetsujin1979]

No. Does that jeopardise a Tetsujin theory?

nope, just we always seem to be short of left sided players!

[osarusan]

Anyway, I subjected my 5 year old to the English coaching system this morning. It was only his second ever coached football session, in our local park. He started by doing simple exercises but they finished with a "game", with the objective being to encourage passing rather than scoring. (you could only score after completing so many passes).

The kids were divided into 2 groups of 12, and a variation of a six-a-side game was played on 2 small pitches.


At the end, all 24 kids were called up under a tree.

The coach explained what the object of the exercise was, learning to pass to team mates. Then he said that there was one standout example of a guy looking to pass and find space (his words) and he called my little fella up and gave him a medal.

This very proud dad is feeling very positive about English coaching this evening!

You were the coach, weren't you.

[paul_oshea]

was just about to reply same my Japanese friend.

great posts lads. i think there is middle ground here

[Stuttgart88]

Look, Sexton is a hell of a player. But "practically reinventing the position"? Give me a break. That's the same guff I heard last winter when we were being told that Chris Ashton had reinvented the wing role.

Sean O'Brien and Heaslip are super players, but England has had fantastic back rows in the past, and they'll have them again.

The club v country issue is hampering English rugby. FT points out above that we don't have this problem, because we have centrally contracted players playing for "clubs" effectively sponsored by our national union.

[Stuttgart88]

Toashtie, while the club game has been adversely affected by rugby's professionalism, is it fair to say that the grass roots is in decline? I'd have thought otherwise.

If you look at these sports as pyramids, I'd say the bottom and the middle of the Irish football pyramid is probably in decent shape. The very top is in decent nick (the national team) and the LOI is having a great season in terms of the balance in the league and the competition at the top. The real problem is the disconnection between the middle and the top - the technical standard of the whole pyramid notwithstanding.

What condition is the rugby pyramid in? The top looks to be in great shape. The grassroots, I'd have thought is in good shape, but maybe the middle - the long established clubs - are finding it tough.

I also think it's funny how a win over England changes the mood re-rugby. We had a dreadful 6 Nations until thr last game. Poor performances against Italy, Wales and Scotland and an inability to put away a French team there for the beating preceded a very emphatic and gratifying win over England. Where did we come - third? How are we perceived? Virtually deified.

Would the football team be cut that much slack if we fail to qualify for the Euros?

Leinster were the best team in the H-Cup all season, granted.

[French Toasht]

Stutts, when I say grassroots, perhaps I'm looking at my own particular situation. If you didn't go to a fee paying school, I find it hard to see how any young lad can get involved in the game nowadays. I'm speaking on behalf of Leinster rugby here, when I say there is still an element of elitism that has trickled all the way down to the very junior ranks. Whilst schools rugby has been a real success story and has benefited the national team, if it is not open to a large percentage of the population then the game has failed in its objective to reach the grassroots.

I completely agree with you as regards how the victory against England appears to have changed perceptions. We had a shocking 6 Nations and the England result was merely papering over cracks.

[Stuttgart88]

I think the win over England showed our potential, but just underlined how poor our earlier performances were. I think it's fair to say we struggled with referees and the grey area betwen rucks and mauls, but we were still poor. What bugs me is that, bar a few discerning fans, everyone forgave & forgot the first 4 performances. It'd be nice if the football hury could be so tolerant.

[BonnieShels]

My take on what happened was that we realised the end product against England that we were trying to give a go at against the others and thats why the English result seemed to be blown out of proportion.
We were changing our game to suit the inevitable plethora of southern referees we'll get at the world cup.
Now I could be talking through my hat but that's what I got out of it. We shall see in the upcoming friendlies if that bears out.

[Charlie Darwin]

Stutts, when I say grassroots, perhaps I'm looking at my own particular situation. If you didn't go to a fee paying school, I find it hard to see how any young lad can get involved in the game nowadays. I'm speaking on behalf of Leinster rugby here, when I say there is still an element of elitism that has trickled all the way down to the very junior ranks. Whilst schools rugby has been a real success story and has benefited the national team, if it is not open to a large percentage of the population then the game has failed in its objective to reach the grassroots.
Join a club - there's loads of them around. The likes of O'Brien, Horgan, Jackman, O'Driscoll all started off at clubs. It's becoming more organised around schools now but the schools are scouting at clubs.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Don't forget also, a lot of this stuff is cyclical. It's farcical to expect small nations like Ireland to carry on producing a conveyor belt of international quality players, in any sports.

Not often we should have cause to thank the Brits in the sports world but the very fact some of their clubs do have top-class academies do mean very many Irish sportspeople, especially in a soccer context, have been able to benefit.

[Charlie Darwin]

I wouldn't agree with that either. The 'golden generation' was probably unique in terms of the number of outstanding individuals but a good sporting culture can always produce great players. I don't know if you were watching the U20 World Cup but the Irish players were technically miles ahead of their opponents but were beaten by sheer size. The technical focus will pay off in the coming years when the physical gap narrows naturally.

[Stuttgart88]

I think it's a bit in the middle. Australia has a great sporting culture but couldn't maintain the standards set by their own golden generation. Even countries with great sporting cultures have fluctuating fortunes.

[jbyrne]

Thats because outside of dublin anyway most pitches are owned by the clubs.

in most of the major towns and cities most pitches are public owned. a lot of private pitches could do with better looking after in anycase