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Absolutely outplayed.
Awful end to an awful tournament for Ireland.
I hope O'Sullivan learns some lessons from this. There should be at least a half dozen changes for the next international.
D'Arcy, O'Gara, Leamy, Wallace, O'Callaghan and Horan were anonymous throughout the tournament. Horgan wasn't much better but he was coming back from injury.
We need to write the 6 nations off this year (England and France away) and start to blood young guys like Ferris, Heaslip, Fitzgerald and the like.
Shocking.
Argentina were a far better side than us.
Their pack was better, they were better at the breakdown, their kicking game was better.
How many times did Ireland catch a long kick in their own 22, try to run it out, get about 15/20 yards and then get turned over?
That guy Hernandez was masterful.
Ireland did try today but too many mistakes trying to force things while in poor form.
O'Sullivan has shown a lack of leadership in the WC & while pundits might talk about deciding his fate rationally I can't believe they are thinking he should stay. He will be unable to blood new players & will be unable to change his conservatism. He is the Brian Kerr of International rugby.
O'Gara was woeful. Kicked us to defeat. For an experienced international fly half he was embarrassing today.
What was the game plan? We knew we need tries but we just gave the ball away too too easily and when we got attacking positions, we made too many mistakes and bad decisions (why did ROG kick that penalty in front of the posts in the first half, surely a scrum or kick to touch would have give us an attacking platform for a try?)
Three individual mistakes from O'Gara (2) and O'Connell (1) in the first half cost us big time.
In fairness, that is a good Argentinian team and they had a big incentive to win today to avoid NZ and play Scotland for a place in SF.
Where do we go now? EOS has his contract. 4 years awarded by IRFU before the team made the WC knock out stages almost makes the FAI look professional! :D. He ain't going anywhere which is bad news for any up and coming young forwards who don't happen to come from Munster. :(
It would be interesting the views of Carney and Quinlan on their WC experience. :confused:
We allegedly have coaches for tackling, clearing out at the breakdown, kicking, forwards, lineout, backs and probably wiping their ars@s. They should all be sacked.
Fair play to the Seatanta girl who asked the hard question of EOS.
The buck stops with him. He should have blooded some of the fringe players against Georgia. Paddy Walace should have come on tonight to shake up O'Gara who has been crap.
Too much wine too make any longwinded assesment but I'LL BE BACK. Unlike some of our Good Time Charlies, I hope.
I know its easy to say in hindsight but Argentina were always going beat us off the field. Hernandes is an outstanding player and Argentina deserved the win!
I mightn't have said anything if you hadn't posted that twice :p, but I thought it was an awful question. Fair enough the logic behind it but it was terribly phrased, bloody women, Mary Hannigan happily excepted, in sports journalism! What was Eddie going to say; 'yeah spot on, I'm going to revise my position now, I think I'll resign so that the IRFU don't have to pay me anything.':confused: His look at the end was priceless, maybe the end of your wan's career, allowing me to slip into my rightful position!Quote:
Originally Posted by onceahoop
The inquest into what was a disaster beyond all imagination must now begin. So many things went wrong though that to attempt to source a root cause seems ridiculous. I'm not in the mood to dwell too much on it at the moment and articulate all problems and causes, so I'll just say, bah humbug, I blame Ireland's Call.
Well done to Argentina, great team, good performance today, happy for what seem a very earnest bunch (except for Felipe today, went down a lot in my estimations with his bitchiness). If the quarters go to form they'll play Soud Afrika in the semis, should be a very tough game, two similar styles of play.
Hope this comment is made in jest!Quote:
Originally Posted by kingdom hoop
I hope this comment was made in jest. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Superhoops
I've no problem per se with women in sport, just the ones that don't have a clue. Especially if they're on the same side as the camera.;)
She was perfectly right to ask that question of him. Who does he think he is? He is responsible for this debacle and should be accountable. It's whats on the minds of probably every rugby fan in the country, so fair play to her for asking it. His response was predictable, but its good to see that he doesn't intimidate the entire media.
Argh. While I agree with your general sentiment there Joesoap, did you actually hear the question she asked? It was words to the effect of; 'Well Eddie, you signed a four year contract before the tournament, do you think that decision needs to be revised now?'
That is a God-awful question, at least in my opinion it is. Yes she was right to pose a stickler of some sort, but at least make a decent go of it, which was my initial, albeit largely irrelevant, point on the matter. I'm not saying that Eddie doesn't deserve a grilling, and a good time to do it is straight after the match when he hasn't had a chance to prepare his palaver, but unfortunately the lass didn't have the wherewithal to even turn on the cooker not to mind grill him.
I might not have said anything had you not suggested Mary Hannigan a Journalist. How hard is it to watch TV & take quotes off the internet to make a "column". A few articles on Sunderland (free junket) that is not journalism. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by kingdom hoop
EOS has questions to answer. He is not a volunteer & gets paid a lot of money. He has also had the most resources of any Ireland coach in history & has failed. Ireland rugby resolves around the International team, players taken from provinces for training, players provincial positions moved, players mainly ignored if based abroad...
The players may have failed to perform but EOS failed to construct a squad in 4 years.
:rolleyes: to you too then! If I'm not mistaken journalism is pretty much what you say it isn't, taking information from various sources and packaging it in your own inimitable style. Just because she has a cushty position hardly debars her from being called a journalist. Anyway, clearly you don't read her on hockey, journalism at its finest. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by pete
She was probably the only journalist with the balls to ask O'Sullivan the question most Irish rugby supporters want answered. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by kingdom hoop
Good on her!
South Africa v Argentina
Australia v New Zealand
*mouth waters*
God I hate that sarcasm smilie, suggesting superiority and righteousness antagonises me greatly. Well done. Anyway, you've clearly missed my point. Which was, that the question posed, while as you say it was on all our minds, was never going to reveal anything into Eddie's mindset of what went so wrong, provide reason for the baying mob to tighten the noose, reveal his opinion of whether his position was still tenable etc. Professionally, it was a terrible question, that's my gripe, no more. I admit that to excavate an answer from the reams of default answers in his brain would have been very difficult, but her question was never going to come close. You say it took balls to ask it, I'd say, to put it nicely, a lack of nous.Quote:
Originally Posted by Superhoops
Apologies for the extended non-issue discussion, it was the sarcastic tone that rose me. And will continue to do so for anybody who'd like to annoy me!
:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by kingdom hoop
Was there a point in the middle of all that?
Professionally, it was a terrible question. We get it. You wouldn't happen to be in that proffesion or seeking to join it now would you? Because you are obviously much more qualified than the rest of the hacks here:rolleyes:
If we didn't have to chase after 4 tries, I felt we could of beaten the Argentinans yesterday but our previous results forced our hand. There was a few examples of how dangerous we are with a quick ball from the lineout spread out wide. Unfortuantely our lineout play, whilst much better than against France, still wasn't good enough for a "top team".
ROG had another poor game but I personally was more disappointed with Geordon Murphy's performance. He tried a few chips over the top without putting his heart into it - ie he was looking more for an obstruction penalty by running into the opposition rather than trying to get the ball back. Also felt he could have taken the ball leading up to Argentina's second try. It seemed both he and Redden stood off taking that ball when Murphy as the fullback shouldn't be showing any hestiation in taking the ball.
On the basis it was one of the questions I , and I suspect many other fans, would have asked if there, "professionally" it was actually quite a good question.Quote:
Originally Posted by kingdom hoop
Unless there is some kind of "hard questions journos should and shouldn't ask" guidebook out there?
The demise of the Irish rugby team reminds me of one reason why we are not Italian. 1) If we were Italian we'd all be up in Dublin Airport , later today, to pelt them with rotten fruit and vegetables for being so sh1t at the World Cup.
It begs one question, when do players take the responsibility for being sh!t on the field? I am not exonerating Eddie O'Sullivan , merely trying to get to the bottom of the matter. When the 15 players cross that white line, if all of them collectively underperform, he cannot make sufficient substitutions to change them all ! The players are ultimately responsible. I believe, one of the reasons was being in France, Irish teams at Rugby , traditionally play poorly in away games there. And 2 wins in 35 years at the Five/Six Nations springs to mind to prove my point. For the likes of the older players and I would include Ronan O'Gara ( 30 )and Brian O'Driscoll (28) to an extent in this, it is conceivable that if we make the 2011 World Cup, THEY WON'T BE THERE!
How much more motivation do you need than being at the last chance saloon?