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D'Arcy? Forward passes, offloaded to McFadden (who wasn't expecting it) when he should have took the ball to ground.
I'd bring Trimble or Earls to 13. Bowe will be back for the 14 slot (fingers crossed). I prefer Fitzgerald on the wing but don't think we have anybody at 15. How long is Kearney out for?
McFadden's playing too well to be dropped in my opinion. Not convinced by Earls yet - not got the physical strength to play at centre for me.
Kidney and O'Driscoll on yesterday's game and future selections.
Kidney says next weekend's Magners League fixtures will go some way to determining the team for Scotland.
O'Driscoll sums it all up when he says: “Guys have to go back and look at their individual performances, errors that were made. The more pressure that is put on guys who are in the starting 15 from other players . . . you are going to have to up your game or be replaced. They’re the blunt facts of the matter."
Absolutely right. And I hope that's followed through with a good bit of shake up in the coming games.
Very frustrating game. Ireland score 3 tries to 1 and still lose - a sliced penalty kick by Sexton the difference between the teams. How that Rugby's version of Dunphy, George Hooke, could claim that France were the better team is beyond me. They only got close to scoring one other try (the kick in to the corner)
On the positive side, the scrum did not capitulate. The dropped passes were so frustrating.
Am I right in thinking that O'Connell never makes any ground when he takes a pass off a ruck? I can't even remotely claim to be an expert but he always seems to be brought down on the spot he began.
I think France targeted Ireland with the high balls in Kearney's absence and it worked - Fitzgerald only collected one cleanly if I recall.
Ireland had their chance at the end and fluffed it......through a dropped pass. Strange since this happened against Italy a lot.
Good game though.
That was a conversion, wasn't it? So we'd still have lost by a point.Quote:
Very frustrating game. Ireland score 3 tries to 1 and still lose - a sliced penalty kick by Sexton the difference between the teams.
It's an area of his game that's gotten worse, although in his defence he is just back from a long injury. It's because he's so tall and bulky - he finds it difficult to get his body low enough to break the tackle. O'Callaghan is better at it.Quote:
Am I right in thinking that O'Connell never makes any ground when he takes a pass off a ruck? I can't even remotely claim to be an expert but he always seems to be brought down on the spot he began.
There was a peno he missed - I thought it was that he sliced rather than the conversion but I might be wrong. With a one point game we might not have gone hell for leather in that last attack for the try and just gone for the dropped goal. Who knows. I'd say we'll be doing well to win one of the last three games.
Based on what I've seen, I'd certainly expect us to beat Scotland and have a very good chance against Wales.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
I'm surprised Parra has been dropped by the French. There was no harm he is knocked down a peg he likes to think the French have more ambition at international level that Ireland. Hopefully we'll get to knock them out of the World Cup at some point.
Ireland team to face Scotland
Three changes - Bowe, O'Gara and Reddan all back in. D'Arcy and Best are lucky, Wallace is still on the bench leaving us woefully short of back cover - again. It's unlikely he'll get any meaningful game time so what's the point? Don't know why McFadden isn't there tbh
D'Arcy probably got away with it because Wallace made so little impact for Ulster last week. Trimble was pretty poor also so that probably explain his exclusion.
Best isn't brilliant but haven't seen anything from Cronin to suggest he's better.
I'd prefer to see Stringer start over Reddan (s l o w).
I'm expecting us to win our 3 remaining games.....
I'm just relieved he didn't recall Tony Buckley. My heart skipped when he was recalled to the squad on Monday.
Both appear to struggle with their throws, but Cronin's a livewire in the loose and a real prospect. Think he should be given a better crack at competitive games, particularly if the guy in front of him is struggling.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr A
We've got to win well today and cut out the 1990s-era errors that have become a feature. Otherwise I think it'd be fair to say that we are a team that makes mistakes consistently rather than a team that has played below par for a bit.
Do educated observers think that England were any great shakes yesterday? They were the better team but a penalty that hit the upright and missing the rugby equivalent of an open goal (French guy failing to collect the grubber kick over England's line) was all that separated the sides. Wales missed a hatful of chances by taking wrong options. This could be an easily achieved Slam for them unless we pull our socks up. (They've already beaten Scotland in the press).
I was listening to R5 Live yestetrday morning and one pundit already had England in the RWC Final.
General point: the number of times English players chased up-and-unders from an offside position without being penalised was unreal. I thought that this was one of the major areas of focus for referees this year.
Any team that can hold them up front will beat them fairly comfortably. We won't but South Africa, New Zealand or France playing well will. I think they'll lose to France in the quarter final but if they win that, they could make the final as New Zealand and South Africa are in the other half of the draw.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I thought England were very average yesterday, France looked clueless and I really don't know why they seem to freeze whenever they face England. Bizarre.
Would Ireland have beat France playing like that? No way, maybe that's a sign of England being able to beat good sides when not at the races and it's something this Kidney side need before the WC. It seems that whenever we get a big scalp then it means our players 1-15 have to be at their absolute best. I still fancy our chances of beating them in the final 6N game. We have the better backs and just need to make sure the set pieces are solid.
Kidney needs a good win today to silence some of the doubters (Leinster fans on the whole) but I fear we're going to try and slug it out with Scotland which will make it a close game.
Cut out the penalties and handling errors and I think this team could get to a semi final at the WC.
France seem to have a mental bloke when it comes to England much as we have a mental block when it comes to France. They were much better this week than they were against us yet they consistently fluffed their lines, often under no pressure at all. I think we'll beat England because we're not scared of them but Wales away still looks tricky despite their poor form.
They have Lievremont for all their games unfortunately for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
Haha wow. Freudian.
Well that was terrible, Scotland were awful and we only barely won. 21-9 up and we fell apart, gave away more stupid penalties and completely panicked when Scotland got back within a score.