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Wales Vs France

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    #32
    Marty DiBergi
    Closed Accounts Posts: 42 ✭Marty DiBergi


    MooseJam wrote: »
    well done Wales, hope Eddie was watching

    Anyone else think that the union code is more and more like the league? There were large tracts of yesterdays match that you would be hard pushed to distinguish the differences.Good luck to Wales. I think the reign of EOS will be seen in time as a period of under achievment-a bit like Jack Charlton's era for the soccer.


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    #33
    toomevara
    Registered Users Posts: 5,772 ✭✭✭toomevara


    Marty DiBergi wrote: »
    Anyone else think that the union code is more and more like the league? .

    Ummm no,in league,if you watch any, you rarely see the mind numbing, multi-phase, go nowhere nonsense thats been symptomatic of union in the last few years. League players are taught to maximise possession in a set...through pace ,physicality, invention and guile..Union more like league...we should be so lucky!


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    #34
    davyjose
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,287 ✭✭✭davyjose


    springtex wrote: »
    This is now the first half of the 21st century. Ireland won their only Grand Slam in the first half of the 20th century or to make it easier to work out 60 years ago. Wales have now won 10 or maybe 11, twice in the last four years. What message does that convey about Irish rugby apart that your pundits on RTE are losy losers? All the rest of you guys who are generous in your applause and appreciation - thanks.

    It's got nothing to do with that. You've got the same core of players that couldn't beat fiji 6 months ago, and now they win the Grand Slam. Fair play to Wales, but at the end of the day I think that Grand Slam's are for truly great sides - apparently I'm wrong though.
    And people here might be congratulating Wales, but deep down everyone of them feels that the Irish team of the last 3 or 4 years were better than Wales were over the same period of time.

    Edit: And Springtex, if this team does prove to be a great team who dominate over the next few years, like France and England (and Wales) have done in the past, I will stand corrected. But if it's another fluke, like '05 where they did nothing before or after, I'll stand vindicated.


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    #35
    springtex
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5 ✭springtex


    davyjose - you've opened the door here. If it takes a great team to win the Grand Slam does that explain why Ireland haven't won it since 1948 and despite having what I consider a perhaps great team for the last 5 or 6 years.

    I too believe that the 2005 GS was a fluke and really set us back some. We believed we were better than we were.

    This GS has been far from a fluke and after the first 60 minutes in the opening game against England we by a long mile have been the best team in the competition. There has been a tendency by the media and pundits to down grade our success because when playing us the other teams just didn't turn up but what if they were not allowed by us to turn up?

    This team is far from being a world beater but for the first time in probably 20 years is playing with confidence and that has been a result of a great coaching set up. Also they have developed the ability to close down a game, sadly lacking until this season. The defining moment for me yesterday was whenthe French pack were pushed off their own put in close to the Welsh line with about 10 minutes to go. Beautiful. There are other reasons like player power for lack of success in the RWC but I won't go in to that.

    It's just like a new CEO turning around a failing business where the potential is there but not being acieved. Anyway we'll see, this time unlike 2005 I'm quietly confident


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    #36
    davyjose
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,287 ✭✭✭davyjose


    springtex wrote: »
    davyjose - you've opened the door here. If it takes a great team to win the Grand Slam does that explain why Ireland haven't won it since 1948 and despite having what I consider a perhaps great team for the last 5 or 6 years.
    Yes, and they were still unable to win anything. So ,perhaps there's an element of sour grapes (ok, no perhaps about it), but for that reason it hurts me to see other teams do what we should have done.
    Listen, I do think the current Wales side is the real deal, and a Championship was well deserved, but for my money, personally, a Grand Slam was flattering. Look how long it took the pre- 2003 WC England side to win one. Anyway, this might sound hypocritical but I don't care, right now I offer my sincere congratulations to Wales.


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    #37
    toomevara
    Registered Users Posts: 5,772 ✭✭✭toomevara


    springtex wrote: »

    This GS has been far from a fluke and after the first 60 minutes in the opening game against England we by a long mile have been the best team in the competition. t

    Agree the slam was far from a fluke and fair play to Wales, deserved to win it on the balance of the competition. But I have to say, and I've been whinging on about this ad nauseum for weeks, the standard of this years 6n has been appaling, Wales were the best of a bad lot, and to their credit they at least went out to play rugby, to create and score...rather than destroy and be negative.

    But look at the opposition...

    Italy, no halves, no kicking game...frankly amazing they did as well as they did and a testament to their never say die pack.

    Scotland....utter rubbish, negative, destructive rugby...wouldn't score in a brothel with a fistful...total puke rugby. Chuck 'em out, put the Argies in...

    Ireland...rudderless, leaderless, shapeless and, well...utterly hopeless...

    France....suicidal selection process, multiple teams.. Lieveremont finally played his best XV against Wales but they hadn't played together the whole season, and God did it show.

    England...Braindead, one up rugby, no invention and no direction at ten. we flattered them on saturday.

    So yep, fair play to wales for being organised, coherent well coached and inventive...but reckon the All Blacks or the Boks would eat them alive....


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    #38
    NotWormBoy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 620 ✭✭✭NotWormBoy


    toomevara wrote: »
    France....suicidal selection process, multiple teams.. Lieveremont finally played his best XV against Wales but they hadn't played together the whole season, and God did it show.

    Whilst this is all true, I think its doing a bit of a disservice to France - I got the impression that the coaching staff and the general public weren't actually too bothered about winning the 6N. Like you said, they had multiple teams - tried out a rake of new players, to be honest I'd have been happier if we'd done that. Instead, we went out to try any do well at the expense of team development - look where that got us. France went out to play rugby too, sometimes a little too much rugby, but they were great fun to watch, for the most part. They knew it was a development year and played and selected as such.

    Spot on about the rest though.

    I felt a bit sorry for Scotland. Not too much, since they were pretty bad, but they started out positively against France - tried running it and flinging it about, but sadly didn't have the skill and so reverted to the tight game.

    Ah well.


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