a wake up call

scotty_xml

It was a wake up call for the irish team and their supporter on Sunday.
I think they did very well to get to the quarter final but as George Hook said, being rated the third team in the world was unrealistic.

the fnj

I would put Ireland fifth in the world at the moment and very close to forth, top six for me at the moment would be

France
New Zealand
England
Australia
Ireland
South Africa

Wales and Scotland both put in some brave performances but they lack the class we posses.

colster

I don't think that the France game is a good measure of this Ireland side.
The first half really showed that the games against Argentina and Australia had taken a lot out of the team.
The other factor to consider is that we were missing 2 of our best players in Hickie and Murphy.
We may not have won the game but it would have been a lot closer if this game were a week earlier and we had a full strength side.

We're probably not in the top 3 in the world but we're certainly top 5/6 which is a great achievement for Ireland.

DEG viper

I dont believe that france are the best in the world.
The all blacks will demonstrate this when they hopefully meet in the final

Trojan

Fair play Tom, you put into words exactly what I was thinking too. On form and with a full squad, we can beat any of those teams.

Your ranking looks pretty accurate too, my money is on Fr-NZ final, but it's a tough one to call the winner.

a_ominous

My 2 cents worth; this Irish team is one of the best in many years in terms of games won, but we're still a long way off the top game. We don't have the killer instinct required to finish a game well. We were expected to beat the Pumas even though their pack had some strenght. The Irish pack was regarded as stronger than the French but we were unable to capitalise on that. We did miss Hickie and Murphy, Murphy especially his long seeking kicks into open space make for a different game.

Might be worth reflecting on club and provincial rugby. Irish teams get close but still no cigar. 2 teams in the semis or ERC last season. Munster have been close a couple of times. Actually the Munster v Northampton game last season was one of the best games I've seen in years. Had it taped even though I was watching it and watched it several times since. Great exhibition. Ulster winning the ERC a few years ago was the best club performance but hasn't been matched in a while. Perhaps because Humphries went off the boil for a while. ROG hasn't been doing too well in this tournament but did provide some relief in the Aussie game. He was poor in the France game and Ireland's fortune changed when Humphries came on.

Anyhow to recap, we're not really at the races when it comes to top class rugby although we might be able to upset a major team once in a blue moon, but not consistently.

TomTom

ROG did take a knock early on and I thought he should have been swaped a lot earlier.
I think our current rank of 5 (afaik) is spot on. As was said we can take any of these teams if the conditions are right.

conorb56

I honestly thought we were good enough.

If Geordan Murphy was playing, maybe we wouldn't have conceded that first try, what would have been then?

I don't care about rankings, as Roy Keane said, we have to stop celebrating defeat.

C'mon Munster!

At least we are not as bad as Brian Kerr's shower of muppets!

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Qadhafi

We got hamered by the french, who showed us what an average team we are and how far we are away from top class rugby.

We beat one good team by a VERY slim margin and fcuked up our best chance of getting to a semi final against the Aussies. We then got hammered by the french, our rugby team starts crying and everyone starts celebrating.


PATHETIC World Cup. Ireland has still a huge distance to make up to make it to the top flight rubgy. We need more kids playing rugby, a new stadium for rugby etc.

jonno

According to the IRB ratings today Ireland have dropped to 6th.

Anyhow back to the topic in hand, I also honestly thought that we could beat the French with the team we fielded but the French opened a serious can of whoop-ass on us in the first half. I don't think ROG can be blamed - as someone stated he picked up a severe blow to the head at the start. Should have been taken off sooner. I thought Dempsey and J. Kelly both had poor games. We really miss Murphy at no.15. I was expecting more from Kelly but he was found wanting on a couple of occasions. In the forwards Corrigan was crap.

Another problem for us was that the scrum wasn't working. Costello was trying to do what he does best but it didn't come off. Also the line-out (one of our stronger points) was dominated by the French. With four jumpers in the starting 15 it was alwasy going to be a big task to take them there.

Anyway I think we deserve a top five ranking at least. We have the quality and there are plenty of promising players coming up.

Finally thank you Woodie for all the memories.

GreenHell

I thought we bottled it yesterday to be honest. The French hit us at 300mph and we where left wondering what was going on. Reminded me too much of the 6 nations finale.

spanner

we just didnt settle into the game at all. the set pieces where a mess and the defence was not great. humphreys should of been brought on earlier. but odriscoll and o conniall played a stormer. by looking at those guys we can see rugby has a bright future in ireland.

just like to honour the legend that is the man keith wood. a all time great, been with ireland through the bad times and the good

Hairy Homer

Originally posted by GreenHell
I thought we bottled it yesterday to be honest. The French hit us at 300mph and we where left wondering what was going on. Reminded me too much of the 6 nations finale.

We didn't bottle it on Sunday. We bottled it the previous Saturday when we could and should have beaten the Ozzies. That drop kick sailing over the top of the posts was our exit visa from the world cup.

Even playing against an Aussie team with a bunch of girls in the forwards and a crap ref (Paddy O'Brien, if your Irish ancestors are in heaven they're not letting you in) who thought there was no such thing as a forward pass, no such thing as a crooked throw and no such thing as a rolling maul we came within a point and a win would have been thoroughly deserved.

We had no luck in this tournament. The scheduling went against us in that we had three tough games in successive weekends. No opportunity to rotate the squad. We don't have strength in depth throughout the team. They were jaded on Sunday and had no answer to France's first half intensity.

Also to lose one world class strike runner was unfortunate, to lose two is evidence of some great wickedness in a previous life.

How to make it better: more talent needs to be nurtured at home. Those of you young and fit enough get out and play. Those of you (us) too old and fat; get out and coach, or at least get out and watch. Say what you like about the Leinster rah rahs you Limerick muck savages but Donnybrook is still attracting big crowds on Friday nights. Even for the Celtic League. Meanwhile Thomond is losing its impregnable status.

We're going to need a new hooker, new props and new half backs soon. Also please God let another pasty faced Irish kid be born soon with the sheer pace of Hickie and Murphy. Back row has strength in depth. Ditto Locks. Some good centres still hanging around.

If we can keep the enthusiasm, keep our players and keep our supporters supporting we'll do fine.

I'm still smarting over that defeat to the aussies, though. Lovely people but an arrogant shower when it comes to sport. Only consolation: I backed France at 10/1 to win the championship. Looking good right now.

vorbis

scheduling was hardly against us. we had one of the more favourable schedules. The main problem was that we never settled.