Irish Rugby

GreenHell

I would describe how the irish team has performed in the last 5-6 years and the results we have achieved as below our potential.

Diamondmaker

Benedict XVI wrote:

If that is not the definition of mediocrity I don’t know what is

I wont question your rugby knowledge and you are of course entitled to your opinion

but your grasp of the english language is poor......

How do you equate 2nd best with mediocre?

Benedict XVI

Diamondmaker wrote:

I wont question your rugby knowledge and you are of course entitled to your opinion

but your grasp of the english language is poor......

How do you equate 2nd best with mediocre?

Relative to the hype that follows them 2nd is most definetly mediocre.

We Irish are great a celebrating 2nd place.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Diamondmaker

Benedict XVI wrote:

Relative to the hype that follows them 2nd is most definetly mediocre.

We Irish are great a celebrating 2nd place.

Sorry the team the fans and the fair weather supporters were dissapointed with this seasons outcome.

The 3C, 2nd in 6N and the Provinces crashing out no one is celebrating anything. Evryone concerned and interested, with their higher ( and justifiably so ) expectations, is left feeling dissapointed.

I know no one celbrating 2nd this season.

The team will be dissapointed to lose a SF to NZ even in the WC, such is the journey Irish rugby has travelled of late!

The Irish are great at moaning and begrudging however I wont deny that

thebaz

Benedict XVI wrote:

Relative to the hype that follows them 2nd is most definetly mediocre.

We Irish are great a celebrating 2nd place.

2nd mediocre ? What planet are you from ?

We have a playing population of about 20,000 , France, Japan and New Zealand have over 100,000 players to choose from , and England over 200,000 -- i think we are doing pretty good all things considered -- rugby is one game in ireland that is not in crisis !

potato_man

Diamondmaker wrote:

I know no one celbrating 2nd this season. The team will be dissapointed to lose a SF to NZ even in the WC, such is the journey Irish rugby has travelled of late!

While I agree with your comment DM... it seems to me its not the real problem here on this thread. While the Irish team and all those who support them will be disappointed with a loss - no matter what stage it comes at - we will all surely be able to differentiate a credible loss from a rubbish performance!

The problem here is that there seems to have emerged in Ireland a whole load of Dunphy-ite/Hook-esque wannabes who think that the way to be realistic is to absorb the SKY SPORTS style hype of acting like your either the best in the world or you're a loser.... and that - especially in countries like Ireland which have such a small sports base - is just plain ridiculous.

I remember Dunphy a few years back just after the 2002 WC saying we should be winning the Euro championships! And Hook plays at the same egotistical nonsense in rugby.... the subtle undertone is that Dunphy/Hook know exactly whats wrong and that then ensures their jobs... Ireland lose and everyone thinks they're the prophets... ireland wins and noone cares what they said anyways.

This Ireland team just a few months ago took a good Aussie team apart in a manner so professional and so fluid, that just a few years ago it would have seemed like you had to be watching a Kiwi V Oz tri-nations game. They then beat a SA team twice in a row. They only lost this GS by - an admittedly unforgivable - last minute try against France and demolished England and Italy by record scores. Now how can all that translate into ppl saying that Ireland are : rubbish, mediocre, etc, etc.

Constructive comments as to what Ireland could do to improve their admittedly weak killer-instinct... or expand our sub bench are helpful... but all this other stuff is really just about the secret jouisssance of those complaining!

psicic

flsghujslkuo wrote:

Anyone else think that if O sullivan told O Gara kick the corners instead of running/passing we would have won every game

My sentiments exactly. O'Gara underperformed for me in that he wasn't kicking for position in behind the back three of the opposition. Oh, he did a good job of tidying up after - even scoring a couple of tries, but because his position is so important, his kicks(or lack of them) put the whole team under pressure. There's no way that the Ireland/Scotland scoreline should have been so close.

Having said all that, I think the system in Ireland, the teams in Ireland are all doing a fine job. I don't think they are at their full potential and they could be great - but they still are doing a fine job.

To clarify, I think, for instance, Leinster have been lumbered with a few players that looked promising but haven't upped their game for some reason. They shouldn't form a team of choice as we have so many other hopefuls dying for their chance to come on and play. (Also, why won't he field Reeeeeegggggieeeeeeeeee a bit more? He's not just there to warm the bench! )

I also think the national team would be stronger if we could pull in Irish players from abroad. This has drawbacks too, though - just look at our soccer team.

Also, at a national level, we've got to learn how to sub players in earlier in matches.

I suppose anyone that enjoys a bit of rugby has a list of 'improvements' they'd like to see. However, I've listed these 'common' ones to highlight that there are many, many other examples that prove the strength of the game. For instance, we DO make it to the knock out stages in Europe regularly. Foreign teams DO pay us the respect of fielding strong teams when playing us in competitions. We are a nation looked up to many nation's who have teams in the 2nd division(e.g. Romania, Spain etc...)

Then there are examples of how our system can cope: When Shane Byrne started to flag (something I admit I never noticed myself) Leinster got a very good replacement in the form of Jackman, who was fostered by playing for Irish teams.

There are many of us who remember the dark days when the Irish teams were the whipping boys of the 'Home Nations' and thinking: "Well at least our soccer team is so good and so many of our players are on English teams now that we'll always rank highly."

I think that today we've a set of fine players and good structures, but we've got to up the ante a little and go that extra mile while we have these resources. I mean, we seem to a good system in place in rugby to replace our players as they grow older and retire...but I, for one, won't go counting our chickens just yet....