Eddie's Tactics- An Alternative Theory

Donie75

Okay, I realise this is a bit off the wall but I thought I would throw it out there for discussion.
The Irish team have had very poor performances in the last two games against the minnows and this is not a huge surprise because Ireland are always very poor against weaker teams. I think that they have a mindset that if they know they can win then the seem to play very poorly. This has certainly been the case of late.
However, I think Eddie may be holding back the team and getting them to play in a style that will avoid big hits and hard contact, thus avoiding injuries. In the last two games we have continuously seen the team kicking and handing away possession. ROG's famous crossfield kicks in behind the opposition backline haven't happened. The ball rarely gets out along the backline and backrow forwards are filling in to protect ROG and BOD.
Eddie used to be coach of Buccaneers and in Bucc's he was famous for his tactics of holding on to the ball. They used to ruck and maul up the pitch and never kick the ball at all. The backs rarely got a look in. If Ireland had rucked and mauled up the pitch against Namibia & Georgia Eddie would probably have ended up with a lot more injuries and tired forwards.
I hope I'm right about this theory and I hope we do beat the France & Argentinians but there just seems something a bit odd about the teams performances of late.

Flame away.....

Donie75

CountryWise

Without being sarcastic do you really think that is something he is intending to do? letting Georgia across the line in stoppage time only for it to go to the touch judge? or by letting the players get ruined by the press after the namibia match?

I dont think anyone knows whats wrong.....

zAbbo

For the theory of conserving players, it would have made more sense to empty the bench after 60minutes of the first game, alternate the starting XV for the second, again emptying the bench, which would leave us with 30 players having gotten substancial game time.

Instead we have a front row which is on it's last legs, a non-firing second row, and a backrow which look bewildered.

Mr.75

And all that fumbling of the ball was part of the plan too?

Diarmuid

And if that was the game plan, Stringer should have got man of the match for his intercepted pass :-D

ibh

Donie75: don't think it is a case of holding back. They looked bewildered and confused and to be honest i think the Georgian forwards really put them through the mill and battered and bruised them to some extent. so i don't think we avoided big hits really.
After the Italy warm-up game i thought that we had purposely kept it simple so as not to give anything away to our WC opponents. we seemed to have no ideas or direction that day. Seems like I was being too optimistic and this is in fact what we have been reduced to.

Danie Gerber

Since we're indulging in alternative theories, how's about EOS and the boys conjuring up an even more elaborate illusion. One that sees them playing very ordinary, predictable rugby in order to lull the French into a false sense of confidence?

Trying to win the bonus point, but play really badly in the process type of thing. ALMOST got unstuck against Georgia though!! That's why the boys were all so relieved after the match! Didn't get the BP either!

And of course against Fra they'll come out firing and blow the unexpectant French out of the water..

No?

corny

I actually agree to certain extent. Not in terms of fooling the French or preventing injury but we tried to play a game so alien to the 15 players that it almost backfired. The obvious errors aside there was no continuity in our play at all. 2 players in a ruck with the rest of the forwards strung out in the backline is how England play and we coppied them. The opposition just did the same and no matter how good a ball carrier Darcy is an 18 stone back rower is a lot harder to run through than an opposing centre.

I doubt its an EOS masterplan but you have to wonder why we didn't play our normal game in tight (suck in the opposition) and release our outside backs into a bit of space.

siochain

the face on O'Gara during and after match is enough to know they are not bluffing. As a supporter I would be well p****ed off if the put the fans through this on purpose.

Rattlehead_ie

Dont get me wrong siochain, but if EOS and the Irish Team have purposely done this as a rugby fan I would be F**king delighted. As it stands, we have a French and Argie side that believe that the Ireland that we know are not at the races so to speak, they know that their games will be harder but believe that Ireland will be easier than expected. Also Ireland have now been tagged as the under dogs for the next 2 games a tag that an Irish Team play very well too.

I dont believe this theory to be true as the handling errors were to may and to "realistic" to be a tactic. I still believe in the team picked and wouldnt be surprised if we won, itll b tough but a good game.

LuckyLloyd

I hope the OP is right.

ALH-06

Danie Gerber wrote:

Since we're indulging in alternative theories, how's about EOS and the boys conjuring up an even more elaborate illusion. One that sees them playing very ordinary, predictable rugby in order to lull the French into a false sense of confidence?

Trying to win the bonus point, but play really badly in the process type of thing.

Sounds ridiculous but....? Here's what I find strange: Ireland were simply not committing numbers to the breakdown. Continuously. Why not? Despite the presence of plenty of Irish forwards around rucks, only 2-3 were actually competing for the ball on the ground, and were often outnumbered / overwhelmed, resulting in Georgia keeping possession and turning over ours. Struck me as very strange.

Now I'm not a conspiracy theorist but it's a valid point. The breakdown has definitely been the most alarming part of the last two horrific displays, and not committing sufficient numbers to rucks is NOT a difficult problem to fix from a coaching point of view.

Was this done on purpose? Did EOS want Namibia / Georgia to play with large amounts of possession? The Irish kicking game on Saturday would certainly back this point!

Laslo

My God, you're only fooling yourselves. You think we'd have thrown away the bonus point against Georgia on purpose? Argentina x 2 - beaten by a better team, Scotland - beaten by a better team, Italy - should have been beaten by an even worse team, Namibia - played poorly against a far inferior team, Georgia - should have lost to a better team.

Yeah, it's all one big ruse. :eek:

Donie75

The reason I have come up with this slightly mad conspiracy is that the performance & tactics from the last few games just doesn't add up.
Why have Ireland failed to spread the ball out wide?
Why have they only put 2 to 4 forwards into rucks & mauls?
Why had Eddie been so slow to give the subs a run out?

I understand that there has been a lot of handling errors and there seems to be some unrest and unease among the players. Maybe Eddie is holding them back and if he is then it's possible the players don't like it.

Just my 0.02c,

D

nacho libre

Fiendishly Clever of EOS! This is the only plausible explanation for the performances so far:)