Irish Rugby thing on RTE1 now

komodosp

...but I think it's a repeat of the thing they showed after the 6 nations... THey started out talking about the WC so I was hoping it'd be different...

Brian O'Driscoll should be banned from cursing!

chicoben

Yeah it took all the stuff from the last one and added new bits. Doesn't make me feel any better about the forthcoming six nations though.

bleg

Eddie O Sullivan: "At half time these guys are looking for information that they can go out and use in the second half"

cut to Eddie O Sullivan in the dressing room: "Keep hold of the ****ing football, keep up the energy!"

great advice eddie. if ireland lost the match i bet he would have said "we didn't keep hold of the football, we didn't maintain the energy of the 1st half"

prick

dub_skav

bleg wrote: »

Eddie O Sullivan: "At half time these guys are looking for information that they can go out and use in the second half"

cut to Eddie O Sullivan in the dressing room: "Keep hold of the ****ing football, keep up the energy!"

great advice eddie. if ireland lost the match i bet he would have said "we didn't keep hold of the football, we didn't maintain the energy of the 1st half"

prick

That's exactly what myself and the lads I was watching it with were saying - Wow Eddie your insightful tactical comments are really worth the wages.

Punchbowl

bleg wrote: »

Eddie O Sullivan: "At half time these guys are looking for information that they can go out and use in the second half"

cut to Eddie O Sullivan in the dressing room: "Keep hold of the ****ing football, keep up the energy!"

great advice eddie. if ireland lost the match i bet he would have said "we didn't keep hold of the football, we didn't maintain the energy of the 1st half"

prick

Yes, lovely comment. And you listened to the entire half time talk yeah?

I will remind you that we went on to win that came very comfortably, so whatever he said, it worked... But some of the bias against Eddie here is hilarious, keep it coming...

welish

A large amount of the criticism being levelled at EOS is bollocks. He's been the most successful Irish coach in history. Wait until after the six nations and if they bottle it THEN we can all start fretting about the end of Irish Rugby as we know it. Yes, the WC was a shambles and I'm as disappointed as anyone but changing the coach won't do an awful lot. Look at the soccer team for jaysus sake, perfectly good manager in Kerr and because of this kind of public outcry Staunton was brought in. A lot of good that did. So let's not rock the boat too much here people we still have a great team and a solid management team.

daveirl

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stevire

komodosp wrote: »

...but I think it's a repeat of the thing they showed after the 6 nations... THey started out talking about the WC so I was hoping it'd be different...

Think they showed it just to build a bit of hype and restore a little faith in them ahead of the six nations...

komodosp wrote: »

Brian O'Driscoll should be banned from cursing!

Drico wasn't half as bad as Eddie before the match!! He is so calm in front of the media, and during the game... he's a different man in the dressing room

chicoben

welish wrote: »

Look at the soccer team for jaysus sake, perfectly good manager in Kerr and because of this kind of public outcry Staunton was brought in. A lot of good that did.

In comparison, our rugby team is far better than our soccer team at the moment. The rugby team on paper is one of the best in the world yet we fail when the pressure comes on. Compare that to the soccer team who are good, but not one of the best in the world.

welish

daveirl wrote: »

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Last year's six nations wasn't bottled. A last minute fumble saved France and a silly tap penalty may have cost us the championship. I know these things balance themselves out but we put in some great performances last spring. On a lighter note, the only reason we can't beat France is because we never catch the hoors on a bad day! Scotland, Wales and England have all beaten them over the last four years.

chicoben

We shouldn't really have to catch France on a bad day though. I'd rather us beat them because we were better than them, not because they sucked fo a day.

Amz

chicoben wrote: »

We shouldn't really have to catch France on a bad day though. I'd rather us beat them because we were better than them, not because they sucked fo a day.

Hear, hear!

daveirl

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Sangre

welish wrote: »

Last year's six nations wasn't bottled. A last minute fumble saved France and a silly tap penalty may have cost us the championship.

That's pretty much the definition of bottling it.

komodosp

stevire wrote: »

Drico wasn't half as bad as Eddie before the match!! He is so calm in front of the media, and during the game... he's a different man in the dressing room

No I mean it just doesn't sound right coming from his mouth! I didn't mind Eddie or Paul O'...

welish

daveirl wrote: »

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Of course I want us to win a grand slam, don't be ridiculous. I was close to tears in croker last year at the final whistle.

My main point seems to have been lost. I'm not saying Eddie is perfect but there's been some really nasty criticism posted up here on Boards and it sickens me a little bit. When we hammered Australia and SA in the Autumn before the last 6 nations he had few critics. Granted there were those who didn't like his management style from the start, and you seem to be one of those people dave, but you can be sure some of the posters here were singing his praises up to a year ago.

One thing that sticks in my head is a comment from Drico on an Irish rugby program about 18 months or 2 years ago. He was asked about the wave of excitement gripping the public with regards the international team, and he said something to the effect of 'People are always happy when you're doing well, but you're a villain as soon as you start losing'.

Trojan

I have criticised EOS and in my mind it's very deserved. He should be fired.

Since the RWC he has made some statements, none of which answer any of the real questions asked of him. Questions like:

* How could this group of seriously talented players fail so completely?
* Why did we not make use of our squad?
* Why do we never make tactical substitutions?
* Why didn’t we know how to ruck?
* Why don’t we change our lineout when it’s not working?
* What exactly did Geordan Murphy, Alan Quinlan et al. do to gain social outcast status?
* Just how badly does our out-half have to perform, game after game, after game, after game, to get dropped?
* What’s different about scrum-half that he can get dropped?

Instead we get "I made a balls of it, sorry." Where's the answers to our questions? Screw that, you don't get a free pass on a debacle like the RWC.

Crash

Well he did answer the tactical sub question quite clearly in a mid WC press conference - clearly stating that he doesn't believe subs should be used for that purpose, especially if losing.

Stev_o

çrash_000 wrote: »

Well he did answer the tactical sub question quite clearly in a mid WC press conference - clearly stating that he doesn't believe subs should be used for that purpose, especially if losing.

Must have been banging his head then when watching the France NZl game thinking "What have i just said"

bleg

çrash_000 wrote: »

Well he did answer the tactical sub question quite clearly in a mid WC press conference - clearly stating that he doesn't believe subs should be used for that purpose, especially if losing.

how should they be used?

daveirl

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razorblunt

daveirl wrote: »

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Don't you know it's all Geordan Murphy's fault!!

Crash

EOS's statement at the time when queried on it was that you should use sub's in 3 situations:

1)when you're losing and someone gets injured.
2)when you're winning by a bit and need an extra boost
3)when you're winning by a lot and want to give a man a runout

Not sure which WC press conference it was, but I couldnt believe it when I heard it.

daveirl

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Trojan

If he really believes that, he should go back coaching amateur teams.

This is professional rugby. It's the World Cup. Squad rotation and tactical substitutions are no longer luxuries, they're an important part of the modern professional game and it p!sses me off no end to see weaker rugby nations using these strategies effectively and seeing our glory team getting it's ass kicked when they should be doing it too.

dub_skav

I was never an Eddie fan and believe that Gatland got royally shafted. Even when Eddie's team secured decent performances I criticised his use of squad and bench.

I will be very interested to see how Wales and Ireland get on respectively in the upcoming 6 nations. Both had poor Word Cups by their own standards and were unceremoniously dumped out in the 1st round. Now both have to get themselves back on track, 1 with Eddie at the helm and one with Gatland.

zAbbo

Thats right Trojan, but we didn't have the structure for that within the squad, even back to 45man training camps in Spala, we had 3 distinct groups of 15's, clearly showing what the pecking order was.

We didn't have a squad, we had an 1st and 2nd XV, and only injury or severe poor performance would displace a first teamer.

It was and probably still is - a total balls in terms of management.

Sadly enough, I'd almost hope we get the wooden spoon in 6n, if that meant that Eddie got the door.

But I think the players will still have their provincial sharpness, as Eddie won't have long enough with the players to have the negative effect he had with them Pre RWC.

welish

Some of you seem to want O'Gara dropped. Who would you have him replaced with? Paddy Wallace? Jeremy Staunton? There's not exactly an army of young talented 10s knocking the door of Irish rugby down. The outhalf situation is diabloical and there's more than eddie to answer for it. I believe the Leinster branch among others are neglecting young five eights. Contepomi is starting at 10 for Leinster now and before that it was Howell. And it's not as if Kidney is raising a young crop of them.

Snickers Man

welish wrote: »

I believe the Leinster branch among others are neglecting young five eights. Contepomi is starting at 10 for Leinster now and before that it was Howell.

What are you talking about? In their last two matches (v Ulster and the Ospreys) as well as the Jihad against Munster before Christmas Leinster have played Contepomi in the centre and Sexton at out half.

I can only imagine there is some leverage being applied to give Sexton game time at 10 because he has been identified as a potential out half of the future. It certainly isn't because he's better than Dr Phil. He's got a long way to go.

zAbbo

Could be partly down to D'Arcy's lack of form as well.