Ireland's 2011 6 Nations: Review

CouchSmart

Results:

Italy 11 - 13 Ireland

Ireland 22 - 25 France

Scotland 18 - 21 Ireland

Wales 19 - 13 Ireland

Ireland 24 - 8 England

It was a real topsy turvey campaign.

We were lucky and unlucky at the same time in Italy, had passes stuck we couldv'e won by a big amount but in the end we did well to get the win

We pretty much hammered the French and but for indiscipline we would have won, sad isn't it?

Same as against France in the Scottish game, our indiscipline nearly cost even with ROG playing territory, they still managed to get penalties in our half.

Wales for me was the big turning point. We went into that game in our shells. Our new game plan wasn't working - it was, we just had to stop giving away stupid penalties - so we decided to revert to type and kick EVERYTHING. It didn't work and even though we got a terrible decision against us there's not many on here that will argue we deserved to win with our dreadful performance.

We went back to our 'new' running game against England and everything click. Literally everything. Let's hope it continues!

irishbucsfan

The staff and players have to accept that their performance during the 6 Nations as a whole was not acceptable and they have to play at a level above that if they are to reach their potential.

They weren't good enough against Italy, Scotland or Wales.

Hopefully they will come back together and play in the style that they did today. If they do that then I'll have no complaints.


Another issue I have is the use of replacements. Whether its Leo Cullen and his 6 second appearances, or Paddy Wallace and O'Gara both being afforded places on the bench, I think we are the worst users of the bench in the tournament. Even today, despite how excellent we were, we slowed in 3rd quarter after England had used their replacements and we were just too slow to bring our own into the game. I'd love to see Kidney sort that bit out.

davidpfitz

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Another issue I have is the use of replacements. Whether its Leo Cullen and his 6 second appearances, or Paddy Wallace and O'Gara both being afforded places on the bench, I think we are the worst users of the bench in the tournament. Even today, despite how excellent we were, we slowed in 3rd quarter after England had used their replacements and we were just too slow to bring our own into the game. I'd love to see Kidney sort that bit out.

I don't disagree .... but in fairness, it was "jobs for the boys" by the end. Yes, we should have scored more, but we protected a big lead. It was pragmatic.


I agree that Paddy Wallace is the worst use of the bench. The only bench he should sit on is in his back garden.

tolosenc

CouchSmart wrote: »

We went back to our 'new' running game against England and everything click. Literally everything. Let's hope it continues!

TOL's injury forced the selection of the best HB pairing, which was what set today's game apart.

Morf

tolosenc wrote: »

TOL's injury forced the selection of the best HB pairing, which was what set today's game apart.

It's easy to say that in hindsight after the first convincing performance of the tournament. Not that i necessarily disagree.

Things we learned.

Earls can play FB internationally, just tell him to run!
Trimble should always be involved, be it starting or on the bench.
We need to keep the ball, stop kicking it away for 80 minutes.
ROG is some man
Our backrow can get at any team if they choose to.
A scrum half's main job is to get the ball to the out half fast, if they do that well, we do well.
We're not hungry enough in "normal" games, today was great and all, but its disappointing that we can't play like that for ourselves, instead we did it to "spite" England.
Our Lineout needs work, it's not bad at all, but it can be better.
Ross and Healy can steer a scrum well at international level.
"The Gameplan" cannot involve kicking the ball.
We need to be more aggressive, more hungry, more up for it for every game.
Attitude needs to stay at the level we saw today for every single game we play until the end of the WC at least, no matter who's playing for us, or against us.
We need to figure out how to use our bench, I mean that in two ways, we need to figure out who's supposed to be on it, and we need to figure out when is the appropriate time to introduce them. If we want to play an expansive game with the ball in hand, we'll need fresh legs, substitutions are not negative, they are to change the game.

trackguy

Deleted User wrote: »

Things we learned.

We need to keep the ball, stop kicking it away for 80 minutes.

"The Gameplan" cannot involve kicking the ball.

I agree with all your points except the two I've highlighted, which amount to the same thing I suppose.

The gameplan should involve kicking the ball, to a similar extent as today. Still, I'd agree that the plan should be primarily based on running the ball.

I'd also add to your list -

We need to use our bench as a tool to introduce new talent to the squad and,

We need to choose players to suit our gameplan.

tolosenc

Deleted User wrote: »

Earls can play FB internationally, just tell him to run!

While I don't doubt his abilities in offence, he wasn't really called upon to defend today. I withhold judgement.

We'll defend with attack sure!

durkadurka

tolosenc wrote: »

While I don't doubt his abilities in offence, he wasn't really called upon to defend today. I withhold judgement.

Agreed, he never had a high ball to field and England were very poor to be fair.

LeeroyJones

Something I found very interesting is Ireland matches after 50 minutes with try scores in bold;

Italy 6-10 Ireland 0-1............ (FT 11-13)
Ireland 15-15 France 2-0........... (FT 22-25)
Scotland 9-14 Ireland 0-1......... (FT 18-21)
Wales 9-13 Ireland 0-1.......... (FT 19-13)
Ireland 24-3 England 2-0.......... (FT 24-8)

We lost the last half hour in every match conceding all 4 tries against.

We put ourselves into a winning positions but seem to invite the opposition back at us instead of going for the jugular.
If there is one thing I would want Kidney to address it is the use of the bench. Given our strength relative strength in depth, this should be an advantage to us but at present it is an overwhelming negative.

trackguy

After yesterday's match, there are some great signs for the team.

We can trouble any team in the World if we play with the intensity shown today. Easier said than done obviously.

The gameplan that Kidney and the coaching team are trying to implement seems to be coming to fruition. Tactically, I'd like the team to stay true to a plan in different games rather than tailoring the game SO MUCH based on the opposition. Obviously, you have to address the opposing teams strengths but I'd like to see the belief that the players showed yesterday echoed in a consistent gameplan.

Selection has not been perfect either. Sexton/ ROG is a non-issue now for me. Used properly, they will dovetail beautifully.

Leo Cullen needs to be involved more as the 3rd lock, rather than expecting POC and DOC to shoulder all the gametime.

We have 4 top quality backrowers. We don't have a 5th, with all respect to Denis Leamy. I'd love to see Dom Ryan go to the WC.

TOL is not the scrumhalf for this team when they want to play a fast attacking game. Reddan and Stringer should be competing for the 9 jersey.

I think the the 15 jersey is interesting now. Earls, while untested, looks a great attacking option. Everyone knows the strengths of Kearney and Murphy.

The scrum can now hopefully be employed as a weapon rather than a hindrance. Ross was great yesterday, and I don't say that lightly.

alejandro1977

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/sixnations/8393585/Six-Nations-2011-England-may-have-won-the-trophy-but-its-Ireland-who-took-the-crown-in-Dublin.html

Six Nations 2011: England may have won the trophy but it's Ireland who took the crown in Dublin
To England the spoils and the Six Nations trophy, but the real winners this year are Ireland.

RMD

The most annoying part of this campaign, is the fact that we should have done the Grand Slam. We pissed it away to France giving 7 penalties away in our own half (against a team with the kicking capabilities of Para and Yachvili) even though we completely out did them in other areas and we just weren't good enough against Wales in the end. Good discipline like yesterday and we would have beaten France, and a performance like yesterday we would have annihilated Wales. Disappointing to say the least because both the fans and players know they're capable of doing it.

GerM

It was far from a perfect 6N. I wanted to leave this until today so people could celebrate without the shadow of doom and gloom over them. There was some good, but plenty of bad. Some things are positives or negatives depending on how you look at them. The debate at 10 can be viewed as good if we know where we are now or bad if DK still plans on chopping and changing them. I like to think that DK will stick with how things went yesterday.

Positives

- Still got it. The big one is that yesterday proved we still can perform to a very high level overall. We took the Slam champions elect and dismantled them bit by bit with no English player matching his Irish counterpart. With the WC on the horizon we can take a massive amount of heart from that.

- Set piece. Our scrum, so long the bane of our game, has solidified remarkably with the addition of Ross and Feek. It's now a source of points and about time. The line out has grown steadily better with Rory Best showing leadership and calmness. POC's return has helped things. It was always going to take time to get the new units working in tandem and now they have, Jerry Flannery's absence isn't that much of a big deal at all.

- Outhalves. We've hopefully stumbled on how we should be playing. Sexton to keep the ball in hand and run teams ragged with organised mayhem for 55 minutes. ROG to enter proceedings and be a morale crushing, precision closer after that. When the players inside and outside them do their tasks correctly, there is no issue for the most part.

- Defence. Of all the coaching staff, the only one who can match Feek's contribution is Les Kiss. 4 tries conceded and only one could be attributed to poor defensive organisation. We're a tough nut to crack and this will be vital when faced with an Australian back line that runs through teams like water.

Negatives

- Selection. This is a big one for me. DK seems to ignore things staring him in the face. Some players came into the championship on fire and were ignored. Some came into it in poor form and were automatic picks. Luke Fitz was in the grips of his worst spell in his professional career which snowballed and has led to him being jettisoned minus confidence, a position he should never have been in. McFadden ditched after doing reasonably well and Paddy Wallace warming a bench when there was no point in having him there. I feel DK has just stumbled upon players by accident. You have to wonder that if it wasn't for injuries would the likes of Earls, Reddan, Ross, SOB and Trimble even had a sniff of a start in this tournament. There's nothing previous to this championship to suggest they would have. Hopefully he has settled on an out half now rather than screwing with them which suits neither. Selection is a major issue for me.

- Tactics. We seem quite tactically naive at times. The team have gone out with questionable tactics on occasion and when they've been misfiring, the leaders have failed to say "F*ck this, it's not working, we're doing this instead". The Welsh game is the obvious example. It really did beggar belief how we were playing. We've talked about playing a running, high tempo game for months now with DK saying he would not change the plan. He starts ROG in Scotland and a kicking plan works against a pedestrian back 3. Immediately, the original plan is ditched and we go out to kick the leather off the ball against Wales to our detriment. The players have to take some responsibility too. I recall the last few minutes in Wales when we had a line out 10m from their line and we called on Cronin to throw the ball to 6. He found his man but I could not believe the foolishness of trying this. Our maul is good. Throw to 2 which is low risk and maul them close. Low risk, high result. For this reason I really would like to see a tactical consultant brought in alongside the coaching team for the WC to work with them and the players.

Lineout - I know, I've already said it's a good thing but our defensive line out is non existent these days. It needs to be looked at. Why are we not contesting? We played a horrific Italian line out and didn't contest once. You don't adapt to the other team's plan, you force them to deal with yours. Richie Gray stole 4 balls yesterday. We stole 2. In the entire championship.

Motivation - Why did it take England, at home, going for a GS, on St. Patrick's weekend for us to turn up? DK is supposedly the motivator supreme so lets see him do that. I could point the same finger at BOD. He sometimes fades into obscurity until the big one comes and then performs magic. These guys should be able to get themselves up for these games regardless.

Bench - We have one, right? I know we're suffering from injuries but what is the point in having players there if you are simply not going to use them. You clearly don't trust them if you just give them a few seconds here and there when the game is done. If PW was never going to see action, why wasn't Trimble on there who covers 11-14 instead of just 12? Really bizarre bench selections and use and we stick out badly because of it. The first sub we made yesterday was the last one we should have been making. This comes back to us being tactically poor.

Discipline - We contest the ball and make no apologies for it. Silly. It cost us massively and perhaps a shot at a GS. Senior players were committing idiotic infringements and handing over points. It tended to improve dramatically towards the latter stages of the championship. Why couldn't we do that previous to then? We should have trusted our defence and allowed the opposition to hang themselves like they did yesterday.

CouchSmart

LeeroyJones wrote: »

Something I found very interesting is Ireland matches after 50 minutes with try scores in bold;

Italy 6-10 Ireland 0-1............ (FT 11-13)
Ireland 15-15 France 2-0........... (FT 22-25)
Scotland 9-14 Ireland 0-1......... (FT 18-21)
Wales 9-13 Ireland 0-1.......... (FT 19-13)
Ireland 24-3 England 2-0.......... (FT 24-8)

We lost the last half hour in every match conceding all 4 tries against.

We put ourselves into a winning positions but seem to invite the opposition back at us instead of going for the jugular.
If there is one thing I would want Kidney to address it is the use of the bench. Given our strength relative strength in depth, this should be an advantage to us but at present it is an overwhelming negative.

It's an interesting point. I have to wonder if we have the fitness for the full 80. Currently we start the game at 100 miles/hour and it works well but we definitely seem to fall away around the 50 or 60 minute mark. Hopefully it'll be sorted for the WC.

durkadurka

Id say it was mindset. Against Italy and Scotland we failed to put them away when in a good position and against Wales we seemed to lose the head soon after the dodgy try.

the_monkey

Excuse my ignorance of the game of Rugby, but who won the triple crown this year ?

Risteard

the_monkey wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance of the game of Rugby, but who won the triple crown this year ?

Nobody.

Every team in the home nations was beaten by at least one of the others.

Teferi

Ireland retain the Triple Crown though

durkadurka

Teferi wrote: »

Ireland retain the Triple Crown though

Make me proud

Jemo

I think the 60 minute mark is a substitution problem, other teams bring on impact players as we are tiring and we don't. Other than ROG and Stringer, we don't make tactical substitutions.

I'd like to see this addressed, with Buckley on the bench instead of Court (barring injury he'll probably be replacing Ross and I though he had played at loosehead on occasion before, certainly enough to fill in) as he will add some real dynamism in the last 20 and can anchor a scrum as well as Court.

Tuohy instead of Cullen if he gets back to form would be another contender as he is fast and physical.

Ferris instead of Leamy when he gets back, or else Jennings (to speed up the rucks and link) or Ryan/Ruddock (to gain experience and they offer as much as Leamy at this stage).

Trimble/Fitz instead of Wallace (to take advantage of broken play in endgame and provide better cover in any case)

Other options would be Boss ahead of Stringer to add physicality and a fringe offence to the game. (Good if you want to grind out a win and tidy up the ruck area as Leinster have seen)