RWC Pool C: Ireland vs USA Eagles, Sun 11 Sep 7am; Pre/During/Post Match Thread.

chris85

Ireland by less than 20

Ireland by 30 or so points. I expect they run the ball a good bit.

I also think the team has some backline moves they are keeping quiet on to burst out in the world cup. You may see these in the USA game. Just a feeling and some rugby jornos are thinking similar.

A nicely composed match is needed. No frantic stuff. Just simple effective rugby.

unitedrover

Ireland by less than 20

Predict a 20-40 victory for Ireland. Should get the 4 tries for the bonus point but no real battering for USA.

Big Nelly

Ireland by less than 20

God these thread always descend into c**p and then is 20 pages long. Anyway I cant see EOS sending out US to try and injury players. Still most of squad that Eddie would have used in his time.

Can see a good match, well good to the point of Ireland getting a good win. 20+ points and get some of the players on the fringes some time on the pitch and also some of the players who need game time getting a run.

stephen_n

USA

I expect a very fired up and committed performance for the Eagles given the day that's in it but reckon they will fall away in the last 20 minutes Ireland by less than 20

GerM

I expect to see something along the lines of:

1. Court
2. Best
3. Ross
4. DOC
5. POC
6. Ferris
7. SOB
8. Heaslip
9. Reddan
10. ROG
11. Trimble
12. Wallace
13. BOD
14. Bowe
15. Kearney

We'll win by about 30 points I think. USA are no great shakes and EOS has already said that his focus will be on the Russian game. If we fail to put away the Eagles handsomely we should be very worried; they're not a good side.

Quint2010

USA

I think Ireland will win by 15-20. Bearing in mind the dross of the past four weeks and the fact its our first game of the WC, I dont see us putting in an earth shattering performance. Ireland 31-USA 15.

shuffol

Ireland by less than 20

I wonder will we see these secret back line moves Gaffneys been plotting or will we continue with the ploy of playing poorly on purpose to lull the Aussies into an even bigger false sense of security.

Grimebox

Ireland by less than 20

Less than 20? I think some people are forgetting how poor the US rugby team actually are. We have had a bad few games but they were against some of the best in the world. We will be running the tries in.

Dr.Evil

GerM wrote: »

I expect to see something along the lines of:

1. Court
2. Best
3. Ross
4. DOC
5. POC
6. Ferris
7. SOB
8. Heaslip
9. Reddan
10. ROG
11. Trimble
12. Wallace
13. BOD
14. Bowe
15. Kearney

We'll win by about 30 points I think. USA are no great shakes and EOS has already said that his focus will be on the Russian game. If we fail to put away the Eagles handsomely we should be very worried; they're not a good side.

Maybe put Jennings in for O'Brien to give him a bit of gametime? Apart from that I'd agree with the team, although maybe Sexton for O'Gara but that's debatable as always. :P

Ireland by less than 20

Thought SOB was unlikely to be fit for this game anyway?

Podge_irl

Ireland by less than 20

We'll beat USA though I've no idea by how much. Kidney's Ireland side have never exactly cut loose all that much so I think the USA will be a real indicator or where we stand in that regard.

thebaz

my team for usa would be :-

kearney
bowe
darcy
odriscoll
earls
sexton
boss
healy
best
ross
cullen
o'connell
ferris
jennings
heaslip

anyone who has played in North america , will know how physical the americans are , really need a physical response

GerM

Deleted User wrote: »

Thought SOB was unlikely to be fit for this game anyway?

That was the outlook alright but he was able to take full part in training today along with Kearney.

Hagz

Ireland by less than 20

thebaz wrote: »

my team for usa would be :-

kearney
bowe
darcy
odriscoll
earls
sexton
boss
healy
best
ross
cullen
o'connell
ferris
jennings
heaslip

anyone who has played in North america , will know how physical the americans are , really need a physical response

Not doable. Healy is un-available for this match.

Stev_o

Ireland by less than 20

In all serious this is the single worst side in the tournament bar none. They play like robots and really struggle to to cope with unexpected things. The one thing they'v got going for them is 9/11 which no doubt will provide them with extra motivation but we should easily put a 20 point margin on them if the weather stays good.

Teferi

Ireland by less than 20

9/11 shouldn't even be brought into it. There will be a nice one minute silence/clapping before the game and then the Eagles will be smashed by Ireland. It doesn't matter how emotional the day will be for the players or how pumped they might be, I just cannot see it mattering. I watched two of their warm up games against Canada and this team would be beaten if we played Niall Ronan from 1 - 15.

Podge_irl

Ireland by less than 20

USA are concentrating on the Russian game anyway. This game is all about performance.

RuggieBear

Podge_irl wrote: »

This game is all about performance.

for us too tbh

shaggykev

I thinks it's the 9/11 coupled with Eddie O Sullivan thing that has fans a little niggly about a possible upset.

USA's preseason has been as bad as Irelands though.

Saying that I still don't think Ireland will by as high as the bookies line of 37 points. 21-28 I think will be the margin.

Ireland just need to get through it without losing any belief in themselves if the media get on their backs for not blowing USA away

As for next match against Australia, in a perverse way I think they should not target this match too heavily. For me I believe Ireland should look to peak against Italy & the following week again against South Africa in the quarter finals. That's a match we CAN win as long as the top players are still standing fresh

PhatPiggins

Ireland by 20-40

shaggykev wrote: »

I thinks it's the 9/11 coupled with Eddie O Sullivan thing that has fans a little niggly about a possible upset.

USA's preseason has been as bad as Irelands though.

Saying that I still don't think Ireland will by as high as the bookies line of 37 points. 21-28 I think will be the margin.

Ireland just need to get through it without losing any belief in themselves if the media get on their backs for not blowing USA away

As for next match against Australia, in a perverse way I think they should not target this match too heavily. For me I believe Ireland should look to peak against Italy & the following week again against South Africa in the quarter finals. That's a match we CAN win as long as the top players are still standing fresh

Sorry are you saying you expect the line to come into 21-28 points or is that what you would have set it at?

shaggykev

PhatPiggins wrote: »

shaggykev wrote: »

I thinks it's the 9/11 coupled with Eddie O Sullivan thing that has fans a little niggly about a possible upset.

USA's preseason has been as bad as Irelands though.

Saying that I still don't think Ireland will by as high as the bookies line of 37 points. 21-28 I think will be the margin.

Ireland just need to get through it without losing any belief in themselves if the media get on their backs for not blowing USA away

As for next match against Australia, in a perverse way I think they should not target this match too heavily. For me I believe Ireland should look to peak against Italy & the following week again against South Africa in the quarter finals. That's a match we CAN win as long as the top players are still standing fresh

Sorry are you saying you expect the line to come into 21-28 points or is that what you would have set it at?

No I think Ireland will win by 21-28 points. It wouldn't surprise me to see the H'cap line set by the bookies fall to closer to 30 points before the match starts

Quint2010

USA

Stev_o wrote: »

In all serious this is the single worst side in the tournament bar none. They play like robots and really struggle to to cope with unexpected things. The one thing they'v got going for them is 9/11 which no doubt will provide them with extra motivation but we should easily put a 20 point margin on them if the weather stays good.

OK so if we dont put a 30+ points margin on these guys we can safely say we are in real trouble?

Stev_o

Ireland by less than 20

Quint2010 wrote: »

OK so if we dont put a 30+ points margin on these guys we can safely say we are in real trouble?

A win is a win and at the end of the day WC winners don't look back at their campaign and say well we didn't put X amount of points on Y so therefore this undermines our victory.

That said you can't take away from the fact we are playing the worst team in the tournament and that realistically playing a decent game we should put a 20+ margin on them.

Nukem

USA

decisions wrote: »

Judging by the orangeness that is DOC in the background.

For a brief moment I was thinking "what the f*ck is Macaulay Culkin doing on tour with Ireland?"

unitedrover

Ireland by less than 20

Ireland need to beat these by a lot for their own confidence going forward. A tight nervy game and there's problems later on in the tournament.

RoutineBites

USA

Grimebox wrote: »

Less than 20? I think some people are forgetting how poor the US rugby team actually are. We have had a bad few games but they were against some of the best in the world. We will be running the tries in.

Scotland, England and a French team that are unable to play a solid eighty minutes are not some of the best teams in the world. I think your totally overlooking Ireland's pitiful preformances against England and France in the AVIVA. Ireland by 20.

unitedrover

Ireland by less than 20

RoutineBites wrote: »

Scotland, England and a French team that are unable to play a solid eighty minutes are not some of the best teams in the world. I think your totally overlooking Ireland's pitiful preformances against England and France in the AVIVA. Ireland by 20.

They're the best in the northern hemisphere

danthefan

USA

unitedrover wrote: »

They're the best in the northern hemisphere

Who, Ireland?

Hagz

Ireland by less than 20

They obviously are some of the best teams in the world if they're in the top 5.
Christ.

CouchSmart

When's the team announcement?