Ireland 6 nations prediction

Kayless

God as an Irish fan it feels like the 6 nations hasn’t even started yet, anyways with 4 matched left what’s your prediction?

bm1993

Beat Italy and Scotland unconvincingly, get annihilated by France and then beat England well because they are crap and it's Paddy's day saving Deccie's job in the process

Teferi

I'd imagine Italy and Scotland are champing at the bit to get at us. They both lost 2 games they easily could (and maybe should) have won and we aren't playing well at all.

We'll probably beat them but very, very unconvincingly, hammered by France and then pull a performance out of the bag in Twickers.

CatFromHue

I don't know to be honest. We can play alot better than we did against the Welsh whether we do or not is a different story though.

I don't see us having a problem against Italy. Scotland will be tricky though, they played pretty well for a large part of the game against Wales but getting 2 guys in the bin at the same time is a disaster.

England aren't great but could build up a head of steam by the time we meet them and France could be very nasty.

I do think where we finish in the 6 Nations is up to us though as we have potentially a very good team.

RoundBox11

Potentially we could win all four games.... But that would involve changing our game plan and picking our best 15 so it wont happen!! :mad:

Almaviva

Bizarre poll. Can it be corrected ?

Quint2010

RoundBox11 wrote: »

Potentially we could win all four games.... But that would involve changing our game plan and picking our best 15 so it wont happen!! :mad:

and our coach...

rrpc

Quint2010 wrote: »

and our coach...

Yep, I think that comes first tbh. Game plan won't change under the current incumbent.

rrpc

Almaviva wrote: »

Bizarre poll. Can it be corrected ?

Agreed. Hard to extrapolate anything the way it's constructed. Should be single choice of: lose 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4.

Podge_irl

Honestly can't see this current team going away to Twickers and beating England. We could well end up with just the two victories.

GerM

Podge_irl wrote: »

Honestly can't see this current team going away to Twickers and beating England. We could well end up with just the two victories.

Pretty much what I'm expecting. We generally beat England in recent years but they've never rolled over for us. Out of the last two times we've played them, one was a last second win after our backs scored three nice tries (which they simply don't seem capable of these days) and the other one was a thumping victory for England. They'll put in a serious shift against us. Their front five is decent and they've outside backs that can slice open our weak points in the three quarters.

Kayless

GerM wrote: »

Pretty much what I'm expecting. We generally beat England in recent years but they've never rolled over for us. Out of the last two times we've played them, one was a last second win after our backs scored three nice tries (which they simply don't seem capable of these days) and the other one was a thumping victory for England. They'll put in a serious shift against us. Their front five is decent and they've outside backs that can slice open our weak points in the three quarters.

Still they haven't looked like scoring yet, also taking into account that was against the two weakest teams in the 6 nations I really can’t see England beating us

cgpg5

We'll beat Italy unconvincingly, I'd imagine Scotland's inability to score tries will cost them against us but again it'll be an unconvincing win for us, we'll lose to France comfortably and lose in Twickenham. Kidney will then hopefully be gone.

vienne86

Podge_irl wrote: »

Honestly can't see this current team going away to Twickers and beating England. We could well end up with just the two victories.

Unfortunately I think this is what is going to happen too. But it is not one of the options in the poll, which seems strange.

mikedragon32

I have a really bad feeling about the Italy game.

Beyond that, beat Scotland and probably England too for the day that's in it. I can't see France going well for us at all...

CatFromHue

mikedragon32 wrote: »

I have a really bad feeling about the Italy game.

Beyond that, beat Scotland and probably England too for the day that's in it. I can't see France going well for us at all...

Italy no I'm relatively confident. They should have beaten England but didn't so while they are very strong in some areas they're pretty weak in others. Overall we'll be too strong for them.

Scotland have done some very good things in both their games so it will be very interesting to see how they get on against the French. They are a right handful at the moment.

desertcircus

I'm really not that confident about the England game. They've been extremely limited, but that's been with what's effectively a completely new side. They were better against Italy than they were against Scotland, and they've got the personnel to cause damage once the team starts gelling properly. We're watching a side that's been rebuilt from scratch and has had a little over a month together at this stage. Give them another month and they could well be far, far better.

On current form, I'd expect Ireland to win by a score in Twickenham. But they're almost infinitely more likely to improve by the time St Patrick's Day rolls around.

RoundBox11

desertcircus wrote: »

I'm really not that confident about the England game. They've been extremely limited, but that's been with what's effectively a completely new side. They were better against Italy than they were against Scotland, and they've got the personnel to cause damage once the team starts gelling properly. We're watching a side that's been rebuilt from scratch and has had a little over a month together at this stage. Give them another month and they could well be far, far better.

On current form, I'd expect Ireland to win by a score in Twickenham. But they're almost infinitely more likely to improve by the time St Patrick's Day rolls around.

I really don't understand all this England hype at the moment. Its not like theyve just found a load of diamonds in the rough and put them together. Guys like Hodgeson and Dowson are both 31, Botha's 30 and guys like Strettle are in their late 20's. Most of the team didnt make the world cup cos they werent good enough and the only reason they are in now is because the RFU have scrapped the WC team because it was such a mess with indiscipline and rubbish rugby.
Most of them wouldve been considered second string by all of us here a few months ago.

So why should they all of a sudden be favourites against ireland? I'd say only 3 or 4 of their best 15 would make the Irish team (Cole, Lawes, Tuilagi and possibly Youngs). Even tho Ireland have been playing badly recently theyve still had loads of time together so why should giving the English team 5 games together make them favourites?

Not to mention the fact that they were absolutely rubbish in their first two games!! I really dont understand this.

cgpg5

RoundBox11 wrote: »

I really don't understand all this England hype at the moment. Its not like theyve just found a load of diamonds in the rough and put them together. Guys like Hodgeson and Dowson are both 31, Botha's 30 and guys like Strettle are in their late 20's. Most of the team didnt make the world cup cos they werent good enough and the only reason they are in now is because the RFU have scrapped the WC team because it was such a mess with indiscipline and rubbish rugby.
Most of them wouldve been considered second string by all of us here a few months ago.

So why should they all of a sudden be favourites against ireland? I'd say only 3 or 4 of their best 15 would make the Irish team (Cole, Lawes, Tuilagi and possibly Youngs). Even tho Ireland have been playing badly recently theyve still had loads of time together so why should giving the English team 5 games together make them favourites?

Not to mention the fact that they were absolutely rubbish in their first two games!! I really dont understand this.

A good lot of this England team didn't make WC team because lets face it Johnno cannot pick a team. Some were also considered too inexperienced. There's not much between this team and their WC selection.
In fact they've improved in a few positions. Morgan is better than Easter (though just), Farrell better than Tindall, Strettle better than the limited Cueto and Hartley is better than Thompson I feel.

Why I worry about playing them in a month is that they'll have the likes of Lawes, Wood, Flood and Tuliagi back and they will have surely realised by then that some players (Youngs, Dowson as examples) are not up to it. Fine they were poor in their first two games but we were awful against Wales and I don't see us being convincing against Italy. England fairly bet us off the park last time we played them, I worry about them.

desertcircus

Because England have the prospect of improvement. Ireland, currently, don't.

And a backline of Strettle-Farrell-Tuilagi-Ashton-Foden is a long way off being second-string. A lot of the replacements in the England squad have involved the removal of players chosen by Johnson for the implementation of his horrendously limited idea of how they should play. Tindall and Banahan are gone, replaced with players who can bring something different. Most of the newer members of the England team didn't go to the World Cup because they didn't fit that depressing framework, not because they were inferior players.

RoundBox11

cgpg5 wrote: »

Fine they were poor in their first two games but we were awful against Wales and I don't see us being convincing against Italy. England fairly bet us off the park last time we played them, I worry about them.

We werent great against Wales but we were far better than England were in their first two games. Ok our rugby wasnt great but we almost ground out a win against Wales who are far better than the teams England have come up against so far.

Also the last time we played against England they fielded a completely different side. They had Stevens, Thompson, Easter, Haskell, Wigglesworth, Flood, Tindall and Cueto starting. None of them will start against us (with the possible exception of Stevens) so its an entirely different game. They played a rough and tumble forward dominted game that we couldnt match because our intensity levels were so low. They wont be able to dominate us up front this time.

RoundBox11

desertcircus wrote: »

Because England have the prospect of improvement. Ireland, currently, don't.

Very negative outlook on irish rugby

Quint2010

desertcircus wrote: »

Because England have the prospect of improvement. Ireland, currently, don't.

Ireland can't get any worse then they were against Wales..

tolosenc

Quint2010 wrote: »

Ireland can't get any worse then they were against Wales..

Just wait.

danthefan

I am sure of two things, we will beat Italy and we will lose to France.

We lost to Scotland in 2010 at home, there's no reason why it can't happen again.

The current incarnation of the England team is pretty crap but they'll be at home and we're also pretty crap so no guarantees there.

We could be looking at 2 wins from 5 imo, that is not massively unrealistic.

Quint2010

tolosenc wrote: »

Just wait.

If we play as badly or worse against Italy it just be the fault of the coach. The players will have had to take responsibility.

cgpg5

RoundBox11 wrote: »

We werent great against Wales but we were far better than England were in their first two games. Ok our rugby wasnt great but we almost ground out a win against Wales who are far better than the teams England have come up against so far.

Also the last time we played against England they fielded a completely different side. They had Stevens, Thompson, Easter, Haskell, Wigglesworth, Flood, Tindall and Cueto starting. None of them will start against us (with the possible exception of Stevens) so its an entirely different game. They played a rough and tumble forward dominted game that we couldnt match because our intensity levels were so low. They wont be able to dominate us up front this time.

The worry is that all of these have been replaced by superior players (granted Corbisiero and Stevens is much of a muchness and I think that Flood will start against us).

I think that you're underestimating England's victory against Scotland. There is no guarantee that we'd have beaten Scotland in Murrayfield in similar circumstances. In fact I think it was a very good victory for a new look England side as many felt it was a game that Scotland would win. When you go to Rome you're expected to win regardless so that brings a pressure in itself, also. I'm not saying England are world beaters but the way things are going if I had to tip us or them in a months time I'd go for them.

desertcircus

RoundBox11 wrote: »

Very negative outlook on irish rugby

No, just a negative outlook on the national side's chances under the current coaching regime and IRFU strictures. With an open mandate to build a team for 2014 and 2015, an innovative coach could most likely produce at least one Grand Slam and a World Cup semifinal at least. But under the current system, we won't.

Don't get me wrong; if Kidney abandons his usual approach, picks Reddan and Sexton at halves, and tells the players to blitz in defence and keep the ball moving as fast as possible in attack, I think we could beat this England team by forty points. Seriously: forty points. The same approach could also stand a good chance of beating the French in Paris.

But it's not going to happen, because the Irish team plays to win the next match and never to win the next tournament. Kidney and the IRFU would take a one point victory over Italy this weekend over a one point loss, even if they knew it meant a better chance of scalping France. For that reason above all others, England have a better chance of improving before St Patrick's Day. They're going to spend the next two games learning more and more about each other and getting better able to predict each others' movements; we're going to spend the next three grinding out unconvincing wins against Scotland and Italy and probably losing badly to France.

Leinster7

A loss to Italy would be the best result for real Irish fans imo as the IRFU would finally have to get the cheque book out and spend some of our money wisely.