France V Ireland – Stade de France, Paris. Sunday 4th March 15:00 RTE2 & BBC2

mikedragon32

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BoardsMember

Great game of rugby to watch.

I thought Murray was having a great game, very disappointed to see him go off. This was the first time I'd seen him have a really good game for Ireland, as opposed to one that show promise & potential, and it says a lot about the guy that he could do that in Paris, after a few iffy performances. So well done, and hopefully he'll be back from injury before long.

I felt quite hard done by Pearson. The free kick for slow to put the ball in was a joke, the French we pushing us back straight from the hit, the scrum was not ready for the ball to go in. I thought the pen in the second half by the touchline on half way was harsh too. Most 50/50s went their way. That said, Healy should have been binned, no question.

I thought Ferris & Heaslip had big games, as did POC, Best & Healy. Will have to watch again to see how SOB fared. Sexton was incredible, as much as anyone he set the tone in defence as well as attack. He is a first class outhalf, was one of his best performances in green. He's a great competitor, we saw the kind of determination to win that brought Leinster back against Northampton. Earls was good too, delighted to see that, he's looking more at home every time he plays 13, midfield in general was good against a very big & fast midfield, though I reckon it was supported well by backrow again and again.

Kearney is just phenomenal, playing the best rugby of his career. I have a feeling te presence of Nacewa at Leinster has helped him to progress even further than he might otherwise have. He's a real leader and inspiration at full back.

Here's hoping we can keep it all going for the Scotland game, that's going to be a dogfight. But just delighted that this hard working, committed, talented bunch of players did themselves proud, and might get a bit of a reprieve. Great to see an active, in your face, defensive display, more of this in our game plan can only be good.

Neil3030

On the eight day God admitted that he had actually spent the previous seven making Stephen Ferris.

If that man is able to walk in 10 years, it will be a miracle.

LuckyLloyd

DDC1990 wrote: »

Not only do I work for the IRFU, I am Declan Kidney!

Ireland were not playing shadows out there.

France came out in the second half rejuvinated and tore into us.

They got a lucky try after the ball bounced around.

We were in their 22 a number of times at around the 68th minute, and instead of taking the Drop Goal, we wen't side to side and turned it over. That is not Kidney's fault.

Selection Gaffes? Murray had a brilliant game, DOC put in a solid 55 minutes work, Earls at 13 was defensivly sound and had a good game. This miraculous speeding up of the game, thats meant to suddenly happen when Redden comes on simply didn't materialise, because unlike Italy, the French hadn't given up, and pressured him at ruck time.

Kidney's selection and gameplan was spot on. We havn't been that close to beating the French in Paris in years... but no, Kidney clearly fúcked up...somehow... he must have... because he's a shít manager... and ...

Sometimes you need to look at the game and find the percieved problem, instead of looking at what you think the problem is and trying to fit it into the situation.

Very well said sir.

Leinster7

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Very well said sir.

Kidneys game-plan wasn't spot on. We defended passively 2nd half and kicked possession away far too often. You wonder just how well he demotivated them at half-time

leftleg

Have to agree we were slow out of the block in the second half; whether that was down to Kidneys trying to change tactics to protect the lead or the players deciding to slow down together or jsut the French being plain better;

Neil3030

leftleg wrote: »

Have to agree we were slow out of the block in the second half; whether that was down to Kidneys trying to change tactics to protect the lead or the players deciding to slow down together or jsut the French being plain better;

Maybe a combination of the latter 2, but France came out of the traps with aplomb in the second half, played far better and a couple of breaks went their way. Yet even still, I'd say we were about 6 inches, i.e., the distance by which Earls missed the fly-hack, from victory. Those are the margins at test level.

d-gal

Leinster7 wrote: »

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Very well said sir.

Kidneys game-plan wasn't spot on. We defended passively 2nd half and kicked possession away far too often. You wonder just how well he demotivated them at half-time

Oh Jesus, can you ever give the man any credit? The gameplan was top notch first half. We defended excellently in the 2nd half and the only 2 bad kicks were the lead up to their try (Trimbles missed tackle actually more than the kick) and Sexton's kick out on the full. Kearney kicked a lot but recovered practically everything.

You cannot blame kidney for the team dropping the ball, missing line-outs in crucial areas or not going for a DG with less than 15 to go.
It seems like if a player/team plays well its nothing to do with kidney but if they play badly its all Kidney's fault.
We played extremely well and everyone improved their game and attitude.

France played very well in the 2nd half and let's not forget they are WC finalists and the game was in Paris, a place we have not won or come close to winning in over a decade!

I say fair play to the team and management and fúck the lot of ye pessimistic muppets who THINK they know everything about rugby and are taking swipes at a great performance. That includes people from both sides of the argument, especially blaming a single player on a overall great performance.

Bring on the Scots and hopefully we freshen up the team (POM, Ryan, Croinin, DK and McF at 12 please) so we can thump the English 100% on Paddy's Day

Chucky the tree

A 66 minutes Sexton dropped back into the pocket for the drop goal however Reddan didn't just passed it short to Heaslip(I think). Not sure if Sexton gave him the shout or hoped he'd look back or Reddan didn't hear. There was really only one other good chance for a DG which Sexton decided to run.

fitz

Neil3030 wrote: »

Maybe a combination of the latter 2, but France came out of the traps with aplomb in the second half, played far better and a couple of breaks went their way. Yet even still, I'd say we were about 6 inches, i.e., the distance by which Earls missed the fly-hack, from victory. Those are the margins at test level.

France played far better because we gave them the space to play in by standing off instead of getting up in their faces before they had a chance to get some momentum. If we had kept doing what we had done in the first half, it would have been much harder for France to get back into the game.

I don't know what was said at half time, but the change in tactics was noticable, and self destructive.

Neil3030

d-gal wrote: »

Oh Jesus, can you ever give the man any credit? The gameplan was top notch first half. We defended excellently in the 2nd half and the only 2 bad kicks were the lead up to their try (Trimbles missed tackle actually more than the kick) and Sexton's kick out on the full. Kearney kicked a lot but recovered practically everything.

You cannot blame kidney for the team dropping the ball, missing line-outs in crucial areas or not going for a DG with less than 15 to go.
It seems like if a player/team plays well its nothing to do with kidney but if they play badly its all Kidney's fault.
We played extremely well and everyone improved their game and attitude.

France played very well in the 2nd half and let's not forget they are WC finalists and the game was in Paris, a place we have not won or come close to winning in over a decade!

I say fair play to the team and management and fúck the lot of ye pessimistic muppets who THINK they know everything about rugby and are taking swipes at a great performance. That includes people from both sides of the argument, especially blaming a single player on a overall great performance.

Bring on the Scots and hopefully we freshen up the team (POM, Ryan, Croinin, DK and McF at 12 please) so we can thump the English 100% on Paddy's Day

Come on now, I take your point that Kidney isn't given a lot of credit around here, but there is a line. No way should he start against Scotland.

Neil3030

fitz wrote: »

France played far better because we gave them the space to play in by standing off instead of getting up in their faces before they had a chance to get some momentum. If we had kept doing what we had done in the first half, it would have been much harder for France to get back into the game.

I don't know what was said at half time, but the change in tactics was noticable, and self destructive.

Our first half game was high risk and enormously tiring though. I'm not saying the tactics were intentionally changed, but there would have been merit in doing so. We were, after all, very unlucky not to win.

Leinster7

d-gal wrote: »

Oh Jesus, can you ever give the man any credit? The gameplan was top notch first half. We defended excellently in the 2nd half and the only 2 bad kicks were the lead up to their try (Trimbles missed tackle actually more than the kick) and Sexton's kick out on the full. Kearney kicked a lot but recovered practically everything.

You cannot blame kidney for the team dropping the ball, missing line-outs in crucial areas or not going for a DG with less than 15 to go.
It seems like if a player/team plays well its nothing to do with kidney but if they play badly its all Kidney's fault.
We played extremely well and everyone improved their game and attitude.

France played very well in the 2nd half and let's not forget they are WC finalists and the game was in Paris, a place we have not won or come close to winning in over a decade!

I say fair play to the team and management and fúck the lot of ye pessimistic muppets who THINK they know everything about rugby and are taking swipes at a great performance. That includes people from both sides of the argument, especially blaming a single player on a overall great performance.

Bring on the Scots and hopefully we freshen up the team (POM, Ryan, Croinin, DK and McF at 12 please) so we can thump the English 100% on Paddy's Day

Of course I blame him for when we play poorly. Our players are better then that and regularly show it for their provinces. Who else do you blame when a team under-performs but the leadership. You shouldn't settle for 2nd rate when you can achieve better. I am not pessimistic, however I do feel for the World Class players we have in our country and especially those which are constantly the victims of his selection gaffes

tolosenc

Silvio.Dante wrote: »

Heaslip's done nothing for years now. He's shot his bolt. Time to warm the bench...

He won a grand slam 3 years ago!

fitz

d-gal wrote: »

Oh Jesus, can you ever give the man any credit? The gameplan was top notch first half. We defended excellently in the 2nd half and the only 2 bad kicks were the lead up to their try (Trimbles missed tackle actually more than the kick) and Sexton's kick out on the full. Kearney kicked a lot but recovered practically everything.

You cannot blame kidney for the team dropping the ball, missing line-outs in crucial areas or not going for a DG with less than 15 to go.
It seems like if a player/team plays well its nothing to do with kidney but if they play badly its all Kidney's fault.
We played extremely well and everyone improved their game and attitude.

France played very well in the 2nd half and let's not forget they are WC finalists and the game was in Paris, a place we have not won or come close to winning in over a decade!

I say fair play to the team and management and fúck the lot of ye pessimistic muppets who THINK they know everything about rugby and are taking swipes at a great performance. That includes people from both sides of the argument, especially blaming a single player on a overall great performance.

Bring on the Scots and hopefully we freshen up the team (POM, Ryan, Croinin, DK and McF at 12 please) so we can thump the English 100% on Paddy's Day

No. We did not defend brilliantly in the second half.
We did what we did against Wales. Stood off, gave France room and momentum, and tried to soak it up. Which resulted in the same net effect as against Wales.

The entire defensive line stood off. That's not a single player decision, that's a change of gameplan from the first half.

shuffol

Great game, good performance by Ireland and nothing more, overwhelming sense of frustration after the game, not at the draw which was always on the cards when conditions deteriorated in the last 20 but at the fact that we cant produce performances like this every week, there was nothing special about it(bar bowes try), just good intensity in the collisions and a very good line speed, the same recipe for success over Australia that we hadnt seen since. This should be the minimum we expect to see every game. Even when we produce only a good performance you can see there are some special players in this side the likes of which we many not be so blessed with in the future, that they are made look so average in a green jersey so often is criminal.

Pearson was rubbish all round but he certainly did us no favours in the 2nd half, is it any wonder we failed to score when the first penalty he gave us in the 2nd half was in the dying minutes when a french player was pinged for holding on after good work by Heaslip. I doubt everything France did in that 2nd half was to the letter of the law.

Kearney was sublime, no fullback in the NH came touch him in that type of form. Ferris and SOB had huge games. Couldnt believe it when I saw O'Brien coming off, he was doing massive work in defence and only made one less tackle than Ferris wo played 80 mins. It just smacked of a pre planned substitution by Kidney and poor reading of the game, with conditions deteriorating Frances greater bulk was going to be advantageous to them, I dont think POM who's still quite lean was the ideal man in the circumstances.

Some interesting stats from ESPN if you choose to trust them, DOC made 8 tackles in 57 mins which is good going, Ryan made 8 tackles in 23 mins which shows his appetite. Murray made 29 passes in 58 mins, Reddan made 28 passes in 22 mins, just shows how much he increases the tempo.

Annabella1

fitz wrote: »

No. We did not defend brilliantly in the second half.
We did what we did against Wales. Stood off, gave France room and momentum, and tried to soak it up. Which resulted in the same net effect as against Wales.

The entire defensive line stood off. That's not a single player decision, that's a change of gameplan from the first half.

It is very hard to play the 80mins at the intensity we played in the 1st Half.France are a top side at home and upped the ante.I don't think the team purposely 'stood off'

walshb

Gutted that we couldn't maintain that lead and at least put up a few points in the second half. Really France deserved the win, as it was them in the second half who were really turning the screw and wanting it that bit more. Not a single point in the second half doesn't deserve a win. Played very well in the first half, and it was like we then "went to sleep" and decided that we'd just try to hang on.

Fishooks12

Annabella1 wrote: »

It is very hard to play the 80mins at the intensity we played in the 1st Half.France are a top side at home and upped the ante.I don't think the team purposely 'stood off'

Neither do. You can still see that in most defensive phases we were still employing the same tactics in defense. Shoot runners with a fast line speed

Although as legs grew tired holes began to appear, not a change in tactics

Otacon

Leinster7 wrote: »

Of course I blame him for when we play poorly. Our players are better then that and regularly show it for their provinces. Who else do you blame when a team under-performs but the leadership. You shouldn't settle for 2nd rate when you can achieve better. I am not pessimistic, however I do feel for the World Class players we have in our country and especially those which are constantly the victims of his selection gaffes

But when we play well, it is all to do with the players?

I personally blame the coach if mistakes are made in either the gameplan or sub strategy. After that, the players have to take most of the responsibility.

fitz

Annabella1 wrote: »

It is very hard to play the 80mins at the intensity we played in the 1st Half.France are a top side at home and upped the ante.I don't think the team purposely 'stood off'

Yes, they did.
And these guys are capable of playing 80 minutes like they did in the first half. I don't buy the argument that it's too energy sapping. Use the bench, freshen things up, and we should have been able to keep it up. We did against Australia.
It wasn't just a case of being more physical than them in the first half, we pushed up quickly and shut down space. We didn't give them room to play.
In the second half, we stopped doing that, and it cost us a win imo.

irishbucsfan

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Annabella1 wrote: »

It is very hard to play the 80mins at the intensity we played in the 1st Half.France are a top side at home and upped the ante.I don't think the team purposely 'stood off'

Neither do. You can still see that in most defensive phases we were still employing the same tactics in defense. Shoot runners with a fast line speed

Although as legs grew tired holes began to appear, not a change in tactics

Not a chance, they were setting the line far shallower. Probably would have worked with BOD out there, but not without him.

I think it would have been hard to defend for 80 minutes like they did in the first half... But they did that against Oz

fitz

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Neither do. You can still see that in most defensive phases we were still employing the same tactics in defense. Shoot runners with a fast line speed

Although as legs grew tired holes began to appear, not a change in tactics

Shooter runners weren't the tactics in the first half.
The entire line was up quickly.
That tactic should not be something the team cannot physically sustain for 80 minutes with good use of the bench.

LuckyLloyd

Leinster7 wrote: »

Kidneys game-plan wasn't spot on. We defended passively 2nd half and kicked possession away far too often. You wonder just how well he demotivated them at half-time

You don't like Kidney, we get it. What happened on the pitch yesterday doesn't fit with your view on his management. Not seeing that is a you problem unfortunately.

leakyboots

Some 'interesting' comments on here yesterday evening...!

Think this was the one that got away, pity.

Think more than a few posters owe Earls an apology, the criticisms of him pre-tournament on here were ridiculously harsh, real proper doom-harbingering... he's done well at centre.

Equally I owe Kearney an apology - I've been critical of his form, especially since the heights he hit in the tour down south weren't much in evidence... but he gave a masterclass yesterday in fullback play, best player on the pitch. Still may have to question his last-man tackling (I'd have to see the Fofana try again. Was flawless apart from maybe that).

Murray had a fine game save for the pass for the aborted drop. Hope to God that knee injury isin't serious, particularly from a Munster point of view. Shame on some posters for the comments about his injury at the time being a blessing, bad form. I think the 'his Italy performance v Reddans' is a little more in context now, Reddan had the run of the park then, wasn't anywhere near as effective this time. That said, I'm happy with either on the pitch.

Best picked a bad time to get his jitters back in the lineout but was good in the loose.

Some questionable opinions by red-tinted fans on Sexton, he'd a good game, kickers have off days (and he only missed one placekick). That dinked ball into the 22 towards the end was frustrating, but he did plenty of stuff right and tackled well all day.

I thought Ferris was immense, the man is a colossus. Heaslip provided some great turnovers and tackles but ball in hand could have done better - that pass to Earls should've been kept to hand especially. O'Brien did well too, nice to see O'Mahony get a run.

Healy... lucky boy.. that was a card for me. He is prone to those moments of stupidity.

Overall.. great performance in the first half (was that the first time we've ever lead in Paris at half-time?), bitterly disappointed we didn't do the job in the second. But overall, that's the level we know this team can play at, cut out the unforced errors and we'd have even worse hangovers today!

Would like to see the team freshened up for Scotland, rest one of the backrow for O'Mahoney, leave Sexton at 10, McF and Earls in the centre, Cronin in for Best, Ryan in for DOC.

d-gal

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Leinster7 wrote: »

Kidneys game-plan wasn't spot on. We defended passively 2nd half and kicked possession away far too often. You wonder just how well he demotivated them at half-time

You don't like Kidney, we get it. What happened on the pitch yesterday doesn't fit with your view on his management. Not seeing that is a you problem unfortunately.

At the end of it we could of won the game bar a few simple errors. That throw in on their 5metre line, our refusal to take a DG and the tiny game of inches that got their try. They were zero to do with management .
We did play brilliantly and can't really criticise anyone.
People have took the easy option tho...blame kidney, blame DOC (who was savage) and Sexton (who played his best game in ages)

fitz

d-gal wrote: »

At the end of it we could of won the game bar a few simple errors. That throw in on their 5metre line, our refusal to take a DG and the tiny game of inches that got their try. They were zero to do with management .
We did play brilliantly and can't really criticise anyone.
People have took the easy option tho...blame kidney, blame DOC (who was savage) and Sexton (who played his best game in ages)

I'm fed up with this team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and people saying that if a couple of small things happened, we could have won. If we play with the right gameplan, we can consistently win without these "rub of the green" situations being what decides the match.

And that has everything to do with coaching.

walshb

d-gal wrote: »

At the end of it we could of won the game bar a few simple errors. That throw in on their 5metre line, )

Glad someone mentinoed this ridiculous mistake. Thos tv pundits never even touched on it. Useless ****es. I mean, at that point in the game, and in such a threatening position, to go for that long risky throw defies belief.

JustinDee

walshb wrote: »

Glad someone mentinoed this ridiculous mistake. Thos tv pundits never even touched on it. Useless ****es. I mean, at that point in the game, and in such a threatening position, to go for that long risky throw defies belief.

Was a perfect opportunity for a "split 'n' through" or at least a maul from a throw to the front.

LuckyLloyd

The 'blame Sexton' stuff is bizarre I must admit. He had a good game all told.