USA Eagles Vs Ireland - 8/6/13 KO: 19:45 local, 01:45 Irish time

bilston

So did we win?? My sky plus box forgot to record the last 10 minutes?

You couldn't have tell Schmidt hasn't got to work yet. Hopefully next week will be better.

toomevara

bilston wrote: »

So did we win?? My sky plus box forgot to record the last 10 minutes?
.

USA 12 Ireland 15. All Ireland points scored by Madigan.

budhabob

Is this gonna be repeated anywhere? UPC decided to calf!

Lelantos

budhabob wrote: »

Is this gonna be repeated anywhere? UPC decided to calf!

I wouldn't bother UPC did you a favour.
Just watched this on sky plus & through the refs absolutely arsery, I missed the last 8 mins, as the recording time was up.
Got more entertainment reading this thread than watching this cack.

Chabals Beard

I'd say the Americans were watching Zebo ... "Zebo is behind the scrum ! Zebo is behind the scrum ! "

budhabob

Lelantos wrote: »

I wouldn't bother UPC did you a favour.
Just watched this on sky plus & through the refs absolutely arsery, I missed the last 8 mins, as the recording time was up.
Got more entertainment reading this thread than watching this cack.

Ya....kinda realised that as I read through the thread. Did anyone stand out?

Lelantos

budhabob wrote: »

Ya....kinda realised that as I read through the thread. Did anyone stand out?

Not a huge amount, POM lead well, Mads was good with the boot. Jones threw in some nice tackles, Killer & Ross did well. After that, it's a bit thin, a few nice cameos here & there that's all

Buer

Zebo's lack of involvement makes a lot more sense now. I'm sure he was conscious of his call up given his lack of popping up around the field.

Awful game. Only bright spots were the scrum, Madigan at times, POM's ball carrying and scrum control and flashes from Henderson. Choke tackle worked a treat too. Lack of ball provided by the pack was awful. Truly pathetic performance in terms of the lack of cohesion and impact at the breakdown and that goes for every single forward. The USA were a joke at the rucks but Ireland should have committed more players. There were times when the USA players were walking in around the side and over the top purely because it was available to do so and our pack were too slow supporting. It also goes for all of the forwards at the line out too. Toner's calling of it, the lifting, POM's hands in the line out and Strauss's throwing. They gave their back line no platform at all to work with.

Henshaw, unfortunately, had an absolute nightmare of a debut. 4 big incidents stand out. Kick through in the first half that the winger gathered ahead of him and he ran right past him as he came across to cover. Only a great tackle from Olding saved a certain try. He then dropped a simple, floated pass from McFadden with a run into the corner 15m from the line. He probably would have been caught but we'd have been literally a few metres out with the Eagles scrambling. Fumbling the ball in his own 22 trying to pick up a ball from a long kick and condeding 50m when we were under a lot of pressure. Lastly, he should have been carded. Went straight through the legs of an American jumper at a restart. Plain silly and was a open and shut yellow card for me.

He's young, was clearly nervous and is a better player than that but it all suggested that he's not ready for the step up at all. Olding looked the opposite but had very limited ball as did all the three quarters. McFadden roamed looking for work as he always does and made the one break of the night. He looked to make things happen and showed a little seniority in the backs.

A special mention for the referee who absolutely ruined the game as a spectacle in every way. His communication was awful, decisions bizarre and at times, he simply didn't know the rules. The game never got through more than 2 minutes without him stopping it.

mfceiling

What was that?

I just watched it on the sky box there. Fast forwarded the stops in play and the collapsed scrums.

It didn't tape the last 8 minutes. I feel like I was watching it for about 12 minutes in total.....did anything happen at all?

Buer

mfceiling wrote: »

What was that?

I just watched it on the sky box there. Fast forwarded the stops in play and the collapsed scrums.

It didn't tape the last 8 minutes. I feel like I was watching it for about 12 minutes in total.....did anything happen at all?

No. Honestly, it was shocking. This thread was more entertaining. We made one line break in the game on one of the few occasions our line out functions and Boss delayed a pass to put McFadden through a gap in midfield. The rest was a series of penalties, free kicks and lost line outs. I don't think we managed more than 5 phases at any point.

thomond2006

I didn't watch the match but I've read through the thread, great stuff.

mfceiling

Buer wrote: »

No. Honestly, it was shocking. This thread was more entertaining. We made one line break in the game on one of the few occasions our line out functions and Boss delayed a pass to put McFadden through a gap in midfield. The rest was a series of penalties, free kicks and lost line outs. I don't think we managed more than 5 phases at any point.

Yeah I have to say it was brutal.

Merica never slacked in the tackle though and they rucked at times like it was a world cup final.

Thought Henry did well on the choke tackle - he must be ridiculously strong the way he holds players up.

POM did well and McFadden was always looking alert....other than that......meh

KERSPLAT!

Feels like at was all some crazy dream...

POM was the only standout player for me. Scrum did pretty well, lineout was pretty bad. Olding seemed decent enough and as others have said McFadden was fairly lively

19543261

awec wrote: »

Highlight for me was the USA 10's illegal penalty, where he just had the ball in his hands, decided to run a wee bit and then boot it.

Or the ref trying to adjust the scrum himself by lifting two props.

Or the "USE IT!" when the ball was in the scrum and the scrum was marching forward.

My god, what have I missed.

Just finished watching.

That was HILARIOUS. Loved it. TG4 did a good job of the buildup, atmosphere looked great, anthems were terrible and the game was a complete farce.

After about 20 minutes of constant penalties you could see the Ref was getting frustrated, at which point he turned into the USA rules coach - showing them how to scrum properly and explaining the breakdown (until he decided to stop reffing it entirely).

You can take nothing from that game bar a good laugh, it stopped being a proper contest very early on. Great way to start the day!

JustinDee

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Just finished watching.

That was HILARIOUS. Loved it. TG4 did a good job of the buildup, atmosphere looked great, anthems were terrible and the game was a complete

Buildup was actually IRFU footage from the tour videos posting on irishrugby.ie this week.

JustinDee

JustinDee wrote: »

Buildup was actually IRFU footage from the tour videos posting on irishrugby.ie this week.

I didn't realise that, enjoyed it though.

19543261

Did the crowd enjoy it?

JustinDee

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I didn't realise that, enjoyed it though.

More this week to follow too. Prob later on today actually.

awec

I'm still laughing about this game.

vienne86

bilston wrote: »

So did we win?? My sky plus box forgot to record the last 10 minutes?

You couldn't have tell Schmidt hasn't got to work yet. Hopefully next week will be better.

Same for me - I've just watched it and had to come on here to get the result. O'Mahony was great, Madigan had a good game, Henshaw had a nightmare, Zebo was almost invisible, scrum seemed good, but ref paused a lot when calling it. Not great entertainment, so let's hope for better next time.

Buer

vienne86 wrote: »

Zebo was almost invisible

I didn't even realise some players were on the field for about 20 minutes. Had to think to myself who was playing left wing, openside and outside centre! In fairness, Henry grew into it in defence but the other two didn't feature at all. I think the first time Cave was involved when he offloaded and turned over possession when the USA kicked it through. The first time (only time?) I noticed Zebo on the field was when he tried a low kick in midfield and was blocked down just in his own half.

Onwards and upwards, I suppose! It will be interesting to see the back three for next week. With Zebo gone, we're a little light on wingers. It will have to be Trimble and McFadden. I assume Jones will get the nod for this one now. Would stick with Olding. Cave stays at 13 by default. Henshaw on the bench.

I assume Jackson might get the nod for this one and Marmion should get into the squad for an appearance too. Boss was mixed and had an evening to forget with the slop served up at the breakdown. Marshall did his usual amazing break mixed with his standard brainfart.

decisions

I think Zebo was too afraid of picking up a knock, he was anonymous for most of the game. The odd time he got the ball he was forcing it.

DDC1990

DDC1990 wrote: »

Bedtime chaps.

Its been an odd start to the post Kidney era.

POM has to be MOM.

Poor Zebo didn't touch the ball in the second half.

Gone from a longshot to a no hope if Bowe doesnt make it.

Ahah, my double bluff worked.

Delighted for him. He gets a chance to play real rugby, and the chances are, he won't have seven guys watching him for the game and shouting "I got Zebo".

Can't believe I stayed up till 3.30 watching that. Can't wait for the highlights in half an hour. :P Most interesting match ever.

phog

I think posters are being harsh on Zebo, the game never had any continuity and the ball seldom went wide. I'd blame our performance rather than Zebo minding himself.

DDC1990

phog wrote: »

I think posters are being harsh on Zebo, the game never had any continuity and the ball seldom went wide. I'd blame our performance rather than Zebo minding himself.

Yeah,

I'd blame the fact that the ball never got near him at all. Hard to make an impact when your attack goes, Boss,Madigan,Cave,Ruck,US offside, penalty, kick for touch, lose lineout, start all over again.

Buer

It was mostly down to the woeful supply of ball. But I'm sure there was an element of potentially being called up and this being a nothing game. If that was a HEC game, Zebo would have been roaming more, demanding the ball and making things happen as he can. I haven't seen the statistics but I don't think he could have touched the ball more then two or three times in the 80 minutes.

JustinDee

decisions wrote: »

I think Zebo was too afraid of picking up a knock, he was anonymous for most of the game. The odd time he got the ball he was forcing it.

He didn't actually find out about Aussie call up until after game.

Swiwi

JustinDee wrote: »

He didn't actually find out about Aussie call up until after game.

Indeed. The rampant conspiracy theories, that he was somehow shirking his on-field duties to save himself for the Lions hold no water whatsoever in my opinion.

JustinDee

Swiwi wrote: »

Indeed. The rampant conspiracy theories, that he was somehow shirking his on-field duties to save himself for the Lions hold no water whatsoever in my opinion.

I was doing the twitter match feed last night. They had only found out late that morning and were not going to tell him him until afterwards as it would have affected his game.