Match Thread : Irish Wolfhounds V England Saxons Friday 30th Jan 2015

galwaylad14

I reckon if we can take one thing from tonight it's that joe Schmidt will spend the next 8 weeks down on his 2 knees praying none of his first choice players get injured because if we have to rely on any of those donkeys that were playing tonight we are absolutley bunched.

aimee1

galwaylad14 wrote: »

I reckon if we can take one thing from tonight it's that joe Schmidt will spend the next 8 weeks down on his 2 knees praying none of his first choice players get injured because if we have to rely on any of those donkeys that were playing tonight we are absolutley bunched.

Ireland havent exactly been playing open running rugby under schmidt. The first two 6n games last year were all about execution of gameplan. I think too much emphasis is put on tonights game. It was more Important for madigan sob, earls, mcgrath, ross, henderson to get gametime for different reasons.

Ireland will be a different animal next week.

vienne86

galwaylad14 wrote: »

I reckon if we can take one thing from tonight it's that joe Schmidt will spend the next 8 weeks down on his 2 knees praying none of his first choice players get injured because if we have to rely on any of those donkeys that were playing tonight we are absolutley bunched.

SOB is not a donkey. Not even when playing his first game in 14 months.

Sean Kinsella

aimee1 wrote: »

Ireland havent exactly been playing open running rugby under schmidt. The first two 6n games last year were all about execution of gameplan. I think too much emphasis is put on tonights game. It was more Important for madigan sob, earls, mcgrath, ross, henderson to get gametime for different reasons.

Ireland will be a different animal next week.

Let's hope so as any repetition of tonight's input will be embarrassing.

CatFromHue

I missed the start of the game so what happened to McFadden?

It's funny looking at the stats as it's not often, of ever, that a team who can only secure around 50% of their own set piece can look so comfortable and win so well.

At one stage it was going from sloppy penalty to sloppy penalty that I was hoping the ref would just card someone!

"you've knocked the ball on too many times so it's a yellow card"

Clegg

There were some very good players out there tonight for Ireland. I wouldn't have a problem if some of them started next week. Take them out of that A side and into the full strength team and they'll look so much better.

vienne86

CatFromHue wrote: »

I missed the start of the game so what happened to McFadden?

It's funny looking at the stats as it's not often, of ever, that a team who can only secure around 50% of their own set piece can look so comfortable and win so well.

At one stage it was going from sloppy penalty to sloppy penalty that I was hoping the ref would just card someone!

"you've knocked the ball on too many times so it's a yellow card"

No sure. He didn't look bad going off, and I was wondering was it precautionary.

total former

People are reading way too much into this game. Yes it was appalling but that's the nature of the beast. Wolfhounds matches are always scrappy, disjointed affairs.

It's a scratch team thrown together to fulfil the fixture. Yes they were in camp together but would never have run drills as an XV. Yes there were a lot of Leinster players but here's a stat for you; tonight was the first time SOB and Conan had shared a pitch. Other combinations were just as unfamiliar. Then add the disruption of losing Fitz and McFadden and what could we expect?

It was an awful game but let's look at it for what it was; a chance for guys to stretch their legs and get a bit of gametime. It will have no effect on next week's selection, unless the injury toll comes into play.

If you're slating a player who might be on the fringe for next week, ask yourself would the other fringe player have done any better? No, he wouldn't have.

bilston

These A games are usually a non event. I think many, myself included, got tricked a bit into thinking there was more to it tonight because of the strength of the team selected. However on closer inspection yes we had an experienced team but we had key players with little recent game time behind them on the pitch and an out half who hasn't out half much lately. Maybe the result shouldn't be that much of a surprise. Tonight will (hopefully) dampen expectations a little ahead of next week.

I still expect next week to be a lot different.

Kiwi_knock

If there is one upside to the match, the English media will quieten down about Burgess.

molloyjh

CatFromHue wrote: »

I missed the start of the game so what happened to McFadden?

It's funny looking at the stats as it's not often, of ever, that a team who can only secure around 50% of their own set piece can look so comfortable and win so well.

At one stage it was going from sloppy penalty to sloppy penalty that I was hoping the ref would just card someone!

"you've knocked the ball on too many times so it's a yellow card"

Bringing the game into disrepute?

CatFromHue

A team yellow for persistent infringing.

jjll

Ireland a joke tonight some were too frightened geeting hurt for next week cant see how any can start next week all over england first 15 and too many basic mistakes

case885

Back from the game which was amateurish stuff at times and very hard to endure. Too many errors, not good enough at the breakdown and some terrible missed tackles.
Full house id say but a freezing night and the crowd had nothing to shout about really.

bm_1212

Think D'Arcy played himself out of contention for 6n...madigan played himself onto bench behind kearney for Italy. . Ryan missed/dropped off too many tackles for a top class 6 and strauss has been very quiet in games for a while now...positives were sob 50 mins, Earls more mins, diack is a viable option at lock, conan and mckeon another step up

shuffol

Ireland lacked intensity both in defence and attack, couldn't get anything going and with a few brutes in the English backrow had trouble slowing them down. I'm disappointed by the performance but wouldn't be concerned about it.

If the argument is Fitz or Earls then it has to be Fitz. Earls understandably isn't up to speed after such a long lay off and test rugby will expose that. Fitz on the other hand has been flying. I don't like Earls at 13 but especially don't think he's suited to how Schmidt plays, great threat when the game breaks up but not the most accurate with his interplay particularly off set moves.

clsmooth

Think Fitz will benefit from missing that game. A games are always the same, always poor spectacles and no indicator of how the first team will perform. Great to see SOB back though after some of the rumours that had gone around

Hagz

bm_1212 wrote: »

Think D'Arcy played himself out of contention for 6n...madigan played himself onto bench behind kearney for Italy. . Ryan missed/dropped off too many tackles for a top class 6 and strauss has been very quiet in games for a while now...positives were sob 50 mins, Earls more mins, diack is a viable option at lock, conan and mckeon another step up

I'd have to agree about D'Arcy. For a player of such experience he made a bundle of errors. ESPN has Dominic Ryan as the wolfhounds top tackler with 13 tackles and one miss. And I think it's understandable as to why Strauss was quiet. We didn't string enough phases or get enough momentum for him to get involved in attack. Defensively though I thought he was very busy.

The Lost Sheep

bm_1212 wrote: »

Think D'Arcy played himself out of contention for 6n...madigan played himself onto bench behind kearney for Italy. . Ryan missed/dropped off too many tackles for a top class 6 and strauss has been very quiet in games for a while now...positives were sob 50 mins, Earls more mins, diack is a viable option at lock, conan and mckeon another step up

Agree on Darcy but what would you see without him?
Do you really see Diack as an option in the row? Do you see him being picked there for test games?

shuffol wrote: »

Ireland lacked intensity both in defence and attack, couldn't get anything going and with a few brutes in the English backrow had trouble slowing them down. I'm disappointed by the performance but wouldn't be concerned about it.

If the argument is Fitz or Earls then it has to be Fitz. Earls understandably isn't up to speed after such a long lay off and test rugby will expose that. Fitz on the other hand has been flying. I don't like Earls at 13 but especially don't think he's suited to how Schmidt plays, great threat when the game breaks up but not the most accurate with his interplay particularly off set moves.

Earls I think is most certainly suited to how Schmidt plays. His workrate, work off ball is very good. He isn't completely up to speed after a fairly long lay off which you do state 100 odd minutes for Munster and tonight but I wouldn't be so sure that it has to be Fitz

dregin

Whatever about next week's squad, I think Diak definitely put himself ahead of McCarthy in the pecking order. Far busier around the park.

shuffol

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Agree on Darcy but what would you see without him?
Do you really see Diack as an option in the row? Do you see him being picked there for test games?
Earls I think is most certainly suited to how Schmidt plays. His workrate, work off ball is very good. He isn't completely up to speed after a fairly long lay off which you do state 100 odd minutes for Munster and tonight but I wouldn't be so sure that it has to be Fitz

I'd love to see him on the wing for Ireland, as you said his workrate is fantastic and he's no real weakness in that position. He can do a job at 13 but think there's better options.

sydthebeat

just hope FMF hasnt a broken rib!!!

Fireball07

dregin wrote: »

Whatever about next week's squad, I think Diak definitely put himself ahead of McCarthy in the pecking order. Far busier around the park.

I thought Diack was impressive, but again don't see him jumping ahead of McCarthy in that position. If McCarthy's injury is bad, we are looking very light in the row though.

McCarthy, Foley, Ryan, Tuohy, Kearney..... lucky that Henderson is back. I suppose Diack might be next just because there's no one else.

irishbucsfan

A chance McFadden is out?

Let's face it, Irish selection policy is roughly the exact same as the post-3am Coppers shift selection policy. There's only a certain number of players left and we've got a 23 man squad to pick.

CatFromHue

irishbucsfan wrote: »

A chance McFadden is out?

Let's face it, Irish selection policy is roughly the exact same as the post-3am Coppers shift selection policy.

Ian Henderson has a lesbian head.....kinky!

:pac:

Utopia Parkway

Some decent performances amongst the forwards but thought the Irish back play was horrendous. Marmion was fine and his passing was quick and accurate but everything outside that was awful.

bm_1212

dregin wrote: »

Whatever about next week's squad, I think Diak definitely put himself ahead of McCarthy in the pecking order. Far busier around the park.

I think so too..maybe a bench option against Scotland. Maybe even a start at 6 because under cotter I would say Scotland will have an excellent lineouts. .

aimee1

Sean Kinsella wrote: »

Let's hope so as any repetition of tonight's input will be embarrassing.

McGrath, Best , Ross
POC, Toner
POM, Jordi, Heaslip

Murray Madigan

Zebo, Henshaw, Fitz, Bowe, Kearney

Bench - Bent, Cronin, Moore, Henderson, TOD, Reddan/Marmion, Earls, Keatley

I count 6-7 people who would be considered genuine leaders in that team. Compare it to last night when we had several relative newcomers to international rugby in the forwards especially, or guys coming back from injury who would be pre-occupied with getting themselves back into match mode.

If Ireland are as sloppy next week as last night at the breakdown I dont see POC/POM/Heaslip/Best allowing it to continue. That leadership with make Murray's [hopefully] life easier which in turn will be a big benefit for Madigan who i feel will start.

vienne86

CatFromHue wrote: »

Ian Henderson has a lesbian head.....kinky!

:pac:

Whatever the make or shape of his head, he was one of the better players last night. Diak had a good night too, and Ryan started brilliantly but then faded. I don't like the look of McCarthy's injury - he was concussed in the autumn too. Pity, because we could do with his bulk for the bench next week.

aimee1

vienne86 wrote: »

Whatever the make or shape of his head, he was one of the better players last night. Diak had a good night too, and Ryan started brilliantly but then faded. I don't like the look of McCarthy's injury - he was concussed in the autumn too. Pity, because we could do with his bulk for the bench next week.

I think henderson on the bench next week doesnt weaken us if McCarthy is out. We need Tuohy and Foley fit and available later in the year.