Ireland vs England, Sunday 1st March 3pm; RTE/BBC

Tox56

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Quite a lot.

Conor Murray: http://hoganstand.com/Limerick/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=156156

It is not just over head catching, it is general fielding, general jumping and general kicking.

I remember playing Rugby with a few lads who went to Rugby schools and only played rugby and their kicking was poor. Whereas most GAA / Soccer heads find it easy to kick a Rugby ball.

Honestly I think that's just lads with excellent hand eye/foot coordination unsurprisingly excelling in different sports. Kearney would still be an excellent fielder if he'd never played a game of GAA in his life, we're playing with a backline full of fullbacks, that's why we're good in the air

corny

Swiwi. wrote: »

It's funny. Been trawling the various websites, and fans from both sides not always happy with the ref. Human nature I guess. He's never too popular on here, partly because people would have mostly preferred france to win in '11, but in general a good ref. He missed a couple of knock-ons to my mind, but I thought a pretty decent display. No ref gets it 100% right, but there were no howlers. He's almost certain to get one of the world cup semis I would have thought, with Owens the other.

People appreciate him because he's normally calm, clear and concise with his decisions and delivery. However, never thought his judgement of said decisions was anything special.

The WC? I don't think it was preferring a France win. It was preferring a situation where the referee didn't abbragate his responsibility to a fair game.

theboy1

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Quite a lot.

Conor Murray:

It is not just over head catching, it is general fielding, general jumping and general kicking.

I remember playing Rugby with a few lads who went to Rugby schools and only played rugby and their kicking was poor. Whereas most GAA / Soccer heads find it easy to kick a Rugby ball.

No on catches overhead in rugby.
Jumping is obviously different due to the different catching style.

Kicking maybe, although I would have a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest otherwise.

total former

Swiwi. wrote: »

It's funny. Been trawling the various websites, and fans from both sides not always happy with the ref. Human nature I guess. He's never too popular on here, partly because people would have mostly preferred france to win in '11, but in general a good ref. He missed a couple of knock-ons to my mind, but I thought a pretty decent display. No ref gets it 100% right, but there were no howlers. He's almost certain to get one of the world cup semis I would have thought, with Owens the other.

People are never happy with the ref. Ever. It's just the way of it.

Joubert is a very good ref and had a good game today.

hadoken13

yosser hughes wrote: »

I think that's nonsense to be honest, and is lazily thrown out there endlessly by the likes of Tom McGurk. It's become a clichée at this stage and as such is parroted and gains a currency it doesn't merit.

Nonsense? So having a GAA background adds nothing to a backs development in rugby?

Wow.

That was amazing.

I felt this was going to be the biggest challenge of the Schmidt era and to my mind it's the performance of the Schmidt era.

We bossed that game, we bossed a bigger and more powerful team and they never really looked like scoring.

In elite sports there are rare chances that you reach a point of confidence where you become very very hard to beat. Some times you get cocky and you don't train as hard, and sometimes you allow mental fragility to creep into your game when things don't go your way. But some times and they are rare, you reach a point of confidence where you become hard to beat and when you show up prepared and mentally hardened to put it all on the pitch it takes something exceptional to best you.

This only happens when you believe your preparation is the pinnacle of what it can be, and you have to buy into what you are doing along with what those around you are doing (not just players but coaches and setup).

I don't think we have the best and most talented team in the 6N. But I do think we have the type of confidence I've described above.

We are going to be beaten, but we will only be beaten by really good teams playing their best.

It's not unique to rugby but it feels amazing when you are not just confident, but proven to be at the absolute top of your game. Anything is possible.

freyners

Hagz wrote: »

It's a load of crap to be honest. I wonder how much GAA these guys have actually player. Probably a couple of games at u13 level.

Off the top of my head, Kearney and Henshaw both played into minor level, Murray i have a feeling did play well into it as well

And we all know Jared Payne was Armaghs next All Ireland Winning captian

Hagz

Well that's me told.

I still think it's overemphasised by commentators.

hadoken13

Hagz wrote: »

Well that's me told.

I still think it's overemphasised by commentators.

Very true. Especially considering that most rugby clubs practice high fielding now.

bucketybuck

Hagz wrote: »

It's a load of crap to be honest. I wonder how much GAA these guys have actually player. Probably a couple of games at u13 level.

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Quite a lot.

Conor Murray: http://hoganstand.com/Limerick/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=156156

But that link only mentions Murray playing at U12 and Primary school level, it backs up Hagz' point more than anything.

vienne86

England

Just home from the match - just feel that I was so lucky to be there. It was a fabulous performance from Ireland - very few mistakes and really bossed the game. I hope SOB is OK - but to be fair, TOD did very well.....as did Jordi Murphy.

Mike Ross was immense - so much for me shouting for Moore to start.

Sexton's loss was huge - I presume he was injured, but haven't watched the post match press conference etc yet. Hope he's OK. Himself and Murray organised the game so well.....very very impressive.

Well done Robbie Henshaw - he must me knackered as he was going all 80 minutes.

No one played badly IMO - everyone contributed. Even Joubert, who kept things flowing and while he explained things to the players, he didn't preach at them.

We had quite a few English fans around us - very pleasant and while they were disappointed, they had no gripes.

Great day for Irish rugby.

PTH2009

Good win today was behind a very abusive English soccer type supporter and it was even sweeter victory

Have a feeling Wales could beat us

degsie

PTH2009 wrote: »

Have a feeling Wales could beat us

While that might be possible, we still beat England :P

keith16

PTH2009 wrote: »

Have a feeling Wales could beat us

Our winning streak will inevitably come to an end but please make it anyone other than Wales.

corny

Listening to the BBC today and the narrative for yesterday is that Wales were very impressive. Didn't see that myself. See nothing to suggest the game will be much different from the game last year.

Tim Robbins

bucketybuck wrote: »

But that link only mentions Murray playing at U12 and Primary school level, it backs up Hagz' point more than anything.

The skill level in U12 GAA is way higher than U12 Rugby (from what I have seen). Where Rugby really gets going is at schools level. By U12, a decent GAA player can kick off both feet and a do range of stuff to a pretty high standard.

I'm sure he was playing a bit over the summer etc. maybe at a lower level.

mahoney_j

Great game,great performance ,great coach,confidence building but we're not cocky.wish the World Cup was next week and for this team to get s crack at the all blacks.great strength in depth to our team also.sexton was again immense for a lad out of the game for so long ,standard dropped though at 10 when madigan came on

AndonHandon

Tim Robbins wrote: »

The skill level in U12 GAA is way higher than U12 Rugby (from what I have seen). Where Rugby really gets going is at schools level. By U12, a decent GAA player can kick off both feet and a do range of stuff to a pretty high standard.

I'm sure he was playing a bit over the summer etc. maybe at a lower level.

"A range of stuff" I.e. Eating crisp sandwiches, drinking chocolate milk etc.

Bridge93

England

corny wrote: »

Listening to the BBC today and the narrative for yesterday is that Wales were very impressive. Didn't see that myself. See nothing to suggest the game will be much different from the game last year.

It's in Cardiff, will be far tougher.

PTH2009

If Wales do beat us I think we could struggle against Scotland but if we play well than its ours

galwaylad14

PTH2009 wrote: »

Good win today was behind a very abusive English soccer type supporter and it was even sweeter victory

Have a feeling Wales could beat us

That'll be a huge test. Genuinely could go either way, I fancy we'd have the edge on them up front but their backs would probably be marginally better than ours. However they don't have half backs in the same stratosphere as our two which could prove the difference.

I was about to say that regardless of the Welsh result we'll win the tournament from here on points difference anyway because we'd beat the Scots by whatever we'd need to in the last game but then I realised England still have them to play (and at home too) and could easily put 40+ on them in Twickenham and they also have a disinterested French team to play who they could also put a few points on (though I think they'll beat the French but not by a big score)

So ya, it's probably win the Grand Slam or finish second really.

bilston

Who'd have thought a back row consisting of O'Mahony, O'Donnell and Murphy would completely boss the English for 50 minutes?! I admit to being concerned about Murphy before the match but he was excellent and TOD was everywhere when he came on.

McGrath was very good as well, I would keep him in the starting team for Wales, although Samson Lee will be a tough opponent for him. That was one of Best's best games for Ireland, he was sub human at times and Ross had a strong game too and continues to justify his selection.

I thought Toner was very noticeable around the park and along with our legendary captain was part of a very strong lineout.

Murray and Sexton controlled things well, the odd iffy kick, but if you kick that much it's bound to happen, however we absolutely need Sexton to be fit for Wales.

Henshaw was rightly named man of the match, he was terrific. All the talk was of Joseph (was he even playing today!?) being the best centre in the championship to date, I think that debate has been put to bed now by Henshaw. His try was a great moment and I'll remember that for a long time. Hopefully the first of many for the young lad. Payne played very well, defensively solid but he ran bloody hard all day and while there were no line breaks he made yards every time he got the ball. People need to stop comparing these two to D'Arcy and BOD, they are completely different animals and are doing what they do very well.

Bowe has had better days but still worked tirelessly, Kearney and particularly Zebo were excellent.

The replacements all made their contributions.

Our game definitely moved up a gear today, there were definitely a few more "Schmidt" set plays on show. The move off the scrum on their line when Murphy switched with Kearney and the little pop to Henshaw by McGrath being prime examples. I was staggered by some of the negativity on this thread during the game and can only assume it was WUMs on a mission. We can still get better, our accuracy can improve a bit, but it is closer now that it has been for a while. We are getting better all the time, is Joe going to have this side peaking in six months time. Can you imagine?

Lads 10 wins in a row now. That is a great stat, however I feel the 11th will be the hardest. We may start praying that Sexton, SOB, Henshaw and Payne are fit. That said we have players who can come in for most of them. However Sexton is key! Neither Madigan nor Keatley are at his level, Jonny has to be fit.

ThisRegard

bucketybuck wrote: »

But that link only mentions Murray playing at U12 and Primary school level, it backs up Hagz' point more than anything.

I think he played up to U21 hurling in a county semi or final or something like that. He was a relatively late starter to rugby.

Wang King

spiralism wrote: »

i tfied plting that eaelier. didnr work welll

Your keyboard has a lisp

Heaslip wasn't missed one bit

.ak

I've just ordered my henshaw pj's.

.ak

Anyway just back from the game. Atmosphere was absolutely awesome... Interesting the difference the colour of the opposition jersey makes.

bilston

Am I the only one who thinks the Cole/Healy incident is worth revisiting? IMO Cole's head makes an unnatural move towards Healy's face as they come together. I admit slow motion replays make these things look a lot worse.

.ak

bilston wrote: »

Am I the only one who thinks the Cole/Healy incident is worth revisiting? IMO Cole's head makes an unnatural move towards Healy's face as they come together. I admit slow motion replays make these things look a lot worse.

Nah, complete accident for me. Again poor technique at fault there.

Pudsy33

Wales won't be a tougher game than England, Australia or SA. I'm extremely confident.