Ireland vs Barbarians, Thomond Pk, 28/05/15 19:45, Sky SP1

molloyjh

Swiwi. wrote: »

Is Dave Kearney the new marmite? Personally I think marmite is ok, which is what I thought of DK's display. He wasn't awful but he wasn't amazing either.

I think it was Buer said it earlier. He was "tidy". He defended well, covered well, chased hard and carried the ball reasonably well. He wasn't flashy and he didn't score a try (the universal one and only measurement for a winger :rolleyes:) but he was solid.

irishbucsfan

Swiwi. wrote: »

Is Dave Kearney the new marmite? Personally I think marmite is ok, which is what I thought of DK's display. He wasn't awful but he wasn't amazing either.

Strong in contact, great defender, great distributor and capable of kicking the ball. Exactly what Schmidt is looking for from a 14.

leakyboots

irishbucsfan wrote: »

You have to be realistic, there was very little interest in the result from Ireland. There was nothing to gain from a win or loss. I doubt the management care at all about the result, they'd be much more interested in the opportunity to get onto the training pitch together this week.

Nothing to gain from a win... yeah maybe, I said as much above - but a loss asks questions of the team. That wasn't an inexperienced team out there.

Of course the management care about the result, ridiculous assertion.

Draw a line under it and move on I guess.

Buer

McGrath - not good and yellow card will have annoyed coaches.
Strauss - tidy enough. Decent darts, won a decent turnover pen
Furlong - worked hard and gave their loosehead a little trouble but not at this level yet
Toner - was comfortable in second gear
Tuohy - D. Ryan will be happy enough after that
Diack - carried a bit but pretty mediocre
Henry - our best player and grew into the game
Heaslip - was very busy but faded in the 3rd quarter
Reddan - the blip in form is more than just a blip
Gilroy - really sharp with ball in hand but not much without it and the first try will have hurt him
Marshall - pretty anonymous
COS - had a really solid game and got over the gain line a number of times against much more famed opponents
DK - quiet first half before a really tidy and effective second half. The clearing of the ball 50 yards before holding up the player for a turnover maul will be stuff JS loves but shocking pass on his own 22 blotted his book
RK - tidy enough cleaning up at the back, not didn't get involved enough for a senior player

irishbucsfan

leakyboots wrote: »

Nothing to gain from a win... yeah maybe, I said as much above - but a loss asks questions of the team. That wasn't an inexperienced team out there.

Of course the management care about the result, ridiculous assertion.

Draw a line under it and move on I guess.

Why do the management care about the result? They didn't have any tape to work with, they couldn't game plan for this in the normal manner, there is absolutely no similarities between this game and any of our upcoming important games, there were no ranking points on offer... so why would they care? Schmidt before the game looked completely indifferent about the result.

Buer

People are reading far too much into the game. It was never going to be a classic nor a scintillating win. It was a mediocre line up, relatively speaking. Our warm up games aren't going to be much more impressive. They'll be wanting to get set pieces right and units working together. Always the same every 4 years and we always have people wringing their hands.

aimee1

irishbucsfan wrote: »

You have to be realistic, there was very little interest in the result from Ireland. There was nothing to gain from a win or loss. I doubt the management care at all about the result, they'd be much more interested in the opportunity to get onto the training pitch together this week.

spot on. in november there was a lot of complaints about the georgia game, how poor it was etc yet a week later we beat australia. A few months later we win 6n. Tonight means nothing when considering the world cup. No injuries is the only result that matters really.

molloyjh

irishbucsfan wrote: »

You have to be realistic, there was very little interest in the result from Ireland. There was nothing to gain from a win or loss. I doubt the management care at all about the result, they'd be much more interested in the opportunity to get onto the training pitch together this week.

Yeah if you look at some of the players on the pitch after having the laugh it was obvious they weren't that bothered.

pickarooney

Buer wrote: »

People are reading far too much into the game. It was never going to be a classic nor a scintillating win. It was a mediocre line up, relatively speaking. Our warm up games aren't going to be much more impressive. They'll be wanting to get set pieces right and units working together. Always the same every 4 years and we always have people wringing their hands.

In fairness, every four years we bottle it at the WC so it's not a pattern that inspires confidence either.

total former

Swiwi. wrote: »

Is Dave Kearney the new marmite? Personally I think marmite is ok, which is what I thought of DK's display. He wasn't awful but he wasn't amazing either.

Dave Kearney made the cardinal sin of keeping Zeebs out of the Ireland team in the last Six Nations.

He was grand tonight. If he was competing with Gilroy for a place in the RWC squad, he'd have come out ahead.

molloyjh

There you go, from the horses mouth. It was all about looking at a few individuals really.

total former

Buer wrote: »

McGrath - not good and yellow card will have annoyed coaches.
Strauss - tidy enough. Decent darts, won a decent turnover pen
Furlong - worked hard and gave their loosehead a little trouble but not at this level yet
Toner - was comfortable in second gear
Tuohy - D. Ryan will be happy enough after that
Diack - carried a bit but pretty mediocre
Henry - our best player and grew into the game
Heaslip - was very busy but faded in the 3rd quarter
Reddan - the blip in form is more than just a blip
Gilroy - really sharp with ball in hand but not much without it and the first try will have hurt him
Marshall - pretty anonymous
COS - had a really solid game and got over the gain line a number of times against much more famed opponents
DK - quiet first half before a really tidy and effective second half. The clearing of the ball 50 yards before holding up the player for a turnover maul will be stuff JS loves but shocking pass on his own 22 blotted his book
RK - tidy enough cleaning up at the back, not didn't get involved enough for a senior player

Poor Madigan doesn't even merit a comment? He wasn't that bad!

sydthebeat

My biggest disappointment in a nothing game was our lack of ambition. Even giving for weather conditions (which were the same for both sides) we didn't produce anything bold or off the cuff.

Tap and goes were met with one out passes to isolated players.

Madigans drop conversion was the high point for us..... sad really.

DDC1990

Rokocoko Fourie and the Smith's were the highlights for me.

JR's passing was spellbinding. With Bayonne relegated, get Foley on the phone. Saili and Rokocoko in the centres, providing Zebo and Earls on the wings. Stuff of dreams.

Disappointing not to win it, but at the end of the day it was little more then an opportunity to get lads a run out and see where they are at prior to the World Cup.

Swiwi.

leakyboots wrote: »

Par for the course for DK. Very average player.

I'm not in the "anti-Dave Kearney" club, sorry. He is generally a solid reliable winger. I don't think he has enough to displace the likes of Bowe etc, but if called upon I'd say he would be ok. He should be happier than Gilroy who has all sorts of defensive issues that would be ruthlessly targetted at the higher echelons of the game imo.

Buer

total former wrote: »

Poor Madigan doesn't even merit a comment? He wasn't that bad!

Wasn't he?!

To be honest, I thought he was alright in the first half. Tried things, great line kicking but then he started forcing things and looking for gaps that weren't there. Mistakes came.

I think there was a maul near their line in the final 10 on the far side where he called it, burst forward and took the ball and clearly without telling those outside. He was thrown down with his two centres about 10 yards behind him out in midfield wondering what was going on.

He just doesn't think the game well enough on the field at times.

.ak

****e game. Few highlights, thought cos had a really solid shift for a guy stepping up, his clear outs and tackling was spot on. One dodgy knock on early on but it didn't cause him to shrink away from the game.

aimee1

sydthebeat wrote: »

My biggest disappointment in a nothing game was our lack of ambition. Even giving for weather conditions (which were the same for both sides) we didn't produce anything bold or off the cuff.

it goes so much against how ireland won the last two 6n titles. A midfield combo who havent played together and an off form scrum half doesnt help matters either.

The tap n go's are not part of how JS has the players programmed

The ref was a joke. Every ireland maul there was two BB players on the ground under it preventing it going anywhere and he never once warned them. If the game was reffed firmly it would have opened up a lot more. Ireland must have had about 20 penalties awarded to them

Flincher

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Strong in contact, great defender, great distributor and capable of kicking the ball. Exactly what Schmidt is looking for from a 14.

Great distributor is a stretch to be honest. Capable of passing, but even more comfortable stepping inside and taking contact. He's a very good kick chase and defensive winger.

It's up to JS which type of winger he wants. Kearney isn't going to win you a game, but Zebo / Gilroy might cost you one...

irishbucsfan

Flincher wrote: »

Great distributor is a stretch to be honest. Capable of passing, but even more comfortable stepping inside and taking contact. He's a very good kick chase and defensive winger.

It's up to JS which type of winger he wants. Kearney isn't going to win you a game, but Zebo / Gilroy might cost you one...

His passing out of contact is really good and he can also get passes away from very tight spaces, IE down the touchline.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Keep in mind that the Ireland A team have always been abysmal. Wolfhounds always misfire. Summer tours are usually a disappointment. Call me pessimistic, but I'd say this hacked together Irish team won't be entertaining to watch.

Missed the second half but after skimming this thread...

phog

As kick off time approached I half regretted not getting tickets but as I'd invited family around to watch it on TV I stuck with that plan. I'm delighted I didn't cough up €70 for a pair of terrace tickets to watch that game. It was ****e.

A2LUE42

phog wrote: »

As kick off time approached I half regretted not getting tickets but as I'd invited family around to watch it on TV I stuck with that plan. I'm delighted I didn't cough up €70 for a pair of terrace tickets to watch that game. It was ****e.

And bloody cold:(

bilston

Not sure what Schmidt will have learnt.

Henry and Heaslip did well up front and the new Leinster coach will have something to work with in Colm O'Shea. The lineout was good so a good evenings work for Strauss and co there. The scrum seemed ok so Furlong can take his share of the credit for that.

Scrum half is a worry, especially if Murray is injured.

Edit - real missed opportunity in not playing McCloskey IMO, especially given the lack of carriers up front.

RedemptionZ

Did Kelleher come on at all?

pickarooney

RedemptionZ wrote: »

Did Kelleher come on at all?

For about two minutes at the end

Buer

From those off the bench, I thought only Bent and Jackson made any decent case for themselves in terms of genuine contenders. Marshall doing himself no harm but isn't in the mix. Herring was clocked by Smith's high shoulder to the head which was a stonewall penalty for me it not more. Unfortunate for him. Ross went through the motions and was grand.

Murphy was poor but I doubt it will hinder his hopes too much and I'd say himself, Henry and our starting back row are close to being locked down as our 5 back rows on the plane (with Henderson supplementing).

McGrath was mixed. Brought some energy to the game but threw one stinker in his own 22 to the ground. I think someone mentioned it was he who threw the poor pass to Madigan that ended it but I couldn't tell on the one viewing.

bilston

Buer wrote: »

. I think someone mentioned it was he who threw the poor pass to Madigan that ended it but I couldn't tell on the one viewing.

I only saw it once because I turned off in disgust but I thought it was Jackson who threw the pass to Madigan?

Buer

bilston wrote: »

I only saw it once because I turned off in disgust but I thought it was Jackson who threw the pass to Madigan?

That's what I had assumed given it was thrown from first receiver but there was doubt in my mind when I saw it posted that someone thought it was McGrath.

.ak

Deleted User wrote: »

I figured it out. Why Jackson isn't starting. It's the last possible chance it can happen. Joe wants to do what MOC never could, determine who is number one: Madigan vs Gopperth, one last time. Its genius.

So Jimmy is no1?