England v Ireland. Twickenham. Sat 9th Mar, 16:45. RTE2

threeball

The Mayo of world rugby. When the fats in the fire they just can't get it done. They can win game after game when nothing much is one the line but when history beckons, like getting past a World QF for the first time or doing our first ever GS back to back then they stumble and fall again. The game management at the end was shocking. 90 secs to go and in possession of the ball. Instead of sticking it up the jumper of 4 or 5 forwards that had only 20mins gametime in the legs and seeing out the clock, they kick it back to the English who had been running through them like a dose of the scuts since the 3rd minute. Theres definitely a mental fragility under the surface.

Shehal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121872968#Comment_121872968

Well what else is there? If England & France are as talented as you say they are you'd think they'd show it on the field. Um no they arent because Ireland are still the champions and will likely will it again next week which means Ireland are the best confirmed.

Shehal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121872972#Comment_121872972

What are you even on about anymore.

dublin49

guys we are currently great .world class players ,Sheenan,Beirne maybe ,Aki,Doris and keenan surrounded by excellent colleagues ,enjoy,we are allowed to lose a close game,

bartkingcole

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873033#Comment_121873033

did we not win the Grand Slam last year? In 2018 also in Twickenham if I recall correctly (snowy freezing day).

threeball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873052#Comment_121873052

There was no history involved, it had been done previously.

blackvalley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873047#Comment_121873047

Of course we are allowed to lose a close game. What is unforgivable is handing the game to the opposition.

Ardillaun

Furbank seems to have added sparkle and cohesion to the English back line. What explains their excellent performance at rucks today? They had us on the back foot from the start.

joseywhales

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873037#Comment_121873037

Ok so under achieving and over achieving are invalid concepts, you are exactly as talented as the outcome.

Neil3030

Today's showing wasn't great but we'll probably still win the tournament. Never a bad thing to get a reality check once in a while.

I also think this will have been an invaluable learning opportunity for some of the younger lads - Crowley, Frawley, McCarthy. Today was about as tough as it gets, against a pack that big, playing with that linespeed and intensity.

But the real positive for England today was their attack. They did not look anything like a team that has been neglecting attacking sessions. Looks like those leaks claiming discontent in the camp were a red herring.

We should take that as a compliment.

Madeoface

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873033#Comment_121873033

Nah. No mental fragility. Just a sh*t idea from Murray to box kick and not trust his fresh forwards.

JGP would not have panicked like that if he was back there. Which is back to the 6:2

dublin49

we will be confirmed I am convinced next week as the best team in the six nation championship 2024 and slightly unfortunately we wont be confirmed as the greatest 6 nation team of all team.

DellyBelly

Christ people comparing Ireland to Mayo GAA...unbelievable. This team is nothing like Mayo....it has and will continue to deliver. Really hope we close out the championship next weekend and celebrate it as we should

Downlinz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121872370#Comment_121872370

I thought the kick was fine tbh, it was well out of the 22 and put England in a real low percentage area to score from. Lowe was on the opposite wing so not really a natural pass from the ruck to find him so the only real alternative was back to Crowley and after an 80 minute game I'm sure his range would have been much better than what Murray achieved.

I think if you had offered Ireland a 2 point lead, 1 minute on the clock and an English lineout from there before the game Andy Farrell would have viewed it as a 90% chance of victory.

We just didn't defend it well, particularly with so many getting sucked into the attempt to hold up Freeman for a maul. Lowe especially is caught in no mans land gesturing for the maul and winding up out of position gifting metres away to Feyi-Waboso and then getting caught on the wrong side of the tackle and giving away the crucial penalty.

Seadin

Murray and O Mahoney should never put on an Irish jersey again after this 6 nations, They are liabilities it has to be said. O Mahoney is poor but his badass character is the only thing that is keeping him in the panel. He is bang average and this has been discovered long before now. He would put in a MOTM performance then in an Autumn series dead duck game. Get the fcuk out of there now please. Dorus also talking shi*e after the game to the media, call yourself aside and zip your mouth after that no show performance from himself.

Ireland are simply not good enough and NZ beating us in the QF last world is the reason we will never punch holes in the rugby world. England did better than us in the last world cup and we all wonder why? It's simple England were better than us today and would beat us in a RWC Quarter Final if it came down to that.

People here saying we will win the championship, we still have to beat Scotland and if we don't show up, we will be beaten and we can hand over the championship to England in a very Irish like rugby manner. Nothing will surprise me with our rugby team. We might not even perform who knows? They are so unpredictable. Scotland have a triple Crown to go for something they have never won in 6 nations rugby. Do I dare say they could beat us?

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873033#Comment_121873033

Yeah, I remember that mentality during the six nations last year.

OH WAIT!!!!!

threeball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873156#Comment_121873156

It was more than just the box kick. They looked shaky from the start.

Seadin

What are the scanerios of Ireland not winning the championship?

Seadin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873219#Comment_121873219

We nearly blew it against a terrible England team last year and only from the 65 mins onwards were we sure we were winning the game.

dublin49

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873211#Comment_121873211

Jaysus get a grip we are a home match v Scots 2 being champions we r Ireland,not the All Blacks,stop judging us by their standards /

JanuarySnowstor

Just a couple of comments:

As a Munster fan, I have to say O'Mahony has been poor as captain. I thought he'd do a much better job. The captain getting sun binned twice in the 6Nations isn't really good enough! As a huge fan of him, he's just not performing since the world cup.

Everyone is on about Murray's last kick. Rightly so, but what's forgotten is he kicked twice before that also. Almost like he was determined to give the ball to England. A poor performance by him. Perhaps he's just sour over being dropped of late! I was his greatest fan but with his experience he left his team mates down.

Hunger is everything in sport!! It's the reason we've stopped England in the past and why they stopped us today! Perhaps it will also be the reason we perform next Sat!

Seadin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873255#Comment_121873255

You are only as good as your last game. Just remember that. We take Scotland lightly like we did against England and we aren't winning then that's for sure. England could put up a huge score against France too let's not forget. France are in the doldrums.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873265#Comment_121873265

The kick was the right decision. It was far better to be as far from our line as possible and in that scenario with us leading ref would have been straigjt in on any actions by arriving irish players to breakdown for any slowing down of game. Talking about him being sour or letting down the team is pathetic!

dublin49

You make a call and it works and your a hero, it fails and your a dunce , lots happened between Murray kick and drop goal, why do fans always need scapegoats, we got beat suck it and move on , we will win championship and thats great for our country and next year we will win Grand Slam

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873229#Comment_121873229

So what you are saying there is that late in the game when the chips were down we came up with the goods?

Does that sound like a team that couldn't handle the pressure?

TheCitizen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121872818#Comment_121872818

I’m not sure what you’re trying to argue here, I think it’s well documented that Ireland have the best players in the Northern Hemisphere. They have the best team and despite today’s disappointment they’re still top of the 6N table.

GnolGerg

England deserved the victory. But we had it in the bag if we just played smarter. Frustrating. Can someone explain to me the wisdom of the scrum half kicking the ball away (as opposed to attempting to retain possession on the ground) when you're up by two and there is a minute left? The last time I checked, the opposition can't score if they don't have the ball. Yet from scrum we kicked the ball away numerous times in the last few minutes.

Seadin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873306#Comment_121873306

That's the attitude of some fans and media and the reason we fall on our arses the first chance a team squares up to us.

dublin49

Yes , you play a few phases in your own 22 and a rabid english forward latches on and gets peno in front of posts