Scotland vs Ireland, 4th Feb 2017, Murrayfield, 2:25, RTÉ 2

Hagz wrote: »

In fairness there are others who have to shoulder the blame as well. Why didn't Jackson push out? Henderson had Seymour. Or perhaps the call didn't come inside Jackson. Maybe it was a complete communication breakdown.

God the more I watch it the more awful it is. There's a lot of players at fault here.

SOB is on ball carrier, Ringrose defending the inside option, Hendo on the 2nd man and Jackson on the third, instead Hendo cuts in on SOB's man and then the ball goes a good 5m before it gets near the line and there's no push at all... That's a disgrace. The scots have done nothing to fix their men and we didn't push out with the ball at all. So yeah, not entirely Earl's fault but stepping off like is still really, really poor.

aled wrote: »

think we have a huge problem and think Joe is centre to it. He simply refuses to consider replacements. Lets suggest Murray gets injured. So Joe hasnt a replacement. And tommy Bowe establishes Joe. How absolutely ludicrous

Okay, change the record please. You're not making any sense and you're not adding anything constructive to the discussion - we've discussed this before.

Peregrine wrote: »

A few players at fault for that try but Earls ****ed up big time. He pulls back instead of hitting Huw Jones then he tackles air when Hogg has the ball and Kearney is marking Maitland.

There was something wrong with the defensive organisation generally though in the first half. That third try was a complete lack of awareness and really shouldn't have heppened.

It's been a few hours since the game, and I've watched the Eng-Fra game since and calmed down, consumed a few beverages and talked a load of ****e with the extended family since then.

Result:
Motherf*king disappointing. That was a poor Scotland side, and it was a poor Scotland performance. Nevertheless we lost, and that's that. First half reminded me of Argentina in the quarters, and Connacht in the final. Gave away 20 points far, far too easily.

Performances:
Not many players can hold their head up high today. That said, not many had **** games either. There was only one team playing rugby for 80% of that game and it was us. Heaslip, lacking of accurate-pass-after-a-break aside was good, probably our best. Toner, Murray, Zebo, Kearney decent but not without their fair share of mistakes. The rest, alright. Nothing special.

It's game we should have won, we left about 20 points on the pitch. I'm pissed as I'm sure the players are and the coach will murder them, but it's odd that we misfire so spectacularly for so long against one team. Scotland had nothing in that game and we couldn't take advantage. We move on though.

All in all a whole lot to learn for our side.

Can't fault the Scots, they played the game to win, and the ref. Thought they should have had a card or two but we all play the same ref. Tactics spot on for a team with no possession.

phog wrote: »

I watched the match in a pub so missed some of the detail that I'd normally see if I watched it at home and I doubt I'll watch the game again but from what I saw we were dire in the first half, defence was way too narrow for two of their tries. This was something that was laid on Earls shoulders when he played 13 a few games back but after today I think the reason must lie somewhere in the coaching.

We butchered a few opportunities and still managd to take the lead but coughed up two silly penalties to gift Scotland their deserved win.

Ireland looked like Munster of last season, getting into scoring opportunities but then turning over easy ball.

We were probably unlucky that we hadn't a few more scrums as we'd surely have got one of their front row binned and the momentum might have swung in our favour.

With BPs this season it will be interesting to see where or how we go from here but a 5 pointer next week would be handy.

Coaching doesn't make sense really. Defensively we were very good in the Autumn and have been, pretty much since Andy Farrell came on board. I don't hold with blaming individual players either, defense is a collective effort and requires co-ordination and awareness. They looked half asleep at times. Not sure what it is, but it seems to be an abberation, possibly because we still have a relatively inexperienced midfield and out-half combination (in terms of playing together I mean), so perhaps that's where the breakdown came about.

Others have noted that with Sexton and/or Payne on the pitch it may have been better organised. Hard to know, but the second half was much better and sometimes it takes that kind of kick in the ass to get people to step up.

razorblunt wrote:

That was not a poor Scotland side by any means, yes they played poorly but they didn't need to play brilliantly.

Correct. Scotland did what they had to do fair play to them.

OK, held fire until now. Heaslip, O'Brien and Ears looked good. Stander delivered two knock ons when we were 1 point up!!! All told we were not at the races

Ah come on. Usually a fan of Heaslip but he messed up a fair few times. Was lying over the ball and not making any attempt to get it away for one of their penalties. An outstretched arm, or a toss back would have almost certainly gotten it away. That pass for the potential try was foolish too. Should have pushed on and gone to ground if necessary and backed the lads to get in behind him. Poor game from him. Thought Stander was very good though. Ambitious ball carriers will usually knock on once a match or so, but his carrying was committed and savage. The Scots were obviously targeting him.

Thought Jackson was good also. People who know more than me seem to think Henderson was poor, but I thought he looked like one of our better players today.

Ardillaun wrote: »

On the bright side...a good result for the 6N competition overall. Cat is definitely among the pigeons.

How do you imagine that?

DrDario wrote: »

Ah come on. Usually a fan of Heaslip but he messed up a fair few times. Was lying over the ball and not making any attempt to get it away for one of their penalties. An outstretched arm, or a toss back would have almost certainly gotten it away.

That's not normally something you could criticise Heaslip for. He's usually very busy on the deck making sure the ball is well presented.

He got pinged twice alright. Something that will not have this match in his top 100.

On the plus side, his carrying was excellent. Made metres with every one.

I don't get the Ringrose hype myself. I'd have Scannell inside Henshaw myself, he's more of a Darcy 12 IMO and that's not a bad thing. But hopefully Ringrose will prove me wrong and I'll admit I haven't see all his games for Leinster.

Think the Ringrose thing is neither here nor there. I was 100% sure at the time that even if he'd gotten his man that the ball would just have been thrown out to the next Scot on the wing and ran in. Defense was so so narrow in the first half. I remember someone explained the rationale behind the narrow defense before but I can't quite remember. Seems a dangerous tactic tho. If anybody cares to explain I'd appreciate it.

Anyone else surprised we weren't playing for territory very much. I could probably count the kicks to touch in the second half on one hand.

Personally I'm not as dejected as I usually would be. Guess I'm still living off the NZ win. Just hope the players aren't doing the same (!).

razorblunt wrote: »

Scotland living off scraps and "broken play" is as clichéd as it comes in rugby terms but its there for a reason. They're brilliant at bringing teams down to their level.

Speaking of cliches, teams to their level, they're really not, and that's why they've been **** the last few 6 Nations. They might try to do that, but even today they weren't all that. We scored 22 points against them, normally enough to send them packing home, but not today - because we gifted them 20 points all of their very own without much resistance, and then they got their customary few after that.

razorblunt wrote: »

Of course Ireland are the better team, b
ut that doesn't make Scotland a "poor team". Schmidt completely underestimated the Scottish forwards and though the backrow would bully their counterparts, when in fact the Irish lads mainly never got near their breakdown to disrupt nor to their own to secure.

We has masses of possession. Oodles of territory. Our inability to convert is not down to underestimating the opposition.

razorblunt wrote: »

For 40 minutes they attacked with real speed with Hogg already being in the line. I lost track of the amount of times, Ireland ran a shítty loop at a pedestrian pace or one of th backs tried that ridiculous gallop leg kick to gain pace but

40 minutes of attacking speed? What game were you watching?

Ireland missed 4 tackles - I think it was in the first half - and Scotland scored 21 points off them. We had more possession in that half, and more territory. Scotland were clinical as ****, but lets not pretend they dominated the game, because they did anything but. It was absolutely living off scraps, scraps that we presented them.