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

Think it's fair to say they dominated us in the first half. Was expecting their back play to be dangerous, but my memory of the first half is us basically getting pushed around at the rucks and bullied in the tackle. Scrum was one place we seemed to have dominance.

Hagz wrote: »

I'm not a huge fan of the Henshaw Ringrose partnership personally. I think Ringrose is a superstar in the making, but I'm not sure himself and Henshaw compliment each other. Time will tell. They'll be playing side by side for the next couple of seasons anyway.

It's not like they've had masses of time together to meld and to give people an idea of how things will go to be fair.

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Is Henshaw the most at fault for this one? Did not keep an eye on his man.

Backs as much at fault alright.

Counting exercises in the hotel tonight. :pac:

CMOTDibbler wrote: »

Btw, serious props to Johnny Gray. He only carried eight metres in fourteen attempts and he missed two tackles.

But he made twenty-eight tackles. 28! That's absolutely insane. :eek:

He's a tackling machine. Was averaging well above 10 a game and on a streak of missing none for about 6 months there.

Ardillaun wrote: »

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

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?

I would imagine that neutral observers don't want to see walkovers. The teams look evenly matched this year so far.

The fundamental problem with Ireland at the moment is converting oodles of territory and possession into more points: we saw this in the games at the Aviva in autumn, where despite dominating possession, Ireland fell short vs NZ and struggled over the line vs Australia. As my dad said in an email this morning "I thought Ireland largely bereft of attacking ideas".

Yesterday's game showed Ireland had roughly 60% possession and territory, which should have enabled victory.

Doubt Schmidt will change too much, especially given Italy should be a guaranteed win, but a loss to France at home in round 3 would set the cat among the pigeons.

The forwards don't need too much tinkering, sure they will never win an off-loading competition, but consistently dominating territory and possession means their job is generally being well done - just needs the line out shored up, and I'd bring in VDF.

In the backs, if you require Sexton to be fit to win, then Ireland will lose quite often, but Jackson had a decent 2nd 40, and Carberry should hopefully be back soon. Henshaw & Ringrose are both better 13s, but I would definitely persist there. As for the outside backs, it's the same old chestnut of pedestrian-speed + experience vs speed + inexperience, with Schmidt routinely choosing the former. Last year we had the mystery of Fergus McFadden on the bench, this year we had the mystery of Tommy Bowe.

The one change I would definitely make is to ditch Earls, just a liability on defence, I could easily imagine the French Fijians making hay down his wing, especially if Ireland persist with the narrow defence which gives nice little one-on-ones.

In 12 months time, I would hope the likes of Byrne etc would be near the Irish 23, might be forced on Schmidt if a mid-table finish ends up beckoning, and he has nothing to lose.

The lack of scores for territory and possession is a continuing and infuriating problem. At points yesterday, Ireland were going eight, nine phases, just back and forth across the pitch. No gain what so ever. Just crash ball, and nothing from the backs when they got a tiny bit of space. Ireland really need to be a bit more creative. I don't know if that's due to a lack of Sexton or not. I think Jackson was far superior in the second half, but we can't afford to wait forty minutes for your out half to grow into the game. That said, I'm not laying all the blame in Jackson.

There seems to have been a lack of leadership in the back line. Especially around defense. The first Hogg try, Ireland were unforgivably narrow. There were SIX players on one side of the ruck, against one Scottish player. That's just ridiculous. The lack of experience between Henshaw and Ringrose at test level showed, and will get better. But given Henshaw's defensive experience with Payne, you'd have hoped he'd do better.

Of course, I'm just a layman, and may be talking out my arse, so correct me if my observations are wrong.

Kiith wrote: »

We didn't deserve that. Absolutely awful 1st half, and not good enough in the 2nd, but Poite can **** right off. They were constantly offside and on the wrong side of the ruck, and he did absolutely nothing.

****ing disgusted.

As sure as night follows day. Irish rugby fans* will blame the ref for every defeat.

It's like Michael Corcoran has multiple accounts here.

*for fans, read bandwaggoners who never played the game in their lives.

Interesting match day one.

Ireland blew it yesterday ...... as my US colleagues would say .... Period.

Conor Murray made the wrong call when he broke free from the blocked kick. The ball should have gone to Zebo who would have scored easily .... It went to Heaslip who has taken too much criticism (on here) for what followed. That was the match ..... Saying that Ireland should still have seen it out.

Scotland are no world beaters. They cough up a lot of mistakes .... we'll see how they fare next week in Paris.

Had to chuckle at the WazzaBall critics ........ Ireland were like an NFL team just thumping it up the middle ..... bish bash bosh .... just needed the Fridge to come on to complete the parody.

They persist in defending narrow which is a real weakness. [Should have cost them against Wales last year]. Kearney made a great read otherwise Scotland would have had the bonus point by half time.

France blew it too ..... they created enough chances. Just no composure to finish them off. Hope England play the same back row next week ....

Anyway onwards & upwards .... hopefully our out of form, one dimensional, over rated, etc ..... team can do the business later today. It would set up a barn stormer next weekend against the old enemy. I'll be there and from what I saw yesterday we can knock them off their perch too ......

penybont exile wrote: »

Anyway onwards & upwards .... hopefully our out of form, one dimensional, over rated, etc ..... team can do the business later today. It would set up a barn stormer next weekend against the old enemy. I'll be there and from what I saw yesterday we can knock them off their perch too ......

Well we would be very pleased if you could do that. I suspect that Ben Te'o might be added to the starting lineup after his bright cameo yesterday. He'd be much more to be feared imo than Jonathan Joseph.

Game was lost in the first 20 minutes. Whatever about went after that, you cannot visit the opposition 22 a few times in the opening stages and come away with nothing and then get sucker punched to the tune of 14 points.

Some of the newer faces looked a little overwhelmed and couldn't bring their provincial form to the game. We were incredibly predictable despite getting huge possession and quick ball on a number of occasions. I thought our patience was poor and there's no way we would have tried to force things as much against France, England or Wales.

In summary:

Kearney: Actually not a bad game despite what some appear to have seen. Had a couple of big moments and was continually taking the game to Scotland and making ground if not cutting open the opposition. One huge tackle which saved a try. Checked the stats this morning and appears to confirm what I saw, by far the most defenders beaten and ground made.

Earls: finished the try well but that was his high point. Always a dangerous player but some important errors too. Needs to find some form in green at this stage.

Ringrose: Looked overwhelmed and does not bring anywhere near the authority to midfield that Payne does. Misjudged for the opening try although it was essentially a shot to nothing given Scotland had a huge overlap. Did not gel with those around him at all.

Henshaw: Took the game to Scotland and carried strongly into contact repeatedly. Again, didn't click with those around him.

Jackson: Looked extremely pedestrian in the first half. Very predictable and deep. Needed to be far slicker and threaten the line more which he did in the second half but too late. Looked hesitant in that first half and is capable of much better.

Murray: An underwhelming showing but still not bad. A couple of poor kicks, a couple of lovely ones. Passing was still on the money and cleared the ball quickly and accurately.

Heaslip: Very mixed bag. A couple of bad errors. Really poor decision to pass on the break. Takes contact and we recycle for a handy try. But also put his hand up continually and carried well, making ground nearly every time particularly in the first half with good footwork. Indiscipline a black mark too.

SOB: Was very aggressive and dangerous. Carried well and won a big penalty too. Came off when the legs were starting to wobble a bit.

Stander: Also carried well and won a big penalty. Needs a little more variation to his game at this point. Scotland clearly had him marked in the first half and put a wall of defenders in front of him at every carry. Made more progress in the second half.

Toner: Needs to take responsibility along with his captain for the set piece. Got it sorted but the damage was done. Good work rate but that is not enough at this level.

Henderson: Quiet overall and a very sloppy miss in the line out. Took his try well but again needs to up his showing and is capable of much better.

Furlong: A very decent game. Crushed their scrum and carried well. Becoming incredibly consistent.

Best: Tackled his socks off but line out struggles were notable and some throws lacked zip and were picked off with ease. Notably quiet/absent in the loose.

McGrath: Solid but quiet. Part of a good scrum but didn't have his normal impact around the field. Can be content with his part but can improve too.

Buer wrote: »

Game was lost in the first 20 minutes. Whatever about went after that, you cannot visit the opposition 22 a few times in the opening stages and come away with nothing and then get sucker punched to the tune of 14 points.

Some of the newer faces looked a little overwhelmed and couldn't bring their provincial form to the game. We were incredibly predictable despite getting huge possession and quick ball on a number of occasions. I thought our patience was poor and there's no way we would have tried to force things as much against France, England or Wales.

Couldn't argue too much with your assessment tbh. You can't leak tries the way we did against better opposition and and have a hope of coming back into the game. The third one was a real gut punch. Just unbelievably naive, especially after we'd got back into contention only minutes before.

How could players with the experience they had not be able to count how many are in the opposition line out? It's lineout 101.

We coughed up scores early but we were ahead with about 10 mins to go and gave Scotland two kickable penalties.

Our defence was too narrow for lots of the game, our breakdown work was poor, we lost ball forward in rucks either the player taking the ball in lost it or we lost with poor ball presentation/protection. Add to that our lineouts :mad:

It looked like a comedy of errors.

Guys! I had a dream that we LOST to Scotland!! Gas I know... anyway looking forward to the game today.