kuang1 wrote: » Scrums for sure are a worry, but I think we're being a little underestimated for our potential to play in an open game. Farrell is clearly trying to nurture a less shackled approach than we had with Joe. I just feel that jumping to a conclusion of France getting the better of us in that style of game is premature. Wales are not up to much at all at the moment, hence I'm reluctant to read too much into their game last week. French teams more often than not don't like it being put up to them, and I think that's what we'll do. Not hard for me to picture a scenario where we get slow motion replays of French players shrugging their shoulders as we dot down for our 4th try. Edit: didn't completely answer your question... I expect the manner in which we'll "put it up to them" won't necessarily be through winning the collisions, but more with some surprise plays with grubber and chips and variations in restarts/lineouts. Almost barbarian-like!(hoping for too much? )
kuang1 wrote: » I still get the impression that rhetoric such as "in Paris", "getting a BP away from home" is still being given the weight it would be given in any normal season. Away teams are having to fly and stay in beds that are not their own. Imo that's the extent of the advantages that a home team has at the moment. Listen to any players that speak in interviews or biographies about test rugby. The crowd plays a HUUUUUUUUGE role in these games. This is not a typical 6ns game in Paris, and the obstacles in the way victory are less in number than ever before.
sydthebeat wrote: » The "autumn nations cup" is a complete honeymoon period.... its a nothing tournament completely ideal to blood new players and see how they perform at test level. The team that takes to the field in the Aviva in 2 weeks time will be quite different to the team that starts tomorrow. Its the perfect tournament to experiment and build experience.... in those positions where the age profile and depth chart is not great. to say Andy Farrell will only start coming under pressure if we lose tomorrow is just silly......... taking the improvement of france in the last 12 months and the injury / missing list that ireland have. Hell, even if england beat Italy by 70 pints and the french have nothing really to play for, i still can see it being an incredibly hard physical tight game. Farrell has been under pressure before he took the job, with the usual doom mongers complaining that he was part of the old guard of Joes tenure and sure nothing is going to change. We have done incredibly well to be where we are with one game left... and if we lose tomorrow its nowhere near a crisis or something for Farrell to panic over. We are developing our game, but we will not have it in anyway as easy against a shaun edwards coached french defense, as we had it against Italy. We are at risk in broken play and no better team in this competition than france to exploit a fragmented defense. i think France will win by about 10-12. I think their discipline will be much improved on last week, and i think they will win the up front arm wrestle. we will try to play around them but the pressure they will put us under will lead to handling mistakes out wide. i dont think it will be as high scoring as some might think, as defenses will be tighter. I think england will put 50 on italy and win by about 40 points... and i think we will go down about 28 - 17 or something similar
theboss80 wrote: » I would imagine Farrell has been told by the powers that be, financially Ireland need to get as high in the table as possible. A 1pt win would not win a championship but could secure 2nd place and a sizeable pot of cash. Going balls out for tries and loosing the game could result in a 4th place finish. So I'm not surprised we hear that "win the game first" talk. I like it about as much as wearing a mask but both are current reality.
arsebiscuits1 wrote: » Gentle reminder that we beat France in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015 (twice), and 2014 with Joe Schmidt selecting the team. So we beat them in Paris in 2018 and 2014 and only went down to them by a point in 2016. So if you feel Andy is picking a team like Joe you should probably be heartened.... The irony of accusing people of having short memories while seemingly forgetting our impressive record against France :pac::pac:
ElisaAtWar wrote: » It's not an accusation. It's a belief. It's just a continuation of pain. Let me say I am no fan of JGP but the distribution when he came on was so much faster. And it's clear Stockdale is no fullback. And Sexton is living on borrowed time as Kearney did before him. So tomorrow will hopefully put all this pain to bed and we can move on
molloyjh wrote: » A continuation of pain? We had 1 poor year under Joe. We also had more success than ever before. Hyperbole much? Jesus.... This all just stinks of hot take I'm afraid. Little to no effort to factor in any relevant context or perspective. Also, what does this borrowed time lark actually mean? Ireland should select the best players in each position. Right now Sexton is by some distance that at 10. And we have nobody anywhere else in the country making a case for their selection ahead of him. Is he as good as he was a few years ago? No. But at that stage he was one of, if not the best in his position. In the world. So using that as a barometer is hardly fair. The only barometer that matters is his ability vs those others vying for the 10 shirt. And right now nobody else comes close. He's still a top quality 10, despite what some might say.
ElisaAtWar wrote: » There have been things that have changed for the best and there are things that won't change unless, it seems, we must fail. Andrew Porter is incredible, Will Connors. These are incredible introductions to the Irish setup. And then as our team is strengthened we refuse to let go of our weaknesses. It's mind-blowing
Paul Smeenus wrote: » Andrew Porter "incredible"? Yowsers.
WhoamI2022 wrote: » Stockdale got to the a World Cup final playing 15, something not many an Irish player can say. Who would you put at 10 instead of Sexton? who at 15?
ElisaAtWar wrote: » It's not that simple. The question is wrong in the first place. It's not about replacing Sexton, the right question is what do you want from this team. Do you want this Sexton/ murray combo or are you finally willing to say it offers nothing and it's time to move on. And then visualize other possibilities. And that's the sticking point. It has nothing got to do with Sexton or Murray but just someone who cannot see outside that box
salmocab wrote: » Move on to who? You’re just giving generic terms but no solutions of your own.
ElisaAtWar wrote: » I think you miss the point. It has nothing got to do with who the players are. It has to do with what you want as a coach to stamp your authority. And Andy Farrell has shown nothing in this regard. And it's a right shame. It's an awful pity he couldn't be 'different'
salmocab wrote: » But how? What could he do differently? He have 4 new caps last week will probably dish out a few more soon enough. You have out about the selection so what would you have done differently in selection?
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