Ulster have a lot of issues, that minimize the possible catchment and production. Things that the Ulster branch can’t get around.
Munster have probably under produced but seem to be improving in the last couple of years.
Neither have anything to do with imports blocking local lads though.
like the way Leinster have struggled to produce a high quality 9. With only one home grown 9 in what, the last 15 years? Is that because we keep bringing in outside 9’s? Or because of a lack of talent coming through.
Henderson in for Ryan? Not in this universe.
Henderson in for O'Mahony for me. Who they start in the row becomes an interesting question then, but Doris is the 6 and that's a settled question.
Herring in for Sheehan too to close out the set pieces with his dead-eye darts and experience.
Very hard to see any change in 9 to 15 or 21-23 either.
There was a slip in cohesion slightly when the bench arrived on today but that squad will drill away all next week and hopefully wring out some of that.
Very exciting fixture to come next week now.
In this universe Henderson went on a Lions tour ahead of Ryan. Ryan hasn't been in great form the past year at all, good to see him playing well today though.
I was hoping to see something from Carbery when he came on. But he was poor in his 20 minute cameo. Just looks like he doesn't know what he wants to do on the ball.
He hasn't performed well for Munster and I think we're going to have to look elsewhere with Ireland.
Why would Henderson not be ahead of Ryan in this universe?
I'm not saying that should be the case, but you make it sound like it is beyond all doubt!
Yeah, the difference between him and Sexton was night and day.
To be fair given the way the previous 55 mins went he probably felt like he had to force it a bit. We will get a better idea of where he is if he starts the Argentina match.
He needs to start turning it around at this point, tbh, he’s been Munster’s 3rd best 10 this season.
I wouldn’t be too harsh on him today, in general games like that tend to fall apart once subs start coming on. But if he gets an opportunity to start against Argentina, he needs to take it.
Wow....just wow.
Farrell's questionable selections all fully vindicated. Credit where credit's due. If this is what he's been building towards and we see more of the same, I'll gladly take the last 2 years on the chin.
Most enjoyable performance I've seen from an Ireland team...possibly ever?
I'm absolutely delighted.
A damn site more than 30 years.
Hard to see any changes for next week, unless they were pre ordained before today. I think Henderson was the only FINISHER who really pressed his case.
Did Aki get taken off for any other reason than to mind him for next week? I know he had a knee injury recently, so I hope it hasn’t flared up again, though McCloskey isn’t a bad back-up in any case.
Not sure VdF has nailed down his spot, wouldn't be shocked if he didn't start but his mobility might go in his favour.
Who do you think they might drop him for? I thought he went quite well.
Only change in the pack I could see happening is Hendo coming in for Beirne or Ryan.
VdF's handling was brilliant, always in the right place as a link. He didn't have to make his usual mountain of tackles because Japan didn't have the ball. I thought he played very well
I'd absolutely be starting VdF. Besides, who else would start at 7? Timoney? Please don't say POM. VdF is one of the easiest selections for next week imo.
The big Q for me for next week is whether Ireland will once again be decked out in their traditional pomegranate-magenta change strip?
No way VDF is dropped. He's streets ahead of the other options at 7 in the squad. Suggesting dropping him is madness. His engine, work rate, defence and carrying are top notch.
Doris may be at risk if they want to add some size with Hendy against NZ's pack which will be bigger than Japan's.
Lowe was class today but starting him v NZ is a massive risk. Zebo or Larmour are more reliable defensively.
If anybody wants to retain their brain cells
stay out of The42 comments section on today's game
Absolutely crazy stuff in there
If they are then the all blacks will have to be the partially black and whites something in sure Guinness would love to be associated with.
It will be a big loss next week
3/10, you could do better
This isn't the New Zealand fan thread
One thing we can say right now is that we have no clue how next week is going to really go. We’ve come on a good bit since the 6Ns, but then the opposition hasn’t been very good. So what does any of these improvements mean for next week? Who the hell knows. We definitely aren’t favourites, but I don’t think we know just how close we are or are not. But sure we need to find out so it’s as well we do that next week than in the 6Ns or in 2023!
I think a few posters have been very put out by the fact we hammered Japan and played some excellent attacking rugby.
Reminds me of all the scrotes who came out of the woodwork after our elimination from the WC in 2019. Hadn't posted in years because we were so successful, but the knives came out as soon as Ireland lost.
Ireland is funny because there's genuinely a large proportion of the population who hate the Irish rugby team and actively hope they lose.
Nobody is just indifferent. You either actively want Ireland to win or to lose, there's no middle ground
I went to my first 5N match in 1987. Was at the Australia game in 1991. All through the crappy 90’s and thankfully got to enjoy the 00’s and was in Cardiff in 09 and Paris in ‘14 and London in ‘18.
we are undercooked going into next week. Hope i am wrong but a win over a crap Japan will not deliver a win against NZ.
I don’t think anyone thinks that it will. But a good performance might. As others have been at pains to point out, the results of these games don’t really matter. Let’s see how we stack up against the best and how far we need to go over the next 2 years.
We played well today. Nice to see fast tempo and off loading. But making a big jump to us being a good team off that performance is a big jump.
I am not pointing to you but some of the comments here on that performance are a little OTT.
I’d rather people take the positives and be happy about stuff tbh. There’s more than enough whinging and misery around the place as it is.
Ultimately we saw a lot of the things I wanted to see. More variety in our attack being the biggest thing. I’d be concerned about some of the performances off the bench, but overall it’s signs of us moving in the right direction. I don’t think we’re at the end of that journey by any means. But for now at least I’m happy enough with what I’ve seen.
100% agree.
What I wanted to see this autumn, before results, was progress and further evolution in our game and we got that today (result wasn't bad either)
I'm not overly concerned about the result next week. I want to see if we can go up against the best team in the world and play the same style we played today. If we can play that style v NZ, we can play it v anyone and we'll only become more comfortable and better at it as time goes on. Imagine how good we'll be at it in 2023.
We could have put 60 on Japan but all from pick and jams and rolling mauls and I wouldn't be happy. What I'm delighted with is the high tempo, ambitious, expansive brand we did it with.
Next week is going to be interesting for a few reasons. We’ve seen Leinster look to adopt a similar style so far this season, but haven’t come up against top class opposition so far. So exactly how this game will translate against quality opposition still remains to be seen. This will be the first time we really get to see that and it will inform where both Leinster and Ireland can expect to be over the next year or so at least.
We’ll obviously not get anywhere near the platform we got today and will need to tweak our approach accordingly, but we can still show a lot of the same fundamentals in doing that. If we can give ourselves a platform worth a damn it could be a very entertaining game.
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