Ire versus England - RTÉ 2 Saturday Aug 19th 17.30pm

What a try

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Prendergast would have been Motm, but for Mack Hansen.

I think McCarthy and he are quite similar in that there's a looseness in their game and they'll make the odd error. But it'll be made up for with a huge play soon after. Both young forwards made some massive hits today.

Really poor RTE sports journalism for Andy Farrell's post match interview

Andy started by paying tribute to Keith Earls and how delighted he was for him to score

And then is asked

" He's making sure you can't leave him off the plane , isn't he? "

Absolutely clueless. I felt embarrassed for Andy Farrell having to answer such a question

Jennifer Malone getting into Earl's interview and Ferris's punditry.

Lovely stuff.

Apart from sheehan and conan neither of which seem overly serious we have come through todays preperations with a clean bill of health.

Ultimately thats whats most important.

That was a great result for Ireland today. Beating England was always in the mind of this Irish team. The performance though was not at the best with all of the errors that happened throughout the game.

We did have a lot of good stuff to see in it.

Lowe, Hansen and Keenan were on fire for the vast majority of the game which was great to see. Earl's try for his 100th cap was wonderful stuff.

The Irish lineout is something that needs to be sorted out very quickly though. They are a key asset to our gameplay being in a much better state than functional.

It cannot be stated enough though that Ireland's injuries are few and far between after we played England. Although Sheehan is out for a little while with a precautionary check on his foot. It does show us really good signs that our lads in green have a really solid line-up as they head over to France in September.

England though were absolutely awful.

Their performance in the whole team was embarrassing. They didn't have any focus in the team at all. Borthwick's legacy in England so far has not the legs to match Eddie Jones era with the England team. It shows from Borthwick's pov how they have been performing so far. England have been rubbish throughout their warm up campaign as they look ahead to France in September. With a poor campaign in the 6N from a few months back; they are not at the races at all. They really are falling behind in their performance as a team in these warm up games.

Vunipola's red card with his tackle against Andrew Porter really sealed his fate and the fate of the England teams chances in the WC this year. The decision from World Rugby about handing over the red card to him did not need to take that much time in being made final. When you look at the replays of the tackle against Porter. There is no question there that it is a straight red. Why did it take so long in making a decision at this point in the game while the replays on the tackle gave them the most easiest answers from the naked eye?

Referees in the past would not have had any issue when deciding about whether red cards should be put out for players or not if the players had made a huge error of judgment against the opposing side in the game. It's a big reason why these bunker decisions from World Rugby show a lot of weaknesses and vulnerability in their intent in how they ultimately make a good decision for the big international rugby games in future. The Rugby WC in France is going to be a big test for them to see if they succeed or become a big failure.

And if it does become a failure in that tournament? Where do these bunker reviews go from here? It would be a hugely stupid move if they were still in place without any changes made for the 6N next year.

Yes. Stockdale would have scored that too. I don't think any of Ireland's backs would have failed to score in that situation.

Delighted to see Earls score on his 100th cap. I remember Sexton doing the same. It is the stuff of dreams for them, no doubt!

I feel a bit for Steve Borthwick. He probably isn't up to it at test level, but the issues in this England team goes far beyond him.

What Eddie Jones presided over since 2021 has been disastrous for English rugby. They finished 5th and 3rd in 21 and 22, but performances were getting worse all the time.

Jones claimed he wanted his entire 15 to look comfortable on the ball and be able to play from anywhere. But all that led to was players looking confused as to what their role in the side was. Attack became stilted and discipline slipped.

That rubbish about holding stuff back for the World Cup was exposed for the guff it clearly is.

The english problems stem from the malaise in their league and the systems in place that are supposed to produce players.

The players are just not coming through for them, their squad has barely anyone world class and in reality itoje is the closest to it where he doesnt even look like his former self, and there isnt anyone that has come through in the last 4 years the way that keenan, dorris, porter, jgp, hansen, beirne and a few other have come into the side.

Which part is guff? That Ireland won't have the resources as NZ, SA, FR, EN to win a world cup?

France have never won...

Spoofer

My bad. France were literally robbed of a world cup. Some of the most embarrassing officiating in world cup history. Do you agree?