Great effort and Ireland's best world cup performance wise
What a game for the casual viewers!
Ireland needed the set piece to work well and it didn't. Well targeted by Nz. Congrats to them
When you look at Sextons comments and the other arguments that the IRFU have to make the 6 nations a focus because they'll go broke otherwise and its seems a clear to me.
Because they are choosing to. You could very, very easily find similar quotes from all other countries after their 6N wins. I was going to find all the relevant quotes about the world cup post-6n but actually forget it, not worth my time.
If nothing else, if Sexton saw the 6N as the pinnacle, he would have retired at home in Dublin with a GS and not away in France at a world cup.
Especially when he picked up a significant injury which would of taken a lot of training to get back to fitness to play in a World Cup. If he had no interest and the pinnacle was a 6 nations he could have retired to sit in the stand watching the rugby with a beer
I don't think SA are financially broke or in desperate need of money. Are they? Does the RC not make any money? The move to the 6Ns logistically makes sense, especially now with the clubs moving. I'd argue from a management point of view, one needs to be the main focus. If the WC is your main focus that doesn't mean you can't win and compete in 6Ns though. But if the 6N is the main focus it probably does mean you won't win a WC.
Not sure what the point of those quotes is? I'm not claiming Sexton doesn't care about a WC. I think those quotes provide a very accurate context as to Irish rugby's view of a world cup. You get the impression from Sexton that winning a world Cup is almost an unrealistic goal or at least a very ambitious goal. As he said himself, he grew up thinking it would never be possible. Now hopefully the younger players have a different mindset because if they don't, that's going to be a barrier. sA, NZ players don't grow up thinking they'll never win a World Cup. I don't think Irish rugby's culture of not committing to making winning a World cup a priority is doing us any favours in terms of trying to improve how we fair at World cups.
You don't think SA rugby needs money? see below
So you can concentrate on the World cup and win the 6 nations but not the other way around? that make zero sense.
It regards to stand alone comments they mean nothing as I posted, you have taken the one I posted and twisted it to suit your point. Which I honestly expected you would do and hence why I used it
No interest in back and forth, you seem unaware of what is going on in World Rugby so will leave it at that.
The best way to explain Irish rugby, "Lot's done, more to do"
https://rugby365.com/tournaments/united-rugby-championship/news-united-rugby-championship/the-government-lifeline-sa-franchises-desperately-need/
So the most recent thing you have is nearly two years old and relates to one of the SA franchises. That's me told. 😂 but do please tell me why SA make no money from the RC and why they'll soon be bankrupt without the 6N since you're such an expert in world rugby.
Squad depth and squad rotation are fsr more important in a world cup. Its extremely difficult to win a WC without it. 6N is an easier competition to win so depth isn't quite as important.
I never said they would be bankrupt.
Squad rotation is not. A few podcasts done analysis and the team that wins normally play more or less the same 23 in the big games from start to finish. Yes for some of the less important games they rotate but the big games its the same 23.
The SH have an advantage because they play a rugby championship prior to the World Cup so their players are battle hardened and ready for test rugby. The NH teams have to build into it and hence why I suspect Ireland picked the same 23 to build up towards the big games. Fatigue was not an issue for the Ireland loss.
15 green bottles hanging round the airport. Ireland's psychology is its Achilles heel. Skillful enough, just not fearless enough.
I'd really like to see the 6N moved to the summer just for the 2027 season to see if it helps. You just know traditionalists will oppose that. Because tradition has served us so well so far!
Overall you'd have to say this WC was another failure for the NH. They have to try something different as the status quo just isn't working.
3 SH teams in the semi finals, its been another disastrous outcome for the NH. A very limited Argentina should not be beating Wales for example.
Would love to get the South African coach in, the guy who branded us " softies " see if he's onto something....
That'd be nice! I think he will get the Scotland job.
Fratigue was not an issue , so why then did South Africa rotate so many players against England. ? Maybe the replacements were as good as the players coming off ? Nothing like fresh legs!
Having watched the full SA/ English match I think that on the day if Ireland put in a reasonably good performance they would have comfortably beaten both teams - as long as it did not give away too many penalties.
🤦♂️
Time to move on and look forward to the Oz road trip in 2027!
I'd argue from a management point of view, one needs to be the main focus. If the WC is your main focus that doesn't mean you can't win and compete in 6Ns though. But if the 6N is the main focus it probably does mean you won't win a WC.
I would agree with this. If you look at the records, there's actually a really poor correlation with winning the 6N and placing high in the WC of that year. You can't be at peak performance for every single game.
SA had a game plan for England which went to sh*t and they had to catapult on the bench ASAP. Nothing to do with "fresh legs".
In the last World Cup when SA had no injuries apart from Kolbe in semi they played the same 23 in all the big games.
These are professional players who if getting to a final will play 7 games over 2 months. Are we really saying they are not able to do that? three of those games over at half time with the bench emptied very soon after
You've constantly implied that SA need the 6N for financial reasons. The reality is they don't. SA have managed perfectly fine so far without 6N money and they certainly aren't going to start shifting their focus away from world cups if they do get into the 6N.
So the big teams don't rotate except for the games they rotate in. They play three games in the rugby championship and it finished at the end of July. I think claiming that is the only reason why SH teams do better than NH teams is a bit ridiculous tbh. Also, Ireland wre pretty much the only NH team who picked the same starting 15, and wider 23 for every game. No other NH team that.
You've constantly implied that they need the 6N for financial reasons. The reality is they don't.
I don’t think that’s at all true based on the annual IRFU reports tho, right?
By and large, we keep our players in Ireland, they're paid for from money made during the 6Ns.
Lose that income and we lose the ability to pay our players
If you know otherwise, please tell us & the IRFU where they're missing out on a pot of money.
My comment was in relation to SA, not Ireland. Clo-clo was discussing SA being desperate to get into the 6N because they are in financial difficulty and how if they did get in, they shift their focus away from winning world cups to 6Ns.
Fair enough, picked it up wrong.
Something that stood out for me last night was how SA reacted in comparison to how Ireland have regarding changes when thing aren't working.
And it is not just this management team but the previous.
Libbock was having a mare and was yanked at 30 minutes.
Would Ireland have done that?
I know a few years ago, under different management, against England Sexton was having a mare and was left on the pitch until the 65th minute or so before being taken off.
Murray was likewise left on when he was playing really poorly as well.
Now people can argue all the want about backup players are not good enough, not at the same level, not as skillful or as influential.
But if a player is playing badly, nowhere near their usual standards, and not really offering something it doesn't matter who they are, then they should be taken off.
And as if to emphaise the apparent Irish mindset, the debate on TV3 at half time between ex Irish rugby internationals was how this would affect Libbock as if he should be given chance to stay on and keep making mistakes, just to make him feel better.
The difference right there between winners and losers is that sentiment has no place.
Who was playing for Ireland that would require getting yanked after 30 minutes in the NZ game? the reason Libbok was yanked was because of poor preparation by the Bok management team who somehow forget to check the weather or do any analysis about England who everyone knew exactly how they would play
When was the "a few years ago"?
By the way Kolbe was kept on the pitch the entire game last night and he was totally absent all game. Maybe got into the action in about the 70th minute but I forgot he was even on the pitch when someone asked me early in second half.
Saying SA want to get into the 6 nations is not saying that SA will go bankrupt
If you are unaware plenty of noise for years now of SA getting into the SA nations.
The layout of the games for Ireland made sense for the team to play the games. Pro's are able to play 7 games in 2 months. Tiredness was not the reason Ireland lost v NZ so to me it's a mute point.
As someone else said before the NZ Ireland game NZ needed to play at near 100% to beat Ireland and Ireland needed to be over 95%. As it turned out NZ were near 100% and I'd say ireland with the bad start were 90%. Even then we came witihn one score of a win. I'd say that SA will win the final in spite of the lacklustre performance against England. Ireland had a bad day that's all..
COuld be a good idea, the problem is the French and English clubs would block it....unless the unions pay them a lot as you would need to give the players a few months off mid season which is not an issue in Ireland etc
Would be difficult for Scottish and Welsh who have offloaded their stars to anyone who would pay their wages
But excellent idea, a 6 nations and then into World Cup.....
You've said SA are in financial trouble snd need to get into the 6N because they are in financial trouble. Clearly you think they won't get out of financial trouble unless that happens.
I know there has been plenty of noise about it, logistically in terms of time difference etc it makes sense.
It didn't make any sense for them to play in those games. If pros can play 7 game din 2 months then why does every other team rotate? They obviously must be doing it wrong and need to learn from Ireland, a team who's never made it past a quarter final.
Players are rested with the provinces to increase longevity. To try extend their career, plus in Ireland the provinces jobs are to bring players to Ireland. So playing the same 23 week in week out doesn't do that.
Playing 7 games in 2 months is not too much for pro players. Every other team rotates because they dont want to risk injuries to senior players. Ireland didn't pick up any injuries in the non important games. The injuries picked up was in the Scotland game which was always going to have the full team playing.
You made up the SA are going bankrupt. I never said it. End of story on that one.
That's 8 "bad days" for Ireland at the QFs now. Got to take responsibility for that at some point and stop making weak excuses like "rub of the green" "bounce of the ball" "had an off day" etc. Tedious codology.
Imagine Ireland in a final. Seriously. They'd fkn wet themselves.
