Full credit to o connell for getting the line out humming post world cup
Well done ireland and sorry for doubting u Pauline, line-out immense
Brilliant win and back to back slam is on
As they say, a fantastic night
Fabulous performance. Ire were so on the money across the whole team. Scrum has become a weakness and will be targeted by other teams.
Against some of the bigger teams you could put Henderson in with McCarthy and switch Beirne to 6 with POM to 7 especially if conditions were wet/windy. Might help the scrum.
Crowley, Nash and McCarthy were all superb. Good for Nash, he will get a few games now with Mack out. We have great depth on the bench now especially if they continue with the 6 2 forwards backs split. I'd like to see Aki and Henshaw to continue that partnership, looked very good tonight. Ringrose just doesn't pass the ball enough and he offers a good option on the bench covering centre/wing.
Would love to have been in Marseille for the day. Stadium looks fabulous.
What a night.
Best Ireland performance in France ever
Joe Mac was a titan
Haven't seen that level of physical dominance away from home in a long long time
Lineouts went well , but also bear in mind France lost a lineout option with the Willemse card and brought Tuilagi on as well who isn't exactly a leaping Salmon.
Frances options to throw to were limited to say the least.
Credit where it's due - All the throws were accurate and the timing was on point, but they weren't being put under huge pressure either..
Feeling more frustrated about October now
Don't know why
If Ireland could win another GrandSlam back to back it would be something.
What stood out to me more than anything was the amount of ground made by pretty much every carrier after contact.
Ireland were phenomenal but you’d wonder what was up with France. Sure, losing Dupont is a big deal but they were absolutely brutal.
France were so poor. It was a stunningly poor performance and I think Scotland could beat him.
I was incredibly wrong thinking of switching out JGP. He was amazing.
I'd say McCarthy and Beirne need to be cemented in as a lock pairing. They fit perfectly in terms of complementary skills. McCarthy's carrying game seemed to allow everyone else to specialize and excel at other things. Beirne could have got POTM as well but McCarthy was a good shout.
This tournament is now and even bigger opportunity for mccarthy, crowley and nash (assuming hanson is out for entirety?). If we can win a grand slam and those three start and play as well as tonight (or even 90% as well) then it will be hard to get them out.
The concern is the scrum. Starting to come around a bit to the porter to TH idea assuming you can figure out someone on that side. Would have liked to see Boyle as a training panelist maybe but scrummaging is prob weakest part of his game.
How many times is that now that Henshaw has come in for Ringrose and been written off by everyone, with everyone lamenting at how devastating a loss Ringrose is, only for him not too be missed at all and for Henshaw to perform brilliantly? I've lost count at this stage. Aki/Henshaw is our best centre pairing and has been since 2017.
It wasn't a world cup knockout match so it doesn't count
While not sure I am as certain Aki Henshaw is the best partnership, I definitely agree that Henshaw is massively underrated as a 13. Some of our biggest wins have come with Henshaw at 13. Last year people were so worried about Ringrose potentially being out forgetting that as recently as the third test in New Zealand Aki and Henshaw had been a wonderful partnership.
Why are you like this?
Like what? I was literally praising Robbie Henshaw. He was outstanding, having been written off in the buildup.
The ability to make it sound negative, even when you are giving praise.
That was magnificent.
The negative ones were the ones mourning on Wednesday when they heard Ringrose was out.
Henshaw wasn't "written off", it was noted that he hasn't been in great form this year. Thankfully he showed signs of getting it back against Leicester and obviously continued on an upward curve yesterday.
He was still genuinely quite poor until a couple weeks ago though.
Away you with your objectivity and common sense. This is a place for hyperbole and extremes only!!
Wouldn't expect any changes for the Italy game next week. The latter look pretty good in attack. They're exposing England's rush defence with some excellent passing.
Well since you insist on objectivity, Ireland's best ever World Cup finish is still the same as Canada's. Yesterday was a great performance, it's just a shame they couldn't deliver that in October when it mattered most.
It must be tiring being unable to enjoy something you have such an interest in
From here, Ireland should be going for the Perfect Slam. Yes that is something I just made up (afaik), it is a Grand Slam with 5 TBPs and giving away no LBPs. Essentially gaining maximum match points while giving up no match points.
Just a reminder about not being active, think you might have forgotten.
If the lineout functions like it did last night, we'd have beaten the kiwis, imo. Having shyte line out performances probably cost Ireland a chance to actually win the fcukin world cup.
How was it so poor!
came very, very close last year already.
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