Nobody said anything of the sort
Best of luck on your travels 😂
Huge bias all round. Nature of being an irish site i suppose
and?
Is a word what are you looking for
Fairly tedious arguments, lads.
Thinking about this Emerging Ireland tour, I'd say it'll be used more as extra gametime for promising players down the provincial depth charts now there's less league gametime to go around compared to when it was the Pro 12. There's less merit to including players like Izuchukwu and McCann who are in the first choice XXIII for their province and who they already had a look at on the last EI tour.
Jack Boyle, Paddy McCarthy, Lee Barron, Ruadhán Quinn, Brian Gleeson, Matthew Devine, Fintan Gunne - I'd say this is more the type of player they'd be looking at; players who for the most part aren't making matchday squads once the internationals have returned to URC action.
As I said, best of luck on your travels
Im sure one of the mods can help you if you are concerned about Irish bias on an Irish website and an Ireland thread
Im not travelling and iv not requested mod action what are you talking about
Would make more sense than the deegans and pennys alright
The consistency argument about SA is rubbish. They've won half of all the RWCs, that's pretty consistent. They also have half their players (or more) playing abroad every season and have to play NZ twice a year in a proper competition. Rassie is a pos but people should separate their critical feelings about him and SA's spotty fan base from the insane ability of SA teams to show up constantly in the competition they value most. They've won it several times when they weren't the best team and had no right to win it. I wish Ireland could have that sort of inconsistency when it comes to the WC or even the 6N. "But they're not as good as the NZ 2011-16 team" is just bad faith, like saying Zidane's French team actually weren't as good as the Brazil team in the late 60s or as good as Tiger Woods in his pomp. Get a grip.
MOD: ROG does not play or coach for or against Ireland so let's drop that angle please
It's not rubbish, the world cup is once every 4 years. Their record there is very impressive. Their record outside of it is fairly spotty.
We have far better consistency when it comes to the 6N so I'm not sure what your point is there.
I wonder how posters would feel if we were double RWC Champions but coming in 2nd or 3rd in the 6Ns, would they feel we're inconsistent
SA compete with NZ every year who have won 5X the number of championships as both SA and Oz, and are historically the most consistent team on the planet, and the best. Ireland's record in the 6N is very good but we rarely compete against any team that is as consistent or good as NZ, England in the early naughties and France in the last few years. Otherwise the standards are very different, exemplified by our WC record.
Yes. I just wouldn't care that much.
It's not a dissimilar argument than the one that was made comparing Ireland and Wales until recently. Thankfully Ireland have now reached the point where we are just as successful title wise but also more consistent.
I don't know how anyone could defend against the argument that SA are inconsistent and unreliable outside of World Cups though. They just are. Whether you think that matters is a different argument.
Saying you wish Ireland could have that kind of consistency when it comes to the 6N still makes no sense - we do have it. We are literally back to back champions.
NZ have won 5X the number of championships because SA and Aus are not capable of consistently challenging them. This doesn't alter my argument at all.
Worth noting that even in winning the last two RWCs, they lost a pool match in each, which no other RWC champion had ever done before. It isn’t a huge stretch to say they’re a bit inconsistent but get the job done at the business end of the RWC.
Question is why they feel the need to blow this test series up into a grudge match that will settle some long standing injustices when it’s nothing of the sort. Bizarre.
We've won a good few titles in the last decade but my earlier point is that SA have been consistently winning WCs for 40 years! We have a long way to go before we have that sort of consistency in any competition. And the point still stands regarding SA dealing annually in competition w NZ, we do not have that sort of competition regularly, England, France and Wales are often very ordinary and rarely reach consistent top of the world status any length of time. You could just as easily say Ireland have a few medals these days because the rest of the 6N are just not capable of consistently challenging them.
Anyway, Im not interested in a nitpicking argument about why SA really aren't that good, that's subjective and irrelevant. My point is just the people need to separate out their feelings towards Rassie and some SA fans from SAs clear ability to perform in the WC which is the comp they care most about.
Rassie seems to use his own cult of personality to galvanize his team, a bit like Gatland. Be a lightening rod and attract the hate so as to build a culture of resentment and victimhood. It does bring people together and it seems to work for him.
Is anyone saying they're not inconsistent year on year ? I thought the only argument was whether consistency matters a damn when the chips are down. Have SA ever lost a WQ QF?
The fact they're hot and cold between world cups just makes this 2 game tour meaningless, really.
And we've won 5 of the last 11 6N. We don't have a long way to go at all to match their consistency in any competition. We quite clearly have it in the 6N.
I am not denigrating SA's world cup performances nor am I saying they "aren't that good". I'm saying multiple teams were better than them given their all round success in competitions outside the RWC also (e.g. NZ 2011, NZ 2015, England 2003) and the stupid chip they have on their shoulder about not being more lauded is a bit pathetic.
Have SA ever lost a WQ QF?
Yes, several.
The 2 game tour isn't meaningless. It's certainly not meaningless to SA who are being weird as hell about it.
Yes they have lost Qtr
If it is so meaningless then why are SA out in the media trying to use them to get an advantage over Ireland, the interviews been done at the moment are not by chance
Also the stadiums sold out in what I believe was record time or close to record time as the public want to see these games
SA want to win them, of course if they lose then it will be meaningless games, if they win then SA will certainly be very triumphant
The big question wil be if Ireland win the first game, expect a similar break down from Rassie as we seen in the Lions tour
As an outsider looking in (to SA) I'd love to be able to say we're double RWC Champions and to be honest, I couldn't give a fiddlers what other countries/fans would think of us. When we're not winning RWCs then we can concentrate on 6Ns again.
Bizarrely it seems they really, really, really care what others think about them! To the point of imaginary slight, it's all very odd.
And a few fans here seems to care that they care.
Crazy, isn't it.
I care that they are running to the press making **** up to generate ill will towards Ireland yes. It is pathetic and should be beneath them as World Champions but apparently they are incapable of simply enjoying that and need to craft bullshit narratives instead.
I dont see anyone caring about the Boks, they have the WC and should have the higher ground
Yet they are the ones running to the press etc
I admire the Boks for winning back to back RWCs, I couldn't give a fiddlers what they're saying to the press. The press like it because of clicks but who takes it seriously.
Is Farrell quaking in his boots, though again, reading here and how conservative some are about bringing all our usuals in our touring squad I do think that we want to beat the World Champions just to say we beat them.
I'd sooner we win a RWC QF but I suppose it's not necessarily one or the other but we've beaten SA , NZ, Australia and all the 6Ns teams but we can't get the RWC monkey off our back.
Actually, can someone tell me what I'm (an Irishman) supposed to be outraged at, what have SA done now.
I mean we have a poster here telling anyone who disagrees with him that they hate Farrell and Ireland and that's seen as acceptable but SA are monsters.
The SA rivalry is spicy partly because many of their players come up against our lads in the league, and are often on the wrong end of it, and because we have an excellent record against them, including the WC group match last year. It a bit similar to the ABs who we have parity with at least most of the time these days. Say what you like about the 6N but those two teams are the two powerhouses of the global game and they both have an intense need to be seen to dominate us. Take it as a compliment.
Other than it being nice to beat SA (or any other team for that matter) in a pool or friendly game, it's irrelevant, Ireland need to win their QF in the RWC.
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