He's only an all time great from an Irish perspective though. His reputation among other nations is considerably less flattering.
Harry byrne and Frawley both made of glass, Gavin fronted up well and was the pick of the backs. Forwards got munched but P.mccarthy looked good off the bench if he can stop giving mindless penalties away like his brother.
Gleeson and Soroka also both added off the bench. Set piece a shambles. Most guys showed however how far to a test math any of them actually are granted hard to shine without a set piece and any front foot ball.
Head injuries does not constitute a player being made of glass.
they get every injury under the sun, plenty of players get knocks to the head and are fine, either of them get a remotely hard collisons and seem to get a whiplash injury or something innocuous , its a clear pattern
SHane daly apparently has a significant hamstring injury.
Yeah… the guy awarded top Heineken Cup player for the first 15 years of the tournament sure isn't highly regarded abroad…
You're totally obsessed with SP v Crowley. 9 out of 10 of your posts reference him.
There are a lot more aspects to the IRISH senior rugby team. A lineout that didn't function v Scotland, scrum trouble v Wales. A flat performance yesterday. Doris injury.
On the positive side we won a 14th Triple Crown in 142 competitions. A 1 in 10 year event statistically.
But let's make it all about one 22 year old player. The provincial veil wears thin. Humphreys, ROG, Sexton were all callow in their early years. James Lowe's defence was worse than Sam's 5 years ago. You have to give a little time.
Edit: Lovely pic of POM and Bundee with the Triple Crown you have up. But it was well selected on your part.
This Provincial Bulls*it would rot you.
I mean, go talk to folks from the SH, or Wales, France etc. He was an extremely limited player, who worked well in our set up. He wouldn't have started for most other countries.
Hang on. Do we not have two possible starters? Since Sexton retired, we have played 14 tests, of which Crowley has started nine. Sounds like a “possible starter” to me.
I’m confused as to what problem we’re trying to solve here. If we want to build our depth and options, shouldn’t we be giving more game time to the less experienced guy?
love ROG but someone earlier mentioned his lions caps. Honestly better forgotten. His Lions record is a good indication of where he stodd in the test pecking order.
he had 8 missed tackles… EIGHT.
my obsession is with the D4 fans and media. he's a good player, not a great player yet.
you all think he's the next Frawley and you can't go back on this decision as it might imply that you haven't a clue..
it is MAGA-esque..
Ireland have to beat France to win the 6Ns, their PD will be massive after the beating they're handing out to Italy
huge points difference
it puts some context on the transformation of Wales in a week to see how France are battering Italy. that said, France are having a very easy time with Italy’s defence.
Very few (if any) here are saying he's already a great player. He's showing glimpses in his first 6N that he has it all. Some people are just choosing to ignore it and focus on his mistakes.
France have been pretty poor off set piece defence. Definitely an area Ireland can target in two weeks time.
ROG was highly regarded in France.
MAGA-esque
You were still complaining about him v Scotland and v England.
I'm from the top of a mountain in Laois, as far removed from D4 as you can imagine. Spent last 3 nights calving cows from 2 to 5am. A Leinster with the likes of a Sean O'Brien background. It's a growing Leinster rugby demographic.
It's all hot air provincial BS. He kicked clutch penalties and had a generally sound game. I'm watching the game since 1981, a lot of young players were the same, back when they weren't counting missed tackles. I would like to see Crowley get game time. I actually thought he might have started yesterday.
If SP is missing the same amount in a year's time when bulked up and more experienced, then it'll be an issue.
A lot need to lay off and let him develop. As I said Lowe looked like he needed to be dropped over defence, look at him now.
POM had a very good game yesterday and he's a great servant. Ireland needs Munster back a bit near 2000-09 levels. Ulster too.
Throw off the red jersey and put on the green. No wonder the English used divide and conquer so easily against us.
I wonder which Wales will show up in their final 2 games. It'll be interesting to see if their vast improvement vs. us was just a flash in the pan. They've been cack for 2 years, one swallow doesn't make a summer.
If they maintain this improvement I'd give them a right chnace of taking a scalp in one of the remaining games. But I feel we met them in a home game in their dead cat bounce match.
MOD: Do not make this reference again (and that goes for everyone)
I'd back them to turn up against England anyway.
However, yesterday wasn't just some kind of emotional push, their attack was leagues better than it has been. They had zero attacking shape over the last year - it was completely unclear what they were even trying to do. Some of the attacking patterns we saw yesterday were simply beyond what they were even attempting to do previously.
Despite the massive defensive doubts (which were also apparent against England and Scotland), SP will be selected next week.
I’d be amazed if they can back it up to the same standard though quite a lot of how they handled us came down to tactics and structure, which is repeatable to some degree. But yeah, home game with a clean sheet and a very good start that brought the crowd into it, that’s hard to replicate.
That game I can see them doing well in, they'll up the emotional pitch again and with a home crowd behind them they'll want to end the tournament on a high and potentially avoid the wooden spoon.
What was Gatty at if it was that easy to improve the team and their shape in attack? If Wales do continue playing this well it damages Gatty's legacy a bit.
Have a feeling they'll fall a bit flat in Murrayfield though. However Scotland are bang average too so if Wales can repeat yesterday's performance they'll have every chance.
Will we go Ryan mccarthy beirne at 4 5 6 v france?
Jesus H Christ I hope not
I think both Ryan and Beirne are currently the 2 best 2nd rows in the country at the moment.
16-23 is going to be very interesting I reckon.
depends whether Doris is fit. Best team has JMac on the bench.
It would be more accurate to say they have to not lose. A draw would be good enough if they also get no more than one match point less than France in Round 5, I think…
