Mauled tries are an art itself, commit 2 many defensively & you leave too much attacking space out wide.
Alot of changes in rugby in recent times to make it more visually appealing to a wider audience.
Some of these changes aren't always for the better eg unstraight throws to the lineout,not contesting a line out
A well done maul is a thing of beauty… why penalise it? It would be another pointless change to the game.
Thats true but other countries are now beginning to see how to deal with our forward surges (other than Sheehan). It also makes for turgid viewing. I personally hate mauled tries. There should be some disincentive - maybe no conversion allowed?
I am presuming it was Lancaster who brought Mack Hansen in and it was also Lancaster made JGP first choice for Leinster before Farrell brought him into the Ireland team ahead of Luke McGrath?
I’d love if Farrell rang up Lancaster and got Him involved in some capacity. Would probably need him in for the summer to have a decent impact for RWC
On the offensive side, there has been a change over the last few years from tries coming from the backs to the forwards. In 2025 11 tries came from forwards and 6 from backs, but in 2022 it was higher and it was the backs that were getting the tries, 15 v 9 from the forwards.
Somebody has been on the sauce for a few days it seems.
Leisnter getting pumped in the Champions Cup final to peak saracens, LaR and toulouse is a damn side preferable to losing to the world powers zebre, edinburgh and castres.
Ah, I was referring more to getting players coming through the system by supporting clubs and schools with coaching and resources than I was thinking about getting fans through the gate. You can produce fans through marketing and results, but you can't produce players that way.
The kool aid jug is well dry at this stage....
What does building from the bottom up actually mean and without fans who attends the matches at national and provincial level. Can the IRFU actually turn their backs to fans
I was going to say I don't think public opinion should be a priority but then equally, the only reason we have Connacht now is because of fan pressure.
Right, and this begs the question, at what point do optics and fan sentiment determine how the IRFU approaches the funding problem, like how sensitive is the IRFU to public opinion? Thats a bit of a slippery slope because, yes, people are pissed off, but they also don't really know wtf they're talking about. The priority for the union is A) keep winning & B) keep building from the bottom up. I'm not sure where on the list ?) keep fans happy, is.
Yeah, I certainly don't disagree with your first point. I'd be quite happy if every contract was "an IRFU contract" and we didn't know about any central/provincial payment breakdown. You then wouldn't have non-Leinster fans wailing "why do only the Leinster favourites get central contracts??" and you wouldn't have Leinster fans wailing "why should other provinces be rewarded for failure??" and that's win-win.
Yeah there are two scenarios;
The net result is exactly the same, but the optics of scenario 2 are much, much worse from the "IRFU are only interested in Leinster" perspective because suddenly the IRFU aren't giving money to 12 Ireland players, they're giving the money to Leinster. There would be an absolute meltdown.
I never understood why Schmidt decided to be so conservative. Most of his team, certainly the backs, were Leinster players, who he has coached up. Always felt it was an indictment of his coaching that he felt he couldn't get lads playing the way he wanted. He doesn't have Australia playing reductive footy.
But regardless of what the funding is called its still likely to end up with the province supplying more player to Ireland being compensated more than the others. Ulster have a few players under an IRFU managed minutes regime while Leinster have a dozen+, meaning that province is having to find other players to cover at greater expense. This was the issue that undermined French rugby for years, and arguably English Rigby too. One way or another Leisnter will get more money out of any arrangement as long as they supply most of the players to the nat team. I do agree that the CC system is counter productive though, and well past its sell by date.
Schmidt had Leinster playing attacking rugby, came to Ireland and introduced a fairly basic game plan based on kicking the ball. This brought great success for Ireland, but by 2019 other teams had figured us out.
Farrell came in and changed it, and again this brought great success.
We are at a similar juncture, except this time the head coach isn't changing. It was not a mental issue then and it is not a mental issue now.
Can Goodman deliver the change Ireland need? I am sceptical.
I think they should be feeling slightly more than pressure. Though apparently they are somewhat in line for a promotion instead based on some reports.
You could say that hiring a new attack at this stage could also be a risk.
Like someone else said, the issue seems to be more mental than the system necessarily being an issue. We must remember Schmidt had Leinster playing the best attacking rugby in Europe but then when he came into the Ireland team suddenly we were as expansive as copper…(thanks Squidge rugby!). And on the flip side, when Mike Catt took over I don’t think anyone could have ever imagined Ireland’s attack being as strong as it’s turned out…so in some cases some set ups just work for coaches and some don’t…I’m of the view that if the Irish coaches are happy with him then I’m more than happy to stick with him, especially since he’s been in the set up for only 1 year.
Mod: I am growing fairly weary of people dropping in and making these sort of posts, with the suggestion that anything negative posted about the team or a player is provincialism or unfair etc etc.
This is a discussion forum, it is going to hold a variety of views. If you see an actual insult, report it.
If you come here to make posts like "this place is terrible", "forum has gone to the dogs" expect to be carded and / or banned.
can someone start a new Ireland support board which isn’t a provincial obsessed turf war travesty , I feel the excessive and damaging 10 debate has ruined it and we’re now in a race to the bottom with insults normalised
All players are IRFU players. I'm not sure CCs make any sense at this stage, or are anything other than a distraction.
There are plenty of players out there on PONI contracts, with the central IRFU paying varying amounts of the player's contract. There's no clear delineation, so why bother with these titles?
I think we're going down a slippery slope here when people start questioning other peoples level of support for Irish rugby to be honest. If someone goes to more games than someone else does that mean they have a more valid or relevant opinion? Does that mean they automatically 'know more' about the game? Complete rubbish.
I always assumed that CCs were designed, in part at least, to compensate provinces for the lack of the use of their own players due to IRFU player management. Leinster essentially need another 12 players to fill in for Ireland players who are unavailable for many of their league games. Spreading that money around more evenly just creates another financial problem. It comes down to funding for player development, but also some sort of system to hold provinces accountable for doing it badly. Do it well you end up with central contracts, do it badly and you're wasting money that other provinces are doing more with.
That's the issue though, we're 2 years out from the WC. If we recognize that systems take time to bed in, can we afford to waste another year on Goodman? Any replacement would be up against it trying to get players onboard prior to the tournament.
How much influence did he have vs Lancaster though?
not sure i can answer that, or anyone else for that matter, or even if that can be answered.
yes this season has been inaccurate, as was Catts first season, but, as has been suggested by others here already… inaccuracies are mostly mental issues, not systematic. Goodmans system didnt get JGP to fcuk the ball over lowes head into touch in Saturdays game, but you could argue his system created the 1v1 on lowes side, as it did many times during the comp.
look, im no Goodman cheerleader, hes a step down from Catt, but im willing to give the guy some more time unless we have some world renowned attacks coach sitting at home at a loose end twiddling their thumbs.
How much influence did he have vs Lancaster though? The inaccuracy this season was pretty glaring, which was always Lancaster's Hallmark.
dunno…….
Leinster, with Goodman as attacks coach, scored 151 points in the last 4 knock out games of the 23 HC cup (38 points on average) against teams of the calibre of LAR, Toulouse, Ulster and Leicester.
That included both finalists of that years Top 14, the reigning Premiership champions…. and Ulster.
so he hasnt exactly been shown to have no clothes, but he should be under pressure, as i suggested.
while goodman should rightly be under pressure, im willing to give him another 12 months to sort it out. Remember how many here were calling for Mike Catts head after his first year?? and then he turned our attack into probably the best systematic rugby that has ever been played.
I would hope this may be the case, but Goodman's time with Leinster doesn't suggest it.
