Thought Aki in particular looked past it. Desperately slow, failed to make the sort of impact carrying that he has had previously, try vs England notwithstanding. Both he and Henshaw looked old and slow. Ringrose did little to impress.
Aki is still top notch, the only Irish centre guaranteed to be a Lion.
The fact Osbourne has played wing and full back suggests he'd be a great 13.
There's a young 12 coming through in Connacht and I'll be shocked if he isn't the starting 12 for Ireland in two years time. That young man is 21 year old Hugh Gavin who started for the A team against England and played very well. Osbourne's route into a long term starting role for Ireland is at 13.
Cathal Forde is a very talented young 12 who has been around the Irish panel in recent times but he's been moved to 13 because he's behind Aki and now Gavin.
Conan is unquestionably the next 6 for Ireland. I wouldn't have Baird near the squad, he's not at this level.
I'd rather see Osborne play 12 than 13. Ringrose is grand.
The summer tour & the November internationals are the first steps into the future.
If we don't get bodies in at 6,7,9, 12 & at least 1 wing then I'd be disappointed.
I don't think people get how few test windows are left til RWC
Summer tour is different. I'm looking at the future, not the summer. I'm looking at where we might be and where people would like us to be for the Six Nations next year.
Sure start a summer tour thread.
Great to see Casey is back in training and may make Munster game next week. Real shame he wasn’t around for the 6N he brings great energy
9 - Murphy & Gunne. Blade & Doak not at Test level. Doak is a 10 but can’t take on Frawley
10 - Frawley , but don’t rule out Bristols Harry B
The tournament is over. I think it's time to look forward and talk about what we expect and what we hope for. Will it be Baird or Prendergast who takes POM's spot or out of left field Coombes?
Who is the third choice scrum-half, Blade was fourth but he's lost his spot in Connacht to Ben Murphy.
Who is the third choice out-half?
Personally I think Furlong is done, he just doesn't seem to be able to stay healthy. That then leads to the question as to who comes in? I'd imagine it will be Clarkson?
Personally I'd like to see Osbourne play 13.
Fair enough, I don't disagree with that.
Yes in the first half....but I mean , first test start fir our 3rd choice TH ( who looked fine other than that 40 mins)
I really think if we are actively looking for problems, the scrum is waaaay down the list
Did we not give away a raft of scrum penalties against Wales?
I think if you look at it all things being equal, the scrum is the least of our problems and was actually quite decent considering we blooded 3 new guys and were didn't 1st choice players for the majority.
Like, our scrum didn't really cost us anything and it gained us vital field position on our own 5m line vs Wales late on
We're last in goal kick % and successful tackle %.
Yeah. I haven't looked but multiple commentators have said that.
Beg your pardon - just checked on the site shared above and we're second last - better only than Scotland.
Who? Us?
Compounded by having the worst scrum in the 6N.
Here you go, two beloved journos discussing Jaques https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHZBrxSMxCU/?igsh=MWhzeWhrcDdveDE5dw==
Each and every one of these new law trials are a farce.
Ireland reaped the benefit at the Lineout. And If it wasn't for the driving maul Ireland would be up **** creek without.
The main take away for Ireland in this 6N was crystalised for me in that abject performance in attack v Italy. -Lack of creativity to offset the lack of pace.-
No easy fix. And still need gain line.
The lack of composure v Italy (and a times v France) was exasperated by lack of 'Catch-Pass' skills and inability to create an offload (and then the subsequent linebreak).
https://www.sixnationsrugby.com/en/m6n/stats/2025
Offloads: France 63 Scotland 63 England 29Ireland 28 Wales 27 Italy 16Linebreaks: France 45 England 36 Scotland 34Ireland 26 Italy 25 Wales 21
We won 4 out of 5 games in the 6n
It's not just about the here and now.
It's a bit OTT but accurate in a lot of it.
Prendergast clearly did not have the upside that the coaches were expecting.
In hindsight, it was a pretty giant gamble that didn't come off.
massive fan of Lancaster , would be a great addition to the Irish coaching team
Journalist is Micheal Cantillon, a proud Limerick man.
That could have been written by the most one-eyed boards.ie poster. Absolute nonsense.
He cites two reasons for the poor performance;
and goes on at great length about the meeeja coverage of Prendergast as though this matters.
To call it lazy and stupid would be the understatement of the year.
Edit: just in case anyone thought this was some sort of impartial review, here's the guy's Twitter profile. If he posted here (and maybe he does), he actually would be the most one-eyed poster we have;
Michael Cantillon (@mike_cantillon) / X
Some absolute beauties in there.
What would you say about an article which was critical of both?
Absolute waffle. Tldr: most of the article focuses Prendergast, painting a picture that if only the coaches had not stuck with Prendergast we would have played more like our old selves with Crowley at 10. Completely ignores Crowleys poor form this season (particularly December). It's a shallow reading of what's changed and is nothing but critical of SP. Change the bloody record.
Prendergast, despite some bizarre coverage to the contrary in Ireland afterwards, did not play well against England, missing a simple conversion, kicking poorly from hand, and failing to get the attack clicking. Crowley emerged from the bench on 58 minutes, and the pace and tempo of the Test changed instantly - fellow subs Jack Conan and Dan Sheehan also thrived.
This is just flat out wrong. Both in its criticism of Prendergast and analysis of what Crowley did.
The larger point about a change in style has merit. Evolution was needed, we needed to adapt to defensive adjustments against us. I don't hold it necessitated a compete abandonment of the system that had us as the best team in the world.
I don't know if this has already been posted, but it's a pretty accurate, and damning review of Irish 6 nations performance, not so much from the players, but the failure of the coaching ticket
https://www.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12317/13331309/a-baffling-change-in-style-how-ireland-blew-the-six-nations-chance-of-a-century-and-a-half
I do actually. A better game to watch.
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