2025 Nov 01 | AI's Round 1 | Ireland v New Zealand | 20:10 GMT | VM in Ire / TNT & Discovery+ in UK

penalties to the opposition, as has been the case for a few years sadly

Some of your posts are a bit unhinged so can I ask if this is a real comment or not? It's very hard to tell.

Well, first and foremost, POC has to go…the lineout has been a travesty for years and yet nothing is done about it…that already limits one of key attacking strengths and teams know that.

Poor atmosphere and 2 bad teams. Tadg Beirne was a huge loss. I thought Crowley played well and nailed a brilliant penalty in the first half. The playing of Ireland home games in Chicago should stop now!!

Incredibly frustrating performance.

The referee/TMO had a monumental impact on that game - from the upgrading of Beirne’s collision to a red to Caleb Clarke not even getting a yellow for a swinging arm to TOB’s head, there were numerous shocking inconsistencies in the refereeing at crucial moments.

Outside of that - our pack battled well and were on top for an hour.

I really hoped he’d have a good game and step up and seize the moment, but Jack Crowley was really poor tonight. Not our worst performer (Garry Ringrose), but given how pivotal a position it is, he is most culpable for us not pressing home our advantage from a situation where we were on top.

I’m baffled at the decision to take off McCloskey - who was giving us consistent go forward all night long. Ringrose had a shocker- offered nothing in attack and most culpable for the Sititi try which really fucked us. Sheehan was poor by his standards too, and others struggled to get into the game (Osborne, TOB).

I thought Baird, McCloskey, Lowe and Ryan all went pretty well.

Most sickening part of it was the All Blacks were pretty poor, and really didn’t offer a lot.

We could also realise that they are both young players and are going to have ups and downs…Hopefully Crowley starts next week and is given a chance to redeem himself.

It’s mad that this is the thinking with so many people on here. Ringrose is just back from a Lions tour and is regarded as one of the best centres in the world for years. Farrell has had 1 good season to his name. He is in great form and Ringrose was poor tonight so if he starts vs Australia that’s fine, but Ringrose has a lot of deserved credit in the bank.

Coombes is not a better player than 2 tour test Lion Conan or world player of the year nominee and Irish captain Doris. How many 8s do you want picked in the squad? Similar to Crowley, looks great when he is playing Ospreys and Zebre. Not so much at this level.

Out of the three non Leinster players starting tonight, one lasted four minutes and the other was probably the worst player on the pitch. McCloskey was good so fair play to him.

Out of interest, where are your big injustices? Who should have started that game tonight instead of the 12 Leinster players named?

Ireland were put back in their box in the second half. Disappointing performance while the bench had little impact. There is a LOT to work on.

Correct, and let's not forget Sexton didn't debut for Ireland until he was 24 and had plenty of issues in his first few years. Especially goal kicking wise.

But Jack and Sam have plenty to work on and at least we have 2 guys competing for the shirt. And yes hopefully now the bickering can end, neither player is up to scratch currently.

Sport is all about psychology! A nothing match really even if we won the knockers would say we can't win when it matters. Compare this to the desire of the Munster v Leinster game 2 weeks ago where nothing was left on the pitch.

It’s this type of illogical thinking that hurts Irish rugby.

It’s this type of thinking that will see furlong porter and Dorris physically fcuked up by 2027.

I am not against giving Coombes a shot, but Farrell isn’t going to pick three 8s in a squad. If he is picked ahead of a Prendergast/Timoney in the squad, absolutely no problem at all. I just think the calls for him to play as if it would change much are ridiculous, number 6/8 and Baird/Conan/Doris are really not the issue Ireland have at the moment.

I don’t think I’m being unfair on Crowley. He was not good today. Maybe worst player on the pitch is harsh as Ringrose was worse and Henderson offered absolutely nothing, but his all round kicking was very poor and his decision to hold onto that ball that they scored from arguably changed the game.