Intelligent and witty. Go @nr.8. After a while you just get tired. Apologies, I will do better
It's not rocket science lads, our best players are gone and France have some incredible talent.
That number 11 with the red cap is just unstoppable.
I've watched him plenty this season, he's not a disaster in the air. Silly comment
My issue is everything looks just so lethargic from us, no energy and no enthusiasm on show. Almost like we are just going through the motions and hoping something clicks as opposed to going out there and trying to influence the game ourselves.
That performance was probably the worst performance I’ve seen from an Irish side in probably +10 years and was the sort of performance we lambasted Italy for during their dark years.we just stood back and admired the French the first half with our only plan seemingly being to kick the ball down field and hope the French knock on, and when that didn’t happen we had nothing to show for it.
I know we’ve Italy next week but, realistically, the game we need to see a serious response form this team is England in round 3, too many of these games we’ve looked so second best that it’s become alarming, this is the team I would like to see:
15 Jack Crowley
14 Tommy O’Brien
13 Jamie Osborne
12 Stuart McCloskey
11 Jacob Stockdale
10 Sam Prendergast
9 Jamison Gibson-Park
8 Caelan Doris
7 Nick Timoney
6 Tadgh Beirne
5 James Ryan
4 Joe McCarthy
3 Tadgh Furlong
2 Dan Sheehan
1 Jeremy Loughman
16 Ronan Kelleher
17 Michael Milne
18 Thomas Clarkson
19 Cormac Izuchukwu
20 Jack Conan
21 Josh van der Flier
22 Craig Casey
23 Garry Ringrose
It was clear that we looked better on attack when we have a 2nd distributor on the field, which Keenan normally provides, and Crowley showed that yesterday so I’d like to see him get a run at 15. Ringrose unfortunately just sums up 80% of the “leaders” in this team right now, lethargic, wouldn’t mind giving Jamie a run in his natural position.
Hard to argue. Against France we lost the gain-line by phase 2, our pod shapes collapsed into one-out carries, and ruck arrival times drifted past 3s. A second distributor stabilises width, but none of it matters if your ruck efficiency drops faster than the price of a pint rises — which is saying something!!!
You said it yourself there, we have 8 players better than they have. 😁
Remember, this is the same guy who said we’d lose to Georgia last summer.
how would that work or how does it work with contracts. I assume at the start of the year there is a core group of players on central contracts and it’s expected they play the six nations and autumn internationals.
How are players rewarded per game they play for Ireland when they are not on a central with the IRFU and how does the current system essentially require status quo selection to function as in keeping the best players playing in Ireland so they can be managed best for Irelands needs?
He is not. Move on
Notwithstanding anything else for anyone who has watched Leinster this season lst nights performance was more of the same. Ireland have in the past benefited from the smooth transition from Leinster to Ireland jerseys for the majority of the team and yesterday was the flip side of this. Sort Leinster out first - in the meantime we have to develop an independent plan for the national side and that will allow us to pick players on form not familiarity
I'd agree with that team selection for the most part. But I'd give 'big Joe' the day at home after his performance yesterday and play Beirne at 5 with Cian P at 6. Maybe Edogbo instead of Izuchukwu on the bench but that's dealer's choice really.
Poor result, we gave france too much respect in first half, constant box kicking was not working for us, set piece went well in fairness thought dickson was a real home town ref, missed a lot of French knock ons and forward passes and entering rucks from side too, the mauvacka shoulder charge on Doris when we were a few metres from line was a joke of a decision as was dupont slap down of ball, yellow card all day, we still would have lost but its way harder when being blown off the park ourselves and France getting away with a lot
If the rest of the 6 nations goes poorly, does anyone think the coaching ticket will be changed or freshened up after ? I would love Robertson in ( probably very unlikley) McNamara would be great too.
I get what you mean with Joe but I think the perfect balance between the two is benching him. Send a message that his performance’s haven’t been good enough to start but at least give him a chance to redeem himself. I think realistically we won’t see Edogbo until Wales, he needs time to get up to speed!
I think (& have for most of his career) that Tommy O’Brien is a bit of a military medium player. He got found out badly last night.
This generations Fergus McFadden.
Not even the 6N but for the rest of this year we need to prove that we are “the best of the rest”
Over the last 12 months we’ve lost 4 matches but 3 of them were SA/France who in my mind are clearly 1 and 2 in the world right now.
I know there’s doom and gloom from last night but realistically Ireland are still probably in the next bracket with England and NZL which I think the results show, with all 3 games involving the 3 being 1 win each. Obviously of that 3 I would have England slightly ahead in 3rd but would like to see more from them this championship before nailing them in. Ireland’s aim has to be in the short term win the rest of their matches and then reassess where we are come the championship end.
England are a level above us at moment.
They have adapted to the aerial game alot quicker than us & thats going back 12months ago..they have improved another notch since imo
Not really, they lost to Ireland the last time they played. They’ve improved, but I’ve still yet to see enough evidence to show they are “a level above” just yet. If they beat us in 2 weeks and then go toe to toe with France I think we can safely assume they are a level above. Right now it’s
1. SA
-
2. France
3-5
England, Ireland, NZL with England probably 3rd atm due to consistency and their impressive dismantling of NZL but I’ve yet to see that WOW moment from them that would separate them from the rest.
6-8
Argentina, Scotland, Australia
The problem is so many players played terrible last night that it’s hard to single out which players aren’t up to it.
Really need to shake things up but we have been saying that since the last world cup. Every other squad seems to be refreshed, we are flogging the same lads, watch Furlong come back next week v Italy, shouldnt be anywhere near the team, it wasnt the scrum that was the issue last night…If the game plan v Italy is kick kick kick then we are in serious trouble.
MOD EDIT
I think we have t o have a closer look at Farrell. The general atmosphere in the team has been to make things comfortable and enjoyable. Bringing the families in, having extended retirements for aging players,giving not rewarding form has contributed to a diminishing of standards.His coaching of the Lions,in retrospect, was poor.The gameplan last night was basic but not to change it when it was obviously not working was simply poor.
I thought Osborne did a solid job at 15. His positioning was good, he tidied up loose balls well (tricky in the conditions) and he kicked very well. And if that’s all you want from your 15 then fair enough. But personally I’d like someone who is a threat on the counter attack and has pace. I’d love to see him start at 13 next week. Put Stockdale to 15 where he’s been playing well and actually play some rugby.
I get that the game has changed since 2023 and you need to kick more. France kicked a lot last night. But when they got into attacking positions it got forward momentum, they kept it in hand and were able to punch holes and find space. When we got forward momentum, we just kept kicking. It seemed like when we got into their half, we had no idea what to do with the ball. The regression of our attack over the last 2 years is incredible
Also, I think it’s time we have a grown up conversation about Joe McCarthy. Has the raw materials to be excellent. Is capable of delivering outstanding performances. Physically a bit of a beast. But fundamentally, might just be a bit stupid. How long do we persist with him in the hope that he might develop some brain cells?
great post, I never get these long winded retirements, rarely happens in any other sport or other T1 rugby teams.
I also never get "credit in the bank" Osborne (who did well last night) gets jettisoned in after months out. Keenan the same if he was fit. Pick the best performing players and get the inured lads to work their way back in after a long time out.
So you're saying a player that is inferior to Keenan should keep playing when Keenan is available again?
He's the best full back we have by a country mile. When he's fit he plays until that changes. There is nothing wrong with that.
Limited number of test matches, head coaches esp Ire because of our smaller playing pool will always put value in credit in the bank re a player....it basic trust in a player that a coach know will perform for him.
This in turn leads to a higher % of winning = revenue (esp 6n's) = win % for head coach.
I'd move Crowley to 15 for this series. In the absence of Keenan but moreso Hansen we need another playmaker to take pressure off Prendergast (or AN Other 10), and Crowley can do that from full back.
We do not have the bodies to bully our way over the game line, nor the gamebreakers who can repeatedly step people in phone boxes. It makes defending too easy because if you can stop the first couple of phases, defending from there becomes straightforward with our current attacking structure.
A double pivot makes things trickier because you're not sure where we're going to strike from, and teams can't overload on a single attacking fulcrum.
To my mind, it's no surprise we looked the most fluid against Australia with Hansen on the pitch who can do that role (I accept that they were the weakest opposition). Nor is it a surprise that Leinster looked their most fluid against the LAR when Prendergast went to 15 and Byrne was at 10 (given the Leinster <> Ireland overlap).
Thoughts?
Interestingly there hasn't been much or any chatter about the impending apocalypse of having to go to 4th & 5th choice loosehead that didnt transpire.
Credit to both of them & Clarkson also, such a shame we didnt move away from kicking into tne air so much when our scrum went well enough & lineout improved hugely along with discipline.
2 steps forward & 3 steps back in some respects
