Ire v Wal rte 2 mar 6 26

34 tackles by Mann and 28 by Jenkins is mind-blowing.

JGP showed again why he was dropped in the first place. Sure he looked great when playing with a point to prove in Twickenham but let's face it he's too old and slow to routinely put in those performances. Ireland at its peak was rapid fast at getting the ball away, something a woeful Welsh team were better than us at tonight.

As far as kicking in behind them, kind of hard to do that, when the nine is passing to forwards at almost every ruck..

I'd agree with these ratings. The one comment I'd make is that Doris is crossing the line a bit too much discipline wise. He needs to watch it. I get that he's playing it on the edge and is very effective at slowing the opposition's ruck but he seems to be straying over the line too far of late.

My 23 for the Scotland game would be as follows

Osborne, Baloucoune, Ringrose, McCloskey, TOB, Crowley, JGP, Conan, JVDF, Beirne ©, Ryan, McCarthy, Furlong, Kelleher, TOT

Loughman (if fit), Sheehan, Clarkson, Doris, Timoney, Doak, Sam, Stockdale.

I've a feeling though Farrell will bench Conan and Doris will start at 8 and also Aki may appear in the 23 jersey 🤭

both JC and SP have changed their techniques in the last year or so

Logged on and then remembered why I come here so little.

Crowley's place kicking is an issue but to say he had a poor game is very wide of the mark. His kicking from hand in open play was excellent. He took his own try well and got us down the pitch for Conan's off the back of the scrum before winning us a penalty at the lineout by taking a quick one when Wales hadn't retreated which got us 5 out. He also rescued us after two very good Welsh kicks in behind, albeit Ringrose ended up getting turned over on the next phase on the first of those. Aside from all that he was lively with the ball in hand and his passing was good apart from one stray ball.

As to his place kicking: Crowley is currently sitting somewhere close to 72% which we can all agree isn't good enough. However, there is plenty of time for that to improve. Sexton, at the very same age, was dropped for a RWC quarter final because his place kicking was knocking around 30 odd percent during the tournament. He eventually became a plus 80% kicker. Just to be clear, that was Sexton at 26 years of age, the same age as Crowley. So while it's not ideal there is still plenty of time to improve. The fact he is consistently shanking the ball suggests that he's getting too much lateral movement, he's going across the ball rather than through it. One way to fix this is by widening his stance so it's more side on. However, I'm sure Sexton or whoever is coaching our kickers is working on this.

I must say it never ceases to amaze me how the usual crowd always look for their scapegoats on here after an average or poor performance. Crowley scored nearly half our points and got us into position for another 5. He was one of the reasons we won today. The bitterness on here is something else.

I mentioned this after the first 6N game. They are pointing the ball at the corner flag and it’s kfcuking wierd.

not at all, most kickers who position the ball 'upright' will do that, it opens up the sweet spot and can help minimise the natural curve that will be added when the ball is kicked. Wilkinson, O'Gara, Sexton etc all did/do this

Why not call for the ball?

yeah i think his run up is inconsistent because when his ball flight is perfect when he catches it properly, it might be rushing it because he is always close enough to timing out on his kicks

i agree with this to be honest, it great in theory that he is looking for work defensively but he probably needs to stay out of things a bit more

the ball position in itself isnt a big thing, both SP and JC have changed their kicking style in the last year or so

which isnt uncommon, again Wilkinson, O Gara & Sexton would have changed fairly significantly throughout their careers

Conan is 33.

While age is one big factor in deciding on a players position in a squad Conan is probably a massive exception because his level of mileage is very different to others.

He is a player that does best after a break, others need to play to hit their peak, like Ringrose, but Conan plays best when used sparingly.

A very good example of the type of player needed to develop a RWC winning squad

Munster fan here to defend Crowley.

He lacked leadership and wasn't good. Move on