Ire v Wal rte 2 mar 6 26

Fair enough appraisal of his current form. there are things about Crowley's game I think he can improve that will make him a much better player, obviously placekicking is one. He doesn't give himself enough time on conversions. He should be running to get into his routine and the team should ensure that he gets the ball much quicker once a try is scored. It's all a bit casual and he ends up rushing. he also got done by the ref who halted the clock with 12 seconds left to look at the grounding and crossing for Conan's try which interrupted his routine. (former Leinster ten pundit commented on this after then game but its also obvious just watching). Anyway, relatively easy fix. Others have commented in his ball placement, maybe he Is developing a new approach which can pay off later.

Great tens hang off and let their nine feed pods in the 22. They organise and plan and bark at people, Sexton was a master at this and it's something that comes with a deal of experience. Crowley loves to be in the thick of it, so when I noted that he lacked leadership in those 2 multiphase sequences thats what I was observing. He was involved in far too many phases right in the thick of it the whole time. Multi phase is a mugs game these days because defences are much more attuned to it, they're fitter and the rules now favour them. it didn't work against Wales and it certainly won't work against top teams. The ten is the one who needs to crack that code, whether its chips, grubbers, flat passes or getting forwards into short passing sequence to suck in defence, there are a number of tactics to use. Crowley didn't use any today. I remain confident in his ability to develop though, because so much of that part of the game is about coaching, and the should be very obvious to the coaches and I'm sure they'll work it in.

Final thought on this, yes he is similar in age to Sexton so there is a lot of road ahead of him, but he is also a veteran of test rugby, unlike the equivalent Sexton. He won a 6N a couple of seasons ago and was the back up ten at the last worked cup.

If only you applied this logic across the board and not just for your own teams player.

You were one of the very worst culprits here only a few weeks ago.

Crowley has had two main misses in this tournament - a push just right that looks normal apart from direction and a dog-ugly low hook to the left that is painful to witness. I’d like to take points off for something so lacking in artistic merit.

I thought these arguments would be dead now.

I’d like to see Doak get another opportunity next week. I think we’ve seen enough in his 28 caps to know Casey is a limited player at this level. Doak looks like he has a more rounded game in general. We need to see if he’s an option for 18 months time.

why is it that Crowley and prendergast have both dropped in performances over last year and a half.
even Prendergast now can’t kick , whereas that was his main strength when he started out

Good players don’t always make good coaches especially players like sexton.

Not the winning or losing of the match but Dickson and his TMO are really really grating my fecking gears. It's probably nothing and just paranoia but in my mind he refs Ireland and Irish teams different to the opposition. The number of times I've heard commentators say 'you don't see that being penalised very often' or such is telling.

That call at the scrum for not hooking properly was something of a blast from the past … for me anyway!

The one for the number 10 being offside at the lineout. Unusual. Correct call but how often?

Look it's probably nothing but it seems everything Ireland do is scrutinised. How often does the TMO get involved when we score a try compared to other teams?

Paranoid? Probably

Just looking at the match stats on ESPN.

Big Stu had a great game again. 12 passes. 13 carries. 67m made. 1 defender beaten and 1 offload. 14 tackles, 0 missed.

Jack Conan too. 15 carries for 47m. 2 defenders beaten and 4 offloads. 13 tackles, 0 missed. He has to start vs. Scotland.

Edit: Kelleher also, 9 carries for 30m and 2 defenders beaten. 17 tackles and 0 missed. 100% lineout success. Has to retain the no. 2 jersey for next week IMO.

And that was despite Wales lining him up each time to double tackle him to prevent the offloads. They managed to nullify that quite well but he still made serious yards each time which put them on the back foot.