France V Ireland – Stade de France, Paris. Sunday 4th March 15:00 RTE2 & BBC2

mikedragon32 · 05-03-2012 9:17am

Lads, how many times do you have to be told not to feed the trolls? For all your crying about the quality of some of the posts and how proposterous some opinions are, there are only NINE reported posts.

It's in the charter:

charter wrote:

Finally, and we really want to stress this because we will be cracking down on it. This is the Report Post button and is located under every username beside the post, use it if you think someone is breaking the charter. If you do any Back Seat Modding, your punishment will be more severe than what is issued to the original offender. We can’t make that any more clear.

So, if you don't like a post, report it and let us deal with it. DO NOT RESPOND TO IT. Otherwise we end up with a flamewar...

BoardsMember · 05-03-2012 9:31am

Great game of rugby to watch.

I thought Murray was having a great game, very disappointed to see him go off. This was the first time I'd seen him have a really good game for Ireland, as opposed to one that show promise & potential, and it says a lot about the guy that he could do that in Paris, after a few iffy performances. So well done, and hopefully he'll be back from injury before long.

I felt quite hard done by Pearson. The free kick for slow to put the ball in was a joke, the French we pushing us back straight from the hit, the scrum was not ready for the ball to go in. I thought the pen in the second half by the touchline on half way was harsh too. Most 50/50s went their way. That said, Healy should have been binned, no question.

I thought Ferris & Heaslip had big games, as did POC, Best & Healy. Will have to watch again to see how SOB fared. Sexton was incredible, as much as anyone he set the tone in defence as well as attack. He is a first class outhalf, was one of his best performances in green. He's a great competitor, we saw the kind of determination to win that brought Leinster back against Northampton. Earls was good too, delighted to see that, he's looking more at home every time he plays 13, midfield in general was good against a very big & fast midfield, though I reckon it was supported well by backrow again and again.

Kearney is just phenomenal, playing the best rugby of his career. I have a feeling te presence of Nacewa at Leinster has helped him to progress even further than he might otherwise have. He's a real leader and inspiration at full back.

Here's hoping we can keep it all going for the Scotland game, that's going to be a dogfight. But just delighted that this hard working, committed, talented bunch of players did themselves proud, and might get a bit of a reprieve. Great to see an active, in your face, defensive display, more of this in our game plan can only be good.

Neil3030 · 05-03-2012 9:41am

On the eight day God admitted that he had actually spent the previous seven making Stephen Ferris.

If that man is able to walk in 10 years, it will be a miracle.

LuckyLloyd · 05-03-2012 9:48am

DDC1990 wrote: »

Not only do I work for the IRFU, I am Declan Kidney!

Ireland were not playing shadows out there.

France came out in the second half rejuvinated and tore into us.

They got a lucky try after the ball bounced around.

We were in their 22 a number of times at around the 68th minute, and instead of taking the Drop Goal, we wen't side to side and turned it over. That is not Kidney's fault.

Selection Gaffes? Murray had a brilliant game, DOC put in a solid 55 minutes work, Earls at 13 was defensivly sound and had a good game. This miraculous speeding up of the game, thats meant to suddenly happen when Redden comes on simply didn't materialise, because unlike Italy, the French hadn't given up, and pressured him at ruck time.

Kidney's selection and gameplan was spot on. We havn't been that close to beating the French in Paris in years... but no, Kidney clearly fúcked up...somehow... he must have... because he's a shít manager... and ...

Sometimes you need to look at the game and find the percieved problem, instead of looking at what you think the problem is and trying to fit it into the situation.

Very well said sir.

Leinster7 · 05-03-2012 10:13am

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Very well said sir.

Kidneys game-plan wasn't spot on. We defended passively 2nd half and kicked possession away far too often. You wonder just how well he demotivated them at half-time

leftleg · 05-03-2012 10:41am

Have to agree we were slow out of the block in the second half; whether that was down to Kidneys trying to change tactics to protect the lead or the players deciding to slow down together or jsut the French being plain better;

Neil3030 · 05-03-2012 10:46am

leftleg wrote: »

Have to agree we were slow out of the block in the second half; whether that was down to Kidneys trying to change tactics to protect the lead or the players deciding to slow down together or jsut the French being plain better;

Maybe a combination of the latter 2, but France came out of the traps with aplomb in the second half, played far better and a couple of breaks went their way. Yet even still, I'd say we were about 6 inches, i.e., the distance by which Earls missed the fly-hack, from victory. Those are the margins at test level.

d-gal · 05-03-2012 11:01am

Leinster7 wrote: »

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Very well said sir.

Kidneys game-plan wasn't spot on. We defended passively 2nd half and kicked possession away far too often. You wonder just how well he demotivated them at half-time

Oh Jesus, can you ever give the man any credit? The gameplan was top notch first half. We defended excellently in the 2nd half and the only 2 bad kicks were the lead up to their try (Trimbles missed tackle actually more than the kick) and Sexton's kick out on the full. Kearney kicked a lot but recovered practically everything.

You cannot blame kidney for the team dropping the ball, missing line-outs in crucial areas or not going for a DG with less than 15 to go.
It seems like if a player/team plays well its nothing to do with kidney but if they play badly its all Kidney's fault.
We played extremely well and everyone improved their game and attitude.

France played very well in the 2nd half and let's not forget they are WC finalists and the game was in Paris, a place we have not won or come close to winning in over a decade!

I say fair play to the team and management and fúck the lot of ye pessimistic muppets who THINK they know everything about rugby and are taking swipes at a great performance. That includes people from both sides of the argument, especially blaming a single player on a overall great performance.

Bring on the Scots and hopefully we freshen up the team (POM, Ryan, Croinin, DK and McF at 12 please) so we can thump the English 100% on Paddy's Day

Chucky the tree · 05-03-2012 11:03am

A 66 minutes Sexton dropped back into the pocket for the drop goal however Reddan didn't just passed it short to Heaslip(I think). Not sure if Sexton gave him the shout or hoped he'd look back or Reddan didn't hear. There was really only one other good chance for a DG which Sexton decided to run.

fitz · 05-03-2012 11:03am

Neil3030 wrote: »

Maybe a combination of the latter 2, but France came out of the traps with aplomb in the second half, played far better and a couple of breaks went their way. Yet even still, I'd say we were about 6 inches, i.e., the distance by which Earls missed the fly-hack, from victory. Those are the margins at test level.

France played far better because we gave them the space to play in by standing off instead of getting up in their faces before they had a chance to get some momentum. If we had kept doing what we had done in the first half, it would have been much harder for France to get back into the game.

I don't know what was said at half time, but the change in tactics was noticable, and self destructive.

Neil3030 · 05-03-2012 11:06am

d-gal wrote: »

Oh Jesus, can you ever give the man any credit? The gameplan was top notch first half. We defended excellently in the 2nd half and the only 2 bad kicks were the lead up to their try (Trimbles missed tackle actually more than the kick) and Sexton's kick out on the full. Kearney kicked a lot but recovered practically everything.

You cannot blame kidney for the team dropping the ball, missing line-outs in crucial areas or not going for a DG with less than 15 to go.
It seems like if a player/team plays well its nothing to do with kidney but if they play badly its all Kidney's fault.
We played extremely well and everyone improved their game and attitude.

France played very well in the 2nd half and let's not forget they are WC finalists and the game was in Paris, a place we have not won or come close to winning in over a decade!

I say fair play to the team and management and fúck the lot of ye pessimistic muppets who THINK they know everything about rugby and are taking swipes at a great performance. That includes people from both sides of the argument, especially blaming a single player on a overall great performance.

Bring on the Scots and hopefully we freshen up the team (POM, Ryan, Croinin, DK and McF at 12 please) so we can thump the English 100% on Paddy's Day

Come on now, I take your point that Kidney isn't given a lot of credit around here, but there is a line. No way should he start against Scotland.

Neil3030 · 05-03-2012 11:10am

fitz wrote: »

France played far better because we gave them the space to play in by standing off instead of getting up in their faces before they had a chance to get some momentum. If we had kept doing what we had done in the first half, it would have been much harder for France to get back into the game.

I don't know what was said at half time, but the change in tactics was noticable, and self destructive.

Our first half game was high risk and enormously tiring though. I'm not saying the tactics were intentionally changed, but there would have been merit in doing so. We were, after all, very unlucky not to win.

Leinster7 · 05-03-2012 11:16am

d-gal wrote: »

Oh Jesus, can you ever give the man any credit? The gameplan was top notch first half. We defended excellently in the 2nd half and the only 2 bad kicks were the lead up to their try (Trimbles missed tackle actually more than the kick) and Sexton's kick out on the full. Kearney kicked a lot but recovered practically everything.

You cannot blame kidney for the team dropping the ball, missing line-outs in crucial areas or not going for a DG with less than 15 to go.
It seems like if a player/team plays well its nothing to do with kidney but if they play badly its all Kidney's fault.
We played extremely well and everyone improved their game and attitude.

France played very well in the 2nd half and let's not forget they are WC finalists and the game was in Paris, a place we have not won or come close to winning in over a decade!

I say fair play to the team and management and fúck the lot of ye pessimistic muppets who THINK they know everything about rugby and are taking swipes at a great performance. That includes people from both sides of the argument, especially blaming a single player on a overall great performance.

Bring on the Scots and hopefully we freshen up the team (POM, Ryan, Croinin, DK and McF at 12 please) so we can thump the English 100% on Paddy's Day

Of course I blame him for when we play poorly. Our players are better then that and regularly show it for their provinces. Who else do you blame when a team under-performs but the leadership. You shouldn't settle for 2nd rate when you can achieve better. I am not pessimistic, however I do feel for the World Class players we have in our country and especially those which are constantly the victims of his selection gaffes

tolosenc · 05-03-2012 11:18am

Silvio.Dante wrote: »

Heaslip's done nothing for years now. He's shot his bolt. Time to warm the bench...

He won a grand slam 3 years ago!

fitz · 05-03-2012 11:19am

d-gal wrote: »

Oh Jesus, can you ever give the man any credit? The gameplan was top notch first half. We defended excellently in the 2nd half and the only 2 bad kicks were the lead up to their try (Trimbles missed tackle actually more than the kick) and Sexton's kick out on the full. Kearney kicked a lot but recovered practically everything.

You cannot blame kidney for the team dropping the ball, missing line-outs in crucial areas or not going for a DG with less than 15 to go.
It seems like if a player/team plays well its nothing to do with kidney but if they play badly its all Kidney's fault.
We played extremely well and everyone improved their game and attitude.

France played very well in the 2nd half and let's not forget they are WC finalists and the game was in Paris, a place we have not won or come close to winning in over a decade!

I say fair play to the team and management and fúck the lot of ye pessimistic muppets who THINK they know everything about rugby and are taking swipes at a great performance. That includes people from both sides of the argument, especially blaming a single player on a overall great performance.

Bring on the Scots and hopefully we freshen up the team (POM, Ryan, Croinin, DK and McF at 12 please) so we can thump the English 100% on Paddy's Day

No. We did not defend brilliantly in the second half.
We did what we did against Wales. Stood off, gave France room and momentum, and tried to soak it up. Which resulted in the same net effect as against Wales.

The entire defensive line stood off. That's not a single player decision, that's a change of gameplan from the first half.

shuffol · 05-03-2012 11:25am

Great game, good performance by Ireland and nothing more, overwhelming sense of frustration after the game, not at the draw which was always on the cards when conditions deteriorated in the last 20 but at the fact that we cant produce performances like this every week, there was nothing special about it(bar bowes try), just good intensity in the collisions and a very good line speed, the same recipe for success over Australia that we hadnt seen since. This should be the minimum we expect to see every game. Even when we produce only a good performance you can see there are some special players in this side the likes of which we many not be so blessed with in the future, that they are made look so average in a green jersey so often is criminal.

Pearson was rubbish all round but he certainly did us no favours in the 2nd half, is it any wonder we failed to score when the first penalty he gave us in the 2nd half was in the dying minutes when a french player was pinged for holding on after good work by Heaslip. I doubt everything France did in that 2nd half was to the letter of the law.

Kearney was sublime, no fullback in the NH came touch him in that type of form. Ferris and SOB had huge games. Couldnt believe it when I saw O'Brien coming off, he was doing massive work in defence and only made one less tackle than Ferris wo played 80 mins. It just smacked of a pre planned substitution by Kidney and poor reading of the game, with conditions deteriorating Frances greater bulk was going to be advantageous to them, I dont think POM who's still quite lean was the ideal man in the circumstances.

Some interesting stats from ESPN if you choose to trust them, DOC made 8 tackles in 57 mins which is good going, Ryan made 8 tackles in 23 mins which shows his appetite. Murray made 29 passes in 58 mins, Reddan made 28 passes in 22 mins, just shows how much he increases the tempo.

Annabella1 · 05-03-2012 11:26am

fitz wrote: »

No. We did not defend brilliantly in the second half.
We did what we did against Wales. Stood off, gave France room and momentum, and tried to soak it up. Which resulted in the same net effect as against Wales.

The entire defensive line stood off. That's not a single player decision, that's a change of gameplan from the first half.

It is very hard to play the 80mins at the intensity we played in the 1st Half.France are a top side at home and upped the ante.I don't think the team purposely 'stood off'

walshb · 05-03-2012 11:26am

Gutted that we couldn't maintain that lead and at least put up a few points in the second half. Really France deserved the win, as it was them in the second half who were really turning the screw and wanting it that bit more. Not a single point in the second half doesn't deserve a win. Played very well in the first half, and it was like we then "went to sleep" and decided that we'd just try to hang on.

Fishooks12 · 05-03-2012 11:28am

Annabella1 wrote: »

It is very hard to play the 80mins at the intensity we played in the 1st Half.France are a top side at home and upped the ante.I don't think the team purposely 'stood off'

Neither do. You can still see that in most defensive phases we were still employing the same tactics in defense. Shoot runners with a fast line speed

Although as legs grew tired holes began to appear, not a change in tactics

Otacon · 05-03-2012 11:28am

Leinster7 wrote: »

Of course I blame him for when we play poorly. Our players are better then that and regularly show it for their provinces. Who else do you blame when a team under-performs but the leadership. You shouldn't settle for 2nd rate when you can achieve better. I am not pessimistic, however I do feel for the World Class players we have in our country and especially those which are constantly the victims of his selection gaffes

But when we play well, it is all to do with the players?

I personally blame the coach if mistakes are made in either the gameplan or sub strategy. After that, the players have to take most of the responsibility.

fitz · 05-03-2012 11:31am

Annabella1 wrote: »

It is very hard to play the 80mins at the intensity we played in the 1st Half.France are a top side at home and upped the ante.I don't think the team purposely 'stood off'

Yes, they did.
And these guys are capable of playing 80 minutes like they did in the first half. I don't buy the argument that it's too energy sapping. Use the bench, freshen things up, and we should have been able to keep it up. We did against Australia.
It wasn't just a case of being more physical than them in the first half, we pushed up quickly and shut down space. We didn't give them room to play.
In the second half, we stopped doing that, and it cost us a win imo.

irishbucsfan · 05-03-2012 11:33am

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Annabella1 wrote: »

It is very hard to play the 80mins at the intensity we played in the 1st Half.France are a top side at home and upped the ante.I don't think the team purposely 'stood off'

Neither do. You can still see that in most defensive phases we were still employing the same tactics in defense. Shoot runners with a fast line speed

Although as legs grew tired holes began to appear, not a change in tactics

Not a chance, they were setting the line far shallower. Probably would have worked with BOD out there, but not without him.

I think it would have been hard to defend for 80 minutes like they did in the first half... But they did that against Oz

fitz · 05-03-2012 11:33am

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Neither do. You can still see that in most defensive phases we were still employing the same tactics in defense. Shoot runners with a fast line speed

Although as legs grew tired holes began to appear, not a change in tactics

Shooter runners weren't the tactics in the first half.
The entire line was up quickly.
That tactic should not be something the team cannot physically sustain for 80 minutes with good use of the bench.

LuckyLloyd · 05-03-2012 11:39am

Leinster7 wrote: »

Kidneys game-plan wasn't spot on. We defended passively 2nd half and kicked possession away far too often. You wonder just how well he demotivated them at half-time

You don't like Kidney, we get it. What happened on the pitch yesterday doesn't fit with your view on his management. Not seeing that is a you problem unfortunately.

leakyboots · 05-03-2012 11:51am

Some 'interesting' comments on here yesterday evening...!

Think this was the one that got away, pity.

Think more than a few posters owe Earls an apology, the criticisms of him pre-tournament on here were ridiculously harsh, real proper doom-harbingering... he's done well at centre.

Equally I owe Kearney an apology - I've been critical of his form, especially since the heights he hit in the tour down south weren't much in evidence... but he gave a masterclass yesterday in fullback play, best player on the pitch. Still may have to question his last-man tackling (I'd have to see the Fofana try again. Was flawless apart from maybe that).

Murray had a fine game save for the pass for the aborted drop. Hope to God that knee injury isin't serious, particularly from a Munster point of view. Shame on some posters for the comments about his injury at the time being a blessing, bad form. I think the 'his Italy performance v Reddans' is a little more in context now, Reddan had the run of the park then, wasn't anywhere near as effective this time. That said, I'm happy with either on the pitch.

Best picked a bad time to get his jitters back in the lineout but was good in the loose.

Some questionable opinions by red-tinted fans on Sexton, he'd a good game, kickers have off days (and he only missed one placekick). That dinked ball into the 22 towards the end was frustrating, but he did plenty of stuff right and tackled well all day.

I thought Ferris was immense, the man is a colossus. Heaslip provided some great turnovers and tackles but ball in hand could have done better - that pass to Earls should've been kept to hand especially. O'Brien did well too, nice to see O'Mahony get a run.

Healy... lucky boy.. that was a card for me. He is prone to those moments of stupidity.

Overall.. great performance in the first half (was that the first time we've ever lead in Paris at half-time?), bitterly disappointed we didn't do the job in the second. But overall, that's the level we know this team can play at, cut out the unforced errors and we'd have even worse hangovers today!

Would like to see the team freshened up for Scotland, rest one of the backrow for O'Mahoney, leave Sexton at 10, McF and Earls in the centre, Cronin in for Best, Ryan in for DOC.

d-gal · 05-03-2012 11:55am

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Leinster7 wrote: »

Kidneys game-plan wasn't spot on. We defended passively 2nd half and kicked possession away far too often. You wonder just how well he demotivated them at half-time

You don't like Kidney, we get it. What happened on the pitch yesterday doesn't fit with your view on his management. Not seeing that is a you problem unfortunately.

At the end of it we could of won the game bar a few simple errors. That throw in on their 5metre line, our refusal to take a DG and the tiny game of inches that got their try. They were zero to do with management .
We did play brilliantly and can't really criticise anyone.
People have took the easy option tho...blame kidney, blame DOC (who was savage) and Sexton (who played his best game in ages)

fitz · 05-03-2012 12:08pm

d-gal wrote: »

At the end of it we could of won the game bar a few simple errors. That throw in on their 5metre line, our refusal to take a DG and the tiny game of inches that got their try. They were zero to do with management .
We did play brilliantly and can't really criticise anyone.
People have took the easy option tho...blame kidney, blame DOC (who was savage) and Sexton (who played his best game in ages)

I'm fed up with this team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and people saying that if a couple of small things happened, we could have won. If we play with the right gameplan, we can consistently win without these "rub of the green" situations being what decides the match.

And that has everything to do with coaching.

walshb · 05-03-2012 12:08pm

d-gal wrote: »

At the end of it we could of won the game bar a few simple errors. That throw in on their 5metre line, )

Glad someone mentinoed this ridiculous mistake. Thos tv pundits never even touched on it. Useless ****es. I mean, at that point in the game, and in such a threatening position, to go for that long risky throw defies belief.

JustinDee · 05-03-2012 12:12pm

walshb wrote: »

Glad someone mentinoed this ridiculous mistake. Thos tv pundits never even touched on it. Useless ****es. I mean, at that point in the game, and in such a threatening position, to go for that long risky throw defies belief.

Was a perfect opportunity for a "split 'n' through" or at least a maul from a throw to the front.

LuckyLloyd · 05-03-2012 12:12pm

The 'blame Sexton' stuff is bizarre I must admit. He had a good game all told.

fitz · 05-03-2012 12:16pm

walshb wrote: »

Glad someone mentinoed this ridiculous mistake. Thos tv pundits never even touched on it. Useless ****es. I mean, at that point in the game, and in such a threatening position, to go for that long risky throw defies belief.

JustinDee wrote: »

Was a perfect opportunity for a "split 'n' through" or at least a maul from a throw to the front.

Careful now fellas, dangerously close to criticising Paulie and his calling of the lineout...we can't be having that!
Criticism BAD!! :rolleyes::p

Webbs · 05-03-2012 12:23pm

As a neutral I thought that Ireland in the first half played with so much more pace in defence than previous weeks, France whose back-play seems really turgid at the moment mainly through Rougerie who had a shocker couldn't cope with the rush defence.

However Ireland are still too predictable when running plays off setpieces or second, third phases the back-line is so deep that they really struggle to get over the gain-line.

The second half was the equivalent of a soccer team sitting on a lead, the defensive line speed was gone and it was a passive defence, whether this was deliberate or not who knows.

Ireland still dont create enough opportunities considering the class in the backline, it seemed that the Kearney up and under was the only real attacking option. The backlines for all the Irish provinces appear to sit far flatter than Ireland do, something I just dont understand.
Similarly where was O'Brien, Heaslip, Ferris running consistently 2 passes off the rucks at the French midfield. Couple of times Ferris was in this position and they made good gains. likewise the use of Bowe and Trimble of the wings is criminally under used.

So despite the draw Ireland still are not coming close to their potential which to me comes down to a coaching team failure, and a poor French performance should have been put away by Ireland

durkadurka · 05-03-2012 12:28pm

Have to say that line out and darcy's bizarre fumble were the moments when we knew it wasn't going to happen.

JustinDee · 05-03-2012 12:34pm

fitz wrote: »

Careful now fellas, dangerously close to criticising Paulie and his calling of the lineout...we can't be having that!
Criticism BAD!! :rolleyes::p

Not a critique per se as its all very easy from the armchair to point out. Having never been on the field in front of 80,000-odd spectators with a chance to beat France in their own backyard, I'd be the last to make a call on a call like that. Big difference to playing CRL in NSW and playing for Ireland in the Six Nations at Stade de France!

walshb · 05-03-2012 12:36pm

Wasn't the lineout weak yesterday throughout? Wit that in mind it makes that throw even more silly. Keep freaking possession at least. Make sure of that.

Leinster7 · 05-03-2012 12:49pm

Webbs wrote: »

As a neutral I thought that Ireland in the first half played with so much more pace in defence than previous weeks, France whose back-play seems really turgid at the moment mainly through Rougerie who had a shocker couldn't cope with the rush defence.

However Ireland are still too predictable when running plays off setpieces or second, third phases the back-line is so deep that they really struggle to get over the gain-line.

The second half was the equivalent of a soccer team sitting on a lead, the defensive line speed was gone and it was a passive defence, whether this was deliberate or not who knows.

Ireland still dont create enough opportunities considering the class in the backline, it seemed that the Kearney up and under was the only real attacking option. The backlines for all the Irish provinces appear to sit far flatter than Ireland do, something I just dont understand.
Similarly where was O'Brien, Heaslip, Ferris running consistently 2 passes off the rucks at the French midfield. Couple of times Ferris was in this position and they made good gains. likewise the use of Bowe and Trimble of the wings is criminally under used.

So despite the draw Ireland still are not coming close to their potential which to me comes down to a coaching team failure, and a poor French performance should have been put away by Ireland

Spot on.

teednab-el · 05-03-2012 1:14pm

fitz wrote: »

d-gal wrote: »

At the end of it we could of won the game bar a few simple errors. That throw in on their 5metre line, our refusal to take a DG and the tiny game of inches that got their try. They were zero to do with management .
We did play brilliantly and can't really criticise anyone.
People have took the easy option tho...blame kidney, blame DOC (who was savage) and Sexton (who played his best game in ages)

I'm fed up with this team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and people saying that if a couple of small things happened, we could have won. If we play with the right gameplan, we can consistently win without these "rub of the green" situations being what decides the match.

And that has everything to do with coaching.

Yeah but you have people on here saying that Ireland were brillant yesterday despite the fact that they handed the game to France. This Irish team have no heart when its a must win situation. When Ireland were 17-6 ahead i was still afraid of them loosing. I wouldn't feel the same if it was Wales or England that had that lead.

JRant · 05-03-2012 1:34pm

My tupence worth on what was an equally exciting and infuriating day.

Healy: excellent in the scrum and loose, should have been given a yellow for lazy running but them's the breaks.
Best: excellent in the scrum and loose, however he seems to be back to his bad old ways at lineout time. He's just becoming a liability at this stage with his throwing, especially if it's in our own or the oppositions 22. How many clutch throws do we see him make a complete mess of!
Ross: Was rock solid in the scrum and more than held his own elsewhere.
POC: Fantastic performance again from the big man. Loved the look he gave Pearson in the second half, just stood staring at him after another peno call against us. Mr Pearson is lucky looks can't kill.
DOC: Solid enough performance but ran out of steam long before he was taken off, not sure if he has the gas for international rugby any more.
Ferris: Immense again, was noticeable that both him and sexton were our main shooters in defense.
SOB: One of the best performance at 7 I've seen from an Irish player in quite some time, he was literally everywhere, slowing down ball and stealing his fair share as well (one lead directly to Bowe's second). Looked gutted coming off and I can't say I blame him. we struggled to disrupt the French once he came off. Knowing the way DK operates he must feel he wont get many more starts for Ireland if he's kept on as manager seeing as POM is the flavour of the month right now.
Heaslip: Had a terrific game today, not sure why so many people are calling for him to dropped.
Murray: Big improvement from last week. Could still do with being a bit quicker but with a player with so little experience thats to be expected.
Sexton: One poor kick and he gets both barrels off some the red brigade. Another assured performance and was immense in defense. Seems to be growing into the role nicely. I do wish DK would leave him at 10 to finish out games though.
Trimble: Not his best day at the office today but still got stuck in around the park, can't fault his work rate.
Darcy: Good defensively but he doesn't offer a whole lot going forward these days.
Earls: Quiet enough game from him and that's no bad thing. Lovely offload for Bowe's second but does he have the skill to play 13? Looks a winger all day long in my book.
Bowe: His tackling is a little suspect as of late but he's getting the tries and long may it continue
Kearney: Playing like a beast these days. Great under the high ball and countered well all day long. If he can keep this form going I'll be more than a little happy.

DK: Performances like the first half are what this team should aspire to, performances like the second half are why we need to get rid of him at the end of the season. He takes off SOB, who's playing well at 7, for an unknown quantity in POM. Couldn't believe it at the time and I still can't understand the logic behind it. Then he rejigs the backline to accommodate ROG at 10, he should have never moved Sexton to 12.

rrpc · 05-03-2012 1:45pm

teednab-el wrote: »

Yeah but you have people on here saying that Ireland were brillant yesterday despite the fact that they handed the game to France. This Irish coaching team have no heart balls when its a must win situation. When we were 17-6 ahead i was they were still afraid of loosing...

Fixed that for you

iroced · 05-03-2012 3:00pm

cgpg5 wrote: »

iroced wrote: »

It's gonna be very very tough for us to win the tournament this year as, not only we need to beat Ireland & England at home (and well Scotland tomorrow) but we'll need to beat the Welsh at the Millenium and I just don't see how...

What's with the pessimism? Ye are streets ahead of the other 6n teams on ye're day I've no doubt ye'll beat us next week, Wales is ye're big test but if ye perform ye can beat them no bother

Well I guess I was more realistic than pessimistic

…
Saint-Andre seems to have transmitted his lack of enthusiasm and his apparent (and hopefully fake) defeatism to the team (I' referring to his "strange" Press Conferences). Considering he’s only starting I feel that’s worrying for us to say the least… I don’t quite understand the preparation and the gameplan we had in our last 2 games. His communication let us understand that he got really worked about the Scotland game beforehand (no offense to the Scots but where’s that coming from?) while everything was quiet and peaceful both times before the Ireland one. I know we have a great record against you but if you look closely, bar 2 years ago there are only close victories for the last 4-5 years.

And the gameplan :rolleyes: … :eek: ..., at some point yesterday, no offense lads

but I felt Ireland was playing in Blue and France in Green. We did most of what you’re complaining about Kidney (e.g. so many useless kicks back to the Irish backs while Kearney and Bowe were being immense) and we decided to play on your strongest point: competing at the rucks. WTF? We tried to play Munster-style, progressing with a series of pick and go and try getting a drop goal. But we’re no Munster. It’s not what we are best at. We should have played like the Welsh. Carry the ball, pass the ball, use the backs (we saw none of them for the whole game bar this great opportunism from Fofana). Also we should know that Ireland speciality is to defend at the very limit of being offside and yesterday not only you were very “high” on the pitch but also very flat and we NEVER tried to kick the ball behind you. WTF? With the pace of our back line we would have gotten a couple of try opportunites for sure and at leat would have cast doubt on your way of defending… We played with no imagination nor cleverness yesterday. We just showed a little pride to come back in the game in the second half. But overall that was a poor performance and that’s 3 in a row now… :rolleyes:

Tox56 wrote: »

I've always wondered about this. What do French people think of the inconsistency of the team?

Here and in the UK media it's almost a running joke about "which French team turn up", is it the same attitude in France?

I can only imagine it must be incredibly annoying to support them.

I already answered on the original thread but yeah that’s definitely frustrating to support France

…

Mr.Crinklewood at 14:58 wrote: »

17-17 draw.

Wow :eek: ! Did you bet on that ?!

walshb · 05-03-2012 3:18pm

fitz wrote: »

I'm fed up with this team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and people saying that if a couple of small things happened, we could have won..

But rugby a lot of the time is won and lost due to an error her, a bit of luck there.

justsomebloke · 05-03-2012 3:21pm

walshb wrote: »

But rugby a lot of the time is won and lost due to an error her, a bit of luck there.

Hell the only reason we were in the game yesterday was due to an error here (the bad pass) and a bit of luck there (the bounce of the ball not going into touch)

fitz · 05-03-2012 3:24pm

walshb wrote: »

But rugby a lot of the time is won and lost due to an error her, a bit of luck there.

We played one gameplan in the first half, didn't let France into the game, and were 10 points ahead.

We abandoned that gameplan in the second half, and let them close the gap unanswered.

A bit of luck here or there has had nothing to do with the poor standard of our performances for two years. Our players who have shown against England last year, Australia at the WC, and during the first half at the weekend, that they are capable of so much more than our current coach is able to get out of them.

totallegend · 05-03-2012 3:25pm

justsomebloke wrote: »

walshb wrote: »

But rugby a lot of the time is won and lost due to an error her, a bit of luck there.

Hell the only reason we were in the game yesterday was due to an error here (the bad pass) and a bit of luck there (the bounce of the ball not going into touch)

Correct, we were gifted seven points and didn't score at all in the second half. If the game had gone on another ten minutes, we'd have lost.

Ardillaun · 05-03-2012 3:38pm

Re: the second half performance, the pack were up against probably the best technical scrummagers in the world who are also nearly ten pounds lighter a man which must begin to tell after 50 minutes running around the field. In addition to that, they can bring on the likes of Picamoles and Servat as subs. Usually, the French pull up in the second half against us because they have already won the game but, in Paris and with their levels of fitness, they must be among the top three teams in the world for being able to go the full 80 when they have to.

I think both halves were extraordinary. With that sort of performance, we could beat any other 6N team.

RoundBox11 · 05-03-2012 3:40pm

justsomebloke wrote: »

Hell the only reason we were in the game yesterday was due to an error here (the bad pass) and a bit of luck there (the bounce of the ball not going into touch)

Thats sport tho so you can't honestly believe thats true.

You could just as easily say the only reason why France came back is because of silly lineout mistakes and D'Arcy's fumble.

Thats as stupid as saying that a team only wins/loses because their OH kicked well/poor, when in reality theres so much more in the game to create those oppourtunities.

It's far too simplistic a view.

Moflojo · 05-03-2012 3:49pm

justsomebloke wrote: »

Hell the only reason we were in the game yesterday was due to an error here (the bad pass) and a bit of luck there (the bounce of the ball not going into touch)

That's a twisted perspective, the intercept try came about as a result of Ireland's defensive pressure while Tommy Bowe deserved to get the bounce of the ball after Ireland did everything right to create the space for him to kick into.

There is so much negativity on this forum it's unbelievable. I can't understand how Ireland "supporters" will even chip away at the positive aspects of yesterday's performance to try to maintain this anti-Kidney vendetta, which is getting tiresome.

iroced · 05-03-2012 3:49pm

Just a little comment "from inside" about this

4PP wrote: »

This is very true, Ireland first, then your province. Only idiots put provincial rivalries above national interests.
Speaking of which, when england play what do you see, White & St George cross, scots in Navy(ish) & st andrews, the Welsh in red & their dragons & leeks, Italians in blue & the irish in green.

Now the french, what do they show up in???
Catalan, basque, breton, corse, midi pyreenees, alsacien & I could go on. french flags? well they are waved by the non rugby fans, the "tourists" if you like.
its not for nothing that in the French language they say
"on a gagne" ou "ils ont perdu" when talking about the FFR XV

Ils retourne leur veste, toujours du bon cote a bon entendreeur

No offense mate but you’re using wrong shortcuts here

.…

Unlike many countries in Europe (Spain, Italy, Germany, Ireland…) France is a very “united” country centralized on Paris. So not only the Provinces don’t have such a huge weight compared with the nation itself but the provincial pride is not that present bar some people in Brittany and Basque Country. Corsica is an exception. I will not go into the details but e.g. it’s a different administrative system and most of the radical nationalism there is linked with how France dealt with the post Algeria war situation in the early 60ies (they gave land in Corsica to a lot of pied-noir (Algerian-born Frenchman or woman)).
Of course there is some banter around sport events. But outside local derbies it’s never a provincial issue. The only one would be Paris against Provinces e.g. PSG (Paris) and OM (Marseille) in soccer which is some kind of a fake rivalry (made up by presidents of both clubs in the late 80ies / early 90ies to make business out of it).

Regarding the French flag, it’s more complex. The explanation lies with how we are educated in France. I’d say we don’t feel the need of displaying the tricolour flag as it’s intrinsically normal/logical for us to support France. And more importantly the passion around sports is not something we grow up with. There is this famous Pierre de Coubertin sentence "the important thing is to participate" which is some kind of a French motto regarding sport.
There’s also an inconscious but everpresent link with a huge taboo in France regarding the France dark side during the Second World War (the Vichy regime, Collaboration with the Nazis) which gave an awful reputation to nationalism and nationalistic pride. So waving the French flag (outside sport events I mean) would almost appear as an act of extremism. So then even in a stadium it feels weird to show the French flag and most people prefer their regional flag (as there’s also a historico-political meaning referring to WWII as this regionalism was the primary feed of the Resistance).

Well you might think I'm taking things way too far but if you ask French people why they generally don't show their flag at sport events as much as foreigners do, they probably won't have an answer and just say "I never thought about it". And IMO that's because of the reasons I explained above

.

And the "On a gagné" / "Ils ont perdu" ("We won / They lost") ... well that is latin versatility :pac:. We seem to love to hate what we hate to love

:rolleyes: :P.

Junior · 05-03-2012 3:50pm

Dunno if this was posted earlier.. l'equipe's cover today ..

AnOFRKFCAAApB5e.jpg:large

Tox56 · 05-03-2012 4:57pm

What does that say?

France V Ireland – Stade de France, Paris. Sunday 4th March 15:00 RTE2 & BBC2

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