shuffol wrote: » The two he missed were to overtake Wales points tally. He knew it and it seemed to affect him.
.ak wrote: » Right, but it's just something you have to accept when your kicker is an 85% kicker. He's not going to get them all, but he's going to get most. The thing is he's so good at general play it doesn't matter. And very few international kickers are over that sort of percentage.
molloyjh wrote: » He was beaten in the accuracy stakes by Farrell and Halfpenney last year. Both of those guys are particularly good place kickers (90%+) so being behind them really isn't the end of the world at all.
Riskymove wrote: » yes, but it doesn't help your nerves!
molloyjh wrote: » That's a serious assumption you're making. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. One of those kicks was one that he'd miss every now and again anyway, 45m out. The other came off the post. The next kick came under the same circumstances + the additional pressure of having missed the previous 2. He got that one. The other 6 he got were pressure kicks as well because every point mattered. Any missed kick could have been the difference in the end.The guy is human so if he let the pressure get to him a small bit on that first miss then so be it. As long as it didn't mess him up from there on in it's not really an issue. He backed himself after that and while he missed a tough kick the next time around he didn't miss a third time. He also didn't let either miss affect the rest of his game. A bottler (which some have called him) is someone who crumbles under pressure. Johnny simply didn't do that. At all. He may have let pressure get to him very briefly on 1 place kick or he may simply have made a mistake. His kicking % on the day was in and around what you'd expect from him so I'm not sure you can say with any certainty that it was in fact the pressure that caused that miss.
SaveOurLyric wrote: » Sexton is good enough to kick at international level. Not as good as his general play. But good enough, and certainly not weak enough to be a problem, even if he isnt up with the best kickers. If you followed this logic, then Jackson or Keatley wouldnt be near the Irish squad, both being inferior to Sexton and borderline international level kickers at best. Anyway. What is it about Ireland where we only have our standoff taking goal kicks ? Other countries have centres, scrumhalves, fullbacks, wings on a regular basis. Even the great Eales was no slouch at it. Are we missing a trick here where we are limiting our pool of potential best kicker to only those with 10s on their backs ?
TommyOM wrote: » I have never in my life seen such a reaction to a kicker kicking 7/9 in a game.
bilston wrote: » I was in single digits in the 80s so not sure and could be completely wrong but what position did Michael Kiernan play? For some reason I have memories of him playing FB? He was a goal kicker wasn't he?
SaveOurLyric wrote: » What is it about Ireland where we only have our standoff taking goal kicks ? Other countries have centres, scrumhalves, fullbacks, wings on a regular basis. Even the great Eales was no slouch at it. Are we missing a trick here where we are limiting our pool of potential best kicker to only those with 10s on their backs ?
Mahatma Geansai wrote: » Murray could definitely take on a kicking role if required.
.ak wrote: » In fairness the debate is reasonable. I do think it's a stereotypically Irish debate, but it's a valid query and there's no escaping it.
TommyOM wrote: » Questioning an outhalfs bottle for kicking 7 from 9 is a valid debate? It's silly in the extreme.
.ak wrote: » I don't agree with it, but I can see why some people jump (incorrectly and unsubstantiated imo) to that.
Mahatma Geansai wrote: » The issue isn't - and never has been - about Sexton missing two of his nine kicks. The discussion has centered around why he missed the two straight-forward kicks that he did.
sydthebeat wrote: » i dont think thats really whats at the base of the debate... its more whether sexton is more prone to miss the 'high pressure' kicks than the low pressure kicks... which would be completely understandable, if that premise was true.....
total former wrote: » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fn1qyoDzOQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsSbOT_O2nU
molloyjh wrote: » Absolutely. And it's not a ridiculous debate to be having really either. But what do we need to ascertain whether the premise is true or not? We'd need to see evidence of a consistent decrease in return from the tee in high pressure games compared to low pressure games. We've yet to see that, so in the absence of that evidence we can't really say there's an issue. People can and will point to individual kicks within games but if others can point to individual kicks in other games that were either missed from similar positions or slotted in high pressure situations I don't think those individual kicks really prove anything. Is there really a pattern there or is it just that he misses kicks from time to time, some of them in high pressure situations and others in low pressure situations?
TommyOM wrote: » Can someone tell me how a kick 50 minutes into a game is a pressure kick? You'd swear it was the 78th minute and Ireland were trailing Wales by 2pts. Also can someone tell me how getting 7/9 kicks is now considered as an issue?
