Apologies. *[font=tahoma][size=3]Thatâs the second time an idiotic call from him has cost us the opening home game of the Six Nations.[/size][/font]
What was the other idiotic call by the way? I remember him failing to deal with the kick off that resulted in Clercâs try at the death in that game but you hardly think his decision to opt for the three points to put us 4 up with 90 seconds or so to go as an idiotic call?
Geordan Murphy pathetic attempt at a tackle on Rafael Ibanez and our slow start were the main reasons we lost that game
Yes it was. Kick the ball to the corner, win line out over a weak French second row and hold on to it through the phases as the clock ticked down. Why would you give the opposition another chance?
It wasnât an idiotic call and I would say that the vast majority of players in the same position would have done the exact same thing. If they had held onto the ball at the restart they would have won the game. They didnât and were punished, that is sport. If they had knocked on at the lineout ot lost possession and France worked the ball up the field and kicked a drop goal they would have been pillered as well.
It wasnât an idiotic call, it was the right call at the time and as I said that call wasnât the losing of the game. the failure to win the restart and our slow start in that match were the reasons we lost. Both tries we conceded were completely avoidable
Clearly it was an idiotic call as we lost the ball and they won the restart. He was second guessing what would happen in a best case scenario rather than playing the percentages like he did with Munster towards the end of the 2008 Heineken Cup final. The same happened yesterday.
In your opinion.
No shit.
The penalty in the Heineken Cup final was completely different, time was as good as up, they only needed to kill 10 seconds and couldnât kick directly to touch otherwise they would have had to take the lineout. There was 3 minutes left in the French match when the penalty was awarded, taking the points was the correct option
It wasnât a matter of taking the points. The penalty was practically on the sideline as it was and it was a nigh on impossible kick for OâGara to make. Thereâs was maybe a 50% chance of him getting it whereas he would have definitely found touch and we would have had an 8% chance to win the resulting line out and hold on to the ball. Same thing yesterday.
*In my opinion.
Youâre calling it an idiotic call just cos they lost the restart. They were playing the percentages by taking the penalty as it put them 4 points up and meant France had to go for a try rather than a penalty or drop goal. They knew that France would have to kick back to them after the penalty and that the penalty itself would run the clock down even more than kicking to the corner would. They could quite as easily have thrown a crooked lineout or something and turned the ball over while only 1 point ahead.
Saying that it was the wrong call is mind boggling. Anyway, youâre just going to dig your heels in again on this and not listen to reason so Iâll let chewy and yourself get back to it.
No Iâm calling it an idiotic call cos it was a near impossible kick and it gave them the chance to win possession back. We should never have been in a position to lose a restart.
If wee had kicked for the line and won the line out the game was won with a few phases.
IIRC correctly OâGaraâs penalty towards the end was around the 10 metre line and around 10 metres in from the touchline. It was not a near impossible kick. He had a decent day with the boot that day as well.
That still doesnât get beyond the fact that regardless of the points on offer OâConnell could have chosen to kill off the game by going for touch and not letting France get the ball back.
Do you think it was the correct decision yesterday to go for the posts from 51m rather than kick to touch and go through the phases?
Croppy, youâre not by any chance related to MAD and RTT?
Are you talking to me or to Croppy?
If me then no, I am not.
I had no particular strong feelings about yesterdays decision. It wasnât the winning and losing of the match. Out centres bouncing off tackles and the fact that we allowed North and Phillips to run at us at there ease were far bigger factors in defeat. Sextonâs kick had the legs and I could see the point of going for it. But it didnât come off.
But while you can argue that the call v France was wrong in 2007 and as they lost the match then maybe it was, it wasnât an idiotic call and it was a sensible call at the time. And the penalty was nowhere near impossible. You talk about playing the percentages, that was an 80%+ kick for OâGara who would back himself every time to kick it and that is exactly what he did
I agree that it wasnât the overall losing of the game as we could have easily made a balls of it after the line out by doing something stupid. I think weâd have been in a better position going for it when they still had a man in the bin and also delaying the time before he could get back in.
We were blessed that the game was still there for us as Wales should have put us to the sword in the first half and slow ball was killing us.
With Fracen away next weekend and the chance of a Triple Crown and Grand Slam gone, along with the Championship probably, Iâd love to see Kidney try to get a proper 7 in just to see how it goes and start Donncha Ryan.
The rebuilding should start from here but, going on Kidneyâs form, it will not.
In fairness to Kidney, his hands are tied somewhat. Eddie OâSullivan was at pains to point out in his autobiography that the Six Nations is the IRFUâs cash cow and they expect Ireland to field their strongest team every game. If a weakened team or experiemental team was put out it wouldnât have sat well with the powers that be. The only time it has really happened was when Gatland rang the changes v Italy back over a decade ago and even then he was on borrowed time and had little option but to go for broke and throw lads in at the deep end.
I know what youâre saying. Thereâs going to be fuck all chance to experiment in the summer though as the main aim will be to avoid a complete cleaning out by the All Blacks.