France are streets ahead of Ireland. They absolutely dismantled NZ last night.
I’d say it is an experiment to see if they would get away with bringing one prop less to the WC and no more than that.
Ireland absolutely dismantled NZ.
Doesn’t really matter flatty. If and when Ireland meet NZ when it actually matters,they’ll hand us our arses
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Maybe. NZ for the first time in a long time are without a generational talent. You’d genuinely struggle to put any of them in the French side, bar that prop that came on as a sub. They’d not get a player in the Irish front row, would be tight even in the second row, the back row also. 9 and 10 maybe. I’d have aki and henshaw in the centre.
I have never in my life seen an all blacks team reduced to cluelessness, and I’ve seen it twice this year, Vs the boks, and Vs Ireland.
They looked more dangerous against the French, aided to my mind by a string of refereeing decisions at the start of the second half, but were well beaten for 60 of 80 minutes.
Your (my) worry would be, like you say, they’ll be rested and warned at the RWC , and perhaps a different proposition, but the aura is certainly tarnished.
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They still have a heap of good players. Barret Smith whitelock retallick etc… They have no centres though and that is a massive issue and led to the cluelessness you mentioned. Definitely on the slide at moment interesting to see can Forster turn it around. They might open the chequebook and start tempting fellas back from Europe. They need to
Good yes, but generational talent, no, and they’ve crucially been without that for just long enough for the aura to tarnish.
Three, possibly four of the six European sides would put it right up to them.
I can’t remember a time when this was the case before.
I suspect they’ll look closer to home with the chequebook.
Ah I see, didn’t think of that.
Ah come on Flatty, that post smacks of the usual Irish rugby fan overhyping their team after a win in a meaningless game a year two years out from the world cup. If you were picking a composite team it’d still be mostly NZ, by far. Furlong Henshaw and Doris - our best three players - and then maybe NZ would take Porter and Kelleher.
Jack Goodbue is their best inside centre. Did his cruciate early in the season. They really need him back. Aaron Smith is the best scrum half in the world and was missing the last two weeks. They’re struggling a bit up front. All of their piano lifters in the front five at Lansdowne Road last week were over 30 and they were destroyed up front.
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Dupont.
Another great win for Coach Faz.
He really has mugged off his detractors.
There was cohort out to get him from day one, having the temerity to follow Saint Joe was a no no for some of the Irish media. Francis had a hard on for Farrell from day one and wrote several out of order articles
His North of England working class background meant his face didn’t fit with the rugby set.
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Ireland simply have to world cup.
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They have to win it pal.
He gets judged by how well he loses a World Cup quarter final.
Lot of important rugby to be played before the World Cup in 2023. Two Championships and a 3 test tour of New Zealand next summer for starters.
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The soccer crowd who put emphasis on World Cup performances fail to understand
- The concept of test rugby
- A Lions tour is the pinnacle of rugby
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