@ChocolateMice on fire on this thread, mugging cunts off all over the place.
Stick to your guns, well played pal.
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CM channeling NCC in the halcyon days.
This is what it’s all about lads.
I’d put a smiley in there but THE FUCKIN SMILEYS STILL AREN’T WORKING FOR ME
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Yeah, it’s akin to the mugging off you took in the Galway v Tipp thread.
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On what basis have the rugby football crowd reached consensus that Joe Schmidt is the best coach in world rugby football?
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He was New Zealand’s main target to succeed Steve Hansen after the World Cup. If New Zealand are looking you to coach them, its a good endorsement of coaching credentials.
He’s coached Ireland to win back to back European titles, which I suppose is a decent enough achievement as its something that hadn’t been achieved in a very long time.
He does have an impressive coaching record but I do think there’s an element of over achievement result wise as well. The win/loss ratio with Ireland is unparalleled, but bar the Scotland game this year, Ireland have won playing a safety first, one dimensional brand of rugby. Its all very scripted and relies on getting an early lead. When Ireland fell behind as they did in Cardiff back in March, they were really lacking in ideas as to how turn things around and there was a distinct lack of a Plan B.
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In Schmidt’s 5 years in Ireland (and the couple as assistant in Clermont), his sides have had a consistency of performance and a competitiveness than few sides match. Ireland have in 2 seasons with him being incredibly consistent and competitive. He has used quite a number of players at the same time.
The only coaches in the discussion are Warren Gatland, Steve Hansen and Dave Rennie. Rennie is a club coach who was helped out by Wayne Smith. Gatland has had some great highs but some terrible lows, Wales are far from being a consistent side and their record vs. the southern hemisphere during his tenure is terrible. People will argue Hansen’s record with the All Blacks will never be surpassed and they could well be right but he’s been operating with an All Black team who might go down as the greatest ever. I give him kudos for managing Dan Carter’s various injuries…but tbf New Zealand have so many good number 10s knocking around.
Go back and look at the French game in Paris last year
Look at Leinsters Heinikan cup win when Leinster cane from behind
The man is brilliant and devises a plan for each team.Even the Welsh game in March they were camped on the line and only for some shit refereeing and bad decisions by the forwarfs, they had them. I dont believe he has overachieved. He is the only Irish manager in modern times to get this group to play to their potential
New Zealand really need to win this World Cup to stamp their credentials. Its largely the same side from 2011. They may have been the best team in that tournament but the manner in which they won that final was one of the most unsatisfactory things I have ever seen in sport. Granted France were shocking all tournament, but they were the better team the day of the final and they were simply not allowed to win it as none of the numerous number of scoreable penalties that should have been awarded to a dominant France in the 2nd half for persistent and blatant New Zealand infringements (and which would have won the game for France) were not awarded.
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looking forward to this now
our pack are a more coherent unit and are backs were continuously breaking the game line and working well at the breakdown
advance Australia fair
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He won two games out of three this year and the same in 2014 (Scotland and Italy are pub teams so they don’t count)
These cunts (the IRFU team and their legion of fans who discovered rugby football around the rise of the Celtic Tiger) fully expect them to win this tin pot cup this year.
Mind you, you won’t hear Amhrain Na BhFiain once if they do. A few of the squad don’t even have a drop of Irish ancestry either. Live here as economic migrants for three years is enough to be eligible for the Irish rugby football team.
Mama Mia
2 World Cups combined with NZ’s record between those two world cups will be pretty hard to beat
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The lads who grew up in the era of the Italia 90 bandwagon getting upset by a new bandwagon is one thing, but the association football fans criticising on the basis of ancestry 
.
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Great piece on New Zealand.
I put New Zealand’s dominance between World Cup in some way down to the fact that the New Zealand mindset is every match has to be won. They have a depth of players of test standard which no other rugby playing nation has and allows them to get away with a minor level of experimentation and still win nearly all of the time. The likes of France, Australia and South Africa are happy to experiment between World Cups even if it does result in losing matches along the way with the ultimate goal of peaking in World Cup year.
It is noteworthy that New Zealand having an overall losing record at the World Cup of 1-2 against both Australia and South Africa and are are 2-2 with France, which really should be 3-1 to France if there was any level of fair play in the 2011 final.
Just looking at Australia’s win over New Zealand in Sydney a few weeks ago and South Africa’s last two performances a win and a narrow loss, both in Johannesburg, the gap has closed considerably as it invariably always does in World Cup year.
Was there much complaining in Limerick in 1973 when an economic migrant from Shinrone, Co. Offaly, Joe McKenna spearheaded Limerick to their only All Ireland win of the last 75 years?
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That’s a Clamping. 
I see what you did there … .yet no bite.
No interest more like
Question number 18 certainly perked my interest.