That is world class fence sitting.
Before a tunnel was a negotiation?
Think they wanted to do the Welsh anthem after the haka or something and the Kiwis opted to do it in the dressing room altogether.
The Vodafone Ireland rugby team would be well advised to sing that abomination of s song Irelandās Call in the dressing room rather than subjecting people to it.
What about the mental barrier of getting past a RWC quarter final? There is more pressure coming with needing a performance tomorrow than any match in living memory. On top of that I donāt see Ireland being that close to New Zealand player by player. Our bench options are certainly inferior. The team was playing to their absolute peak in 2018 when they won the grand slam and since then weāve lost a number of quality options for a variety of reasons, we donāt have the same depth and a number of our players are just out of form or canāt reproduce club form at international level or just on the decline given their age profile. This is a massive uphill task in a number of ways and I just donāt see it happening. We need a number of items to break our way to have any chance.
Agreed.
Thats an ooft.
We may bump the thread tomorrow morning.
We could make them do it in the dressing room too perhaps?
Its the rugby once every four years soccer crew that seem particularly anxious to hail the Ireland rugby team as the best in the world. The rugby crew deal with reality. New Zealand are the best in the world and have been for a very long time. New Zealand were the world ranked Number 1 team continuously for three months shy of a decade from November 2009 to 16 August 2019. They briefly lost that ranking to Wales for a week, then to Ireland but regained it on 21 September when they beat South Africa in their opening pool match of this World Cup. During that near decade at the top of the rankings, New Zealand won both World Cups that were played in 2011 and 2015 and under the tenure of their current coach Steve Hansen over the last 8 years, have won 91 of their 104 test matches.
It was a terrific achievement for Ireland to beat New Zealand in two of their last three test matches. Every test match for New Zealand is a must win. Thatās the attitude and mentality that keeps New Zealand at the top nearly all the time.
1 Like
So if you beat NZ in 2 out of 3 test matches, should you or shouldnāt you be expected to beat them in a WC?
Your heart isnt in that post.
Itās 28W 2L 1D from 31 Tist Matches for the All Blicks at the moment so weāre up aginst it.
Iām hopeful the goys can pull off a shock tomorrow and topple the #1 team in the world.
Ireland have a fighters chance tomorrow, but New Zealand are justified favourites. Donāt see how the first of those Ireland wins that you referenced in Chicago has much relevance to tomorrow - Ireland have 7 starters from that match starting tomorrow, New Zealand have just 4.
Ireland have most of their starting team that beat New Zealand last November, 12 in total starting tomorrow. New Zealand have replenished their team somewhat since that defeat and have just 8 starters. Over the last year, Steve Hansen has ruthlessly moved on a number of players who had started to look past it.
Have they?
Iām just trying to get a handle of whether these test matches are important or not. I got the impression they were at the time (last one was less than 1 year ago and Ireland have 12 of the 15 from it starting Saturday) but arenāt now? It almost seems that, to my tiny, scummy soccer watching mind anyway, that the rubby lads are happy to move the goalposts to suit their agenda. Iām sure thatās not it however
Is McKenna telling lies
You tell me. You never mentioned McKenna in your post.