Rugby World Cup 2019 - Ireland shit the pot all over again

[Sidney]

@gilgamboa

I didnt see anything of the game last weekend but mentioned here that England seem to have hit their straps very early. They are not playing Arg until 5th oct.

Its an interesting approach to get them so ready so early. I wouldn’t be an expert on team prep by any means. But I wouldn’t have thought it was the norm. They do have 5 or 6 absolutely top class players, if they can keep them fit they will be a handful

England have a terrible run of fixtures in the World Cup

Argentina, France and then Wales or Australia in a quarter-final, on three successive Saturdays

I think they’ll find it very difficult to make a semi-final

Ireland were badly undone by their exertions against France in the quarter-final against Argentina last time

England’s run of fixtures is reminiscent of Ireland’s in 2003 actually when they had to play Argentina and Australia in the final two group fixtures

They were fodder for France in the quarter-finals - in retrospect they should have thrown the Australia game

England would be as well off to pick the dirt trackers against France if they can afford to because those exertions could make all the difference

[GeoffreyBoycott]

Wales

[Sidney]

@gilgamboa

They have a just over 3 weeks. We have two toughest games first. The scheduling suits Japan. They will see ourselves and Scots play first and know which game they need to target. If we beat Scots the Japanese will probably target them

Weren’t Ireland fairly woeful in the 2011 warm ups?

They beat Australia in the first match then, or was it the second match

[Raylan]

Wouldn’t you want to be concentrating on your golf?

[Bod95]

I’m expecting a late tee time on the Saturday

[Bandage]

What’s the origin of the phrase? It’s used a lot in my beloved cricket too. A batsman who comes in and immediately starts playing nice shots is said to have hit his straps.

[Fagan_ODowd]

@gilgamboa

We had a teacher in national school who used the phrase almost on a daily basis.

We had a teacher who used to hit us with a strap

[flattythehurdler]

One of my family’s greatest friends, son of my godfather, named in that team. A top top top man.

[Sidney]

@flattythehurdler

One of my family’s greatest friends, son of my godfather, named in that team. A top top top man.

Marc Cecillon?

An awful man

[flattythehurdler]

I never ever thought I’d say this, but you need to try a bit harder mate.

[gilgamboa]

@Fagan_ODowd

We had a teacher who used to hit us with a strap

I dont know how ye did it

[gilgamboa]

No idea

[gilgamboa]

@Sidney

Weren’t Ireland fairly woeful in the 2011 warm ups?

They lost all 4 of them two against France and scotland and england hammered em too. David Wallace suffered a horrific injury against England that ended his career effectively

[glasagusban]

@Sidney

Ireland were badly undone by their exertions against France in the quarter-final against Argentina last time

They shouldn’t have been because France were shite. They were undone by Schmidt’s stupid game plan of run into the nearest defender as many times as possible until you all get injured.

[Fagan_ODowd]

@gilgamboa

@Fagan_ODowd

We had a teacher who used to hit us with a strap

I dont know how ye did it

That’s the way it was in those days.

[tallback]

@glasagusban

@Sidney

Ireland were badly undone by their exertions against France in the quarter-final against Argentina last time

They shouldn’t have been because France were shite. They were undone by Schmidt’s stupid game plan of run into the nearest defender as many times as possible until you all get injured.

We lost Sexton, O’Connell to injuries which had nothing to do with “running into nearest defenders” and lost O’Brien to suspension. Furthermore due to the match scheduling we had to play the first 15 a week ahead of a QF while Argentina could rest players.

[cluaindiuic]

The main problem was starting Dave Kearney

[glasagusban]

You don’t think the injuries had anything to do with the style of play? I do. Injuries not caused by individual collisions but an accumulation of them and fatigue due to the stupid run into the nearest defender game plan. We made very hard work of beating a shite french team because of it.

Do you think we were just “unlucky” with injuries? I wonder what Kev would think of that.

[tallback]

O’Connell was a catastrophic hamstring injury at a ruck he was defending. Sexton was groin which I suspect he was half-carrying in and doesn’t sound like an impact injury. As I said O’Brien was a suspension. So in those instances no.

I don’t sense that we’ve a higher injury profile than other leading rugby nations but if you have data throw it up there.

[glasagusban]

I’m not saying they were impact injuries. Injuries happen when players are fatigued. Anyway, i don’t think the injuries made a difference, Argentina would have torn us up anyway.