The seethe is still strong in you I see ā¦ And every city in Ireland is soccer, including Galway. The rest of whatever you were attempting to say Iām sure sounded funny in your head ā but as a comparison, most of the rubby followers only get into it in their 20s ā Firstly, because they have zero connection with the sport and itās not until they are duped by marketing and silly catch phrases and the bravery of it all that they become converted ā the fear of being left out of the water cooler conversation on a Monday morning is another driverā the social climbing and brown nosing at work/life fits this MO also---- I might have my man yoo pajamas, but at leaset iām not going around screaming āIāM INā - all the while needing the rules of the game explained to me.
Jonny Sexton is heartbroken. Last night he sent the message: āGutted. Tried my bestāā
Billy Keane
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Johnny Sexton is heartbroken and body-broken after Saturdayās defeat. Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
We never stood a chance. The All Blacks were just too good for us, in every single position. We tried our best and that is all you can ask of any team.
Joeās team wore out together.
Our Irish team has stood still in terms of their development from this time last year when they were a match for anyone.
Joe Schmidt had plans to tweak our style. That much I know for sure. But there were no opportunities to practise a new way of playing the game or even to tweak the old way. Most of our top players suffered medium- and long-term injuries. Some carried injuries from the Samoan game.
Ireland paid a high price for winning of the Grand Slam and beating the All Blacks in the same year. The fact is too much is asked of our top players. We do not have the strength in depth to survive this workload, year on year.
But even if we were at our best Ireland would not have beaten the All Blacks in World Cup mode.
āItās not often you get a changing room that silentā ā Rory Best on defeat to All Blacks
I met with Joe in the Hilton Hotel in Yokohama just before the Scottish game. Joe knows his GAA and he loves talking about football. Kerry, he said, werenāt as fit as Dublin, in either game. Joe knew Ireland were up against it. We got the worst draw possible. He said as much.
Apologised
Joe was going off to get interviewed by Michael Corcoran whose radio commentaries put pictures on the transistor. Before he left, I apologised for a piece I wrote which suggested Joe was being unfair to Munster players. Joe, quite rightly, pointed out he had as many Munster men on his team as Declan Kidney.
And then I thanked him. "You gave us so many great days out, Joe."
And he did. We have now beaten the All Blacks twice. We won three Six Nations under Joe. Ireland won a Test series in Australia for the first time in over 40 years.
Read more here:
- Ruaidhri OāConnor: 'Joe Schmidt led Ireland to two record defeats in quarter-finals. It will always taint his legacyā
- Eamonn Sweeney: 'Repeated excuses show a refusal to accept failureā
The best of all was when we won our third Grand Slam. France were beaten in Paris when Jonathan Sexton scored the best drop-goal ever from way out the field. England melted in the Twickenham snow. Even the All Blacks would be delighted if they beat France and England away in the same year.
Jonathan Sexton was Joeās general. They often disagreed but never fell out. It is sad for both men that the Joe years should end like this.
The All Blacks went 10 points up on Saturday and Sexton went for a huge touch on the five-metre line. He is a gambler and always has been. Our leader knew we were in big trouble.
A dramatic intervention was needed. The kick went about two metres over the touchline. I think the All Blacks may have twigged that Jonno squeezes the last blob out of the toothpaste tube. Richie Moāunga also gambled. He jumped from a standing start and somehow kept the ball in play.
The ball could have gone awry but the All Blacks gathered and went up the field to score a try. By the way, Sexton was hit late, as usual. The referee deemed the All Black couldnāt stop his run. The All Blacksā brake pads are always worn when it comes to pulling up in front of out- halves.
The French 10 Romain Ntamack was also hit barely late by Wales. He was controlling the game. Wales got away with it. These hits are cowardly as they are executed when the ten is exposed after passing the ball.
Sexton is heartbroken and body-broken. Late last night he sent the message: āGutted. Tried my best.ā
Ireland were not beaten due to lack of courage. We did fight back to score two second-half tries.
The All Blacks were sensational. They seem to have the gift of improving from being the best to being better again every time a World Cup comes along. One of the main reasons is they have a big pick.
It was one of the first days of this school year and the scholar traffic was heavy on Booterstown Avenue in South County Dublin. St Andrewās College, the famed rugby school, is just across the road from Gleesonās pub. I took coffee there back when Ireland were still in the World Cup and the sun was fairly high in the northern sky. Just over the road is Blackrock College and I wondered how many future internationals were strapped up in the back of the passing cars. Not too far away is St Michaelās, another hugely successful rugby nursery.
These are but some of a few schools that provide much of the pick for the Irish teams. It was then it dawned on me. Irish rugby is a huge spectator sport but not that many actually play the game. During that last chat, Joe told of how he was playing competitive tip rugby at four. Yes, four. Multiply Joe many times over and you have a massive chance of winning World Cups.
Here at home our babies classes play hurling and football, mostly.
Grateful
Letās just be grateful that for a few golden years we were kings. Rory Best is gone now and more will follow over the next few weeks and months. Rory was cheered off the field. Iām so glad our people in Japan have the great grace of remembering the good times during the bad times.
So it was with a heavy heart we say goodbye to Joe and his team who did so much to make us proud of our little country when we needed an Ireland to cheer for. Joe will have nightmares over the injuries at the 2015 World Cup. That was the one that got away. But this time we were not good enough.
I hope you are not too hard on yourself, Joe. Those who care too much usually are. Joe Schmidt you are, and always will be, one of us. We owe you, big time.
None of that applies to me so your desperate attempts at a straw man are coming up short. Any of my friends who never played rugby would watch it but wouldnāt buy a jersey let alone go on about a team of us or any such nonsense. You must rotate in circles of extremely limp wristed sheep if you are surrounded by those who do. Like all things on the internet they are a caricature really.
Lol
The - I know you are but what am I - defence.
Hereās your caricature right here ā the die hards spending thousands to go to Japanā¦
Oh im sure plenty did, no one i know. I sense you have to brown nose a few returnees next week though and its tearing you up inside
What is with rugby jocks always sticking to a favourite 15, especially in Ireland. Used to see it a lot in schools rugby as well. 15 favourites, and no one else got a look in.
And they sent home with their sencha in their mugs.
Iām not the one lashing out mate ā¦ I take it the water cooler wasnt a happy place today?
Im not a private sector shill like you feigning interest to toe the line
What kind of shill are you then?
An independent thinker.
Youre as much as a sheep as the next fella, fella. You just like to think youāre smarter than the rest but youāre not ā¦ anyway, if youāre looking for soccer pajamas for any young nephews / nieces for crimbo, give me a shout.
A fella on off the ball made what, I thought, was a good point at the weekend.
He said Irish teams have massive advantage for both the six nations and ātestā aka friendly games as well as for the Heineken Cup, in that the IRFU have full control of the players and are able to manage them better than the likes of France and England whoās lads are flogged to death by their clubs year round. This allows them to target these games, rest fellas carrying niggles from club games etc. in a way that English and French clubs cannot. They are also helped by the generally non-competitive nature of the PRO 14, or at least in the sense that it doesnāt really matter whether you top the league or not.
This disadvantage disappears at World Cup time where everyone has the same access to their players.
Maybe Irish teams and players just arenāt as good as we think or even as good as results might seem to indicate.
Might be valid if we did actually chop and change players, rested them. We donāt tho. There was a graph yesterday showing the amount of time our top players spent on the field this year and was massively.more than their NZ counterparts.
I donāt think im smarter than anyone bro but i hate people who make a statement then follow it up with āthatās not even up for argumentā
Enjoy the bosses japanese tales
For their country, but a lot of them play very sparingly for their clubs.
Anyway whoās gone now? Sexton would want to walk away while he still can. The lad is going to be in an awful way by the time heās 40.
Iād say its too late for Sexton now, he may as well play on.
Well - if you follow the conversation it should all make senseā¦ I stand by all I said ā¦ Thereās plenty wrong with soccer and iād agree on most stuff youād throw at it, but thereās also no denying that the knock-out stages of the CL is as good as you can get for sporting drama due to the home/ away nature of the ties and away goals ruleā¦ your retort seemed to be - Soccer is poo poo ā¦
āIreland paid a high price for winning of the Grand Slam and beating the All Blacks in the same year. The fact is too much is asked of our top playersā
All weāre asking is that they win a knock out game in a World Cup, Billy, you stupid cunt.