Simpsons predicted it once again.
He gave an absolutely lovely interview after the game. He came across as the epitome of a decent man.
Nz herald are referencing the OTB lads in post match articles ⌠youâd wish theyâd shut up at times. Same with wales a few years ago
No such thing as bad publicity
The IRFUmust hate them
I think Sexton had a fine game and the calls for him to be subbed were all made in hindsight.
My only issue was whether he put boot to ball enough throughout.
When Ireland were under pressure or needed a breather it wouldnât have been a bad thing to turn NZ and get territory.
Even an odd kick in behind to give Aki, Ringrose & co something to chase.
It was a bit predictable.
He did marshal the final drive well and it was just bad luck it broke down after so many phases.
As said above far more played beneath the ceiling than Sexton.
NZ negated Irelands main strengths & won on the back of it.
Congratulations to all kiwi TFKers. A terrific match. We didnât hit our straps nor pull up the essential trees yesterday.
Ah there was plenty that called it at the time too. He was out on his feet at 60 mins. He got a few passes and he was so tired the just threw the ball to the closest man. He got a second wind inside the last 5 or 10 mins but he shouldnât have been left on for that to happen. Farrell is a fantastic coach but he got that call wrong imo.
Ireland got the rub of the green against SA. Not to be yesterday. Themâs the breaks. But the reaction of the players at the final whistle, seems they bought into the hypeâŚ
Again, I think a serious disservice is being made to NZ.
They closed it all down at source for Ireland really.
Scrum was fucked
Line-out fucked
Ireland won fuck all at break down
They systematically took ireland apart in a non flashy fashion.
Ireland didnât let the above kill them and made a serious game of it tbf.
I also think itâs disservice to Jack Crowley if it was thought he have zero impact on the game and to leave Sexton out there for 20 mins trying to catch his breath.
I am sure Sexton would rather be waking up today looking forward to a semi final rather than the 80 mins he gave in a losing effort.
I am not saying Ireland would have won or anything like that with Crowley on but he should have been on imo.
Itâs a double edged sword though, if Crowley comes on and the game finishes as it did anyway youâd have lads saying we took off the experienced guy and fucked our chance
Ryan was a huge loss in fairness. Henderson isnât a patch on him. Furlong hasnât been the same since he came back from injury. Barnes took a dislike to the way Porter shoved. The back row were all well below their best. JVDF was terrible for the last All Black try. The backs were fine but the forwards were poor.
Definitely and youâll always have that. I could see the reason to take sexton off as he was exhausted. If he was flying and came off Iâd be asking questions then.
Am I correct here in thinking the Irish chap got giddy & broke off too early to go on his own & the chances of him being held up would have been appreciably lower had he been more patient & let the fat lads behind him bundle him over the line ? A group of them would surely have blitzed over the sole NZ player capable of defending it? And this same chap then held up the Irish guy?
When Iâm coaching the maul & itâs starting to roll forward I always sayâŚif you think itâs moving too slowly then slow down some more!
One tiny little bit of patience & weâd be looking forward to an eminently winnable semi final next Friday night.
These are the small margins Coach Bandage
Commentators eye
@Bandage while waiting for the line out to be taken which led to that near try, NZ replaced both their props. I commented to my more learned rugby friends it seemed a strange move, akin to making a sub when defending a corner in ground football.
They were in awe at how astute I was when seconds later Ireland mauled NZ over the line.
I disagree there, massively. Ample occasion where clean ball was presented and he stood over it instead of whipping it. It was driving me stir crazy, he was passive at the base and around the fringe bar the try when his man was off the pitch.
They were beating us at the breakdown and even when we did get ball, he was.slow getting it away allowing them a extra second or two to set the defence.
Non rugby lads explaining to the goys where it went wrong is almost as inevitable as the 1/4 final exit itself.