english cheated
shocking defending by stringer
shocking hyperbolts by hook
A win is a win is a win. Scraping home by a point may well be the best thing that could have happened to Ireland in the long run.
I would say it was the greatest thing done, by any Irish person, ever. So back up the truck ncc.
A Leinsteresque performance by Brian O’Driscoll. Utterly courageous. Amazing.
BO’D was ridiculous, what a performance. Ireland much the better team but kept the Poms init. O’ Garas kicking was brutal, and generally wasn’t the best, despite a few brilliant touch finds. Ferris was outstanding i thought, and you got the usual from Hayes, O’ Connell, O’ Callaghan, Kearney, Fitzgerald, Heaslip and Wallace. O’ Leary was average and i thought Stringer added alot when he came on.
At the end of the day we beat England, happy enough with that.
as in your da, a cork man and a premium ticket holder in croker to booth, must be a terrible burden for you ncc
shite game today but great result, commiserations to all the lads cheering for the brits
Drop/kill O’Gara?
[quote=“caoimhaoin”]BO’D was ridiculous, what a performance. Ireland much the better team but kept the Poms init. O’ Garas kicking was brutal, and generally wasn’t the best, despite a few brilliant touch finds. Ferris was outstanding i thought, and you got the usual from Hayes, O’ Connell, O’ Callaghan, Kearney, Fitzgerald, Heaslip and Wallace. O’ Leary was average and i thought Stringer added alot when he came on.
At the end of the day we beat England, happy enough with that.[/quote]
Agreed with all that. The one thing I’d say in O’Leary’s favour was he did break down the blind side towards the end of the first half and it sort of gave an impetus or a clue to the rest of the team that we needed to move away from one out rugby.
O’Driscoll was sensational today. I’d have Ferris man of the match in any other game but the standard O’Driscoll is putting in at the moment is just ridiculous as you said. The hits, the rucks, the turnovers, the drop goal, the try. The guy’s a legend.
Possibly even a performance worthy of being the captain by O’Driscoll?
Do you get leadership from O’Driscoll?!?!
:rolleyes: 
Brian O’Drsicoll’s one of the greatest rugby footballers of all time.
Despite the greatness and flair, my favourite BOD moment today was the penalty he won for us when Ferris milled Vickery in the first half.
Three lads tried to clean him out in the ruck that ensued and they all bounced off him.
As he stood, on his feet, for Ireland, rippping the ball off Vickery as lads had their go and didn’t go anywhere.
He’d be recognised as a true superstar if rugby football was a mainstream sport.
He’s got Player of the Tournament in the bag outside of dropping a load of balls in the next 2 and getting sent off or something. A good Lions tour and he’ll get WPOTY.
Can’t believe they didn’t use D’Arcy at about the 55-60 mark, Wallce (as game as he is) clearly isn’t up to the brute strength of this level, at least not in the centre. Maybe another coach would have taken ROG off and put Wallace at 10, but to be honest i wouldn’t trust him there either.
Larry Duff and the likes will think i’m being anti-Ulster now, but in my honest opinion he isn’t up to it.
Great win, looking forward to seeing it on Sky+ again now shortly. England were very committed, very little quality but they didn’t stop tackling all day. Their indiscipline is ridiclous at this stage, two more sin bins yesterday. Care getting sin binned was a major blow for them, robbed whatever chance they had of winning.
Agree with Bandage above, that turnover was something else, he got absolutely mullered out of it by three players and never budged. The strength, technique and guts to make that play is unreal. He exposed his head and his neck to three guys absolutely launching himself at him. NO wonder he was rubbing his head for half the day. Finished well for the try, tackled like a lunatic as usual well deserved MOTM.
Fellas saying after it was his best ever performance, that might be stretching it a bit based on the quality of the opposition. First Lions test in Oz, hat trick in Paris, away Toulouse QF for Leinster, away in Twickenham 04/06 are some games off the top of my head where I think he has played at top of his game against opposition they really shouldnt have beaten. Delighted to see him back at this level, seems to be really enjoying it as well.
ROG was stink again, havent ever seen him kick that badly, made a woeful pigs ear of the first two missing one left and one right? WTF? obviously wasnt confident enough to kick any of the efforts when they nudged it in the corner the few times. Made a few great kicks from hand but when the place kicking goes against you its hard to rescue the rest of the game. Any other country they would have given the ball to someone else to have a crack off it, I suppoose though even Padddy W doesnt kick for his club.
Ferris/POC/Flannery were all excellent in the pack as well, lineout was top class. POC took serious responsibility for it today and called most balls on himself, grand as long as it stays working I suppose.
Roll on Scotland, they were poor yesterday, few nice touches for the tries but quality rugby was rare. They will be tough at home though.
Had 200 at 7/2 Ireland to win the championship, its now 4/7, anyone want to explain how I could lay it off, I dont have a betfair account.
the amount of times ogara was caught looking to the big screen told its own tale, the man is clearly not focused and its easy to say lack of competition for his place is responsible, but the man is a professional and he is not doing it for ireland at the moment and there can be no excuses.
ireland would have been out of sight with a focused o gara yesterday yet nearly let it slip, i doubt the welsh would let us off the hook in a similar fashion.
stephen ferris is the biggest addition to an irish pack in a long long time, ferocious bastard, compare him to easterby who owned that jersey for years, he is making a huge difference.
[quote=“HBV*”]the amount of times ogara was caught looking to the big screen told its own tale, the man is clearly not focused and its easy to say lack of competition for his place is responsible, but the man is a professional and he is not doing it for ireland at the moment and there can be no excuses.
ireland would have been out of sight with a focused o gara yesterday yet nearly let it slip, i doubt the welsh would let us off the hook in a similar fashion.
stephen ferris is the biggest addition to an irish pack in a long long time, ferocious bastard, compare him to easterby who owned that jersey for years, he is making a huge difference.[/quote]
Ya Easterby was a solid pro but brought no aggression to the table. You need a nasty 6 and Ferris is all that.
Matt Williams deserves a lot of credit in Ulster, he has Ferris playing with real hunger and confidence. I know there isnt many Ulster lads starting but the added pressure of a third province playing well and bringing fellas through to the extended squad creates its own competition. Even though Kidney has picked the same team three weeks in a row I have no doubt that the internal perception in the squad is that the battle for places is hotter than ever.
BY all accounts he has brought plenty fringe players into the squad for training, McFadden for example the Leinster centre. He cant get a run with Leinster but was brought into the Irish squad for training/holding tackle bags. This sends out a message to everyone at his level around the country that the squad is not impenatrable.
[quote=“HBV*”]the amount of times ogara was caught looking to the big screen told its own tale, the man is clearly not focused and its easy to say lack of competition for his place is responsible, but the man is a professional and he is not doing it for ireland at the moment and there can be no excuses.
.[/quote]
Dont know WTF is up with ROG.
I know hes a pro etc but he has two new babies at home, its easy say he needs to focus etc but any mates I know who had a kid would say their life was turned upside down for months after, not to mind twins. The chnage of training to Cork was probably a great thing for a lot of the squad as they got bit more time at home, ROG might have been thinking get me as far away from Cork as possible! He probably spent the last few weeks at home as well and not in the hotel.
Not trying to make excuses for him, just looking for reasons, because I think generally his 08/09 form has been below the very high standards he has set. Im on record here a while back saying Warwick should get a run at 10 for Munster in a big game, think it might be what ROG needs.
Half back was again Ireland’s weakpoint yesterday. TOL was better than against Italy but can be incredibly hesitant at times. O’Gara was a liability yesterday and in any other sport in the world, he would have been substituted. Wallace was never really in the game at 12. Our back 3 all looked the part though, Kearney in particular. I thought BOD showed great leadership throughout but his individual performance was nothing too hectic. Very few linebreaks or good lines of running. Are we to expect a rake of DG attempts now also? If so that is a bad thing long term. O’Connell was on the ball a lot but was he making serious yardage either. Ferris and Wallace impressed me. Heaslip wasnt in the game though.
I thought that Ireland were just above septic yesterday. England were septic and going nowhere. Flood is shit and they have nothing in the backs. For all his faults Goode has provided the only pieces of creative play for them in the past couple of games. Its fair to say that any of the Tri Nations would whip the shite out of any 6nations side at the moment.
This is simply an awful 6nations but to win it would be a first I suppose.
I agree with little of your post KIB.
TOL delivery is slower than Stringers no doubt. From every England lineout yesterday though Wallace/Ferris covered the space between ROG/PW. TOL swept across and did the back row job of covering any switch runners and made some good hits. His kicking was much improved as well. IMHO the way it is going at the moment is fine bring on stringer with 20 left for a tempo change. LOng term though TOL will get caught out with that pass, no doubt about it. Funnily Id say he might bew a step closer the Lions tour now, Care wont be seen again in the 6N based on JOhnson reaction to his sinbining
NO team would have substitued ROG yesterday because there is/was no alternative. PW is nominal cover for 10 but he doesnt play there for his club (for two years +), is not comfortable there, has never shown he has the quality to play there at anything above ML level. ROG kicked like an old woman but the rest of his game was not that bad.
BOD individual performance was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch. It is a pretty stupid thing to say that was down to ‘very few linebreaks’. The amount of work he did off the ball, tackling/rucking etc gave Ireland an extra back row, 9/10 for me.
Watched the game again this morning, too much kicking but it was decent enough game. Some seriosu hits going in from both sides and every play was well contested. Mike Ford would know those Irish players inside out so that was always going to make things more difficult. Didnt ever think Ireland would lose myself.
How do you make Goode out to be better than Flood? both are poor but against Wales England moved up several gears when Flood came on. You cant base it on yesterday because Goode went in scrum half almost straight away?
One more point on a second watch of the game- Tommy Bowe has improved 100% from last year. Excellent, showed up everywhere for the ball, good fielding good kicking. Id say he made about 10 interventions in the game yesterday and 9 were positive. Definite Lions tour unless he fooks up badly in the last two games
[quote=“dancarter”]I agree with little of your post KIB.
NO team would have substitued ROG yesterday because there is/was no alternative. PW is nominal cover for 10 but he doesnt play there for his club (for two years +), is not comfortable there, has never shown he has the quality to play there at anything above ML level. ROG kicked like an old woman but the rest of his game was not that bad.
BOD individual performance was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch. It is a pretty stupid thing to say that was down to ‘very few linebreaks’. The amount of work he did off the ball, tackling/rucking etc gave Ireland an extra back row, 9/10 for me.
Watched the game again this morning, too much kicking but it was decent enough game. Some seriosu hits going in from both sides and every play was well contested. Mike Ford would know those Irish players inside out so that was always going to make things more difficult. Didnt ever think Ireland would lose myself.
How do you make Goode out to be better than Flood? both are poor but against Wales England moved up several gears when Flood came on. You cant base it on yesterday because Goode went in scrum half almost straight away?
One more point on a second watch of the game- Tommy Bowe has improved 100% from last year. Excellent, showed up everywhere for the ball, good fielding good kicking. Id say he made about 10 interventions in the game yesterday and 9 were positive. Definite Lions tour unless he fooks up badly in the last two games[/quote]
How will we ever know if there is an alternative when they are never given a chance. Rob Kearney was given a chance by default. He wasnt pulling up any trees at Leinster yet at international level he came in and impressed and he subsequently took off. The alternatives to ROG could not have done any worse. He was truly shambolic yesterday and imo badly needs a high profile kick up the hole. ROG performances are affecting the entire Irish side at the moment. Its three games in a row where he has been shit. He was awful against Argentina too, every game in the WCup and I’m struggling to think of his last 7/10 performance in a green jersey.
Ya BOD did well and showed great leadership. But I thought he was far better individually against France. Yesterday he never looked like breaking the English defence. Most of his best work was as an auxiliary flanker which isnt really his job. I reckon that his successful drop goal could be a bad thing long term. He is a poor kicker of the ball and I’m expecting a lot more attempts Keith Wood style from now on.
The match was utter stink Dan. 3-3 at half time or something. There was no score for about half an hour. Back play was all defensive. A truly shocking spectacle in which an awful English side with better discipline could have won. Plus they fucked up the pitch.
I’m not saying Goode is better than Flood. Both are pretty shit in my eyes. Goode is seen as something of a joke player over here but in fairness to him he has been centrally involved in nearly all the English tries to date in the 6nations.
Goode is a joke player everywhere not just over here. Have a look again at the tries your talking about, the ones against Italy were pure opportunism.
I agree completely that until someone else gets a go we wont know if there is an alternative to ROG. But suggesting that the time to check that out is during an extremely tight 6N game with a potential title/grand slam on the line is just, to be frank, bullshit. You must think Kidney is an awful dope. Wel agree to disagree about his overall performance, I didnt think it was shambolic anyways, apart from the kicking.
Again wel agree to disagree on the spectacle. It was low scoring alright. Personally I thought there was a lot of great sub plots and some seriosu defensive efforts, but I can understand that might not be to everyones taste